Spätmittelalterliches Umgangslatein Wiedergabe direkter Rede in den Akten der Penitenzieria Apostolica (ca. 1440-1500)

Abstract

This article makes use of the supplication registers in the archive of the Poenitentiaria Apostolica (archive for a long time strictly inaccessible to research),where people turned to Rome for absolution or dispensation concerning violations of Canon Law. Of about 30 000 supplications, all of which had to start by relating the personal case in detail, some contain »spoken Latin«, in order to give the narratio more credibility before this tribunal, particularly affective language like insults, curses, blasphemies etc. Of course, the phrases presented here are not protocolled speech, but reconstructed speech. But they are still colloquial Latin of the late Middle Ages.

Keywords: Poenitentiaria Apostolica, Canon Law, affective language, colloquial Latin, reconstructed speech