CHAPTER V.

LITERATURE OF THE VULGAR TONGUE. POPULAR AND SACRED POETRY OF THE PEOPLE. The Italian Language and Literature at the Beginning of the Fifteenth Century—Fra Giovanni de’ Medici’s Book on Domestic Life—Leon Batista Alberti and the Vulgar Tongue—Poetical Competition in the Cathedral—Corruption of the Language in the Hands of the Learned—The Vulgar Tongue—Caterina of Siena Letters—Religious Sentiment among the People and in their Literature—Sacred Poetry of the People—The Fraternities and their Hymns—…