early middle ages: the old hymnal

i. the hymn cycles

we owe the preservation of the earliest latin hymns to monastic practice. when the founders of monasticism in the west, caesarius and aurelian who were famous bishops of arles (6th c.), and benedict (d. 543), founder of the benedictine order, organized the regulations and routine for the communities under their charge, they incorporated latin hymns already existing into the daily worship of the monastery.[1] these were sung at the services of the canonical hours and were known as hour hymns or office hymns.

a continuity can be traced, although faintly, from primitive christian observances. beginning with the vigil of saturday night in preparation for the following sunday, the first three centuries of christian history developed public services for prayer at candlelight, night time, and dawn. by the fourth century, the tide of devotional practice had set in, bringing with it daily worship in the church at the third, sixth and ninth hours. at the end of the fourth and during the fifth century the cycle was completed with new offices at sunrise and nightfall. the full series, therefore, included the nocturnal cursus; vespers, compline, matins (nocturns and lauds), and the diurnal cursus; prime, terce, sext and nones.[2] an opportunity was afforded to unify the services and at the same time to make use of the symbolic number seven by reference to psalm 119: 164 (ps. 118, vulgate), “seven times a day do i praise thee because of thy righteous ordinances.” from the simple assemblies of early christianity, therefore, and the daily offices of prayer, a fully elaborated cycle of hymns in time developed, appropriate to the symbolism of the seven hours and to the needs of the annual feasts. constantly increasing in number and variety, 10 these cycles were preserved in psalters together with the psalms or in a hymnary by themselves. in fact, the word hymn came to mean specifically an office hymn later to be associated with the breviary, and the word hymnal, a cycle or collection of office hymns.

at first the cycles were brief. five extant manuscripts reveal the sixth century group of hymns of which the best representative, the so-called psalter of the queen from the famous collection of queen christine of sweden, probably dates from the time of charles martel (d. 741).[3] this group of hymns is usually referred to as the old hymnal, the initial version of which numbers thirty-four hymns but at the close of the sixth century had increased to perhaps sixty hymns in actual use.[4] the thirty-four original hymns of the old hymnal are listed in the appendix to this chapter where the appropriate location of each is indicated, whether for daily or seasonal worship.

due to the influence of benedict who had enjoined the use of the ambrosian hymn, the authentic verse of ambrose was preserved and extensively imitated among the regular clergy. what had become of the hymn in secular worship?

the old prejudice against non-scriptural hymns and in favor of the psalms had never died out. by a canon of the council of laodicea (c. 364), psalmi idiotici or “private hymns” were forbidden, a mandate which was valid during the lifetime of ambrose who, nevertheless, ignored a restriction intended to safeguard orthodoxy but hardly applicable in his case. in the sixth century the secular clergy of spain were forbidden to use hymns by the council of braga, 563.[5] the paradox of encouraging non-scriptural hymns in the monastery and forbidding their use in the church at large has been explained by reference to the contemporary appearance of early forms of vernacular speech in western europe. latin, the language of the church, its liturgy and its clergy, was now threatened by a possible inroad of the vernacular.[6] hymn writing was regarded, perhaps, as a prerogative of the clergy to be kept within bounds. to throw open to the church everywhere these privileges might be dangerous alike for theology and worship. learning in the latin tongue tended to be concentrated in the monastery, for other centers of scholarship were few and far between; hymnology became largely a function of the monastic group.

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it should be remembered that these centuries embraced a period of the greatest political, economic and social confusion in western europe during which we know relatively little about christian worship in widespread congregations except for the rite of the mass. yet in the sixth century the opposite tendency toward greater freedom in writing and singing hymns was apparent. the council of tours, 567, permitted the secular clergy to use ambrosian and other hymns.[7] if viewed in this light, the religious verse of fortunatus takes on a new significance, illustrative of the freedom which the church in gaul, always highly individual, now experienced in the realm of hymnology.

gaul, then, was the scene of a conflict in which the latin hymn was contending, and that successfully, for its very life. on the monastic side, anonymous clerics, using the ambrosian model, gradually provided the full complement of hymns for the annual festivals in harmony with the liturgical year which began to emerge and resemble somewhat its present form. wherever the benedictine order penetrated into the territories of western europe, the use of hymns likewise increased. their diffusion must be regarded as comparable with that of an organization which within two hundred years of the death of its founder boasted hundreds of monasteries and convents throughout western christendom, augmented by irish and other foundations which had adopted the benedictine rule. missionary zeal had played a significant role in this expansion. fulda, for instance, a community with 400 monks and many missionaries at its disposal, was able under willibald to extend its influence through numerous subordinate monasteries and convents. royal favor, already enjoyed by st. gall and now conferred upon new establishments, rivalled that of popes and synods, which at the time of pippin’s coronation in 750 or 752, combined to insure the success of the benedictine program.[8]

on the side of secular worship, the hymnal used by benedict and his successors gradually gained a foothold in the church through diocesan centers which adopted the monastic cycles. or perhaps it may be said, with the reservation that we are in the realm of theory and not of fact, that the ancient hymns written prior to the sixth century had been circulated and continued to be circulated in the west in a way not at present understood, in connection with the gallican or ancient liturgy of gaul. if so, the old 12 hymnal is the gallican hymnal which benedict appropriated and his followers maintained to its acknowledged prestige by the year 750.

