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Geoffrey Chaucer, Joachim du Bellay, Masterpiece, Pietro Bembo, portraits, Shakespeare, Titian, Vernacular

Portrait of Pietro Bembo by Titian, 1540 (WikiArt.org.)

A few posts ago, I listed two old posts as related articles. One was about the Petrarchan Movement, the other, about Joachim du Bellay.

In 1525, Cardinal Pietro Bembo (20 May 1470 – either 11 January or 18 January 1547) wrote Prose della volgar lingua, a text in which he encouraged authors to write in Italian, the vernacular, rather than Latin. The vernacular was Italian as spoken in Florence and Tuscany. For Pietro Bembo, however, it was the Italian used by Francesco Petrarch (20 May 1470 – either 11 January or 18 January 1547), hence the Petrarchan Movement. I also mentioned authors Dante Alighieri (1625 – 1321) and Giovanni Boccaccio (c. 1313- 21 December 1375).

The Madrigal

As for musicians, they too were to set to music texts written in Italian, rather than Latin. In the area of music, Francesco Landini (c. 1325 or 1335 – 2 September 1397) was the first writer of madrigals, a word meaning in one’s mother tongue: madre in Spanish.

France: Du Bellay

A few years later, in 1549, French poet Joachim du Bellay (c. 1522 – 1 January 1560) published his Défense et illustration de la langue française. It became acceptable to write poetry in one’s native language. Du Bellay was a poet, not a composer.

England: Chaucer

As for England, Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400), who took the Roman de la Rose to England, he had also advocated the use of English, rather than Latin or French, as a literary language. He translated part of the Roman de la Rose. You may recall that until the end of the Hundred Years’ War, French was spoken at the court of England and Edward VII felt he was a legitimate heir to the throne of France. He wasn’t by virtue of the Salic Law. A woman could not ascend the throne of France. Edward VII’s mother was French. Hence the fratricidal nature of the Hundred Years’ War, a war of succession.

Shakespeare, the Chandos Portrait, sometimes attributed to Titian (Photo credit: Art History Today)

Titian (Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio)

Portrayed about is William Shakespeare (c 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) the Chandos Portrait, is sometimes attributed to Titian. (See Art History Today.)

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