Friulian (or Friulan) literature is the literature of the autonomous Italian region of Friuli, written in the local Friulian language. Early The oldest surviving poems in Friulian date from the 14th century. They are songs of ballads: Piruç myò doç inculurit ("Sweet Blush Pear of Mine", before 1380), Biello dumnlo di valor ("Fair Lady of Worth") and the Soneto furlan ("Friulian Sonnet"). Vernacular Friulian phrases and spellings occasionally made their way into otherwise Latin documents. cites an early example from 1284. Paola Benincà quotes documents from 1355, 1360, 1380 and 1389. A fuller Friulian literature dates back only to the 19th century, when Friuli, after the Congress of Vienna, fell entirely under the control of the Austrian empire. This late flourishing had several causes: first, the language of the culture and administration had never been Friulian, but Latin and partly German under the Patriarchal State of Aquileia and Italian, mixed with Venetian under the Serenissima rule. Moreover, Friuli never saw the formation of a literate bourgeoisie that could have fostered the language, in order to have a literary development similar to other European languages. During the 16th century for example, there were only limited poetic forms in Friulian inspired by the works of Francesco Petrarca, including the poems of Nicolò Morlupino from Venzone (1528-1570) and Girolamo Biancone from Tolmezzo (1515-1580). Also, until 1800 there were no printed works in Friulian, so the diffusion of poetry and other works was restricted to a small number of persons. 17th century During this period, the most important Friulian authors were Eusebi Stele (Eusebio Stella) of Spilimbergo (1602-1671), born to a noble family, who composed poems in a playful and ironic style about his life and love adventures; and the count Ermes di Colorêt (1622-1692), notable mainly for his use of the koinè from Udine, that would become the most notable literary language and the basis of today's standard Friulian. Ermes was educated at Medici's court in Florence, then took part in the Thirty Years' War, worked in the service of the Venetian Republic and Leopold I of Habsburg; in the last part of his life he returned to his homeland to focus on writing poetry, most of which centers on the theme of love. Ermes di Colloredo: Poesie Friulane, l’Opera Completa". LiteraryJoint Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2019. The complete work of Ermes Earl of Colloredo, full text. 18th century This century was undoubtedly poor