La traduction latine du Commentario de le cose de’ Turchi de Paolo Giovio : desseins politiques et destin historiographique (1537-1577)

Abstract

Translating into latin modern texts was a way Protestants used to enhance the diffusion of their propaganda, first written in a vernacular tongue, and to enlarge their readership, notably from South Europe to North. In the case of the Commentario delle Cose dei Turchi, written by Paolo Giovio in Italian and translated by Francesco Negri, to be turned into latin also contributed to change the way people read this text: the translation cancelled the critical topics on faith, and reduced the text to documentary interests. Later in the century the text in Latin was included in the Opera omnia edition of Giovio, as if it had been written by Giovio himself in this language, and was counted among the historiographic works of this scholar.

Keywords

• Paolo Giovio
• Francesco Negri
• reformation
• modern historiography
• latin
• propaganda