Reliģiskie tēli 17. gadsimta latīņu kāzu dzejā Rīgā

Abstract

The humanists of Riga began to compose various Latin poetry texts due to the currents of European humanism, which came to Livonia soon after the Protestant Reformation took place in Livonia in the first half of the 16th century. As a result of this historical and religious impact, the level of education increased, enabling an environment for the development of the literature. The aim of the article „Religious characters in the 17th-Century Nuptial Poetry in Riga” is to bring to light the content of nuptial (epithalamium, ὑμέναιος/hymenaeus, carmen nuptialis etc.) poetry written in Riga in the 17th century, providing insight into the most frequently mentioned characters and their meaning, as well as by exploring the specific features of occasional poetry to capture reader’s and researcher’s interest in the previously undiscovered cultural heritage. The subject of the study is more than 380 Latin nuptial poems, which are stored in the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the Academic Library of the University of Latvia. The poems are printed at the beginning of the 17th century by the second typographer of Riga city Gerhard Schröder (?–1657). The article includes data from a classification table (created by the author) in which the main characteristic of each poem is highlighted, including the mentions of all (more than 280) characters from ancient Greek and Roman mythology, as well as biblical and historical characters. Fragments of Latin nuptial poetry written in Riga are included to portray the content of poetry more clearly. All translations of poetry in the article are done by the author.