Medieval Latin
⚡ ALL INFORMATION CLICK HERE 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻
Medieval Latin
Copyright © 2022 The President and Fellows of Harvard College | Accessibility | Digital Accessibility | Report Copyright Infringement
Prerequisites . Competence in both Greek and Latin sufficient to allow the student to take courses numbered above 100 upon entering Graduate School.
Academic Residence . Minimum of two years of full-time study (a combination of 16 courses, 301s or units of 303). Students are not normally permitted to take more than two courses numbered 301 before sitting for their General Examinations, and only after taking Greek 201 (for a 301 in Greek) and Latin 201 (for a 301 in Latin), or equivalent.
Program of Study . As well as acquiring close familiarity with Medieval Latin, candidates will be expected to continue their study of both Greek and classical Latin. Programs of study will be determined on an individual basis in consultation with a faculty director in Medieval Latin. The program will be such as to foster expertise in:
Modern Languages . The demonstration of a reading knowledge of French or Italian and of German, to be tested by the department (with the aid of dictionaries). This requirement must be fulfilled before the dissertation prospectus is approved. Tests are normally administered in October and April.
Pedagogy . Students take a practicum course (Classic 360) in the craft of teaching, normally in their third year. Strategies will be applicable to courses taught in translation as well as language courses.
General Examinations . All students will, normally by the end of the April of their second year, take General Examinations comprising:
These examinations may only be repeated once in the event of failure. If a student fails only one part of the examination, then he or she need only repeat that part.
Special Examinations . By the end of the third or, at the latest, the fourth year the candidate must take a two-hour oral examination devoted to
The choice of authors and subject should be submitted for approval at the time of the General Examinations or within a month following them. Preparation for this examination will be by independent study, with regular supervision by a faculty member for each part of the examination (Classic 302). These examinations may be repeated only once in the event of failure.
Dissertation Regulations . See the Dissertation Regulations page.
Harvard University Department of the Classics 204 Boylston Hall Harvard Yard Cambridge MA 02138 (617) 495-4027 classics@fas.harvard.edu
Update
The interactive parts of this resource have been removed.
Show search options Show search options Enter search keyword or keywords Search our website
Introduction to reading medieval Latin documents
The National Archives
Kew, Richmond
TW9 4DU
Find out more
Contact us
Press room
Jobs and careers
Friends of The National
Archives
Websites
Blog
Podcasts and videos
Shop
Image library
UK Government Web Archive
Legislation.gov.uk Opens a new window
Find case law
The Gazette Opens a new window
Site help
Help
Website A-Z index
Accessibility
Legal
Terms of use
Privacy policy
Cookies
Freedom of Information
Transparency
Our fees
We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work.
We'd like to use additional cookies to remember your settings and understand how you use our services.
This information will help us make improvements to the website.
Latin was the official language of many documents written in England before 1733. This step-by-step beginners’ guide to medieval Latin, created by our experts, will help you gain the necessary skills to read documents from this period.
Stage 1 introduces you to the basics of reading Latin. We recommend that you complete Stage 1 before beginning Stage 2.
Stage 2 builds on the knowledge gained during Stage 1, and gives you more essential skills for reading medieval documents.
You may find these resources useful in learning to read medieval Latin documents.
We are testing a new cookies banner on our Latin tutorials pages. Here you can see how and why we use cookies, and how to choose to accept or reject them.
Subscribe now for regular news, updates and priority booking for events. Sign up
All content is available under the Open
Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated
Browse
Search
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Geography & Travel
Health & Medicine
Lifestyles & Social Issues
Literature
Philosophy & Religion
Politics, Law & Government
Science
Sports & Recreation
Technology
Visual Arts
World History
On This Day in History
Quizzes
Podcasts
Dictionary
Biographies
Summaries
Top Questions
Week In Review
Infographics
Demystified
Lists
#WTFact
Companions
Image Galleries
Spotlight
The Forum
One Good Fact
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Geography & Travel
Health & Medicine
Lifestyles & Social Issues
Literature
Philosophy & Religion
Politics, Law & Government
Science
Sports & Recreation
Technology
Visual Arts
World History
Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.
Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.
Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.
#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.
This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.
Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.
COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.
100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning. Go ahead. Ask. We won’t mind.
Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century. Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them!
SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!
From about 500 to 1500 Latin was the principal language of the church, as well as of administration, theology, philosophy, science , history, biography , and belles lettres , and medieval Latin literature is therefore remarkably rich. Two themes dominate the linguistic and literary development of medieval Latin: its close and creative adaptation of the classical heritage from which it emerged and its changing relationship with the medieval vernacular languages. Within these two broad themes a number of subsidiary yet significant strains can be distinguished: the emergence of national characteristics in the Latin literature produced in different parts of Europe; the refinement of the polarity between popular and learned Latin by the clergy’s use of a colloquialism intelligible to its audience as a lingua franca; and the effect of certain periods of special vigour and artistic self-awareness, such as the Carolingian revival of the 8th and 9th centuries and the new impulse given to learned and vernacular literature in the 12th.
The early history of medieval Latin literature is in part the story of the reception of the classical past by the Christians, to whom it represented secular culture . Old forms and genres were continuously renewed over the millennium following the entrance of Christians to the circle of literary production, dated for convenience to the conversion of Constantine to Christianity (about ad 313). For example, the Latin epic persisted in recognizable form throughout the period, and its authors remained in continuous contact with the great classical exponents Lucan , Statius , and, above all, Virgil . From the 4th century, the degree of scholarly interpretation applied to these epic poets, especially Virgil, was intensified. Virgilian technique was imitated by many poets, among them the 4th-century Spaniard Juvencus, who versified a portion of the Bible, and the author of the epic poem Waltharius (probably 9th century), written in hexameters.
