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A timeline of known primary dance sources

Time	Title	Author	Abbr.	Language	Provenance	cited in
c. 1455	De arte saltani	Domenico da Piacenza	Pd	Italian	PBN f.ital.972	1
1455/1465	Libro dell'arte del danzare	Antonio Cornazano	*V	Italian	PBV Capponiano 203	1
1463	De practica seu arte tripudii	Guglielmo Ebreo	*Pg	Italian	PBN f.ital.973	1
c.1471-74	De practica seu arte tripudii	Giovanni Ambrosio (alias Guglielmo Ebreo)	Pa	Italian	PBN f.ital.476	1
c.1473	Il libro di Sidrach		Ven	Italian	Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (It. II. 34 (=4906) 1
1474		Ebreo	S	Italian	Siena, Biblioteca Comunale (L.V.29)	1
1477		Ebreo	FN	Italian	Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale (Magliabecchiano XIX, 88)	1
1477		Ebreo	M	Italian	Modena, Biblioteca Estense (ital. 82. a. J. 94)	1
1480		Ebreo	NY	Italian	New York Public Library, Dance Collection (*MGZMBZ-Res. 72-254)	1
1480s	(“fiorito” dances)		Vit	Italian	Viterbo, Archivio di Stato, Notarile di Montefiascone, Protocollo 11	1
1510		Ebreo	FL	Italian	Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (Antinori 13)	1
1510	(a bassadanza and four “new” balli)		FL	Italian	apparently an addition to FL, above	1
1517	untitled		N	German	Niirnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum (HS 8842/GS 1589)	1
c. 1520-30		“Il Papa”	NY	Italian	Apparently bound with NY, above	1
c.1540-60	MS “Tuscan balli”			Italian?		1
1549	La Pazzia del ballo	S. Zuccolo	Italian			1
1555	Dialogo del Ballo	R. Corso	Italian			1
1559	(a letter with a description of “la caccia”		Italian?			1
1560	Ballo della Gagliarda	L. Compasso	Italian			1
c. 1570	title?	Eliner Gunter and/or Edward Gunter	RP	English	Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawl. Poet. 108, ff. 10r-11r	2
c. 1575-1625	title?	found in papers of J. Stowe	HA	English	London, British Library, Harley 367, ff. 178-179	2
1581	Il Ballarino	F. Caroso	Italian			1
1587	(gagliard variations)	P. Lutij	Italian			1
1589	(re-edition of gagliard variations)	P. Lutij	Italian			1
c. 1594	The olde Measures	John Willoughby	SRO	English	Somerset Records Office, DD/WO 55/7, item 36	2
1600	Nobilità di Dame	F. Caroso	Italian			1
1600	Libro di mutanze of gagliarda, passo e mezzo, canario, etc.	L. Lupi	Italian			1
1602	Le Gratie d'amore	C. Negri	Italian			1
1604	re-edition of Le Gratie d'amore under new title Nuove inventioni di balli	C. Negri	Italian			1
1605	re-edition of Nobilità di Dame	F. Caroso	Italian			1
c. 1607	Practise for Dauncinge	John Ramsey	DO	English	Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 280, ff. 66av-66bv	2
1607	new edition of Libro di mutanze (1600), this time with step descriptions	L. Lupi	Italian			1
c.1615-20	Modo di ballare(MS)	L. Jacobilli	Italian			1
1620	Discorso sobra il ballo	F. degli Alessandri	Italian			1
c. 1620	Del Origine et Nobilità del Ballo (MS)	G. Mancini	Italian			1
c.1628-37	Il Corago (a treatise on the theatre)	anonymous	Italian			1
1630	re-edition of Nobilità di Dame with new title Raccolta di varij balli	F. Caroso	Italian			1
c. 1630	copye of the oulde measures	Elias Ashmole	RD	English	Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawl. D. 864, ff. 199r-199v	2
1633-5	Trattato della musica scenica	G. B. Doni	Italian	1
ca. 1640-1675	The Measures as they are Danced in the Inner Temple Hall	Butler Buggins	IT	English	London, Inner Temple Records, `Revels, Foundlings, and Unclassified, Miscellanea, Undated, &c.' vol. XXVII, folios 3r-6v	2
after 1640	The Old Measures of the Inner Temple London as they were first begun and taught by Robert Holeman a Dancing-Master before 1640 and continu'd ever since in the Inner Temple Hall	Butler Buggins?	RCM I, RCM II	English	London, Royal College of Music, Ms. 1119, ff. 1r, 1v, and 2v I and 2r II	2
1728	Il Ballo Nobile	G. B. Dufort	not sure			1

Citations are from:

Barbara Sparti, “Breaking down Barriers in the Study of Renaissance and Baroque Dance”
Greg|Lindahl?, “Dances from the Inns of Court”, http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/dance/ioc/intro.html

Locations:

PBN: Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale
RBV: Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

Note that texts are generally known by their current location, not their origin. So the “Siena Mannuscript” is the Ebreo manuscript located in the library of Siena, rather than a source originally from Siena.

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Online Primary Sources

Online Secondary Sources

These links are for secondary sources, reconstructions and research papers. They include some level of scholarly attention to detail and feasibility

Master Crispin Sexi's Evidence for 13th-14th Century Dance
Mistress Rosina's Joy and Jealousy: A Manual of 15th-Century Italian Balli
Class notes for Conto Dell'Orco , Candida Luna and the Gresley class notes from KWDS VII on Rendance.Gyges.org
Peter Durham's Dances from the Inns of Court London Booklet
Daniele da Padola's Reconstruction of early Burgundian Basse Dance

Cheat Sheets and Other Tertiary Sources

These are links to informal cheat sheets and step reminders, not dance reconstructions. They are meant primarily for people who are familiar with the repertoire and wish to refresh their memory of dances they know already. They include numerous assumptions and are often based on interpretations which are far removed from the original sources and primary research.

The Barony of Cinnabar's Terpsichore of the Tower 18 (red cover, 2012) booklet
Master Gregory's Cheat Sheets

Articles on Dance

The Function and Status of Dance in the Fifteenth-Century Italian Courts - Barbara Sparti, Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Summer, 1996), pp. 42-61. Discusses the social status of dance in the stated period.
Breaking down Barriers in the Study of Renaissance and Baroque Dance Barbara Sparti, Dance Chronicle, Vol. 19, No. 3 (1996), pp. 255-276. Discusses the transition between dance periods. Contains the foundation of the timeline started above.