Bloomsbury Neo-Latin Series: Studies in Early Modern Latin – serie

Latin Political Propaganda offers the first comprehensive study of the central role played by the Latin language to celebrate or undermine political power during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1715). Waged as much on the printed page as on the battlefield, this worldwide conflict gave rise to an astonishing variety of Latin writing across the Continent - in verse or in prose - on both the pro-Habsburg and pro-Bourbon sides. Ranging from official documents, epic, satirical and panegyric poetry to defamatory pamphlets, letters, historiographical and juridical tracts, medals and ephemeral architecture, this vast textual corpus has gone almost unnoticed.Alejandro Coroleu provides close examination of the literary devices of these texts and shows how imitation of models and figures from classical antiquity was at the heart of the authors’ highly refined verse and prose technique. He also pays attention to the historical and social context in which the texts emerged, and connects the Latin political writing produced at the time with more popular forms of propagandistic discourse (literary or visual) which found its expression in the vernacular. This book also reveals how the learned language continued to function - even after the hostilities had come to an end in July 1715 - as an instrument of political discourse and propaganda on both sides of the dynastic feud up until the death of Emperor Charles VI in October 1740.

Latin Political Propaganda offers the first comprehensive study of the central role played by the Latin language to celebrate or undermine political power during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1715). Waged as much on the printed page as on the battlefield, this worldwide conflict gave rise to an astonishing variety of Latin writing across the Continent - in verse or in prose - on both the pro-Habsburg and pro-Bourbon sides. Ranging from official documents, epic, satirical and panegyric poetry to defamatory pamphlets, letters, historiographical and juridical tracts, medals and ephemeral architecture, this vast textual corpus has gone almost unnoticed.Alejandro Coroleu provides close examination of the literary devices of these texts and shows how imitation of models and figures from classical antiquity was at the heart of the authors’ highly refined verse and prose technique. He also pays attention to the historical and social context in which the texts emerged, and connects the Latin political writing produced at the time with more popular forms of propagandistic discourse (literary or visual) which found its expression in the vernacular. This book also reveals how the learned language continued to function - even after the hostilities had come to an end in July 1715 - as an instrument of political discourse and propaganda on both sides of the dynastic feud up until the death of Emperor Charles VI in October 1740.

This volume addresses the idea of the Baroque in European literature in Latin. With contributions by scholars from various disciplines and countries, and by looking at a range of texts from across Europe, the volume offers case studies to deepen scholarly understanding of this important literary phenomenon and inspire future research.A key aim of the volume is to address the distinctiveness of these texts by interrogating the usefulness and specificity of the term ‘Baroque’, especially in relation to the classical rules it transgresses to produce effects of grandeur, richness, and exuberance in a range of secular and sacred arts (e.g. music, architecture, painting), as well as various forms of literature (e.g. prose, poetry, drama). The contributors consider how and why Latin writing mutated from earlier humanist paradigms, thus exploring how ideas of ‘early modern’ and ‘Baroque’ are related, and examine the interplay of the theory and practice of the ‘Baroque’, including its debts to and deviations from ancient models, and its limits and limitations.

This volume addresses the idea of the Baroque in European literature in Latin. With contributions by scholars from various disciplines and countries, and by looking at a range of texts from across Europe, the volume offers case studies to deepen scholarly understanding of this important literary phenomenon and inspire future research.A key aim of the volume is to address the distinctiveness of these texts by interrogating the usefulness and specificity of the term ‘Baroque’, especially in relation to the classical rules it transgresses to produce effects of grandeur, richness, and exuberance in a range of secular and sacred arts (e.g. music, architecture, painting), as well as various forms of literature (e.g. prose, poetry, drama). The contributors consider how and why Latin writing mutated from earlier humanist paradigms, thus exploring how ideas of ‘early modern’ and ‘Baroque’ are related, and examine the interplay of the theory and practice of the ‘Baroque’, including its debts to and deviations from ancient models, and its limits and limitations.

This open access monograph sheds new light on the epic by focusing on its importance as a vector for ideas about Africa and Africans between the 14th and 20th centuries. In Italy and abroad, the 14th-century poet Petrarch’s Italian verse has secured his place in literary history. Yet his greatest triumph was to be crowned in Rome in 1341, ostensibly for his then incomplete Latin epic of the Second Punic War, the Africa. However, soon after the poem’s posthumous publication, the Africa fell into relative obscurity. The afterlives of the epic remain largely unexplored, particularly with regard to Petrarch’s representation of the Second Punic War and the continent on which Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal: Africa.The book also explores the contribution of the Africa to early modern and modern discourses of religion, nation and empire. Samuel Agbamu uncovers the role of the Africa in the intellectual archaeologies of nation, empire and race in the modern era and its role as a vector in the transmission and transformation of Roman ideas of empire and identity as reflected in accounts of the Punic War. This monograph makes its case through fresh close readings of the Africa, using new methodologies based on Premodern Critical Race Studies and Critical Muslim Studies.The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the University of Reading.

This open-access book fills a gap in our understanding of the religious poetry of sixteenth-century Spain by arguing for a new significance to the poetry of one of its central figures. The Latin poetry of cleric, scholar, librarian and political advisor Benito Arias Montano escaped censorship inspired by the 1559 Valdés Index, and so provides a unique window into the development of religious poetry in the late sixteenth century between Renaissance biblical paraphrase and the advent of Baroque religious poetry.Although Arias Montano was a true Renaissance polymath, learned in disciplines ranging from philology to natural philosophy, his interest in emerging humanist disciplines had to be balanced with his convictions that the Bible was the only source of true knowledge. Part One of this study presents an overview of his work and compares this with other religious poets writing across Europe. Czepiel argues that this scholar, a Spanish Catholic of the sixteenth century, is an early exponent of a European trend which sought to apply an encyclopaedic range of humanist disciplines to the study of the Bible, something which was previously attributed to the later seventeenth-century Protestant Republic of Letters. Part Two comprises case studies of particular scholarly disciplines within Arias Montano's poetry, including the study of Classical texts, Hebraist studies, historiography and political theory, and biblical geography and architecture. In each case, Czepiel argues for the poetry betraying a clear anxiety about the limitations and proper use of humanist scholarship.The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).