Considerazioni sul Latino come lingua imperiale (secc. XII-XVI)

This paper investigates the characters of Latin, which, at least until part of the 16th century (and beyond), was a universal language, a language of formal communication par excellence, both in literature (humanistic
and scientific) and in politics. This reflection is based on the distinction between
Latin as the language of imperium (i.e., of command, of empire, of
sovereignty), and Latin as the imperial language (i.e., of emulation and assimilation
of the characters of empire). Sometimes, the two languages are indeed
indistinguishable, however, in principle, it could be argued that when the empire
loses its authority, Latin contextually attenuates (at least in the perception
of its official and administrative traits) the character of the language of the
empire to increase the character of the imperial language (i.e., universal, and
ecumenical), and vice versa. The phenomenon does not reveal a linear chronological
evolution. On the contrary, it will happen that in the 15th century, when
the Empire will almost completely lose its importance, the Latin recreated by
the Humanists (like Lorenzo Valla, il Panormita, Giovanni Juan de Lucena
etc.) will return to be simultaneously imperial language and language of the
empire, even if the empire they have in mind is not the medieval, but the
ancient Roman one.