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.
(See [Illustrative Hymns, XII.] Cantemus cuncti melodum nunc Alleluia, “The strain upraise of joy and praise.”)
CHAPTER FIVE
Late Middle Ages: Hymns and Sequences
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 the Analecta 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.
I. Sequences of the French School
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 century were 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 the Analecta 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.
(See [Illustrative 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 his Salve, 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.