Pierre Du Wez (Cambrai)

fl. 1443-1483†

Map

Displaying 4 events

Biography

Two distinct singers, seemingly unrelated, pursued careers during the same period under the exact same name, Pierre Du Wez, in Latin Petrus de Vado (referring to the French modern word gué, meaning ford). The former, subject of this present biography, was based in Cambrai, where he notably served Guillaume Du Fay and died in 1483, while the latter served primarily at the Burgundian court and died in 1508, on whom see Pierre Du Wez (Condé).

Cathedral of Cambrai, 1443-1483 (Planchart PCR/2018, p. 771)
Pierre du Wez was a small vicar of the cathedral of Cambrai from 14.5 to 18.10.1443, 5.12.1443 to 3.1.1445, and 25.2.1446 to 08 July 1457 (F-AD 59, 4G7442, f. 8v; 4G7443, f. 7; 4G7444, f. 5v; 4G7445, f. 6v; 4G7456, f. 7). His first absence was connected with a journey to the Council of Basel, no explanation for his second absence has turned up. Du Wez joined the grand community of chaplains in 1449-50 (accounts of those years do not record the advents) and appears in the lists from 1450-51 (F-AD59, 4G6916, f. 23v) until 1482-83 (F-AD59, 4G6962, f. 24); in 1462 he was chaplain of the revestiary (F-CA, ms. 1060, f. 144v). He kept Du Fay’s house for him during the seven years Du Fay was in Savoy in the 1450s and was one of his executors. He died on 8.5.1483 (F-CA, ms. 1061, f. 159v). Though he was of modest means to the end (the aumosne granted him 100 s on 22.3.1482 on account of old age and poverty; F-AD59, 4G7767, f. 14v], the execution of his will (F-AD59, 4G1705) shows he was a learned man who left behind a large library.

Complements
D. Fallows wrote that Du Wez was a "tenor in Cambrai Cathedral Choir" and that "he also took part, with Dufay, in making the inventory of Cambrai Cathedral property in 1461" (Fallows 1982, p. 256, refering to Wright 1975, p. 187 & 189; N.B.: his designation as a tenor, which is not supported by any known archival reference and is recorded neither by A. Pirro nor A. Planchart, has to be taken with much caution). He was abbot of the fools in January 1447 and acted as proxy for an exchange of a chaplaincy in 1477 with Pierre de Rivo*, probably the singer who later served the chapel of Maximilan of Austria (Fiala PCR after F-Pn, Legs André Pirro, boîte 50, manuscript notes after F-CA, ms. 1058, f. 145v, 8.1.1447: "Petro de Vado, abbé des fous", and ms. 1061, 21v, 26.3.1477: "Petr. du We, pr. proc. curé de S Nic. de Brules in Tornaco dioc. Cambrai, résign. par permutation avec Petro de Rivo, pr. chap. S Alexis à l’autel S Vincent du monastère de Cisoing, dioc. Tournai"). In December 1469, he was the priester who administered the last rites to the canon Grégoire Nicolaï (Maillard-Luypaert 2010, p. 17, n. 54, after F-AD 59, 4G1039, f. 52v).

Fiala David

Information

  • Roles

    Member of a church (lower ranked officer)
    Member of a church (musician)
    Priest
    Tenor

  • Gender

    Male

Events

(YYYY-MM-DD)

4 in database

Musical position

Member of a church (musician)
1443-05-14/1457-07-08
Cambrai (France)


Institution: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Cambrai, Cambrai (France)

Travel

1443-11
Basel (Switzerland)


Institution: Council of Basel, Basel (Switzerland)

Bibliography: Planchart PCR

Religious position

Member of a church (lower ranked officer)
1449/1483
Cambrai (France)


Institution: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Cambrai, Cambrai (France)

Comments: Chaplain

Death

1483-05-08
Cambrai (France)


Institution: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Cambrai, Cambrai (France)

Variant names

de Vado ; du We

Associated people

Pierre Du Wez (Condé) (Homonym without any known connection)

Bibliography

[Fallows 1982]

Fallows, D., 1982, Dufay, London http://www.sudoc.fr/045408580.
(p. 256)

[Fiala PCR]

Fiala, D., 2008, Contribution directe à la Prosopographie des chantres de la Renaissance / Direct contribution to the Prosopography of Renaissance Singers.

[Maillard-Luypaert 2010]

Maillard-Luypaert, M., 2010, Pour le salut de mon âme et l’honneur de mon église. Le testament de Grégoire Nicole, chanoine et official de Cambrai (1466, 1469), Revue du Nord, 384, p. 7‑51 https://shs.cairn.info/revue-du-nord-2010-1-page-7 (consulté le 13 mai 2026).
(17)

[Planchart 2018]

Planchart, A. E., 2018, Guillaume Du Fay: The Life and Works, Cambridge https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/guillaume-du-fay/C1FA92429F59A808EE02AE69BC1D76AE (consulté le 16 mars 2024).
(771)

[Planchart PCR]

Planchart, A. E., 2008, Contribution directe à la Prosopographie des chantres de la Renaissance / Direct contribution to the Prosopography of Renaissance Singers.

[Wright 1975]

Wright, C., 1975, Dufay at Cambrai: Discoveries and Revisions, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 28, p. 175‑229 http://www.jstor.org/stable/830766.
(p. 187, 189)

Archival references

[F-AD 59]

S. d., Archives départementales du Nord, FranceArchives https://francearchives.gouv.fr/fr/service/33921 (consulté le 9 février 2025).

[F-CA]

S. d., Le Labo, Cambrai (olim Médiathèque d’agglomération de Cambrai, Bibliothèque Municipale/ Communale) https://rism.online/institutions/30001436 (consulté le 26 juin 2025).

[F-Pn]

S. d., Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département de la Musique, Paris (F-Pn) https://rism.online/institutions/30001488 (consulté le 9 septembre 2025).

Contributors

David Fiala - Project manager ; Biography author

Alejandro Planchart - Collaborative work


Data collectors

collab_surname Guillaume Avocat

David Fiala

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Fiala David, Pierre Du Wez (Cambrai), in RicercarDataLab [https://ricercardatalab.cesr.univ-tours.fr/people/931/] (accessed 16 July 2026).

Last modification: June 9, 2026