The First Italian Language: Sicilian
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During the reign of Frederick II, known in Sicily as Frederick I (1194–1250, reigned 1198-1250), patron of the Sicilian School of poetry, arose the first of the Italic idioms to be used as a literary language: Sicilian. The influence of the school and the use of Sicilian as a poetic language was acknowledged by the great Tuscan writers of the early Renaissance: Dante and Petrarch. The influence of this language cannot be ignored in the eventual creation of the lingua franca which wad eventually to become the modern Italian language. The fact that Tuscan, rather than Sicilian, became the standard can be traced to The victory of the Angevin army over the Sicilians at Benevento in 1266, which not only marked the end of the 136 year Norman rule in Sicily, but also ensured that the centre of literary influence would move from Sicily to Tuscany. While Sicilian, as an official and literary language did not cease to exist, the language would soon follow the fortunes of the kingdom itself in terms of prestige and influence. By the time the Aragonese and Spanish crowns were united in the late XV century, the adoption of the Tuscan Dialect in the written records of parliament and court had began and by the 1540s the process was virtually complete, making Tuscan the new lingua franca of the Italian peninsula. | |
Frederick I, King
of Sicily |
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The main writers in this language at the courts of Frederick II and of his son were Enzo, king of Sardinia, Pier delle Vigne, Inghilfredi, Guido and Odo delle Colonne, Jacopo d'Aquino, Giacomino Pugliese, Giacomo da Lentini, Arrigo Testa and Frederick II himself. They produced more than three-hundred poems of courtly love between 1230 and 1266.
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