Medieval literature: characteristics and main works

Medieval literature is the great unknown. It is not usual for someone to have medieval authors among their daily readings. Perhaps it is because the literature of the Middle Ages is incomprehensible to us due to the effect of time; Indeed, his literary models are far from what we are used to, and also, of course, the mentality that his literature reflects.

In this article we will a brief tour of the different literary genres that filled the medieval centuries: from the historical chronicles to the poems of the troubadours, going through the lives of saints and the novels of chivalry. All this taking into account that what we call the Middle Ages is too long a period to compress all its literature in a few pages. But let's try.

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Characteristics of medieval literature

As always when we talk about the Middle Ages, it is difficult to establish some characteristics that summarize the literature of this period. We insist: the Middle Ages are no less than 10 centuries and, obviously, in such a long period of time We find various political, economic and social contexts that contributed to shaping an expression concrete culture.

Roughly, we could divide medieval literature into two great currents: religious literature and profane literature. As the name itself indicates, the first draws its inspiration from Christianity: lives of saints, poems exalting the Virgin or God, sacramental acts, etc. As for the second, it is exemplified in minstrels, troubadours, courtly love poems and chivalric novels. We must not forget, however, that nothing is black or white and that we find many works that mix both currents, such as the famous Cyprian's dinner, where the author transmits a Christian moral through profane resources such as humor, satire and the grotesque elements typical of goliard literature.

It is important to note that many of the medieval literary works are anonymous, especially those that are included in the profane current. In the Middle Ages, the concept of "artist" or "author" did not exist; Just as painters did not sign their works (at least in the first centuries of the Middle Ages), neither did the authors of epic songs or love poetry.

Perhaps now it seems strange to us that an author does not claim authorship of his creation, but we must place ourselves in the mentality of the time. The artist and the author were servants of the public; what was important was not the creative act, but the benefit that this creation gave to whoever saw it, read it or listened to it.

We are going to see in more detail the origins of each of these literary genres and which are, as long as they are known, the representative authors of each of them.

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Literature in the early medieval centuries

The belief (on the other hand, so sadly widespread) that in the first centuries of the Middle Ages literature experienced a decline is absolutely false. Could not be farther from the truth. The first medieval centuries are extraordinarily rich in literary production; Authors such as Saint Augustine (354-430), Isidore of Seville (556-636) or Bede the Venerable (673-735), impregnated the era with very important literary works.

However, we should not apply our current concept of "literature" to the works of these authors, since that these are not literary fiction, but rather treatises on history, politics, religion, and his philosophy.

Of Saint Augustine of Hippo we must point out, without a doubt, his famous the city of god, whose writing took him no less than fifteen years and in which he establishes the parallels between the heavenly city and the earthly one. It is a complex work that deals with themes such as death, divine nature, time or providence.

On the other hand, both Isidore of Seville and the Venerable Bede were characterized by give impetus to the literature of history, of "non-fiction"as we would call it today. Indeed, the history of the goths of the first and the Ecclesiastical history of the English people the second are clear examples of the will that existed among the intellectuals of the High Middle Ages to record the events they were experiencing.

the historical chronicle

Indeed, in those years, the chronicle and the historical account are the order of the day. We have already cited Isidore of Seville and the Venerable Bede, but we also have other chroniclers such as Gregory of Tours (538-594), author of the Frankish history, and Paulo Orosio (385-418), whose masterpiece Stories against the pagans combines, as usual at the time, truly historical passages with elements taken from the Bible.

Another of the medieval historical chronicles that deserve to be reviewed is the albeldense chronicle, written by Vigila, Sarracino and García, monks from the monastery of San Martín de Albelda (La Rioja). This work is a description of historical facts that go from the biblical origin of the world to the reign of Alfonso III and that ends in the year 883. It may seem strange to us that a chronicler extracts data from the Bible, but we must bear in mind that, for the mentality of the time, the biblical sources were part of the history of humanity and a history of the world was not conceived without starting from Creation.

