[See also: SEQUENCE (EARLY); TROPES, ORDINARY; TROPES, PROPER]
Marcusson, Olof, ed. Corpus troporum II: Tropes de l’alleluia. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell,
1976.
Odelman, Eva, ed. Corpus troporum VI: Les prosules limou-sines de Wolfenbüttel. Stockholm:
Almqvist and Wiksell, 1986.
Björkvall, Gunilla, and Ruth Steiner. “Some Prosulas for Offer-tory Antiphons.” Journal of the
Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society 5 (1982):13–35.
Fassler, Margot. Gothic Song: Victorine Sequences and Augus-tinian Reform in Twelfth-Century
Paris. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 34–37.
Kelly, Thomas Forrest. “Melisma and Prosula: The Performance of Responsory Tropes.”
Liturgische Tropen: Referate zweier Colloquien des Corpus Troporum in München (1983) und
Canterbury (1984), ed. Gabriel Silagi. Munich: Arbeo-Gesellschaft, 1985, pp. 163–80.
——. “Neuma Triplex.” Acta musicologica 60 (1988):1–30.
PROVENCE
. For some medieval writers, “Provence” was that vast area of southern France where the
Langue d’oc was spoken. Most, however, used the name in a more restricted way to
identify an area of approximately 18,700 square miles in the southeastern corner of
France, bounded on the east by the Alps, on the south by the Mediterra-nean, and on the
west by the Rhône. Because of its easy access both to Italy and to northern Europe,
Provence played an active role during the Roman Empire and in medieval Europe. Kings,
emperors, popes, merchants, and pilgrims regularly passed through this region to conduct
their affairs.
The ties of Provence to the Roman Empire and Roman traditions were deeper and
more lasting than anywhere else in the West outside of Italy. By the end of the 5th
century, as the Germanic tribes established themselves throughout most of the empire,
“Provence” came to iden-tify the last province in Gaul to remain under imperial control.
During the early 6th century, several Germanic peoples competed for control of
Provence, with the Ostrogoths ultimately becoming dominant. In 536, confronted with
the invasion of the emperor Justinian’s armies, the Ostrogoths withdrew, thereby
permitting the Franks to enter unopposed. Although Provence would remain under
Frankish control well after the breakup of the Carolingian empire, it was only when
Charles Martel succeeded in crushing local rebellions between 735 and 738 that this
region was finally incorporated into the Carolingian state.
Following the death of Louis I, by the Treaty of Verdun Provence became part of the
middle kingdom of Lothair I. As was the case for much of Europe, Provence during the
late 9th and 10th centuries fell victim to the ambitions of rival aristocratic factions. The
ensuing civil strife exposed Provence to attacks by Greek, Viking, and Muslim pirates.
The most serious of these began ca. 884, when Muslims established a base at Garde
Freinet and launched a series of raids throughout much of the region. It was only in 972
that Count William II, the pater patriae, drove them from Provence.
This event marked the beginning of a social and economic revival. Benefiting both
from increased Mediterra-nean trade and from the Crusades, the major Provençal cities,
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