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Medieval literature

February 19, 2023

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.

Statuta Mutine Reformata, 1420–1485; parchment codex bound in wood and leather with brass plaques worked the corners and in the center, with clasps.

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

 
The first page of Beowulf

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.

Some women were patrons of books and owners of significant book collections. Female book collectors in the fifteenth century included Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk; Cecily Neville, Duchess of York; and Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby. Lady Margaret Beaufort may also have completed translations as a testament to her piety, as Bishop Father John Fisher noted in a sermon dedicated to her after her death.[1]

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.[2] The book has been reviewed as "a radical reassessment of women's contribution to medieval literary culture."[3]

Allegory

Main article: Allegory in the Middle Ages

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, the Roman de Fauvel, and the Divine Comedy.

Preservation

A recent study has concluded that only about 68 percent of all medieval works have survived to the present day, including fewer than 40 percent of English works, around 50 percent of Dutch and French works, and more than three quarters of German, Icelandic, and Irish works.[4]

Notable literature of the period

 
Estimated medieval output of manuscripts in terms of copies[5]

Specific articles

By region or language

By genre

By period

References

  1. ^ Niebrzydowski, Sue (2011). Middle-aged Women in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84615-793-6. OCLC 774293897.
  2. ^ Green, D.H. "Women Readers of the Middle Ages". Cambridge University Press, England. ISBN 978-0-52187-9422
  3. ^ McDonald, Nicola. " Women Readers in the Middle Ages (review)"
  4. ^ Bushwick, Sophie (8 March 2022). "How Much Medieval Literature Has Been Lost?". Scientific American. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  5. ^ Buringh, Eltjo; van Zanden, Jan Luiten: "Charting the “Rise of the West”: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries", The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 69, No. 2 (2009), pp. 409–445 (416, table 1)

External links

  • The Medieval and Classical Literature Library
  • The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies
  • The Internet Medieval Sourcebook Project
  • Luminarium: Anthology of Middle English Literature
  • Medieval Nordic Literature at the Icelandic Saga Database

February 19, 2023
medieval, literature, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, septe. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Medieval literature news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message 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 Statuta Mutine Reformata 1420 1485 parchment codex bound in wood and leather with brass plaques worked the corners and in the center with clasps Contents 1 Languages 2 Anonymity 3 Types of writing 3 1 Religious 3 2 Secular 3 3 Women s literature 3 4 Allegory 4 Preservation 5 Notable literature of the period 6 Specific articles 6 1 By region or language 6 2 By genre 6 3 By period 7 References 8 External linksLanguages EditOutside 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 EditA 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 EditReligious Edit 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 Abelard 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 Edit The first page of Beowulf 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 trouveres made a living from their love songs in French Spanish Galician Portuguese Catalan Provencal and Greek Germanic culture had its Minnesanger 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 Edit 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 Some women were patrons of books and owners of significant book collections Female book collectors in the fifteenth century included Alice Chaucer Duchess of Suffolk Cecily Neville Duchess of York and Lady Margaret Beaufort Countess of Richmond and Derby Lady Margaret Beaufort may also have completed translations as a testament to her piety as Bishop Father John Fisher noted in a sermon dedicated to her after her death 1 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 2 The book has been reviewed as a radical reassessment of women s contribution to medieval literary culture 3 Allegory Edit Main article Allegory in the Middle Ages 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 the Roman de Fauvel and the Divine Comedy Preservation EditA recent study has concluded that only about 68 percent of all medieval works have survived to the present day including fewer than 40 percent of English works around 50 percent of Dutch and French works and more than three quarters of German Icelandic and Irish works 4 Notable literature of the period Edit Estimated medieval output of manuscripts in terms of copies 5 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 s 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 Njal 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 Tain Bo Cuailnge 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 Beroul Tristan Gottfried von Strassburg Troilus and Criseyde Geoffrey Chaucer Waltharius Younger Edda Snorri Sturluson Yvain The Knight of the Lion Chretien de TroyesSpecific articles EditBy region or language Edit Anglo Norman literature Classical Arabic literature Medieval Armenian literature Medieval Bosnian 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 Edit Medieval poetry Medieval drama Medieval allegory Medieval mysticism Fabliau Medieval travel literature Arthurian literature Alexander romances Chanson de geste Chivalric romance Eddic poetry Skaldic poetry Alliterative verse Miracle plays Morality plays Mystery plays Passion playsBy period Edit 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 literatureReferences Edit Niebrzydowski Sue 2011 Middle aged Women in the Middle Ages Cambridge D S Brewer ISBN 978 1 84615 793 6 OCLC 774293897 Green D H Women Readers of the Middle Ages Cambridge University Press England ISBN 978 0 52187 9422 McDonald Nicola Women Readers in the Middle Ages review Bushwick Sophie 8 March 2022 How Much Medieval Literature Has Been Lost Scientific American Retrieved 8 March 2022 Buringh Eltjo van Zanden Jan Luiten Charting the Rise of the West Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe A Long Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries The Journal of Economic History Vol 69 No 2 2009 pp 409 445 416 table 1 External links EditThe Medieval and Classical Literature Library The Labyrinth Resources for Medieval Studies The Internet Medieval Sourcebook Project 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 Portals Literature Poetry Mythology Middle Ages Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Medieval literature amp oldid 1139392011, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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