Modus

Modus, term applied in early medieval times to tunes, and extended to signify the text, in the form of sequentiae (see Sequenz), to which the tunes were sung. Four such Latin poems survive with the titles Modus qui et Carelmanninc, Modus florum, Modus Liebinc, and Modus Ottinc. The Modus qui et Carelmanninc, also called Karlmannsweise, dates from c.1020 and is a hymn in praise of Christ. The Modus florum is a comic poem in which a Swabian wins a king's daughter through the magnitude of the hunting lies he tells. Its author terms it mendosam cantilenam. It belongs to the early 11th c. The comic poem Modus Liebinc exists also in a Middle High German version as Das Schneekind. The Latin poem was probably written in the 11th c. The Modus Ottinc is a poem in praise of Otto the Great (see Otto I) and his line, in which Otto III provides the climax. It was written in the latter's lifetime, towards the end of the 10th c.