12th century literature

Romance

There is plenty of mixing between material perfomed by minstrels and the works written down. A number of stories may have been written down specifically for the use of minstrels to read, others (e.g. Yvain) seem to have been created specifically as a book intended to entertain the literate populace (Raffel 198?).

Popular works include: Tristan & Isolde

Bestiaries

The lavishly illustrated versions of some bestiaries produced show us that this was intended as a medium of entertainment for the rich literate nobility. Despite the moral lessons of the text, many noble ladies would enjoy reading about beasts of stange far away lands, real but so strange as to seem imposible and imaginary. (insert ref to ladies reading bestiaries)