England Composed: ca. 700-1000 CEEarliest extant manuscript: ca. 975-1025 CE Beowulf Set in sixth-century Scandinavia, Beowulf is a simple story about a hero who fights three monsters: as a young warrior he grapples with the cannibalistic Grendel and his...
Germany 10th century CE Walthariuslied It seems almost ironic to realize that the older some of the heroic epics from the pre-modern era are, the more appealing they seem to be. Beowulf, the “Hildebrandslied,” El Poema de Mío Cid, the Chanson de Roland, the...
Iran Composed: ca. 977-1010 CE Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Shahnameh The monumental poem of the Persian poet Ferdowsi, the Shahnameh or Book of Kings, which was completed by this poet in the year 1010 CE, is a massive retelling of the lives and times of 50 kings of...
Russia The tradition originates in the 10th or 11th century; the first extant transcriptions are from the 17th century. Anonymous, bylinas (traditional Russian epic songs) Among Eastern European Slavic folk genres, the bylina–an epic song about...
France Composed: ca. 1040-1115 CEEarliest extant manuscript: ca. 1129-1165 CE Anonymous The Song of Roland (La chanson de Roland) Halt sunt li pui e li val tenebrus… the high hills and foreboding valleys of the Pyrenees pass at Rencesvals reverberate with...
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