an episode of significance for hymnology during the period under consideration in this chapter is the activity of gregory the great who occupied the papal throne from 590 to 604. a member of the benedictine order, he is noted for his enthusiastic support of its missionary program and for his interest in ecclesiastical music and poetry. his role in the extension of the roman rite and of the benedictine order to britain is familiar to all.[9] his authority in the western church is a matter not of controversy but of fact. that he was deeply interested both in hymn writing and singing may be safely assumed for there are too many reports of his activity to be ignored. his actual role in the development of the chant which bears his name and the authorship of eight to eleven hymns attributed to him, have not been determined. for gregory’s contribution to the ritual music of the church the reader is referred to the discussion of this subject by specialists in the field of liturgical music. for his contribution to the hymn cycles, modern hymnologists have judged even the eight hymns singled out as gregorian by benedictine editors, to be doubtful although the nocturn and vesper hymns may be authentic.[10] aside from critical research the fact remains that all these hymns appear in the cycles of the day and several have been in liturgical use to the present time. they are representative of the hymnology of the transition between the old hymnal and the later cycles whose hidden origins gregory may have influenced.

(see illustrative hymns, iv. nocte surgentes vigilemus omnes, “father we praise thee, now the night is over.”)

ii. mozarabic contributions

the list of hymns in the old hymnal (see appendix) reveals at a glance the presence of nine mozarabic hymns. mozarabic is a term applied to the christian inhabitants of spain under moslem rule and also to the rites of the christian church prevailing throughout the visigothic and moslem periods. it is the former or visigothic period extending from the foundation of the kingdom by euric, 466, to the entry of the moslems 13 in 711, which claims our attention here. connections between spain and gaul at this time were very close for the visigoths ruled a large part of what is now southern france from the atlantic to the maritime alps. the great churchmen of spain, especially isidore, archbishop of seville (d. 636), performed the same service for christian hymns in spain which the monastic leaders performed in gaul. in his etymologiae and his de officiis ecclesiasticis, isidore considers the subject of music and liturgy. his regula monachorum, built partly on older rules observed in spain, is an evidence of his interest in monastic reform. as presiding bishop of the iv council of toledo, 633, he was at the height of his reputation.[11] braulio, bishop of saragossa, (631-651), his pupil and literary executor, bears witness to his fame.[12] he himself maintained the liturgical tradition which was continued with great success by eugenius ii, primate of toledo, (646-657), ildefonsus who held the same rank, (659-667), and others. as the result of the literary and liturgical movement initiated by these leaders, supported by the councils and schools, the mozarabic hymnology was rapidly developed. the canons of the iv council of toledo, for which isidore may have been personally responsible, require uniformity of the rites and offices throughout spain and gaul. the thirteenth canon upholds the validity and appropriateness of hymns by christian authors against those who would restrict the hymnody of the church to the psalms of the old testament. after a discussion of the old prohibitions and the reasons for approving the new compositions, canon 13 reads:

“as with prayers, so also with hymns written for the praise of god, let no one of you disapprove of them but publish them abroad both in gaul and spain. let those be punished with excommunication who have ventured to repudiate hymns.”[13]

building upon the work of ambrose, sedulius and notably prudentius, their own countryman; adapting ancient traditions of congregational worship and monastic usage, the liturgists of the seventh century must have collated for the use of the clergy approximately sixty-five hymns from sources originating prior to their own day. these ancient hymns form the nucleus of the mozarabic hymnal, the earliest manuscript of which dates from the tenth century. they reveal interrelations between the spanish and gallican churches and they indicate a continuity of hymn singing from 14 primitive congregational usage like the ambrosian to the seventh century revival and extension of non-scriptural hymns.[14]

(see illustrative hymns, v. alleluia piis edite laudibus, “sing alleluia forth in duteous praise.”)

