Medieval Balladry and the Courtly Tradition: Literature of Revolt and Assimulation

Often ignored or given only cursory review, the medieval ballads represent the literature of the commoner, the largest population segment of the time. Far from being merely inexpert ditties, the ballads express the bleak and pragmatic world view of the peasant and laborer, and later the social aspirations of the new yeoman class. In doing so, they mount an attack against aristocratic ideologies of chivalry, courtly love, and the tripartite society on the philosophical and metaphoric levels. Gwendolyn Morgan’s reading of the ballads of chivalry in this light leads to a new understanding of balladry’s place in the English literary tradition and shatters the image of monolithic Golden Age of Faith.