Bonus Radulphi (Bon Raoul)

fl. 1494-1509

Map

Displaying 3 events/geographical origins

Biography

Ducal chapel, Milan, 1494-1497
Documents discovered by Paul and Lora Merkley testify to the milanese career of this singer, designated as Bonus Radulphus de Picardia, cleric of the diocese of Thérouanne, son of the late Robert, and singer in the chapel of Ludovico Sforza. On 31 October 1494, Gaspar van Weerbeke resigned a benefice in his favour, reserving for himself a pension of 20 gold ducats on its income. On 19 November 1496, Ludovico wrote to his brother, cardinal Ascanio Sforza, in Rome, to help providing a benefice for Bonus Radulphus "whom we love amongst all of our singers". Radulphus was again involved in the rental of a house together with Ianes de Liège* on 20 September 1497 and appointed procurators to receive income owed to him in Bruges (Merkley & Merkley 1999, p. 395, 400, 403).

Papal chapel, 1500-1509
Bon Raoul (Bonus Radulphi in Vatican documents), cleric of the diocese of Thérouanne, is first attested in the papal chapel by a motu proprio dated 1 February 1500 in which Alexander VI orders that he and Gaspar van Weerbeke* be given their salaries as “recently” accepted singers (actually, Weerbeke was returning from a long absence beginning in 1489). Raoul is in all extant lists of the papal chapel from 1501-1507. There are many gaps in these lists, but beneficial documents attest to his membership in the chapel in 1504, when he attempted to use the Indult of Innocent VIII which allowed the magister capellae to present singers for the benefices of deceased former singers to gain possession of a canonry and prebend in the cathedral of Cambrai vacant on the death of the former papal singer Rogerius de Lignoquercu*, a member of the chapel from 1479-1483 and in 1493 (Sherr 1975; it is possible that the listing of “Ro. de Lignoquercu” refers to different people) and a canonry and prebend in the collegiate church of St Géry in Cambrai, vacant on the death of the former singer Jean de Monstreuil*, a member of the chapel from 1479-1493 (Haberl 1887, Sherr 1975; V-CVaav, RS 1183, f. 271v: supplication dated 20 April 1504; RS 1191, f. 221v-222: supplication dated 23 October 1504-on the Indult see Sherr 1998). He appears to have used the Indult again in 1505 when he asked for a chaplaincy in the church of Our Lady in Antwerp which had been vacated by the death of Jacob Obrecht* (V-CVaav, RS 1214, f. 135: supplication dated 30 September 1505). Obrecht had died in Ferrara probably at the end of July 1505, but that Raoul activated the Indult is an indication that Obrecht had either been or had was to have been a member of the papal chapel before his move to Ferrara (Sherr 1994). Raoul was unable to take possession of any of these benefices. He was no more successful in his attempt to gain possession of the church of Ste Croix in Cambrai, vacant on the death of the former singer Jean Jorlandi alias Corbie*, a member of the chapel from 1456-1484 (Starr 1987) which he also claimed in 1504; the church was eventually ceded to Pierre Briquet, canon of Cambrai (I-ASR, Camerale I 1141 [Quietanze per minuti servizi], fol. 77r: entry dated 12 June 1504; V-CVaav, RS 1253, f. 109-109v: supplication dated 20 April 1507). The difficulties that Raoul’s claims entailed may be the reason he asked to be allowed to take an extended leave from the chapel in 1506 (V-CVaav, RS 1230, fols. 265v-266: supplication dated 23 March 1506). He probably departed sometime in 1507 and returned in July 1509 (V-CVaav, RS 1321, fol. 118: supplication dated 25 July 1509), but after then he is no longer traceable in Vatican documents.

Sherr Richard

Information

  • Roles

    Member of a court chapel (musician)
    Singer

  • Gender

    Male

Events

(YYYY-MM-DD)
Geographical origins

Thérouanne (France)

Musical position

Member of a court chapel (musician)
1494-10-31/1497-09-20
Milano (Italy)


Patron: Ludovico Maria Sforza detto il Moro

Institution: Cappella ducale di Milano, Milano (Italy)

Bibliography: Merkley & Merkley 1999

Musical position

Member of a court chapel (musician)
1500-02-01/1509
Città del Vaticano (Vatican City State)


Patron: Julius II

Institution: Papal chapel, Città del Vaticano (Vatican City State)

Variant names

Bon ; Raoul ; Rodulpphi

Associated people

No associated person.

Bibliography

[Haberl 1887]

Haberl, F. X., 1887, Die römische ‘schola cantorum’ und die päpstlichen Kapellsänger bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts, Vierteljahrsschrift für Musikwissenschaft, 3, p. 189‑296 http://lccn.loc.gov/68129303.

[Merkley & Merkley 1999]

Merkley, P. A. et Merkley, L. L. M., 1999, Music and patronage in the Sforza Court, Turnhout http://www.sudoc.fr/055225020 (consulté le 22 janvier 2013).
(p. 395, 400, 403)

[Sherr 1975]

Sherr, R., 1975, The papal chapel, ca. 1492-1513, and its polyphonic sources, Thèse de doctorat soutenue à S.l., 1975, pays inconnu, 1975 http://www.sudoc.fr/051847728 (consulté le 22 janvier 2013).

[Sherr 1988]

Sherr, R., 1988, The Membership of the Chapels of Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne in Years Preceding their Death, Journal of Musicology, 6, p. 60‑82 http://www.jstor.org/stable/763669.

[Starr 1987]

Starr, P. F., 1987, Music and Music Patronage at the Papal Court, 1447-1464, Thèse de doctorat soutenue à , 1987.

Contributors

Fiala David - Project manager ; Collaborative work

Sherr Richard - Biography author

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Sherr Richard, Bonus Radulphi (Bon Raoul), in RicercarDataLab [http://ricercardatalab.cesr.univ-tours.fr/people/3010/] (accessed 03 July 2025).

Last modification: June 25, 2025, 2:35 p.m.