Reading Medieval Latin Textbook

An anthology of chronologically and thematically arranged medieval Latin texts aimed at students with one year or more of Latin.

Reading Medieval Latin is an introduction to medieval Latin in its cultural and historical context and is designed to serve the needs of students who have completed the learning of basic classical Latin morphology and syntax. (Users of Reading Latin will find that it follows on after the end of section 5 of that course.) It is an anthology, organised chronologically and thematically in four parts. Each part is divided into chapters with introductory material, texts, and commentaries which give help with syntax, sentence-structure, and background. There are brief sections on medieval orthography and grammar, together with a vocabulary which includes words (or meanings) not found in standard classical dictionaries. The texts chosen cover areas of interest to students of medieval history, philosophy, theology, and literature.

Introduction; Part I. The Foundations of Christian Latin: 1. Education; 2. Liturgy and divine office; 3. The Bible; 4. The Church fathers; 5. The new Christian genres; Part II. Early Medieval Latin: 6. Hiberno-Latin; 7. Anglo-Latin; 8. Continental Latin; 9. The Carolingian Renaissance; 10. The Ottonian Renaissance; Part III. From the End of the Ottonian Renaissance (1002) to the Concordat of Worms (1122): 11. The Norman conquests; 12. The 'Investiture Contest'; 13. The First Crusade; 14. Philosophy and theology; 15. Poetry; Part IV. The Twelfth-Century Renaissance: 16. The schools and the scholastic method; 17. The religious life; 18. Theology and philosophy; 19. Historical writing; 20. Court literature; Grammar; Orthography; Note on vocabulary; Vocabulary.

Reading Medieval Latin is an anthology of medieval Latin texts, arranged chronologically and thematically with introductions, commentaries, and a vocabulary of non-classical words and meanings. It is a language textbook, designed to introduce students with one year or more of Latin to the Latin writing and culture of the period AD 550-1200. It is the only systematic introduction for students to all types of medieval Latin writing.