Literature of the Middle Ages briefly. Medieval European literature A type of fiction developed in medieval cities

“Middle Ages” is a term to designate the almost thousand-year period between the collapse of the Roman Empire (the decline of ancient culture) and the formation of barbarian states on its territory (IV–V centuries AD) until the revival of ancient traditions in the culture of European countries, primarily Italy XIV–XVI centuries

The main features of the culture of the Middle Ages, which will find their embodiment in literature, are hierarchy, traditionalism (canonicity), priority of value over knowledge, strict hierarchy of forms of life and consciousness of different social strata. The culture of Medieval Europe includes subcultures:

1) temple and monastery;

2) castle and palace;

3) villages and hamlets;

4) medieval city.

Each of these subcultures develops a specific literature.

Medieval European literature is literature that arose in Europe during the period of the formation of Christianity as the state religion, changes in the socio-political system - instead of slavery, a system of feudal relations was formed. The feudal system of relations developed around the 8th–9th centuries. For several centuries, turmoil and instability reigned in Europe. Before the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. the basis for the continuation of the ancient tradition - cultural and literary - was preserved, but over time, Christian religious ideas began to mediate all other forms of culture.

By the 11th century, literature was emerging in national languages ​​- Romance and Germanic. The Latin tradition also continues to exist - as a legacy of the empire, significant works appear in the genre of confessional prose (for example, Pierre Abelard, “The History of My Disasters” 1132-1136), ecstatic religious lyrics, lyrics of vagantes, but over time the Latin language ceases to be the language of fiction and is finally assigned to the scientific tradition.

Medieval literature is characterized by a wide range of genre and thematic boundaries - it includes philosophical treatises and historical works. The hallmark of a literary work is not its subject, theme, but its form, the finishing of the syllable.

Medieval literature exists as class literature, within it a huge place is occupied by religious literature, a complex of liturgical literature developed over centuries (chants, sermons, epistles, lives, examples, visions). Moreover, a secular work could always be interpreted in a religious sense. In the religious literature of the Middle Ages, Christian ideals developed, the lives of saints were constructed as “imitations of Christ.”

The most significant part of medieval literature - knightly literature - includes heroic epics, courtly (court) lyrics, and novels.

The epic of the Middle Ages is the first major genre manifestation of literature in new languages, as well as a new level of the genre in comparison with the ancient epic of the Celts and Scandinavians. Its historical background is the era of the formation of statehood in Western Europe and ethnic consolidation, the formation of feudal social relations. The thematic basis is the legends about the times of the great migration of peoples (the German “Nibelungenlied”), about the Norman raids (the German “Kudrun”), about

inakh of Charlemagne, his ancestors and successors (“Song of Roland” and the entire corpus of French epic “hundred texts”), about the fight against the Arab conquest (Spanish “Song of my Cid”). The bearers and performers of the epic were wandering folk singers (French jugglers, German spilmans, Spanish huglars), the connection with folklore principles remains, but the fairy-tale theme gives way to the historical, the values ​​of vassal and patriotic devotion, religious perseverance are emphasized. The epic finally took shape in the 10th–13th centuries, already from the 11th century. begins to be recorded, and despite the knightly dominance does not lose its folk-heroic basis.

In the lyrics created by knightly poets (troubadours in the south of France, in Provence from the 11th century, trouvères in the north of France, minnesingers in Germany), the ideology of courtliness (special norms of social behavior and spiritual order), the first relatively secular ideology of medieval Europe, developed. Mostly these are love lyrics, occasionally didactics, politics, and satire. Its characteristic features are the cult of the Beautiful Lady, modeled on the cult of the Mother of God, and the ethics of selfless service, modeled on the ethics of vassal service. Courtly poetry discovered love as a special, valuable state of the soul, taking an important step in understanding the inner world of man.

Within the boundaries of the same courtly literature, the chivalric romance arose. His homeland is France of the 12th century, and the most significant author, who is also the founder of the genre, is Chrétien de Troyes; in Germany - Wolfram von Eschenbach, Gottfried of Strasbourg. The chivalric novel combined plot fascination (the action most often takes place in the country of King Arthur) and the presentation of serious ethical problems (for example, love and vassal duty in the novel “Tristan and Isolde”).

The third body of medieval literature is the literature of the city. It has a strong element of teaching and moralizing, allegorism (“The Romance of the Rose” by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun); The genres of animal epic (“Roman of the Fox” of the 13th century, where the characters are: the emperor is a Lion, the feudal lord is a Wolf, the archbishop is a donkey), the French fabliau, and the German Schwank (a short poetic story) are becoming widespread. Urban satirical works are closely related to folk tales, everyday jokes, and bear the influence of pagan traditions.

