PapersFlow Research Brief
Medieval Literature and History
Research Guide
What is Medieval Literature and History?
Medieval Literature and History is the academic study of literature, religion, society, manuscripts, monasticism, Anglo-Saxon history, culture, and philosophy in Europe during the medieval period from the fifth to the fifteenth century.
This field encompasses 182,751 works covering topics from medieval political theology to emotional communities and manuscript production. Key texts include primary sources like 'The Riverside Chaucer' (1986) with 1193 citations and 'Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People' (1970) with 859 citations. Scholarly analyses, such as 'The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology' (1981) with 1652 citations, examine concepts like the dual nature of monarchy.
Topic Hierarchy
Research Sub-Topics
Medieval Political Theology
Researchers analyze the interplay of sacred and secular authority in medieval governance through texts like canon law and chronicles. Studies examine concepts like the king's two bodies and papal-imperial conflicts.
Medieval Manuscript Studies
This field investigates paleography, codicology, and digital editions of medieval manuscripts. Research reconstructs textual transmission, scribal practices, and material culture of book production.
Anglo-Saxon History and Literature
Studies cover Old English poetry, historical texts like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and archaeological evidence from 5th-11th century England. Research explores conversion, kingship, and cultural identity.
Medieval Monasticism
Investigations examine Benedictine, Cistercian, and mendicant orders' spiritual practices, economic roles, and reform movements. Studies analyze hagiography, rule adaptations, and monastic libraries.
Medieval Emotional Communities
This sub-topic explores affective scripts, emotional vocabularies, and communal feeling structures in medieval texts and art. Research applies affect theory to hagiography, sermons, and courtly literature.
Why It Matters
Medieval Literature and History informs modern understandings of political theology, as in Ernst H. Kantorowicz's 'The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology' (1981, 1652 citations), which traces the notion of the king's two bodies enabling monarchic continuity post-mortem. It supports digital humanities projects like the GitHub repository CentreForDigitalHumanities/lettercraft for epistolary performance data and kcl-ddh/digipal for paleography and manuscripts. Funding from the Medieval Academy provides up to $5000 through the Inclusivity and Diversity Book Subvention Program and $20,000 via the Birgit Baldwin Fellowship in French Medieval History, enabling dissertation research and publications on topics like medieval musicians and conservation science as noted in NEH's $75.1 million for 84 humanities projects.
Reading Guide
Where to Start
'The Riverside Chaucer' by Geoffrey Chaucer and Larry D. Benson (1986, 1193 citations) serves as the beginner start because it provides direct access to primary medieval English literature including The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde, offering concrete examples of period texts without requiring prior theoretical knowledge.
Key Papers Explained
'The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology' by Ernst H. Kantorowicz (1981, 1652 citations) establishes foundational political theology, which 'Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages' by Barbara H. Rosenwein (2006, 1068 citations) extends to social emotional norms; 'The Craft of Thought: Meditation, Rhetoric, and the Making of Images, 400-1200' by Mary Carruthers (2002, 925 citations) builds on these by detailing cognitive tools for memory, while 'Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion' by Caroline Walker Bynum (1990, 906 citations) applies them to bodily and religious themes; 'Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People' (1970, 859 citations) provides primary Anglo-Saxon context grounding these analyses.
Paper Timeline
Most-cited paper highlighted in red. Papers ordered chronologically.
Advanced Directions
Recent activity centers on digital tools like the CentreForDigitalHumanities/lettercraft for epistolary data, kcl-ddh/digipal for paleography, and Medieval OCR pipelines using Kraken and TrOCR for manuscript correction. Brill's Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages Online covers Medieval Literature – Theory and Practice, while Journal of Medieval History releases (Volume 51, 2025) address current historiography. Medieval Academy grants, including $20,000 Birgit Baldwin Fellowships, fund Ph.D. research in French medieval history.
Papers at a Glance
| # | Paper | Year | Venue | Citations | Open Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology | 1981 | — | 1.7K | ✕ |
| 2 | European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages | 1954 | Chicago Review | 1.2K | ✕ |
| 3 | The Riverside Chaucer | 1986 | — | 1.2K | ✕ |
| 4 | Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages | 2006 | — | 1.1K | ✕ |
| 5 | Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance. | 1997 | Journal of the Royal A... | 960 | ✕ |
| 6 | The Craft of Thought: Meditation, Rhetoric, and the Making of ... | 2002 | The Classical World | 925 | ✕ |
| 7 | Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human B... | 1990 | — | 906 | ✕ |
| 8 | From memory to written record: England 1066–1307 | 1994 | History of European Ideas | 869 | ✕ |
| 9 | Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People | 1970 | The American Historica... | 859 | ✕ |
| 10 | Medieval Theory of Authorship: Scholastic Literary Attitudes i... | 1986 | The Yearbook of Englis... | 858 | ✕ |
In the News
NEH Announces $75.1 Million for 84 Humanities Projects
images of barn, exhibition, statue, John Monroe, conservation science, and medieval musicians Photo caption
Medieval Academy Dissertation Grants - The Medieval Academy of America
| To commemorate its seventy-fifth anniversary, The Medieval Academy established a new program of dissertation grants named in honor of five members who over many years contributed to the developme...
Medieval Academy Inclusivity and Diversity Book Subvention Program
| The Medieval Academy Inclusivity and Diversity Book Subvention Program provides subventions of up to $5000 to university or other non-profit scholarly presses to support the publication of a book...
