Thomas Phillips
@thomasphillips.bsky.social
Medievalist • Musicologist • Anglo-Norman chant traditions • Postdoctoral researcher @ University of Cambridge
Happy St Edmund’s Day!
An office for this saint’s feast day has been notated using Anglo-Saxon neumes.
København, KGL Bibliotek, GKS 1588 quarto (Second half of 11th c.)
An office for this saint’s feast day has been notated using Anglo-Saxon neumes.
København, KGL Bibliotek, GKS 1588 quarto (Second half of 11th c.)
November 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Happy St Edmund’s Day!
An office for this saint’s feast day has been notated using Anglo-Saxon neumes.
København, KGL Bibliotek, GKS 1588 quarto (Second half of 11th c.)
An office for this saint’s feast day has been notated using Anglo-Saxon neumes.
København, KGL Bibliotek, GKS 1588 quarto (Second half of 11th c.)
I very much doubt anyone on here will recognise this logo, but I’m showing it anyway because I’m very happy with this purchase.
November 19, 2025 at 11:34 AM
I very much doubt anyone on here will recognise this logo, but I’m showing it anyway because I’m very happy with this purchase.
Thoroughly enjoyed Sarah Hamilton’s chapter, ‘The missa pro imperatore in eleventh-century England’. Always looking for new scholarship relating to the PRG (I’m still familiarising myself with it…). Very happy to see Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 163 featured so prominently.
November 18, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Thoroughly enjoyed Sarah Hamilton’s chapter, ‘The missa pro imperatore in eleventh-century England’. Always looking for new scholarship relating to the PRG (I’m still familiarising myself with it…). Very happy to see Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 163 featured so prominently.
3) for any notation enthusiasts out there, this is from a fragment of an English gradual (11th c.) written and notated by several scribes. It’s a great example of the diversity of scribal approaches to notating chant.
Stockholm, Kungliga Biblioteket, MS A. 128, f. 1r
Stockholm, Kungliga Biblioteket, MS A. 128, f. 1r
November 16, 2025 at 8:35 PM
3) for any notation enthusiasts out there, this is from a fragment of an English gradual (11th c.) written and notated by several scribes. It’s a great example of the diversity of scribal approaches to notating chant.
Stockholm, Kungliga Biblioteket, MS A. 128, f. 1r
Stockholm, Kungliga Biblioteket, MS A. 128, f. 1r
Time to relax. 7 days in Zakynthos should do the trick. I have been itching to read this book since I bought it but told myself to wait until after submission.
September 27, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Time to relax. 7 days in Zakynthos should do the trick. I have been itching to read this book since I bought it but told myself to wait until after submission.
It’s finally finished. Big thanks to the SWWDTP and my supervisors - Emma Hornby, Ben Pohl, and Sarah Hamilton.
A sorely underrated English medieval manuscript, if I might say so myself. I hope I’ve done it some justice.
A sorely underrated English medieval manuscript, if I might say so myself. I hope I’ve done it some justice.
September 27, 2025 at 7:38 AM
It’s finally finished. Big thanks to the SWWDTP and my supervisors - Emma Hornby, Ben Pohl, and Sarah Hamilton.
A sorely underrated English medieval manuscript, if I might say so myself. I hope I’ve done it some justice.
A sorely underrated English medieval manuscript, if I might say so myself. I hope I’ve done it some justice.
1st August - the original feast day of the Invention of St Alban. It was moved to 2nd during the abbacy of Geoffrey de Gorron in 1129, but the octave, which should fall on 9th August, remains fixed on 8th in the calendars.
(Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. D. 2. 6)
(Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. D. 2. 6)
August 1, 2025 at 8:36 AM
1st August - the original feast day of the Invention of St Alban. It was moved to 2nd during the abbacy of Geoffrey de Gorron in 1129, but the octave, which should fall on 9th August, remains fixed on 8th in the calendars.
(Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. D. 2. 6)
(Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. D. 2. 6)
Lovely Easter run across the dunes of what was once the medieval town of Kenfig. John Leland, writing in 1538, said: “There is a litle village on the est side of Kenfik, and a castel, booth in ruine and almost shokid and devourid with the sandes that the Severn Se ther castith up.”
April 20, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Lovely Easter run across the dunes of what was once the medieval town of Kenfig. John Leland, writing in 1538, said: “There is a litle village on the est side of Kenfik, and a castel, booth in ruine and almost shokid and devourid with the sandes that the Severn Se ther castith up.”
“Exultet iam angelica turba…” from the Blessing of the Candle on Holy Saturday.
Note the melisma over the word “accendit”, the point at which the candle is lit. These melismas are only found in sources from England, Normandy, and Norman-Sicily.
