Early Modern Receptions of Tacitus
High Tacitism
Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available
Description
This volume explores the uses of the enduringly popular Roman historian Tacitus in and since the early modern period. In particular, it focuses on the road to and ongoing legacy of 'high Tacitism' (c. 1570 – 1670), a period when Tacitus was the most widely-published ancient historian. Rediscovered comparatively late, Tacitus' works did not find a place in education comparable to Cicero or Virgil, but the intense period of reception was a major intellectual current in early Modern Europe which presented a key re-direction of humanism, and a challenge to Ciceronian humanism.
Bringing together an international team of scholars of early modern history and literature, intellectual history, classical and Neo-Latin philology and classical reception studies, this collection establishes the distinctive features of high Tacitism and traces how it influenced later receptions of Tacitus. The trans-European sweep of the chapters represents the wide influence of Tacitus' works which provided language that crossed political borders and confessional divides. The model of reception proposed is sensitive to the development of layered receptions, while also respecting the inevitable discontinuities that arise within any tradition.
Table of Contents
1. Tacitus in Latin Editions and Commentaries of the Annals and Histories (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries): a Study of the Paratexts (Lucie Claire, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France)
2. Prae-Tacitism and Anti-Tacitism: Gerolamo Cardano's Encomium Neronis (Karl Enenkel, University of Münster, Germany)
3. An Electronic Edition of Neo-Latin Commentaries on the Annals to Analyse Early Modern Politicisation(s) of Tacitus: the Case Study of Agrippa Postumus' Conspiracy (Louis Autin, Sorbonne Université, France)
4. Tacitus and Tacitism in William Camden's Annales of the Reign of Elizabeth I (James McNamara, University of Innsbruck, Austria)
5. The 'Gray' Tacitus of Jesuits: The case of Famiano Strada (Gennaro Celato, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Italy)
6. Pier Winsemius' Historiae, another Tacitist history of the Dutch revolt (Jan Waszink, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)
7. Imperium and Peace: Re-examining Tacitus' Legacy in Early Modern Spain (Carolina Ferraro, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)
8. Who can read Tacitus? Tacitean identities in Ben Jonson and Francis Bacon (Zofia Zóltek, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)
9. Reinventing Tacitus as a Poet and an Artist: The Evolution of a Critical Perspective (Claudio Bongiovanni, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Italy)
10. Tacitus Aulicus (Roland Mayer, King's College London, UK)
Conclusion: The Ends of High Tacitism (Victoria Emma Pagán, University of Florida, USA)
Product details
| Published | Nov 12 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 272 |
| ISBN | 9781350593015 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 8 bw illus |
| Series | Bloomsbury Neo-Latin Series: Studies in Early Modern Latin |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Related Titles