Medieval drama occupies a significant place in the city's literature. Medieval theater developed from several sources. One of them was church worship. For many centuries, the Catholic Church mercilessly eradicated the spectacles that arose among the people, persecuted histrionic amusements, and condemned ritual games dating back to pagan times. At the same time, achieving maximum expressiveness and clarity of worship, trying to influence the imagination and emotions of believers, she herself began to resort to elements of theatricalization. Individual passages of the Gospel text were translated into dialogues (tropes), ending with choir chants. The ritual ceremonies accompanying the church service were complemented by pantomimic scenes. This is how two main cycles of theatrical church services in Latin emerged, which were called liturgical drama or liturgical performance - Easter and (somewhat later) Christmas.

Having gone beyond the church fence, the medieval theater absorbs folk entertainment traditions. The latter, despite all the efforts of the church authorities, never died. They continued to live in folk ritual games: their main carriers were the amusing histrions and jugglers - storytellers and mimes. During the XII–XIII centuries. all these elements merge, and the process of formation of the medieval theater, which developed from the church tradition, enriched with elements of the art of jugglers, enters its final stage.

In the 13th century semi-liturgical drama continues to exist, but is being pushed aside by a new stage genre - miracles (from the French word miracle- “miracle”) It is based on a story about miracles and transformations. It is especially widespread in France. The plots of the miracles were no longer borrowed from the Holy Scriptures, but were adaptations of legends about the deeds of saints and the Virgin Mary. One of the most significant works of medieval drama is the miracle “The Play of St. Nicholas” (first presented on December 5, 1200). Its author is a trouver from the Picardy city of Arras, Jean Bodel (c. 1165 - 1210).

The growth of urban culture contributes to the development of such genres of theatrical art as mystery - a multi-day performance, including hundreds of performers (dramatization of the entire sacred history, from the creation of the world to the Last Judgment), farce (everyday comic play), morality play (allegorical play about the clash of passions, vices and virtues in the human soul).

During its formation period, medieval drama was associated with religious action and worship, but then it separated from the religious tradition and became an urban art form. It is in no way connected with the ancient tradition, but is the closest predecessor of the dramaturgy of Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, and Calderon. “At the end of the Middle Ages, urban literature became increasingly saturated with didactics and religious and penitential motives, while at the same time showing a tendency to converge with court literature. Christian edification also becomes a sign in works of secular themes, from fabliaux and schwanks to allegorical poems and instructions on courtliness. The medieval theater did not escape this either.”

Already in the second half of the 13th century. In economically developed countries, humanistic revivalist tendencies emerged, which was reflected primarily in the culture (including literature) of the city. The Renaissance most fully manifested its characteristic features in the literature of Western Europe. It was here that the humanistic tendencies that developed in the depths of the urban culture of the Mature Middle Ages led to a qualitative leap and marked the beginning of the culture of the New Age.

Test questions and assignments

French heroic epic: "The Song of Roland".

Knightly (courtly) poetry.

Poetry of the Vagants.

Novel "Tristan and Isolde".

For more details, see: Vipper, Yu. B. Dramaturgy: [Literature of Western Europe of the Mature Middle Ages] / Yu. B. Vipper // History of World Literature: in 8 volumes / USSR Academy of Sciences; Institute of World Lit. – M.: Nauka, 1983 – 1994.- T.2. – 1984. – P. 586 – 592; or feb-web.ru/feb/ivl/vl2/vl2-5862.htm.

Samarin, R. M. Paths of development of urban literature of the late XIII - early XIV centuries: [Literature of Western Europe of the Mature Middle Ages] / R. M. Samarin, A. D. Mikhailov // History of world literature: in 8 volumes / USSR Academy of Sciences; Institute of World Lit. – M.: Nauka, 1983 – 1994. – T. 2. – 1984. – P. 583 – 586; or http://feb-web.ru/feb/ivl/vl2/vl2-5832.htm

The era of the Middle Ages in Western Europe is divided into the following periods: VI-X centuries - the early Middle Ages, this is the period of the decomposition of antiquity, the victory of Christianity, the formation of feudal states; XI-XIII centuries - the mature Middle Ages, the period of developed feudalism; The 14th turn of the 16th-17th centuries - the late Middle Ages, or the Renaissance, when feudalism was decomposing, capitalist relations were emerging, a secular humanistic ideology was taking shape, but still under the dominance of religious consciousness.

Like antiquity, medieval culture belongs to the traditionalist type, aimed at reproducing ready-made models and norms, but the models and norms of pagan antiquity - political, social, moral, aesthetic - were replaced by much stricter, responsible norms of Christianity.

The Christian Church confidently led all aspects of life in Western Europe. Christianity is a religion that is much more demanding of a person’s moral character than the religions of antiquity. The Christian consciousness views earthly life as temporary, as preparation for the true, eternal afterlife. The earthly life of a Christian is regulated by the fear of the Last Judgment, when the soul will appear before God's infallible and final judgment. The place of the soul in eternal life depends on how earthly life is lived: the righteous will find peace in heaven, and sinners, depending on the degree of sins, will go either to purgatory or torment in hell.

