When did Latin stop being the language of higher education?

Answer 1

Latin was used as the administrative language of the Roman Empire and became the common language in Western Europe. Over the centuries, Latin began to be spoken differently throughout the continent, eventually becoming what are now known as the Romance languages. But, Latin continued to be spoken in an old, archaic form in government, church, and education.

This situation persisted for around a thousand years, until the Early Modern Period, when a lot of changes were underway in Europe. The Protestant Reformation was breaking up the unity of the Church and its ability to maintain traditional customs - including the use of liturgical Latin. At the same time - and in conjunction with Protestantism - peoples throughout Europe were developing a national identity, primarily around their vernacular languages, leading to a greater pride in and use of national languages in formal settings. Lastly, and most importantly here, perhaps, is that there was a mass exodus from the university happening. Throughout the centuries of conflict in Europe, universities lost their independence and became the puppets of lay government (especially in England). Scholarship was suppressed at the universities, which instead focused on creating propaganda for the state. And so, scholars took their studies outside of the university and began conducting research on their own. This is why so much of the discoveries associated with the Scientific Revolution were conducted by lone individuals and not by university academics.

All of these forces together undermined the traditional role of Latin in academia, gradually replacing it with national languages. Latin continued to be used as far as the late 1800s. But, as countries began to create their own national universities, professors taught and wrote in their own vernaculars. Thus, by the mid-late 18th century academic writing was shifting to French, which had replaced Latin as the common diplomatic language, and by the 19th century scholars were seriously questioning its value. By the start of the 20th century, Latin had all but disappeared as a language of higher education, and is only studied today by Classicists and other Latin enthusiasts.