Chant books from Lorvão in the National Archives of Lisbon

Abstract

In 1877, the nunnery of Lorvão closed its doors on centuries of monastic history. Among the remnants of that history, several liturgical manuscripts have survived, some with notation of melodies following the Cistercian tradition of plainchant. These are not simply abstract tokens of standardised ritual practices, rather they signal cultural exchange and bear witness to the life experience of the communities that used them, read them, and relied on them for support and the consolidation of memory. Understanding these books requires, therefore, an ongoing multi-layered approach. Our research has been focused mainly on the liturgical content of the codices (appended provisional inventory). This paper briefly considers the constitution of the library and some topics raised by the context of usage, namely gender issues.