Theme
In our April research seminar, Professor Brian Reynolds (Fu Jen University in Taiwan) will present a selection of the earliest lyric compositions in praise of the Virgin in the vernacular languages of central Italy. They first made their appearance in the second half of the thirteenth century and proliferated over the next 150 years and more, largely in the para-liturgies of the lay laudesi companies.
These compositions present a number of interesting features. In the first place they are in continuity with the centuries-long tradition of singing praise to the Virgin stretching back to the likes of Athanasius of Alexandria, Proclus of Constantinople and the famed Akathistos Hymn. They also share much with the Latin hymns and sequences that characterise the great flowering of medieval devotion to Mary after the turn of the first millennium. Yet they also differ in notable ways. Their use of typological imagery is more sparing, their language is more immediate, appropriate for a lay, relatively unsophisticated listenership. Consistent with the rise of affective piety which focused more on the humanity of Christ and his mother, the tone is more tender, their imagery more sensual, and the appeal more emotional, unlike the more hieratic and technically complex compositions of an earlier time. Also of interest is the occasional use of terminology shared with the fin’amor love poets which, perhaps, suggests a certain rivalry between Our Lady and the ladies of the court.
Our Guest Speaker
Professor Brian K. Reynolds teaches in the Italian Department of Fu Jen University in Taiwan, focusing on Medieval Italian Literature, and is a visiting professor at the Sophia University Institute, Florence, specialising in Mariology. He received his primary degree from University College Dublin in Italian and history and went on to carry out his postgraduate studies at UCD and Trinity College Dublin. He also taught in both of these institutions and in the Università degli Studi, Bari prior to moving to Taiwan. Professor Reynolds has written and spoken widely on Dante Alighieri and on Italian courtly and religious literature of the Middle Ages. At present he is working on a three-year project on proto-Italian religious verse from the 12th to the 14th centuries. He is also a recognised expert on Patristic and Medieval Mariology.
How to register
To receive the free Zoom link, please send an email to Catherine O’Brien at the following address: info@marianstudies.ac.uk
