I was recently asked about other Medieval literary figures other than King Arthur and his knights.
Well, the first one that pops up is the obvious Beowulf.
While we do not know who wrote the original Beowulf, the story was passed down, orally, for an undetermined amount of time. The story follows a Norseman, or Viking, Beowulf on a fantastical quest to slay the monster Grendal. You may have seen the CGI/live action-esk movie Beowulf with Angilina Jolie playing Grendal's mother. While this is an entertaining movie, I do recommend checking out the book at your local library and giving it a read. The wordsmithing in this epic is amazing.
Another source is The Cantebury Tales by Geofrey Chaucer. While it has been quite a while since I myself have read this, it is a tale of the pilgrimage to Canterbury, and gives a look into the differing classes of the time. It was written in English, which is odd as most of the work deemed important in that time was written in Latin, for the upper class to read. Chaucer decided to write this in a common language, for the lesser classes. Chaucer himself was actually employed as a courtier, ,meaning he was around nobles constantly. The fact that he points out some of the less than appealing aspects of nobles in the eyes of the commoner is a bit surprising. The figures in this tale are fictitious, but still give insight into social classes and how they interacted.
Lastly, let us not forget the Eddas.
The Eddas (the Prose, the Elder, the Havamal, he Codex Reigns, ect) are a combination of tales that tell of the Norse religion. So, tales of Thor, Loki, Heimdal, Tyr, Baldur, and the like are told in these tales. While scholars and modern practitioners of Norse religion debate of which is correct, which was written when and where, and which came first, the fact remains that they were written somewhere in the medieval time period. Snorri Strurluslon did, in fact, write the younger Edda, or the Prose Edda in 1220. Snorri was a Icelandic historian, politician, poet, and had been elected twice as a lawspeaker in the Althing.
While there are countless other literary works of the medieval period, these are some of the better known. A list below is other works done in the medieval time frame. While this list is not complete, it is worth a glance.
Well, the first one that pops up is the obvious Beowulf.
While we do not know who wrote the original Beowulf, the story was passed down, orally, for an undetermined amount of time. The story follows a Norseman, or Viking, Beowulf on a fantastical quest to slay the monster Grendal. You may have seen the CGI/live action-esk movie Beowulf with Angilina Jolie playing Grendal's mother. While this is an entertaining movie, I do recommend checking out the book at your local library and giving it a read. The wordsmithing in this epic is amazing.
Another source is The Cantebury Tales by Geofrey Chaucer. While it has been quite a while since I myself have read this, it is a tale of the pilgrimage to Canterbury, and gives a look into the differing classes of the time. It was written in English, which is odd as most of the work deemed important in that time was written in Latin, for the upper class to read. Chaucer decided to write this in a common language, for the lesser classes. Chaucer himself was actually employed as a courtier, ,meaning he was around nobles constantly. The fact that he points out some of the less than appealing aspects of nobles in the eyes of the commoner is a bit surprising. The figures in this tale are fictitious, but still give insight into social classes and how they interacted.
Lastly, let us not forget the Eddas.
The Eddas (the Prose, the Elder, the Havamal, he Codex Reigns, ect) are a combination of tales that tell of the Norse religion. So, tales of Thor, Loki, Heimdal, Tyr, Baldur, and the like are told in these tales. While scholars and modern practitioners of Norse religion debate of which is correct, which was written when and where, and which came first, the fact remains that they were written somewhere in the medieval time period. Snorri Strurluslon did, in fact, write the younger Edda, or the Prose Edda in 1220. Snorri was a Icelandic historian, politician, poet, and had been elected twice as a lawspeaker in the Althing.
While there are countless other literary works of the medieval period, these are some of the better known. A list below is other works done in the medieval time frame. While this list is not complete, it is worth a glance.
- 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
- The Cloud of Unknowing, anonymous English author
- 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
- The Knight in the Panther 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
- Njál'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
- 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
- Táin Bó Cúailnge, 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, Béroul
- Tristan and Isolt, Gottfried von Strassburg
- Troilus and Criseyde, Geoffrey Chaucer
- Waltharius
- Younger Edda, Snorri Sturluson
- Yvain: The Knight of the Lion, Chrétien de Troyes