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.
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