Llibre Vermell de Montserrat Llibre Vermell de Montserrat The Llibre Vermell de Montserrat (, "Red Book of Montserrat") is a manuscript collection of devotional texts containing, amongst others, some late medieval songs. The 14th-century manuscript was compiled in and is still located at the monastery of Montserrat outside Barcelona in Catalonia (Spain). The manuscript was prepared in approximately 1399. It originally contained 172 double pages, of which 32 have been lost. Six folios contain music. The title "The Red Book of Montserrat" describes the red binding in which the collection was placed in the 19th century. No composer is identified for any of the
Llibre Vermell de Montserrat songs it contains. The monastery holds the shrine of the Virgin of Montserrat, which was a major site of pilgrimage during the time it was compiled. The purpose of the compilation is made clear by its anonymous compiler himself: The songs, therefore, were written for the pilgrims to have something appropriately "chaste and pious" to sing and dance to (round-dance). The songs are in Catalan, in Occitan and in Latin. While the collection was written near the end of the 14th century, much of the music in the collection appears from its style to originate earlier; the motet " Imperayritz