Thomas More’s 281 epigrams form a diverse and seemingly haphazard collection of occasional and programmatic pieces written in a variety of meters on diverse topics. Since most of More’s papers disappeared in the years immediately following his death, it is difficult and perhaps impossible to reconstruct on the basis of external evidence the rationale behind the selection and distribution of his epigrams. Despite this challenge, internal evidence provides some clues. Nearly half of the epigrams are translations of Greek originals. Some of these Greek originals serve as the basis for sequences of epigrams, one of which is the “Lame Beggars Sequence.” Through a process of iterative amplificatio, More progressively cultivates eloquence as he extends the meaning of his original to encompass moral and political themes. In turn, he develops the theme into original compositions before producing a final translation that encompasses both the literal and moral senses of the original Greek.
{"title":"Iterative amplificatio: a new way to read the “Lame Beggars Sequence” in More’s Epigrammata","authors":"Erik Z. D. Ellis","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0127","url":null,"abstract":"Thomas More’s 281 epigrams form a diverse and seemingly haphazard collection of occasional and programmatic pieces written in a variety of meters on diverse topics. Since most of More’s papers disappeared in the years immediately following his death, it is difficult and perhaps impossible to reconstruct on the basis of external evidence the rationale behind the selection and distribution of his epigrams. Despite this challenge, internal evidence provides some clues. Nearly half of the epigrams are translations of Greek originals. Some of these Greek originals serve as the basis for sequences of epigrams, one of which is the “Lame Beggars Sequence.” Through a process of iterative amplificatio, More progressively cultivates eloquence as he extends the meaning of his original to encompass moral and political themes. In turn, he develops the theme into original compositions before producing a final translation that encompasses both the literal and moral senses of the original Greek.","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43326961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Thomas More on the “usefulness” of liberal education","authors":"Gerard B. Wegemer","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0129","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0129","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46748269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Richard Rex, ed., Henry VIII and Martin Luther: The Second Controversy, 1525–1527","authors":"Seymour Baker House","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0130","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41671335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In comparison with Lucian, hardly any other author has achieved a similar mastery of the paradox formula of σπουδογέλοιον, the combination of serious moral exhortation with entertainment and delight. These antithetic features made him an appealing point of reference for Renaissance humanists, who not only translated parts of his oeuvre from Greek to Latin, thus casting a particular light on this versatile author and molding his literary identity according to their own tastes, but also inhaled the Lucianic esprit to such an extent that it would frequently resurface in their own writings. This article focuses on Thomas More’s Latin translations of the Greek author and their multifaceted impact on his masterpiece Utopia, ranging from the shaping of the protagonist and the authorial persona to etymological puns, the stylistic devices of irony, parody, and paradox, as well as varying degrees of fictionality that are highly indebted to Lucian.
{"title":"Tamquam alter Lucianus: the Lucianic legacy in Thomas More’s Utopia","authors":"Katharina-Maria Schön","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0124","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0124","url":null,"abstract":"In comparison with Lucian, hardly any other author has achieved a similar mastery of the paradox formula of σπουδογέλοιον, the combination of serious moral exhortation with entertainment and delight. These antithetic features made him an appealing point of reference for Renaissance humanists, who not only translated parts of his oeuvre from Greek to Latin, thus casting a particular light on this versatile author and molding his literary identity according to their own tastes, but also inhaled the Lucianic esprit to such an extent that it would frequently resurface in their own writings. This article focuses on Thomas More’s Latin translations of the Greek author and their multifaceted impact on his masterpiece Utopia, ranging from the shaping of the protagonist and the authorial persona to etymological puns, the stylistic devices of irony, parody, and paradox, as well as varying degrees of fictionality that are highly indebted to Lucian.","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44525861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review essay: Drama, counsel, and command in early modern England","authors":"L. Hebert","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0120","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44608737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
As one of the earliest English religious reformers of the 1520s, William Tyndale sought to influence ecclesiological reform in England through a vernacular printing campaign. Beginning with an English translation of the New Testament, Tyndale extended European ecclesiological controversy into England by offering the English people a distinct and radical ecclesiology that was built upon “a congregation.” This study examines the body of Tyndale’s printed works to illuminate the variety of methodologies he developed and utilized to gain public consensus for his understanding of congregation and church in hopes that lexical reform in English would initiate ecclesiological reform in England. Over time, and perhaps because of Thomas More’s criticisms, Tyndale found that the best way to appeal to the public was by lexical flexibility. Contrary to his historiographical reputation, Tyndale embraced the public’s traditional fondness for church so that he did not have to sacrifice his theological preference for congregation.
{"title":"The congregation and church of England? William Tyndale’s approach to lexical and ecclesiological reform between 1525 and 1535","authors":"J. Martin","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0116","url":null,"abstract":"As one of the earliest English religious reformers of the 1520s, William Tyndale sought to influence ecclesiological reform in England through a vernacular printing campaign. Beginning with an English translation of the New Testament, Tyndale extended European ecclesiological controversy into England by offering the English people a distinct and radical ecclesiology that was built upon “a congregation.” This study examines the body of Tyndale’s printed works to illuminate the variety of methodologies he developed and utilized to gain public consensus for his understanding of congregation and church in hopes that lexical reform in English would initiate ecclesiological reform in England. Over time, and perhaps because of Thomas More’s criticisms, Tyndale found that the best way to appeal to the public was by lexical flexibility. Contrary to his historiographical reputation, Tyndale embraced the public’s traditional fondness for church so that he did not have to sacrifice his theological preference for congregation.","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42834685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This essay examines More's engagement with Epicurean philosophy in his Life of Pico. In the Life, More enters the humanist debate on the possibility of a synthesis between Christianity and Epicureanism using Pico as a model. More's method imitates the eudaimonism of his classical sources insofar as it employs human happiness as a standard for examining the best way of life. In his evaluations of Pico, More uses the concept of the summum bonum and a hierarchy of human goods in order to show that Epicureanism mistakes the nature of the greatest good: in positing that the best life entails withdrawal from political community and social duties in order to enjoy the pleasures of philosophy, Epicureanism undermines the equanimity that it aims to achieve. As an alternative, More upholds the life of piety and Christian service as the source of “solid” happiness.
