The creators of new liturgies throughout the Middle Ages frequently employed borrowed and adapted items from existing liturgies. Those less talented or ambitious in the composition of entirely new works could still express themselves in this forum and perform useful service for their institutions. Perhaps more important, the reuse of familiar pieces forged meaningful links between the new liturgies and existing practice, creating associations between saints, for example, whose feasts shared pieces, or the several Marian feasts throughout the year. Monks at Saint Martial in the generations before Adémar produced a rich liturgical tradition with precisely these means, most outstandingly in the earliest documented liturgy for their patron saint, as I discuss below. Adémar, too, employed the method; in every case, he capitalized on the matrix of associations the process afforded to make very particular statements within the new liturgy he was creating.

His application of this technique, however, moves far beyond the borrowing and adaptation of existing pieces. In creating as full a record as possible of the new apostolic liturgy for the Feast of Saint Martial, Adémar provided significantly greater detail about liturgical practice, particularly in the Divine Office, than his predecessors. He seems to have had several purposes in mind for this level of detail, chief among which was the creation of a permanent and authoritative written record, as discussed in Chapter 2 above. Such a monument, Adémar believed, would help to give credence to the new liturgy for Martial.