ABSTRACT
The music of the mediaeval period was dominated by one important characteristic: it was closely linked to specific nonmusical social functions. The early Christian missionaries to Britain disseminated in this country some knowledge of the liturgical music which for centuries before the time of St. Augustine had been cultivated among Christian communities owing allegiance to Rome. The importance of music in day-to-day worship was given widespread recognition during the centuries which followed the Northumbrian supremacy in 613. Some modern scholars claim for plainsong a kind of unearthly beauty which harmonized music does not attain. Well before the Norman Conquest the Church had made itself responsible for the education of adolescents in grammar, writing and music. The deliberate exploitation of harmonic effects is, of course, a different matter from casual and accidental harmonization. In the exclusively religious sphere, mediaeval belief and custom gave rise to a great deal of musical activity.
