The End of Europe's Middle Ages

Language and Literature

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Until the sixteenth century, Latin was the official language of law, government, business, education and religion in Western Europe. The Latin of written communication was generally considered learned, or high, Latin and composition of documents followed standard guidelines regardless of where the document was written. On the other hand, the common, or Vulgar, Latin was a living language, mingling with and borrowing from regional dialects to suit the needs of local populations. As Vulgar

Latin adapted more and more to the native language of a region, it became less recognizable to people outside that area. This process of individualization occurred relatively quickly for oral Latin and the many vernacular languages of Europe that we recognize today were already forming at the beginning of the Middle Ages. The official nature of writing and the predominance of an oral culture meant that written Latin accepted these regional variations at a much slower pace and excerpts from the Vulgate Bible and other patristic writings remained the standard grammatical texts until the Renaissance revived an insistence on classical Latin.

Learning Latin in the Middle Ages

During the fourteenth century in Italy, there appeared renewed interest in all things classical. This same interest, applied to classical Latin, spelled the end of Latin as a universal language. In the middle of the fifteenth century, attempting to provide a standardized guide to classical Latin, the great philologist Lorenzo Valla published Elegantiae Linguae Latinae. In his text, Valla codified the Latin language according to systems no longer in use, basing his rules on the works of ancient authors. Adherence to his principles forced Latin from a