Editing Latin literature (section)

=== Latin in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Early Modernity ===
Pagan Latin literature showed a final burst of vitality from the late 3rd century till the 5th centuries – [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] in history, [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus]] in oratory, and [[Ausonius]] and [[Rutilius Claudius Namatianus]] in poetry. The ''Mosella'' by Ausonius demonstrated a modernism of feeling that indicates the end of classical literature as such.

Writers who laid the foundations of [[Christian Latin literature]] during the 4th century and 5th century included the church fathers [[Augustine of Hippo]], [[Jerome]], and [[Ambrose]], and the first great Christian poet, [[Prudentius]]. Some Latin writing by Christian women also survives: the prison diary of the martyr [[Perpetua of Carthage]],<ref>{{cite book | first=Barbara K. | last=Gold | title=Perpetua: Athlete of God | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2018 | isbn=978-0195385458 }}</ref> and an account of a [[Christian pilgrimage]] by the pilgrim [[Egeria (pilgrim)|Egeria]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Egeria | author-link=Egeria (pilgrim) | title=The Pilgrimage of Egeria: A New Translation of the Itinerarium Egeriae with Introduction and Commentary | translator1=Anne McGowan | translator2=Paul F. Bradshaw | translator2-link=Paul F. Bradshaw | year=2018 | location=Collegeville, MN | publisher=Liturgical Press Academic | isbn=9780814684214 }}</ref>

During the [[Early Middle Ages]], there was a noted literary activity in the [[Carolingian Empire]], mostly in modern-day [[France]], characterized as the [[Carolingian Renaissance]], and some 80 Latin-language writers from this period have been covered in the ''Clavis Scriptorum Latinorum Medii Aevi'' published by [[Brepols]]. The [[High Middle Ages]] would be characterized by a renewal of Latin literature through the translation of the [[Toledo School of Translators|Toledo School]] of works from [[Al-Andalus|Islamic Spain]], both original and translations from previous Greek texts, and with [[Scholasticism]] Latin would find a new philosophical expression.

During the Renaissance there was a return to the Latin of classical times, called for this reason [[Neo-Latin]]. This purified language continued to be used as the ''lingua franca'' among the learned throughout Europe, with the great works of [[Descartes]], [[Francis Bacon]], and [[Baruch Spinoza]] all being composed in Latin. Among the last important books written primarily in Latin prose were the works of [[Emanuel Swedenborg|Swedenborg]] (d. 1772), [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] (d. 1778), [[Leonhard Euler|Euler]] (d. 1783), [[Carl Friedrich Gauss|Gauss]] (d. 1855), and [[Isaac Newton]] (d. 1727), and Latin remains a necessary skill for modern readers of great early modern works of linguistics, literature, and philosophy.

==== Great Britain and Ireland ====
The ''Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540'', published by [[Brepols]], contains the names of some 2,000 Latin-language writers originating from modern-day [[England]], [[Ireland]], [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]], covering a period from the 5th century to the 16th.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Presentation |url=https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503505756-1 |access-date=3 April 2025 |website=Brepols}}</ref>

Several of the leading pre-modern English poets wrote in Latin as well as English.  [[Milton's 1645 Poems]] are one example, but there were also [[Thomas Campion]], [[George Herbert]] and Milton's colleague [[Andrew Marvell]]. Some indeed wrote chiefly in Latin and were valued for the elegance and Classicism of their style. Examples of these were [[Anthony Alsop]] and [[Vincent Bourne]], who were noted for the ingenious way that they adapted their verse to describing details of life in the 18th century while never departing from the purity of Latin diction.<ref>D.K.Money, "The Latin Poetry of English Gentlemen", in ''Neo-Latin Poetry in the British Isles'', London 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=baNhaEOtbzYC&pg=PR5 pp. 125ff]</ref> One of the last to be noted for the quality of his Latin verse well into the 19th century was [[Walter Savage Landor]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Poems of W. S. Landor|url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/landor.html|access-date=2022-02-02|website=www.thelatinlibrary.com}}</ref>