Despite the apparent popularity of adaptations of classic medieval tales, medieval literature itself tends to get a bad reputation as overly formal, religious, or just plain boring. It’s hard to imagine that characters that were written about centuries ago could be relatable to readers today, but here’s the thing: people have always been pretty much the same.
Sure, the writing style in medieval books and short stories might be a bit different than what we’re used to, and a lot of European medieval stories are going to have some blatant Christian doctrine. But there’s also a surprising amount of action, drama, romance, “fantasy” elements, and humor. No matter what kind of books you like to read, I guarantee there’s at least one medieval book or short story that will be a good fit for your bookshelf.
Here’s a list of some of the most exciting medieval reads that anyone can get into. Grab your favorite drink and your comfiest blanket, and get ready to start a new adventure into the past!
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Beowulf
Let’s start the list off with a classic that I know everyone’s heard of: Beowulf. For a while, this story had a remarkable pop-culture resurgence, thanks to the children’s book Be a Wolf! and the (frankly horrible) 2007 film Beowulf. None of the remakes hold a candle to the original, though.
The book follows the heroic adventures of the title character, who proves himself as a young warrior by saving the Danes from the monstrous Grendel, and later becomes a king in his own right. Three epic battles make Beowulf a must for action lovers, and by the end, it’ll be up to you to decide whether Beowulf was ultimately a good king or not—there’s a lot of debate! Even if you don’t want to read extra scholarly debate and history, though, the bittersweet ending alone is enough to make you remember this story long after you put the book down.
Seamus Heaney has a nice bilingual edition, if you want to see the translation alongside the Old English (which is a trip), or check out J. R. Tolkein’s translation with commentary!
The Sagas of Icelanders
Icelandic sagas are a personal favorite of mine, and The Sagas of Icelanders is the most complete book you can find with all of them. There’s an excellent reference section complete with diagrams, maps, and family trees that will help you sort out all of the different Thorsteins and Bollis in various sagas.
Like most medieval stories, the saga’s style might take a little bit to get used to. The writing is best described as blunt and matter-of-fact — these are stories intended for transmitting family histories, so they’re told like the narrator is recounting facts. A lot of the family sagas begin with lineage (which, if you have a family tree to look at, are easy to skim over), and you won’t find any flowery, beautiful writing.
Even though the style might be a bit of an acquired taste, it truly is part of the charm of these wonderful stories. Nothing beats reading about a battle where a character is grievously injured, only to see the narrator to end with a blunt, “and understandably, he died.”
The stories themselves deal with family drama, politics, magic, blood feuds, and even romance. There aren’t many “happy endings,” maybe, since most sagas follow their characters from birth to death, but there’s definitely something beautiful in the way the people live on as we read about them.
While my highest recommendation goes to the compiled Sagas of Icelanders, if you want to try something shorter first, many of the sagas can be found in standalone copies. The following three sagas are great places to start!
The Saga of the People of Laxardal
The Saga of the People of Laxardal is one of the longer family sagas that goes all the way back to the first person in the family to leave Norway for Iceland, so buckle in and grab a family tree, because these folks love naming kids after ancestors.
There’s quite a bit of prelude that will add some foreshadowing and help you understand the main characters by way of their lineage, but the main drama takes place between the close friends Bolli and Kjartan, and the incredibly beautiful Guthrun. The two friends are driven apart by their shared love for Guthrun, but Guthrun marries Bolli just before Kjartan proposes. Bolli’s new wife prompts him to battle with his old friend out of jealousy, leading to a tragic and poignant fight between the two, and the beginnings of blood feuds between their families.
Gisli Surson’s Saga
Gisli Surson is a tragic hero trapped in the customary obligations of familial blood feuds. To satisfy his duty, he has to kill one of his brothers-in-law in order to avenge another brother-in-law, and is consequently outlawed and hunted for thirteen years.
There’s magic, deception, deep bonds of familial love, and a completely bad-ass woman named Aud. Aud is Gisli’s loyal wife, without whom he would have never made it past the first few years of his outlawry. She sticks with him to the very end, and even joins in the battle against the men hunting her husband, killing one of his attackers with a club. You go, Aud!
Egil’s Saga
Egil’s Saga spans the several generations, from Egil’s grandfather Kveldulf, who left for Iceland rather than acknowledge any Norweigian king, to Egill’s grandchildren. This story is full of family and political drama, magic, and intense (and sometimes hilariously over-the-top) battles.
