Bukolische Dichtung und Kirchenkritik. Die 9. Ekloge von Baptista Mantuanus

Abstract

In the present paper I intend to give a survey on the chronological problems of the Eclogues by Baptista Mantuanus, on their historical background, on the activity of the popes during the lifetime of Baptista, on his career in the church that gives the grounds for his sharp criticism on the moral of the popes as well as of the church. After surveying these problems I focus on the most critical 9th Eclogue by Baptista examining the Virgilian parallels and allusions, the structure of the Eclogue and the mutual influence of the medieval and humanistic way of thinking in the poem showing Virgilian and Hildebertian intertextuality, with the conclusion that humanistic and theological traditions are unified in the poem.