Literature: Characteristics of High Middle Age

The High Middle Ages, roughly spanning from the 11th to the 13th centuries, was a period of
significant cultural, economic, and intellectual growth in Europe. Overall, the literature of the
High Middle Ages reflects the complex social, cultural, and religious landscape of medieval
Europe, blending elements of chivalry, religion, and romance to create enduring works that
continue to captivate readers today.
Several characteristics distinguish this era:
1. Ideals and Characters: Literature of the High Middle Ages often reflects the ideals of
feudal society and chivalry. Knights, lords, and ladies are common characters, and
stories often revolve around themes of honour, loyalty, and courtly love.
2. Poetry: Epic poetry flourished during this period. Works like the "Song of Roland" and
the Arthurian legends, including the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table, exemplify this genre. These epic poems often depict heroic deeds, quests, and
battles.
3. Romance: Romance literature, characterized by tales of love and adventure, gained
popularity during the High Middle Ages. These romances often feature knights
embarking on quests to win the favour of their beloved or to prove their worthiness as
warriors.
4. Religion: Christianity played a central role in medieval European society, and religious
themes are prominent in literature from this period. Many works contain allegorical
elements and moral lessons influenced by Christian doctrine.
5. Courtly Love: The concept of courtly love, a code of conduct that governed the
relationships between knights and noblewomen, is a recurring motif in medieval
literature. Courtly love often involved admiration, devotion, and sometimes unrequited
affection.
6. Literary devices: Allegory and symbolism are commonly used literary devices in High
Middle Ages literature. Authors frequently employed symbolic imagery to convey moral,
religious, or philosophical ideas.
7. Languages: While Latin remained the dominant language of scholarly and religious
texts, the High Middle Ages also saw the emergence of vernacular languages in
literature. Writers began to compose works in languages like Old French, Middle
English, and Old High German, making literature more accessible to the general
population.
8. Other Literary Forms: Alongside epic poetry and romances, other literary forms such
as drama and prose narratives began to develop during this period. Mystery plays,
morality plays, and allegorical tales became popular forms of entertainment and
instruction.

Activity: complete the chart using words or phrases from the text.
(an example is given)
 The invention of the printing press and its impact on history
Before the invention of printing, in ancient times, many stories were word-of-mouth, that is,
people told each other about them. But even then, people used to put inscriptions on the walls,
for example to display political slogans and to offer household goods for sale. Sometimes they
used papyrus where they made drawings and short narrations, hidden due to they were not
allowed according to the church.
The emergence of the printing press in the Middle Ages was a revolution: books could be
copied with a speed never seen before and its impact was incalculable.
The invention of the printing press marked a change on a historical, cultural and intellectual
level, first in Western culture and later, in world history. With this invention, the copying
process accelerated and in a matter of a few years hundreds of copies of books and
documents of all kinds reached an enormous audience thanks to the dissemination of
knowledge and the lowering of production costs.
Until 1453, monks were solely responsible for manuscript copies, knowledge was restricted to
only a few by the Catholic church. In the stage of Feudalism, the Catholic Church reproduced
and disseminated knowledge exclusively, and had a censoring role and marked the 'agenda
setting', in this way, it prohibited topics that could not be talked about and allowed those that
could not be talked about. he was more interested.
Until 1453, monks were solely responsible for manuscript copies, knowledge was restricted to
only a few by the Catholic church. In the stage of Feudalism, the Catholic Church reproduced
and disseminated knowledge exclusively, and had a censoring role and marked the 'agenda
setting', in this way, it prohibited topics that could not be talked about and allowed only those
that it was more interested in.
The printing press helped to spread ideas contrary to feudalism and established religion
throughout Europe, this way the most important revolution against absolute powers
(monarchies and church) began, since it spread knowledge, something that these powers had
kept for themselves for the ten centuries that the Middle Ages lasted. The texts multiplied and
the number of readers and people who were interested in reading expanded, so literacy
received an enormous boost, never seen to date. Of course, on a historical and cultural level,
the invention of the printing press was of vital importance. This allowed us to collect a large
part of the information from that time that would otherwise have disappeared, in addition to
expanding the culture to the rest of the cities and regions around the world.
Who invented the printing press?
Answering who invented the printing press takes us to the end of the Middle Ages and the
beginning of the Modern Age. The invention of the printing press is attributed to the German,
Johannes Gutenberg in the year 1440. Gutenberg is considered “the father of the printing
press”, after years trying to dispute the title among the French, Italians, Dutch and Germans.
Johannes Gutenberg was a German goldsmith of Christian religion who had the skill of gold
casting and in charge of carrying out all types of artistic works with precious metals and alloys.
The inventor of the modern printing press was born in Mainz, Germany, in approximately the
year 1400. Johannes Gutenberg moved to Strasbourg, leaving his work as a goldsmith to
dedicate himself to wood engravings. Little by little, he developed his lithography technique,
writing his first texts, which would demonstrate that he could make many more impressions
than through hand copying by monks. Gutenberg's greatest achievement was making a copy
of the Bible in the shortest time possible, known as the “42-line Bible”, because it was the first
book printed with movable type. The name of the book has to do with the number of lines that
the Bible presents on each page.

Activity: Answer these questions.

1. In ancient times, give examples of how people published their ideas before printing.
2. What were the advantages of printing?
3. What was the role of Church?
4. Why was printing important for common people?
5. Complete about Johannes Gutenberg:
- He was a .....
- His technique was .........
- His major writing work was .......