Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/885

* I/ATINI. 801 XiATIN LANGUAGE. Latinus) settled in independent towns. At a later time we find Alba Longa as the head of a loose confederacy of thirty Latin towns, with their common sanctuary of Jupiter Latiaris on the Alban Mount. Rome was looked upon as a colony of Alba Longa. but earlv became the ruler of all Latium. In the Latin War (B.C. .340-338 ( the Latins were allied with the Canipanians against the Konians, but on the defeat of the former the Latin confederacy was dissulved, and the nation was gradually absorbed in the Koman stock. The ins Liitinuin, an inferior form of Roman citizenship, lasted until the Knipire. LATINI, la-te'ne, Brun-etto(c.1210c.9.5) . An Italian writer, born at Florence. He belonged to the party of the Guelphs, and was sent on an embassy'to Alfonso X. of Castile in 1260. The Guelphs were defeated at Montaperti during his absence, and he had therefore to keep out of Tuscany. He may have spent the next six or seven years in France, but at any rate he was back in Tuscany again by 12fi0, holding office under Charles of Anjou. Occupying in turn various offices, he attained in 1287 to the high rank of priore. A rather common misinterpre- tation of a remark of Dante's (Inferno, xv. 82- 87) has caused him to be regarded as the tutor of the great poet. There is good groimd for be- lieving that Brunette had cast Dante's horn- scope; but in the main Dante simply means that he had profited by the general inthience which Bnnictto Latini exercised upon the men of his time. Before his sojourn in France he had already written something; during that period he com- posed the poem in Italian heptasyllables which he entitled the Tesoro, but which is now gen- erally known by the name of Teaorrtlo, to dis- tinguish it from the Italian translation of his Tresor. The Tesoretio is the earliest Italian example of the allegorical and didactic poem so important in old French literature and there best represented by the Ifoman ile hi rofic. It is incomplete, and may have been intended as an introduction to the encyclopa'dic Liircs dou tresor. This prose work, a compendium of mediaeval lore. Brunetto put in French, liccause he esteemed this language more delightful and more widely known than Italian. Its sibject matter was derived from various Latin and French sources: the work was jirciliablv com- posed between 1202 and I2fi(i. Consult; The edition of Li lirres dou trrsor by Cliabaillc (Paris, I8G3) : the editions of the Tcsorctto by Gaiter (Bologna. 1878-83) and by Wie.se. in the Zeitschrift filr romanische Philoloriir, vol. vii.; Sundbv, Delln rila e delle operc di Brunetto hatini, translated by Renier (Florence. 1884); Marchesini. Dur studi hiofjrafici su Brunetto La- tini (Venice. 1SS7) : id.. Brunetto Latini notaio (Verona. 1800). LATIN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. The kingdom cstahli^licd liv the Crusaders in 1000. which lasted until 11S7. When on July 1.5. 1000. .lerusalem was taken, it became necessary for the Christian conquerors to establish some permanent rule. Naturally the only system of government well known to them, the feudal, was adopted. The written code known as the "Assize of Jciusa- leni' (q.v.) belongs to a later period, tioilfrey de Bouillon (i|.v,) was elected "Baron and DefcmU'r of the Holy Sepulchre.' Godfrey died in 1100. and was succeeded by Baldwin 1., who took the title of King, and ruled until 1118. lie was in turn succeeded by his nei)hew, Baldwin II. (1118- 30), who was followed by his son-in-law, Fulk, Count of -Vnjou (1130-43)' Inder him the King- dom reached its highest development, and nearly the whole of Syria was in the hands of the Chris- tians. Meanwhile, however, the dissensions which had gone on among the infidels ceased, and a con- solidated Mohanunedan State was arising in Syria. The Second Crusade gave a breathing-spell to the Christians in the Fast, and the reign of Baldwin III. (1143-03) was marked by some co- operation between the Greeks and the Latins, due to the marriage of Baldwin with the daughter of the Emperor Slanuel. The brother and suc- cessor of Baldwin III., Anialric I. (1103-74) also married a Byzantine princess. His son and suc- cessor, Baldwin IV. (1174-S.")). was a leper. He was succeeded by a child, Baldwin V.. who ruled only a year. The climate also exerted its in- fluence, and the brave crusading lords gradually disappeared, to be succeeded by refugee criminals from the 'est. The last monarch was Guy of Lusignan (1185-87). On July 4, 11S7, Saladin (q.v.) defeated King Guy at Ilattin and took him prisoner. On October 2, 1187, Jerusalem fell, and the Kingdom practically ceased to exist. Various attempts were made to recapture Syria and restore the Latin rule. There were also tem- porary Christian successes, as for e.ample when Frederick II. in 1220 obtained possession of .Jeru- salem. All hope, however, of a permanent Chris- tian Kingdom in Syria was really over. Consult Ri'iliricht. (leschichte des Kijnigrcichs Jerusalem (Berlin. ISOS). See CRrs.DE. LATIN LANGUAGE. 'The language of an- cient Rome. It was originally the vernacular of the Latini, a small tribe of Central Italy, occu- pying the plain of Latium (q.v.) south of the Tiber between the Apennines and the sea, and was thus the language of the founders of Rome. With the growth and concpiests of that city it spread until it became the almost universal language of the Western civilized world. Latin belongs in its origin to the so-called Indo-European ('Indo- Germanic' 'Aryan') gi"oup of languages, which comprises, in Asia, the non-Draviilian tongues of India, Persian, and .rnienian ; and in Europe, the Hellenic. Italic, Celtic, T<nitonic (Germanic), Balto-Slavonic, and Albanian languages. A simi- larity of sound, inflexion, and vocabulary shows that all of these are descended from a common source, or Vrspraehc. The Latin language is not original in Italy. . wave of migration from the north in prehis- toric times brought into the ]K'ninsula the hordes of Italic people, who pushed their way to the southward, driving before them or assimilating the earlier inhabitants, until they occupied all the central and northern regions from sea to sea. Of these Italic invaders there were two ethnic and linguistic divisions of quite unequal extent: the T'mbro-Sabellians and the Latino- Faliscans. The former, with closely related dia- lects, occupied in historic times all the vast mountainous country south of the Rubicon and east of the Tiber, far into Apulia and Lucani.a — in fact, all Central Italy except the narrow coast jilain north and south of the Tiber mouth, which was held by the lesser division of Latins and Faliscans. Doubtless in earlier times they had extended still farther to the north and west, whence they were dislodged by the invasions, first of the Etruscans, then of the Gauls.