Edited by Francesco Stella
[Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXXIV] 2024
► pp. 149–166
The territory now known as Switzerland was a contact zone for a range of ethnicities, linguistic areas and literary influences. There was no such thing as a specifically Swiss literary landscape in the Latin Middle Ages. Nor did the first beginnings of the formation of a state come into view until the late Middle Ages. In the western areas, significant influence from Gaul/France can be detected. The south-east belongs to the Rhaeto-Romance cultural area. In the east, settled by the Alemanni, the environs of Lake Constance, with the abbeys of St. Gall and Reichenau, were highly productive. Basel was oriented towards the north and the Upper Rhine. Literature was first produced in monasteries and bishoprics, later increasingly in towns. The most popular genres were hagiography and regional historiography, followed by spiritual poetry, theological and profane literature, and didactic poetry.