ABSTRACT
Very little is known about the pattern of worship observed by the church in Wales prior to the arrival of the Anglo-Norman settlers in the later eleventh century, and still less about the music that must have enhanced it. The most significant witness is the Liber Commonei, whose parallel-column Greek and Latin lections and canticles for the Easter Vigil service reveal that a particularly archaic liturgical practice was still observed in at least one area of Wales during the early ninth century, long after it had been abandoned elsewhere. It also confirms continued use of the Vetus Latina, an early redaction of the Bible that effectively became extinct in other areas of Europe (including Ireland) after the fourth century. Books containing musical notation were probably unknown in Wales at this early period, although there is evidence to suggest that clas communities sang other parts of the liturgy, including hymns.
