Latin (Latīna, pronounced ) is an ancient Indo-European language that was spoken in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The conquests of Rome spread the language throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe. It existed in two forms: Classical Latin, used in poetry and formal prose, and Vulgar Latin, spoken by the people. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of the Roman Catholic Church Latin became the common ecclesiastical language in Western Europe and the lingua franca of educated classes in the West.