The Impact of Latin Culture on Medieval and Early Modern Scottish Writing

In the late medieval and early modern period native tongues and traditions, including those of Scotland, cohabited and competed with latinitas in fascinating and inventive ways. Scottish latinity had its distinctive stamp, most intriguingly so in its effects upon the literary vernacular and on themes of national identity. This issue was complicated by the robust multilingualism – Scots, Gaelic and Latin – that characterized Scottish literatures. The Gaelic nobility supported a wealth of Gaelic poetry; the Court sponsored the development of a literary tradition in Middle Scots. As in the rest of Europe, Latin was the international language of intellectual life and cultural authority. The present book shows how, when viewed through the prism of its latinity, Scottish textuality was distinctive and fecund. The flowering of Scottish writing owed itself to a subtle combination of literary praxis, the ideal of eloquentia and ideological deftness. This combination enabled writers to service a burgeoning national literary tradition, and to transcend the subject matter of nation through fruitful and energetic treatment of issues of universal appeal.