Medieval Literature - Types of Writing - Secular

Secular

Secular literature in this period was not produced in equal quantity as religious literature, but much has survived and we possess today a rich corpus. The subject of "courtly love" became important in the 11th century, especially in the Romance languages (in the French, Spanish, Galician-Portuguese, Catalan, Provençal languages, most notably) and Greek, where the traveling singers—troubadours—made a living from their songs. The writings of the troubadours are often associated with unrequited longing, but this is not entirely accurate (see aubade, for instance). In Germany, the Minnesänger continued the tradition of the troubadours.

In addition to epic poems in the Germanic tradition (e.g. Beowulf and Nibelungenlied), epic poems in the tradition of the chanson de geste (e.g. The Song of Roland and Digenis Acritas which deal with the Matter of France and the Acritic songs respectively) and courtly romances in the tradition of the roman courtois, which deal with the Matter of Britain and the Matter of Rome, achieved great and lasting popularity. The roman courtois is distinguished from the chanson de geste not only by its subject matter, but also by its emphasis on love and chivalry rather than acts of war.

Political poetry was written also, especially towards the end of this period, and the goliardic form saw use by secular writers as well as clerics. Travel literature was highly popular in the Middle Ages, as fantastic accounts of far-off lands (frequently embellished or entirely false) entertained a society that, in most cases, limited people to the area in which they were born. (But note the importance of pilgrimages, especially to Santiago de Compostela, in medieval times, also witnessed by the prominence of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales).

The most prominent authors of Jewish secular poetry in the Middle Ages were Solomon ibn Gabirol and Yehuda Halevi, both of whom were also renowned religious poets.