Hic est vere martyr qui pro Christi nómine

 

These are two pages from a Latin Hymn, possibly with Spanish origin, titled Hic est vere martyr qui pro Christi nómine. They were printed on 73x48cm leaf sometime between 1501 and 1600, featuring Black Square notation. Pieces from this collection were often used during the rituals of the Roman Catholic Mass and Divine Office. I selected this artifact because as a musician, I have always been fascinated by older musical notation, which is extremely different from what we see today.

This was found in The Library of Congress Collection: 10th-16th Century Liturgical Chants. The main thing I would like to learn from this artifact is how it is read. I wonder if musical notation was much more simple and had less instruction in the 1500's, or if they simply needed less information to achieve a similar musical effect to today.

(1501) Hic est vere martyr qui pro Christi nómine. [Between 1501 and 1600?] [Notated Music] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2017563878/.