Song and Legend From the Middle Ages | Page 4

translations used have been selected largely with a view to their
accessibility, so that readers who desire to enlarge the scope of their
reading may easily find the books they need. Caxton's "Reynard the

Fox", and "The Romance of the Rose",
attributed to Chaucer, were
chosen because they convey an
impression of the quaint flavor of the
original, which is lost in a modern version. The slight adaptations and
transliterations made in these two selections are entirely defensible on
the score of intelligibility.
Our acknowledgments are due to Prof. William I. Knapp, of the
University of Chicago, for the use of books from his valuable library,
and for the permission, most highly prized, to print for the first time
some of his translations of the Cid ballads.
THE EDITORS. Chicago, April, 1893.
INTRODUCTION.
The Middle Ages extend from the fifth to the fifteenth century, from
the fall of the Roman Empire to the establishment of the great modern
states. The general outline of the history of the Middle Ages can be
seen in the following excellent table:[1]
[1] Drury's "History of the Middle Ages", page XIV.
0. The decline of the Roman Empire and the successful accomplishment
of two invasions.
. The transient brilliancy of the Arabian civilization.
. The attempted organization of a new empire by Charlemagne, and its
dissolution.
. The rise and prevalence of feudalism.
. The successive crusades.
. The contest between the pope and the emperor for the sovereignty of
the world.
The history of these ten centuries falls naturally into three great
divisions:
. Fifth to tenth century, the destruction of the past and transition to new
forms.
. Eleventh to thirteenth century, feudal society with its customs, its
institutions, its arts, and its literatures.

0. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, a second time of transition.
The period, then, of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth
centuries was
one of intense political life, of advanced national self-consciousness, of
rich, highly-organized society. It was moreover a period of common
ideas, movements, and tendencies over all Europe. Several factors enter
into this result:
. The church was completely organized, forming a common life and
teaching everywhere. She had learned to employ the savage vigor
and conquering instincts of the northern barbarians as defenses
and aggressive missions of her spirit and ideas. The monasteries
were homes of learning, and from them issued the didactic
literature and the early drama.
. This resulted in that romantic institution or ideal of chivalry, whose
ten commandments explain so much of mediaeval life and art.[1]
[1] "Chivalry", by Leon Gautier, 1891, p. 26.
(1) Thou shalt believe all the church teaches, and shalt observe all its
directions.
(2) Thou shalt defend the church.
(3) Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the
defender of them.
(4) Thou shalt love the country in which thou wast born.
(5) Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy.
(6) Thou shalt make war against the inflael without cessation and
without mercy.
(7) Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not
contrary to the law of God.
(8) Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy
pledged
word.

(9) Thou shalt be generous and give largesse to every one.
(10) Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right
and the Good against Injustice and Evil.
3. This combination of the Christian and the warrior found its public
activity most completely in the Crusades. They gave a common motive
and ideal to all the knights of Europe. They
brought them together for
thinking and for fighting. They spread national traditions and literatures.
They made the whole face of Europe and the borders of the
Mediterranean known to the
ambitious, venturesome, daring, and
heroic of every European country. The exploits of chivalric knights
were told from camp to camp and taken back home to be told again in
the castles.
4. Another institution of feudalism that helped to make this common
subject and spirit of mediaeval literature was the
minstrel, who was
attached to every well-appointed castle. This picturesque poet--gleeman,
trouvere or troubadour sang heroic stories and romances of love in the
halls of castles and in the market places of towns. He borrowed from
and copied others and helped to make the common method and
traditions of mediaeval song.
5. Other elements in this result were the extensions of commerce and
the growth of traveling as a pleasure.
6. Finally, the itinerant students and teachers of mediaeval universities
assisted in the making of this common fund of ideas and material for
literature.
(7) Behind and within all the separate national literatures lay the
common Christian-Latin literature of the early Middle Ages,
undoubtedly the cause of the rather startling perfection of form shown
by much of the work of the