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Latin Literatures of Medieval and Early Modern Times in Europe and Beyond: A millennium heritage
Edited by Francesco Stella
[Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXXIV] 2024
► pp. 644–664

Chapter 31
The art of letter-writing

A medieval Latin invention

| Univerità di Siena

This essay contains, in the first part, a chronological excursus (late 11th-late 13th century) dedicated to the ars dictandi, the medieval ars that teaches epistolography and the editing of prose texts; the most significant masters and the most important works are illustrated, from Alberico di Montecassino to Pier della Vigna and Tommaso di Capua. In the second part, on the basis of contemporary studies, a panorama of comparative research carried out or to be carried out on the materials of ars dictandi is traced; these researches demonstrate the richness of the epistolographic texts and the possibility of analysis from different perspectives, for example from the historical, sociological, juridical, documentary, rhetorical-literary, linguistic point of view and so on. The bibliography, necessarily selective, is however attentive to the new editiones principes and the most recent essays.

Keywords: medieval letters, letters collection, ars dictandi, rhetoric, literacy, women’s writing, medieval history, medieval power, love letters, consolation letters
Article outline
  • The artes dictandi: Structure and content
  • Letter collections
  • The golden age of the Latin ars dictandi (twelfth and thirteenth centuries). A selection of authors and texts
  • The dictamen amid critical debate: Suggestions for comparative research
  • The dictamen as a European discipline
  • Dictamen and rhetoric
  • Dictatores and power
  • Dictamen and the history of medieval teaching
  • Dictamen and the ars notaria
  • Dictamen and historiography
  • Love and death
  • Letters and women writers
  • Notes
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
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