400 



POPULAR SONGS. 



Duke of Frioul, in 799, by Paulin, Patriarch of Alexandria ; a song to 

 celebrate the victory of the Emperor Otho III. over the Hungarians ; a song 

 upon the death of Abbot Hug, the natural son of Charlemagne. But it is 

 doubtful how far these songs were really popular, and the " Ludwigslied " is 

 the only song of that period which we know to have been unmistakably 

 This song is in German, and celebrates the great victory won by 



so. 



Louis III. in 881 over the Normans, and it was sung in the North of France 

 as late as the twelfth century. 



The songs in the Romance rustic language were the only ones generally 





O Ma-ri - a. Deu mai - re, Denies e fils e 



pai - re ; 



rqnq*!: 



Domna 



zg E H^=j- 

 d~ -*- u J^* '- 



fil - lo glo - ri - os. 





lo 



pair ais - sa-men; 



pre - ia per to - ta 



1 I 2 . 



Fv "---*- 



~~_^ 

 jcn, e eel - ro nos so-cor; 



tor - iia nos es a 



plor,. 



Fig. 320. Song of the Crusaders, dating from the First Crusade (1096), and set to Modern Music 

 by Fetis in his " General History of Music." 



current among the people at a time when the German language was only 

 used at the court of the Carlovingian kings and emperors, and when the 

 clerks used the Latin language almost exclusively in the monasteries and in 

 the schools. A great number of these songs were devoted to the marvellous 

 and historical incidents in the legend of Charlemagne, and they served for 

 the composition of the early chansons de geste and romances of chivalry, in 

 which they were gradually absorbed and lost (Fig. 320). It is, therefore, 

 impossible to advance any direct and certain proof as to the existence of these 

 primitive songs. (See above, chapter 011 Romances.) 



There are no traces of historical songs in the vulgar tongue of France 



