### hymn, sequence
hymn A religious song praising God or the saints, which was a compulsory part of the official prayer of the church, the office, from the 13th century onwards. The verse-structure, the rhyming and metric-rhythmic structure, and the melody are its typical characteristic features. The first Latin hymns were written by St Ambrus, bishop of Milan. Then it became one of the most popular genre of medieval poetry. The first textual relic of the usage of hymns is the Codex Albensis, which enlists the first lines of 72 hymns. The repertoire of hymns increased till the end of the Middle Ages, among others with local creations (for example, the regional cult of national saints). The movements of the hymns of the Árpád dynasty are undoubtedly independent local creations concerning thier texts.The first Hungarian hymns were written about St Ladislaus at the end of the 12th century, about St Emeric in the second half of the 13th century and King St Stephen at the end of the century. While the hymns of Gaude mater Hungaria (St Stephen), Paudes parens Pannonia (St Emeric) and Gaude felix (St Elisabeth) have two melodies in Hungarian tradition, the melody of Regis regum civis ave (St Ladislaus) survived in one version only. MJ - SzK Sequence Originally it was the singing/chant movement in a mass, the enlargement of the last syllable of the alleluia sung after the preaching, the memorisation of which was helped by a text. It appeared in the 9th century, in the 12th century it was renewed in form, it became independent of the alleluia part. Later it was the most popular genre of liturgic poetry. SzK