De vulgari eloquentia
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| De vulgari eloquentia | |
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| Name | De vulgari eloquentia |
| Author | Dante Alighieri |
| Language | Latin |
| Subject | Vernacular literature linguistics |
| Pub date | c.1302–1305 (unpublished manuscript) |
| Genre | Treatise |
De vulgari eloquentia
De vulgari eloquentia is a medieval Latin treatise by Dante Alighieri that advocates for vernacular writing and analyzes Romance varieties; the work engages with traditions from Boethius, Isidore of Seville, Augustine of Hippo, and Cicero while addressing literary practice in contexts such as Florence, Pisa, Siena, Venice, and Naples. Dante situates his argument amid contemporaneous figures and institutions like Petrarch, Giotto, Charles of Valois, House of Medici, and Holy Roman Empire, proposing norms that affect later authors including Boccaccio, Chaucer, Erasmus, Molière, and Miguel de Cervantes.
Background and Composition
Dante composed the treatise during his exile from Florence after conflicts involving Black Guelphs, White Guelphs, and political actors such as Corso Donati and Charles II of Naples, drawing on scholastic curricula found at University of Paris, University of Bologna, University of Oxford, and references to authorities like Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, Averroes, Avicenna, and Boethius. The work’s dating and redaction intersect with events including the arrival of Charles of Valois in Italy, the papal policies of Pope Boniface VIII, and the cultural milieu of late medieval Europe that featured patrons such as Cangrande della Scala and courts like Aragon and Anjou. Dante’s contacts with figures like Guido Cavalcanti, Forese Donati, Can Grande della Scala, and literary contemporaries such as Guittone d'Arezzo and Rustico di Filippo Malespini inform compositional aims and examples.
Structure and Contents
The treatise divides into two books: the first surveys classical rhetoric through authorities like Cicero, Quintilian, Hermogenes, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus while setting criteria for the vernacular against models from Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Plautus, and Terence; the second applies classification to Romance dialects such as those of Tuscany, Lombardy, Emilia, Romagna, Marche, and Provence with case studies referencing cities like Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Bologna, and Venice. Dante enumerates rhetorical figures, meters, and genres drawing on precedents from The Divine Comedy precursors and later influences on authors like Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio. The text balances prescriptive norms with descriptive taxonomy, invoking authorities including Isidore of Seville, St. Jerome, and commentators of Priscian.
Language and Linguistic Theories
Dante theorizes about vulgare varieties with a framework influenced by Latin philology, Priscianian grammar, and lexicography seen in works by Isidore of Seville and Eriugena, proposing criteria of purity and elegance applicable to varieties spoken in Florence, Siena, Pisa, Genoa, Milan, and Naples. He advances notions of phonology, morphology, and prosody that prefigure later linguists such as Hjalmar R. Frisk, Ferdinand de Saussure, and August Schleicher, and his comments resonate with early modern debates involving Antonio de Nebrija, Pierre de la Ramée, John Hart, and compilations like Ortografia italiana. Dante’s classification anticipates scholarly projects at institutions such as Accademia della Crusca and engages later descriptive work by Jacob Grimm and Franz Bopp.
Historical and Cultural Context
Composed amid political upheaval tied to Papal States, Kingdom of Naples, Kingdom of France, and civic factions in Northern Italy, the treatise reflects tensions of patronage, exile, and identity that connect to figures like Pope Boniface VIII, Philip IV of France, Charles of Valois, Cangrande della Scala, and social currents shaped by guilds and communes exemplified by Florentine Republic and Republic of Venice. Literary interactions with troubadour traditions from Occitania, vernacular lyric by Guido Cavalcanti, and scholastic disputation at University of Paris situate the work within cross‑Mediterranean dynamics involving Al-Andalus, Byzantium, and mercantile networks linking Genoa and Venice.
Influence and Reception
The treatise influenced vernacular standardization efforts that culminated in institutions and authors such as the Accademia della Crusca, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Cervantes, and translators working for courts like Medici court and Aragonese crown. Reception history intersects with humanists including Erasmus of Rotterdam, Ludovico Ariosto, Torquato Tasso, and Niccolò Machiavelli, and later philologists such as Giuseppe Mezzofanti and Diebold Schilling. Editions and commentaries circulated through centers like Florence, Rome, Venice, and Padua, shaping debates among critics in the periods of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and 19th‑century nationalism.
Manuscripts and Transmission
Surviving manuscripts traveled through scriptoria and libraries associated with Florence Cathedral, Laurentian Library, Vatican Library, Biblioteca Marciana, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, and private collections tied to families such as Medici and Este. Textual tradition involves copies influenced by scribes trained in models from Bologna and Padua and later printed editions emerging in Venice and Florence that invoked typographers like Aldus Manutius and printers of the incunabula era. Scholarly studies and critical editions by editors linked to universities including University of Florence, University of Oxford, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, and University of Bologna continue to reconstruct Dante’s redaction and the work’s transmission history.
Category:Medieval literature Category:Works by Dante Alighieri