An Exemplum (latin for "example", pl. exempla, exempli gratia = "for example", abbr.: e.g.) is a moral anecdote, brief or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point.

Collections of Exempla helped medieval preachers to adorn their sermons, to emphasize moral conclusions or illustrate a point of doctrine. The subject matter could be taken from fables, folktales, legends or real history. Jacques de Vitry's book of exempla, c. 1200, was one of the most famous collections. Geoffrey Chaucer's The Miller's Prologue and Tale became a vivid satire on these collections and the abuse they found wherever they were just brought into monotonous litanies.

Exemplary literature

This was a genre sprung from the above, in classical, medieval and Renaissance literature, consisting of lives of famous figures, and using these (by emphasising good or bad character traits) to make a moral point. Examples include

• Suetonius's De vita Caesarum or Lives of the Twelve Caesars
• Plutarch's Parallel Lives
• Jerome's De viris illustribus
• Petrarch's De viris illustribus
• Chaucer's The Monk's Prologue and Tale and Famous Women
• Boccacio's On Famous Women and Concerning the Falls of Illustrious Men
• Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies.

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