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140 TROPE, SEQUENCE, AND CONDUCTUS
earlier than the end of the sixth century, but it is not even certain that
it is earlier than the period when the definitive version of the Roman
chant began to be circulated. All that we can say for certain at present
is that these manuscripts preserve melodies which appear in some
respects rather 'modern* but at the same time they bear testimony to
old liturgical practices. In Vatican, lat. 5319, for example, the Alleluia
after the verse is frequently a more developed form of the version
preceding it: examples are the 'Alleluia Pascha', with second verse
'Epulemur' (fo. 84), and the Alleluias with Greek text 'Ho kyrios
ebasileusen' (fo. 85 V ) and 'Hoti theos' (fo. 97). 1
GENERAL HISTORICAL SITUATION (c. 800)
In order to understand the conditions in which the trope and
sequence arose we must consider the general history of ecclesiastical
chant in the time of Charlemagne (771-814). Charlemagne, following
in the footsteps of his father Pepin, was anxious to have the liturgy
and ecclesiastical chant in his kingdom moulded into conformity
with those in Rome. His coronation as emperor, performed by
Leo III in Rome in 800, gave religious sanction to his ideal of uni
versal monarchy, and this ideal implied uniformity in ecclesiastical
matters. From its alliance with the Carolingian monarchy the Papacy
gained a new impulse to enforce liturgical and musical uniformity
throughout the Western Church; its earlier practice had been more
liberal, as we can see from a letter of Gregory I to his representative
in England, in which he allowed him to take over liturgical practices
wherever he found them suitable. Charlemagne's desire for uniformity
had its fulfilment mainly in France, where the Gallican liturgy and
Gallican chant had hitherto prevailed, though in actual fact the
Roman rite itself took over certain elements of both. In Spain
the Mozarabic rite and Mozarabic chant were not superseded by the
Roman until the eleventh century, while in Milan the Ambrosian
rite survived the move for uniformity and has continued down to the
present day (see pp. 62, 64). In England conformity with the Roman use
had been achieved even before the Carolingian era. England had
experienced two phases of missionary activity
the first from Ireland,
bringing the Celtic rite, which was closely related to the Gallican,
and the second from Rome, which conflicted to some extent with the
first and brought the country into an increasingly closer connexion
with the see of Rome.
1 Facsimile of the last of these in H. M. Bannister, Monumenti Vaticani di paleografia
musicale latina (1918), pi. 81a.