The importance played by St. Gall in the development of the sequence has given rise to the theory that it originated there. Present-day opinion, as indicated above, concedes that sequences arose in France and that St. Gall is not a place of origin but like St. Martial, a prominent center for their composition and diffusion. Other centers were Metz, Murbach, Fulda, Echternach, Kremünster and St. Florian. Reichenau, too, was important in music and in the spread of sequence poetry.[23]
Notker Balbulus, (840?-912), was largely responsible for the enviable reputation enjoyed by St. Gall. Born in Switzerland, Notker had entered the Benedictine monastery at St. Gall as a child to be educated and there he continued as a member of the Order until his death. A pupil and later a teacher of the music school in the period of Louis the Pious and Louis the German, he shared the life of the Abbey during the height of its reputation, when its doors were open to travelers from every land and every rank of society. Notker himself tells of the refugee from the French monastery of Jumièges who brought with him his famous Antiphonary. Tradition has it that Notker composed words to fit the forms of thealleluia-iubilus, note for note, already in use in his monastery, and thus originated the sequence, finding his inspiration, not in the Ambrosian hymns but in the liturgy.[24]The Jumièges Antiphonary reached St. Gall about 860, by which timeprosaewere already known in France. There is evidence, moreover, from manuscripts, that texts existed before Notker’s time in St. Gall. He is not their first composer nor are the sequences emanating from St. Gall necessarily all Notker’s work. “Notkerian” means for sequences what “Ambrosian” means for hymns.
The problem of the authentic Notkerian sequences was subjected to critical study and variously solved by Schubiger in 1858, Wilmanns in 1872, and Werner in 1901. More recent students have re-examined the evidence and expressed their critical opinions as to Notker’s poetical and musical prestige: Singer in 1922, Van Doren in 1925 and Clark in 1926. Of more than 100 sequences attributed to Notker, 47 were judged to be authentic and edited in volume 53 of theAnalecta Hymnica. Notker’s ability as a musician appears to be a matter of controversy. A new reviewof the Notkerian problem and its literature has been offered by the Swiss scholar, Wolfram von den Steinen, together with an edition of the sequences of the St. Gall school.[25]What scholars in general have taken away from Notker with one hand they return with the other, for if not an originator he is conceded to be the leading agent in introducing the sequence into Germany and setting a standard for this type of poetry which included from Notker’s pen a notable group of sequences for the festivals of the whole year. His sequence for Pentecost is representative of the achievements of the German school.
(SeeIllustrative Hymns, XI.Sancti spiritus adsit nobis gratia, “The grace of the Holy Ghost be present with us.”)
It is not surprising that scholars interested in the theory of Greek influence upon sequence poetry should seek confirmation of their views in Notker’s work. There is a majestic quality and a vigorous resounding praise in these poems which has been thought a reflection of Byzantine hymns. Reference has already been made to the Byzantine strophic system and its probable influence upon Notker’s poetical technique. When one considers that the monastery of St. Gall was always a port of call for refugees and travelers from the east and in the preceding century may have harbored many of them, it is reasonable to suppose that Notker was acquainted with contemporary Greek hymnody. Whatever may be the explanation of the metrical system employed by Notker, he undoubtedly named his melodies in such a way as to suggest a Greek identification.[26]
There remains another line of research, which is relatively unimportant, yet should be noted when the question of Greek influence is raised. It has been stated that Greek words are used in Latin sequences, thereby proving contact with Greek-speaking contemporaries on the part of their authors, or with Greek literary sources. Whenever this test is applied to any medieval writing produced by churchmen it should not be forgotten that the Vulgate was the one great continuous source, inspiration and standard of the Latin language as employed in the Middle Ages. Throughout the period, all Latin hymns which include a narrative element or refer in any other way to biblical statements are greatly indebted to the Vulgate. A considerable number of Greek words, naturally, appear in the Vulgate. Applying the criterion of Greek words to Notker’s sequences,one reaches no definitive results whatever. In the forty-one sequences attributed to Notker by Wilmanns, some seven Greek words appear which are not in the Vulgate.[27]If this proves anything in Notker’s case, it is significant only in connection with other evidence from Greek originals which has not been advanced.
Having considered the separate development of the musical and poetical aspects of the sequence, as far as they can be sundered, it remains to view certain factors which may have affected that development but have not as yet been stated.
