Romanian literature

Romanian literature (Literatura română) is the entirety of literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language or by any authors native to Romania. The development of Romanian literature has taken place in parallel with that of the rich Romanian folklore - lyric, epic, dramatic and didactic - which continues in modern times. Romanian oral literature includes doine (lyric songs), balade (ballads), hore (dance songs), colinde (carols), basme (fairy tales), snoave (anecdotes), vorbe (proverbs), and ghicitori (riddles). The Script of Old Church Slavonic began to be used in the territories of current day Romania as early as the 10th Century, with the oldest surviving manuscripts being dated as far back as the 12th Century. The earliest dated texts in Slavonic, originally from Wallachia and Moldavia, consist of a series of Religious Songs by Nicodim & Filotei and a Hagiographical text by Grigore Țamblâc, all being dated between 1385 and 1391. Also by the 15th century many copies of medieval Slavonic texts have been created by the scribes of the Danubian Principalities. In the meantime, numerous Slavonic and Greek translations of popular medieval romances were in circulation across the Danubian Principalities, like the Alexander Romance and Barlaam and Josaphat. Particularly of note is The Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to his son Theodosie: a series of teachings on morality and politics, written between 1519 and 1521, by the Wallachian Lord Neagoe Basarab, a work written in the spirit of the Renaissance and considered one of the oldest great works of Southeastern European literature. The earliest surviving document in Romanian is Neacșu's Letter written in 1521, to the jude ("judge and mayor") of Brașov, Hans Benkner. The earliest books in Romanian were translated from Slavonic religious texts in the 15th century. The "Psalter of Șchei" (Psaltirea Șcheiană) of 1482 and the "Voroneț Codex" (Codicele Voronețean) are religious texts that were written in Maramureș.