Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- I THE LIBERAL ARTS AND THE ARTS OF LATIN TEXTUALITY
- II THE STUDY OF CLASSICAL AUTHORS
- III TEXTUAL PSYCHOLOGIES: IMAGINATION, MEMORY, PLEASURE
- IV VERNACULAR CRITICAL TRADITIONS: THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
- V VERNACULAR CRITICAL TRADITIONS: THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
- 14 Latin commentary tradition and vernacular literature
- 15 Vernacular literary consciousness c. 1100–c. 1500: French, German and English evidence
- 16 Occitan grammars and the art of troubadour poetry
- 17 Literary theory and polemic in Castile, c. 1200–c. 1500
- 18 Literary criticism in Middle High German literature
- 19 Later literary criticism in Wales
- VI LATIN AND VERNACULAR IN ITALIAN LITERARY THEORY
- VII BYZANTINE LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
15 - Vernacular literary consciousness c. 1100–c. 1500: French, German and English evidence
from V - VERNACULAR CRITICAL TRADITIONS: THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- I THE LIBERAL ARTS AND THE ARTS OF LATIN TEXTUALITY
- II THE STUDY OF CLASSICAL AUTHORS
- III TEXTUAL PSYCHOLOGIES: IMAGINATION, MEMORY, PLEASURE
- IV VERNACULAR CRITICAL TRADITIONS: THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
- V VERNACULAR CRITICAL TRADITIONS: THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
- 14 Latin commentary tradition and vernacular literature
- 15 Vernacular literary consciousness c. 1100–c. 1500: French, German and English evidence
- 16 Occitan grammars and the art of troubadour poetry
- 17 Literary theory and polemic in Castile, c. 1200–c. 1500
- 18 Literary criticism in Middle High German literature
- 19 Later literary criticism in Wales
- VI LATIN AND VERNACULAR IN ITALIAN LITERARY THEORY
- VII BYZANTINE LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Whilst it is reasonably assumed that there extended from the Merovingian period a long tradition of oral poetry in France which embraced the lyric, hagiography, epic and drama, a tradition which drew on Indo-European traditions, more localised folklore, and historical events, it is certain that vernacular French literature (i.e. what has been set down in letters) owes its emergence entirely to the church. It is doubtful whether the romana lingua of the Strassburg Oaths (as sworn by Louis the German and Charles the Bald in June 842) can really be called French, but the short Sequence of Saint Eulalia (c. 881–2) from the area of Valenciennes is certainly French, as are parts of the Sermon on Jonah, also produced near Valenciennes, towards the middle of the tenth century. A Passion narrative and a Life of St Ledger copied c. 1000 have been preserved in the south-west of France, whilst in the following century we have fragments of Occitan and, from Normandy, two literary masterpieces, the Vie de Saint Alexis and the Chanson de Roland. With the exception of the last two we are dealing with works written in a supra-dialectal koiné or scripta, designed to find favour with supra-regional audiences who could not tackle whatever Latin originals were available. Secular French literature written in a relatively standardised language (ultimately identified with that of the Ile de France) is the product of the twelfth century. It was preceded in England by the curiously precocious literary productions that owed much to the patronage of Henry I and II.
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- The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism , pp. 422 - 471Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005