or, in modern style,
In this example we find the first indication of the measuring off of phrases into bars. As we see, it consisted of a little stroke, which served to show the beginning of a new line, and was not restricted to regularity of any kind except that necessitated by the verse.
The use of the semibrevis is shown in the following chanson of Raoul de Coucy (1192):
The French troubadours and the German minnesingers of the thirteenth century used these forms of notes only, and even then restricted themselves to two kinds, either the longa and brevis, or brevis and semibrevis.
The necessity for rests very soon manifested itself, and the following signs were invented to correspond to the longa, brevis, and semibrevis