oa Rhythmic Notation in Plainchant from Sixteenth-Century Chaumont?

Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century chant manuscripts from the collegiate church of St. John the Baptist in Chaumont, France, have a notational anomaly: among the standard features of square notation, graphically elongated forms are used. These signs, often two to three times the length of a standard square, are frequently found at the ends of words and sometimes in combination with other neumes. The use of the signs suggests that their presence is not merely space-filling or ornamental, but rather, that they must have been intended to influence some aspect of how the chant was sung. Using a series of six criteria alongside contemporary music theoretical writings, I investigate the use of the sign by the church’s scribes and propose likely interpretations.