{"title":"More's Life of Pico: a Christian Epicureanism?","authors":"Veronica Brooks","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0117","url":null,"abstract":"This essay examines More's engagement with Epicurean philosophy in his Life of Pico. In the Life, More enters the humanist debate on the possibility of a synthesis between Christianity and Epicureanism using Pico as a model. More's method imitates the eudaimonism of his classical sources insofar as it employs human happiness as a standard for examining the best way of life. In his evaluations of Pico, More uses the concept of the summum bonum and a hierarchy of human goods in order to show that Epicureanism mistakes the nature of the greatest good: in positing that the best life entails withdrawal from political community and social duties in order to enjoy the pleasures of philosophy, Epicureanism undermines the equanimity that it aims to achieve. As an alternative, More upholds the life of piety and Christian service as the source of “solid” happiness.","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42404841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mark Vessey (ed.), Erasmus on Literature: His Ratio or ‘System’ of 1518/1519","authors":"T. Scheck","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0119","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45597458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The inclusion of Elizabeth Shore in Thomas More’s History of King Richard III offers important insights into the decisions made by More in shaping his text. This article explores the evidence available to More as he wrote, emphasizing the near-complete absence of Shore from earlier narratives. Shore’s activity in the 1470s and 1480s is examined, along with evidence for her survival and that of her husband, Thomas Lynom, into the 1510s when More was writing. Lynom’s connections are considered, providing an understanding of intersections of his activities with the environment in which More was shaping the History. As a central figure in the events of 1483 who survived into the 1520s, Shore was a prompt to the creation of More’s account—she was not simply a product of More’s literary and philosophical imagination, but part of his effort to respond to the immediate legacies of conflict in politics and society.
伊丽莎白·肖尔(Elizabeth Shore)被收录在托马斯·莫尔(Thomas More)的《理查三世国王的历史》(History of King Richard III)中,这为莫尔在塑造其文本时所做的决定提供了重要的见解。这篇文章探讨了莫尔所写的证据,强调肖尔几乎完全没有出现在早期的叙述中。肖在1470年代和1480年代的活动,以及她和她的丈夫托马斯·勒诺姆在1510年代莫尔写作时幸存下来的证据,都得到了检验。Lynom的关系被考虑在内,提供了对他的活动与More塑造历史的环境的交叉点的理解。作为1483年事件中幸存到1520年代的核心人物,肖尔是莫尔叙述的推动者——她不仅仅是莫尔文学和哲学想象力的产物,也是他应对政治和社会冲突直接遗产的努力的一部分。
{"title":"Thomas More, the History of King Richard III, and Elizabeth Shore","authors":"T. Thornton","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0118","url":null,"abstract":"The inclusion of Elizabeth Shore in Thomas More’s History of King Richard III offers important insights into the decisions made by More in shaping his text. This article explores the evidence available to More as he wrote, emphasizing the near-complete absence of Shore from earlier narratives. Shore’s activity in the 1470s and 1480s is examined, along with evidence for her survival and that of her husband, Thomas Lynom, into the 1510s when More was writing. Lynom’s connections are considered, providing an understanding of intersections of his activities with the environment in which More was shaping the History. As a central figure in the events of 1483 who survived into the 1520s, Shore was a prompt to the creation of More’s account—she was not simply a product of More’s literary and philosophical imagination, but part of his effort to respond to the immediate legacies of conflict in politics and society.","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49595512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
While the history of Thomas More as a character on stage is long and varied, the humanist made his most regular appearance in Latin school plays across Catholic Europe throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Still, only a handful of these plays are known to have survived, all of which were performed on the Jesuit stage. This article sheds light on a newly discovered Neo-Latin More play, which, it argues, was staged at the Benedictine college of Marchiennes in the late-sixteenth or early-seventeenth century. After a brief contextualization and analysis of the manuscript and the tragedy enclosed, the article offers an edition of the Latin text and a study of its intertextual ties with the dramatic oeuvres of Desiderius Erasmus and George Buchanan.
{"title":"Sanctus martyr Thomas Morus: an unknown Neo-Latin More play from the College of Marchiennes","authors":"Nicholas De Sutter","doi":"10.3366/more.2022.0115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/more.2022.0115","url":null,"abstract":"While the history of Thomas More as a character on stage is long and varied, the humanist made his most regular appearance in Latin school plays across Catholic Europe throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Still, only a handful of these plays are known to have survived, all of which were performed on the Jesuit stage. This article sheds light on a newly discovered Neo-Latin More play, which, it argues, was staged at the Benedictine college of Marchiennes in the late-sixteenth or early-seventeenth century. After a brief contextualization and analysis of the manuscript and the tragedy enclosed, the article offers an edition of the Latin text and a study of its intertextual ties with the dramatic oeuvres of Desiderius Erasmus and George Buchanan.","PeriodicalId":41939,"journal":{"name":"MOREANA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44069400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}