The Neo-Latin Verse of Urban VIII, Alexander VII and Leo XIII
Subtitle: Three Papal Poets from Baroque to Risorgimento
By: Stephen Harrison
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Bloomsbury Neo-Latin Series: Early Modern Texts and Anthologies
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2024
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9781350292413; 9781350292376; 9781350292383; 9781350292390; 9781350292406
Subjects: Medieval and modern Latin poetry; History and criticism; Urban VIII, Pope, 1568-1644; Classical texts; European history; Latin
Description: <b>A fascinating insight into the most talented Latin poets to occupy the Papal throne after Pius II Piccolomini in the 15th century, this book offers translations of and commentaries on the major poems of the three popes (all Italians): Urban VIII Barberini, Alexander VII Chigi and Leo XIII Pecci. </b>Their highly accomplished Neo-Latin poems owe much to the major Latin poets and are significant instances of classical reception, but also cast an interesting light on their lives, times and papacies.  Urban (elected pope in 1623) published a mixture of secular and religious verse, drawing on the hexameter epistles of Horace and the lyrics of Catullus and writing Horatian material in praise of Alessandro Farnese, governor of the Netherlands for Philip II of Spain, and the Spanish martyr St Laurence. Alexander (elected pope in 1655) like Urban combines secular and religious themes and often uses Horatian frameworks, writing hexameter accounts of some of the journeys he made as a papal diplomat in Germany and an Horatian ode on the fall of the Protestant stronghold of La Rochelle (1628). Leo's poetry was mostly religious and published during his papacy (1878-1903); his Horatian ode on the new millennium of 1900 was widely read, and other works include an elegy which links a shrine of the Virgin with the Battle of Lepanto; an Horatian satire on moderate diet; and hymns to saints which combine early Christian and Horatian forms.
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Table of contents: title: List of Figues Preface <b><b> </b></b>Introduction 1. Maffeo Barberini (1568-1644; Pope as Urban VIII 1623-44) 2. Fabio Chigi (1599-1667; Pope as Alexander VII 1655-67) 3. Vincenzo Pecci (1810-1903; Pope as Leo XIII 1878-1903) Appendix: Table of Metres  Notes   Bibliography   <b> </b> Index