In the Middle Ages, the church was the main civilizing, international and political force. This strength lay in the strict hierarchy of its structure, the firmness of its doctrine, and the flexibility of ideology and propaganda. The Church did not recognize the authority of sovereigns and secular courts over itself; the power of God's viceroy on earth, the Pope, stood above the power of earthly rulers, kings and princes. The Church not only fought against pagans and spread Christianity, but in Christian countries, with its authority and wealth, it sanctified thrones, contributed to the internal structure of the state, and at the everyday level developed a flexible system of control over the souls of believers.

Medieval man perceived the world as a manifestation of a single divine will, as evidence of an all-good divine plan. In every object, in every phenomenon, traces of Creation are imprinted, that is, God manifests himself in any of his creations, testifying to himself everywhere. The Christian God is one and all-good, harsh, fair and at the same time infinitely merciful; His perfection is incomprehensible; one can only believe in God. Therefore, medieval man, striving to comprehend God, to get closer to him, had to rely not so much on rational analysis (a pure mind, not warmed by faith, from a religious point of view, the right path to the sin of pride, self-aggrandizement), but on intuitive penetration into the divine plan, and this required a universal, inclusive approach to the world. Creation had to be understood as a complete unity, and this understanding had to be expressed in scientific concepts, in poetic images, in lines and colors, in music.

Therefore, the main properties of medieval thinking, permeating all medieval art, are universalism and symbolism, and they found their most obvious expression in the main monuments of medieval culture, in cathedrals. The Gothic cathedral, characteristic of the mature Middle Ages, was a kind of encyclopedia in stone; it replaced a book and a school for the illiterate medieval peasant. With its entire architecture - soaring spiers, narrow carved columns, complex organization of the huge internal space - the cathedral expressed the idea of ​​an impulse to heaven, to God, and reproduced a model of a complete, completed cosmos. The interior decoration of the cathedral - statues, stained glass windows, bas-reliefs, frescoes - reflected the main episodes of biblical and evangelical history, earthly and heavenly life. The cathedral was not only the temple of God, but also the center of city life: in addition to regular services, rituals and church holidays, theatrical performances and mysteries were staged here. The cathedral is an image, a symbol of the world, each of its elements expresses the transcendental world, testifies to the highest reality, about God.

The world of medieval man is a ready-made result of divine creation, a kingdom of undisturbed harmony frozen in reality. This is a spatial world; life in it flows slowly, social and personal rhythms of life coincide, and in this different sense of time and attitude towards it there is a significant difference between medieval and modern consciousness, for which the world is not a result at all, but a process.

In the Middle Ages, the church acted as a kind of custodian of the ancient heritage. Antiquity was the only source of knowledge, so Latin was not only the language of international communication, but also the language of education. Although school education used the texts of Virgil, reinterpreted as a “Christian before Christ,” Cicero and Seneca, antiquity as a whole was completely alien to the medieval Christian, and he imagined it very vaguely, at the level of individual information taken out of the historical context. In the Middle Ages, literary works were still created in Latin, but at the same time, during this period, new national literatures of Western European peoples were born, and these literatures were created in new languages. All of them go through the same stages of the formation of national literatures; all of them, like the literature of antiquity, grow out of the folklore tradition, and at the first, pre-author stage, they are genetically connected with the folklore tradition. The literature of the early Middle Ages, or the “dark time,” precisely represents this pre-author stage of literary development, and the main genre at this stage is the folk heroic epic. Later, as the epic consciousness decomposed and the forms of culture became more complex, author’s literature emerged, and in the era of the High Middle Ages, the most popular of the epic genres became the knightly novel, which reflected the ethos of the privileged elite of society, the knightly class. Even later, in Italy, where capitalist relations arose first in Europe, another small epic (already in the narrow sense “narrative”) genre emerges - the short story, indicating that literature in new national languages ​​is opening up a new sphere for itself, the life of the private person.

The ancient times were replaced by the Middle Ages - an important stage in the spiritual development of the peoples of Western Europe. This time period begins in the 5th century and ends in the first half of the 17th century. The contradictions and complexity of this era were manifested in the peculiarities of the development of its culture. The history of Western European art distinguishes between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The first lasted from the 5th century to the 15th century, and the second - from and until the first third of the 17th century.

Western European medieval and Renaissance literature is traditionally divided into three periods. Chronologically, this corresponds to the distinction accepted by historical science. The periodization looks like this:

1. Literature (from the 5th century to the 11th century). It reflected life during the collapse of the communal system and the formation of feudal relations. It is represented by oral works mainly of the Anglo-Saxons, Celts and Scandinavians, as well as Latin writing.

2. Literature of the heyday of feudalism (from the 11th century to the 15th century). At this time, in parallel with folk works, the creativity of individual authors was increasingly developed. In the general literary stream, trends are distinguished that express the interests and worldview of different classes of feudal society. Works appear written not only in Latin, but also in living European languages.

3. Literature of the Renaissance (from the 15th century to the first third of the 17th century). This is the period of the so-called late Middle Ages, when the feudal community underwent a crisis and new economic relations emerged.

The original genres of medieval literature were formed under the influence of the unique and complex existence of European peoples during this period. Many works have not survived, but those that remain are of great value for the study of cultural heritage.

Early medieval literature is divided into literature written in and literature in indigenous languages. The first is divided in content into clerical and secular.

Church literature, naturally, is inextricably linked with faith in Christ and, however, it also included “heretical” ideas expressing protest against the oppression of the people by the clergy and feudal lords.

Literature in Latin is represented by the poetry of the vagants and chronicles depicting the course of events and their causes. The latter have become a valuable source for historians.

Literature in local languages ​​is represented by Irish and Anglo-Saxon epics, as well as Scandinavian works.

Medieval literature of the formative period was more diverse in content and genres. It reflects the morals, ideas, ethics and life of its time more broadly and deeply. The interests of the clergy and the feudal class are reflected in the clerical and oral form, the creativity of the common people who do not speak literacy continues to develop. Starting from the 12th century, in connection with the emergence of cities, burgher (urban) literature emerged. It is characterized by democracy and has an anti-feudal orientation.

Medieval literature of the Renaissance shows close attention to the real world. Its content becomes national-historical, it responds to all the demands of modern life, boldly displays all its contradictions. The main object of depiction in the works of this period is a person with his world of feelings and thoughts, his actions. Also indicative is the authors’ use of fantastic and fairy-tale elements in their work, originating in folklore.

The Renaissance literature of different countries has common features characteristic of this period.

Literature of the early Middle Ages Anglo-Saxon literature of the V-XI centuries

The oldest period of English literature dates back to the V-XI centuries. ad. Its beginning is associated with the invasion of British territory in the middle of the 5th century. Anglo-Saxons and Jutes - tribes of Germanic origin; the end of the period dates from 1066, when the Battle of Hastings took place, ending with the conquest of the British Isles by the Normans.

During these six centuries, the earliest literary monuments that have reached us were created. They are written in the Anglo-Saxon language, from which the English language developed.

Before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, the British Isles were subject to repeated invasions of tribes from the European continent. In the VI century. BC e. The Celts invaded Britain. In the 1st century n. e. Britain was conquered by the Romans. The rule of the Roman Empire lasted until the 5th century. Then came the Anglo-Saxon invasion. They pushed the Celts into the western and northwestern parts of the island and settled in the southern, central and eastern regions of Britain.

The Anglo-Saxon tribes brought their language, their way of life and their culture to the British Isles, the further development of which took place under the conditions of the decomposition of the clan system and the formation of feudal relations.

The Angles, Saxons and Jutes formed seven kingdoms (Sussex, Essex, Wessex, East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia), each of which sought to dominate the others. The strengthening of the country's political system was facilitated by the process of centralization of power and the adoption of Christianity (VI century).

The collapse of the clan system and the emergence of feudalism were accompanied by class differentiation of society. Relations between the Anglo-Saxons and the Celts were characterized by deep national enmity. The subsequent history of England, as the Anglo-Saxons called the country they conquered, determined new and more complex forms of interaction between these peoples and their cultures. Celtic tales formed the basis of medieval chivalric romances about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; they were the source from which poets of subsequent centuries drew inspiration and plots for their works.

Monuments of Anglo-Saxon runic writing have been preserved (inscriptions on swords and household items, an inscription on a stone-carved cross near the village of Ruthwell in Scotland). It is known that there were songs performed during wedding and funeral ceremonies, during labor, and during military campaigns. Stories, legends and songs were passed down from generation to generation. They were performed by singers available in each tribe.

There were singer-poets (ospreys), who were the creators of the songs they performed, and singer-performers (glimen), who sang songs created by others.

Pagan priests forbade recording poetic works; their recording began by learned monks after the adoption of Christianity. But not everything was written down; many records have not survived, and many were repeatedly changed in the future and were subjected to Christianization.

Dating the surviving monuments presents significant difficulties. The exact dates of creation of many works have not been established. The time of the appearance of the monument, its original recording and the appearance of the edition that has survived to this day do not always coincide.

Thus, the most significant of the surviving works of medieval poetry - the poem Beowulf - has come to us in copies of the 10th century, and the appearance of this monument dates back to approximately the 8th century. The first English edition of the poem was published in 1833.

Beowulf is one of the examples of medieval heroic epic. The poem arose on the basis of ancient German legends dating back to pagan times. These legends appeared among the Germanic tribes long before their resettlement to the territory of Britain. The action of the poem takes place on the shores of the Baltic Sea, and there is no mention of Britain in the poem.

Beowulf tells the story of the adventures of the brave Geat knight Beowulf, who saved Denmark from the terrible sea monster Grendel.

In terms of its composition, the poem about Beowulf is a complex phenomenon. The edition that has reached us indicates that the fairy-tale motifs underlying the narrative were subsequently reworked in accordance with the principles of the heroic epic. The motifs of tales from the early Middle Ages (descriptions of battles with sea monsters and a dragon, which have parallels with folk tales and Icelandic sagas) are combined in the poem with elements indicating their later processing in the spirit of the Christian religion. The names of pagan gods have disappeared from the text of the poem, but biblical names (Abel, Noah) and biblical legends (about the flood) are mentioned; Grendel is called a descendant of Cain, and sea monsters are called fiends of hell; Instructions of a Christian nature were put into Beowulf’s mouth. The poem repeatedly mentions God's intervention in current events (Beowulf defeats the monster because God wants it); The first part of the poem includes lines about the creation of the world and the divine beginning.

