The asseveration that the Italian mind is never deeply religious is disproved by the mystid religious poetry which blossomed during the Middle Ages. It was almost localized in Um bria and was chiefly inspired by that gentle apostle of poverty and love, Saint Francis of Assisi, and his followers. Like manna to the hungry were the verses of the Cantico del Sole, and many a humble soul was inspired to imitate the Laudi of which every religious brotherhood had its own sacred stock. Jacopo Benedetti, known as Jacopone da Todi, is the best known of these religious poets. His which he called sacra pacts° (holy madness) consist of endless exclamations and repetitions of tender worship of the Madonna and supplica tions that God should severely punish hitt sins.
The prose works of this period were mostly written in Latin or French and do not form a part of ((Italian') literature. is per= haps the earliest Italian version of those Chan sons de Geste usually written in poor French. The and the di Troia' are mere translations and adaptations. There is more originality in the where, though the Bible and French Fabliaux furnish most of the material, there is also mingled a certain amount of focal color. (II Libro dei Sette the Italian version of the Seven Wise Men, first told in India, and re peated in all the literatures of Europe, is an interesting example of the common source of all literature, and the intimate relations of migratory peoples. The few Croniche are his
torical works where imagination frequently sup plies the place of fact. The Fiori are confused and pretentious aggregations of , information about many things. Guittone d'Arezzo's 'Epistles) are the first example of that pompous Latin elegance and correctness so often affected by later writers of Italian prose.
If the 12th century was the early spring time of Italian literature, a time of seed-sowing and germination; followed in the 13th century by the first fruits of the harvest; then the 14th century may be considered the glorious summer of fruition. Before the opening of Trtcento the foreign forms and ideas had been assimi lated, transformed by Italian genius. Epic and lyric poetry, romantic and historic prose, were now Italian in character. Guido Guinicelli and Guido Cavalcanti had initiated the Dolce nuovo; Guittone d'Arczzo had written the first pure and stately Italian prose. And now began the century made glorious by Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio.