Wipo of Burgundy
11th-century imperial chaplain and author of the Victimae Paschali Laudes.
Wipo of Burgundy was an 11th-century chaplain at the imperial court of the Salian dynasty, serving under Emperor Conrad II and his son Henry III. He is best known as the author of the Victimae Paschali Laudes, the Easter Sequence sung at Mass on Easter Sunday throughout the Roman Catholic Church and one of the four medieval Latin sequences retained in the Roman Missal after the liturgical reforms of the Council of Trent in 1570. The Victimae Paschali Laudes is also one of the most influential texts in the history of Western theater, since its dramatic dialogue between the choir and Mary Magdalene was the direct seed of the medieval Quem Quaeritis trope and through it of medieval liturgical drama and ultimately the modern Western theatrical tradition. Beyond the Easter Sequence, Wipo wrote the Gesta Chuonradi II Imperatoris, a biographical history of Emperor Conrad II that is one of the principal sources for the history of the early Salian dynasty, as well as several shorter works of historical and devotional writing. His authorship of the Victimae Paschali Laudes is documented in 11th-century manuscripts and is one of the more secure attributions in the medieval sequence repertoire.