Making Sense of Omnis/Habenti: An Ars Nova Motet in England

The motet Omnis/Habenti is found in only one source, the rear flyleaves of the book Oxford, Bodleian e museo 7, ff. 266v–267. As is typical of fourteenth-century insular polyphony, its texts are in Latin, and it carries no direct sign of authorship. The song was chosen as one of twenty-two pieces featured on the Gothic Voices recording Masters of the Rolls: Music by English Composers of the Fourteenth Century, an acknowledgement of the craft of the song as well as its effective sound in performance. Omnis/Habenti has also attracted attention as a song betraying continental influence. The new identification of the tenor of this motet, as outlined in this chapter, offers new possibilities for analysing and interpreting Omnis/Habenti in relation to other fourteenth-century works, especially those by Philippe de Vitry.