MAA News – Upcoming Grant Deadlines
The Birgit Baldwin Fellowship in French Medieval History provides a grant of $20,000 to support a graduate student in a North American university who is researching and writing a significant disser...
Guidelines for Submissions
in _Speculum_ is now about two years.** _Speculum_, an English-language quarterly founded in 1926, was the first journal in North America devoted to the Middle Ages. It is open to contributions in ...
Code & Tools
This application provides an interface for researchers to enter data about epistolary performance in Medieval Europe. In the future, it will also p...
Version 2.0, January 2004 http://www.apache.org/licenses/ TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION 1. Definitions. "License" sh...
Archetype (formerly known as 'The DigiPal Framework') is freely-available generalised software for the online presentation of images with structure...
This repository contains the implementation of a complete OCR text correction pipeline specifically designed for medieval manuscripts. The system c...
## In short
Recent Preprints
Getting Started: Databases & Journals - Medieval Studies and ...
## About this page This page includes a **small array** of resources relating to specific databases and journals which focus on the medieval period. Our three general databases, JSTOR, Project Mus...
Inter Libros - Research Guides at Harvard Library
Subjects: Classics , History , Language, Literature & Culture , Medieval Studies , Philosophy , Philosophy & Religion **** Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy
Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages
A collaborative work of over 600 scholars from more than forty countries, the _Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages_ provides 3,000 concise and detailed articles on all aspects of the period from the fi...
Journal of Medieval History
- **Volume 51** - Number 4, 8 August 2025 - Number 3, 27 May 2025 - Number 2, 15 March 2025 - Number 1, 1 January 2025 - **Volume 50** - Number 5, 19 October 2024 - Number 3, 26 May 2024 - Nu...
Brill's Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages Online
- Medieval Literature – Theory and Practice ## 4. Fine Arts and Music: Complete Contents Introduction
Latest Developments
Recent developments in Medieval Literature and History research include the uncovering of a 13th-century manuscript fragment related to Merlin and King Arthur hidden in a 16th-century book binding, offering new insights into Arthurian romance (Medievalists.net, BBC Future, as of April 2025). Additionally, the 2026 Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies and the International Congress on Medieval Studies are upcoming events highlighting ongoing scholarly exploration (call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu, manuscriptevidence.org). The field continues to expand with new publications, such as the "New Medieval Literatures" volume released in March 2024, and ongoing research into medieval interpretations and manuscript studies (Cambridge.org).
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the concept of the king's two bodies in medieval political theology?
The notion of the king's two bodies refers to the distinction between the monarch's natural body, subject to death, and the body politic, ensuring continuity of monarchy. Ernst H. Kantorowicz in 'The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology' (1981, 1652 citations) shows this permitted post mortem continuity, as epitomized by the statement 'The king is dead, long live the king.' This framework guided generations of scholars through medieval political theology.
How did emotional communities function in the early Middle Ages?
Emotional communities consisted of groups with shared norms of emotional valuation and expression. Barbara H. Rosenwein in 'Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages' (2006, 1068 citations) uses microhistorical research, cognitive, and social construction approaches to analyze instances from the period. These communities shaped individual and collective emotional practices.
What role did memory and meditation play in medieval thought?
Medieval thought relied on meditation, rhetoric, and cognitive images for memory and image-making from 400-1200. Mary Carruthers in 'The Craft of Thought: Meditation, Rhetoric, and the Making of Images, 400-1200' (2002, 925 citations) explores memoria rerum, including aesthetics of Mneme and dream visions. This architecture supported collective memory and thinking through ornament and tabulae.
What does Bede's Ecclesiastical History reveal about Anglo-Saxon England?
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, documents early English church history and remains widely copied into the eighth century. Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors's edition (1970, 859 citations) preserves this key source on Anglo-Saxon Christianity. It ranks among the most popular medieval history books with extant continental copies.
How did scholasticism influence medieval literary theory?
Scholastic literary attitudes in the later Middle Ages shaped authorship theory, countering claims that scholasticism destroyed emerging twelfth-century theories. Alastair Minnis in 'Medieval Theory of Authorship: Scholastic Literary Attitudes in the Later Middle Ages' (1986, 858 citations) derives critical vocabulary from medieval sources. This work applies scholastic frameworks to late medieval literary analysis.
Open Research Questions
- ? How did circum-Atlantic performance practices, as in 'Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance' (1997), intersect with medieval European memory and ritual traditions?
- ? In what ways did fragmentation of the human body in medieval religion, per 'Fragmentation and Redemption' (1990), reflect broader gender dynamics?
- ? How does the transition from memory to written records in England 1066–1307, as analyzed in 'From memory to written record: England 1066–1307' (1994), alter historical evidence interpretation?
- ? What specific rhetorical techniques in 'The Craft of Thought' (2002) linked meditation to image production across 400-1200?
- ? How did Latin Middle Ages influence European literature, according to 'European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages' (1954)?
Recent Trends
Digital humanities tools have emerged, including GitHub's CentreForDigitalHumanities/lettercraft for epistolary performance, jhu-digital-manuscripts/rosa framework (Version 2.0, 2004), kcl-ddh/digipal for paleography, and Medieval OCR pipelines with Kraken and TrOCR. Preprints highlight databases like Inter Libros at Harvard Library and Brill's Encyclopedia (2025) on literature theory.
2025News shows Medieval Academy grants: $5000 Inclusivity subventions and $20,000 Baldwin Fellowships , plus NEH's $75.1 million for 84 projects including medieval musicians (2026).
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