Renaissance culture, emblems, and interdisciplinary research: the reception of Alciato in Coimbra☆

Abstract

Bearing in mind that emblem books were a manifestation of humanistic culture and its natural interdisciplinary, this paper discusses how the early reception of Alciato's Emblemata in Coimbra (Portugal) had an impact on artists, literary authors, jurists, and Jesuit teachers. This emblem book attracted readers from diverse fields of knowledge, and in this essay, special attention is drawn to the role played by Sebastian Stockhamer's commentaries on the Emblemata, published by the Lyonnaise printer, Jean de Tournes, in 1556. From the analysis of textual evidence, this contribution aims to demonstrate that Stockhamer's work was built upon an interdisciplinary method. His example provides a very strong argument for considering Coimbra as pioneering in the early history of the reception of Alciato's work across Europe. This study case embraces therefore a wider range of engagement, involving cultural studies, literature, arts, legal history, educational science, philosophy, and classical culture, among others.