Gloria Laus
  • mmeladirectress
    Posts: 1,100
    "According to a pretty little legend surrounding the composition of this hymn, Theodulph [of Orléans] had been imprisoned for political reasons in a monastery in Angers. While he was imprisoned he wrote the hymn and sang it from the window of his cell just as Louis the Pious, King of France, was passing beneath the window in the procession on Palm Sunday in 821. The hymn so moved the king that he immediately ordered the holy bishop to be freed and restored to his see. The legend is now generally discredited on historical grounds.'

    Awww. I've always liked the legend - it seems fitting. :-)
    Thanked by 4hilluminar Incardination CHGiffen StimsonInRehab
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    For some reason, this reminds me of the legend (recounted in Ivanhoe) where Richard the Lion-Hearted, held captive by Leopold in one of his Austrian castles, received a message from an English troubadour singing beneath his prison window, and finished the verse as a sort of code to indicate to his followers back home where exactly he was.

    Musicianship. Always handy in a jail break.
    Thanked by 2mmeladirectress Incardination
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