The Mendicants and the Motet

Whether by accident or for some deeper reason, the rise of mendicant monasticism went hand in hand with the rise of two major polyphonic genres: the conductus and the motet. Both flourished especially in urban centres; both abandoned ecclesiastical introversion and reach out to the secular, lay world. While this may not be more than a coincidence, the simultaneity of these success stories alone created multiple points of contact.

According to the received view, the Friars Minor, established as ioculatores Dei by their founder St Francis of Assisi, embraced the traditions of secular and polyphonic music. The Dominicans, on the contrary, appear as ruthless opponents of polyphony of all sorts, which resulted in an official condemnation even of singing in parallel octaves (at the General Chapter of 1250) and the proposal of a universal ban of the motet to the Council of Vienne in 1311.

My paper revisits the traditional assessment through a close reading of official statements made by the two monastic orders as well as documents that inform us about their teaching and practice of polyphony, especially the motet.