# Planctus

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A '''''planctus''''' ("[plaint](/source/%3Awikt%3Aplaint)") is a [lament](/source/lament) or [dirge](/source/dirge), a song or poem expressing grief or mourning. It became a popular literary form in the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages), when they were written in Latin and in the vernacular (e.g., the ''[planh](/source/planh)'' of the [troubadour](/source/troubadour)s). 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](/source/Peter_Dronke). The earliest known example, the ''[Planctus de obitu Karoli](/source/Planctus_de_obitu_Karoli)'', was composed around 814, on the death of [Charlemagne](/source/Charlemagne).<ref>Peter Godman (1985), ''Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press), 206–211.</ref>

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 cygni](/source/Planctus_cygni)'', which is possibly derived from Germanic models). The earliest examples of music for ''planctus'' are found in tenth-century manuscripts associated with the [Abbey of Saint Martial of Limoges](/source/Abbey_of_Saint_Martial_of_Limoges). From the twelfth century Dronke identifies a growing number of laments of the [Virgin Mary](/source/Mary_(mother_of_Jesus)) (called a ''planctus Mariae'') and ''complaintes d'amour'' (complaints of love) in the [courtly love](/source/courtly_love) tradition.<ref>Stevens, "Planctus".</ref> From the mid-thirteenth century survives an early [Catalan](/source/Catalan_language) Marian lament, ''[Augats, seyós qui credets Déu lo Payre](/source/Augats%2C_sey%C3%B3s_qui_credets_D%C3%A9u_lo_Payre)'', and around 1300 the ''[Lamentations of Mary](/source/Lamentations_of_Mary_(Old_Hungarian))'' were composed in [Old Hungarian](/source/Old_Hungarian_language). The [Mongol invasion of Europe](/source/Mongol_invasion_of_Europe) drew a ''planctus'' from an anonymous monk in the entourage of [Béla IV of Hungary](/source/B%C3%A9la_IV_of_Hungary), the ''[Planctus destructionis regni Hungariae per Tartaros](/source/Planctus_destructionis_regni_Hungariae_per_Tartaros)'' (1242).

The term may have been the source of the Irish planxty, a song written in tribute to a person, although etymologies from [Irish](/source/Irish_language) are also suggested.<ref>''Notes and Queries''. (1871:41). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.</ref>
==References==
*{{Cite Grove |last=Stevens |first=John |title=Planctus}}

==Notes==
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Category:Medieval literature
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Planctus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planctus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planctus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.