The history of medieval music, quite apart from the creation of theiubilusand thesequentia, should not be overlooked by the student who is trying to understand liturgical music in this general period. Perhaps during the eighth and certainly from the ninth century, polyphonic and harmonic forms began to appear. New melodies for sequences were in demand and were produced, which in turn were influenced by popular and secular music, with an interaction of words and music taking place, sometimes with words, sometimes with music leading the way.[28]The history of the sequence, when complete, will owe much to the studies of medieval music now in progress by musicologists, some of whose conclusions have been noted above. The history of musical instruments is relevant here but in any case it must always be remembered that the church possessed the musical notation and was able to dominate the field.
If the course of secular and ecclesiastical music accompanying the sequence remains uncertain, so are the currents of medieval religious and secular verse in Latin still uncharted. Which is the original stream? Latin secular poetry existed contemporary with the early sequence, the secular form of which was known as amodus,[29]which, like the sequence, was inseparable from its musical accompaniment for the minstrel both sang and played his unrhymed lay. Some have taken the extreme point of view of the part played by secular influence and have regarded the sequence as a popular lyric in worship, perhaps even aVolkslied.[30]But the question as to the predominance of influence whether religious or secular, remains open.
The argument for influence from vernacular verse upon the sequence is equally weak. Prior to the ninth century vernacular lyrics in the Germanictongues are so rare as to be valueless in this discussion. Celtic lyrics from the seventh and eighth centuries are also rare. It is possible that they were known to Celtic teachers on the continent but too much should not be assumed from this possibility or from the fact that the oldest form of Celtic lyric exhibits rhythmic parallelism.[31]French, Spanish and early English vernacular lyrics appear too late to be significant in the problem of origins. In any case, the question hinges upon metrical technique which can be adequately explained without recourse to vernacular lyrics, which, insofar as they do exist, may be regarded as themselves imitations of earlier Latin forms.
The evidence offered by secular lyrics, Latin or vernacular, in the early Middles Ages points to an outstanding growth from the sequence rather than a creative source for the sequence. As a matter of fact the sequence breaks away from the church and itself becomes secular, as the history of poetry in the later Middle Ages bears witness.
The above presentation of what is known as to the origin of the sequence can scarcely be satisfactory to the scientific historian of medieval culture. Full of inconvenient gaps and baffling inconsistencies the evidence remains totally inadequate. One conclusion alone may be advanced and that tentatively; the sequence appears to have been created wholly within the liturgy of the mass. Thetropariumortropary, later the gradual and missal contained the sequences for the annual feasts just as thehymnariumorhymnary, later the breviary had contained the hymn cycles of the offices.
The appearance of the sequence in the history of medieval hymnody was an episode of the greatest importance not only in the evolution of Latin religious and secular poetry but in their vernacular counterparts. In order to understand the extraordinary popularity and wide diffusion of the sequence it must be emphasized that it is not just another hymn, but an ornament to the mass, individually created for each and every festival with a particular theme in mind. The seasons of Advent, Nativity, the Passion, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, the Virgin festivals of the Nativity, Annunciation, Visitation, Purification and Assumption, the feasts of the Apostles and other biblical Saints, the Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins formed a great series which challenged the finest efforts of the clericalpoets. Herein lies the essential interest of this hymnody. The original Latin hymn was associated with daily secular worship and then with the canonical hours of the monastery. The sequence was associated with the celebration of the divine sacrifice.
As a closing illustration for this chapter the Alleluiatic sequence has been selected. Based upon the canticle,Benedicite omnia opera, and often attributed to Notker, this superb sequence reaches a height of expression comparable to the noblest hymns of the ninth century revival.
(SeeIllustrative Hymns, XII.Cantemus cuncti melodum nunc Alleluia, “The strain upraise of joy and praise.”)
Beginning with the twelfth century the large number of new hymns and sequences produced point to a degree of creative activity that continued through the High Middle Ages. A recent historian of medieval literature, De Ghellinck, sees the religious poetry of the twelfth century rivalling the secular, and points out that ten thousand specimens of every type of religious verse, from 1060 to 1220, are edited in theAnalecta Hymnica.[1]Maurice Hélin, whose attractive volume is available in English translation, considers the poetic product of the twelfth century the peak of Latin poetry and “its most original contribution to the intellectual patrimony of the west.”[2]
It is easier to repeat such a statement than to present acceptably the relevant evidence in the field with which this chapter is concerned. One might expect a larger proportion of known authors but anonymity remains the rule. The exceptions command recognition among the most notable writers of hymns and sequences in any period of their production.
