Discuss the use of Latin versus vernacular language in the transmission of knowledge during the Middle Ages. What differences did language make?
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER:
Initially the universal language of the Roman Empire, Latin was used in the church in the West for the transmission of ideas at a time when Christianity was spreading to people of diverse cultures and languages. In the medieval era, the church retained its records and literature in Latin, and as the church schools were the ones training young clergy and nobility, the continuation of Latin as the main language of instruction allowed a widespread sharing of knowledge and culture. Universities, derived from cathedral schools, also taught in Latin, regardless of whether they were located in Italian states, the Holy Roman Empire, or France. This allowed a degree of mobility among academics, who could travel to various locales to study what they found of interest, regardless of nationality or political orientation. However, with the growth of humanism and popular literature, the transmission of knowledge in regional languages also increased, such as Dante and Boccaccio writing in Italian or Chaucer writing in Middle English. Thus the Latin-educated elite were no longer the only ones with access to literature.
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