The Ranums' Panat Times

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The "Guise Music": some thumbnail sketches of the members of Mlle de Guise's ensemble

Having suggested, in my article on music at the Guises and their musicians — "A Sweet Servitude" (Early Music, 1987) — that these princesses had turned to families who "belonged" to them when selecting their household musicians, I have always wanted to delve deeper into the origins of these talented young people. Since then, working conditions at the Archives Nationales have become so difficult, so discouraging, so inefficient, that I have given up the project and will summarize my findings for the net. The most straightforward references to the sources I consulted are shown in smaller type and within square brackets; more complex citations appear at the end of the presentation of each musician. ("Fich. Lab" indicates the Fichier Laborde that can be consulted in the manscript department of the Bibliothèque nationale; "MC" indicates a document in the Minutier Central des notaires de Paris at the Archives Nationales; and a number preceded by "Y" cites an Insinuation preserved at the Archives Nationales.

Guise Musicians "Margot" and "Magdelon" and Isabelle

Guise Musicians Jacquet and Brion

Guise Musicians Talon, Grandmaison, and Guyot

Guise Musicians Collin and De Baussen

Guise Musicians Loulié and Beaupuis

Guise Musicians Joly, Carlier, Anthonie and Montailly