Micrologus; Banquet of the Oath of the Pheasant

81-08 THE BANQUET OF THE OATH OF THE PHEASANT

Constantinople, the last strong-hold of Christendom in the East, fell finally to the Saracens in 1453, a year which, for that reason, is sometimes said to be the end of the Middle Ages. And, in the months that followed, there was a strong movement among the nobles of western Europe to mount a new Crusade to recapture the city.

With that sentiment as a background, perhaps the most illustrious of those nobles, Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, gave his Banquet of the Oath of the Pheasant at the great banquet hall in Lille, on February 17th, 1454. No less than three separate (and supposedly eye-witness) accounts survive of the event, and give us a glimpse into the pageantry, the food, and the music. Among the constructions made especially for the banquet was a church, which sat on the table of the Duke, and was large enough to contain an organ, an organ player, and four singers. Even more grand was a pastry, which was on another table and which was so large that it contained 28 singers and instrumentalists.

My own crusade for today is to try to recapture some of the flavor of the music of that banquet, if you will pardon my mixed metaphor.

The first sound to be heard was that of a bell, followed by a piece which, in the words of Mathieu d'Escouchy, one of the chroniclers, "though what it was I could not say, for my part I found it a pleasant benediction for the beginning of supper."

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After those in the church had done their turn, sixteen knights in livery lead a richly robed horse walking backward, and on the horse, two trumpeters, seated back-to-back and without saddle, played a long fanfare, as the horse was led up and down the room.

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When the interlude of the horse walking backward had passed, the organ in the church began to play most sweetly.

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When the organ had finished in the church, within the pastry was played a German cornett most strangely.

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After a buffoon had made the round of the hall, those in the church sang and then in the pastry was played a douçaine with another instrument.

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Then appeared a white stag with gold horns, ridden by a 12-year-old boy and, upon entering the hall, the boy began to sing the top voice of a song, loud and clear, and the stag itself sang the tenor, without any other person being visible, save the boy and the device of the stag, and the song they sang was "Je ne vis onques la pareille" (I never saw such a one). So singing, as I tell you, they made the round of all the tables and then departed.

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After that minstrels in the pastries played recorders most melodiously. After a dragon had passed mysteriously through the hall, there was more singing in the church, and in the pastry the Duke's blind minstrels played vielles while a lute made harmony, and there sang with them a young girl from the service of the Duchess, named Paquette. It was a fine and sweet melody to hear and was not valued lightly. After these lesser worldly entertainments came the solemn moment which was the prime reason for the banquet. A Saracen giant led into the middle of the hall an elephant on whose back was set up a fortified tower. In this tower was a lady dressed in a robe of white satin, very simply made in order to show her high birth and the noble place from whence she had come. This figure, attired as a nun, was in reality the chronicler Olivier de la Marche, whom the Duke of Burgundy had before-hand asked to play this role. The figure symbolized the Holy Church held captive by the Saracens. As soon as her elephant had stopped, she began her complaint and lamentation in a piteous and womanly voice, addressing the Burgundian nobles and, in particular, the Duke. She begged them to take up her defense and, in truth, her manner and request did not seem to be without great necessity as you will hear by her proposal.

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Then the Master at Arms presented to the assembly a live pheasant, decorated with pearls and precious gems, saying that it is and was the custom to bring a peacock or some other noble bird into our great festivities in the presence of the grandees, the princes, lords, and nobles, in order that they may make useful and worthy vows. It was to God, to the Virgin, to the ladies, and to the pheasant that Philip the Good addressed his oath to embark on a crusade to Constantinople, and a similar oath was promptly taken by the Count of Charolais, his son, the Duke of Cleves, the principal lords, as well as some hundred others, who swore their vows the next day. After Holy Church had given her thanks, the tables were taken out and into the hall entered by the great portal a hoard of torch bearers, followed by many players on divers instruments. Then they began to dance a kind of mummery and to make much jollity, so that the festivity might thereby end more joyously.

The musical selections were:

Anonymous "Te Deum" played on bells and recorders. Fanfare, based on Dufay's "Gloria ad modum tubae." Organ piece from the Buxheim Orgelbuch, based on Dufay's chanson "Se la face ay pale." Cornett solo: Das Nachthorn, by Hermann, Monk of Salzburg. All performed by the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow.

Crumhorn piece, "Qui latuit," attributed to, but probably not by, Guillaume Dufay. Recorder trio La Perontina, by the Anglo-Burgundian composer, Robert Morton. Both performed by Syntagma Musicum, directed by Kees Otten.

Chanson "Je ne vis onques la pareille," probably by Gilles Binchois, performed by The Consort of Musicke, directed by Anthony Rooley.

Motet "Ave Regina celorum" and the chanson "Navré je sui," both by Dufay, performed by Pomerium Musices, directed by Alexander Blachly.

The Lament by Holy Mother Church on the fall of Constantinople is one of four apparently written by Dufay, and like the concluding basse danse "La Spagna," was performed by the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow.

The readings were from Robert Wangermée's book Flemish Music, supplemented by my own translations from the three surviving chronicles. You have been listening to a program based on the musical events of the Banquet of the Oath of the Pheasant, given at Lille by Philip the Good of Burgundy, February 17th, 1454.