As is obvious, the genre becomes a propaganda tool in the hands of kings and emperors. Thus, Eginald of Fulda, Charlemagne's biographer, impregnates his Vita Karoli Magni (“Life of Charlemagne”) of praises to the emperor of him. Eginaldo was a monk from the Fulda monastery who moved to Aachen, the capital of the Carolingian Empire, to practice as a teacher.

There he was lucky enough to be instructed by Alcuin of York, the great intellectual of the time. The monk became close friends with Alcuin and the other wise men who made up the "new Athens", as Charlemagne called his court in Aachen. Charlemagne was a monarch who, despite being (according to legend) illiterate, was very interested in resurrecting the greatness of Rome and Athens in his capital. In this cultural context (which Jean-Jacques Ampère already called in 1832 Carolingian Renaissance) arts and literature flourish in an extraordinary way.

Thus, we have that, in the first medieval centuries, historical chronicles, biographies of famous people and, of course, works of philosophy and religion abound. Because let's not forget either that in the Middle Ages philosophy was never left aside. Medieval intellectuals greatly appreciated the classical legacy (in fact, Platonism acquired unprecedented strength with the School of Chartres), and one can appreciate in all of them a great desire to access the understanding of God through human reason (which, after all, is divine creation).

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The hagiographies or the lives of saints

Another of the genres par excellence of these first medieval centuries are the hagiographies, that is, stories that collect the lives of the saints. Its main objective was, of course, moralizing; they were intended to instruct the reader on the benefits of following a righteous and pious life, based on the lives of Christian saints and saints. One of the best-known hagiographies (actually, a compilation of them) is the Golden Legend (s. XIII), of Santiago de la Vorágine, which had a huge impact on Western culture and established many of the guidelines for the representation of sacred scenes until the arrival of the Counter Reformation.

The original text of The Golden Legend collects the lives of some 180 saints and saints of the Christian martyrdom. The author's sources are various, ranging from Saint Augustine of Hippo to Gregory of Tours, passing through the gospels, both canonical and apocryphal.

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The renaissance of secular literature

During the first centuries of the Middle Ages, culture was monopolized by the Church. All the authors that we have been mentioning in the previous section, without exception, belong to the religious establishment. Saint Augustine was a priest and was later appointed bishop; Isidoro de Sevilla was archbishop of this city; The Venerable Bede was a monk at the Benedictine monastery of Saint Peter in Wearmouth, and so on. The cultural centers par excellence were the cathedrals and monasteries. In the latter, the monks devoted themselves to the task of copying and miniarizing codices on various themes (not only religious).

It is often taken for granted that, in the early medieval centuries, secular literature hardly existed. And the truth is that, if we were to stick to the existing testimonies, we would have to conclude that this is the reality. However, it would be quite absurd to think that the town remained mute for no less than four centuries. Considering profane literature as non-existent in the High Middle Ages is not knowing the reality of period, since how could there be written testimonies from a social class that he did not know write?

Orality was, then, one of the basic characteristics of popular expression.. Another of its characteristics is the use of Romance languages, that is, those derived from Latin. Thus, while the intellectuals continued to use Latin as a vehicle for literary transmission, the people composed their stories in their vernacular languages. This is how romances are born.

Romances and epic songs

We call narrative songs, composed in romance languages ​​(hence their name), that tell stories known to the public and that, for that very reason, are repeated from generation to generation. generation. This oral repetition obviously entails certain modifications in the original compositions.

In the Hispanic case, this type of popular songs of medieval origin began to generate interest in the fifteenth century, since the Renaissance humanism considered them a unique expression of popular spontaneity before the "corruption of the civilization". Its compilation and subsequent publication began then. So, Compositions that had come down to our days orally finally found a fixation in writing..

As we have already pointed out, the romance poetically narrates a historical fact and a legend, generally related to the deed of a famous person, a battle or the birth or marriage of a king This story may be known to the public or constitute a novelty; in this case, the romance serves as a newsreel. Following Wolf and Hofmann, romances can be classified into two large groups: historical romances and invented ones. Within the seconds we find the chivalrous romances and novelistic romances, with a high degree of fiction. One of the best known examples, at least at the Hispanic level, is the Sing of My Cid, composed by an unknown author or authors around the year 1200 and which recounts, quite freely, the life and exploits of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid Campeador.

