lauragibbs wrote:For a really fun and entertaining way to start reading medieval Latin and to get acquainted with some of the characteristic features you will find in much medieval Latin narrative prose, the Gesta Romanorum is GREAT.
More FUN than GREAT, I'd opine.

I would rate the Gesta as the easiest-to-read medieval Latin prose text, and it is also something truly worthwhile because of the way it presents many of the well-known anecdotes and legends that circulated widely in Europe throughout the Middle Ages.
The only problem I have with the Gesta is that it's relatively uninteresting, e.g. compared to the letters of Heloise to Abelard. However, I readily agree that the grammar is simple enough for beginners in the idiom.
There is such a variety of medieval styles that I find all the anthologies, including Harrington, to be more confusing than helpful. They just don't give you enough to work with for any given author. Based on my own experience, I think it's more worthwhile to find an important, easy text to start with - the Gesta, some book of the Vulgate, a play by Hrosvitha like the Dulcitius, the Navigatio Brendani, the Exempla of Jacques de Vitry, the Carmina Burana, something that really grabs you for some reason - and then STICK to that for a good chunk of time, working on the same text until you start to really get used to it, and THEN move on to another text. Just my opinion.

Right, except that the CB is a large collection of poems with many styles and forms represented, some of which the reader is unlikely to know how to handle without some prior work in metrics. The Gesta is similarly a big book, though with more consistent style. Again I'd suggest keeping a copy of Harrington or another reader nearby. It's nice to break from the more focused study every now & then.
The Vulgate is such a fundamental work for the culture of the Middle Ages that it's simply an indispensable volume for the serious student of all European Medieval literature, regardless of language.
Btw, check out Joszef Herman's book Vulgar Latin, it's a short introduction to the study, very readable and informative.
Just my two soldi, of course.
Best,
dp
Similis sum folio de quo ludunt venti.