And yet the spirit of the poem is in clear contradiction with later layers and insertions. The pagan-mythological basis of the work is obvious. The fantasy that saturates the poem reflects the mythological understanding of the history and relationships of tribes in the early Middle Ages. People are shown in their clash with the formidable forces of nature, represented in the images of the sea, dragon and other monsters. Beowulf embodies features that give an idea of ​​the ideal of a medieval warrior, of a hero in whom the ideal is not separated from the earthly. The appearance of Beowulf reflected popular ideas about a hero who tames the forces of nature.

Some parts of the poem are not related to Beowulf, but contain information about the life of the Germanic tribes and include details from the history of the royal families of the Geats, which makes the poem attractive from a historical point of view.

The rhythmic structure and poetic speech of the poem are also unique. The technique of parallelism, characteristic of most epic monuments, is widely used. Multiple repetitions of the same motif emphasize certain episodes of the plot and deepen their internal meaning. The repetition technique is also used when selecting epithets.

The language of the poem amazes with its richness of metaphorical names and characteristics. The sea is called the “whale-road”, the sword is designated as the “light of battle”; the woman is called the “spinner of the world” (reace-weaver), “decoration of the home” (dwelling-ornament).

Retreats play an important role. They perform various functions; introduce the background of the characters, predict their future, complement the plot, clarifying individual episodes. The poem conveys local flavor: the features of the nature of Scandinavia and England are reproduced.

Like other monuments of Anglo-Saxon literature, the song of Beowulf is written in alliterative verse. Its peculiarity is the presence of four stresses in a verse (two in each hemistich) and the repetition of identical sounds at the beginning of a series of words that make up the verse (line); in this case, the stress falls on syllables beginning with the same sounds.

Such repetitions play an organizing role in the verse, being one of the types of initial rhyme. End rhyme verse replaced alliterative verse much later.

In addition to Beowulf, examples of lyrical Anglo-Saxon poetry have been preserved. These are small poems: “The Wife's Lament” (circa 8th century), “The Husband's Message”, “The Wanderer”, etc. These poems were included in the handwritten Exeter Codex (Exeter Book), dating back to the middle of the 11th century; The exact dating of the poem is difficult. The poems are interesting and significant due to the strength of the feelings conveyed in them, the richness of emotions and experiences. These works create vivid pictures of nature, a raging sea, and a dark forest.

From the end of the 6th century. In connection with the spread of Catholicism in England, Christian church literature in Latin was developing. Its centers become monasteries in Kent, Wessex, and Northumbria, which were centers of science and culture in the Middle Ages. The activities of such representatives of Christian religious poetry in the Anglo-Saxon language as Caedmon (7th century) and Cynewulf (8th-early 9th century) were associated with the monasteries. The activities of the prose writer, scientist and historian Bede, nicknamed the Venerable (Bede Venerabilis, 673-735), were of great importance. He is responsible for the creation of the “Ecclesiastical History of the English People” (Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, 731), which includes valuable information from the history of England, legends and traditions of the Anglo-Saxons. He is the author of the first works of a philological nature: “On Spelling” (De Orphographia) and “The Art of Versification” (De Arte Metrica).

The founder of literary prose in the Anglo-Saxon language is considered to be King Alfred of Wessex (Alfred, c. 849-c. 900). He is known as a translator of Latin works into Anglo-Saxon and as the creator of a number of original works. Works on history and legislation, which are not works of fiction in the strict sense of the word, influenced the subsequent development of Anglo-Saxon prose.

Development of literature in the Norman period.

Features of the development of English literature in the period XI-XIII centuries. associated with the conquest of the country by the Normans.

Coming from Scandinavia, the Normans settled in the north-west of France long before the invasion of England, adopting the language and culture of this country. In 1066, under the leadership of Duke William, they invaded Britain and defeated the Anglo-Saxon troops at the Battle of Hastings.

The Norman Conquest marked the beginning of a new period in English history.

French became the official language in the country. It was spoken by the ruling class; it was used in parliament, court, schools, and was spoken by those segments of the population that migrated from France. The indigenous population spoke an Anglo-Saxon language, which underwent significant changes after the Norman Conquest. In church circles they used Latin.

Trilingualism affected the development of literature. Literary works appeared in Latin, French and Anglo-Saxon. Scientific works, historical chronicles, and anti-church satires were written in Latin. Literature in French was represented by chivalric poetry. In the Anglo-Saxon language, works of folk poetry from this period have been preserved, as well as a number of poems, poems and chivalric romances dating back to the 13th-14th centuries. Only in the -XIV century. In connection with the formation of the English nation, English became the main literary language.

