The distinction between clergy and laity in the Middle Ages has traditionally provided a convenient description of a social divide that influenced literary production in this period. As we shall see, this distinction encompasses not only medieval social differences but also the ideological structures built upon them. Yet, for all that, the clerical/lay divide is by no means reducible to a set of mutually exclusive terms and, in this respect, poses certain challenges for modern readers of medieval texts that will be explored in what follows.

While attempting to give a sense of the scope and import of scholarly debate surrounding the interaction between clerical and lay in medieval French literature - in itself a vast topic - this chapter will focus particularly on religious and didactic literature, and will concentrate on the eleventh and twelfth centuries. I will begin by exploring the difference between clergy and laity and the ways this social division might affect vernacular literature. Focusing on the Vie de saint Alexis, the chapter will then consider how lay and clerical concerns might operate in religious literature. The final section will look at the illuminations to the Vie in the St Albans Psalter - a sequence of miniatures probably intended for the English recluse Christina of Markyate - with a view to exploring questions of gender and response.