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SUMMARY:1414-2014: Literary Internationalism in the Year of 3 Popes - Prof
 essor David Wallace (University of Pennsylvania)
DTSTART:20141009T160000Z
DTEND:20141009T180000Z
UID:TALK54175@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Philippa Steele
DESCRIPTION:In November 1414 word went out across western Europe that nati
 ons should gather at Konstanz\, a German lakeside town\, to resolve the pa
 pal schism. Since 1378 half of western Europe (including Scotland) had fol
 lowed a pope of Avignon\, whereas the other half (including England) recog
 nized a pope of Rome. Attempts to resolve matters at Pisa in 1409 had made
  things worse: a new pope was elected\, but the two rival incumbents refus
 ed to resign. Thousands of literary men thus converged on Konstanz\, betwe
 en the Rhine and the Danube\, to sort things out. First they addressed nat
 ionhood: what was a nation\, and who might speak for it? Their principal w
 orking asset was literary language\, as crafted in sermons\, orations\, tr
 eatises\, chronicles\, and diaries. Latin was lingua franca\, and there wa
 s much eager pursuit of Latin manuscripts in regional libraries\, coupled 
 with a new vogue for Greek. There was much downtime at the council\, and j
 ust as musicians crossed the street to play or sing with foreign nationes\
 , so literati formed study groups or offered to teach classes on literary 
 texts. Jewish townspeople\, discreetly\, processed their Torah. Poets such
  as Oswald von Wolkenstein\, a Tyrolean knight\, found that his multilingu
 alism brought new career opportunities\; Italian humanists sought new mast
 ers. Jean Gerson\, Chancellor of the University of Paris\, found new ways 
 of marketing his writings while yet feeling inferior\, as a French author\
 , to Italian humanists. Jerome of Prague\, eloquent champion and theorist 
 of his native vernacular\, was burned at the stake. Poggio Bracciolini\, w
 ho recognized Jerome as a kindred spirit\, made brilliant archival discove
 ries because of\, not in spite of\, this medieval church council. Cardinal
  Zabarella\, a leading light\, was found reading a treatise On Wifely Matt
 ers. The English at Constance\, realizing that nobody cared for their ecce
 ntric and belated vernacular\, devised new ways of celebrating English cul
 ture. Bulgarian aristocrat and philologist Gregory Tsamblak\, having serve
 d his church from Constantinople to Kiev\, and in Serbia\, Moldova\, and W
 allachia\, arrived late\, in 1418. His hope was that this great gathering 
 of literati\, having closed its internal schism\, might now repair the sch
 ism with the Orthodox East that had opened in 1054. The Council of Constan
 ce has chiefly been researched from the perspective of single nations\; it
 s true significance for European letters\, I shall argue\, will best be ap
 preciated through multi-lingual\, multinational approaches.
LOCATION:Room SG2\, Alison Richard Building
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