FLORILEGIA FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE RENAISSANCE THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHORITY

FLORILEGIA FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE RENAISSANCE THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHORITY INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN 1-2 DECEMBER 2011 From Antiquity onwards, florilegia have played an important role in the preservation and reception of the work of influential authors. For various reasons, extracts from their work have been selected, rearranged and assembled to form new entities. These, in turn, were often disseminated widely, for instance through translations. As a consequence, florilegia are crucial in the process of the transmission of knowledge. Because the florilegium as a genre is inherently connected with value judgements, it also has close ties with the issue of authority. Florilegia exert an influence on the canonization of texts and authors, while their perceived importance is itself often based on the authority of their compilers. Conversely, the work itself regularly acquires a certain status that can reflect on the compiler, witness the many ‘pseudo’-florilegia. Not only are florilegia sometimes strategically or erroneously attributed to an authority, the same can be observed with regard to the texts that have been included in them. However, the different instances of authority that can be related to florilegia do not necessarily lead to a completely stable text. Indeed, this genre is – even more than others – characterized by an intriguing openness: it is not only impossible to strictly distinguish the genre from related forms; the variability of the text is to a large degree also due to the fact that parts of it can easily be added, moved or omitted during transmission. This process of selection and (re)arrangement is obviously a typical feature of florilegia both at the time of their creation and during various stages of their transmission. During this two-day workshop we will study the constants and evolutions with regard to the creation, function, public and context of a large range of florilegia from Antiquity to the Renaissance, from the Byzantine, Latin and vernacular traditions. The contributions will combine various disciplines: philology, history, codicology, philosophy, literary studies, etc. Specific case studies will be combined with broader surveys, with the issue of authority functioning as a shared focal point. Participation is free, but registration (before 21 November) is required: an.faems@arts.kuleuven.be Location Pauscollege, Conferentiezaal Hogeschoolplein 3, 3000 Leuven The workshop is organized by the Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (IMRS) and LECTIO. Organizing committee Rita Beyers, Reinhart Ceulemans, Pieter De Leemans, Kristoffel Demoen, An Faems, Jan Papy, Peter Van Deun, Gerd Van Riel Scientific committee Rita Beyers, Kristoffel Demoen, Russell Friedman, Jacqueline Hamesse, Johan Leemans, Glenn Most, Antonio Rigo With the generous support of - FWO-Vlaanderen - vzw Graecitas Christiana - Leuven International Doctoral School for the Humanities and Social Sciences - the research committee of the Faculty of Arts (K.U.Leuven) http://ghum.kuleuven.be/lectio/