Among the monuments of literature (XI-XII centuries) in Latin, works on the history of Britain occupy an important place. These are “Recent History” (Historia Novorum) by the Anglo-Saxon monk Edmer of Canterbury, “History of the English Kings” (Historia Regum Anglorum), written by the librarian of the monastery in Malmesbury, William of Malmesbury, “History of England” (Historia Anglorum) by Henry of Huntingdon.

Of particular importance for the further development of medieval literature was the “History of the Britons” (Historia Britonum, 1132-1137) by Geoffrey of Monmaug, which contained the earliest treatment of the Celtic legends about King Arthur, which would later become the property of other European literatures. In the multi-volume “History of the Britons” for the first time the images of King Arthur, the wizard Merlin, the fairy Morgana, Queen Guinevere and the brave knights who will occupy such an important place in chivalric poetry in French and English appear. This is where the novels of the Arthurian cycle originate. Here, for the first time, the court of the king of the Britons is depicted as the center of valiant chivalry, embodying the ideals of nobility, and the semi-legendary Arthur is shown as a wise and powerful ruler. Geoffrey of Monmouth made the first literary adaptation of the legend of King Lear and his daughters. At the end of the 12th century. Geoffrey the Englishman's work on the rules of versification (Nova Poetria) appeared, which is of interest as an early example of a treatise on the foundations of poetic art.

In Latin in the XII-XIII centuries. works of a satirical nature are also created. These include the five-volume works of Walter Map “On the Amusing Conversations of Courtiers” (De Nugis Curialium). Map also used retellings of folklore works (legends, sagas, songs) in his book.

Folk satirical creativity was represented by the lower clergy. Wandering clerics and schoolchildren - vagantes - composed free-thinking poems in Latin, ridiculing the Catholic Church, the morals of its ministers, and sang the joys of life. Among the vagants, an image developed of a certain Bishop Golius, a lover of food and drink, who was passed off as the author of these hedonistic and daring songs. Some works of goliardic poetry were an outright parody of cult church songs. In works of this kind, the Latin language was gradually replaced by English.

An important place in the literature of England in the period XI-XIII centuries. occupied by works in French, which was represented by the Norman dialect of Old French. Some of them were imported from France, others were created in England. The largest work of the French folk heroic epic “The Song of Roland” was famous. Poetic chronicles were circulated containing descriptions of the genealogies of the Norman dukes.

In the 12th century. French literature in England was experiencing a period of prosperity. She was represented by such writers as Vas, Benoit de Saint-Maur, Robert de Borron, Maria of France.

In his poetic novels Brut and Roman de Rou, Vas tells the story of the Normans. In the four-part Romance of Roux, he tells the story of the Viking Rollo's conquest of Normandy. His narrative is replete with historical details and details. He also turns to the Anglo-Saxon epic of King Arthur, retelling it in his own way.

The work of the poetess Maria of France is associated with knightly poetry. She drew the plots of her works from Celtic folklore, developing them in the form of poetic short stories. Maria of France writes sincerely and simply about love experiences; the depth and naturalness of feelings mean much more to her than the conventionality of the courtly form of their expression.

Knightly poetry arose in European countries among the feudal nobility, at the courts of feudal lords. Its homeland was Provence (southern France), which reached already in the 11th century. great successes in political and cultural development. It was an expression of a new, secular morality, which contrasted itself with ascetic religious morality. In the knightly environment, certain norms of courtly (refined) behavior developed, according to which a knight had to be selfless and honest, noble towards the weak and defenseless, bow to a beautiful lady and serve her as faithfully as a vassal serves his lord.

Provençal troubadour poets sang the sublime feelings of knights; their poetry is associated with the cult of serving the lady. The ideal image of a knight created by poets did not correspond to reality: there was a lot of conventional and far-fetched in it. However, the desire to convey the world of love experiences and feelings, manifested in the lyrics of the troubadours, was fruitful for the subsequent development of poetry.

The ideals of feudal society were also reflected in the chivalric romance. The first chivalric romances appeared in English in the 13th century. At the end of the 14th century. The most famous English chivalric novel, Sir Gawain and the Tree Knight, was created. The heroes of this poetic work are knights who place their honor and knightly dignity above all else. Such is King Arthur and his entourage, such is the mysterious Green Knight who once appears at Arthur’s court. Violation of one's word is interpreted as an unlawful and unworthy deviation from the accepted rules of conduct for a knight. The main conflict of the story is related to Sir Gawain's breaking his word and his subsequent repentance.

The source of the stories about King Arthur were Celtic legends. The semi-legendary character became the hero of many medieval legends. The image of King Arthur united a large cycle of chivalric novels, transforming and changing in different historical eras.

Based on the legends about King Arthur, the novels “Arthur”, “Arthur and Merlin”, “Lancelot of the Lake” and others were created. Legends about his exploits were popular not only in knighthood, but also among the people. There was a belief that King Arthur would rise from the tomb and return to earth.

The plots of many French and English novels are connected with the legends about King Arthur and his knights. Along with the knights, the wizard Merlin and the fairy Morgana act. The fairytale element makes the story particularly entertaining.

