Text and Authority in the Early Modern Era

The importance of Greco-Roman texts for early European conceptions of the Americashas long been recognised (Grafton & Siraisi, Haase & Reinhold, Lupher), but did colonization and sustained encounters with indigenous societies change the ways in which classical authorities were canonised, conceived and invoked?

The object of this paper is to discuss the peculiar use of sources in Erasmus’ most extensive and relevant work on marriage, the Christiani matrimonii institutio (1526). Marriage is an important topic within the production of the great humanist, pondered throughout many works (e.g. the Colloquia but also the Annotationes to the New Testament) and sole focus of various publications (in addition to the Institutio, cf.

In his Areopagitica, John Milton opposes the licensure of books and supports the liberty of reading any book of one’s choice; hence, he claims, there is no need for a Christian to avoid “Hellenick learning” (Wolf 2.509). Nonetheless, how does Milton, an active protestant and iconoclast, deal with the Classical sources that have potentials to undermine the authority of the Scripture and nurture idolatrous beliefs? Is there a conflict between Milton’s iconoclasm and defense for the freedom of print?

The 1609 Anacreón castellano of Francisco de Quevedo, iconic poet of the Spanish Baroque, is recognized among Hispanists for cementing the author’s Hellenist reputation among his contemporaries.