iii. celtic hymns

the celtic inhabitants of the british isles from the period of the introduction of christianity maintained individual features of liturgy and organization, especially in their monastic groups. the contemporary saxon church of the seventh century, however, had been drawn into the roman sphere of influence by gregory the great who was also in touch with celtic leadership. the ancient record of the interchange of hymns written respectively by st. columba of iona and by gregory preserves more than a report incapable of proof.[15] it points to reciprocal interest in the evolving hymnology of the sixth and seventh centuries in celtic and continental regions.

the so-called bangor antiphonary of the seventh century is the earliest manuscript containing hymns, twelve in number.[16] its contents are otherwise miscellaneous, including a list of the abbots of bangor. hilary’s supposed hymn from this collection, hymnum dicat turba fratrum, has already been cited. an ancient communion hymn, sancti venite christi corpus sumite, “draw nigh and take the body of the lord,” is included and mediae noctis tempus est, “it is the midnight hour,” an office hymn common to the hymnals of spain and gaul. among other important sources is the irish liber hymnorum, preserved in an eleventh century manuscript of dublin which contains columba’s hymn, altus prosator, “ancient of days,” honoring god the creator, and the lorica or breastplate hymn of st. gildas (6th c.), suffragare trinitatis unitas, unitatis miserere trinitas, “grant me thy favor, three in one, have mercy on me, one in three.”[17]

on the whole celtic hymns exhibit great variety in subject matter and purpose with many departures from the type of hymn cycle in use on the continent. indeed, the group of from fifteen to twenty hymns produced in the centuries under consideration are highly distinctive. the ambrosian 15 tradition is not apparent. non-ambrosian meters are illustrated in all three hymns cited above while alliteration, the abcd form, repetition of initial words and other metrical devices are found throughout the collection. there are hymns for the offices and communion, metrical prayers and a group of hymns for saints, some bearing witness to local cults. poetic individuality marks them all.[18] contemporaneous with the flowering of celtic hymnology, the seventh century saw the beginning of the cultural invasion of the continent by celtic scholars, teachers and missionaries whereby two streams of culture, previously isolated, united with significant results for the hymnology of the future.

(see illustrative hymns, vi. sancti venite christi corpus sumite, “draw nigh and take the body of the lord.”)

iv. summary

the account of the christian hymns of necessity accompanies that of the christian organization, moving from the shores of the mediterranean and the christian centers in roman provincial areas into the “regions beyond” of missionary effort. although congregational singing in the ambrosian sense appears to have been submerged in this process, the traditional hymnody was preserved, new hymns added and the foundation laid for the ninth century revival.

anonymity is the rule and known authorship the exception for the hymns produced in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth centuries. this continued to be the rule during the whole medieval period since the names of those who wrote the non-scriptural parts of religious rites were lost or unknown or perhaps of little importance in communal worship. the fact that the hymns which survive have been gathered from liturgical manuscripts and not from the work of individual authors except in rare cases, should make anonymity more intelligible.

hymn sources are scanty and interconnections, dimly perceived, can rarely be established. continuity of evolution is often broken or replaced by new poetical inspiration. however, the fourth century appeal to the objective, the direct, the simple, is seldom varied by the subjective theme. the biblical narratives and the symbolism connected with the various offices 16 and feasts add substance and character to the cycles and to the concept of the liturgical year.

in the heart of the dark ages, popularly considered, western european civilization was in confusion and its fate problematical. one could scarcely expect the fruits of peace and security to flourish. yet in these very centuries there were created and circulated many of the best loved hymns of christianity, a number of which have been in unbroken use to the present day. among them are the illustrations inserted above and lucis creator optime, “o blest creator of the light;” the advent hymns, verbum supernum prodiens, “high word of god who once didst come,” and conditor alme siderum, “creator of the stars of night;” the easter hymn, claro paschali gaudio, “that easter day with joy was bright;” for the dedication of a church, urbs beata jerusalem, “blessed city, heavenly salem” with the more familiar second part, “christ is made the sure foundation.” two hymns honoring the virgin date from this period: ave maris stella, “hail, sea-star we name thee,” and quem terra pontus aethera, “the god whom earth and sea and sky,” initiating the marian hymnology of the middle ages.[19]

(see illustrative hymns, vii. ave maris stella, “hail, sea-star we name thee.”)

created and preserved in a clerical and for the most part a monastic environment these hymns express the christian thought and faith of the era which was thus treasured up for wider circulation and influence in a later and more settled society. the words of the late canon douglas, a great american hymnologist, are memorable in this connection:

“what does have a practical bearing on our subject is, that whatever may have been the older cycle, it was enriched to an extraordinary degree in the early medieval centuries. what began in milan, and achieved its permanent recognition at monte cassino, was soon to bring about a mozarabic hymnal in spain, a gallican hymnal in northern europe, an anglo-irish cycle in britain: and from all these various increments not only enlarged the growing hymnal but also richly diversified it.”