Echoing the French chivalric novels in terms of plot, the English novels of the Arthurian cycle have their own characteristics. French novels are characterized by great sophistication; the theme of courtly love occupies a central place in them and is developed with special care. In the English versions, when developing similar plots, the epic and heroic principles characteristic of the legends that served as the sources for their creation are preserved; the feeling of real life with its cruelty, rough morals, and its drama is conveyed to a much greater extent.

In the 60s of the 15th century. Thomas Malory (c. 1417-1471) collected, systematized and processed the novels of the Arthurian cycle. He recounted their contents in the book “The Death of Arthur” (Morte d’Arthur, 1469), which was published by the publisher Caxton in 1485 and immediately became popular. Malory's book is the most significant work of English fiction of the 15th century. Freely handling sources, cutting length, skillfully combining entertaining adventures, bringing in a lot of her own, Malory perfectly conveys the spirit of courtly chivalric novels. He fascinatingly sets out the history of the life and exploits of King Arthur and his knights, combining in his book the best that was characteristic of both French and English chivalric novels.

Legends and novels of the Arthurian cycle attracted the attention of writers of subsequent eras. E. Spencer, J. Milton, R. Southey, W. Scott, A. Tennyson, W. Morris and others, interpreting the plots and images of medieval works in accordance with their views and requirements.

Literature of the 14th century

The 14th century is a period of great changes and shifts in the life of England. At this time, the process of formation of the English nation and its language took place. In the history of literature, this is the century of Langland and Chaucer, whose work reflected the most characteristic features of life and culture of that time. Langland is entirely associated with the culture of the Middle Ages; Chaucer is the last poet of the Middle Ages and the harbinger of the Renaissance in England.

Both poets were contemporaries and witnesses of great social upheavals and disasters in the life of their homeland; Particularly significant of these were the Hundred Years' War with France (1337-1453), the plague epidemics that swept across the country and devastated many of its regions, and the peasant uprising of 1381.

Religious reform ideas are put forward in the treatises of John Wycliffe (John Wyclif, 1324-1384). The activities of Wycliffe and his followers - the Lollards - were associated with the denunciation of the Roman Catholic Church. Wycliffe opposed a number of religious dogmas and condemned the depravity of the Catholic clergy. He asserted the right of everyone to independently interpret the Bible. His translation of the Bible from Latin into English (1382-1384) was widely circulated and was important for the development of the English literary language.

The 14th century is an era of intense struggle between various trends in the emerging national literature of England.

Turning to the genre of medieval didactic allegory, William in his “Vision of Peter the Plowman” expressed the mood of the masses in the years preceding the peasant uprising of 1381.

English literature was enriched both ideologically and in terms of genre. Major writers of the 14th century. - Langland, Gower, Chaucer - develop traditional medieval plots and imbue them with modern content. The genre diversity of English literature included allegorical didactic and chivalric poems, ballads and madrigals, epistles and odes, treatises and sermons, vision poems and the crowning work of Chaucer, “The Canterbury Tales”, which absorbed all the variety of genres of that time.

To a greater extent than in previous centuries, connections between English literature and phenomena in the cultural life of European countries, especially France and Italy, are being discovered.

The process of establishing a national English language was of fundamental importance. If Chaucer's contemporary John Gower was a trilingual poet and wrote in French, Latin and English, then the greatest significance of Chaucer's work lay in the establishment of a single English literary language, which was based on the London dialect.

The artistic wealth of the best works of English writers of the 14th century. determined their significance for the subsequent development of national literature in England. Langland's poem “The Vision of Peter Plowman” inspired writers and public figures during the Reformation and the years of the English bourgeois revolution of the 17th century. Traces of its influence are found in Milton's Paradise Lost; John Bunyan’s novel “The Pilgrim’s Progress” echoes Langland’s poem. Very popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. enjoyed the work of John Gower. His poem “Confessio Amantis” (1390) became a source to which many writers turned in search of plots (Shakespeare when creating “Pericles”, Ben Jonson when creating the comedy “Volpone”). As for Chaucer's work, his role in the development of subsequent English literature is especially great. Shakespeare and his contemporaries borrowed plots from Chaucer's works; under the influence of Chaucer, Spenser created the stanza of “The Faerie Queene”; The greatest poet of the English Revolution of the 17th century was fond of Chaucer. Milton, romantic poets Byron and Keith, socialist writer W. Morris.

Folk poetry. Ballads of the XIV-XV centuries

Folk poetry is one of the most important sources for the development of literature. Motifs, plots and images of folk art entered literature already in the early days of its existence. English literature also developed on the basis of folk art. It was enriched by the traditions of the heroic epic and folk songs, and it contained folk tales and legends. With the advent of book literature, folk poetry did not cease to exist and did not lose its significance.

Samples of folk art created on the territory of England during the early Middle Ages have been preserved in far from complete form, but monuments of folk poetry of the 14th-15th centuries. are widely represented. XIV-XV centuries - This is the heyday of English and Scottish folk poetry. Its most common genres are song and ballad.

