Why was medieval literature anonymous?

Answer 1

It wasn't, but many works have lost any indication of authorship due to the fragmented quality of what has been left to us.

Medieval literature was copied by hand and many volumes were lost over the following centuries. Names of authors did not mean much to the medieval citizen, only if they were very famous, which would add to the credibility of what was contained in the text. Thus, unimportant names would sometimes be left out of a book during the process of copying, if they were present at all (books which contained collections of sermons or short stories from different authors would seldom credit the authors). If the original volume was subsequently lost, any written proof of authorship was lost with it. On the other hand lots of texts were attributed to authors who actually had nothing to do with their conception. This was done by authors who wanted their texts to be widely read but weren't famous enough to accomplish this by publishing it under their own name.

Some books were deliberately devoid of any names because these volumes contained controversial or anti-establishment utterances, and any author connected with these books would be arrested for heresy or disturbance of public order and often condemned to death.

Answer 2

Medieval literature was often anonymous because authors had a different approach to authorship, placing less emphasis on individual recognition and more on the collective tradition of storytelling. Additionally, many writers during this time were monks or scribes who wrote as part of their duties, rather than seeking personal acclaim. Furthermore, medieval manuscripts were frequently copied and shared among communities, leading to the loss of attribution over time.