Department of Classical Philology, Medieval and Neolatin Studies
Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 06:30 PM (GMT) | 07:30 PM (Vienna)
Chair: Simon McKeown (Marlborough) Chair of the Society for Emblem Studies
Peter Sjökvist (Uppsala): A Hundred Parenetic Distichs by Sylvester Johannis Phrygius. Navigating Swedish Politics around 1600.
The last years of the 1590s were very turbulent in Swedish politics. King Sigismund was eventually outmaneuvered by Duke Charles, who ended up as Charles IX, although there were two others before him in line according to the Succession Pact. Around this time Sylvester Johannis Phrygius (1572-1628) tries to make a career, using literature as vehicle to gain the attention of his superiors. The print Distichorum ad pietatem & bonos mores paræneticorum centuria prima (Rostock: Möllemann, 1602) must be understood in this context. In my talk I will, in addition to describing this work in more general terms, focus on the parts that could hint at Phrygius’s personal disappointment with the development in Sweden at the time.
Łukasz Konopa (Lublin): Emblemata Saecularia in Lublin.
Placed next to the main square of the Old City in Lublin the Lubomelski House preserves al secco mural paintings in a cellar now called Under Fortuna. A few years ago it became evident that seven scenes decorating the walls derive from Emblemata Saecularia, first published by de Bry brothers in Frankfurt on the Main in 1596, while other two, including the depiction of Fortuna on the vault, have been based on prints by Heinrich Ullrich from Nuremberg. In the latest article published on the subject strong links with alba amicorum tradition have been highlighted and a new dating of the decoration has been proposed. It has also been underlined that Under Fortuna is just one of the sets of emblematic images still preserved in architectural settings of Lublin.
Florian Schaffenrath (Innsbruck): The University of Innsbruck – Seen from the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Theology.
In addition to the University of Vienna, the largest and most important university in Austria, there are a number of smaller universities, each of which has developed certain specialisations. Neo-Latin studies are popular in Innsbruck, an the rather small city in the west of the country, with a population of about 125,000. A university was not established until 1669, although there had already been a strong Jesuit presence since 1562. The premises of the old Jesuit College now house the Faculty of Theology. The meeting room of the dean’s office has an interesting programme of images symbolising the traditional faculties. — Starting from this room and its image programme, the University of Innsbruck will be introduced, to end with an outlook on the “Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies” located there, which certainly offers a lot of possible links for emblem researchers.