Copyright, 1953
by
Ruth Ellis Messenger

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LITHOGRAPHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To
J. Vincent Higginson

Contents

Chapter Page

Preface ix

I. Early Middle Ages: Latin Hymns of the Fourth Century 1

II. Early Middle Ages: The Old Hymnal 9

III. The Ninth Century Revival: Hymns 19

IV. The Ninth Century Revival: Sequences 35

V. Late Middle Ages: Hymns and Sequences 46

VI. Late Middle Ages: Processional Hymns 61

VII. Influence and Survival of Latin Hymns 74

Illustrative Hymns 83

Notes 113

Bibliography 123

Index 135

Preface

The purpose of this volume is to trace the history of the medievalLatin hymn from the point of view of usage. It must be evident to anystudent of a subject which is spread over a thousand years of humanexperience in the widening environment of an entire continent that a guidingthread is needed to show the way. One must not, at the same time,ignore the fact that a monumental religious literature in the poetic fieldis involved. But the hymn is functional, having its greatest significanceas a lyric when employed in an act of worship. Latin hymnology, moreover,is an aspect of ecclesiastical studies following the history of theChurch through the classical and medieval ages into modern times.

A wider cultural background than the immediate interest of theologyand religion is reflected in the hymns of any age. Here often lie secretsof interpretation which make possible an appreciation of contemporarythought.

As the study of the medieval hymn is followed from the standpointof life and usage, the antiquarian and the literary critic, who cannot fullysatisfy the quest of the student for reality, must give place to the medievalworshiper himself who has revealed in its entirety each successive phaseof a hymnological history not yet ended.

For information about the Christian hymn as it existed prior to themedieval era, the author’s Christian Hymns of the First Three Centuri