This book discusses and analyzes a repertory of poetry and chant that was used during the late Middle Ages in church services of the Divine Office, a repertory mostly unexplored to date.

Work on the present book began in autumn 2005 with a small conference at the Centre for Medieval Studies, Trondheim, Norway

This book tells three inter-related stories that radically alter our perspective on plainchant reform at the turn of the twentieth century and highlight the value of liturgical music history to our understanding of French government anticlericalism. It offers at once a new history of the rise of the Benedictines of Solesmes to official dominance over Catholic editions of plainchant worldwide, a new optic on the French liturgical publishing industry during a period of international crisis for the publication of plainchant notation, and an exploration of how, both despite and because of official hostility, French Catholics could bend Republican anticlericalism at the highest level to their own ends. The narrative relates how Auguste Pécoul, a former French diplomat and Benedictine novice, masterminded an undercover campaign to aid the Gregorian agenda of the Solesmes monks via French government intervention at the Vatican. His vehicle: trades unionists from within the book industry, whom he mobilized into nationalist protest against Vatican attempts to enshrine a single, contested, and German, version of the musical text as canon law. Yet the political scheming necessitated by Pécoul’s double involvement with Solesmes and the print unions almost spun out of control as his Benedictine contacts struggled with internal division and anticlerical persecution. The results are as musicologically significant for the study of Solesmes as they are instructive for the study of Church-State relations.

Holy Treasure and Sacred Song explores the complex interplay between relic cults and the liturgy in medieval Tuscany. Drawing on documentary, literary and visual evidence rarely considered together, it reveals that liturgical texts, music, and ritual were integral to the clergy's well-informed promotion of saints buried in their churches.

Stephen I, Hungary's first Christian king (reigned 997-1038) has been celebrated as the founder of the Hungarian state and church. Despite the scarcity of medieval sources, and consequent limitations on historical knowledge, he has had a central importance in narratives of Hungarian history and national identity. This book argues that instead of conceptualizing modern political medievalism separately as an 'abuse' of history, we must investigate history's very fabric, because cultural memory is woven into the production of the medieval sources. Medieval myth-making served as a firm basis for centuries of further elaboration and reinterpretation, both in historiography and in political legitimizing strategies. In many ways we cannot reach the 'real' Stephen, but we can do much more to understand the shaping of his myths. The author traces the origin of crucial stories around Stephen, contextualizing both the invention of early narratives and their later use. A challenger to Stephen's rule who may be a medieval literary invention became the protagonist of a rock opera in 1983, also standing in for Imre Nagy, a key figure of the 1956 revolution; moreover, he was reinvented as the embodiment of true Hungarian identity. The alleged right hand relic was 'discovered' to provide added legitimacy for Hungary's kings and then became a protagonist of the entanglement of Church and state. A medieval crown was invested with supernatural status, before turning into a national symbol. This book analyses the often seamless flow that has turned medieval myth into modern history, showing that politicisation was not a modern addition, but a determinant factor from the start.

M. Cecilia Gaposchkin reconstructs and analyzes the process that led to King Louis IX of France's canonization in 1297 and the consolidation and spread of his cult.

Born around 1,000 years ago, most probably in Tuscany, Guido d’Arezzo is remembered as the father of modern musical notation. His musical contributions surpassed all former methods of writing music, which did not represent the exact notes to be sung or played. He developed a linear system of musical notation capable of indicating pitch with absolute precision. His innovations accompanied a cultural crisis fundamental to the growth of Western music. While still a boy, Guido entered the Benedictine monastery at Pomposa, on the Adriatic coast. He probably died in the hermitage of Fonte Avellana in about 1050. This book envisions his life in relation to ancient musical history, to plainchant, and to the glories and conflicts of medieval monasticism. In writing of Guido, the author reveals her love for Italy and her fascination with Gregorian chant and Catholic traditions. She says, “Few documents remain concerning Guido’s life. I had to create a framework around his existence, considering ancient musical traditions, plainchant, medieval monasticism, the Italian countryside, and the revolutionary importance of clear notation.”