Medieval literature

Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (encompassing 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. Because of the wide range of time and place it is difficult to speak in general terms without oversimplification, and thus the literature is best characterized by its place of origin and/or language, as well as its genre.

Notable literature of the period

• Alexiad, Anna Comnena
• Digenis Acritas, anonymous Greek author
• Beowulf, anonymous Anglo-Saxon author
• Cantigas de Santa Maria, Galician authors
• Cato (Distichs of Cato), Dionysius Cato
• 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
• Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius
• The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
• Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio
• The Dialogue, Catherine of Siena
• 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
• Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ("The Ecclesiastical History of the English People"), the Venerable Bede
• Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Francesco Colonna?
• The Lais of Marie de France, Marie de France
• The Letters of Abelard and Heloise
• Das fließende Licht der Gottheit, Mechtild of Magdeburg
• Ludus de Antichristo, anonymous German author
• Mabinogion, various Welsh authors
• Metrical Dindshenchas, Irish onomastic poems
• The Knight in the Panther Skin, Shota Rustaveli
• Nibelungenlied, anonymous German author
• Njál's saga, anonymous Icelandic author
• Piers Plowman, William Langland
• Poem of the Cid, anonymous Spanish author
• Proslogium, Anselm of Canterbury
• Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich
• Roman de la Rose, Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun
• Saga of Sassoun, anonymous Armenian author
• Scivias, Hildegard of Bingen
• Sic et Non, Abelard
• The Song of Roland, anonymous French author
• Spiritual Exercises, Gertrude the Great
• Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas
• Táin Bó Cúailnge, anonymous Irish author
• The Tale of Igor's Campaign, anonymous Russian author
• Tirant lo Blanc, Joanot Martorell
• Il milione (The Travels of Marco Polo), Marco Polo
• Triumphs, Petrarch
• Younger Edda, Snorri Sturluson
• ', Chretien de Troyes
• Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus