Musical Patronage in the Royal Chapel of France under Francis I (r. 1515-1547)

Recently uncovered archival and historical documents suggest new linkages between the musical patronage of the French royal court and the development of the polyphonic repertory of Francis I’s personal chapel as represented in the publications of Pierre Attaingnant. The union in 1514 of the chapels of Anne of Brittany and Louis XII made possible a reorganization of the Chapelle du roi into discrete groups of singers responsible for either the chanting of the chapel’s public liturgy or the performance of polyphonic music. As early as the 1490s, however, the French kings began to favor the celebration of private Low Masses en musique, a development seemingly reflected in the increased production of motets by Claudin de Sermisy and other royal court composers.