ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes that Florence, Rome, and Venice are the key areas, with the aim of providing a novel insight into the interplay and dynamic exchange of Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and some of the local vernacular languages. It also examines the flexibility of the linguistic practices deployed both by the social and intellectual elite, and by the men and women in the street. The book demonstrates that multilingualism in the early modern era was founded on discrete socio-cultural factors, such as competition, inclusion, gender, and education. It establishes explorations into scribal and print, oral, and written cultures in medieval and early modern Italy. The book focuses on the power relationship between Latin and vernacular in the written world of invectives, conduct literature, translation of scientific texts, contracts, registers, and treatises on architecture.
