Did the people in Medieval Times have diaries?

Answer 1

1st Answer:

No. The people in the Medieval times never would have heard such a word. In a movie about medieval times, if there is someone with a diary, THAT would be an anachronism. an anachronism is when an object is put in the wrong time order, e.g, King Henry the eighth is in his garden reading on his IPAD.

the reason why this is an example of an anachronism is because when King Henry the eighth was alive, there weren't such a thing.

2nd Answer:

Yes, some medieval people kept diaries.

Diaries were first produced in ancient times, but were not in the same form as they currently are, because they were not bound, and when they were compiled and published, they were usually reordered and edited so anything regarded as unimportant was removed. We have a diary of ibn Banna, who lived in the 11th century, that was ordered by date, and very much like a modern diary in form. We have other diaries from medieval Europe, but they were compiled by people other than the author, usually according to subject matter, and for that reason not considered to have the modern form.

Better preserved manuscripts from the Late Middle Ages include diaries of quite modern form. The anonymous Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris covers the years 1405 to 1449 is quite modern in form. Other diaries date from the same time or a little earlier. These are usually ascribed to the Renaissance rather than the Middle Ages, even though they are from the time that the Renaissance and the Middle Ages overlapped. Nevertheless, for the purpose of this question, they are medieval.

By the way, Henry VIII was not medieval, but of a later time.

There is a link below to the history section of an article on diaries.