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 Florentine Renaissance in the late 15th century). 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.
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 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.
Theological works were the dominant form of literature typically found in libraries during the Middle Ages. Catholic clerics were the intellectual centre of society in the Middle Ages, and it is their literature that was produced in the greatest quantity.
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 population of Jews in 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.
A notable work during this era is the famous Everyman.
Everyman recounts the life and death of Everyman, an allegorical figure who represents all of humanity. At the beginning of the play, God orders Death to visit Everyman and to warn him that he will be judged by God himself.
It relates through allegory the tale of a dying Everyman and the items and qualities he most values, which attend to him in his death. The play opens with a messenger preparing the way for God, who after an opening meditation commands Death to seek out Everyman and warn him that God sits in judgment of Everyman’s soul. Death approaches Everyman and foretells his demise, telling Everyman that he will now undertake the pilgrimage of the soul and stand before God to be reckoned. Everyman pleads to be released from his journey, even begging for the journey to be delayed if only for a day, but Death reminds Everyman that he comes for all people in their turn. Everyman laments at his fate and attempts to find comfort and companionship for his journey.
First, he looks for solace among his friends, allegorized by Fellowship. Initially, Fellowship seems very concerned about Everyman’s grave state and pledges his undying fealty and assistance, but upon discovering that Everyman undertakes the journey to Death, Fellowship abandons Everyman to his own fate. Next, Everyman turns to Cousin and Kindred, believing that familial bonds will prove stronger than those of Fellowship; but, family, too, despite professing their love for and support of Everyman, abandons him in the time of his greatest need. Next, Everyman turns to his own material possessions, his Goods, which Everyman has spent a lifetime amassing. Everyman believes that his Goods will accompany him on his pilgrimage to judgment, but his Goods, too, forsake Everyman, leaving the lamentable figure wailing over his faith.
Everyman calls on Knowledge to help him. Knowledge advises him to confess his sins to strength his Good Deeds. With the help of Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits, Everyman approaches the Gates of Heaven. He then learns that only his Good Deeds will come with him. He is judged by his actions alone.
Another notable work is sir Gwain and the green knights.
This long Arthurian poem was composed by a poet roughly contemporary with Chaucer, who lived in a different part of England from the author of The Canterbury Tales (probably the West Midlands or the North West of England). The poem focuses on King
Arthur’s nephew, the young Sir Gawain, who accepts the challenged issued by the mysterious Green Knight who arrives at Camelot during the New Year’s celebrations. Gawain can cut off the Green Knight’s head, on condition that he honour the other side of the bargain and allow the Green Knight to return the favour the following year, at the Green Chapel. But when Gawain beheads the stranger, things do not go quite as planned, and the Knight survives. Will Gawain honour his pledge? This is perhaps the greatest story in all of medieval literature, told in lively alliterative verse and full of action, colour
(especially, as you’ll have guessed, green), and interesting moral questions. The same poet probably also composed the long elegy for a dead child, Pearl, as well as two poems about Christian virtues.
Also, the mindblowing epic masterpiece by Geoffrey Chaucer which is the Canterbury Tales must be definitely included. The Canterbury Tales (Middle English: Tales of Caunterbury[2]) is a collection of 24 stories that run to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400.[3] In 1386, Chaucer became Controller of Customs and Justice of Peace and, in 1389, Clerk of the King’s work.[4] It was during these years that Chaucer began working on his most famous text, The Canterbury Tales. The tales (mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return.
At the Tabard Inn, a tavern in Southwark, near London, the narrator joins a company of twenty-nine pilgrims. The pilgrims, like the narrator, are travelling to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The narrator gives a descriptive account of twenty-seven of these pilgrims, including a Knight, Squire, Yeoman, Prioress, Monk, Friar, Merchant, Clerk, Man of Law, Franklin, Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapestry-Weaver, Cook, Shipman, Physician, Wife, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Manciple, Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner, and Host. (He does not describe the Second Nun or the Nun’s Priest, although both characters appear later in the book.) The Host, whose name, we find out in the Prologue to the Cook’s Tale, is Harry Bailey, suggests that the group ride together and entertain one another with stories. He decides that each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. Whoever is judged to be the best storyteller will receive a meal at Bailey’s Tavern, courtesy of the other pilgrims. The pilgrims draw lots and determine that the Knight will tell the first tale.
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