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 Maximian. 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.
Provided here is the original text and a word-by-word transposition into a highly artificial form of late Vernacular Latin, preserving the exact syntax, phonology, and word choice of the original (its purpose here is chiefly philological, and it does not constitute legitimate Latin).
| Old French (Walloon) (c. AD 880) | Verbatim "Latin" |
|---|---|
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"Buona pulcella fut Eulalia: bel avret corps, bellezour anima. Voldrent la veintre li Deo inimi, voldrent la faire diaule servir. Elle no'nt eskoltet les mals conseillers qu'elle Deo raneiet chi maent sus en ciel. Ne por or ne argent ne paramenz, por manatce regiel ne preiement, niule cose non la pouret omque pleier la polle sempre non amast lo Deo menestier. E por o fut presentede Maximiien, chi rex eret a cels dis soure paiens. Il li enortet -dont lei nonque chielt- qued elle fuiet lo nom christiien, ell' ent aduret lo suon element. Melz sostendreiet les empedementz qu'elle perdesse sa virginitet. Por o's furet morte a grand honestet. Enz enl fou la getterent com arde tost: elle colpes non auret, por o no's coist. A czo no's voldret concreidre li rex pagiens: ad une spede li roueret tolir lo chief. La domnizelle celle kose non contredist; volt lo seule lazsier si ruouet Krist. In figure de colomb volat a ciel. Tuit oram que por nos degnet preier qued auuisset de nos Christus mercit post la mort et a lui nos laist venir par souue clementia." |
Bona puellicella fuit Eulalia: bellum abuerat corpus, bellatiorem animam. Voluerunt illam vincire illi Dei inimici, voluerunt illam facere diabolo servire. Illa no'nde auscultat illos malos consiliarios quod illa Deum reneget qui manet sursum in caelo. Nec pro auro nec argento nec paramentis, [nec] pro minacibus regalibus nec precamento, nulla causa non illam potuerat umquam plicare illa puella [ut] semper non amasset illud Dei ministerium. Et pro oc fuit presentata Maximiano, qui rex erat ad ecc'illos dies super pagenses. Ille illi inortat -d'unde illi nunquam calet- quod illa fugeret illud nomen christianum, ill'inde adoret illud suum elementum. Melius sustent[a]ret illa impedimenta qu'illa perdisset suam virginitatem. Pro hoc fuerat mortua ad grandem honestatem. Intus in illum focum jactarunt quomodo ardeat totcito: illa culpas non abuerat, pro oc non coxit. Ad ecc'oc no'se voluerat concredere ille rex pagensis: ab una spatha ille rogaverat tolli illud caput. Illa domnicella ecc'ille cause non contradixit; vult illud seclum laxare sic rogaverat Christum. In figura de columba volat ad caelum. Toti oremus quod pro nobis dignet precari quod abuisset de nobis Christus mercedem post illam mortem et ad illum nos laxet venire per suam clementiam." |
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According to Maurice Delbouille this is the first literary text, possibly written in a Walloon region, or at least in a French region adjacent to the present-day Wallonia.[1] For Maurice Delbouille there are some traits of Walloon, Champennois, and Picard in the Sequence, i.e. three linguistic regions of present-day Wallonia who had in this period a common scripta [2] And that is the reason why this text may be located in Wallonia. It is also the opinion of D'Arco Silvio Avalle [3] or of Leopold Genicot: it is in Picard or in Walloon region that the French Literature began with the Sequence of Saint Eulalia [4] The second existing text in Old French (with Picard and Walloon features) is a rendering of a short sequence by Prudentius on the life of St. Eulalia, precisely dated (ad 880–882)[5]
