The Four Types Of Works A Medieval Author Would Write

By Mattie Knight


Medieval literature has been very popular even up until today as many old works have been rewritten and also used in schools as classics. Of course when one would say medieval literature, he would refer to the classic works that would come from the middle ages of Europe. Now if one were a medieval author at that time, there would be four types of genres that one would usually be working on.

Of course the first one would be the philosophical or theological works since these types of works were the most popular types of works during that time. Now the church was the single most influential body that existed in the entire region. Now because of this, it was very common for famous authors to incorporate a lot of theological themes into their books.

Some of the most famous theological or religious authors are Thomas Aquinas, Peter Abelard, and Anselm of Canterbury among many others. Saint Thomas Aquinas in particular was extremely famous as a theological author as he had an extremely deep understanding of the Bible and was also a very good writer. Theological works were written mostly by monks and other religious leaders but a few other authors also wrote some religious works as well.

Now aside from the theological works, there would be the secular books from secular authors. A lot of authors of this particular genre would revolve around some fictional material as well as historical material. Two very famous secular authors that existed during that time were of course John Mallory and John Mandeville.

Other than that, there are also many poets that lived during the medieval time period. One extremely influential poet during the late middle ages would be none other than Geoffrey Chaucer and was one of the most important writers before Shakespeare lived. Some of his works would include the Roman de la rose, and the allegorical Book of the Duchess.

Although it was rare for females to be authors, there were a few who were mentioned. Most women during that time concentrated on theological works since that was the most popular kind. There were also a few that excelled in other genres as well.

Now one of the most famous of all female authors was Julian of Norwich. Julian of Norwich was actually a psychic who had visions of certain places, people, and events that would become the inspiration of her books. She was probably the most famous author in all of England because she was the first woman in England that had a book published.

So if one is interested in the literature of this time period, then here are some of the things that he may find interest in. Now the authors of those times were actually very influential to the authors of this modern time. In fact a lot of current works have been influenced by the works that were created during this very time period.




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