Once the typical hymns and sequences of the later period have been
reviewed, it remains to trace the influences operating from the
contemporary environment upon their evolution. The problem of possible
influence of an ultimately oriental origin has already arisen in
connection with earlier hymns. It has been considered in the relation of
Byzantine culture to the origin of the sequence, and also in the form of
Arabian influence upon the Mozarabic hymnody. In both fields the
evidence is tenuous and especially in the latter where the imprint of
Arabian cultural forms would seem to be most probable. In the centuries
which produced the troubadours, the problem takes the form of a possible
indirect influence from Arabian origins through the Provençal singers
upon the evolution of the sequence.[16] It is true that the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries boasted at least four hundred troubadours whose
poetry is extant. The names of others are known but not their poems. As
the popularity of their songs is unquestioned, an appreciable affect
upon religious lyrics might be presumed. Granted that the influence of
Arabian poetry may be demonstrated upon the metrical aspects of
troubadour lyrics, it must still be demonstrated that the impact of the
latter was felt upon the Latin hymn. Future studies may throw light upon
these problems of medieval literature where obscurity now prevails.
Metrical similarities undoubtedly exist between Arabian and Latin verse,
as already illustrated in the field of late Mozarabic hymns. Perhaps the
most convincing evidence, aside from these, is found in processional
hymns, the subject of a later chapter.
Much more obvious and one distinctly to be traced is the all-pervading
influence of the new religious orders upon medieval society and culture
in general. Hymn writers belonging, as cited above, to the Franciscan,
Dominican and other orders of friars, to say nothing of the Cistercians,
played a leading role among contemporary poets; their names and themes
have already been mentioned. Many others must be numbered with the
anonymous majority. The veneration of the Virgin reflected so faithfully
in contemporary hymns may be largely attributed to their devotion. As
itinerant preachers, moreover, the friars translated hymns into the
vernacular and brought them directly to their hearers, thus imparting
the lessons of faith and morals.[17] It might be asserted, at least
tentatively, that the friars were responsible for one of the earliest
attempts to bridge the gap between the ritual and the popular use of
hymns.
A less tangible influence was at work emanating from schoolmen. This was
the age of the universities in which thousands of students were pursuing
the studies of theology, law and medicine. Early theological discussion
in the schools of Paris, prior to the founding of the universities, is
implicit in the sequences of Adam of St. Victor. Later, Thomas Aquinas,
Professor of Theology at the University of Paris, created a poetical
counterpart in his hymns, to the prose exposition of dogma. No one else
reached his stature in this particular but hundreds of European clerics
having theological degrees or a partial preparation for them, were
active in the church and in secular life. It is only fair to suppose
that they must be included in the great anonymous group which assisted
in making that unique contribution to medieval literature which was
preserved in contemporary liturgical collections. Without the
university-trained cleric how is it explicable that in the very age in
which the vernacular languages came to their full development in speech
and in literature, Latin religious verse was at a peak of expression? In
the High Middle Ages the alumni of the great universities were
influential in every phase of society. It is conceivable, if not
demonstrable, that the clerics among their ranks played an important
although hitherto unrecognized role in the evolution of Latin hymnody.
Contemporary pilgrimages take the student far afield from the centers of
learning. The crusading enterprise of two centuries which carried the
knightly companies of Europe and their entourage to the East was a
pilgrimage of continental proportions. Local shrines favored by pilgrims
abounded in the West from Canterbury and Walsingham to Campostella. What
effect, if any, had this wave of religious zeal or of adventurous
self-seeking upon the hymnology of the age? We know that the familiar
Latin hymns of the breviary were sung by the clerics who conducted the
services of religion in the crusading armies. We possess the texts of a
variety of vernacular hymns and songs heard among the wandering bands
who traversed the highways of Europe or traveled by sea to distant
shrines. We are told of the singing of Latin hymns at the destination of
pilgrimage but their texts are rare. A formal collection of Latin hymns
associated with the shrine of St. James of Campostella, the _Carmina
Campostellana_, has been edited in the seventeenth volume of the
_Analecta Hymnica_. As might be supposed, they voice the praises of St.
James, _Ad honorem regis summi_, “To the honor of the King,” (_A. H._
17. 210) being a favorite in both Latin and vernacular versions.[18] As
a matter of fact, the hymnody of pilgrimage must have been largely
patronal, a conclusion supported by existing Latin texts. Unfortunately
we possess no great body of Latin hymns arising from the religious
impulse which animated the crusader or the devotee of local shrines. It
is possible, however, that the multiplication of hymns for saints at
this time may be attributed in part to the multiplication of shrines of
pilgrimage. If true, an influence is seen at work, which, from the time
when Ambrose built a church in Milan to receive the relics of St.
