A previously unknown and truly extraordinary motet appears on the bv membrane of Dor. Naufragantes visita/ Navigatrix inclita/ T. Aptatur/ … velox perpetrat combines numerous unique features, beautifully illustrating and adding to the impressive catalog of innovative characteristics present in the early fourteenth-century motet in England. Its design is remarkable, conceived from the top down as a seven-section motet with phrases most often defined by a recurring melodic refrain, and incorporating a section in slow hocket with imitation. The upper voices, featuring both repetition and variation, are undergirded with a plainchant tenor that is flexibly rhythmicized to accommodate the scheme of construction. The texts plead both to St Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, and to the Virgin Mary, the star of the sea, to intercede as protectors and guides of seafarers. Naufragantes/Navigatrix is an apt choice for a manuscript probably copied in Abbotsbury; not only is the south Dorset coast the site of countless shipwrecks, but immediately adjacent to the remains of Abbotsbury’s Benedictine Abbey sits the still standing medieval parish church of St Nicholas.

St Nicholas is the subject of several thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century motets surviving both in England and on the Continent. For example, Salve cleri speculum, extant in Hatton 81, is a single-texted, voice-exchange motet that was discussed in Chapter 3. Its text, which recounts Nicholas’s miracles at sea, also celebrates the saint’s abilities as a healer and describes how crowds gather to sing his praises, all common topics associated with the saint in medieval times. The earlier motet Psallat chorus/ Eximie pater/ T. Aptatur, preserved in one English manuscript as well as in numerous continental sources including the fourth fascicle of Mo, likewise tells of throngs of people singing in praise of St Nicholas. Naufragantes/Navigatrix resonates strongly with Psallat/Eximie given that both combine the Aptatur tenor with upper-voice texts on St Nicholas.

Our St Nicholas motet directly follows Regina/Gemma on the verso of Dor; devotion and prayer to the Virgin Mary thus immediately link the two motets. Like Regina /Gemma, Naufragantes/Navigatrix is multi-texted and multi-sectional. But unlike Regina/Gemma, Naufragantes/Navigatrix is for four voices, uses a complex method of text exchange, and is supported by a chant tenor, Aptatur, which appears in one of its lower voices, identified here as Tenor I.