Song of the Watchmen of Modena
The Song of the Watchmen of Modena is an anonymous Latin poem from the late 9th century that honors the guards on Modena’s walls. Some lines were added later, but the music and the core text have survived. The poem has been praised as hauntingly beautiful. An old idea that a cleric wrote it while listening to the guards is no longer favored.
Around the same time, Modena strengthened its walls against Magyar raids. The same manuscript that includes the song also contains prayers asking for deliverance. The work fits with both church night prayers and the older practice of vigil on the walls, and it was probably used at Mass when the guards went out on duty.
The poet asks for blessings from Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Saint John. A chapel to them, Santa Maria e San Giovanni, had been consecrated on 26 July 881 near a city gate, where the guards would gather to sing. To motivate the guards, the poem alludes to classical stories: the Trojan War and how Hector kept watch to save a city, and the Sacred Geese that defended Rome from the Gauls. A line about silver and being revered as a goddess seems to be the poet’s own addition, drawing on the ideas of ancient commentators like Servius (and Isidore of Seville).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:14 (CET).