Neo-Latin and Humanist Greek Poetry in the Baltic Region: An Anthology (1500-1850)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Gregor Vogt-Spira
• Subject Area: Greek and Latin Philology
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 581867817

The aim of the anthology is to highlight for the first time the culturally closely connected area around the Baltic Sea as an integral part of Neo-Latin literature. Although it has been part of European Latin culture shaped by humanism since the 15th century through the founding of universities and schools, and especially through the introduction of the Reformation, it is largely absent from widely available collections of Neo-Latin texts. The anthology thus fits in with the current research trend of completing the “European map of Neo-Latin”, with a particular novelty being the inclusion of poetry written in ancient Greek, which is largely terra incognita. To ensure international and interdisciplinary accessibility, the anthology is bilingual, with English as the modern language, and care has been taken to ensure that explanatory notes below the prose translation provide the necessary background information for understanding. This is linked to another objective. Although Neo-Latin literature is a pan-European phenomenon, it is usually treated within the respective national framework – with the exception of the model Italian humanism – with the result that knowledge and research are highly fragmented along national lines; this is particularly true of North-Eastern European Latin culture. By focusing on a large region – today comprising nine neighbouring countries, and even more in earlier times – the anthology seeks to counteract this and stimulate mutual exchange, which is necessary anyway given the interwoven history of the area and the high mobility in the early modern period. In addition, a detailed introduction at the beginning, complemented by introductions to the 116 author chapters, is intended to offer a sample of a transnational literary history corresponding to the structure of Neo-Latin as the lingua franca of the early modern period, which has not existed until now due to the enormous number of texts and the insufficient state of research. From this perspective, the anthology is a model project. Last but not least, the anthology breaks new ground in another respect. Many of the texts presented here have not yet been edited or translated, let alone annotated. Through contextualisation and explanation, often based on extensive research, it seeks to create a basis on which future research can build. After all, one of its goals is to stimulate further work on the individual authors, some of whom are among the finest Latin poets of their time, whether this means the complete indexing of an author or the annotated edition of a work or group of works.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants