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 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 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.”)