Mittellateinische Studien und Texte – serie

This book presents for the first time a panorama of about 85 neo-latin epics composed in France during the 16th and 17th centuries; the collection includes historical, biblical and hagiographic poems, ranging from a few hundred to thirty thousand hexameters.A full account is given of the contents and composition of every poem, the historical, biblical and hagiographic background is explored, and the poets' debt to classical poetry is analyzed with as a clear result the growing influence of Vergil and, during the 17th century, of Tasso as well. The repertorium is intended as a sort of guide, which provides the reader interested in Neo-Latin, Classics or the literary history of France conveniently with well-founded information on this literary genre.

Heinzer's book, a series of case studies, deals with the fundamental relation between monastic reform and book production in the middle ages in the southwestern part of the German-speaking area during the period from the 9th to the early 16th century. This book, thus, might be considered as a complementary contribution to a long-term project, initiated by scholars of mediaeval german studies (Nigel Palmer and Hans-Jochen Schiewer), of reconstructing a "Literary Topography of south-west Germany", dealing however almost exclusively with Latin texts and focussing not as much on more specifically litterary matters, but rather on aspects of formal (esthetical) interest as well as on the conditions of writing and reading and on the social formations which fostered the production and dissemination of texts and books.

In about the year 1462 Francesco Griffolini of Arezzo translated the Odyssey of Homer into Latin at the behest of Pope Pius II. In contrast to the most important of his predecessors in the field of Homer translation, Leontius Pilatus, who was still completely committed to the medieval method of literal translation, Griffolini made use of the skills acquired from the masters of humanist Latin and created a prose text which also appealed to classical criteria. This volume offers a critical text of this Odyssey translation edited on the basis of the manuscripts. The extensive introduction provides information about the life and work of Francesco Griffolini, examines his method of translation and clarifies the manuscript transmission of the text. The edition represents a contribution to the history of Homer translation in the Italian renaissance and forms an important basis for further study of the reception of Homer in humanism.

This book throws new light on the question of authorship in the Latin literature of the later medieval and in the early modern periods. It shows that authorship was not something to be automatically assumed in an empathic sense, but was chiefly to be found in the paratextual features of works and was imparted by them. This study examines the strategies and tools used by authors ca. 1350-1650, to assert their authorial aspirations. Enenkel demonstrates how they incorporated themselves into secular, ecclesiastical, spiritual and intellectual power structures. He shows that in doing so rituals linked to the ceremonial of ruling, played a fundamental role, for example, the ritual presentation of a book or the crowning of a poet. Furthermore Enenkel establishes a series of qualifications for entry to the Respublica litteraria, with which the authors of books announced their claims to authorship.

In Erzählte Bewegung. Narrationsstrategien und Funktionsweisen lateinischer Pilgertexte (4.-15. Jahrhundert), Susanna Fischer analyzes the function and structure of the genre of pilgrimage narratives from a literary point of view.The first part of the book is devoted to theoretical reflections and a systematic analysis of characteristic elements of pilgrimage narratives. Interpreting the texts from a narrative perspective, she focuses not only on formal characteristics but also on narrative structures and thus takes a closer look at the poetics of pilgrimage narratives. Through the detailed analysis of fourteen Latin texts about pilgrimage to the Holy Land from the 4th to the 15th century, she illustrates the development of a literary tradition with specific structural, stylistic and narrative characteristics.See inside the book.

Volume 1 of the two-volume set MITS 56: In 1508, Johannes Trithemius, the Black Abbot, dedicated his Polygraphia, a treatise on writing in ciphers, to Emperor Maximilian I, personally handing over an elaborate autograph. Unlike the editio princeps, which was to be printed a decade later, the manuscript retains the arcane and mysterious tone of the bibliophile scholar’s earlier works on the subject. This book offers the first critical edition and translation of this first version, together with an extensive commentary illuminating the numerous obscure allusions, the impressive literary knowledge of its author, and the genesis of the mechanisms discussed.

Volume 2 of the two-volume set MITS 56: In 1508, Johannes Trithemius, the Black Abbot, dedicated his Polygraphia, a treatise on writing in ciphers, to Emperor Maximilian I, personally handing over an elaborate autograph. Unlike the editio princeps, which was to be printed a decade later, the manuscript retains the arcane and mysterious tone of the bibliophile scholar’s earlier works on the subject. This book offers the first critical edition and translation of this first version, together with an extensive commentary illuminating the numerous obscure allusions, the impressive literary knowledge of its author, and the genesis of the mechanisms discussed.

What do writings about the German king Henry IV (Bruno of Merseburg), about the failed conquest of Ireland (Gerald of Wales), about the wars led by Frederick Barbarossa (Rahewin) and about the Dutch fight against the Spanish armies (Famiano Strada) have in common? They demonstrate that whatever tasks Latin historiographers were facing, they strived to write captivating history that gave meaning to complex conflicts, wars, political intrigues and upheavals. In doing so, they all employed a range of Sallustian techniques and narratives. This book explores the reception of Sallust in post-antique Europe, illuminating how it can help us understand what constitutes Latin literature and literature in general.