ABSTRACT
During the years Marguerite of Austria served as regent of the Netherlands and as the patron of the Netherlands court chapel, the Alamire scriptorium of the Netherlands court complex created a sumptuous presentation manuscript destined for the Tudor court of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Many manuscripts collect motets on liturgically appropriate texts for practical use, thus the repetition of functional religious texts is not remarkable. However, neither the text Dulces exuviae nor the manuscript LonBLR 8 G.vii falls into any of these categories. The London and Brussels manuscripts commemorate many significant biographical events in the lives of the two women. In addition, the themes and ties so dominant in the lives of Marguerite and Katherine echo those of a third royal woman, Anne of Brittany. The text Descendi in ortum meum takes on a startling and pointed meaning as a narrative of Katherine's life. Marguerite's personal concept of patronage served as an outlet for her own artistic impulses.
