HYMNS
. The hymns sung in France during the Middle Ages have their roots in classical Greek
songs (hymnoi) associated with liturgical ceremonies, especially of libation and sacrifice,
and performed either chorally or monodically with instrumental accompaniment. Eastern
Christian sources of the 2nd and 3rd centuries record hymns based on both biblical and
nonbiblical texts. In the classical and medieval periods, the term hymnus may be found
loosely applied to a great variety of religious and secular verse, but by the early Middle
Ages in the West hymnus was most precisely used for the “office hymn”: a Latin chant,
on almost any religious subject, whose text was composed of a series of metrically
identical (or essentially identical) strophes sung to an unvarying melody repeated with
each succeeding strophe. Musical settings of true hymns remained uniformly
monophonic throughout Europe until nearly the beginning of the 15th century. Vast
numbers of Latin hymns, sequences, and tropes were composed in the Middle Ages; one
estimate puts their number at nearly 100,000, of which perhaps 20 percent have been
printed. Numerous hymnals, collections of hymns for use throughout the liturgical year,
survive either as separate manuscripts or as parts of larger manuscripts. While vernacular
hymns appear relatively early in Germany and England, true hymns with French texts are
rare until the close of the medieval period.
The earliest allusions to hymns in the Christian West occur in the 4th century and
suggest that Gaul played a central role in the development and dissemination of the
genre. St. Jerome credits Hilary, bishop of Poitiers (ca. 310–66), with writing a Liber
hymnorum, which has not survived, though several extant hymns are traditionally
associated with his name. Another Gaul, Ambrose, bishop of Milan (ca. 340–97) and a
great opponent of Arianism, composed hymns to be sung by his congregation. Four well-
known works can be attributed to him with confidence, Aeterne rerum conditor, Deus
creator omnium, Iam surgit hora tertia, and Veni redemptor gentium, with perhaps ten
others likely to be Ambrosian.
The church institutionalized the singing of hymns in the first half of the 6th century, in
the monastic movements centered in Gaul under the bishops Caesarius and Aurelius of
Arles and under Benedict of Nursia. The bishops’ closely related regula suggest over a
dozen different hymns, designated by incipits, for use in services; Benedict’s Rule, while
not specifying particular hymns, declared that one hymn should be sung at each of the
eight canonical hours of the daily monastic office and that those sung at the Night Office,
Lauds, and Vespers must be Ambrosian. By the 10th century, manuscripts of the Office
for secular clergy begin to appear with hymns as well. While some early hymn
composers are known by name (e.g., Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers ca. 599-ca.
609 and author of Vexilla regis prodeunt and Pange lingua), the clerics responsible for
many popular early hymns, such as Veni creator spiritus, Ave maris stella, and Ad cenam
agni providi, remain anonymous.
Helmut Gneuss has reconstructed the modest original collection of hymns implied by
the early monastic rules (which he terms the Old Hymnal I), as well as a more elaborate
revision of that first collection (Old Hymnal II), introduced in France and Germany by
the 8th century. The Old Hymnal I contained about sixteen hymns, while Old Hymnal II
contained about twenty-five, mostly from Old Hymnal I but with some additions and
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