
Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th, 15th or 16th century, depending on country). The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works. Just as in modern literature, it is a complex and rich field of study, from the utterly sacred to the exuberantly profane, touching all points in-between. Works of literature are often grouped by place of origin, language, and genre.
Languages
Outside of Europe, medieval literature was written in
Ethiopic,
Syriac,
Coptic,
Japanese,
Chinese, and
Arabic, among many other languages.
In Western Europe, Latin was the common language for medieval writing, since
Latin was the language of the
Roman Catholic Church, which dominated
Western and
Central Europe, and since the Church was virtually the only source of education. This was the case even in some parts of Europe that were never Romanized.
In
Eastern Europe, the influence of the
Eastern Roman Empire and the
Eastern Orthodox Church made
Greek and
Old Church Slavonic the dominant written languages.
In Europe the common people used their respective
vernaculars. A few examples, such as the
Old English ''
Beowulf'', the
Middle High German ''
Nibelungenlied'', the
Medieval Greek ''
Digenis Acritas'', the
Old East Slavic ''
Tale of Igor's Campaign'', and the
Old French ''
Chanson de Roland'', are well known to this day. Although the extant versions of these
epics are generally considered the works of individual (but
anonymous) poets, there is no doubt that they are based on their peoples' older oral traditions.
Celtic traditions have survived in the
lais of
Marie de France, the ''
Mabinogion'' and the
Arthurian cycles. Another host of vernacular literature has survived in the
Old Norse literature and more specifically in the
saga literature of
Iceland.
Anonymity
A notable amount of medieval literature is
anonymous. This is not only due to the lack of documents from a period, but also due to an interpretation of the
author's role that differs considerably from the
romantic interpretation of the term in use today. Medieval authors often deeply respected the
classical writers and the
Church Fathers and tended to re-tell and embellish stories they had heard or read rather than invent new stories. And even when they did, they often claimed to be handing down something from an
auctor instead. From this point of view, the names of the individual authors seemed much less important, and therefore many important works were never attributed to any specific person.
Types of writing
Religious
Theological works were the dominant form of literature typically found in libraries during the Middle Ages.
Catholic clerics were the intellectual center of society in the Middle Ages, and it is their literature that was produced in the greatest quantity.
Countless
hymns survive from this time period (both
liturgical and paraliturgical). The liturgy itself was not in fixed form, and numerous competing missals set out individual conceptions of the order of the
mass. Religious scholars such as
Anselm of Canterbury,
Thomas Aquinas, and
Pierre Abélard wrote lengthy
theological and
philosophical treatises, often attempting to reconcile the teachings of the Greek and Roman pagan authors with the doctrines of the Church.
Hagiographies, or "lives of the saints", were also frequently written, as an encouragement to the devout and a warning to others.
The ''
Golden Legend'' of
Jacobus de Voragine reached such popularity that, in its time, it was reportedly read more often than the
Bible.
Francis of Assisi was a prolific poet, and his
Franciscan followers frequently wrote poetry themselves as an expression of their piety. ''
Dies Irae'' and ''
Stabat Mater'' are two of the most powerful Latin poems on religious subjects.
Goliardic poetry (four-line stanzas of satiric verse) was an art form used by some clerics to express dissent. The only widespread religious writing that was not produced by clerics were the
mystery plays: growing out of simple
tableaux re-enactments of a single Biblical scene, each mystery play became its village's expression of the key events in the
Bible. The text of these plays was often controlled by local
guilds, and mystery plays would be performed regularly on set feast-days, often lasting all day long and into the night.
During the Middle Ages, the
Jewish population of Europe also produced a number of outstanding writers.
Maimonides, born in
Cordoba, Spain, and
Rashi, born in
Troyes,
France, are two of the best-known and most influential of these Jewish authors.
Secular
Secular literature in this period was not produced in equal quantity as religious literature. The earliest tales are based on oral traditions: the British ''
Y Gododdin'' and ''
Preiddeu Annwfn'', along with the Germanic ''
Beowulf'' and ''
Nibelungenlied''. They relate to myths or certain 6th-century events, but the surviving manuscripts date from centuries later—''Y Gododdin'' from the late 13th century, ''Preiddu Annwfn'' from the early 14th century, ''Beowulf'' from c. 1000, and the ''Nibelungenlied'' from the 13th century. The makers and performers were ''
bards'' (British/Welsh) and ''
scops'' (Germanic), elite professionals attached to royal or noble courts to praise the heroes of legendary history.
