In an exploration of medieval music, we encounter the the most distant and longest era of "real" musical history. Saint Gregory (Svaty Rehor in Czech) is credited with arranging a large number of choral works, which arose in the early centuries of Christianity in Europe. He was pope (Pope Gregory I) from the year 590 AD to 604 AD and from his name we get the term Gregorian chant. The Medieval era lasted until the 14th century, which means it covers a period of history of almost 1,000 years.
Gregorian chant: is monophonic, that is, music composed with only one melodic line without accompaniment. The authors of the melodies of the Gregorian chants remain unknown. As with the melodies of folk music, the chants probably changed as they were passed down orally from generation to generation.
Polyphony :is music where two or more melodic lines are heard at the same time in a harmony. Polyphony didn't exist (or it wasn't on record) until the 11th century. Although the majority of medieval polyphonic works are anonymous - the names of the authors were either not preserved or simply never known - there are some composers whose work was so significant that their names were recorded along with their work.

Important Composers

Hildegard von Bingen	(1098 - 1179)
Perotin	(1155 - 1377)
Guillame de Machaut	(1300 - 1377)
John Dunstable	(1385 - 1453)
Guillame Dufay	(1400 - 1474)