Dissertation Fellow 2002-03
Elöd Nemerkenyi (Medieval Studies)
Central European University (Budapest)
Latin Classics in Medieval Hungary:
The Eleventh Century
My major fields of interest comprise the academic
disciplines of Classics and Medieval Studies—I specialize in medieval
Latin and the classical tradition in the Middle Ages. The classical
Latin background is absolutely necessary to my general research interest:
medieval Latin as a linguistic tool to examine the interchange of the
Christian intellectual tradition and the classical tradition in the
Middle Ages. My doctoral dissertation research project, “Latin
Classics in Medieval Hungary: The Eleventh Century,” focuses on
four primary sources: the first source is a letter of Bishop Fulbert
of Chartres to Bishop Bonipert of Pecs in Hungary, informing him that
he is going to send a copy of Priscian’s Latin grammar to Pecs;
the second source is the Admonitions attributed to King Saint Stephen
of Hungary, a king’s mirror with numerous references to the Bible,
the patristic authors, and the Latin classics; the third source is the
Deliberatio of Bishop Saint Gerard of Csanad, an exegetical treatise
embedded in the patristic tradition—with references to the seven
liberal arts and the ancient Greek and Latin authors; the fourth source
is the late eleventh-century book list of the Benedictine monastery
of Pannonhalma, with mainly liturgical and patristic manuscripts and
such classical entries as Cicero, Lucan, Donatus, and the Disticha Catonis.
It is important to work out a proper theoretical framework and view
my preliminary results against the background of recent scholarship
in classics and medieval studies in general and in medieval Latin philology
in particular. I should also emphasize that the sparse evidence available
for the eleventh century raises complex problems that are to be solved
in their complexity—this is one of the reasons the four sources
belong together. Drawing on this evidence, I intend to explain the
impact
of the imported high culture upon the receiving territory and to point
out what makes the use of the mainstream Latin classics distinctive
in their new context within a recently Christianized country. Finally,
I expect to show that viewing the particular results in a wider context
may be interesting not only for Hungarian scholarship but also for
a broader international audience with an interest in medieval Christian
humanism—classicists and medievalists alike.
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