The Library
1693 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
100–1 BC
1 work
c. 100 BC
Hebrew
Hodayot, 1QH
Anonymous
Some thirty psalms in the first person, each opening with thanks. The speaker is a creature of clay kneaded with water, a foundation of shame and a source of pollution, who has nonetheless been given knowledge of mysteries — and who describes himself in one hymn as a woman in labour bringing forth a wonderful counsellor.
1–100
1 work
c. 100–125
Syriac
Anonymous
Forty-two short hymns of unusual sweetness, sung in the voice of the redeemed and sometimes in the voice of Christ himself, full of milk, harps, crowns, and living water.
301–400
5 works
c. 350–373
Syriac
Carmina Nisibena
Ephrem the Syrian · c. 306 – 373
Seventy-seven hymns, the first written during three Persian sieges of Nisibin and the rest after the city was surrendered to Shapur and its Christians walked out. The later hymns stage a long dispute between Death and Satan over which of them has ruined more, each boasting and each finally beaten at the tomb.
c. 350–373
Syriac
Ephrem the Syrian · c. 306–373
Nativity hymns written for choirs of women to sing, turning on the paradox of the one who fills all things becoming small enough to be carried.
c. 363–373
Syriac
Ephrem the Syrian · c. 306–373
Polemic set to popular tunes, answering the followers of Bardaisan, Marcion, and Mani in the same metres they used for their own hymns.
c. 350–373
Syriac
Ephrem the Syrian · c. 306–373
Fifteen hymns imagining paradise as a mountain of ascending terraces, reading Genesis through image and paradox rather than argument.
c. 386
Latin
Ambrose of Milan · c. 339–397
Short hymns in a plain marching metre, written to be sung by a congregation occupying a basilica against imperial troops.
401–500
2 works
c. 405
Latin
Cathemerinon
Prudentius · 348–c. 413
Twelve long hymns for the hours of the day and the seasons of the year, in classical metres of great technical accomplishment.
c. 400–410
Greek
Synesius of Cyrene · c. 373–c. 414
Philosophical hymns by a Neoplatonist landowner who accepted a bishopric on the condition that he need not pretend to believe everything expected of him.
501–600
4 works
c. 512–518; surviving in Syriac
Greek, surviving in Syriac
Severus of Antioch · c. 465 – 538
Around three hundred short hymns for the cathedral office at Antioch, arranged by the eight tones — for the feasts, for the martyrs of the city, for earthquakes, for the dead, and for rain.
c. 520–555
Greek
Romanos the Melodist · c. 490–c. 556
Long sung sermons in stanzas with a repeated refrain, giving speeches to Mary, to Judas, to the woman at the well, and to Adam pleading at the gate of paradise.
6th–7th century; authorship disputed
Greek
Anonymous
Twenty-four stanzas in alphabetical order addressed to the Mother of God, built almost entirely of salutations beginning with Hail.
569
Latin
Venantius Fortunatus · c. 530–c. 609
Hymns written for the arrival of a relic of the cross at Poitiers, singing of the tree on which the price of the world hung.
601–700
1 work
c. 680–691
Latin
Anonymous
A manuscript of hymns, canticles, and collects used at an Irish monastery, including a eucharistic hymn and a hymn on the fire of Pentecost.
701–800
2 works
c. 700–740
Greek
Andrew of Crete · c. 650–740
Two hundred and fifty stanzas of penitence, running through the whole Bible and applying every figure in it to the singer's own soul.
c. 730–750
Greek
Cosmas of Maiuma · c. 675–c. 751
Festal hymns in the canon form for Christmas, Epiphany, and Holy Week, written at Mar Saba alongside his foster-brother John of Damascus.
801–900
2 works
c. 830–860
Greek
c. 884
Latin
Liber Ymnorum
Notker the Stammerer · c. 840–912
Sequences written to fit the long wordless melismas sung after the alleluia, a form the author says he learned from a refugee monk fleeing Viking raids.
901–1000
1 work
c. 965–990
Georgian
Ioane Zosime · 10th century
Liturgical hymns and calendars compiled at Sinai and Mar Saba, including a celebrated praise of the Georgian language as a tongue laid in the tomb until the last day.
1001–1100
2 works
c. 1005–1028
Latin
Fulbert of Chartres · c. 960–1028
The correspondence of a bishop and schoolmaster, including a famous letter analysing the mutual obligations of lord and vassal, and hymns still sung at Easter.
c. 1040
Latin
Wipo of Burgundy · c. 995–c. 1050
An Easter sequence in dialogue form, asking Mary Magdalene what she saw on the way and letting her answer.
1101–1200
3 works
c. 1120–1146
Latin
Adam of Saint Victor · d. c. 1146
Liturgical sequences in tightly rhymed accentual verse, dense with typological images drawn from the Old Testament.
c. 1140
Latin
De Contemptu Mundi
Bernard of Cluny · 12th century
Three thousand lines of savage satire on a corrupt age in a demanding metre, opening with the world's last hour and the coming of the judge.
c. 1150–1170
Latin
Symphonia
Hildegard of Bingen · 1098–1179
Seventy-seven liturgical songs with soaring melodies of her own composition, in a Latin full of invented images — greenness, viridity, the fiery breath of the Spirit.
1201–1300
3 works
13th century; authorship disputed
Latin
Attributed to Thomas of Celano · c. 1185–c. 1265
A sequence on the day of wrath, the trumpet, the opened book, and a final quiet plea from the accused to the judge who once sat down weary seeking him.
1264
Latin
Thomas Aquinas · 1225–1274
Hymns written for the new feast of Corpus Christi — Pange Lingua, Adoro Te Devote, Lauda Sion — compressing the theology of the eucharist into singable verse.
13th century; authorship disputed
Latin
Attributed to Jacopone da Todi · c. 1230–1306
Twenty stanzas at the foot of the cross, asking to be allowed to stand with the mother and share her grief.
1501–1600
3 works
1524
German
Martin Luther, Paul Speratus, and others
The first evangelical hymnbook — eight hymns, four by Luther — followed within months by larger collections for congregational use.
1526
German
Deutsche Messe
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
A vernacular order of service with hymns in place of the ordinary chants, and a preface hoping that a third form might one day gather those serious about being Christians.
c. 1527–1529
German
Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
A paraphrase of Psalm 46 for congregational singing, with the devil as a real adversary and one little word able to fell him.
1601–1700
3 works
c. 1636
German
Nun danket alle Gott
Martin Rinkart · 1586–1649
A hymn of thanksgiving written by the only surviving pastor in a walled town during the Thirty Years' War, where he buried some four thousand people.
c. 1642
Wendat
Jesous Ahatonhia
Jean de Brébeuf · 1593–1649
A nativity carol in the Wendat language, with the child wrapped in rabbit skin, visited by hunters, and honoured with gifts of fox and beaver pelt.
c. 1645–1676
German
Paul Gerhardt · 1607–1676
Hymns of trust written through the Thirty Years' War and the deaths of four of his five children, including the passion hymn O Sacred Head Now Wounded.
33 of 1693 works