Monophony

According to the modern medieval scholar Ardis Butterfield, monophony "is the dominant mode of the European vernacular genres as well as of Latin song ... in polyphonic works, it remains a central compositional principle.

"[2] The earliest recorded Christian monophony was plainchant or plainsong (of which one well-known style was called Gregorian chant) a single unaccompanied vocal melody sung by monks.

For example, Dodecachordon[3] was published by the Swiss Renaissance composer Heinrich Glarean (also Glareanus) and included plainsong or Gregorian chant and monophony.

Poets and composers in the 14th century produced many songs which can be seen as extensions of the Provençal troubador tradition, such as secular monophonic lais and virelais.

These monophonic Laude spirituale songs were used in the 13th and 17th century by flagellants, as recorded in the medieval chronicle Chronicon Hugonis sacerdotis de Rutelinga (1349).

A well-known example is Martin Luther's hymn "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"), written as a monophonic tune sometime between 1527 and 1529.