CHAPTER XXII BOOKS AND SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES Section 92. How the Modern Languages originated We should leave the Middle Ages with a very imperfect notion of them if we did not now stop to consider what people were thinking about during that period, what they had to read, and what they believed about the world in which they lived. To begin with, the Middle Ages differed from our own time General use in the very general use then made of Latin, in both writing and }„ the speaking. The language of the Roman Empire continued to be ^'^^'^ ^s^^ used in the thirteenth century, and long after; all books that made any claim to learning were written in Latin ; ^ the pro- fessors in the universities lectured in Latin, friends wrote to one another in Latin, and state papers, treaties, and legal documents were drawn up in the same language. The ability of every edu- cated person to make use of Latin, as well as of his native tongue, was a great advantage at a time when there were many obstacles to intercourse among the various nations. It helps to explain, for example, the remarkable way in which the Pope kept in touch with all the clergymen of western Christendom, and the ease with which students, friars, and merchants could wander from one country to another. There is no more interesting or important revolution than that by which the languages of the people in the various European countries gradually pushed aside the ancient tongue and took its place, so that even scholars scarcely ever think now of writing books in Latin. 1 In Germany the books published annually in the German language did not exceed those in Latin until after 1690. 533
