Description
Book SynopsisSaint Birgitta of Sweden (d. 1373), one of the most famous visionary women of the late Middle Ages, lived in Rome for the last 23 years of her life. Much of her extensive literary work was penned there. Her Celestial Revelations circulated widely from the late 14th century to the 17th century, copied in Italian scriptoria, translated into vernacular, and printed in several Latin and Italian editions. In the same centuries, an extraordinary number of women writers across the peninsula were publishing their work. What echoes might we find of the foreign widow’s prophetic voice in their texts? This volume offers innovative investigations, written by an interdisciplinary group of experts, of the profound impact of Birgitta of Sweden in Renaissance Italy. Contributors include: Brian Richardson, Jane Tylus, Isabella Gagliardi, Clara Stella, Marco Faini, Jessica Goethals, Anna Wainwright, Eleonora Cappuccilli, Eleonora Carinci, Virginia Cox, Unn Falkeid, and Silvia Nocentini.
Trade Review"[...] a truly distinguished series, the list of whose authors reads like a Who's Who of early modern historians." William V. Hudon, in: The American Historical Review "There were some who worried that Brill’s Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions might languish once separated from the guiding hand of Heiko Oberman. One need not worry." David M. Whitford, in: Renaissance Quarterly
Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments List of Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction Unn Falkeid and Anna Wainwright 1 Birgitta and Pseudo-Birgitta: Textual Circulation and Perceptions of the Saint Brian Richardson 2 Making Birgitta Italian: The Time of Translation Jane Tylus 3 Prophetic Theology: The Santa Brigida da Paradiso in Florence Isabella Gagliardi 4 A Lineage of Apocalyptic Queens: The Portrayal of Birgitta of Sweden in Domenica Narducci’s Sermon to Caterina Cibo (1533) Clara Stella 5 The Fifteen Prayers Attributed to Birgitta and Their Circulation in Early Modern Italy: Private Devotion, Heterodoxy, and Censorship Marco Faini 6 Ventriloquizing Birgitta: The Saint’s Prophetic Voice During the Italian Wars Jessica Goethals and Anna Wainwright 7 The Semantics of Obedience. Birgittine Influences on Paola Antonia Negri’s Letters Eleonora Cappuccilli 8 Discourses on the Virgin Mary: Birgitta of Sweden and Chiara Matraini Eleonora Carinci 9 “Consenti, o pia, ch’in lagrimosi carmi …:” Birgitta in the Verse, Thought, and Artistic Commissions of Angelo Grillo Virginia Cox 10 “The Most Illustrious and Divine of All the Sibyls.” Saint Birgitta in the Prophetic Visions of Tommaso Campanella and Queen Cristina of Sweden Unn Falkeid Appendix: One Life, Many Hagiographers: The Earliest Vitae of Birgitta of Sweden Silvia Nocentini Bibliography General Index
