Medieval Latin

Medieval Latin was the form of Latin that was used in the Middle Ages. It was used mostly by scholars and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but it was used also as a language of science, literature and administration.

Medieval Latin
Carmina Cantabrigiensia, Medieval Latin manuscript
Native to	Many small states
Region	Most of Europe
Era	Developed from Late Latin between 4th and 10th centuries; replaced by Renaissance Latin from the 14th century
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latin Medieval Latin
Early forms	Old Latin Classical Latin Late Latin
Writing system	Latin alphabet
Official status
Official language in	De facto in most Christian states during the Middle Ages
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Linguist List	lat-med
Glottolog	None
Europe, 1000 AD

Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors, Medieval Latin should not be confused with Ecclesiastical Latin. There is no consensus on exactly when Late Latin ends, and Medieval Latin begins. Some scholars have their surveys of it begin with the rise of early Christian Latin in the mid-4th century, but others have around the year 500.^[1]

Page with medieval Latin text from the Carmina Cantabrigiensia (Cambridge University Library, Gg. 5. 35), 11. cent.

Important Medieval Latin authors

4th-5th centuries

• Aetheria (fl. 385)
• St Jerome (c. 347-420)

6th-8th centuries

• Gildas (d. c. 570)
• Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530-c. 600)
• Gregory of Tours (c. 538-594)
• Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636)
• Bede (c. 672-735)

9th-10th centuries

• Ratherius (890-974)
• Thietmar of Merseburg (975-1018)