Art of dictation
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Ars dictaminis (or ars dictandi) is the art of letter-writing, which often intersects with the art of rhetoric.
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Ars dictaminis (or ars dictandi) is the art of letter-writing, which often intersects with the art of rhetoric.
Early examples of letter-writing theory can be found in C. Julius Victor's Ars rhetorica and Cassiodorus Senator's Variae epistolae. [1] Other examples can be found in the Pseudo-Demetrius' Typoi epistolikoi, Pseudo-Libanius' Epistolimaioi kharacteres, Demetrius' Peri hermeneias, Philostratus of Lemnos' treatise, and Gregory of Nazianus' Epistle 51. [2]
During the Latin medieval period, the standing assumption was that these writings would be composed in Latin, and according to well worked-out models. This made the arts of composition a subfield of rhetoric.
Medieval letter writing developed for ecclesiastical, government, and business purposes. [1] [3]
Important figures in the early development of Latin letter writing and document composition include Alberic of Monte Cassino (Dictaminum radii, Breviarium), his critic Adalbert of Samaria (Praecepta dictaminum, c. 1120), Hugh of Bologna (Rationes dictandi prosaice, c.1120), Anonymous' Aurea gemma (c.1119), Anonymous' Rationes dictandi (1135), Anonymous' Precepta prosaici dictaminis secundum Tullium (c. 1140), Bernard of Romagna's Introductiones prosaici dictaminis (1145), Anonymous' Ad plenam scientiam dictaminum (c.1140), and Baldwin's Liber de dictaminibus (c.1150). [1] Guido Faba (Summa dictaminis, c.1228) and Lawrence of Aquilegia (Practica sive usus dictaminis, c.1300) are later representatives of the genre. [1]
Letter conventions include some form of address (e.g., “Worshipful master”); salutation (“I greet you well”); notification (“May it please you to know”); exposition (“the wool was shipped”); disposition (“and I want my money”); and valediction (“May God keep you well, at least until my bill is paid”). Clerks and scribes wrote the letters based on those rules.
Renaissance letter writing, inspired by the rediscovery of Cicero's letters, broaden the scope of letter writing instruction. [4]
A letter is a written message conveyed from one person to another through a medium. Something epistolary means that it is a form of letter writing. The term usually excludes written material intended to be read in its original form by large numbers of people, such as newspapers and placards, although even these may include material in the form of an "open letter". The typical form of a letter for many centuries, and the archetypal concept even today, is a sheet of paper that is sent to a correspondent through a postal system. A letter can be formal or informal, depending on its audience and purpose. Besides being a means of communication and a store of information, letter writing has played a role in the reproduction of writing as an art throughout history. Letters have been sent since antiquity and are mentioned in the Iliad. Historians Herodotus and Thucydides mention and use letters in their writings.
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Alberic of Monte Cassino was a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, who died in 1088. He was a cardinal from 1057.
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Guido Faba was a notary, scribe and teacher of rhetoric from Bologna. At least eleven works are attributed to him, all on rhetoric, mainly the ars dictaminis. Although he wrote mainly in Latin, two of his works contain advice for using vernacular Italian in formal settings.