MEDIEVAL LITERATURE: ORIGINS, CHARACTERISTICS AND WORKS - LITERATURE

The medieval literature includes works written in Europe during the Middle Ages. Historians generally place this period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance. During this period in medieval eastern Europe the Byzantines continued to produce Greek literature, which included poetry, prose, and drama.

The same happened with Latin creative literature in Western Europe. However, in the late Middle Ages (around 1000-1500), creative medieval literature flourished mainly in vernacular languages; that is, in the native languages of Europe. The most famous medieval genre is the heroic legend, composed in prose or narrative poetry.

Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, an outstanding work of medieval literature

On the other hand, lyrical poetry and drama flourished mainly in the Later Medieval period, or the Late Middle Ages. The liturgical literary works were written, for the most part, in Latin; this was the main cross-cultural language at the time, and it was used by the Church and academia.

The literary culture that flourished in the medieval era was far ahead of the times. It was developed in several different languages (Latin, French, English, Italian, German, Spanish). This literature contributed greatly to and had a lasting influence on modern works of fiction.

origins

In general, the period of European history known as the Middle Ages or medieval times extends from the collapse of Roman civilization (5th century) to the Renaissance; that is, until between the 13th and 15th centuries.

This long period was marked by conversion to Christianity, conquests, the Crusades, and cultural innovation. All of this dramatically influenced the literature that emerged, leaving a rich textual legacy.

However, during the heyday of the Roman Empire its citizens had produced a great deal of literature, both Christian and secular. This influence never actually diminished thereafter.

The decline of Rome led to the fragmentation of Europe. New nation states were formed and vernacular languages, such as English, German, French, and Spanish, eventually took on separate identities.

Now, some of the earliest forms of medieval poetry date back to the late 7th century, when they began to be recorded in writing.

However, the beginning of medieval literature itself does not have a very clear date. It is difficult to trace the roots of medieval literature, or the names of certain authors, due to the lack of a central movement.

However, it is known that at the beginning of the era bards, minstrels and troubadours transmitted most of the stories in the oral tradition, and only a small number of literary works were preserved over time.

Characteristics of medieval literature

Cantigas de Santa María, an example of medieval literature

Orality

By the time of the Middle Ages, the profession of reading and writing was very rare. The form of transmission of stories and stories was oral. This is how the authors of works had to relate them to the public to make them known.

Chivalrous

One of the main cultural forces in medieval Europe was chivalry. This ethical perspective emphasized piety, loyalty to the lord, devotion to one's own lady, and courteous and honorable demeanor in general.

Chivalry, which emerged in France, was seen as the collection of values and behaviors required for Christian integrity. Chivalric ideals permeated the prose of the later medieval period.

The most prominent subject of the prose was heroic legends, although many other types of stories were told. Among them are fairy tales, hagiographies (biographies of saints) and Christian allegories. Reworkings of classical mythology and satire were also made.

Polite love

The most famous theme in medieval lyric poetry is "courtly love." In these verses the man expresses his love for a lady in the chivalric style, often lamenting her indifference.

Additionally, medieval writers explored many of the themes of ancient poetry. These include religious devotion, praise, lamentation, moral instruction, satirical observation, and philosophical reflections.

Many works were produced in the academic languages (Greek in the east and Latin in the west). However, the most famous lyric poetry was written mainly in the vernacular languages of Western Europe.

Following the patterns of ancient times, medieval lyrical poetry was often composed in the form of songs.

Minstrels, goliards and troubadours

Minstrels were a popular source of entertainment throughout the Middle Ages. They were wandering singing poets, typically of low socioeconomic status, who performed relatively simple works.

In the Later Medieval period (around 1000-1500), the minstrels joined the goliards and troubadours.

The former were rebellious college students, many of them clergymen, who specialized in poetry celebrating sensual pleasures and satirizing the Church. Meanwhile, the troubadours were composers of refined artistic poetry, typically of medium to high socioeconomic status.

The troubadour movement originated in southern France, from where it spread through western Europe, especially northern France and Germany.

Religiosity

Although secular literature existed, religious literature is the predominant one at the time. God as the center of everything, the church as the means to reach God and the man whose existence is due to God.

The lives of saints such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Francis of Assisi, as well as texts written by them and others about philosophy and theology. The Jewish population also developed literary works.

Teaching

It was the main objective of the literary work. Transmit Christian values and serve as a role model, showing both the life of the saints, their self-denial, sacrifice, fidelity and dedication.

The lives of knights who faithfully served a king or his beloved were also a source of inspiration.

Verse

Medieval literary work was written in verse and was designed to be sung. It was considered that for a work to be literary, it should be in verse.

This also made it easier to recite. Many works from the Middle Ages, in fact, are known as poems or songs for this reason.

Anonymity

On the one hand, it is because the author considered that his work was not his own, but that of the people. When it came to big name topics, an author could appear.

