Songs, Scribes, and Society explores the cultural and musical importance of five 15th-century Chansonniers - personalized, portable, and lavishly decorated songbooks - from the Loire Valley of France. Author Jane Alden treats the Chansonniers as physical artifacts to reveal their cultural context and its relationship to their commission, creation, and use.
Jane Alden's infectious enthusiasm for the chanconniers as material objects shines through the pages of Songs, scribes and society ... The dazzling extent of the author's codicological spade-work yields rich fruits.