ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews Petrus de Cruce, whose status as a composer figure in Montpellier Codex 7 is at once more obvious and more ambiguous than Adam de la Halle's. Pieces by and quoting Adam are dispersed across fascicle 7, but the two motets that carry definite attributions to Petrus occupy pride of place at the opening of the collection. The chapter focuses on questions of Petrus's authorship and individuality, reconsidering existing definitions of a 'Petronian' corpus and revealing new connections between motets across established 'Petronian; and 'Franconian' divides. The addition of four-semibreve melismas in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries became a fairly standard decorative convention, and one that could also be divorced from the syllabic declamation and rhythmic stratification of Petrus's motets. The St Emmeram Anonymous, in his reference to Par une matinee, may have considered its trios of syllabic semibreves excessive, just as well as its quadruplets.
