Hymn Story: All Glory, Laud and Honour

All Glory, Laud and Honour is based on Matthew 21:1-11 and often used for Palm Sunday. The hymn tells of the Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

The song is from the Latin hymn “Gloria, laus et honor” which was written by Theodulf of Orléans in 820.

Theodulf became the Bishop of Orléans under Charlemagne. After Charlemagne died, Theodulf was removed from his position and placed under house arrest at a monastery in Angers. During the power struggle by Louis the Pious to become emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, he suspected Thedulf of supporting an Italian Rival to become emperor. It was during his arrest, Theodulf wrote “Gloria, laus et honor”.

One legend–whose truth is questioned–stated that Louis heard the hymn and was so inspired that he released Theodulf and ordered the hymn sung ever Palm Sunday afterwards.

William Herbert translated the hymn into Middle English and in 1851 John Mason Neale translated the hymn into English for his Medieval Hymns and Sequences. He further revised he hymn before the 1861 publication in Hymns Ancient and Modern.

The original hymn had thirty-nine verses but only the first twelve lines have been printed in manuscripts since the ninth century.

In 1603, German cantor, Melchior Teschner, wrote a tune titled “St. Theodulf” or originally “Valet will ich dir geben”. The tune as it appears in the New English hymnal is written by Johann Sebastian Bach.