Telephone number:	+31 (0)71 527 2671
E-Mail:	s.t.m.de.beer@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department:	Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Institute for Cultural Disciplines, Latijnse T&C
Office Address:	Johan Huizingagebouw Doelensteeg 16 2311 VL Leiden Room number 1.06b
Telephone number:	+31 (0)71 527 2671
E-Mail:	s.t.m.de.beer@umail.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department:	Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Institute for Cultural Disciplines, Latijnse T&C
Office Address:	Johan Huizingagebouw Doelensteeg 16 2311 VL Leiden Room number 1.06b
Personal Homepage:	hum.leiden.edu/​icd/​members-medieval-early-modern/​beerstmde.html

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Fields of interest

• (Neo-)Latin poetry
• Italian humanism
• Literary patronage
• Classical tradition/the transmission of Classical literature
• Neo-Latin commentaries
• Early Modern natural history and geography

Research

Visions of Rome. Strategic Appropriation of the Roman Heritage in Humanist Latin Poetry (VENI from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research)

Capitol Hill in Washington and Mussolini’s triumphal road along the Forum Romanum both present a visual connection to ancient Rome that supports a claim to power. These claims could only be plausible because the city of Rome was – and still is -  a heritage site of shared cultural, political and religious milestones. This central position is largely the result of the activities of the Renaissance humanists. They fervently uncovered the glorious Roman past that was still perceptible in the ruined monuments and the Latin Classics. At the same time they restored the Roman heritage by new literary output. This process of preservation and renovation is reflected in the visions of Rome articulated in humanist Latin poetry. A systematic study of these texts is particularly rewarding, because they were written by the main agents in this process, and combine ancient and contemporary, visual and literary images of the eternal city.
These images range from Rome as the capital of a powerful empire to a ruined city; from Rome as the iconic centre of Christian faith to the target of the Protestant Reformation. This research project aims at mapping and understanding these contrasting visions, by viewing them as the result of a dynamic process of selection, interpretation and appropriation of the Roman heritage. It is my hypothesis that these images were strategically employed in order to shape the identities of the humanists and their audience and to legitimize the political and religious powers involved. I furthermore assume that the Latin literary genres, themes and motifs employed support and unite these strategies.
By adopting a multidisciplinary approach, consisting of literary, cultural-historical and sociological methods I will offer a new interpretative framework for the flexibility of the Roman image as strategic appropriation of Rome’s literary and cultural heritage.

Former research

Roman Scientific and Encyclopaedic Literature: Foundation and Authorisation of Early Modern Knowledge (postdoc-project within the NWO-project supervised by Prof. K.A.E. Enenkel ‘The New Management of Knowledge in the Early Modern Period: The Transmission of Classical Latin Literature via Neo-Latin Commentaries’).

Forthcoming articles within this project: The World Upside Down. The Geographical Revolution in Humanist Commentaries on Pliny’s Natural History and Mela’s De situ orbis (1450-1700)

In the same year in which Columbus set out to sail westwards to the Indies and discovered America, Ermolao Barbaro published his Castigationes Plinianae, the first early modern commentary on the Historia Naturalis by Pliny the Elder. The first five chapters of this ancient encyclopedia are dedicated to cosmography and geography, precisely the fields that were shaken up by the discoveries of Columbus and his contemporaries. Although much of the information presented in ancient geographical treatises became obsolete during what is termed ‘the Geographical Revolution’, the interest in these texts by no means declined, on the contrary, as the wealth of new text editions and commentaries shows. This article aims at clarifying this seeming paradox through a detailed analysis of a selection of early modern commentaries on Pliny the Elder’s Natural History and Pomponius Mela’s De situ orbis. As mediators between ancient text and early modern reader these commentaries provide valuable clues as to how they were read and to what purpose, and teach us how ancient authority functioned in a period of transition. This study reveals a general tendency of commentators to discard the discrepancies between ancient texts and modern discoveries except for the cases in which the ancient text is used as a stepping stone for presenting the commentator’s own geographical expertise.