The sequence, originally a product of France, already perfected as a poetical form by Notker and the German school of ecclesiastical hymn writers, attained a greater influence and popularity under Adam of St. Victor. In 1130 Adam entered the Augustinian Abbey of St. Victor on the outskirts of Paris and there he remained until his death. Whether a native of France or England is unknown. Like Notker, he followed in his poetic themes the annual festivals. To him have been attributed more than 100 sequences which appear in the manuscripts of St. Victor. They were published first by Leon Gautier in 1858 and in the later nineteenth centurywere subjected to critical analysis by Misset who regarded 45 sequences as authentic.[3]Blume, who edited the Victorine sequences in volumes 54 and 55 of theAnalecta Hymnica, attributed 48 to Adam’s authorship.
Adam’s poetical concepts are centered in the mystical interpretation of biblical narratives and of Christian theology as it was taught in the schools of Paris. Hugh and Richard of St. Victor were his contemporaries but Adam was poet as well as theologian. Praise was to him an essential harmony of voice and life. His verse departed from the earlier prose rhythms of the German poets and was cast in a metrical form already popularized in the hymn. A group of rhymed trochaic lines of eight syllables with a caesura after the fourth syllable at the end of a word, closes with a seven syllable line. This scheme with its many variants characterizes the work of Adam and his imitators in countless Latin and later, vernacular lyrics. Adam’s sequence for the Feast of St. Stephen has been selected as illustrative of his finest work.
(SeeIllustrative Hymns, XIII.Heri mundus exultavit, “Yesterday with exultation.”)
To appreciate fully the function of the sequence in worship at this time as well as its appeal to popular imagination, one should isolate a single theme for more intimate enjoyment. For this purpose, the sequences written for the five feasts of the Virgin are best suited. While manifold saints were honored in the hymnology of the day, the veneration of the Virgin reached at this time, its pinnacle of expression. Notker had provided sequences for her Nativity, Purification and Assumption. Adam of St. Victor, poet of the Virgin, drew upon all the resources of medieval symbolism in hisSalve, redemptoris mater, “Hail, mother of the Redeemer,” a masterpiece of medieval religious verse. Clerical poets everywhere met the challenge of his example. The result was indicative not only of their devotion and their poetic skill which was at times indifferent, but of the actual use of the Virgin sequences in the numerous feasts which honored her and their familiarity to wide congregations of clergy and laity.
During this period great sequence writers appeared, some known and distinguished, the majority anonymous. To the latter group belongs the author of the Easter sequence,Victimae paschali laudes, “Christians, to thePaschal Victim,” which represents the transition between the Notkerian and Victorine styles. The growing relationship between Latin hymnology and the arts becomes obvious in this sequence which was of importance in building the liturgical drama for Easter. The dialogue embedded in the poem,
“Speak, Mary, declaringWhat thou sawest wayfaring?”
“Speak, Mary, declaring
What thou sawest wayfaring?”
and her reply, ending
“Yea, Christ my hope is arisen:To Galilee he goes before you.”
“Yea, Christ my hope is arisen:
To Galilee he goes before you.”
contributed, with other sources, to the fully developed Easter Play.
The so-called Golden Sequence for Pentecost,Veni sancte spiritus, “Come, thou Holy Spirit, come,”[4]also of undetermined authorship, attained perhaps the greatest prestige, having now been heard in Christian worship for more than eight hundred years.
The activities of the French school are largely responsible for the popularity of sequences in the twelfth century and for their multiplication in every part of western Europe. Other factors played a part. Just as the Latin hymn can best be understood in the historical setting of the late Roman Empire or of the early Germanic kingdoms, so the development of the sequence must be interpreted in connection with the social and cultural environment of the age. The universities, notably that of Paris, were dominating intellectual life. Economic opportunity offered by the revival and expansion of craftsmanship, commerce, urban life and geographical knowledge resembled the achievement of Roman days. The European centralized states had emerged and were assuming the national features which mark them today. The modern languages of Europe were highly developed in their literary treasures and in everyday speech. Under reforming popes such as Innocent III, the church was entering an era of unity and spiritual renewal. Side by side with the reformed Benedictine Order, the Augustinian canons with their ancient prestige, the Franciscan, Dominican and other religious orders were taking their part in the work for the regeneration of society and the triumph of the Faith. Pilgrimages and crusades were in vogue for two hundred years from 1095. The hymnody of the church took on new vitality in an era of European awakening.
