Preaching is more than just speaking in public. The persuasion of people and the theory underlying it are precedents of modern propaganda. In his Rhetorica Ecclesiastica, Agostino Valier (1531-1606) outlines what a Catholic preacher should know before he is allowed to deliver his sermons. Closely related to Cardinal Charles Borromeo's entourage and to the directions emanating from the Council of Trent, this treatise was considered to be one of the most influential ones back in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and soon became a must for seminaries all over the world. After...

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2014 Library Journal Best Print Reference Selection 2014 With its striking range and penetrating depth, Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Neo-Latin World traces the enduring history and broad cultural influence of Neo-Latin, the form of Latin that originated in the Italian Renaissance and persists to the modern era. Featuring original contributions by a host of distinguished international scholars, this 800,000 word two-volume work explores every aspect of the civilized world from literature and law to philosophy and the...

In this volume, Eobanus Hessus turns from passionate Erasmian into staunch defender of Luther, only to find himself caught in the no-man's-land between the two titans. Under Erasmus' spell, he writes "Itinerary of My Journey to Erasmus," "On the Restoration of Studies at Erfurt," epigrams against Edward Lee, and "Short Preface to the 'Enchiridion.'" Changing course in 1521, he publishes "Elegies in Praise and Defense of Luther" and "Letter of the Afflicted Church to Luther." Thereafter, amid tumults and academic collapse, he battles the radical preachers in "Some Letters of Illustrious Men...

Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547) was the genre-defining secular woman writer of Renaissance Italy, whose literary model helped to establish a decorous and wholly assimilated voice for women within the field of Italian literature. The Companion to Vittoria Colonna brings together an international and interdisciplinary group of leading scholars to assess Colonna's contribution, both as a writer, a role model, and a contributor to important religious debates of the era. This book, while amply fulfilling the remit of providing a useful and comprehensive handbook to meet the needs of students and...

The new Companion to Erasmus in the Renaissance Society of America’s Texts and Studies Series draws on the insights of an international team of distinguished experts whose contributions are arrayed in eleven chapters followed by a detailed chronological catalogue of Erasmus’ works and an up-to-date bibliography of secondary sources. The ambition of this companion is to illuminate every aspect of Erasmus’ life, work, and legacy while providing an expert synthesis of the most inspiring research in the field. This volume will be of invaluable assistance to students and teachers...

A Companion to the Renaissance in Southern Italy offers readers unfamiliar with Southern Italy an introduction to different aspects of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century history and culture of this vast and significant area of Europe, situated at the center of the Mediterranean. Commonly regarded as a backward, rural region untouched by the Italian Renaissance, the essays in this volume paint a rather different picture. The expert-written contributions present a general survey of the most recent research on the centers of southern Italy, as well as insight into the ground-breaking debates...