In this course we examine the efforts of 15th century renaissance scholars to find and return to prominence key texts of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. These texts, which had been preserved and transcribed by monasteries, had survived the dark ages due to the diligence of monks, for both education, curiosity, and a commitment to preserving records. These texts helped broaden the spirit of enquiry during the renaissance, seeing a resurgence in interest for the classical world, and informing the age of enlightenment.
- The Recovery of Manuscripts, David Rundle (on EHNE)
- The Swerve, Stephen Greenblatt
- Recovering Hidden Texts, Archeological Institute of America
- The writings of the ancient western world; The mechanisms of writing: pens and markers, papyrus, parchment, and wax tablets
- Key works from antiquity: Socrates, Cicero, Caesar, and more
- The arrival of the dark ages: the impact of war, time, and social fragmentation on written records (from the 5th century up to about 1200 AD)
- The preservation of writing, The transcription of classical writing – why did monks and others do it (often for education, sometimes for personal curiosity)
- The impact of Christianity on classical writing; The situation at the time of the renaissance
- Manuscript collectors ‘hunters’ such as Papal Secretary Poggio Bracciolini in the 15th century, Petrarch, Coluccio Salutati.
- How did the classics eventually influence modern thinking and the renaissance? Was there religious opposition?
- What books did we lose?; What actual primary documents (artefacts) remain?
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Understand how ancient texts were written and stored.
- Appreciate the efforts of European monasteries to preserve texts through the centuries, although version control was sometimes an issue.
- Understand the growing momentum of renaissance scholars to find and interpret classical texts.
- Appreciate the eventual impact of classical thought on the renaissance.
