The Most Important Works of Mediaeval Literature

 Here is a list of Mediaeval literature works that every medievalist should read. I haven't read them all yet. Of course, there are many more than this that could be added. However, to me, these are some of the most important titles for readers to remember: 

1. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

2. The Divine Comedy by Dante

3. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

4. The Song of Roland

5. Beowulf

6. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius

7. City of God by Augustine of Hippo*

8. On the Trinity by Augustine of Hippo

9. Confessions by Augustine of Hippo

10. Summary of Theology by Thomas Aquinas

11. Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory

12. The Quest for the Holy Grail

13. Everyman 

14. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede

15. Canonzoniere by Petrarch

16. The Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes

17. The Decameron by Boccaccio 

18. The Book of Margery Kempe by Margery Kempe

19. The Romance of the Rose

20. The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Varagine

21. The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth

22. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

23. Troilus and Cressida by Geoffrey Chaucer

24. On Christian Teaching by Augustine of Hippo

25. Piers Plowman by William Langland

26. Itinerarium Regis Ricardi

27. Caedmon's Hymn 

28. The Seafarer 

Additionally, the following titles from ancient literature are necessary for understanding Mediaeval literature: 

1. The Aeneid by Virgil 

2. Eclogues by Virgil

3. Georgics by Virgil

4. The Metamorphoses by Ovid

5. Fasti by Ovid

6. Ars Amatoria by Ovid

7. The Old and New Testaments

*Although some historians do not consider Augustine to be medieval, nevertheless, his theological views were well known throughout the Middle Ages.