Although the sequence had apparently occupied the center of attention, the writing of office and festival hymns had never been interrupted and certainly had never ceased. Gathering up the sources after the period of ninth century influence described inChapter Three, one pauses at the verse of Peter Damian, (988-1072), Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Superior of the monks of the Holy Cross. His theme was the joys of paradise in the hymnAd perennis vitae fontem, “To the fount of life eternal,” a topic about which a distinguished hymnody was ultimately created.
(SeeIllustrative Hymns, XIV.Ad perennis vitae fontem, “To the fount of life eternal.”)
Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres (d. 1028), is best known for his Easter hymn,Chorus novae Ierusalem, “The chorus of the New Jerusalem,”[5]in which the militant ideal in its knightly form finds expression as the warriors of the faith acclaim the victory of their royal and divine leader.
In the twelfth century, a complete new hymnary in all its parts was written by Abelard, (1079-1142), for the Convent of the Paraclete of which Heloise was the abbess.[6]A collection of 91 hymns, it has never been highly praised by critics, yet it has provided the hymn,O quanta qualia, “How mighty are the Sabbaths,” in praise of the Sabbath and the Good Friday hymn,Solus ad victimam procedis, Domine, “Alone to sacrifice Thou goest, Lord,” both of which have found a place in recent hymnals. Helen Waddell’s translations of the two illustrate modern renderings at their best. The same century saw the achievement of Bernard of Cluny or Morlaix, (fl. 1122), whose long poem,De contemptu mundifurnished the selections on the heavenly country,Hora novissima, popularized by the translations of John Mason Neale. Perhaps the best-known of these,Urbs Sion aurea, “Jerusalem the Golden,” in its English rendering has attained a vernacular status independently of its Latin original. The great anonymous hymn,Jesu dulcis memoria, “Jesu, the very thought of Thee,” is also of the twelfth century. Its authorship has been variously ascribed but never certainly determined.
The thirteenth century was marked by the rise of hymn writing in the new religious orders founded by St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic.The Franciscan Bonaventura (1221-74), wroteRecordare sanctae crucis, “Be mindful of the Holy Cross,” on the theme of the Cross. To read this hymn side by side with theVexilla regis prodeuntof Fortunatus, is to apprehend more fully the increasing subjectivity of the Latin hymn in 500 years of its history. The passion of Christ is, moreover, a favorite theme and object of devotion of the friars, ever present to their thinking. Thomas Aquinas, (1227-74), greatest of the Dominicans, wrote the hymns for the Feast of Corpus Christi, established by Pope Urban IV in 1265. Of these,Pange lingua, gloriosi corporis mysterium, “Sing my tongue, the Saviour’s glory,”[7]modeled after the form of thePange linguaof Fortunatus, is in its subject matter a poetic version of the mystical subtleties implicit in the dogma of the feast. John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, (1240-92), wroteAve vivens hostia, “Hail, true Victim,” a fine hymn upon the same theme which suggests the inspiration of Aquinas.
From the sequences of the later Middle Ages only a few have gained eminence but in certain cases as high a place as any in the whole range of their composition. Thomas Aquinas shows himself master of the sequence as well as the hymn in hisLauda Sion Salvatorem, “Praise, O Sion, praise thy Saviour,” a model of the Victorine technique.
(SeeIllustrative Hymns, XV.Lauda Sion Salvatorem, “Praise, O Sion, praise thy Saviour.”)
Dies irae, “Day of wrath,” most majestic of all sequences, universally acknowledged as the greatest achievement of Latin hymnology, was probably written by the Franciscan Thomas of Celano. It was originally used at Advent, later for All Souls’ Day and for requiem masses. The Judgment theme is obviously inspired by the words of the Prophet Zephaniah (1:15) from which the opening lineDies irae, dies illais taken. A special literature, together with a multitude of translations, has grown up around this hymn which deserves consideration impossible here. It should be read not only with reference to its biblical sources but with the great Judgment portals of the medieval cathedrals in mind, since the sculpture and literature of the age here find a meeting place.[8]No less significantfor its interpretation is the prevalence of the Black Death in the ages which produced it.[9]The thought of a period in which pain and death were so tragically familiar and before which the medieval man stood helpless, is faithfully reflected in contemporary hymns.
