Popular Literature in the Ancient and Medieval World ****************************************************************************************** * Popular Literature in the Ancient and Medieval World ****************************************************************************************** We all know about Medieval Literature, don’t we? We know about Knights in Shining Armour, in Distress. We know about the struggle two-thirds of the way through the plot for said Kn plucky, make like a hero, and rescue the biddable babe (as still witness in almost all Hol We know about this. We know about Princesses in towers, locked up by evil witchy-types, bu Wife-Of-Bath-types, and Pious Pilgrims. But do we know about the necrophilia practicing Princess, bi-curious father, and the daugh father-Squire love muddle (as presented in the anonymous late Middle English verse romance Low Degree’)? No. I thought not. I was definitely unaware of this variety of Medieval Literature, until Nicola McDonald (Un stepped up to the lectern of Carolinum’s Imperial Hall on the 14th of November at a ‘Popul the Ancient and Medieval World’ conference, focussed but beaming. The author of ‘Medieval ‘Pulp Fictions of Medieval England’, her objective was to convince her peers that medieval is worth a look. Not just because it’s kinky and makes you giggle, but because in actual f about medieval ideologies from it; it should not be dismissed as irrelevant drivel. Such stories clearly make the reader (or listener perhaps, back in the day) intensely unco interrogate key cultural ideologies of the time. The desire that presents a threat to orde overcome, despite the fact that this was not a medieval reality. No squire won a princess’ marriage through “adventuring”! The stories announce their romantic element very early on, so the reader knows they are in fetched fiction. This indicates to us that these tales are exploring exactly what was not the medieval citizen. Which, if you think about it, is not so different from pulp fiction Unless, of course, you truly believe that your ex-boyfriend is going to organise a public to apologise for bad behaviour, or your sort-of girlfriend is going to ditch her usual pre skin-tight leather, and start referring to you as stud. What is very different from today, however, is the Medieval focus on religious texts – it literature used to teach everyone how to read. Everyone? You might ponder. But medieval pe read, they were only capable of drinking mead and ploughing fields and living in squalor. at least wrong according to Elisabeth Salter (University of Hull; author of ‘Popular Readi 1400-1600’, ‘Cultural Creativity in the Early English Renaissance’, and ‘Six Renaissance M Salter challenges this ‘misconception’ that most of the medieval population were illiterat that the cultural focus on religion would have provided quite high levels of literacy – re engravings, sermons, carols and religious texts. Salter focussed specifically on the text ‘The Prick of Conscience’ (a translation of the F of Vices and Virtues’ into a Kentish dialect of Middle English), and the aesthetics of the point I found particularly compelling, as she opened my mind as to why this is meaningful. repetition of language (especially line beginnings) could support her theory of medieval l could be that these aesthetics helped the reader to spot their favourite section of the te message they most craved or valued. This would also help in recalling sections for personal meditation, reading in groups (boo down in churches, for public use) and memorising for sermons. Aside from this, the rhythm rolls the words into an incantation affect – something we still consider powerful today wh socially acceptable behaviours. Think back to the lines you had to write in school as puni naughty friend, if you were the classroom cherub): I must not use my ruler as a catapult I must not use my ruler as a catapult… for example. This revelation, about medieval literacy levels, could potentially open a deluge of new in of the medieval interaction with literature. I am uplifted by the prospect that we can sti academic perspectives on such well-studied material. Being able to listen to both of these talks was a pleasure – the comparison between the tw literature amusing and insightful! Reading the heavily spiritual and philosophical words o of Conscience’ helped me to understand better the wacky tales of the pulp fiction. It was antidote to serious, weighty, sober stuff. It was also satirical. The parallels of Princes “worshiping” (…ahem) a dead corpse, and common rituals around the dead body of Christ are also quite funny. Without having knowledge of the religious texts the people were raised o romance would seem plain silly and sensational – where as actually they are rather witty, Having compared them earlier, I’m not sure we could say the same for the modern Hollywood we? The ‘Popular Literature in the Ancient and Medieval World’ conference was organised by the of Czech and Comparative Literature of the Faculty of Arts of CU in the days 13th and 14th 2014. Aside of the Middle English popular fiction and spiritual texts, it touched the topi and Medieval popular fiction of such diverse regions as Ancient Egypt, the Byzantine Empir (including Iceland), Central Europe or Portugal. Elizabeth Moen is in her second year of an English Literature degree and working as a free Interning for iForum is an exceptional opportunity for her to develop herself as a journal