What was medieval literature characterized by

Pretty gross, right? And since the medieval period wasn't particularly known for its high-tech medical advancements, people thought they were suffering the wrath of God for their sins. Lucky for us, medical science has advanced tremendously since then. But if you think that makes us modern folks smarter and more immune than our medieval counterparts to the fear that a fast-spreading disease might take us out, then you just haven't watched enough zombie movies.

The Black Plague didn't even have the decency to say bye-bye after it wiped out so much of Europe back in the 14th century. There were subsequent waves in later years. None were as devastating as the O. Pestilence, however. It was said that about 30, of London's 70, people died during the outbreak. Not surprisingly, the death of so many people had long-lasting effects on society. One result was a greater feeling of anxiety among the people.

Well, duh. Also, there was a sort of employment vacuum created by the disappearance of so many peasants. Suddenly, the rich and powerful didn't have enough workers to grind their grain. Or make their bread. Or fluff their pillows. Or dress them in the latest frou frou fashions. Single tear. As a result, workers were able to demand higher wages from landowners and noblemen.

So some peasants started to make some serious bank, and the previously distinct lines between the classes started to blur a bit. Enter: the Sumptuary Laws. These fun laws dictated just who was allowed to wear certain swank fabrics and even some particular colors, and who was not. The ruling class needed some way to make sure that the lady sauntering down the street clad in fine puce velvet was from the right family, and not just a commoner.

The horror. Anyway, don't expect many medieval texts to jump up and down and tell you outright that they're talking about the plague. Most won't. And really, we hope your books don't jump up and down, because then we might have to seriously recommend that you see someone about that. Instead, medieval authors deal with the Black Death in more subtle ways. Like by examining its effects, including an increase in social mobility see Chaucer's Franklin , for example.

Oh, and by delving head-long into a general anxiety about the frailty of the human body. Oh, mortality—that old friend. Sometimes references to the plague pop up in the most unlikely of places. Take, for instance, Chaucer's Cook. While he can whip up a mean stewed chicken and a delicious spicy tart, he has a very unappetizingly oozy sore on his shin, called a "mormal.

Why might Chaucer use a Cook as a scapegoat for spreading diseases or illness? You might want to take a look at the Cook's Prologue to get those wheels a-turnin'.

A lot of medieval texts take up the issue of the Black Death by tackling people's general anxiety relating to death. And by focusing on just how frail our human bodies are. How might fear of the Plague relate to Gawain's general discomfort in the natural world? No—this doesn't refer to those novels you see in the supermarket checkout line , featuring muscular hunks with rippling biceps and swooning ladies in peasant blouses. When we say "romance," we're talking about the most popular literary genre of the Middle Ages.

Originally, "romance" just meant the language certain stories were written in. These were the vernacular languages—so, not Latin, but derived from Latin or " Roman ," hence the term "romance".

That means: French, Italian, Spanish, you-get-the-picture. Over time, the term "romance" came to mean a narrative told in either verse or prose that features the manly adventures of knights. One of the main conflicts in these romance novels is how the ideal knight would behave vs. Like how Sir Gawain accepts that dreaded girdle from Bertilak's wife. Also, brotherhood is very important.

Just think of King Arthur's fabled Round Table, where all of his knights are supposed to be equal and serve as the best examples of the knightly code. Again, they don't always live up to the code or even up to snuff Sir Mordred , anyone? And what would a good adventure story be without a smattering of magic and a little supernatural spice? Medieval romances usually give us a healthy dose of both. We don't want those knights getting too full of themselves, after all.

So, the traditional medieval romance also involves tons of magic swords, enchanted girdles, and men who can shapeshift into the Jolly Green Giant.

Sam and Dean would have a field day with this stuff. Now, we don't mean to bore you with stuff you already know, but we need to talk a little about the narrative structure of the romance as well. As you might've noticed, romances are usually organized around the quest —some major goal that the knight must achieve in order to make good on a bargain, fulfill a personal dream, or simply make it home. Usually, along the way, the knight learns something about himself, or about his society or culture.

One memorable example of this journey-and-revelation narrative can be found in The Wife of Bath's Tale. The knight character in that story gets kicked out of Arthur's court and has to hunt around for a year and a day until he discovers the answer to this all-important question: What is it women desire most?

We're not going to answer that question here Shmoopers, sorry. But if you ever figure it out, do let us know. The knight's quest in medieval romances also tends to make the structure of these stories highly episodic. What we mean by that is that they sometimes jump between moments of major action without providing much connective material to fill in the gaps. As in: oh, look, this knight is jousting that other knight. Now he's in a different part of the lands talking to some different dude about how to win his lady back.

Rinse, repeat. But let us not forget about love, because love has everything to do with the medieval romance. You see, love plays a central role in many medieval romances—you're shocked, we know. Anyway, when love comes on the scene in these stories, there tends to be a lot of swooning, sighing, and other overwrought emotional reactions….

You hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what medieval notions of romance were like. One last thing before we peace out of this discussion: medieval romances are not about deep, complex characters. No, friends, we're firmly within the territory of "ideal" characters, or character "types," here.

