The funding has been awarded to sponsor the Ad Fontes project, which is designed to identify and examine the first traces of Renaissance humanism in
Ireland through analysis of Latin manuscripts c.1450-1550. One of the central planks of the Renaissance was reform of the way in which Latin was written as scholars modified their style and grammar in order to emulate the language and literary achievements of ancient Roman authors. This development is described as ‘humanism’ in reference to the study of what Renaissance scholars called the litterae humaniores – the humanities.
The Ad Fontes project in UCC will look at the way these changes were introduced in
Ireland . Using linguistic and palaeographical analysis, it will reconstruct the extent of familiarity that Irish authors and scribes had with the educational and literary practices of continental humanists. This will constitute the first ever systematic attempt to map the reception of continental Renaissance ideas in late-medieval
Ireland . The project signals a significant expansion in the activities and profile of the Centre.
The project will hire a postdoctoral scholar and a research assistant to collaborate in the production of a handbook of Irish Latin palaeography c.1450-1550 and in writing a series of journal articles that examine the dissemination of humanist Latin and culture in
Ireland . It will also host a prestigious series of international guest speakers who will contribute to workshops focused upon the linguistic and palaeographic problems raised by the project’s research. Further information about the project can be found at its website: http://www.ucc.ie/acad/classics/CNLS/Fontes/home.html
Photo: Dr Jason Harris, Dept of History, UCC
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