THEMES OF THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD:

The themes of medieval literature were the lives of the Saints, religious morals, values, and ethics as
applied to everyday life, ancient classical history, poetry, prayer and meditations, and the code of
chivalry and courtly manners.

MAIN THEMES OF THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD:

the most important medieval literature themes were courtly love, Christianity, and chivalry, which were
depicted several times in various Arthurian works. Medieval literature is best understood in the context
of three powerful influences on medieval society: feudalism, the church, and a code of conduct called
chivalry.

RELIGIOUS WORK:

Medieval literature was written with the purpose to teach Christian dogmas to the masses. The prose
and poetry of the time were meant to show men the ugliness of sin and the beauty of goodness. In the
early Middle Ages, copies of the entire Bible were rare. A church's most sacred manuscript was more
usually a Gospel Book, a copy of the Four Gospels written by the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John. One of the most famous of these is the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Church:

The most important philosophical influence of Medieval English was from the Church, which dominated
life and literature in the period. Christianity’s influence on values, beliefs, and practices of Western
culture was abundant and well ingrained into the flourishing society of today. Churches and monasteries
were the schools. Few men could read and write. The Church authorities were the most learned people.
They had access to all kinds of information.

VIRTUES AND VICES:

Due to the church's authority over the lives of people, Middle English literature is full of teachings and
warnings instead of entertainment. The Virtues and Vices were not just themes for knightly literature,
however. In the various mystery and morality plays that became increasingly common in the later
Middle Ages, the Virtues and Vices personified often played major roles. The Virtues and Vices thus
became concepts that most people in the Middle Ages would have known about and understood from a
very early age.

COURTLY LOVE:

In the classical and early Medieval period, sexual love was regarded merely as a carnal appetite to be
controlled by reason, but with the rise of the poetry of Courtly Love, it came to be seen as a highly
spiritual desire governed by the religion of the god Amor, parallel and a rival to the God of the Christian
religion. Courtly love was characterized by a series of stylized rituals between a knight and a married
lady of high rank. These idealized customs were based on the traditional codes of conduct associated
with knighthoods, such as duty, honor, courtesy, and bravery.

CHIVALRY:

Chivalry was first developed as a code of honor that emphasized bravery, loyalty, and generosity for
knights at war in the 11th and 12th centuries. In medieval literature, chivalric elements such as fine
clothes, shiny weaponry, and the noble steed that would carry the knight were used to lend a poetic
quality to a narrative.

Reference

https://www.bl.uk/medieval-literature/themes

http://csis.pace.edu/

https://files.eric.ed.gov

https://www.medievalists.net/