The Medieval Anti-Ottoman Combat and Its Emblematic Figure Saint Ioannes da Capistrano in Late Transylvanian Franciscan Plainchant
The Medieval Anti-Ottoman Combat and Its Emblematic Figure Saint Ioannes da Capistrano in Late Transylvanian Franciscan Plainchant

Summary/Abstract: Manuscript I. 3. (98 folios) kept in the Batthyaneum Library in Alba Iulia (Romania), dated 1730, was made for the Franciscan convent of Vințu de Jos, Transylvania. It comprises some mass proprium and a few officium pieces. Its sanctorale contains only Franciscan feasts, among which St. Ioannes da Capistrano (sanctified in 1724), praised by two melodies with the same text: an Alleluia and a canticum antiphon. The cult of Capistrano, called here as exterminator turcarum, can be related to the topic of Missa contra paganos, which is documented in Transylvanian plainchant in the 16th century. According to the research available to date, the text and the very late melodic contrafacta in honor of Capistrano seem to be unique in the Central-European plainchant repertoire.

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