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IMC 2003: Sessions

Session 1223: Ovidian Auctoritas in the High Middle Ages

Wednesday 16 July 2003, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:Frank T. Coulson, Department of Greek & Latin, Ohio State University
Moderator/Chair:Frank T. Coulson, Department of Greek & Latin, Ohio State University
Paper 1223-aPhilology in the 13th Century: The Bursarii super Ovidios of William of Orleans
(Language: English)
Wilken Engelbrecht, Department of German & Dutch, Palacký University, Olomouc
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance)
Paper 1223-bThe Reception of Ovid's Fasti in the Middle Ages
(Language: English)
Carole E. Newlands, Department of Classics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance)
Paper 1223-cAuthority and Experience
(Language: English)
Ralph J. Hexter, Program in Medieval Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance)
Abstract

This session will examine the influence of Ovid's poetry in the school tradition of the high Middle Ages. The three speakers will focus on various works from divergent perspectives: Wilken Engelbrecht will discuss William of Orléans's strongly philosophical approach to explicating the "Heroides" and place the commentary within the broader current of criticism at Orléans. Carole Newlands will discuss the broader reception of the "Fasti" in the Middle Ages with reference to many unedited commentaries (i.e. Pembroke College 280). Lastly, Ralph Hexter's talk examines accessus, medieval biographies of Ovid (some hitherto unedited), and other commentary material that link Ovid's life with the purported "intentio" and "utilitas" of his works to argue that Ovid's particular authority for medieval readers was closely linked with the poet's lived experience as it was described in the biographical portions of the commentary tradition.