The fifteenth century is a period of peculiar interest to musicians. The great transition from mediaeval bondage to modern freedom had begun. Even the schoolmen, the theoretical writers, were affected by the spirit of the age. The movement must, therefore, have been going on amongst the people for some time, for history shows us that struggles for emancipation always begin from below. It is, however, exceedingly difficult to trace the growth of this movement. We know, as a matter of history, that from an early period the popular taste had, on the whole, rejected the ecclesiastical modes, in spite of the familiarity with their tonality, which must have been engendered by constant attendance at church services and functions throughout the devout Middle Ages. Here and there popular melodies in ecclesiastical modes are preserved, but they are not many, nor do they bear the impress of that freshness which usually characterizes music, which is the spontaneous outgrowth of natural genius.