Arbor praedicandi. A few remarks on dispositio in medieval sermons (based on Nicholas of Błonie’s sermo 39 “Semen est verbum Dei”)

The main goal of the article is to present the motif of a compositional tree-shaped scheme called arbor picta (arbor praedicandi) and to show it against the field of rhetorical elements such as dispositio and memoria as found in medieval sermons. The basic sources for the analysis of this issue are two fourteenth-century theoretical treatises on the art of preaching (manuals: Libellus artis preadicatorie of Jacob of Fusignano and Tractatulus solennis de arte et vero modo praedicandi of Pseudo-Thomas Aquinas), and one of the sermons from the collection de tempore of fifteenth-century Polish preacher Nicholas of Błonie (Dominica sexagesime: sermo 39 “Semen est verbum Dei”). The problems of arbor praedicandi, which are a part of a broader field of study on the structure of sermons, editorial methods of texts and memorable techniques, were the subject of interest of many researchers such as H. Caplan, O.A. Dieter, S. Khan, S. Wenzel. In Poland, this issue has not yet become a subject of proper study.

In order to analyse the scheme in the treatises of Jacob of Fusignano and Pseudo- Thomas Aquinas, and in the sample sermon, the article briefly outlines the existence of topics and images of the tree in the writings of the Middle Ages (eg. lignum vitae, arbor sapientiae, arbor amoris). Then the essay presents fragments from the manuals of Jacob of Fusignano and Pseudo-Thomas Aquinas in which the authors discussed the scheme and explained its importance for the practice of preaching. Analysis of sample sermons – the article uses sermo 39 of Nicholas of Błonie’s collection de tempore – shows the creative use of the tree scheme in the sermon by the Polish preacher (with the specula- tive assumption that Nicholas of Błonie knew Jacob of Fusignano’s theory of preaching). The paper also pays particular attention to the circumstances of the development of the art of preaching in the late Middle Ages in Poland. Finally, the article focuses on the importance of the concept of the sermon as a tree for the elements of rhetoric such as dispositio /divisio /partito and memoria. It proves that the use of the tree scheme in presenting abstract concepts and structuring of text allowed preachers and audiences to visualise vague and often difficult ideas, as well as to describe their relationship within the sermons’ topics. Therefore the use of the schema in the Middle Ages had great significance for ars memorativa and the didactic dimensions.

On the main trends in studies of Ukrainian baroque rhetoric

The author illustrates the state of the art about the theory of rhetoric in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries. She indicates the main results of studies of the ancient Ukrainian rhetoric manuals: academic descriptions (by Mykola Petrov and Volodymyr Lytvynov), a publication of the Rhetoric of Teofan Prokopovych (by Renate Lachmann), some Ukrainian translations (by Myroslav Rohovych, Vitalii Masluk etc.) and main interpretations (by Renate Lachmann, Dmytro Nalyvaiko and Marek Skwara).

The author makes a survey of the contributions written by previous scholars and indicates why their approach was only partial. To some extent she puts this down to ideological reasons. The author indicates that the texts of rhetoric and poetic treatises were often confused or dealt with in the same course, whereas the latter could be shorter or longer. Individual preferences and occasional reasons could induce the teacher/writer of rhetoric or poetics to look for various solutions and to adapt the course to the needs of the students, school or circumstances. Modern research into baroque Ukrainian rhetoric courses is critically analysed based on textual study of the sources. The necessity for a re-edition of the following fundamental academic works is substantiated: the description of eloquence courses in Kiev-Mohyla Academy by Vladimir Lytvynov and the Ukrainian translation of a rhetoric treatise by Feofan Prokopovych (1706).
The following key directions for research have been specified: 1) modern description of treatises stored in Ukrainian libraries, based on descriptions by Nikolay Petrov and Vladimir Lytvynov, with corrections to detected inaccuracies and additions;
2) publication of the texts of selected rhetoric courses at a modern academic level (introductory research article, photo-copy of the original, detailed comments);
3) a Ukrainian translation; 4) monographic studies of (a search for classic and renaissance or baroque) Western sources and models of Ukrainian rhetoric, determination
of style dominant etc.). The search for Jesuit rhetoric in Ukraine is a task that scholarship must initiate.
The author indicates her future methods in her planned investigation. She intends to begin by choosing one important text that has not yet been properly investigated (for example, the Manuductio (1736)). The project of publishing all the texts with a modern translation is sensible. The first thing to do is to make texts accessible to a large number of scholars. The conclusion is drawn that the 1980s and early 1990s were the most fruitful period for studies of ancient Ukrainian rhetoric courses.

The article aims to present a new interpretation of Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski’s De vanitate consiliorum by discussing the way the Latin notion of prudentia and the two-fold argument (disputatio in utramque partem) are employed in the dialogue.
The first part of the article briefly discusses the origin and meanings of prudentia as it was employed in the Ciceronian tradition. The notion of prudence as practical judgement in relation to affairs of state is linked here to the Ciceronian mode of arguing in utramque partem, allowing a careful examination of different aspects of any given issue before taking political action.
The second part of the article outlines the ways the notion of prudence is used throughout De vanitate consiliorum. Prudentia is referred to by the characters of the dialogue as a faculty that allows the statesman to make the best of contradictory forces influencing the course of political affairs – a faculty which does not ensure success, but allows one to achieve the best possible result in the contingent sphere of human affairs.
The third and final part of the article discusses the two ways the image of ‘two-headed prudence’ is invoked in De vanitate consiliorum, either in reference to the prudent judgement which carefully examines different aspects of the issue at hand or to the council’s indecisiveness which hinders the possibility of consensus necessary to take political action. An interpretation of the dialogue as a rhetorical exercise in prudence is proposed in this part, arguing that the way Lubomirski employs rhetorical deliberation in utramque partem invites the reader to constantly exercise his own practical judgement in relation to affairs of state.
 