The lament in its poetic form is associated with the Marian hymnology of the fourteenth century. TheStabat mater dolorosa, “By the Cross her vigil keeping,”[10]its finest expression, like theDies irae, needs little comment in these pages.
(SeeIllustrative Hymns, XVI.Stabat mater dolorosa, “By the Cross her vigil keeping.”)
In this period it seems, at least to the present writer, that the Italian-born poets of the religious lyric come into their rightful heritage. The poets of England and of the French, German and Spanish-speaking lands had at one time or another held the palm in the field of hymnody. At the very moment, so to speak, when the genius of Dante and Petrarch had established the fame of Italian letters, the Christian hymn found new spokesmen in a literary medium which had originated in the same environment a thousand years before.
What has already been said of the multiplication of new feasts as the medieval ages progressed, is true in an even greater degree in the later centuries. The Feast of Corpus Christi is only one of many which marked this period of religious devotion, and incidentally required new sequences. If the collection of liturgical proses edited by Daniel in hisThesaurus Hymnologicusand reprinted in volumes 54 and 55 of theAnalecta Hymnicabe accepted as a guide, the new demands become clear. From the period of Adam of St. Victor, 174 feasts were furnished with sequences, many times over in the case of the more important festivals. The actual liturgical collections from which theAnalecta Hymnicawas compiled constitute a more specific source of information. If the attention of the student is fixed upon the sequences used in well-known missals and troparies from the thirteenth century and later, in the leading ecclesiastical centers of Europe, a wealth of material is revealed. Many of these sequences in the great collections are unfamiliar to the modern student, some have never been translated into English, but as a whole they are truly representative of this body of poetry in the period of its greatest interest. Atropary of St. Martial of the thirteenth century contains an anonymous Easter sequence,Morte Christi celebrata(A. H.8. 33), “Christ’s passion now is o’er,”[11]which bears comparison with the better-known sequences which have been named above.
To determine the actual usage of the hymn or sequence rather than its mere existence as a specimen of religious verse, the liturgical collection is indispensable. The old hymnaries and psalters and other books used in the offices were examined by liturgists of the period who compiled the breviaries of the later Middle Ages. Working under episcopal or monastic authority they subjected the hymnic material at their disposal to a selective process which necessarily discarded many hymns in favor of those rendered sacred by their inclusion in the old cycles, or of hymns of recognized merit. The Mozarabic Breviary had been compiled and its hymns determined by this process in an earlier century. After the re-conquest of the Spanish peninsula and the introduction of the Roman Rite in 1089, a version of the Roman Breviary was introduced. Episcopal centers in England, such as Hereford, York and primarily Salisbury, compiled their service books and developed them continuously to the close of the Middle Ages. The process was repeated throughout Christian Europe.
From the troparies and local collections of sequences the selections for the gradual and missal were made, just as the hymns had been for the breviary. These liturgical sources offer to the modern student the range of medieval hymnody at its best. The episcopal rites are, perhaps, more official and authoritative in their selection of hymns and sequences but the monastic rites often reveal the legends of local saints or the more intimate flavor of traditional piety. It should be understood that in countries where the Roman Rite prevailed there was no departure from its authority in the matter of hymnody. At the same time the greatest latitude was observable. A fine illustration is provided by the books of the Rite of Salisbury, England, or the Sarum Rite, which were compiled and developed by great liturgists from the time of Bishop Osmund in the eleventh century to the close of the Middle Ages. The Sarum Breviarycontains 119 hymns, 25 of which were written after 1100 and the Missal contains 101 sequences, 54 of which were written about 1100.[12]The figures are revealing in the case of hymns, of the influence of the older cycles and in the case of sequences, of the multiplication of feasts in the later centuries of the Middle Ages.