Gervasius and St. Protasius and wrote a hymn in their honor, never
ceased to operate in the intervening centuries.[19]
With the pilgrim we come face to face with the layman and are once more
confronted with the question of lay participation in the singing of
Latin hymns, which hinges upon the further question of the degree to
which the layman could sing or even understand the Latin hymn, from the
twelfth century onward. The pious injunctions of Alexander of Hales and
Henricus de Gorichen (15th C.) to sing hymns, merely repeat a dictum of
St. Apollonius regarding the observance of the Lord’s Day in the second
century and must not be taken too seriously by the modern student.[20]
It is indeed slight evidence for the singing of Latin hymns by the
laity. The problem is in reality linguistic and revolves about the
question of who was acquainted with Latin at this time. Setting aside
the clergy in their numerous ranks, who are often said to have had the
complete monopoly of the hymn in an age when congregational singing was
unknown, one must consider the remaining classes of society from the
point of view of contemporary education.
Beginning with the university it should be recalled that the text books
and other sources of information were in Latin and that Latin was the
medium of instruction. In this respect the aspirant for a degree in law
or medicine was on a par with the would-be clergyman. Many students took
degrees in two and occasionally in all three disciplines, and the
majority were destined for the church if only in minor orders. On the
other hand, it is certain that, as in our own day, a large number of
students never attained any degree although they had the Latin
qualification. In any case, the lay alumnus or former student of the
universities, with a Latin training, was a familiar figure in secular
affairs.
The degree and extent of elementary and secondary education upon which
the university instruction was necessarily founded, have been the
subject of several recent studies. It seems certain that schools for
children and youth existed from the ninth century onward in cathedral
and other centers and that, as Lynn Thorndike says, “in the period of
developed medieval culture elementary education was fairly wide-spread
and general.”[21] Without entering into the details of this program,
illuminating as they are, we note that the curriculum was founded upon
the Latin language and Latin studies. The contemporary growth of towns
involved an expansion of education which was marked by the appearance of
schools sponsored by municipal authority. The Latin school flourished
everywhere. There is evidence that every social class participated to
some extent in the new education although illiteracy must at the same
time have been common. It seems clear that the layman who had received
these early educational advantages could understand Latin hymns or read
them if the texts were available. Both sexes shared elementary education
and lay women as well as nuns occasionally had access to advanced
instruction. Such considerations as the above presuppose a degree of
familiarity especially with the breviary hymns, on the part of laymen,
even if singing or chanting was restricted to the choirs and clergy.
The university movement was accompanied by the rise of the wandering
scholars and poets whose verses, for example, from the _Carmina Burana_,
are familiar today in translation. Popular entertainers, they sang their
Latin lyrics at ale house doors and in the market places. They must have
been at least partially understood by the populace. Other municipal
entertainment was provided by the religious drama of the times which
made considerable demand upon the Latin resources of the spectator who
had to be somewhat bilingual if he were to enjoy the public presentation
of the mystery plays.
Again, the bilingual or macaronic poetry which sprang up in the period
of rivalry between Latin and the vernacular may be viewed both as a
means and a result of understanding Latin hymns. Macaronic verse was
both secular and religious in its forms, favorite phrases from
well-known Latin hymns often being combined with the vernacular tongue.
The practice might even have spread to the ritual of the Church had it
not been forbidden by ecclesiastical decree.[22] The _cantio_ of the
later medieval centuries and the familiar carol offer a wealth of
evidence that macaronic religious verse was extremely popular. Indeed,
this may have been the earliest manifestation of actual hymn singing on
the part of medieval laymen.
Even if congregational singing was not practiced, the use of Latin hymns
in private devotion is well authenticated. The _Horae_ which were
included in the liturgical collections listed above, were circulated
among laymen from the fourteenth century onward, and often used as text
books or Primers from which children were taught to read. The variant
title, _Lay Folks Prayer Book_, also bespeaks its popular availability.
While it would be unsound to infer a universal knowledge of Latin
hymnody among the laity of Europe upon any or all of the evidence here
assembled, it is logical to suppose that this treasury of verse lay
within the boundaries of average education and cultural ability.
Combined with the effectiveness of visual means of conveying religious
truths through architecture, sculpture and stained glass, popular
acquaintance with the teachings of Christian hymnody must be supposed to
have overflowed the limits of clerical restriction, if indeed, any such
existed.