The Switch from Latin to Vernacular

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Dear Student,
Hi and thank you for using Brainmass. The solution below should get you started. The period 1501-1800 is 3 centuries therefore political events that lead to social upheaval and change are many. But since this is about the vernacular, I focused on events that affected change in literary practices only. But, if you want to expand on the information below, you can visit the links below as well as the book I used which has a digital version in Google Books. If you have any questions, just let me know via the feedback section. Happy Easter!

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OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
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Change to Vernacular: From Latin to Common Tongue: 1501-1800

As early as the 10th century, vernacular literature had been available but they were always seen as vulgar and work that were forgettable, unimportant. Scholarly work, usually sponsored by the church and the nobility was written in Latin. In fact, when we say vernacular literature, we are actually referring to work written 'not in Latin' from a historical perspective. It was in 1426 when Gutenberg began working on a movable type printing press. This resulted to faster and cheaper printing and in 1455, the Gutenberg Bible allowed for copies of the bible that were cheaper and more affordable than ever before. This signified the arrival of mass printing making literary materials attractive and affordable to ordinary citizens. This was the early renaissance and demand for Greek and Roman classics was high among the learned and the newly rich traders made so via commerce and trade. Dante Aligierhi's essay ' On Eloquence in the vernacular' written in the early 14th century was an analysis of the vernacular 8although it was written in Latin), giving vernacular language a sense of importance in relation to communication of ideas and how it connects to people. By the time 1501 arrive, the Gutenberg printing press had been shipped to many European cities and Renaissance was in full swing. The Renaissance was a period in European history that came after the Middle Ages and it was characterized chiefly by a resurgence of interest in the Classics, particularly in the highlights and important contributions of the Greeks and the Romans in the Arts and in the Academe. It was particularly a cultural movement and the likes of Da Vinci and Donatello arose. The Medici family of Florence for example were patrons of the renaissance and used their wealth to encourage intellectual, social and artistic inspiration. Philosophically, Humanism was on the rise and political philosophers ...