When the Western Church passed into the mediaeval era of its history, about 600 A. D., we find church song in a new and different situation. During the ancient era of the Christian Church, it may be said that church song was, for the most part, a song of the people of God, a congregational song. Attempts had been made before this time, it is true, to suppress congregational song, but they had proven more or less unsuccessful. During the Middle Ages, however, the Church was successful in definitely transferring church song from the people to the clergy and a well trained clerical choir. Latin was the liturgical language of the entire Western Church, wherefore the mediaeval church hymns were written in that language. The Carolingian age, productive in so many respects, also produced a number of very beautiful hymns, resembling the best productions of the Ambrosian era of hymnody. Charlemagne was not only a zealous promoter but also a practiser of sacred poesy. In the ninth century Notker Balbulus of St. Gall monastery produced hymns called Sequences, which differed in their metrical structure from the older hymns. These Sequences had three or six lines in each verse, while the verses of the older hymns had four lines each. In a subsequent chapter we shall speak more fully of the Sequences and their remarkable birthplace. Passing over into the mediaeval Church, we find that our church hymnody had three different sources in the time before the Reformation. One source was the Latin church hymnody. The second source consisted of the German songs, called Leisen. The third source was the religious folk-song of the common people. MEDIAEVAL LATIN HYMNS During the second half of the Middle Ages, beginning with the eleventh century, a number of great hymn writers arose. King Robert of France, who died 1031 A. D., probably wrote one of the greatest hymns of the Latin Church, namely, Veni Sancte Spiritus. Dr. S. W. Duffield claims that this great Sequence was written by Hermannus Contractus, the crippled monk of Reichenau, in the eleventh century. Bernard of Cluny and Bernard of Clairvaux are two Latin hymn writers who hold a very important place in Christian hymnody. From Bernard of Cluny (twelfth century) comes the well known hymn, “Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest.” This hymn comes from his famous and only poem Laus Patriae Celestis which consists of some three thousand lines of dactylic hexameter. We quote the first stanza of another well known hymn that comes from the same poem. Brief life is here our portion; Brief sorrow, short-lived care; The life that knows no ending, The tearless life, is there. Oh, happy retribution! Short toil, eternal rest; For mortals, and for sinners, A mansion with the blest.