BnF Lat. 13765 (11th c.)
Note the melisma over the word “accendit”, the point at which the candle is lit. These melismas are only found in sources from England, Normandy, and Norman-Sicily.
BnF Lat. 13765 (11th c.)
April 19, 2025 at 2:50 PM
“Exultet iam angelica turba…” from the Blessing of the Candle on Holy Saturday.
Note the melisma over the word “accendit”, the point at which the candle is lit. These melismas are only found in sources from England, Normandy, and Norman-Sicily.
BnF Lat. 13765 (11th c.)
Note the melisma over the word “accendit”, the point at which the candle is lit. These melismas are only found in sources from England, Normandy, and Norman-Sicily.
BnF Lat. 13765 (11th c.)
I should really say four verses plus…coda? After the end of the final refrain is a short text ‘Tibi laus per saecula amen’ set to the melody of the second half of the refrain. This addition is found elsewhere only in the 13th-century Worcester Antiphoner.
March 11, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I should really say four verses plus…coda? After the end of the final refrain is a short text ‘Tibi laus per saecula amen’ set to the melody of the second half of the refrain. This addition is found elsewhere only in the 13th-century Worcester Antiphoner.
Five verses of the hymn ‘O redemptor sume carmen’ preserved in BL, Cotton Nero A. i, ff. 172r-172v (early 11th c.)
March 11, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Five verses of the hymn ‘O redemptor sume carmen’ preserved in BL, Cotton Nero A. i, ff. 172r-172v (early 11th c.)
Last read of 2024. Blitzed through it in a few hours at the airport. I’d only ever seen Mike Flanagan’s Netflix loose adaptation (one of the best limited series of all time). The source material did not disappoint.
December 31, 2024 at 5:41 AM
Last read of 2024. Blitzed through it in a few hours at the airport. I’d only ever seen Mike Flanagan’s Netflix loose adaptation (one of the best limited series of all time). The source material did not disappoint.
Poor Nala’s not a fan of crowds. That makes two of us.
December 24, 2024 at 5:52 PM
Poor Nala’s not a fan of crowds. That makes two of us.
It’s finally out there! This is my first piece of published work, and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this volume, which resulted from a conference I attended in Oslo back in September 2023. Now open access! (see link below)
www.brepolsonline.net/action/showB...
www.brepolsonline.net/action/showB...
December 18, 2024 at 10:48 PM
It’s finally out there! This is my first piece of published work, and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this volume, which resulted from a conference I attended in Oslo back in September 2023. Now open access! (see link below)
www.brepolsonline.net/action/showB...
www.brepolsonline.net/action/showB...
16th December (Bit late) Something I haven’t had time to look into during my PhD is the inclusion of neumes over the incipit of ‘O Sapientia’ in medieval calendars, a very rare occurrence. I’d love to know if anyone has come across them anywhere else.
December 17, 2024 at 9:06 PM
16th December (Bit late) Something I haven’t had time to look into during my PhD is the inclusion of neumes over the incipit of ‘O Sapientia’ in medieval calendars, a very rare occurrence. I’d love to know if anyone has come across them anywhere else.
December from a beautiful St Albans calendar (mid. 12th c.). The calendar is part of a composite manuscript comprising 3 separate volumes that were eventually bound and sent to Littlemore Priory in Oxfordshire. Notice the neumes above ‘O Sapientia’.
December 1, 2024 at 8:54 PM
December from a beautiful St Albans calendar (mid. 12th c.). The calendar is part of a composite manuscript comprising 3 separate volumes that were eventually bound and sent to Littlemore Priory in Oxfordshire. Notice the neumes above ‘O Sapientia’.
Tonight’s venue - University Church, Oxford 🎄
November 29, 2024 at 5:07 PM
Tonight’s venue - University Church, Oxford 🎄
I might have to give it a few more days until river runs are possible.
November 26, 2024 at 4:20 PM
I might have to give it a few more days until river runs are possible.
Oxford Philharmonic playing Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 2 (concert order). I think I’ve heard my favourite interpretation of no. 1 tonight. Let’s hope the second half is as good as the first.
November 22, 2024 at 8:13 PM
Oxford Philharmonic playing Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 2 (concert order). I think I’ve heard my favourite interpretation of no. 1 tonight. Let’s hope the second half is as good as the first.
Very excited to see my first publication in print, which should be any day now. It’s available to pre-order here: www.brepols.net/products/IS-...
Ed. Catherine A. Bradley
Ed. Catherine A. Bradley
November 13, 2024 at 8:27 AM
Very excited to see my first publication in print, which should be any day now. It’s available to pre-order here: www.brepols.net/products/IS-...
Ed. Catherine A. Bradley
Ed. Catherine A. Bradley