On the Latino-Slavic Cultural Symbiosis in Late Medieval and Renaissance Dalmatia and Dubrovnik

Abstract

On the Latino-Slavic Cultural Symbiosis in Late Medieval and Renaissance Dalmatia and Dubrovnik. The eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea is an area where the symbiosis of two cultures, the Latin and the Slavic, achieved its fullest success, thanks to the geographic proximity of Dalmatia and Italy, to intense contacts between the two shores, and to the gradual slavicization of Dalmatian cities. These developments can best be followed by monitoring the usage of languages in these cities. From a survey of this usage, it becomes evident that in Dubrovnik, Zadar, Split, and elsewhere, Slavic had become the dominant language in the daily life of people, even though Latin remained the language of officialdom. However, Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian cities were exposed to strong influences of Italian humanism and the Italian Renaissance, imported into the region by numerous Italians and Dalmatians-especially students-who traveled between Dalmatia and Italy. Books brought to Dubrovnik, Zadar, and other cities by Ital...