Prose tales first emerged in Britain: the intricate
Four Branches of the ''Mabinogi'' about princely families, notably anti-war in theme, and the romantic adventure ''
Culhwch and Olwen''. (The ''Mabinogi'' is not the same as the ''
Mabinogion'', a collection of disconnected prose tales, which does, however, include both the ''Mabinogi'' and ''Culhwch and Olwen''.) These works were compiled from earlier oral tradition c. 1100.
At about the same time a new poetry of "
courtly love" became fashionable in Europe. Traveling singers—
troubadours and
trouvères—made a living from their love songs in
French,
Spanish,
Galician-Portuguese,
Catalan,
Provençal, and
Greek. Germanic culture had its
Minnesänger tradition. The songs of courtly love often express unrequited longing for an ideal woman, but there are also
aubades (dawn farewells by lovers) and humorous ditties.
Following the earliest epic poems, prose tales, and romances, more long poems were crafted—the ''
chansons de geste'' of the late 11th and early 12th centuries. These extolled conquests, as in ''
The Song of Roland'' (part of the
Matter of France) and ''
Digenis Acritas'' (one of the
Acritic songs). The rather different
chivalric romance tradition concerns adventures about marvels, love, and chivalry. They tell of the
Matter of Britain and the
Matter of Rome.
Political poetry threads throughout the period from the very early ''
Armes Prydein'' (10th-century Britain) to the
goliard rebels of 12th and 13th centuries, who were church trained clerics unable or unwilling to be employed in the church.
Travel literature was highly popular in the Middle Ages, as fantastic accounts of far-off lands (frequently embellished or entirely false) entertained a society that supported sea voyages and trading along coasts and rivers, as well as
pilgrimages to such destinations as
Jerusalem;
Canterbury and
Glastonbury in England;
St. David's in Wales; and
Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Geoffrey Chaucer's ''
Canterbury Tales'' became popular at the end of the 14th century.
The most prominent authors of
Jewish secular poetry in the Middle Ages were
Solomon ibn Gabirol and
Yehuda Halevi, both of whom were also renowned religious poets.
Women's literature
While it is true that women in the medieval period were never accorded full equality with men, some women were able to use their skill with the written word to gain renown. Religious writing was the easiest avenue—women who would later be canonized as
saints frequently published their reflections, revelations, and prayers. Much of what is known about
women in the Middle Ages is known from the works of
nuns such as
Clare of Assisi,
Bridget of Sweden, and
Catherine of Siena.
Frequently, however, the religious perspectives of women were held to be unorthodox by those in power, and the mystical visions of such authors as
Julian of Norwich,
Mechthild of Magdeburg, and
Hildegard of Bingen provide insight into a part of the medieval experience less comfortable for the institutions that ruled Europe at the time. Women wrote influential texts in the secular realm as well—reflections on courtly love and society by
Marie de France and
Christine de Pizan continue to be studied for their glimpses of medieval society.
For modern historical reflection, D.H. Green's (2007) historical work entitled, ''Women Readers of the Middle Ages'' explores literacy and literature in terms of women in medieval society. The book has been reviewed as "a radical reassessment of women's contribution to medieval literary culture."
[McDonald, Nicola]
" Women Readers in the Middle Ages (review)"
/ref>
Allegory
While medieval literature makes use of many literary devices, allegory is so prominent in this period as to deserve special mention. Much of medieval literature relied on allegory to convey the morals the author had in mind while writing—representations of abstract qualities, events, and institutions are thick in much of the literature of this time. Probably the earliest and most influential allegory is the ''Psychomachia'' (''Battle of Souls'') by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius. Other important examples include the ''Romance of the Rose'', ''Everyman'', ''Piers Plowman'', ''Roman de Fauvel'', and ''The Divine Comedy''.
Notable literature of the period
*''Alexiad'', Anna Comnena
*''Beowulf'', anonymous Anglo-Saxon author
*''Caedmon's Hymn''
*''Cantigas de Santa Maria'', Galician
*''The Book of the City of Ladies'', Christine de Pizan
*''Book of the Civilized Man'', Daniel of Beccles
*''The Book of Good Love'', Juan Ruiz
*''The Book of Margery Kempe'', Margery Kempe
*''Brut'', Layamon
*''Brut'', Wace
*''The Canterbury Tales'', Geoffrey Chaucer
*''Consolation of Philosophy'', Boethius
*''David of Sassoun'', anonymous Armenian author
*''Decameron'', Giovanni Boccaccio
*''The Dialogue'', Catherine of Siena
*''Digenis Acritas'', anonymous Greek author
*''The Diseases of Women'', Trotula of Salerno
*''La divina commedia'' (''The Divine Comedy''), Dante Alighieri
*''Dukus Horant'', the first extended work in Yiddish.
