(Lat. acclamatio, clamor, conclamatio, laudatio, laus, vox etc.; Gk. euphēmia, euphēmēsis, phēmē, polychronion, polychronisma).
A corporate shout or public cry of affirmation or dissent. Common to many performative contexts across a broad range of traditions, acclamations became particularly important in political and religious rituals in East and West. Originating as spontaneous calls, some evolved into standardized formulae with fixed text and, occasionally, with set music.
A ruler’s ascent in the ancient world was often accompanied by acclamations. Biblical evidence possibly reflecting practice in the 9th century bce reveals that newly appointed monarchs were saluted with ‘yehi ha-melekh!’ (‘Long live the King!’, 1 Samuel x.24). Rulers in antiquity were also greeted with acclamations during royal entrances, especially after victory (1 Samuel xviii.7).
In ancient Rome acclamations were used to hail triumphant generals (‘Io triumphe!’), to punctuate oratorical events (‘Bene et praeclare!’) and to accompany bridal processions (‘Talassio!’); some were stamped on coins (e.g. ‘Victoria aeterna Aug[usti]’). During the Republic acclamations were considered as formal votes in public assemblies; in the late Republic they functioned similarly in the Senate. In Imperial Rome acclamations such as ‘Axios!’ (Gk.: ‘Worthy!’) became a constitutive part of proclaiming a new emperor. So important were they as barometers of public opinion that Nero hired a corps of Roman noblemen to lead appropriate acclamations in his presence (Tacitus, Annales, xiv.15). These powerful, sometimes negative, proclamations could not always be left to chance.
Acclamations often migrated between secular and religious spheres: some could be addressed separately to a deity or a monarch, for example, ‘hoshi‘ah na’ (‘Save, we pray!’, Psalm cxviii.25 and 2 Samuel xiv.4); others might be addressed simultaneously to both (e.g. Judges vii.20). Occasionally rulers were themselves acclaimed as gods (Livy, i.16.3). In ancient Israel ritual cries erupted in battle (1 Joshua vi.5), before the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel iv.5), and when building the Temple (Ezra iii.11). The psalmist urged the Israelites to ‘shout to God’ (xlvii.1) and considered people who knew the ‘festal shout’ as blessed (lxxxix.15). ‘Halleluyah’ was a common acclamation appended to several psalms, while ‘amen’ sealed oaths and public prayers.
Christianity borrowed some acclamations from Judaism (e.g. ‘Miserere’) and constructed others after biblical precedents (e.g. ‘Gloria’). Greco-Roman influence is detectable in Christianity’s adoption of ‘Dignum [= Axios] et iustum est’, which by the early 3rd century introduced some eucharistic prayers, and ‘Kyrie’, which appeared in the liturgy by the 4th century. Christians also developed new cries such as ‘marana atha’ (Aramaic: ‘Our Lord is coming’). They directed acclamations to their god and to leaders of the community. Acclamations (e.g. ‘Dignus’) were part of episcopal elections from the 3rd century, and at church councils ritual cries accompanied the proclamation of dogmas and the condemnation of heretics (‘Anathema’).
Elaborate acclamations emerged in the Byzantine empire. At the Hippodrome the various factions, grouped according to colour, organized acclamations for their charioteers. The increased importance of the circus in Byzantine life made the Hippodrome the scene of other acclamations either confirming or challenging imperial or patriarchal decisions. Euphēmiai (‘songs of praise’) and polychronia or polychronismata (repeatedly calling for ‘long life’) were standard elements in Byzantine imperial ritual: by the late empire euphēmiai were reserved for ecclesiastics while polychronia or polychronismata honoured royalty. At the height of the empire professionally proclaimed acclamations by choirs of court officials directed by the praipositos accompanied imperial ceremonies, while at more properly religious events choirs of minor clergy greeted ecclesiastics or joined in imperial acclamations. Many of the texts for these acclamations survive in the Book of Ceremonies of Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus (d 959) and the On the Offices of Pseudo-Codinus (c1350–60). Performance by two choirs was normal, although evidence exists for four-part acclamations (De ceremoniis, ii.19). Choral acclamations often included a refrain for the assembly. While some acclamations may have included instrumental music – to cue the assembly, for example – most were sung unaccompanied. Some acclamations with music survive from the end of the empire (e.g. GR-ATSpantocrator 214N dating from 1433), possibly reflecting earlier usage.
Byzantine acclamations probably provided the pattern for the Frankish Laudes regiae that appeared at the end of the 8th century. Music from the 10th century indicates that these were syllabic settings of limited range which allowed the participation of all. Acclamations survived among the Vikings, who publicly affirmed candidates for leadership while they were hoisted on a shield. They were also introduced into coronation ceremonies for Goths and Anglo-Saxons. Set formulae greeted English and French kings from at least the 13th century.
Acclamations were important in medieval Christian worship, especially during papal coronations and canonizations of saints. Modified Laudes regiae were reintroduced into the Roman rite when the feast of Christ the King was instituted in 1925. Since the Second Vatican Council ‘acclamation’ has become a technical term in the Roman rite and also in some Protestant rituals for specific worship elements, for example the ‘Memorial Acclamation’ in the eucharistic prayer.
MGG2 (B. Schimmelpfennig)
E.H. Kantorowicz: Laudes regiae: a Study in Mediaeval Worship and Liturgical Acclamations (Berkeley, 1946/R)
E. Wellesz: A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography (Oxford,1949, enlarged 2/1961), 98–122
T. Klauser: ‘Akklamation’, Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, i (Stuttgart, 1950), 216–33
C. Roueché: ‘Acclamations in the Later Roman Empire: New Evidence from Aphrodisias’, Journal of Roman Studies, lxxiv (1984), 181–99
M. McCormick: Eternal Victor: Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Early Medieval West (Cambridge, 1986)
EDWARD FOLEY