A ballad is a story song with dramatic content and a choral chorus. Ballads were intended for choral performance and were accompanied by playing musical instruments and dancing. The ballad arose as a result of collective folk art; it does not reflect the personality of the singer. In this regard, the question of individual authorship is not raised.

The methods of constructing a ballad, its rhythmic features and stylistic features are very stable. The ballad is written in rhymed verse, divided into stanzas accompanied by a chorus (refrain). Each stanza usually consists of four lines; the first and third lines do not rhyme and contain four stresses each; the second and fourth rhyme and contain three stresses. The number of unstressed syllables in a line can be arbitrary.

Like songs, ballads use constant epithets, similes and repetitions. Characteristic, for example, are such constant images as a brave knight, a fair-haired girl, a young page, which move from one ballad to another. Many ballads begin with traditional openings containing an appeal to the listeners.

Unlike a song, the narrator’s lyrical “I” is not revealed in a ballad. The ballad is narrative in nature and does not contain comments given on behalf of the narrator. A certain mood is created in the listener by the drama of the narrative, the richness and intensity of the action, and the meaningfulness of the repetitions. The very manner of conveying events has its own characteristics: in the absence of a descriptive element, attention is focused on the culminating moments of the action.

According to their plots, ballads are divided into historical, legendary and everyday. Historical ballads include epic ballads dedicated to such events as military clashes between the British and Scots on the border strip, feudal feuds, and the Anglo-French wars.

Ballads about the legendary Robin Hood were especially popular.

Ballads about the exploits of Robin Hood formed the cycles: “The Little Geste of Robin Hood” and the later cycle “A Geste of Robin Hood”. These vaults were printed throughout the 15th-16th centuries. They revealed a tendency to merge individual ballads into an epically integral work. However, in addition to the “vaults,” there were many independent ballads and songs about Robin Hood.

Most of them are ballads of a lyrical-dramatic nature. They talk about love and hate, family feud and jealousy. The element of feelings and the depth of experience create an atmosphere of dramatic tension. The strength of passions and the spontaneity of their manifestation gives rise to the severity of situations.

These include the ballads “The Two Sisters,” “Child Waters,” “Lady Isabel,” “The Douglas Tragedy,” “The Cruel Brother,” and etc.

Medieval ballads attracted the attention of many writers of subsequent eras and had a great influence on the development of English literature. Motifs and texts of folk ballads were used by Shakespeare (the forest robbers in “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, Desdemona’s song – “The Song of the Willow” - in “Othello”).

Particular interest arose in ballads in the era of pre-romanticism. In the 18th century recording and systematization of monuments of English and Scottish folklore began. Its samples are especially fully presented in collections compiled by W. Scott (“Songs of the Scottish Border” - Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1802-1803) and F. Child (“English and Scottish ballads” - The English and Scottish popular ballads, 1882- 1898). In 1765, T. Percy’s collection “Reliques of Ancient English Poetry” was published.

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The roots of the literature of the Middle Ages go back to the 4th-5th centuries, during the period when new state associations formed by barbarian peoples were created on the ruins of the Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages, a new, in comparison with antiquity, system of aesthetic thinking arose, the creation of which was facilitated by Christianity, the folk art of “barbarian” peoples and the influence of antiquity. Medieval thinking is distinguished by the ability to combine a subtle sensitivity to various exotic influences and a systematic development of the heritage of the past, as well as a unique ability to rediscover and apply the ancient developments of peasant, autochthonous culture, preserved “under the wing” of Roman civilization.

It is worth emphasizing that in the Middle Ages, religious thinking left a very deep imprint on literature; it also introduced allegory and elements of symbolic perception of reality into literary circulation. The range of literature of the Middle Ages included a huge number of genres with church origins, for example, cult drama, hymns, lives of saints, etc. In addition, the beginnings of historiography and the processing of biblical legends and motifs are associated with clerical literature.

Between the 11th and 14th centuries, medieval literature can be linked to folklore. But not too literally. A folk song or fairy tale is impersonal, while the main feature of a literary text is intentional individuality, uniqueness and clear specificity. Medieval works of that time have a certain duality, that is, some texts are close to literary work in the modern sense, while others, such as songs about deeds, are closer to folklore. However, the term “folklore” itself has the ability to refer to two different realities, which depends on what social function they perform.

Classification of literature of the Middle Ages

The literary art of the Middle Ages is divided into two stages, which are associated with the nature of social relations, namely: the literature of the period of the decline of the clan system and the emergence of feudalism, which fall in the 5th-10th centuries, as well as the literature of the stage of developed feudalism in the 11th-15th centuries . The first period is typical for monuments of folk poetry, and the second is classified as feudal-knightly, folk and urban literature, which appeared in the twelfth century. All of the above listed elements exist both in parallel and in complex interweaving, but still the basis for all literature of the Middle Ages remains works of folk poetry. Urban literature, starting from the 12th-13th centuries, develops very quickly and rapidly and largely absorbs clerical literature. In this period, the division of medieval literature becomes more “blurred” and conditional. The ascetic attitude is muted, and the warm tones of the attitude towards the world become the leading one.