Machaut's epitaph
Guillelmus de Machaudio . suusque Johannes frater.
sunt in loco concordio . juncti sicut ad os crater.
horum an[n]iversarium . est juxta petitiorium.
oratio de defunctis . diebus sabbathi cunctis.
pro animabus eorum . amicorumque suorum.
dicetur a sacerdote . celebraturo devote.
ad roëllam in altari . missam quae debet cantari.
pro quorum oration . cum pia devotione.
ad eorum memoriam . percepimus pecuniam.
trecentorum florenorum . nuncupatorum francorum.
suis exequ[u]toribus . pro emendis redditibus.
ad dicte misse crementum . reddituum et fomentum.
in eadem presentium . solerter venientium.
hos fratres salvet dominus . qui tollit omne facinus.
Guillaume de Machaut and his brother Jean
have been joined together in the grave just as bowl to mouth.
Their anniversary is according to [their] petition:
a prayer for the dead will be said every Saturday
for their souls and for those of their friends
by the priest who is about to say devoutly
at the altar by the Rouelle the Mass that is due to be sung.
For [saying] their prayer with pious devotion
in memory of them, we have received the sum
of three hundred florins, called francs,
from their executors for the purchase of revenues
for the increase of the said Mass and the furthering of the revenues
of those present at the same and skillfully taking part.
May the Lord who takes away all sin save these brothers.
Text and translation from Anne Walters Robertson, Guillaume de Machaut and Reims: Context and Meaning in his Musical Works (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 258-59.
The epitaph itself has been destroyed, but Charles Drouin Ergnault copied it into a manuscript that survives as Reims, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 1941. Robertson cites other transcriptions and editions (p. 399 n. 14).
sunt in loco concordio . juncti sicut ad os crater.
horum an[n]iversarium . est juxta petitiorium.
oratio de defunctis . diebus sabbathi cunctis.
pro animabus eorum . amicorumque suorum.
dicetur a sacerdote . celebraturo devote.
ad roëllam in altari . missam quae debet cantari.
pro quorum oration . cum pia devotione.
ad eorum memoriam . percepimus pecuniam.
trecentorum florenorum . nuncupatorum francorum.
suis exequ[u]toribus . pro emendis redditibus.
ad dicte misse crementum . reddituum et fomentum.
in eadem presentium . solerter venientium.
hos fratres salvet dominus . qui tollit omne facinus.
Guillaume de Machaut and his brother Jean
have been joined together in the grave just as bowl to mouth.
Their anniversary is according to [their] petition:
a prayer for the dead will be said every Saturday
for their souls and for those of their friends
by the priest who is about to say devoutly
at the altar by the Rouelle the Mass that is due to be sung.
For [saying] their prayer with pious devotion
in memory of them, we have received the sum
of three hundred florins, called francs,
from their executors for the purchase of revenues
for the increase of the said Mass and the furthering of the revenues
of those present at the same and skillfully taking part.
May the Lord who takes away all sin save these brothers.
Text and translation from Anne Walters Robertson, Guillaume de Machaut and Reims: Context and Meaning in his Musical Works (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 258-59.
The epitaph itself has been destroyed, but Charles Drouin Ergnault copied it into a manuscript that survives as Reims, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 1941. Robertson cites other transcriptions and editions (p. 399 n. 14).