Egil Skallagrimson, the main character in this saga, is a freaking legend. Picture someone with the strength and temper of the Incredible Hulk, combined with a love of spontaneously reciting poetry.
Egil is the morally ambiguous Viking. He doesn’t exactly have the best home life as a child (his father tries to kill him over a game, and spends several formative years refusing to speak to him). Sure, he’s proud, greedy, and has quite the temper, but he’s also incredibly smart and has some tender moments with one of his daughters in his old age. We can’t help but root for him, even when we’re screaming at him to stop just rushing in and killing the Nowreigian king’s men, and considering his upbringing, we forgive him for his faults.
Troilus and Criseyda
Chaucer’s rendition of this ancient Greek tale is widely regarded as his best work — even better than the well-known Canterbury Tales. Scholars think Chaucer got his source material from the medieval Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato, but we prefer Chaucer’s version because his Criseyde is a multidimensional character, rather than a sexist caricature. Several hundred years later, Shakespeare picks up the mantle and writes the tragedy Troilus and Crissida, but it’s Chaucer that first brings the romance aspect of the story to the forefront.
Troilus and Criseyda are lovers who are Trojan lovers who are both brought together and separated by the war with Greece. Troilus publicly mocks love and is punished by the gods by falling in love with Criseyda, whose father has foreseen the fall of Troy and defected to the Greek side. Just when the lovers consummate their affection, Criseyda’s father convinces the Trojan to exchange a prisoner of war for his daughter, and Troilus and Criseyda are separated. Criseyda initially plans to escape after ten days and be with Troilus again, but soon realizes that it will be impossible, and accepts another lover despite her affection for Troilus.
Chaucer paints Criseyda as lonely and afraid, trying to make the most of her horrible situation. There’s some medieval Christian moralizing at the end, but other than that the vibe of the conclusion is a little like the 2016 film La La Land, albeit a bit more sad with all the death in the Trojan War.
The Canterbury Tales
If you want a single medieval book that has something for everyone, in every mood, you want The Canterbury Tales. With a cast of wacky characters, all telling various kinds of stories to each other, this book can easily be thought of as Chaucer showing off his ability to write every genre — and the Father of English poetry does it well. Bottom line: if you ever had to read The Canterbury Tales in class and it was boring, your teacher did you a horrible disservice.
The most enjoyable way to read this book is out loud in a good edition of Middle English—Chaucer was an amazing poet, and his work just dances. A close second is the modern English verse translation by Nevill Coghill, which captures all of the energy and pleasure of the original poetry, without having to worry about tricky Middle English spellings.
If you aren’t convinced that Chaucer can be fun to read, start with these two stories that aren’t taught as often in classes.
The Miller’s Tale
As I said before, people have always been pretty much the same, and that means they’ve always loved dirty jokes. When you write a whole story revolving around dirty jokes in flower prose, you’ve got a sure recipe to have your readers in stitches.
“The Miller’s Tale” is the humorous story of Alisoun, the beautiful young wife of the elderly and impotent carpenter, John. The couple takes in a smart young clerk, Nicholas, who woos Alisoun and tricks John into believing a second Biblical flood is coming, so the two young lovers can sleep together under his nose. Hijinks ensue, from slapstick humor to literal ass-kissing. In the end, Alisoun is left without any injury to herself or her reputation, while the men around her are in hysterical shambles.
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
The Wife of Bath’s Tale is a variation on the story of the knightly quest. The story begins when the “noble knight” assaults a poor young woman along the road. King Arthur puts out a decree that the knight must be brought to justice, but when he’s captured and condemned to death, Queen Guinevere intercedes and asks for leave to judge him. Instead of sentencing him to death, she says she will give him a year to discover what women most desire, and if he can return with the correct answer, she’ll spare his life.
The knight can’t get the same answer twice, no matter how many people he talks to, but on the very last day finds an old woman in the woods who says she’ll give him the true answer in exchange for a favor, to be given to her whenever she asks for it. Desperate, the knight agrees, and she tells him that what women want most is sovereignty in marriage. The knight returns to Guinevere, and she and all of the ladies in her court agree that this is the right answer. The knight’s life is spared, but he won’t go entirely unpunished for his assault of the peasant girl. He still owes the old lady that favor…
You see, there’s no need to fear medieval texts; there’s a whole world of approachable literature just waiting for you to dive in! We hope this list has helped you to expand your shelves and broaden your horizons with classic literature.
Have you read any of the above or have another great book to add to our list? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!
