Simon Tunsted
Simon Tunsted (c. 1310 – 1369) was an English Franciscan friar, theologian, philosopher and musician. The authorship of Quatuor Principalia Musicae, a treatise on music, is generally attributed to him.[1]
He originated from Norwich, though his year of birth is unknown. In Norwich, he joined a Greyfriars monastery and became a doctor of theology. He went on to become master of the Minorites at Oxford (in 1351). He died at Bruisyard, Suffolk. He was twenty-ninth provincial superior of the Minorites in England.[2]
Works
Tunsted wrote a commentary on the Meteorologica of Aristotle and improved the calculating device described by Richard of Wallingford in Tractatus Albionis. He is also usually credited as the author of the Quatuor Principalia Musicae,[1] a mediaeval treatise on music which set out the musical principles on which the Ars nova movement was based.
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Simon Tunsted — English Minorite, b. at Norwich, year unknown; d. at Bruisyard, Suffolk, 1369. Having joined the Greyfriars at Norwich he distinguished himself for learning and piety and was made a doctor of theology. He filled several important ecclesiastical charges, being at different times warden of the Franciscan convent at Norwich, regent master of the Minorities at Oxford (1351), and twenty-ninth provincial superior of his order in England (1360). He wrote a commentary on the "Meteora" of Aristotle, improved the "Albeon" of Richard of Wallingford; and is the reputed author of another work, the "Quatuor Principalia Musicae", a clear, practical, and very valuable medieval treatise on music. Davey gives a thorough discussion of the authorship of this work, which has been ascribed by different writers on the history of music to Tunsted, to John Hanboys, and to Thomas of Tewkesbury; but the arguments brought forward by Davey show that it is certainly not the work of either Hanboys or Thomas of Tewkesbury, whilst his conclusion with regard to the first-named writer is that "the grounds for ascribing it to Tunsted are admittedly insufficient; and internal evidence point to the author being a foreigner either by birth or education".
DAVEY in Dict. Nat. Biog., s. v.; IDEM, Hist. of English Music.
References
- Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Crowest, Frederick James. The Story of British Music. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 291.
- Back to citation Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Simon Tunsted". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Bibliography
- Percy A. Scholes, The Oxford Companion to Music, Tenth Edition, Oxford University press, 1970