40 35 Ingemisco tamquam reus, Qui Mariam absolvisti Preces meae non sunt dignae, fold Confutatis maledictis, Oro supplex et acclinis, Lacrimosa dies illa, Pie Iesu Domine, Dona eis requie. 44. sequestra: 'separate.'- 52. Originally written as an Advent hymn, especially for private use, the Dies Irae came in very early times to be used as a Sequence, and the six last verses were doubtless added to the original form to make it suitable for that purpose. -57. requie: 2 (7). SONGS OF THE WANDERING STUDENTS Student life in the Middle Ages was less fixed in locality than under our modern systems. Groups of young men, restless under their immediate surroundings, often migrated from one university center to another, and whether localized for the time-being, or on their rovings, lived a free and often merry life, with a similar hatred of restraint to that usually characteristic of student life. Their songs reflect this mobile temper of youth, sometimes Christian, sometimes pagan, sometimes serious, often more interested in wine, gaming, and fair young women, than in study. The most important collection of such songs that has come down to us is known as the Carmina Burana, a manuscript which came from the Benedictine monastery of Benedictbeuern in Bavaria to Munich, where it is now preserved in the university library. It was written in the 13th century, and its contents may be mostly ascribed to the preceding century. The wandering students were more apt to be nominally clerical than otherwise. Among other signs of this curious fact may be mentioned their mythical patron saint, "Bishop Golias." Presumably no such person existed save in the imagination of his followers; but the name may be taken to represent a type of high-living self-indulgents, and very probably is connected with the Latin word gula. The Goliards naturally have many a ribald fling at the corruptions of the church, which they knew sometimes all too well. This satiric style of poem is especially well represented in the Poems Attributed to Walter Map, though plenty of examples occur in the Carmina Burana. Similar poems are found also in du Méril's Poésies populaires latines du moyen âge. The students' songs are sometimes crude, sometimes graceful, sometimes risqué, sometimes maccaronic. Their freedom of language and style mirrors that of their authors. The meters are mostly trochaic. The Carmina Burana is edited by J. A. Schmeller, and published in Breslau. A very charming version of many of the songs is found in Wine, Women, and Song, by J. A. Symonds (New York and London). In secta nostra scriptum est: Nos recipimus monachum 25 10"Omnia probate, Vitam nostram optime Vobis in caritate.". Cum rasa corona, Et si venerit presbyter Cum sua matrona, coenobitae; 'monks.' 6. levite : 'Levites.' 4. cenobite = 21. 'et': It is not altogether clear on what principle these (accent, or stress?) marks are employed here and there in these songs, whether they apply always to musical accent, or sometimes to rhetorical emphasis. 30 5. Marchiones, Bawari, Saxones, Australes, 35 Quotquot estis, nobiles Vos precor sodales, Auribus percipite Novas decretales; Quod avari pereant 40 Et non liberales. 6. Secta nostra recipit Boemos, Teutonicos, Stature mediocres, 50 Gigantes et gnanos," In personis humiles, Et e contra vanos. 7. De Vagorum ordine Dulcis est natura, 33. Marchiones: 'Marquesses.' Pinguis assatura, Revera 'plus' quam faciat 8. Ordo noster prohibet Sunt quedam fantasmata, Sed qui tunc surrexerit, 9. Ordo noster prohibet Sed statim, cum surgimus Illuc ferri facimus Vinum et gallinas, Nil hic expavescimus Preter Hashardi minas. 10. Ordo procul dubio Ergo hic et hec et hoc - 38. decretales: 'edicts.'-50. gnanos: for nanos. -58. assatura : roast.' 62. Matutinas : ' matins.' 63. fantasmata : 'visions'; 2 (2).—76. Hashardi: 'hazard,' i.e. gaming, a characteristic vice of the order. |