Sequence of Saint Eulalia

The "Sequence of Saint Eulalia" (also known as the "Canticle of Saint Eulalia" or the "Séquence" or "Cantilène de sainte Eulalie") is the earliest surviving piece of French hagiography and one of the earliest extant vernacular writings, dating from around 880. A Latin version also exists from the same time.

Saint Eulalia of Mérida was an early Christian martyr from Mérida, Spain, who was killed during Diocletian's repressions around 304. Her legend is preserved in the 29 lines of the "Sequence", in which she resists pagan threats, bribery and torture from the pagan emperor Maximilan. Finally she is burned at the stake, but miraculously survives, but is then decapitated (in the French version). She then ascends to heaven in the form of a dove.

It was composed in verse around 880 in honor of the supposed rediscovery of her bones in Barcelona in 878. These are the bones of Saint Eulalia of Barcelona, purportedly a different saint from Eulalia of Mérida.

References

*F.J. Barnett, "Some Notes to the "Sequence of St. Eulalia", in "Studies in Medieval French", 1961.
*Jeanette M. A. Beer (1989). "Eulalie, La Séquence de Ste.". "Dictionary of the Middle Ages". Vol-4. ISBN 0-684-17024-8
*cite book|title=The Lady as Saint: A Collection of French Hagiographic Romances of the Thirteenth Century|first=Brigitte|last=Cazelles|pages=313-4|id=ISBN 0-8122-1380-7|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=November 1, 1991|location=Philadelphia|chapter=The Ninth-Century Sequence of Saint Eulalia

External links

* [http://www.restena.lu/cul/BABEL/I_CANTILENE.jpgImage of the Sequence] (Réf. Bibliothèque municipale de Valenciennes 150 (olim 143) fol.141v)