It must be borne in mind that people did not want truthful news; what they wanted was fantasy and epic. Thus, despite the obvious news function of romances, in almost all of them we find important doses of invention, product of the minstrel who recited them in the villages and cities.

Although the romances are the product of the people, the language used is halfway between vulgar language and cult. In this way, we find in the romances stylistic resources of great beauty that elevate their printability, without losing an iota of its simple language and easily understandable. On the other hand, one of the resources present in romance is repetition, which allows quick memorization by the minstrels and facilitates its transmission.

chivalric novels

In the middle of the Middle Ages they became very popular. the so-called novels of chivalry, prose stories that narrated the exploits of a knight. Unlike popular romances, this type of literary work, although profane, is written by high-ranking characters, who are invariably educated.

Thus, for example, one of the greatest exponents of the genre, Chrétien de Troyes, was a man well versed in classical culture. Little is known of his life; Before professing in a monastic order, he carried out literary works for great lords such as María de Francia or Felipe de Alsace. Precisely, one of his best-known novels is dedicated to the latter, Percival either the tale of the grail, starring the Arthurian knight of the same name.

Chrétien de Troyes has often been called “the father of the Western novel” (with Cervantes' permission) and, while this may be an exaggeration, it is not without reason. As Martín de Riquer points out in the prologue of the Austral edition of Percival, the novels of this author are not only a concise narration of the adventures of the gentleman, but we also find an excellent characterization of the characters, as well as some beautiful descriptions that, on the other hand, testify to the poetic richness that characterizes the XII century.

In general, chivalric novels, in addition to presenting the adventures of a knight, implied a moral teaching for the reader. Through the adventures of the knight in question, values ​​such as temperance, strength or charity are reinforced. On the other hand, chivalric novels did not claim any historical fidelity; sometimes not even geographically. Medieval heroes move through fantastic and imaginary kingdoms and are related to characters that have little or nothing to do with reality. Lastly, it is necessary to emphasize that this type of story is framed in centuries dominated by courtly love, in which the gentleman serves a lady, usually married, whom he idolizes extremely and often in some way masochistic. We will see this ideal of suffering for love, so characteristic of the time, in more detail in the next and last section.

Courtly love, minstrels and troubadours

The twelfth century is the century of love and gallantry. It is at this time where the so-called courtly love gains strength, a genuine expression of love and the will to live. As Paul Zumthor perfectly illustrates in his introduction to one of the editions of the letters from Abelardo and Eloísa: "The courteous scheme completely escapes the scholastic tradition."

The term "courtly love" is quite recent, since it began to be applied in the 19th century in reference to all this literature starring ladies, troubadours and minstrels. In the Middle Ages the term in the language of oc "Fin'amor" was used; that is, “refined love”, “pure love”, which was distinguished, in this way, from “bad love”.

Why was courtly love considered “pure love”? Because it was a strictly platonic relationship that was established between the lady and her lover, who composed for her. Generally, and to add a tragic note to the story, the lady was usually married, which made her even more inaccessible. That is why in medieval troubadour poetry there is an abundance of crying from poets who lament the impossibility of accessing the woman they sing about. Among these sad poems, the "dawns" stand out, where the poet expresses her deep pain when, at dawn, he must say goodbye to her beloved, since she must return to her husband. Generally, these nocturnal carnal relations were the invention of the troubadour (although we do not rule out that, on occasion, they took place).

The sumun of courtly love comes from the hand of authors such as Dante and Petrarchbecause, already in the fourteenth century, they made their compositions framed in the so-called Sweet still new (sweet new style). In the Divine Comedy and in the new life of Dante, as well as in Petrarch's Songbook, we find continuous allusions to the lady as a vehicle of transcendence and spiritual union.