Medieval Literature and Culture: Society, Art, and Thought
Medieval Literature and Culture
Literature is defined as a fine art that uses the word as its primary tool. It is a historical product, and its purpose should be to teach and delight.
The Middle Ages: Society and Economy
The Middle Ages refers to an extended period of a thousand years, from the 5th century until the late 15th century. During this time, Western Europe was socially organized according to an economic and political model known as feudalism.
- Production relations were based on a natural and agricultural economy that tended toward self-sufficiency.
- Trade was very underdeveloped.
Society was rigidly divided into three estates:
- The clergy
- Nobles
- Peasants
The clergy and nobles owned the land, while the peasants worked it, delivering a portion of their produce to the lords in exchange for protection. Nobles were responsible for militarily defending their vassals and upheld socio-economic ideas, such as the divine right of monarchs. Within each estate, there were degrees and hierarchies, which often led to social conflicts.
Economic and Social Transformation
Towards the end of the Middle Ages (late 15th century), there was a gradual development of trade, crafts, and incipient industrial activity. This period saw a great economic boom, with cities growing and trade routes multiplying. Cities flourished, and their inhabitants, the bourgeoisie, began to abandon their original servile condition. This marked the emergence of a new, enterprising, and dynamic social class: the bourgeoisie.
Ideas and Culture in the Middle Ages
Preservation and Transmission of Knowledge
During much of the Middle Ages, written culture took refuge in monasteries, where monks were responsible for preserving and transmitting the knowledge of antiquity. Books were hand-copied (manuscripts), a laborious and costly task, as they were made on sheets of parchment derived from animal skin.
Secularization and the Rise of Universities
In the late Middle Ages, written culture began to move beyond the church walls. Certain nobles formed their own private libraries, initiating an irreversible process of secularization. This process was also aided by the emergence of the first universities:
- Italy: Bologna and Naples
- France: Paris and Montpellier
- England: Oxford and Cambridge
- Castile: Palencia and Salamanca
The Role of Women
Culturally, women began to gain a greater presence in the late Middle Ages. From the late 11th century, women achieved unusual relevance in the south of France, becoming the undisputed stars of the literary trend known as courtly love. The figure of the woman also gained unprecedented importance in the Church through the revaluation of the Virgin Mary.
Artistic Developments
In architecture and painting, the medieval Christian world developed its own distinct artistic forms:
- 11th-12th Centuries: Romanesque art triumphed, characterized by its monastic, rural, and stately qualities.
- Mid-12th to 15th Centuries: Gothic art became the dominant urban art form, reaching its brilliance in parallel with the growth of cities.
Individualism and Literary Flourishing
At the end of the Middle Ages, the development of trade and the market economy favored travel and, consequently, the exchange of ideas and contact between cultures. The medieval world gave way to a new era where the individual became increasingly important. This also led to the emergence of new feelings such as individualism, loneliness, and personal distress.
In the literary field, this period saw the rise of great figures with their own distinct voices:
- Dante Alighieri (1263–1321) with his Divine Comedy (Italy)
- Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374) (Italy)
- Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) with the Decameron (Italy)
- Geoffrey Chaucer (1340–1400), author of the Canterbury Tales (England)
- Ramon Llull (1235–1315) (Catalan)
- Juan Ruiz (Archpriest of Hita) (Castile)