Even before the conversion of Constantine, Christians were developing new forms of literature, which persisted throughout the ensuing centuries. The production of hagiographical texts (lives of the saints) was widespread in the Middle Ages. The first Acts of the Martyrs in Latin were written during the 3rd century, and the flowering of the form after the end of the period of persecution of Christians shows the powerful appeal that it exercised at all levels of society. The Passio Sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis ( The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity ), written in a style that owes little to classical precedent, is a distinctive early example of the genre .
The 3rd and 4th centuries were above all an age of translation. Among the Greek patristic writings diffused to a wider audience in the West in Latin versions, the lives of the Desert Fathers occupied an important place. The Latin translation by Evagrius , bishop of Antioch, of Athanasius’ Life of Saint Antony enjoyed the widest transmission, and its influence is as marked by contrast in the early Latin Lives of the Saints as it is by imitation. Sulpicius Severus’ biography of St. Martin, an original Latin work, greatly influenced hagiography over many centuries. (A further, equally influential example of the genre was the Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great, written in about 593.)
The most important work of translation appeared at the end of the 4th century: the Vulgate , completed by the monastic leader Jerome , replaced sporadic earlier attempts to render the Bible into Latin. The idiom and style of the Bible’s original languages were apparent through the veil of Jerome’s Latin, however, and provided a counterweight to the classical styles that continued to be taught and practiced through the schools in the West. Exegesis of the text occupied many of the greatest minds of the Middle Ages for the largest part of their careers, and the literary work of many major authors, from Augustine and Gregory to Bede, reflects their individual understanding of Scripture.
The early Christian liturgy also gave birth to new forms of literature. From the ancient practice of psalmody in the churches derives the hymn . Ambrose , bishop of Milan in the second half of the 4th century, wrote the earliest prosaic hymns, which incorporated nonliturgical texts into the mass to be sung by the congregation. These were rapidly imitated, notably by the Spanish poet Prudentius at the end of the century, and remained in continuous use in churches and monasteries for more than a millennium.
A major problem of Christian thinkers in these centuries was the integration of the history of the pagan empire with the history of salvation. Synthesis and epitome of biblical and classical history appeared in the Historiarum adversus paganos libri VII ( 7 Books of Histories Against the Pagans ) of Orosius and the briefer Chronica ( c. 402–404) of Sulpicius Severus. On a larger scale, Augustine’s De civitate Dei ( The City of God ) offered a comprehensive view of past history, the present, and the world to come in the light of scriptural revelation. His spiritual autobiography, the Confessiones ( Confessions ), was an exploration of the philosophical and emotional development of an individual soul. The distinctive originality of this work owed little to classical autobiography and was unmatched by later imitations.
The Gallic schools of the 5th century gave rise to a literary culture unique in this period. Versification of the Bible developed a new degree of exegetical and stylistic refinement, while the letters of Paulinus of Nola and Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop of Auvergne, display a picture of cultivated aristocratic and ecclesiastical society. Both men were also admired as poets, Sidonius in particular as an encomiast. On the secular side, at the beginning of the century in Rome the Egyptian poet Claudian produced the most elaborate examples of imperial verse panegyric to a succession of dignitaries. His Raptus Proserpinae ( c. 400; The Rape of Proserpine ) is one of the last examples of an extended narrative in verse that dwells wholly in the world of pagan mythology.
Gaul’s literary history is interrupted by the Frankish invasions, though there are signs that abbots and bishops began to perceive the benefit of using literature to promote the cults of local saints. Two figures of note are Gregory of Tours and Venantius Fortunatus , bishop of Poitiers. In addition to a vast corpus of hagiography, Gregory produced the monumental Historia Francorum (605–664; History of the Franks ), the most extensive history of a barbarian people that had yet been written. He set the arrival of the Franks in Gaul, and their recent past, in the perspective of universal history.
An element of local patriotism is also discernible in his writings. Gregory was one of the many patrons who inspired the poet Fortunatus, whose astute and pliable talent achieved distinction in both secular panegyric and hymnody. His hagiography, in verse and in prose, also is prominent. His style exercised a powerful appeal upon the poets of the Carolingian renaissance.
Three figures of encyclopaedic learning dominate the literature of the 6th and 7th centuries. In the course of his long retirement from a career in public service under the Ostrogothic kings in Italy, Cassiodorus combined zealous preservation of the literature of the classical past with an enormously influential educational plan. His late 6th-century compendium of sacred and secular learning, Institutiones divinarum et humanarum lectionum ( An Introduction to Divine and Human Readings ), was among the shaping influences upon monastic culture. The Roman Boethius, a Neoplatonist philosopher, wrote on arithmetic and music, but his most popular and influential work was De consolatione philosophiae (1882–91; The Consolation of Philosophy ), written in about 524, when Boethius was imprisoned under sentence of execution. The Spaniard Isidore produced a series of encyclopaedic compilations that were used as repositories of diverse learning by later centuries. It was midway through the 6th century that the last major Latin work was produced in the Eastern Empire: the epic Iohannis of the African poet Corippus.
The conversion of the Saxons began to bear literary fruit during the 7th and early 8th centuries. In an elaborate and allusive style, Aldhelm , bishop of Sherborne, wrote, first in prose and later in verse, a treatise on sainthood called De Virginitate . In the kingdom of Northumbria, particularly open to influence of Irish monastic learning, St. Bede the Venerable devoted his life to scholarship. The culmination of his work is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ( The Venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England ), completed in 731. Synthesized from a variety of sources, literary and nonliterary, the work charts the involvement of God with the English people and the relation of the English church to the Christian world centred on Rome.
Ftv Girls Video 1080
Naked Guys Sex
Horny Bell