Anglo-Latin literature
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Anglo-Latin literature is literature from Britain originally written in Latin. It includes literature written in Latin from parts of Britain which were not in England or English-speaking: " Anglo-" is used here as a prefix meaning British rather than English.


Authors and style

Chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
rs such as
Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
(672/3–735), with his ''
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...
'', and Gildas (c. 500–570), with his ''
De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'' ( la, On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain, sometimes just ''On the Ruin of Britain'') is a work written in Latin by the 6th-century AD British cleric St Gildas. It is a sermon in three parts condemning ...
'', were figures in the development of indigenous Latin literature, mostly ecclesiastical, in the centuries following the withdrawal of the Roman Empire around the year 410.
Adomnán Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (, la, Adamnanus, Adomnanus; 624 – 704), also known as Eunan ( ; from ), was an abbot of Iona Abbey ( 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and saint. He was the author of the ''Life of Co ...
's (627/8–704) most important work is the '' Vita Columbae'', a hagiography of
Columba Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is toda ...
, and the most important surviving work written in early medieval Scotland. It is a vital source for knowledge of the Picts, as well as an insight into the life of Iona Abbey and the early medieval Gaelic monks. The life of Columba contains a story that has been interpreted as the first reference to the Loch Ness Monster. Written just after or possibly contemporarily with Adomnán's ''Vita Columbae'', the ''
Vita Sancti Cuthberti The ''Vita Sancti Cuthberti'' (English: "Life of Saint Cuthbert") is a prose hagiography from early medieval Northumbria. It is probably the earliest extant saint's life from Anglo-Saxon England, and is an account of the life and miracles of Cut ...
'' (c. 699–705) is the first piece of Northumbrian Latin writing and the earliest piece of English Latin hagiography. The '' Historia Brittonum'' composed in the 9th century is traditionally ascribed to
Nennius Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...
. It is the earliest source which presents
King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
as a historical figure, and is the source of several stories which were repeated and amplified by later authors. In the 10th century the
hermeneutic style The hermeneutic style is a style of Latin in the later Roman and early Medieval periods characterised by the extensive use of unusual and arcane words, especially derived from Greek. The style is first found in the work of Apuleius in the secon ...
became dominant, but post-
conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
writers such as William of Malmesbury condemned it as barbarous.


See also


Early medieval

*
Aldhelm Aldhelm ( ang, Ealdhelm, la, Aldhelmus Malmesberiensis) (c. 63925 May 709), Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the so ...
(c. 639 – 709) *
Stephen of Ripon Stephen of Ripon was the author of the eighth-century hagiographic text ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' ("Life of Saint Wilfrid"). Other names once traditionally attributed to him are Eddius Stephanus or Æddi Stephanus, but these names are no longer p ...
*''
Vita sancti Wilfrithi The ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' or ''Life of St Wilfrid'' (spelled "Wilfrid" in the modern era) is an early 8th-century hagiographic text recounting the life of the Northumbrian bishop, Wilfrid. Although a hagiography, it has few miracles, while i ...
'' * Alcuin * Asser


High medieval

*
Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis ( la, Ordericus Vitalis; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. Modern historia ...
(1075 – c. 1142) * William of Malmesbury (c. 1080/1095 – c. 1143) * Geoffrey of Monmouth (1100 – c. 1155), ''
Historia Regum Britanniæ ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
'' *
John of Salisbury John of Salisbury (late 1110s – 25 October 1180), who described himself as Johannes Parvus ("John the Little"), was an English author, philosopher, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres. Early life and education Born at Salisbury, En ...
(c. 1120 – c. 1180) * Gervase of Tilbury (c. 1150 – c. 1228) * Gerald of Wales (1146–1243) * Michael Scot (1175 – c. 1232) * Alexander of Hales (c. 1185 – 1245) *
Roger Bacon Roger Bacon (; la, Rogerus or ', also '' Rogerus''; ), also known by the scholastic accolade ''Doctor Mirabilis'', was a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empiri ...
(c. 1214 – 1294) * Duns Scotus (c. 1266 – 8 November 1308) * William of Ockham (c. 1288 – c. 1348) *
Richard Rolle Richard Rolle ( – 30 September 1349) was an English hermit, mystic, and religious writer. He is also known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, since at the end of his life he lived near a Cistercian nunnery in Hampole, now in Sou ...
(c. 1305 – 1349)


Late medieval and renaissance

* Johannes Gower (John Gower, c. 1330 – October 1408), '' Vox Clamantis'' *
Thomas Morus Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord H ...
(Thomas More, 7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), '' Utopia'' * George Buchanan (February 1506 – 28 September 1582)


Modern literature

* Francis Bacon (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), '' Novum Organum'' * John Barclay (28 January 1582 – 15 August 1621), '' Argenis'' * Thomas Hobbesius (Thomas Hobbes, 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) * Arthur Johnston (c. 1579–1641) * John Johnston (1570?–1611) *
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
(9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674), ''
Defensio pro Populo Anglicano ''Defensio pro Populo Anglicano'' is a Latin polemic by John Milton, published in 1651. The full title in English is ''John Milton an Englishman His Defence of the People of England.'' It was a piece of propaganda, and made political argument i ...
'', '' De Doctrina Christiana'' * Isaac Newton 4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727, ''
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (English: ''Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy'') often referred to as simply the (), is a book by Isaac Newton that expounds Newton's laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation. The ''Principia'' is written in Latin and ...
'' * Vincent Bourne (1695 – 1747)


See also

*
British literature British literature is literature from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. This article covers British literature in the English language. Anglo-Saxon (Old English) literature is inc ...
*'' Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources'' *
Hermeneutic style The hermeneutic style is a style of Latin in the later Roman and early Medieval periods characterised by the extensive use of unusual and arcane words, especially derived from Greek. The style is first found in the work of Apuleius in the secon ...
*
Hiberno-Latin Hiberno-Latin, also called Hisperic Latin, was a learned style of literary Latin first used and subsequently spread by Irish monks during the period from the sixth century to the tenth century. Vocabulary and influence Hiberno-Latin was notab ...
* Latin literature *
Literature in the other languages of Britain In addition to English, literature has been written in a wide variety of other languages in Britain, that is the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey are not part of ...
* Traditional English pronunciation of Latin


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * Reprinted with
supplement
in 2001. * *{{Cite journal , doi = 10.1484/J.Peri.3.482 , volume = 16 , pages = 131–143 , last = White , first = Carolinne , title = Medieval senses of classical words , journal = Peritia , date = 2002 Latin-language literature Latin Scottish literature Welsh literature Literature of England