However, to escape censorship and repression, it was written under anonymity, especially if the subjects were magic, alchemy, astrology or romance stories, which could be severely punished.

Imitation

Unlike today, the fact that a work was original was not relevant. A recreation of a story already known or previously written was more important.

This fact, on occasions, was a consequence of the oral condition of the literature. As there were no physical copies of a work, another author was given the task of leaving written evidence.

Epic

One of the contents of medieval stories was the adventures of expedition members who traveled the world and the endless situations in which they were involved.

Such is the case of the Cantar del Mío Cid, The stories of King Arturo, The song of Rolando and others, which are enriched by stories from authors who also traveled.

Works by female authors

Although rare, most of the feminine works were made by nuns, some of them later made holy, and reflected their reflections, revelations and prayers.

Drama

For the most part, western medieval drama was limited to the Later Medieval period. These works originated as part of the Church ceremony, and were re-enactments of biblical events or the lives of the saints.

These representations of mystery and miracles were composed in Latin, and had a serious tone. Over time, they began to take place outside the church. Professional or part-time actors took part in these performances, and were carried out in permanent stadiums or traveling wagons, and in vernacular languages.

Without immediate religious supervision, the actors responded to popular tastes by incorporating non-religious material. Comedy scenes and separate side stories were then added.

In this way the secular drama arose within the shell of the sacred drama. Experimentation with sacred drama outside the Church also gave rise to the "moral game."

This was a third main type of Western medieval theater, where the abstract forces of good and evil (personified by the actors) force the main character to choose between the two.

Representatives and works

In the High Middle Ages, when the Roman Empire was collapsing, the new power of Christianity inspired Augustine (in North Africa) and Pope Gregory the Great (Italy). They both wrote new books in Latin on Christian philosophy.

In Constantinople, Procopius wrote in Greek about Justinian's conquests, and almost at the same time Cassiodorus in Italy was writing his History of the Goths.

For his part, in France Gregorio de Tours wrote History of the Franks, and in Spain Isidore of Seville wrote History of the Goths, Swabians and Vandals, as well as a book on the origins of words called Etymologies.

After the establishment of the Islamic Empire in 600 AD. C., most of the writers were in the universities. Very few people in Europe had time to read or write books.

Although Charlemagne's empire moved a great deal of wealth from southern Europe to the north, books were very expensive. The scribes had to write them by hand and this took a long time.

Little by little, Europe began to get rich from trade, and more Europeans had time to learn to read and write.

Some works of medieval literature after 1000 AD are described below.

Beowulf

It is a heroic poem that appeared in print after 1815. It is preserved in a single manuscript from around AD 1000. C. It is considered the greatest achievement of ancient English literature and the first European vernacular epic.

It is about early 6th century events and is believed to have been composed between 700 and 750. It was originally untitled, but was later named after the Scandinavian hero Beowulf for his exploits and character.

There is no evidence of a historical Beowulf. However, some characters, sites, and events in the poem can be verified historically.

The Divine Comedy

Written by Dante Alighieri in the 14th century, this Italian poem describes his descent into hell, his ascent to Mount Purgatory, his meeting with his beloved Beatrice, and finally his arrival in heaven. The text is an allegory to human redemption.

Decameron

The Decameron is considered the masterpiece of Giovanni Boccaccio, and is the perfect example of prose from medieval Italian literature. It was written between 1351 and 1353.

It is about one hundred stories told by ten young noble men and women in a rural villa outside the city of Florence. These young people seek to escape the ravages of the Black Death.

The Canterbury Tales

This text was written between 1387 and 1400. The format and many of the individual tales in the Canterbury Tales were inspired by Boccaccio's Decameron.

However, this work of medieval English literature is unique in its inclusion of characters who are true to life and represent all social classes of the time of its writer, Geoffrey Chaucer.

The Song of Mio Cid

Also called Poema de Mio Cid, this epic poem is from the mid-12th century. It is considered one of the great epic poems of medieval literature and one of the masterpieces of Spanish literature.

The poem speaks of the fall of royal favor and the eventual vindication of the 11th century Castilian noble and military leader, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043-1099), popularly known as El Cid, who became the national hero of Spain.

The original manuscript of the poem has been lost. The first extant copy, called Poema del Cid, dates from 1307. The poem is believed to have been composed at around 1140.

References

Herlihy, D. et al. (2016, July 19). History of Europe. Taken from britannica.com.
Essential Humanities. (s / f). Medieval Literature. Taken from essential-humanities.net.
Medieval Chronicles (s / f). Medieval Literature. Taken from medievalchronicles.com.
Treharne, E. (2015). Medieval Literature: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carr, KE (2017, August 3). Medieval Literature - Europè. Taken from quatr.us.
Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018, February 01). Beowulf. Taken from britannica.com.
Sherman, J. (Editor). (2015). Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore. Oxon: Routledge.

MEDIEVAL LITERATURE: ORIGINS, CHARACTERISTICS AND WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025