Medieval literature has been extremely influential to the literature the world has today. For those who do not know, literature of this kind came from the continent of Europe and developed sometime in the middle ages which was one thousand years after the fall of the Roman Empire. A medieval author was extremely respected during that age as writers were often seen as very intellectual individuals who possessed much knowledge.

Of course the first one would be the philosophical or theological works since these types of works were the most popular types of works during that time. Now the church was the single most influential body that existed in the entire region. Now because of this, it was very common for famous authors to incorporate a lot of theological themes into their books.

Some of the most famous theological or religious authors are Thomas Aquinas, Peter Abelard, and Anselm of Canterbury among many others. Saint Thomas Aquinas in particular was extremely famous as a theological author as he had an extremely deep understanding of the Bible and was also a very good writer. Theological works were written mostly by monks and other religious leaders but a few other authors also wrote some religious works as well.

Of course it was not only the theological works that were popular but also the secular ones as well. Sir John Mandeville was an example of an author who wrote in the secular genre with his book the Travels of Sir John Mandeville. The themes of most of these works focused on fiction and some focused on history too.

Now another genre that was extremely popular among the people would be the allegories that were written by poets. If one knows about the famous William Shakespeare, then he should know about Geoffrey Chaucer as well as Chaucer was the predecessor of the very famous William Shakespeare. He was one of the most famous and influential poets of that time.

Although it was rare for females to be authors, there were a few who were mentioned. Most women during that time concentrated on theological works since that was the most popular kind. There were also a few that excelled in other genres as well.

Now if one would look at some of the most notable authors of that time, he would probably see Julian of Norwich at the top of the list. She was actually the very first woman to have published a book in the whole of England. What made her works pretty interesting was that they were based on visions she had when she was having a terminal illness.

So for those who are interested in medieval literature, take a look at some of these bits of information. It is good to know about the classics of that era because many modern day books were actually inspired by those old classics. Those old classics are timeless and can be seen even in modern works.