Projekt został sfinansowany ze środków Narodowego Centrum Nauki przyznanych
na podstawie decyzji numer DEC-2012/07/N/HS2/00740

Prudence, telescope and eschata. Around Emblem 96 by Zbigniew Morsztyn

The paper is an attempt at analysis and interpretation of Emblem 96 by Zbigniew Morsztyn. The author presents the text against a broad comparative background and argues that the work is a particular study of the virtue of prudence, for which anticipating future (or more strictly speaking: last) things is a key issue.
To date, the ninety-sixth emblem by Zbigniew Morsztyn, although relatively frequently studied by scholars of old-Polish literature, has not yet been comprehensively interpreted. Models of such analyses are provided in articles by Janusz Sławiński or Maria Renata Mayenowa on Emblem 102, complemented by the works of Janusz Pelc and the recent studies in the subject of emblems by Radosław Grześkowiak and Jakub Niedźwiedź.
In the beginning, the author shortly outlines the history of the notion of the virtue of prudence in classical and biblical aretology as well as in Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Thaeologiae, which significantly influenced the definition of the virtue of prudence in Christianity.
Later, in a detailed analysis of Morsztyn’s text the author tracks references to various elements of Prudence. It seems that (according to Morsztyn) the most important element of this virtue among those distinguished in aretology is providence, that is, the ability to anticipate future things, since this is what the posthumous fate of a man’s soul depends on. Morsztyn illustrated sensible providence using the metaphor of a telescope. This optical instrument, apparent in the iconographical schema of the original print as presented by Morsztyn, supports the cognitive abilities of man and allows him to discern future things that are crucial for his salvation, that is the last things, which he often forgets when carrying on his worldly matters.
In order to show the uniqueness and originality of Morsztyn’s presentation of the subject, the author compares his works with emblem XIV from book I of Herman Hugon’s Pia desideria in the translation of Aleksander Teodor Lacki, the adaptation of Mikołaj Mieleszko and the English version of Hugon’s emblems by Francis Quarles. All these variants differ from each other in that they contain differently detailed deliberations on prudence and the last things, as well as in diverse application of the telescope metaphor. Thus Quarles shaped his emblem as a dialogue between Soul and Body in which Soul is trying to convince her interlocutor of the superiority of the telescope over the prism in the thoughtful cognition of the truth about eschata. Mieleszko, by contrast, built his emblem on the concept of a telescope that is turned over and so distances the eschatological vision. Lastly, in the subscription of Hugon-Lacki’s emblem there is no mention of the telescope whatsoever.
Such comparative juxtaposition of Morsztyn’s emblem with other adaptations
of the Belgian Jesuit’s work exposes not only the artistry of the synthetic presentation
of the subject by the old-Polish poet, but also his aretological awareness.
 

The goal of this article is to present a new reading of a short dedicatory poem offered by an outstanding poet of the Italian Renaissance, Torquato Tasso, to Stanisław Reszka, the abbot in Jędrzejów, the secretary of Stanisław Hozjusz, and, in this specific case, the ambassador of the Polish king Sigismund III to the Kingdom of Naples.
The poet and the ambassador met in 1594 in Naples, where both were recovering from illnesses. Their meeting took place shortly after the publication of Jerusalem conquered, which was a recomposed version of Jerusalem delivered, published in 1593. The poet wished to present his newly created work to men of letters and in common opinion it would have been difficult to find in Naples anyone more estimable than Reszka in those days.
Torquato Tasso offered to Stanisław Reszka a copy of his new book with a dedication in the form of a short, eight-verse poem of his own creation. Until now, the ottava was known from the transcription contained in Bibliografia critica by S. Ciampi and in the Italian edition of Tasso’s letters, published by C. Guasti. In Polish literary circles the text of the poem was known thanks to the work of Professor Windakiewicz, who at the close of the 19th century published it in Polish translation and some time later the original text of the poem.
The lead to the British Library copy was discovered during the course of research on early printed books owned or written by Stanisław Reszka and preserved in the collection of the Jagiellonian Library. With the generous help of Stephen Parkin, the curator of the Italian collection in the British Library, the original of the autograph was found, and thus it became possible to compare the existing texts with the original. During the comparison it appeared that the transcription given by Ciampi with the help of the Roman bookseller Giovanni Petrucci differs in some places from the British Library original.
The author proposes a new reading of several uncertain places based on his own palaeographic experience as well as on the help of relevant reference works from the epoch.

A New Edition of Abraomas Kulvietis’sConfessio fidei

The paper discusses the latest edition of the works of a Lithuanian humanist and propagator of the Reformation, Abraham Kulwieć (Abraomas Kulvetis, ca. 1510/1512–1545), edited by a Lithuanian scholar, Dainora Pociūtė. In the first part the author raises the question of Kulvetis’s absence in the contemporary historical studies of Polish Renaissance literature. In the second part of the paper the author reminds the role of this person in the development of humanist culture and Reformation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the first half of the 16th century.

 

Omówienie:

Ina Kok,Woodcuts in the Incunabula Printed in the Low Countries, Houten: HES & DE GRAAF 2013

Recenzja:

Gregson Davis, The Interplay of Ideas in Vergilian Bucolic, Leiden-Boston 2012

Omówienie

Marta Spranzi, The Art of Dialectic between Dialogue and Rhetoric. The Aristotelian Tradition, Amsterdam-Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company  2011