Oral and Written Transmission in the Early <i>Jeu-Parti</i>

ABSTRACT This article explores the contentious issue of oral and written transmission in thirteenth-century French song by looking at a selection early jeux-partis that share their melodies with other songs. It argues acts contrafacture were sometimes carried out using exemplars, or when was occurring. First, it is asserted melodic variance could result from both transmission. Second, evidence for ephemeral exemplars models discussed. Finally, shown one contrafact jeu-parti its model, some variants must have resulted errors process copying The show scribes performers continually engaged two songs during reception, indicating knowledge persisted several decades after originally composed.