Transylvanian Saxon literature

[1] These literary works include both those written in prose and in the lyric genre, from folk tales to poems and prayers.

Initially however, during the Middle Ages, many documents by Transylvanian Saxon authors were written in Latin given the fact that Latin was the language of the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Transylvania was 'the main actor of literate communication' back then.

[5] At the same time and, later on during the modern period, more official documents in standard German (i.e. Hochdeutsch) were more prevalent than the ones written in the Transylvanian Saxon dialect.

Subsequently, traditional ballads (e.g. De Råch/The Rache/The Revenge) and ecclesiastical texts such as Our Father (i.e. 'Foater auser' in Transylvanian Saxon) had been compiled and published.

They were followed by compilations of folk tales by Josef Haltrich (in the style of those written by Brothers Grimm) and other literary works such as those by Dutz Schuster.