[5] The Icelandic Sagas, for example, were then brought into written form. They have a genius of their own; they are realistic and without a trace of symbolism. They are wonderful expressions of the people among whom they were composed. Post, Chapter VIII. But, products of a remote island, they were unaffected by the moulding forces of mediaeval development, nor did they exert any influence in turn. The native traits of the mediaeval peoples were the great complementary factor in mediaeval progress—complementary, that is to say, to Latin Christianity and antique culture. Mediaeval characteristics sprang from the interaction of these elements; they certainly did not spring from any such independent and severed growth of native Teuton quality as is evinced by the Sagas. One will look far, however, for another instance of such spiritual aloofness. For clear as are the different racial or national traits throughout the mediaeval period, they constantly appear in conjunction with other elements. They are discerned working beneath, possibly reacting against, and always affected by, the genius of the Middle Ages, to wit, the genius of the mutual interaction of the whole. Wolfram’s very German Parzival, the old French Chanson de Roland, and above them all the Divina Commedia, are mediaeval. In these compositions in the vernacular, racial traits manifest themselves distinctly, and yet are affected by the mediaeval spirit.
[6] See post, Chapter V.
[7] The Predestination and Eucharistic controversies are examples; post, Chapter X.
[8] See post, Chapter X.
[9] The lack of originality in the first half of the tenth century is illustrated by the Epitome of Gregory’s Moralia, made by such an energetic person as Odo of Cluny. It occupies four hundred columns in Migne’s Patrologia Latina, 133. See post, Chapter XII.
[10] See post, Chapter XIII.
[11] See post, Chapter XI.
[12] See post, Chapter XVI.
[13] These men will be fully considered later, Chapters XXXIV.-XL.
[14] See post, Chapter XXXI.