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Vernacular Languages

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Impacts of the Vernacular Language In this paper we will be discussing a few different aspects to the rise of vernacular languages, its use, the spread of it and how it impacted the different cultures within the medieval age. From the rise of the Christian Churches to the time of courtly love, troubadours and the romantic love era vernacular languages impacted the people of France throughout Western Europe and the rest of the world. Though the people of the general population where not able to interpret and understand the Latin language known as the language of the elite (the educated or the people of higher and political authority) until mid to late middle ages, they began to write and speak through the common languages within their countries to make it easier to communicate and understand laws, romantic love and to also spread the words of god within the Christian churches.
The Catholic Church was established in 325 CE (Sayre,2013), approximately 300 years after the death of Jesus Christ. By 476 BE, the Germans had taken over the Roman Empire under the rule of Constantine as he started to build his empire known as the Byzantine Empire . Constantine, the first Christian ruler, a believer of Jesus Christ, moved the Roman Empire to Instanbul, formerly known as modern day, Turkey. Upon establishing his empire and the Christian church Constantine named that city after himself, Constantinople. After the Christian Church was established came the Medieval Ages which took place in Britain. The Medieval Age was also known as the dark or the middle ages. Not many things changed or were created during this time, as the people followed the words of their respected ruler(s) and what they said; for example, they left their fate up to faith, in which was determined by the ruler of their time. This was why the Middle Ages were also known as a dark time.
Within the Medieval Ages the Christian bible was later translated into vernacular languages, this was a great impact to the people of the general population as they began to learn about Christianity and spread the word of Jesus Christ (Language and literature,1998). Through the translations of the bible it also made the people realize that it wasn’t only a book but a religion that later became known across France and Western Europe. With interpretation of the bible came start of the printing press and publications of books, this allowed the mass production of literature during the Medieval Age.
Through the Second Crusade, time of Elenor of Aquitaine (ca. 1122 to 1204) the era of Troubadours and Trobairitiz’s bloomed (in Southern France), as it began the time of courtly love. Troubadours were known to be mostly men, but there were also a few women (a trobairitiz), as they wrote poems, sonnets and music to express their longing and endless love and affection for a loved one. During the time of the courtly love, it was common for married individuals to write poems and songs for other married lovers, for Knights to write them for their Queens and vice versa. This was the only way to express their love through the use of descriptive literacy, with hopes of winning ones heart. Many of the poems and music were written in their countries vernacular language and soon the spread of troubadours and trobairitiz’s through northern France (sometimes referred to as Trouvere poets).
The use of poetry and music later influenced Italy as vernacular languages started in France, and then began to spread throughout Western Europe by the early 14th century as more poems, short stories and music were written by the troubadours and trobairitiz. Dante Alighieri was an Italian vernacular writer who wrote the three books, Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio) and Paradise (Paradiso) known as La Divina Commedia (The Devin Comedy). This series of books concentrated on the aspect of how a Christian soul who travels through Hell and back to salvation. He also wrote De Monarchia (On World Government), which emphasized on the political and governmental issues in comparison between the need, and differences of an Emperor of Rome as opposed to the Pope. This book was indeed written in the Italian language and not in the Latin language so all people of Florence and Italy could understand it and read it. Although he influenced Italy religiously, romantically through poems towards Beatrice Portinari, his first love who was married and later died at age 24 (Sayre,2013), he also made an impact through his writings in the political sector of Italy as well. Most importantly Dante transformed the Italian language from just a language known for writing romantic love into an alleged literary language that spread throughout Italy.
As you can see the impact of the vernacular languages during the Middle Ages were great. The translations of the bible created the Christian religion throughout Western Europe, Germany, Britain and other surrounding countries. It created a vernacular effect, the creation of the localized languages expressed through the people of the general population; printing presses were developed to publish books like the bibles, books of poems, music and laws which allowed the countries and their city-states to develop a school system (Language and literature,1998). People became educated on life, religion, the government/laws, love and romanticism. Most importantly the general population evolved their lives with the evolution of the vernacular effect and created and language that everyone understood and could communicate through.

References
"Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)." The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide. Abington: Helicon, 2010. Credo Reference. 4 Jan. 2011. Web. 3 Apr. 2013. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com.proxy.cecybrary.com/entry/heliconhe/dante_alighieri_1265_1321
"Vernacular." The Encyclopaedia of the Renaissance. Aylesbury: Market House, 1987. Credo Reference. 1 Jan. 2000. Web. 3 Apr. 2013. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com.proxy.cecybrary.com/entry/mheren/vernacular
Sayre, Henry M. (2013). Discovering the Humanities, Edition 2, p. 119-202
“Language and literature” (1998). In University of Calgary Online website. Retrieved from http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/endmiddle/langlit.html#vernac

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