In Renaissance Europe, the Age of the Franco-Flemish Musicians

From a small region, today spanning northern France and Belgium, from the Scheldt Valley to the great European courts, Renaissance composers shaped a musical language in constant motion. Movements, influences, and exchanges formed a dense network at the heart of which a shared aesthetic emerged—one we now refer to as Franco-Flemish.

‘Allegory of Music’ by Jan Brueghel the Elder (c. 1595-1600): in this work, the painter celebrates music as a subject of intellectual inquiry, a multifaceted and scholarly art form, and an object of collection and prestige. © Museo del Prado

During the Renaissance, in the 15th and 16th centuries, life was profoundly shaped by music. It accompanied work as much as festivities, whether rural or urban, and every event—public or private—became an occasion to make and to hear music. Musicians were present at every level of society, from village fiddlers to the most prestigious courts with their refined instruments. Two features particularly define this period: on the one hand, the importance of travel in the careers of composers; on the other, the fact that a large number of them came from the same relatively small geographical area. This territory, roughly corresponding to the Scheldt basin, encompasses cities now located in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. This is why these composers and their style are commonly referred to as “Franco-Flemish.” We invite you to immerse yourself in this network of connections and influences that shaped one of Europe’s great musical traditions.

The Age of Exploration

To explore what travel was like during the Renaissance, I’ll start by broadening the scope a bit: no, musicians weren’t the only ones traveling around Europe, of course! This period is even known as the Age of Discovery. Just think: from the early 15th century, the King of Portugal was already sending ships to explore the coasts of West Africa. The Cape of Good Hope was reached in 1488. A few years later, the Portuguese reached India by sailing around Africa. At the same time, the Spanish arrived in the Caribbean and Central America, while the Portuguese landed in Brazil. And I’m only talking about European voyages here, since many Arab and Chinese travelers were also setting out on explorations during the same period. All this to say that travel is all the rage these days!

Travel during the Renaissance

This is not the place to draw up an exhaustive list of Renaissance travellers, but one might think, for example, of merchants: from the smallest, who crossed the continent from fair to fair to sell their goods, to major traders organizing the import of rare products—spices, silks, and other precious objects from afar. Or again, of young people travelling to study at university or with a master craftsman, and all those who, once their studies were completed, sought employment here or there. And of course, one must also think of soldiers and all the auxiliaries of armies, as wars and military campaigns were countless in the 15th and 16th centuries. In fact, there existed all kinds of international networks employing various professions, required to move in order to meet communication needs: clerics and religious figures, diplomats and jurists, artists and intellectuals…

And of course, courts themselves were also mobile. Kings and princes had numerous residences and moved frequently from one to another. They had to administer their territories, which could be very extensive, forcing them to travel from one end of their domains to the other. From the nobility to those of more modest means, everyone travels—for diplomatic reasons, for war, for religious festivals, for hunting season, and for countless other reasons…

In this respect, Francis I provides a fine example, travelling with a court of 8,000 to 12,000 people. The king rarely stayed more than a few weeks in any one place. Historians have counted that he stayed in 783 different locations during his 32-year reign. The Burgundian court, too, was itinerant. Based most often in Dijon in the time of the early dukes, it later divided, under Philip the Good, between Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Arras, Lille, and Mechelen—a region recognized as the economic centre of Europe, even more prosperous than Venice according to witnesses of the time (this will be discussed further below). As for Charles V, he himself used to say that the sun never set on his empire! And from north to south and east to west, he, too, never stopped crisscrossing the continent.