Medieval Liturgy Working Group: Professor Susan Rankin (University of Cambridge), "The Cantor’s Tale, from Rouen to Domesday: How the Norman Conquest transformed Liturgy"

Confronted with extensive evidence for the arrival in post-Conquest England of musicians trained in various parts of northern Europe, we are bound to consider in what ways their liturgico-musical practice had an impact. Influence from the continent was not a new feature of English cultural life after the conquest. However, a notable characteristic of the pre-Conquest situation was the absorption into an essentially English liturgy of foreign material: it was never the wholesale setting aside and replacement of English practice. In contrast, it has long been debated to what extent the presence of Norman churchmen in England after the Conquest brought about change rather than assimilation. In this talk I shall explore this question through the work of just one musical scribe, a personality who was evidently so dominant in the situation in which he found himself at Winchester Cathedral that he has to be described as a cantor. His skills both as a scribe, and as an organizer of knowledge in written form, can be observed and traced in a series of extant liturgical manuscripts––and then, later, in the most famous post-Conquest record of all: the Great Domesday Book.

This workshop is organized by the Medieval Liturgy working group. It can be attended in person or on Zoom.

For more information about this event, please contact Eleonora Celora.