Surname
Gruter
Given Name
Jan
Variant Name
Gruter (die)
Grutter
Role
Employee of a court chapel (musician)
Known voice range
Musician
Singer
Tenor
Ténoriste
Active period
1491 - 1509
Workplace
Liège
Maastricht
Roma
Institution
Capella pontificalis
Sint-Servaasbasiliek van Maastricht
Biography
Sint Servaes of Maastricht, 1491. Tenor in the church of Sint Servaas, 1491 (personal communication from Eugeen Schreurs).
• Papal chapel, 1501-1509. Singer and chaplain in the papal chapel from January 1501 to June 1509 under the pontificates of Alexander VI and Julius II. Gruter, a cleric of the diocese of Liège (clericus leodiensis diocesis) was probably born in or near Maastricht in the Germanic language area of the diocese, and was a member of the German Confraternity of the Campo Santo in Rome in 1501-02. Pope Julius II provided him with a canonry and prebend in Sint Servaas and expectatives in the dioceses of Halberstadt, Liège, Utrecht and Tournai on 1.3.1506 (Archivio di Stato di Roma Camerale I 1104, fols. 56r-56v) ; this document also grants him a dispensation ad defectum natalium (because of illegitimate birth). There is no evidence that Gruter actually took possession of the canonry in Sint Servaas, however. Gruter was in possession of a canonry and prebend in the cathedral of Liège since he agreed in 1507 to pay the papal singer Paolo Trotti a pension from the fruits of that benefice (Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Libri Resignationum, 11, fol. 93v: entry dated 24 September 1507) and probably had possession the deanship of the church of St. Martin in the diocese of Münster when he obligated himself to pay the Annate on the fruits of that benefice in 1509 (Archivio di Stato di Roma, Camerale I, 1142, fol. 37r: entry dated 7 August 1509). Papal documents record requests for benefices in the cathedral of Halberstadt (ASV, Registra Supplicationum 1293: entry dated 21 April 1508; ASV, RS 1298, fols. 69r-70r: entry dated 21 July 1508), in the church of Beata Maria in the diocese of Halberstadt (ASV, RS 1324, fol. 60r: entry dated 14 August 1509), and in the cathedral of Strassbourg (ASV, Registra Supplicationum 1287, fol. 2r: entry dated 3 April 1508) but Gruter did not take possession of these benefices. He died in Rome before 14 June 1509, the date of the first document requesting a benefice vacant because of his death (ASV, RS 1319, fols. 226v–227r: entry dated 14 June 1509).
• Papal chapel, 1501-1509. Singer and chaplain in the papal chapel from January 1501 to June 1509 under the pontificates of Alexander VI and Julius II. Gruter, a cleric of the diocese of Liège (clericus leodiensis diocesis) was probably born in or near Maastricht in the Germanic language area of the diocese, and was a member of the German Confraternity of the Campo Santo in Rome in 1501-02. Pope Julius II provided him with a canonry and prebend in Sint Servaas and expectatives in the dioceses of Halberstadt, Liège, Utrecht and Tournai on 1.3.1506 (Archivio di Stato di Roma Camerale I 1104, fols. 56r-56v) ; this document also grants him a dispensation ad defectum natalium (because of illegitimate birth). There is no evidence that Gruter actually took possession of the canonry in Sint Servaas, however. Gruter was in possession of a canonry and prebend in the cathedral of Liège since he agreed in 1507 to pay the papal singer Paolo Trotti a pension from the fruits of that benefice (Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Libri Resignationum, 11, fol. 93v: entry dated 24 September 1507) and probably had possession the deanship of the church of St. Martin in the diocese of Münster when he obligated himself to pay the Annate on the fruits of that benefice in 1509 (Archivio di Stato di Roma, Camerale I, 1142, fol. 37r: entry dated 7 August 1509). Papal documents record requests for benefices in the cathedral of Halberstadt (ASV, Registra Supplicationum 1293: entry dated 21 April 1508; ASV, RS 1298, fols. 69r-70r: entry dated 21 July 1508), in the church of Beata Maria in the diocese of Halberstadt (ASV, RS 1324, fol. 60r: entry dated 14 August 1509), and in the cathedral of Strassbourg (ASV, Registra Supplicationum 1287, fol. 2r: entry dated 3 April 1508) but Gruter did not take possession of these benefices. He died in Rome before 14 June 1509, the date of the first document requesting a benefice vacant because of his death (ASV, RS 1319, fols. 226v–227r: entry dated 14 June 1509).
Bibliography
Haberl 1887
Pietschmann 2000
Sherr 1975
Sherr AP