Literature, The Middle Ages

The medieval period of French literature encompasses nearly six centuries, more than the remaining periods of French literary history combined. It begins with La sequence de Sainte Eulalie (The Life of Saint Eulalia), a church song in fourteen couplets that dates from the late 800s. The era ends with the printing of the complete works of poet Francois Villon in 1489. Much of French medieval literature is sacred in the sense that it deals with the lives of saints and the church lore of miracles and mysteries. At the same time, many writers addressed the deeds of French nobility and kings, as well as those of the Crusaders, who fought to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims. By focusing on both religious and political subjects, literature was in harmony with the worldview of the time, which assigned equal power to church and state.

France’s political situation was relatively stable during the Middle Ages, although after the reign of the emperor Charlemagne ended in 814, epidemics, famine, and war among the great lords nearly destroyed the country. The reign of Hugh Capet, which began in 987, brought stability to France and established a hierarchy with Capet at the top that promised social and political stability. His descendents led France in the long campaigns of the Crusades (1096-1291) and the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453).

The feudal social and political institutions of medieval France were based on a pact between a lower vassal and a higher lord: The lord gave land and protection to the vassal in exchange for vows of fidelity and service. The social and political hierarchy led downward from the king through the dukes and counts to the lower nobility, bourgeoisie (middle class), and peasants. This order reflected the medieval view that all of creation emanated downward from God and the celestial realm to nature and the earthly world. Literary genres fell into two competing categories in France during the Middle Ages. Some genres affirmed the hierarchical social structure, and others questioned it. Scholastic quests after eternal truths, liturgical dramas on biblical themes, and epic poems known as chansons de geste all affirmed the social structure. Courtly literature (cultivated literature written at French courts) and satirical literature questioned it, although in different ways.