Medieval Literature (Important Points)

 Medieval Literature

Important Points from Viewpoint of the NET Exam

1. Thomas Hoccleve or Occleve (c. 1368–1426) was an English poet and clerk. Hoccleve wrote in a number of genres popular in his day. His first major work, the “Letter of Cupid,” is an example of courtly poetry in the manner of the lines of the Roman de la Rose. It contains a dream vision, complex allegory, and wit typical of the courtly style.

2. The Alexiad is a medieval historical and biographical text written around the year 1148 by the Byzantine historian and princess Anna Komnene.

 In the Alexiad, Komnene describes the political and military history of the Byzantine Empire during the reign of her father, the Byzantine emperor, which makes it a reference to the Byzantium of the High Middle Ages. The Alexiad documents the Byzantine Empire's interaction with the First Crusade (despite being written nearly fifty years afterwards), and the text highlights the conflicting perceptions of the East and West in the early 12th century. 

The text was written in a form of artificial Attic Greek and shows the Byzantine perception of the Crusades.

3. Beowulf is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative lines. It is the oldest surviving long poem in Old English and is commonly cited as one of the most important works of Old English literature. The poem is set in Scandinavia. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland (Götaland in modern Sweden) and later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is fatally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a headland in his memory.

4. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between the pre-Schism Roman Rite and Celtic Christianity. It was originally composed in Latin, is considered to be one of the most important original references on Anglo-Saxon history, and has played a key role in the development of an English national identity. It is believed to have been completed in 731 when Bede was approximately 59 years old. The History of the English Church and People has a clear polemical and didactic purpose. Bede sets out not just to tell the story of the English, but to advance his views on politics and religion.

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