12th century in literature explained
This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in the 12th century.
The 12th century in Western Europe saw an increase in the production of Latin texts and a proliferation of literate clerics from the multiplying cathedral schools. At the same time, vernacular literatures ranging from Provençal to Icelandic embodied in lyric and romance the values and worldview of an increasingly self-conscious and prosperous courtly aristocracy. These two trends contributed to a sweeping revival of letters with a lasting influence on the development of literature in the following centuries.
Events
- 1104: September 3 - St. Cuthbert is reburied in Durham Cathedral (England) and the St. Cuthbert Gospel of St. John removed from his tomb.
- 1170: Poet, politician and historian Lu You (陸游) travels on the Grand Canal (China) from Shaoxing to the river Yangtze, recording his progress in a diary.[1]
- Before 1173: Copenhagen Psalter produced in northern England
- 1170: 29 December - Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket is assassinated in Canterbury Cathedral, an event that inspires several plays, notably: Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Becket (1884),[2] T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral (1935),[3] Jean Anouilh's Becket (Becket, ou l'honneur de Dieu, 1959)[4] and Paul Webb's Four Nights in Knaresborough (1999).[5] It also features in novels such as Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's Der Heilige ("The Saint", 1879),[6] Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth (1989)[7] and Sharon Kay Penman's Time and Chance (2002).[8]
The university and its libraries at Nalanda in India are sacked and burned by Turkic invader Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji; the burning of the library is said to have continued for several months.[9] [10] [11]
Histories
Philosophy/theology
- Early 12th century Rhinelandic Rhyming Bible
- Theologia 'Summi Boni by Peter Abelard
- by Peter Abelard
- –42 Historia Ecclesiastica by Orderic Vitalis
- Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity) by Aelred of Rievaulx
- 1150 Skara Missal
- Mid-12th century Unum ex quatuor by Clement of Llanthony (translation into Middle English: Oon of Foure)
- –64 Liber viarum Dei by Elisabeth of Schönau
- 1163? Makhzan al-Asrar (The Treasury of Mysteries) by Nizami Ganjavi
- 1164–67 De spirituali amicitiâ (Spiritual Friendship) and De anima (On the Soul) by Aelred of Rievaulx
- –1200
- Senchakushū (選択本願念仏集) by Hōnen (法然)
- 1196 Revelation of St Nicholas to a monk of Evesham[12]
Biography/Hagiography
Epic/Saga/Chanson de Geste
Romance
Fable/Allegory
Drama
Lyric
Linguistics
Topography
Treatises
Encyclopedias
Authors
- Born 1100/1110: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Welsh chronicler (died 1155)
- Died 1101: August 24 Su Shi (蘇軾), Chinese poet (born 1037)
- Died 1105: July 13 Rashi, French rabbinical scholar (born 1040)
- Killed 1106: Máel Muire mac Céilechair, Irish monk and scribe
- Born 1109: April 21 - Anselm of Canterbury, Aostan-born archbishop and philosopher (born c. 1033)
- Born 1110: Aelred of Rievaulx, writer and abbot (died 1167)
- Born c. 1110: Wace, Jèrriais poet (died after 1174)
- Born c. 1110: Lawrence of Durham, English poet, hagiographer and bishop (died 1154)
- Died 1118: Florence (Florentius) of Worcester, English chronicler and monk
- Born 1121/2: Khaqani, Persian poet (died 1190)
- Born 1125: October 17 - Lu You (陸游), Chinese poet (died 1209)
- Died : Eadmer, English ecclesiastic and historian (born c. 1060)
- Born : Akka Mahadevi, female Indian Kannada language Vachana sahitya didactic poet (died 1160)
- Died 1131: December 4 Omar Khayyám, Persian philosopher, scientist and presumed poet (born 1048)
- Born : Nizami Ganjavi, Seljuk Empire Persian romantic epic poet (died 1209)
- Born : Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), Cambro-Norman churchman and topographer (died c. 1223)
- Died : Henry of Huntingdon, English historian writing in Latin
- Died 1160: Ibn Quzman, al-Andalusian poet (born 1078)
- Born 1162: Fujiwara no Teika (Fujiwara no Sadaie, 藤原定家) Japanese waka poet, calligrapher and scholar (died 1241)
- Died 1167: January 12 - Aelred of Rievaulx, writer and abbot (born 1100)
- Fl. 1180s: Joseph of Exeter, English poet writing in Latin
- Fl. 1180s: H[enry] of Saltrey, English Cistercian monk writing in Latin
- Born : Gonzalo de Berceo, Castilian poet (died by 1264)
- Fl. late 12th century: Chrétien de Troyes, Old French poet
- 12th or 13th century: Berechiah ha-Nakdan, Jewish exegete, poet and philosopher
- 12th century: Jocelyn de Brakelond, English chronicler and monk
See also
Notes and References
- Book: Lu, You. Watson, Philip. Grand Canal, Great River: the travel diary of a twelfth-century Chinese poet. London. Frances Lincoln. 2007. 9780711227194.
- Book: Shirlee Emmons. Wilbur Watkins Lewis. Researching the Song:A Lexicon. 22 December 2005. Oxford University Press, USA. 978-0-19-803469-8. 443.
- Book: Randy Malamud. T.S. Eliot's Drama: A Research and Production Sourcebook. 1992. Greenwood Press. 978-0-313-27813-6. 67.
- Book: Leonard Cabell Pronko. The World of Jean Anouilh. University of California Press. 56.
- News: Look back in rancour. The Guardian. 22 May 2007. London. Michael. Billington. 11 November 1999.
- Book: Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. The Complete Narrative Prose of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. March 1976. Bucknell University Press. 978-0-8387-1036-4. 271.
- Book: Ken Follett. The Pillars of the Earth. 2014. Pan Books. 978-1-4472-6544-3. 1075.
- Web site: Fiction Book Review: Time and Chance. Publishers Weekly. 8 January 2021.
- Book: Allen, Charles . Charles Allen (writer) . 2002 . The Buddha and the Sahibs . London . John Murray.
- Scott . David . May 1995 . Buddhism and Islam: Past to Present Encounters and Interfaith Lessons . Numen . 42 . 2 . 141–155 . 10.1163/1568527952598657 . 3270172.
- Book: Sen, Gertrude Emerson . 1964 . The Story of Early Indian Civilization . Orient Longmans . 610346317.
- Abridged in Flores Historiarum. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature vol. II, chapter XIII, section 10.
