Many fictional books written in modern times have settings in the Middle Ages, such as stories about Robin Hood and His Merry Men, and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. King Arthur and Robin Hood are both legends. They may or may not have been real people. They may be a mix of different legends put together in an interesting way. But the legends are delightful and share with us a great deal about life in the Middle Ages. Some stories were actually written during medieval times. Most were told orally for a very long time before they were written down. They too tell us a great deal about life in the Dark and Middle Ages.  Beowulf: The story of Beowulf was told orally for a couple of hundreds years before an unknown poet wrote it down in the 700's CE. It is a story full of action that tells how Beowulf cleverly defeats a horrible monster.  The Song of Roland: The poem, The Song of Roland, was written around 1100 CE. It is a story in poem form about  Charlemagne and two of his advisors, one of which is a brave and fearless warrior named Roland. Charlemagne was an incredibly popular subject for poems and ballads. He was such a colorful character. Many were also written about Charlemagne's 12 paladins - his 12 advisors - his council of warriors. Over time, the word paladin began to mean any hero in medieval Europe.  The Song of Roland was especially popular because the bad guys in the poem were Muslims. As the poem goes, in spite of the magical horn Roland used to call his men to battle, the huge Moslem army surrounded Roland and his small band of men, and all were lost. When Charlemagne heard about it, he called upon God to help him, and destroyed the Muslim army in revenge.  This very famous 4,000 line poem was written right before the crusades. Since the crusaders were leaving to fight the Muslims, for the church and God, this poem really hit home. The popularity of The Song of Roland gave birth to a great many fanciful stories about the paladins in Charlemagne's time, as well as the paladins of this time, the time of great Crusaders.   Divine Comedy & The Canterbury Tales: In the 1300's, Dante wrote the Divine Comedy, and Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales.    King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table  Robin Hood  Beowulf the poem Beowulf   To return to the index,  click on the castle