Thread by @ERC_TIDE

Up next in Session 2.2 is Michele Piscitelli @1Michele0 presenting on Italian language learning in early modern England! #OnBelonging

Two books are pillars for researchers of Italian language learning in EM England: William Thomas’s Principal Rules of Italian Grammar (1550) and Thomas Hoby’s translation of Castiglione’s il Cortegiano. #OnBelonging

Thanks to cultural capital acquired in Italy, both Thomas and Hoby became pioneers in the development of English language. #OnBelonging

However, MP notes that both were from Welsh backgrounds – problematic for a researcher to talk about these cultural boundaries, linguistic skills, and sense of national identity. #OnBelonging

Invites us to reflect on whether this renegade welsh background made them ideal go-betweens. #OnBelonging

In the Welsh context, scholars focus on individuals who worked with Italian to ‘reassess and reinforce the Welsh language using humanistic tools’. #OnBelonging

For Hoby and Thomas, however, their time in Italy inspired their development of an English in a protestant nationalist key. #OnBelonging

Thomas advocated for the adoption of English over Latin in religious matters by arguing that Italians took care of their language like Greek and Latin. He marvelled at Italian courtiers able to communicate in a vernacular despite dialects...

Thomas advocated for the adoption of English over Latin in religious matters by arguing that Italians took care of their language like Greek and Latin. He marvelled at Italian courtiers able to communicate in a vernacular despite dialects...

...At home, he intensified this by ignoring dialects in his grammar other than Florentine and Tuscan. #OnBelonging

Common language translated in British context to strong London centrism and connected colonialism, and Welsh people symbolised original otherness of England (old English means foreigners).

Accordingly, they abandoned Welsh identity promoting strong English nationalism in period of prejudice and discrimination.