Pliny in Padua. Humanist Commentaries and the Medical Renaissance in 16th century Italy

In 1571 Girolamo Mercuriale da Forlì held a lecture at the university of Padua in which he advices medical students how to organize their studies. Among other things he lists the most outstanding medical authors, from which Hippokrates, Galen, Celsus and Avicenna should always be at hand. This lecture reflects the common practices in theoretical medicine, and concurs with the humanists’ adagium to go back to the ancient texts themselves. However, when we realize that this lecture was held in a periodwhen the university of Padua attracted students primarily because of the dissections practiced in the anatomical theatre, and because of Melchiore Guilandino’s lectures in the botanical garden, it might seem strange that Mercuriale in his lecture on the study of medicine makes no mention of this remarkable innovation. This article aims at clarifying this seeming paradox by assessing the role of ancient texts both in the traditional medical curriculum, and in the emergence of the new disciplines of anatomy and medical botany. For this purpose humanist commentaries prove very valuable, because as mediators between ancient texts and early modern reader they show in detail how and to what purpose they were read. It will show that although at first the ancient texts provided the most important medical information, their importance gradually changed into the authorization of new fields of medical study.

PhD research

The Poetics of Patronage. Poetry as Self-Advancement in Giannantonio Campano (forthcoming publication Brepols Publishers, 2011)

Whereas many of the palaces, paintings and statues that Renaissance princes such as Pius II or Federico da Montefeltro commissioned can still be admired, most of the poetry dedicated to them has fallen into oblivion, only preserved in personal miscellanies or luxurious presentation copies. This fate is all the more ironic if you consider that granting immortality was one of the main functions of these poems. Forming an essential part of humanism’s scholarly output, they give insight in the development of various poetic genres. Moreover, this poetry formed an important gift to the patrons who were indispensable for the careers of humanists like Giannantonio Campano (1429-1477).
This thesis aims at understanding what made Campano’s poetry into a fit contribution to his patronage relationships, and how he adapted the form and content to fulfill this function. His literary strategies enabled him to consider his patrons’ goals and his own literary reputation at the same time. This follows from his choices for certain classical genres that were not only perfectly suited because of their patronage related arguments and motifs, but that also enjoyed great interest among the humanists and princes of his time.

Curriculum Vitae

2009-today Post-doctoral researcher and lecturer (Neo-)Latin at the Department of Classics, Leiden University
2002–2007 Doctorate (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam. Supervisors: Prof. B. Kempers & Prof. K.A.E. Enenkel
2007 Supervisor (ad interim) of the Huizinga Institute, Graduate School for Cultural History in Amsterdam
2001-2008 Employee at Burgersdijk & Niermans, Antiquarian Bookshop and Auction House, Leiden
1994-2000 Study of Classical Languages at Leiden University, with a specialization in (Neo-)Latin literature

Awards and Scholarships

2010 VENI grant from the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Resarch
2007 ICH Award for ‘Promovendus of the Year’ ( Institute of Culture & History, University of Amsterdam)
2000-2006 Several research scholarships at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) and the Dutch Art-historical Institute in Florence (NIKI), co-sponsored by NWO

Teaching Activities

2011	BA-1 Tutorship BA-2 Guest lecture in Honours programme Art & Literature BA-3 course Latin 'Literary Patronage in Antiquity & Renaissance' BA-3 course 'Erflaters van onze beschaving', coordination & guest lectures (R)MA - seminar Latin 'Visions of Rome' Supervision of several BA-3 & MA theses
2010	BA-1 course 'Taaltraining Latijn' BA-2 course Supervised Reading List BA-3 Pensum Latin MA-tutorial Celsus. In co-operation with Prof. M. Horstmanshoff & Dr. G.M.P. Loots
2009	BA-1 course 'Cicero in de aanval'

From 2001 to 2007 I gave and participated in several BA and MA-courses at the Departments of Classics and Cultural History of the University of Amsterdam and the Classics Department of Leiden University, both in the field of Latin language and literature, as well as Renaissance art and literature.