The Processional book as a bearer of hymns will be treated in the following chapter. It remains here, to mention the Books of Hours or medieval Primers which also contained their quota of hymns. TheHoraemay be defined as a series of devotions, at first additional to the Seven Hours of the daily office but in the twelfth century elaborated in a separate book. Specifically the additions consisted of the penitential psalms, the Office of the Dead, the Cursus of All Saints, that of the Holy Cross, and that of the Blessed Virgin. Even before its separation from the Canonical Hours, the Cursus of the Blessed Virgin had assumed an importance which gave to the new collection its characteristic title ofHoraeorHours of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the fourteenth century the single volume came to be known in England asPrimarius LiberorPrimariumfrom which the more familiar name Prymer or Primer is derived.[13]Its popularity may be judged by the fact that 265 printed editions were later known in England and 1582 on the continent.[14]Hymns are interspersed throughout theHorae. In the York Hours there are eighteen hymns and sequences of varied periods of which thirteen are centered in devotion to the Virgin.[15]In other words, the hymns which were chosen for these books of popular devotion are representative of later medieval favorites in hymnody, indicating to what extent the older hymns were known and loved and to what extent later poems had been accepted by lay folk as well as clergy. TheHoraeare primarily valuable as a source for the later Marian hymns upon the themes of the Joys and of the Sorrows of the Virgin. The appearance of the belovedStabat mater dolorosa, without doubt the finest expression of the poetry of sorrow, bears witness to the discriminative process by which theHoraewere compiled. It seems remarkable that the liturgists of the later period, in which the Latin hymn was beginning to show signs of deterioration, were able to skirt as successfully as they did, the limits of trashy sentimentality and worse poetry which were passing current under the name of hymnody.
To those who are interested in the relations between literature and the fine arts an examination of the Virgin hymns, as of theDies irae, will yield similar interrelations. The hymns which were written from the twelfth century onwards upon the Virgin theme may be closely correlated with the sculptured forms which portray the Mother apart from the Son in her Sorrows and more particularly in her Joys, laden with her distinctive honors and regnant as the Queen of Heaven.
Once the typical hymns and sequences of the later period have been reviewed, it remains to trace the influences operating from the contemporary environment upon their evolution. The problem of possible influence of an ultimately oriental origin has already arisen in connection with earlier hymns. It has been considered in the relation of Byzantine culture to the origin of the sequence, and also in the form of Arabian influence upon the Mozarabic hymnody. In both fields the evidence is tenuous and especially in the latter where the imprint of Arabian cultural forms would seem to be most probable. In the centuries which produced the troubadours, the problem takes the form of a possible indirect influence from Arabian origins through the Provençal singers upon the evolution of the sequence.[16]It is true that the twelfth and thirteenth centuries boasted at least four hundred troubadours whose poetry is extant. The names of others are known but not their poems. As the popularity of their songs is unquestioned, an appreciable affect upon religious lyrics might be presumed. Granted that the influence of Arabian poetry may be demonstrated upon the metrical aspects of troubadour lyrics, it must still be demonstrated that the impact of the latter was felt upon the Latin hymn. Future studies may throw light upon these problems of medieval literature where obscurity now prevails. Metrical similarities undoubtedly exist between Arabian and Latin verse, as already illustrated in the field of late Mozarabic hymns. Perhaps the most convincing evidence, aside from these, is found in processional hymns, the subject of a later chapter.
Much more obvious and one distinctly to be traced is the all-pervading influence of the new religious orders upon medieval society and culturein general. Hymn writers belonging, as cited above, to the Franciscan, Dominican and other orders of friars, to say nothing of the Cistercians, played a leading role among contemporary poets; their names and themes have already been mentioned. Many others must be numbered with the anonymous majority. The veneration of the Virgin reflected so faithfully in contemporary hymns may be largely attributed to their devotion. As itinerant preachers, moreover, the friars translated hymns into the vernacular and brought them directly to their hearers, thus imparting the lessons of faith and morals.[17]It might be asserted, at least tentatively, that the friars were responsible for one of the earliest attempts to bridge the gap between the ritual and the popular use of hymns.
A less tangible influence was at work emanating from schoolmen. This was the age of the universities in which thousands of students were pursuing the studies of theology, law and medicine. Early theological discussion in the schools of Paris, prior to the founding of the universities, is implicit in the sequences of Adam of St. Victor. Later, Thomas Aquinas, Professor of Theology at the University of Paris, created a poetical counterpart in his hymns, to the prose exposition of dogma. No one else reached his stature in this particular but hundreds of European clerics having theological degrees or a partial preparation for them, were active in the church and in secular life. It is only fair to suppose that they must be included in the great anonymous group which assisted in making that unique contribution to medieval literature which was preserved in contemporary liturgical collections. Without the university-trained cleric how is it explicable that in the very age in which the vernacular languages came to their full development in speech and in literature, Latin religious verse was at a peak of expression? In the High Middle Ages the alumni of the great universities were influential in every phase of society. It is conceivable, if not demonstrable, that the clerics among their ranks played an important although hitherto unrecognized role in the evolution of Latin hymnody.
