Women Latinists of Renaissance England (Lecture at Leuven, 24 September 2008)

Neo-Latin scholars at the University of Leuven recently informed their fellow members at IANLS - International Association for Neo-Latin Studies - of a lecture, to be held at Leuven tomorrow, by Professor Brenda M. Hosington (University of Warwick): ' "Minerva and the Muses". Women Latinists of Renaissance England'.

This lecture both serves as the third Jozef IJsewijn lecture, and as the opening of the 2008-2009 Master in Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Leuven.

Jozef IJsewijn (1932-1998) was professor of Neo-Latin at Leuven. In 1966, he founded the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae for the study of Neo-Latin language and literature, and somewhat later, a journal called Humanistica Lovaniensia.

Related to the journal, Leuven University Press publishes a publication series called Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia. Number 16 in this series was a volume of essays edited by Dirk Sacré and Gilbert Tournoy in honor of Jozef IJsewijn: Myricae. Essays on Neo-Latin Literature in Memory of Jozef IJsewijn (Leuven, 2000, ISBN 978-90586705-40).

The Master in Medieval and Renaissance Studies is an interdisciplinary, post-initial Master's degree ('Manama') on offer in English at the university of Leuven. Various research centers participate in it: the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae; Illuminare or the Center for the Study of Illumination; the 'Aristoteles Latinus' project; the De Wulf-Mansion Centre (philosophy); the Research Unit History of the Middle Ages, and the Institute for Medieval Studies.

Details Prof. Hosington's lecture: Lipsiuszaal, Faculty of Arts (Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, 3000 Leuven), 5 p.m. Lecture followed by a reception. Organisation: Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae, KU Leuven.

Talk on manuscript illumination at Public Library Bruges (18 September 2008)

In libraries in the Dutch-speaking part of this country, the term stadsbibliotheek (City Library) is falling in desuetude. At Antwerp, Stadsbibliotheek Antwerpen (SBA) has become Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience. We also should stop saying Stadsbibliotheek Brugge to Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge (Public Library).

In Bruges, the main building in the public library system is also called Hoofdbibliotheek 'Biekorf' (beehive). Now its Friends, Vrienden van de Biekorfbibliotheek vzw, are the organizers, about twice a year, for public events related to its older holdings.

The Biekorf now welcomes the public for a talk by Dutch illumination specialist Saskia van Bergen, in Dutch, entitled Een Brugs handschriftenatelier in de late middeleeuwen, which is based on the results of her doctoral research.

Van Bergen completed a PhD at the University of Amsterdam in 2007 with a thesis called
De Meesters van Otto van Moerdrecht. Een onderzoek naar de stijl en iconografie van een groep miniaturisten, in relatie tot de productie van getijdenboeken in Brugge rond 1430.

The Biekorf holds manuscripts, including books of hours by Bruges facture, but none, so far as we know, by the so-called Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht.

Van Bergen will no doubt explain who Otto van Moerdrecht was, but via this case study of a workshop around 1430 also show how vast an illumination and manuscript industry, solely working for export, was at Bruges.

Details: Hoofdbibliotheek Biekorf (Reading Room), Kuipersstraat 3, 8000 Brugge, 18 September 2008, 8.pm. Entrance fee: 3 € (free entry for Friends of the Biekorf).

Photo: Christ before Pilate, illumination from Book of Hours, use of Bruges (late 16th C). Illuminations on the verso side of interfoliated leaves. Cultura Fonds Collection.