John Cotton

Who is John Cotton?

John Cotton, "Johannes Afflighemensis" is the author of a valuable treatise on music, De musica, first printed by Gerbert in 1784.

Of this work, there are two manuscripts at Vienna, and one each at Leipzig, Paris, Rome, and Antwerp. A sixth, from which Gerbert printed his edition, was destroyed in the fire at St. Blaise Abbey in 1768. The Vatican copy is said by Fétis to contain much of the best text. The exact date of the treatise is unknown. The Vienna and St. Blaise copies entitle it merely "Joannis Musica", while the Paris and Antwerp copies have the name of Cotton or Cottonius. The anonymous monk of Melk Abbey who copied the work, says that there was a learned English musician known as Joannes, and the English origin of the work is rendered more probable by the author's dedicating it "Domino et patri suo venerabili Anglorum antistiti Fulgentio," though the latter, like Cotton, cannot be identified. One theory attributes the work to Pope John XXII, but this rests on the very slight foundation that the author styles himself "Joannes servus servorum Dei."