Contemporary pilgrimages take the student far afield from the centers of learning. The crusading enterprise of two centuries which carried the knightly companies of Europe and their entourage to the East was a pilgrimage of continental proportions. Local shrines favored by pilgrimsabounded in the West from Canterbury and Walsingham to Campostella. What effect, if any, had this wave of religious zeal or of adventurous self-seeking upon the hymnology of the age? We know that the familiar Latin hymns of the breviary were sung by the clerics who conducted the services of religion in the crusading armies. We possess the texts of a variety of vernacular hymns and songs heard among the wandering bands who traversed the highways of Europe or traveled by sea to distant shrines. We are told of the singing of Latin hymns at the destination of pilgrimage but their texts are rare. A formal collection of Latin hymns associated with the shrine of St. James of Campostella, theCarmina Campostellana, has been edited in the seventeenth volume of theAnalecta Hymnica. As might be supposed, they voice the praises of St. James,Ad honorem regis summi, “To the honor of the King,” (A. H.17. 210) being a favorite in both Latin and vernacular versions.[18]As a matter of fact, the hymnody of pilgrimage must have been largely patronal, a conclusion supported by existing Latin texts. Unfortunately we possess no great body of Latin hymns arising from the religious impulse which animated the crusader or the devotee of local shrines. It is possible, however, that the multiplication of hymns for saints at this time may be attributed in part to the multiplication of shrines of pilgrimage. If true, an influence is seen at work, which, from the time when Ambrose built a church in Milan to receive the relics of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius and wrote a hymn in their honor, never ceased to operate in the intervening centuries.[19]
With the pilgrim we come face to face with the layman and are once more confronted with the question of lay participation in the singing of Latin hymns, which hinges upon the further question of the degree to which the layman could sing or even understand the Latin hymn, from the twelfth century onward. The pious injunctions of Alexander of Hales and Henricus de Gorichen (15th C.) to sing hymns, merely repeat a dictum of St. Apollonius regarding the observance of the Lord’s Day in the second century and must not be taken too seriously by the modern student.[20]It is indeed slight evidence for the singing of Latin hymns by the laity. The problem is in reality linguistic and revolves about the question of who was acquainted with Latin at this time. Setting aside the clergy in their numerous ranks, who are often said to have had the completemonopoly of the hymn in an age when congregational singing was unknown, one must consider the remaining classes of society from the point of view of contemporary education.
Beginning with the university it should be recalled that the text books and other sources of information were in Latin and that Latin was the medium of instruction. In this respect the aspirant for a degree in law or medicine was on a par with the would-be clergyman. Many students took degrees in two and occasionally in all three disciplines, and the majority were destined for the church if only in minor orders. On the other hand, it is certain that, as in our own day, a large number of students never attained any degree although they had the Latin qualification. In any case, the lay alumnus or former student of the universities, with a Latin training, was a familiar figure in secular affairs.
The degree and extent of elementary and secondary education upon which the university instruction was necessarily founded, have been the subject of several recent studies. It seems certain that schools for children and youth existed from the ninth century onward in cathedral and other centers and that, as Lynn Thorndike says, “in the period of developed medieval culture elementary education was fairly wide-spread and general.”[21]Without entering into the details of this program, illuminating as they are, we note that the curriculum was founded upon the Latin language and Latin studies. The contemporary growth of towns involved an expansion of education which was marked by the appearance of schools sponsored by municipal authority. The Latin school flourished everywhere. There is evidence that every social class participated to some extent in the new education although illiteracy must at the same time have been common. It seems clear that the layman who had received these early educational advantages could understand Latin hymns or read them if the texts were available. Both sexes shared elementary education and lay women as well as nuns occasionally had access to advanced instruction. Such considerations as the above presuppose a degree of familiarity especially with the breviary hymns, on the part of laymen, even if singing or chanting was restricted to the choirs and clergy.
The university movement was accompanied by the rise of the wandering scholars and poets whose verses, for example, from theCarminaBurana, are familiar today in translation. Popular entertainers, they sang their Latin lyrics at ale house doors and in the market places. They must have been at least partially understood by the populace. Other municipal entertainment was provided by the religious drama of the times which made considerable demand upon the Latin resources of the spectator who had to be somewhat bilingual if he were to enjoy the public presentation of the mystery plays.
