Planctus
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A planctus ("plaint") is a lament or dirge, a song or poem expressing grief or mourning. It became a popular literary form in the Middle Ages, when they were written in Latin and in the vernacular (e.g., the planh of the troubadours). 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. The earliest known example, the Planctus de obitu Karoli, was composed around 814, on the death of Charlemagne.[1]
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 destructionis regni Hungariae per Tartaros (1242).
References
- Stevens, John (2001). "Planctus". In ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
