oa How Many Paths Must a Choirbook Tread Before it Reaches the Pope?

In this article, I argue that Pope Leo X may not have been the first owner of the Alamire manuscript Vatican, Capella Sistina 160 [VatS 160]. The pronounced presence of music by Obrecht in the manuscript, the virtual absence of compositions by La Rue, the use of Flemish, and indicative heraldry suggest that the manuscript’s first owner may have been Lord John III of Bergen op Zoom. The conversion of VatS 160 into a gift for the pope further suggests a contextual connection with the Mechelen choirbook [MechAS s.s.], which is seen here as a gift to Maximilian, in the expectation that he, not Giovanni de’Medici, would be elected Pope in 1513.