So, Sir Gawain is a stereotypically perfect knight, boasting such fine qualities as extraordinary bravery, knightly prowess, smooth talking, excessive generosity, and purity. Gawain does learn a lesson at the end of his story. But he doesn't compromise any of his knightly virtue to do so. There's no real character development of the kind we expect from modern-day fiction. So if you're looking for that, we'll afraid you'll have to go elsewhere. Ah, the quest. Who doesn't want to set out from court and take a year and a day to solve a puzzle, fulfill a task, or make good on a promise?

Those knights, they are always off questing for something Anyway, how do you think a focus on the quest might affect the structure of the medieval romance novel? Think it over, and tell us what's up with the quest in The Wife of Bath's Tale and that little-know adventure for the Holy Grail thing.

Which knight exhibits the best chivalric skills and behaviors? Medieval authors disagreed on this point, and sometimes they even jousted and threw mutton at each other over it. In our imaginations, at least. Sir Thomas Malory was all about Lancelot. You know you're important when you get your own brand of baking flour named after you.

Seriously, though, Arthurian literature has been popular for basically forever. No, really, how long has it been around, you ask? Well, you can find Arthurian literature that dates way back to CE.

For those of you who are keeping count, that's over 1, years of Arthur. It's likely that the legend of A-Man got rolling with a real-life war leader of the Britons. You know, those native British people who were around before things got all mixed up with the various invasions.

This Arthur was famed for fighting off either the Romans or the Saxons, or maybe even both. We're not sure who exactly he fought because of course, legends grow tall in the telling. And so as his story got told and retold, Arthur became more than just a general. He grew to be a real mythic real hero. He shows up in Welsh mythology going back to as early as the 7th century. Next stop, several British chronicles, like Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain , where we get the first real narrative account of Arthur's life.

Geoffrey tells this story as if it were tried-and-true history, but you should take that with a huge grain of salt. Arthurian legend is most well known to us modern folks through the narratives of medieval romances. These started to become super popular after the historical chronicles of Arthur's life circulated in France—that's when writers there really started to romanticize the dude's life.

Before long, stories of Arthur, his Round Table, and his famed brotherhood of knights took off. Virtually all of the Arthur stuff that shows up in pop culture is derived from Malory's version of the story.

So even though Arthur hasn't yet shown up to rescue Britain once more, he is, in many ways, the "once and future king. Eat your hearts out, other knights.

Stories about King Arthur and his knights are commonly grouped into one of two traditions: the chronicle tradition and the romance tradition. Why don't you go ahead and compare Geoffrey of Monmouth's material about Arthur to Malory's version? What are some of the differences you see between these two traditions? How does Geoffrey make his telling sound more like "history"? What makes Malory's tale seem more fantastical?

Do the two formats overlap in any ways? Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is part of the romance tradition of Arthurian tales; it gives us yet another view of King Arthur. Notice how Arthur's character is kind of a mixed bag? He's young and silly, but he's also brave and a good host. What might this motley portrait suggest about the many traditions of King Arthur? Quick game interlude.

Off the top of your head, name something that is highly valued in contemporary literature. Here's some appropriate quiz-type music to get your noggin working.

Chances are, "originality" was somewhere high on your list of qualities, because we currently clamor for our authors to have a fresh voice. These characteristics include: deurbanization, military invasions, population redistribution, and migrations of people to new areas. The introduction of French culture and language after the Norman Conquest affected the native thought and culture.

French became the language of Aristocracy and Latin was the language of the Court. Three works of medieval literature are down orals traditions, epics about knights and stories about Canterbury tales. The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English , from the 14th century until the s. Between the s and the middle of the following century there was a transition to early Modern English.

In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. Literature can be divided into three traditional categories: prose, poetry, and drama. Prose denotes literature that features "ordinary language", while poetry features language that has been carefully structured e. All written works can be described as either prose or poetry. Some themes of medieval literature were the lives of the Saints, religious morals, values and ethics as applied to everyday life, ancient classical history, poetry, prayer and meditations, and the code of chivalry and courtly manners.

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. The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works.

Medieval society was feudal, based on a rigid hierarchy and divided into three orders, or social classes: the nobles, the clergy and the peasants. The Christianity that was spread across Europe during the middle ages was based on the scriptures that recounted the life of the Christ and his disciples. The rise of Christianity during the Roman Empire was seen as a threat against the Empire. The Christian Church had its own lands, laws and taxes. The term thus evolved as a designation for the supposed lack of culture and advancement in Europe during the medieval period.

The term generally has a negative connotation. Originally Answered: What caused the dark ages? The economic collapse of the Western Roman Empire. By the middle of the third century, the Roman Empire was in deep trouble. It was suffering from an economic crisis, a string of civil wars, two major rebellions, a plague outbreak, and many, many emperors being murdered.

The religious writings were known as Mester of Clergy and contained texts centered on God and the values of the Catholic Church. The lay writings were also called Jugglary Mester and were not as abundant as the religious, but they were part of the literature of this time and they told stories of chivalry and love. Among the most outstanding works of medieval literature, we can mention some from Spain, Italy, France and other European countries such as:. Medieval literature. Literature Medieval literature.

Related topics Greek literature. What is medieval literature? Characteristics of medieval literature Antecedents of medieval literature Historical context Topics Genres Representatives Works of medieval literature.