Political Philosophy and Vernaculars in late Middle Ages (13th-14th c.)

Final Report Summary - PPVMA2 (Political philosophy and vernaculars in late Middle Ages (13th - 14th c.))

The general aim of the project was to investigate the changes in the political philosophy of the 13th and 14th century European Western culture with particular focus on the role of the vernacular languages in a wide range of (philosophical and not strictly philosophical) texts. The consideration of the importance of vernacular, in particular French and Italian, leaded to a reassessement of the Latin philosophical political production.

Particular objectives of the research were:

(1) the study of the political philosophical debates between 13th and 14th century (France and Italy) through specific topics and case studies;
(2) the individuation of a 'political lexicon' in vernacular in particular in Brunetto Latini's (1220-1295) works in French (langue d'oil) and Italian (Tuscan);
(3) the lexical analysis of the anonymous Florentine translation of Giles of Rome's De regimine principum (1280), which follows the French version by Henri de Gauchi. The idea was that it is possible to understand the shift of political concepts in follwing some particular translations.

(1) The first aim has been achieved in following several topics and cases, but in particular I mention here the case of Marsilius of Padua. Marsilius writes in Latin and in a Scholastic form, but he is educated in the city of Padua, where new forms of culture, language, poetry arose. The researcher studied Marsilius also in order to understand the relationships between medieval political philosophy and a new cultural context. The result is an entire book, Marsilio da Padova, Carocci, 'I pensatori', Roma 2013.

(2) Brunetto Latini is considered by the researcher as a political thinker. He discussed this position in several sessions of his seminars of research (two seminar of research at EHESS, one seminar of research at EPHE of Paris), with some of the most important specialists. The concrete results are relevant: Briguglia wrote some articles on this topic, taught to doctor of philosophy (PhD) students, and he is now codirector at Ecole Française de Rome (EFR) of an important international project (three international research conferences between 2013 - 2015: 'The man as political and speaking animal'), that is based also on this new way to understand the relationships between political and literary text, including Brunetto and his lexicon.

(3)This topic leads to an important article 'Lo 'comuno di Roma' di Cicerone e i 'gentili uomini' di Egidio Romano. Nota su pensiero politico e lingue volgari', in 'Il pensiero politico', 3 (2011), Olschki, Firenze. The essay shows that the notion of nobility is re-thought in the translation and translated as 'gentilezza' (but not always), that is the key-notion of the new Italian poetry. This example leads to an important consequence: the passage and circulation of philosophical notions in literary contexts (and the rich relationships between genres and languages).

The impact of the research is relevant, because it oblige to a reconsideration of the relationships between literary, historical, philosophical genres and texts and it opens new fields of investigation. Methodologically, this research shows the importance of an interdisciplinary approach.

Final Report Summary - PPVMA2 (Political philosophy and vernaculars in late Middle Ages (13th - 14th c.))

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