*''Elder Edda'', various Icelandic authors
*''Das fließende Licht der Gottheit'', Mechthild of Magdeburg
*''First Grammatical Treatise'', 12th-century work on Old Norse phonology
*''Gesta Danorum'', Saxo Grammaticus
*''Heimskringla'', Snorri Sturluson
*''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum'' (''The Ecclesiastical History of the English People''), the Venerable Bede
*''Holy Cross Sermons'', anonymous Polish author
*''The Knight in the Panther Skin'', Shota Rustaveli
*''The Lais of Marie de France'', Marie de France
*''The Letters of Abelard and Heloise''
*''Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio'' (''Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio''), Don Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena
*''Ludus de Antichristo'', anonymous German author
*''Mabinogion'', various Welsh authors
*''Metrical Dindshenchas'', Irish onomastic poems
*''Il milione'' (''The Travels of Marco Polo''), Marco Polo
*''Le Morte d'Arthur'', Sir Thomas Malory
*''Nibelungenlied'', anonymous German author
*''Njál's saga'', anonymous Icelandic author
*''Parzival'', Wolfram von Eschenbach
*''Piers Plowman'', William Langland
*''Poem of the Cid'', anonymous Spanish author
*''Proslogium'', Anselm of Canterbury
*''Queste del Saint Graal'' (''The Quest of the Holy Grail''), anonymous French author
*''Revelations of Divine Love'', Julian of Norwich
*''Le Roman de Perceforest''
*''Roman de la Rose'', Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun
*''Sadko'', anonymous Russian author
*''Scivias'', Hildegard of Bingen
*''Sic et Non'', Abelard
*''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'', anonymous English author
*''The Song of Roland'', anonymous French author
*''Spiritual Exercises'', Gertrude the Great
*''Summa Theologiae'', Thomas Aquinas
*''Táin Bó Cúailnge'', anonymous Irish author
*''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'', anonymous Russian author
*''Tirant lo Blanc'', Joanot Martorell
*''The Travels of Sir John Mandeville'', John Mandeville
*''Tristan'', Thomas d'Angleterre
*''Tristan'', Béroul
*''Tristan'', Gottfried von Strassburg
*''Troilus and Criseyde'', Geoffrey Chaucer
*''Waltharius''
*''Younger Edda'', Snorri Sturluson
*''Yvain: The Knight of the Lion'', Chrétien de Troyes
Specific articles
By region or language
*Anglo-Norman literature
*Classical Arabic literature
*Medieval Armenian literature
*Old Breton literature
*Byzantine literature
*Medieval Bulgarian literature
*Medieval Catalan literature
*Medieval Croatian literature
*Old and Middle Dutch literature
*Old English literature
*Middle English literature
*Early English Jewish literature
*Medieval French literature
*Sicilian School
*Old High German literature
*Middle High German literature
*Medieval Georgian literature
*Medieval Hebrew literature
*Icelandic literature
*Medieval Irish literature
*Medieval Italian literature
*Medieval Latin literature
**Latin translations of the 12th century
*Occitan literature
*Old Norse literature
*Pahlavi literature
*Medieval Persian literature
*Medieval Portuguese literature
*Medieval Serbian literature
*Medieval Scottish literature
*Medieval Spanish literature
*Medieval Welsh literature
By genre
*Medieval poetry
*Medieval drama
*Medieval allegory
*Medieval mysticism
*Fabliau
*Medieval travel literature
*Arthurian literature
*Alexander romances
*Chanson de geste
*Eddic poetry
*Skaldic poetry
*Alliterative verse
*Miracle plays
*Morality plays
*Mystery plays
*Passion plays
By period
*Early Medieval literature (6th to 9th centuries)
*10th century in literature
*11th century in literature
*12th century in literature
*13th century in literature
*14th century in literature
References
External links
The Medieval and Classical Literature Library
The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies
Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, Vulgates, Books of Hours, Medicinal Texts and more, 12 - 17th century, Center for Digital Initiatives, University of Vermont Libraries
Luminarium: Anthology of Middle English Literature
Medieval Nordic Literature
at the Icelandic Saga Database
{{Authority control
03
Literature