A ''planctus'' (" plaint") is a lament or

dirge A dirge ( la, dirige, naenia) is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. Often taking the form of a brief hymn, dirges are typically shorter and less meditative than elegi ...

, a song or poem expressing grief or mourning. It became a popular literary form in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, when they were written in Latin and in the vernacular (e.g., the ''

planh A genre of the troubadours, the or (; "lament") is a funeral lament for "a great personage, a protector, a friend or relative, or a lady."Elisabeth Schulze-Busacker, "Topoi", in F. R. P. Akehurst and Judith M. Davis, eds., ''A Handbook of the T ...

'' of the

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

s). The most common ''planctus'' is to mourn the death of a famous person, but a number of other varieties have been identified by

Peter Dronke Ernst Peter Michael Dronke FBA (30 May 1934 – 19 April 2020) was a scholar specialising in Medieval Latin literature. He was one of the 20th century's leading scholars of medieval Latin lyric, and his book ''The Medieval Lyric'' (1968) is consi ...

. The earliest known example, the ''

Planctus de obitu Karoli The ''Planctus (de obitu) Karoli'' ("Lament n the Deathof Charlemagne"), also known by its incipit ''A solis ortu'' (''usque ad occidua'') ("From the rising of the sun o the setting), is an anonymous medieval Latin ''planctus'' eulogising Charlem ...

'', was composed around 814, on the death of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

. Other ''planctus'' from the ninth century include vernacular laments in a woman's voice, Germanic songs of exile and journeying, and ''planctus'' on biblical or classical themes (like the Latin '' Planctus cygni'', which is possibly derived from Germanic models). The earliest examples of music for ''planctus'' are found in tenth-century manuscripts associated with the Abbey of Saint Martial of Limoges. From the twelfth century Dronke identifies a growing number of laments of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

(called a ''planctus Mariae'') and ''complaintes d'amour'' (complaints of love) in the courtly love tradition.Stevens, "Planctus". From the mid-thirteenth century survives an early Catalan Marian lament, ''

Augats, seyós qui credets Déu lo Payre ''Augats, seyós qui credets Déu lo Payre'' (, sometimes called the ''Plany de la Verge'') is a Catalan poem of lamentation (''planctus'') in the ''planctus Mariae'' tradition, in which the Virgin Mary laments the death of her son. It was written ...

'', and around 1300 the '' Lamentations of Mary'' were composed in Old Hungarian. The

Mongol invasion of Europe From the 1220s into the 1240s, the Mongols conquered the Turkic states of Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, Alania, and the Kievan Rus' federation. Following this, they began their invasion into heartland Europe by launching a two-pronged invasion of ...

drew a ''planctus'' from an anonymous monk in the entourage of

Béla IV of Hungary Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his fath ...

, the '' Planctus destructionis regni Hungariae per Tartaros'' (1242).

References

Notes

{{Medieval music Medieval literature Medieval music genres