Again, the bilingual or macaronic poetry which sprang up in the period of rivalry between Latin and the vernacular may be viewed both as a means and a result of understanding Latin hymns. Macaronic verse was both secular and religious in its forms, favorite phrases from well-known Latin hymns often being combined with the vernacular tongue. The practice might even have spread to the ritual of the Church had it not been forbidden by ecclesiastical decree.[22]Thecantioof the later medieval centuries and the familiar carol offer a wealth of evidence that macaronic religious verse was extremely popular. Indeed, this may have been the earliest manifestation of actual hymn singing on the part of medieval laymen.
Even if congregational singing was not practiced, the use of Latin hymns in private devotion is well authenticated. TheHoraewhich were included in the liturgical collections listed above, were circulated among laymen from the fourteenth century onward, and often used as text books or Primers from which children were taught to read. The variant title,Lay Folks Prayer Book, also bespeaks its popular availability.
While it would be unsound to infer a universal knowledge of Latin hymnody among the laity of Europe upon any or all of the evidence here assembled, it is logical to suppose that this treasury of verse lay within the boundaries of average education and cultural ability. Combined with the effectiveness of visual means of conveying religious truths through architecture, sculpture and stained glass, popular acquaintance with the teachings of Christian hymnody must be supposed to have overflowed the limits of clerical restriction, if indeed, any such existed.
To close this somewhat rambling account of the Latin hymn and sequence in the later medieval centuries, which is necessarily discursive even as the civilization itself was everywhere expanding, the characteristics of this poetry should be reviewed in comparison with those of earlier Latin hymns.
An increasing variety of subject matter is first to be noted, to accompany the diversification of worship brought about by new feasts and the appearance of new religious agencies. Hymns for the festivals of saints provide the best illustrations of this tendency which has been amply treated above.
A marked trend toward the compilation of local liturgical collections and the differentiation of service books accompanies the unification of rites in various European lands. This tendency was observed in earlier centuries, particularly in Spain where the Mozarabic hymnal prevailed. St. Gall had provided a monastic center of influence in German-speaking lands in its day. Now, the great diocesan and monastic centers, on a much larger scale, are furnished with a full complement of ritual books and guides to hymnody. In England, the Sarum collection achieved great prominence, acquiring national rather than diocesan proportions.
Within the hymnic poetry itself changes are seen both in form and spirit. A full development of metrical forms takes place, some of which had appeared much earlier in isolated examples and were now widely accepted; others were characteristic of late medieval literary art. The meters and rhythm of sequence poetry were popularly favored. Subjective qualities and attitudes which had been infrequent in the earlier hymns devoted to biblical themes and theological expression are much more obvious in later hymns. The personal petition and the direct address to deity and the saints are frequent. It has been suggested above in considering hymns upon the theme of the Cross, that a comparison of hymns from the earlier and later groups is instructive. But any of the great themes may be selected for this purpose, for example, the Pentecostal theme, with a group of hymns in which the earlier ones are simple narratives following the biblical account of the descent of the Holy Spirit; the later ones areexemplified byVeni, sancte spiritus, “Come, Thou Holy Spirit, come,” already cited, in which the Spirit is addressed and invoked for personal blessings and the sevenfold gifts.
With the waning of the medieval centuries came a characteristic decadence in the poetical quality of Latin hymns and in their spiritual vitality. This was true of the sequence and most obvious, perhaps, in those which were devoted to the praise of the saints. Reference to this phenomenon will be made in a later chapter in connection with the possible reason for the loss of religious significance which must be admitted although deplored by students of the subject.
Finally, one observes that certain hymns of these later centuries rival, if not surpass, the representative hymns of the first half of the Middle Ages. Four of the five sequences retained in the present-day Roman Missal were all selected from this group, namely:Lauda Sion Salvatorem,Veni sancte spiritus,Dies irae, andStabat mater dolorosa. Other illustrative hymns and sequences mentioned above prove to be almost as familiar.
On the contrary, decadent hymns have tended to disappear. Unworthy of their theme and purpose, a multitude of examples may be unearthed from their present burial places in theAnalecta Hymnicaor other collections by the curious investigator. So far as actual usage is concerned they have been gradually discarded and forgotten in the process of time. Similarly those of greater merit have possessed a survival value sufficient to insure recognition in every succeeding century.