Kyrie fons bonitatis, cantus fractus, and Petrus Wilhelmi

Abstract

In a mid-fifteenth-century manuscript from Gdańsk (PL-GD Mar. F 406), Kyrie fons bonitatis was written with a short trope in cantus fractus. It is distinguished by its unique notation. Besides Mar. F 406, this trope appears solely in two graduals from Silesia and was also quoted in Petrus Wilhelmi’s three-part Kyrie fons bonitatis, the oldest source of which is the Codex St Emmeram (D-Mbs Clm 14274). Since the appearance of the trope coincides with Petrus’s biography, we obtain further confirmation of his authorship of that work. We also learn about connections between Vienna, Wrocław and Gdańsk and unfamiliar details of musical culture in the Teutonic Order State in Prussia.