Maximilian as heir to the tradition of the court chapels of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy

From the time of Charlemagne, the courts of Holy Roman Emperors customarily included several priests who served the liturgical needs of the ruler. Their services did not simply satisfy the ruler’s own personal piety, but also reflected his quasi-sacral role. The term capellanus (chaplain) was originally applied to one of the clerics who served the cult of St Martin of Tours, which involved the veneration of relics of the cloak (cappa) which he was said to have shared with the beggar; the term capella was a back-formation from capellanus. Like the rest of the ruler’s personal court, the chapel was customarily dissolved at the ruler’s death.[1] Maximilian’s highly mobile court was never associated primarily with any one building. Maximilian established many liturgical foundations. Some of these funded liturgical observances were in chapels located within his residences as Archduke of Austria, particularly Innsbruck and Vienna. Others were in small and sometimes quite remote churches and chapels.

After marrying Mary of Burgundy in 1477, Maximilian took over the chapel of his late father-in-law Charles the Bold virtually intact.[2] The chapel of Maximilian and Mary included several notable musicians, including the composer Antoine Busnoys. Following Mary’s accidental death in 1482, the estates and cities of Flanders, such as Ghent and Bruges, refused to recognise Maximilian’s authority, except as regent for his son Philip the Fair, whom the Flemings considered Mary’s only legitimate heir. In the ensuing warfare, Maximilian was even imprisoned for a time by the city council of Bruges. During these difficulties, Maximilian’s court, including his chapel, was greatly reduced. However, in 1485, Maximilian restocked his chapel with several excellent singers, in preparation for his election and coronation as King of the Romans. Amongst these singers was the famous tenorist Jean Cordier, who enjoyed international fame, and the contratenor Rogier de Lignoquercu, who had previously sung in the papal chapel, and who would later serve in the Milanese court.[3] Although Maximilian had no in-house composer for over a decade after Busnoys left his service in 1483, Birgit Lodes has argued that Maximilian commissioned polyphonic music from other composers in his geographical orbit. She has suggested, for example, that he commissioned Jacob Obrecht to write the Missa Salve diva parens for his coronation (see » D. Obrechts Missa Salve diva parens). In early 1490, Maximilian sent the composer Jacobus Barbireau to Hungary on a diplomatic mission. Maximilian’s relationship with this musician was evidently one of considerable trust.[4] Such esteem may explain the strong representation of works by Barbireau in sources associated with the Burgundian Habsburg court, such as the choirbook » A-Wn Mus. Hs. 1783.