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The Medieval Church · c. 1040–1070
The Song of Saint Faith
Chanson de Sainte Foy
Anonymous
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What it is
The martyrdom of a young girl under Diocletian, told in nearly six hundred lines of assonanced Occitan verse meant to be sung.
Why it lasted
Among the earliest surviving poems in any Romance language, and evidence that vernacular religious song preceded courtly poetry.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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