JOCULATORES DOMINI: MUSIC AND FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY IN HAGIOGRAPHIC AND LITURGICAL SOURCES

Abstract

This thesis explores music for Francis and Clare of Assisi in hagiographic and liturgical sources, examining how it interacts with aspects of Franciscan spirituality focused on the incarnation. It begins by investigating music and Franciscan spirituality in the Greccio story documented by Thomas of Celano in the Vita Prima (1228) and by Bonaventure Bagnoregnio in the Legenda Maior (c.1261). It then explores how music and text in the Francis office (c. 1232) intertwine Francis’ evangelical religious expression and his relationship to the church through their depiction of the saint. Lastly, it explores music and sound in Clarian hagiographic literature in relation to various understandings of female Franciscan life emerging from the texts, extending this analysis to chants from the Francis and Clare offices copied in a Clarissan processional, Plimpton MS 034. Exploration of music and sound in these sources reveals their interaction with Christocentric dimensions of medieval Franciscan spirituality.