Presenters: Anna Zayaruznaya (Yale University) and Andrew Wathey (The National Archives and Northumbria University)

Title: Philippe de Vitry (31 October 1291 – 9 June 1361)

Discussion moderated by Lawrence Earp (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Philippe de Vitry, composer, poet, bishop, and correspondent of Petrarch, remains a pivotal but imperfectly understood figure in the cultural and musical history of the fourteenth century. No contemporary was praised so often nor from so many quarters: yet the terms in which we view him, his work, impact and reputation are shifting. Coinciding with his 733rd birthday, this seminar juxtaposes the perspectives and approaches adopted by two forthcoming books on Vitry, a figure whom it is hard to capture in a single study. Following brief presentations on each of these studies by A. Zayaruznaya and Andrew Wathey, themes of common interest will be explored in discussion with Lawrence Earp, as will a number of conundra that continue to complicate and animate Vitry studies, including: historiography, biography, and his treatment in different disciplines; personal approaches to the subject; the span of Vitry’s intellectual universe; his role in fourteenth-century musical innovations; patronage and place; broad chronologies, and Vitry’s origins and early years.