Francesco Benci's Quinque Martyres

Introduction, Translation and Commentary
Approx. XIV, 722 Pp. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-90-04-35660-3
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 12, 742 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 1361 g

Reihe: Jesuit Studies

In 1583, five Jesuit brothers set out with the intention of founding a new church and mission in India. Their dream was almost immediately, and brutally, terminated by local opposition. When their massacre was announced in Rome, it was treated as martyrdom. Francesco Benci, professor of rhetoric at the Collegium Romanum, immediately set about celebrating their deaths in a new type of epic, distinct from, yet dependent upon, the classical tradition: Quinque martyres e Societate Iesu in India.
This is the first critical edition and translation of this important text. The commentary highlights both the classical sources and the historical and religious context of the mission. The introduction outlines Benci’s career and stresses his role as the founder of this vibrant new genre.

This volume is the first one for a new subseries in the 'Jesuit Studies' series: 'Jesuit Neo-Latin Library'.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gwynne, Paul G

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein Missionswissenschaft, Missionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
List of Illustrations

Introduction
The Scope of this Book
A Note on the Text and Commentary
A Note on the Vocabulary

Part 1 Francesco Benci and the Heroic Impulse
Francesco Benci, Professor of Rhetoric
The Portuguese and Jesuits in Goa and Salcete
The Five Companions: Talis ab Vrlini coetus se fuderat urbe (QM. 5.606)
Synopsis of the Quinque martyres
The Quinque martyres and the Epic Tradition
Benci and Virgil
Amplificatio
Benci and Contemporary Neo-Latin Epic: Vida’s Christiad and Barga’s Syrias
Ekphrasis in the Quinque martyres
The Later Reception of the Quinque martyres

Part 2 The Quinque martyres
Book 1. Text and Translation
Book 2. Text and Translation
Book 3. Text and Translation
Book 4. Text and Translation
Book 5. Text and Translation
Book 6. Text and Translation

Commentary

Appendix 1. Prefatory Letter and Liminary Verses
Appendix 2. A Poetic Altercation and Reconciliation
Appendix 3. Report of the Massacre by Niccolò Orlandini (Latin)
Appendix 4. Report of the Massacre by Alessandro Valignano (Italian)
Appendix 5. Verses below the Five Engravings of English Martyrdom Prefaced to Ecclesiae militantis triumphi
Bibliography
Index of Proper Names
Index Locorum Citatorum

Über Autor(innen)

Paul Gwynne, PhD (1990), The Warburg Institute, University of London, is professor of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at The American University of Rome. He has published many articles and two monographs on Neo-Latin poetry: Poets and Princes: the Panegyric Poetry of Johannes Michael Nagonius, (Brepols, 2012); Patterns of Patronage in Renaissance Rome: Francesco Sperulo: Poet, Prelate, Soldier, Spy, 2 vols (Peter Lang, 2015).