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.”)