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Mapping the Musical Renaissance

The starting point of this project was a map documenting the life of Josquin des Prez (1450–1521), the most famous Renaissance composer.

Building on that map, we are beginning to work on a much grander project where, proceeding year by year, a user will be able to visualize phenomena such as the movements of composers, singers, music theorists, and other musicians; places and dates where major musical sources were copied or printed; locations of benefices sought, promised, or received (benefices are lucrative church appointments — think of a benefice as ongoing income from a particular place, whether the person is in residence there or not); musical institutions (key locations, plus information about rosters, organizational hierarchy, and so on); geopolitical boundaries; political rulers and their courts; and sites of major battles, councils, treaties, and other political events.

Core People