Olympia Fulvia Morata

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Olympia Fulvia Morata

Olympia Fulvia Morata (* 1526 in Ferrara ; † October 26, 1555 in Heidelberg ) was an Italian poet and humanist scholar. Her "achievements led the tradition of Italian humanists to the other side of the Alps, where there were previously few such women".

biography

Her father Pellegrino Moretto ( Peregrinus Fulvius Moratus ) taught the sons of Duke Alfonso I d'Este at the court of Ferrara. Because of his Calvinist inclinations, Pellegrino fell out with Alfonso, which is why the family lived in exile in Vicenza and Venice from 1532 to 1539 . After the family returned to the court of the d'Este, the wife of Duke Ercole II , Renata of France , entrusted the education of their eldest daughter Anna to the Schweinfurt humanist Johannes Sinapius and chose Olympia as a partner. Because of the cultural freedoms in the court of Renata, Olympia had access to classical works in Latin and Greek, which she studied eagerly.

In 1548 Olympia left the court to look after her father, who was sick and who died the following year. At the beginning of 1550 she married the doctor Andreas Grundler from Schweinfurt , who belonged to the circle of humanists at the court of Ferrara. Olympia lived in her native city of Ferrara, from 1550 in Schweinfurt, where Grundler had received the post of city doctor.

When Schweinfurt was conquered by Albrecht Alcibiades in the Second Margrave War in June 1554, Olympia and her husband were only able to save their bare lives; with their belongings, they also lost their personal writings. " But when the same city burned out / and their books and lots of good writings / so they made / perished by the apartment and blunder [...] " They fled with their family to the Counts of Erbach in the Odenwald. There Grundler received a call to a medical chair at the University of Heidelberg , while Olympia gave private Latin and Greek lessons.

Controversial source for Morata's university activity in Ferrara and Heidelberg

The theologian Elisabeth Gössmann reports on "details that are not mentioned or denied in recent research work" . This includes the independent information from the lexicon Die Lobworthige Gesellschaft Der Gelehrten Weiber (1631) by Johann Frauenlob on Morata's scholarly activities.

“[Morata] also in the 16th year of her age / at Ferrara publicly benefited from the Paradoxa Ciceronis and read / afterwards Commentaria in Homerum […] herself [at Heidelberg University] she has philosophies in Greek and Latin privately with great praise and read amazement. "

- Johann Frauenlob : The praiseworthy society of learned women

Gössmann also brings a message from Christian Juncker's Centuria Foeminarum (1692), which speaks of a “public chair ” in Heidelberg, where Morata “read her lectures”. The Heidelberg Graecist Jacobus Micyllus invited Morata to teach at the university himself. What Micyllus knew personally about her, especially whether he knew of her writings and whether any survived during the Schweinfurt looting / fire, has not yet been researched. Mylius' invitation to the university could not be accepted for long, because a year later (1555) she died of tuberculosis , not yet 29 years old .

Olympia Fulvia Morata was buried in the cemetery of St. Peter's Church in Heidelberg . A plaque of honor in the south side chapel of the church commemorates them.

reception

In later depictions, Olympia Fulvia Morata was often reduced to those aspects of her life that correspond to the ideal of the Protestant woman in order to use her as a model. Among other things, their virtues and steadfast belief were emphasized. Her teaching activities and her commitment to the Reformation were neglected or completely left out.

Afterlife

  • In many historical writings from the 16th to 18th centuries Olympia Fulvia Morata has an article on female scholarship in the 19th century.
  • Morata's (preserved) poems, translations, more than 50 letters and other items appeared posthumously in Basel from 1558 onwards, which the humanist Celio Secondo Curione , a friend of the family, took care of. New editions of it appeared in 1562, 1570 and 1582.
  • Olympia Fulvia Morata was one of the few women since 1583 because of her dialogues, letters and poems ( "dialogi, epistolae, & carmina" ) on the Librorum Prohibitorum index .
  • A lexicon from 1631 by Johann Frauenlob (pseudonym) devotes an independent article to her.
  • Georg Christian Lehms dedicates a longer article to her in: Teutschlands Galante Poetinnen (1715), in the appendix Ausländischer Dames , p. 172.
  • The city of Schweinfurt named the Olympia-Morata-Gymnasium after her.
  • Morata's letters are cited by Stefan Osieja in 2002 as an example of the "insufficient evidence" for God's grace in their dangerous flight from persecution by the Catholics. (Whether letters are relevant as literature for such an investigation remains open)

Editions of their (preserved) works

  • Letters . Translated from Latin, Italian and Greek by Rainer Kößling and Gertrud Weiss-Stählin. Reclam, Leipzig 1991, ISBN 3-379-00529-0 (contains not only the letters but also a selection from other texts by Morata as well as three short contemporary communications about Morata)
  • The complete writings of an Italian heretic . Edited and translated by Holt N. Parker. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago n.d. [approx. 2003], ISBN 0-226-53668-8 .
  • Celio Secondo Curione : Olympiae Fulviae Moratae mulieris omnium eruditissimae Latina et Graeca, quae haberi potuerunt, monumenta, eaque plane divina, cum eruditorum de ipsa iudicijs et laudibus , Basel 1558.

literature

Web links

proof

  1. ↑ Margaret L. King
  2. ^ Grazia Franceschini: La corte di Renata di Francia (1528-1560) . In: Storia di Ferrara . tape VI , 2000, p. 198-201 (Italian).
  3. ↑ See Johannes Frauenlob: The Praise for Society of Scholarly Women . 1631, p. 26 ( digitized in: austrian literature online - alo ) and foreword to the digital edition of their (preserved) works.
  4. ^ Elisabeth Gössmann (Ed.): Eva Gottes Meisterwerk . P. 117.
  5. ↑ Johann Frauenlob: The praiseworthy society of learned women . P. 26 ( digitized in: austrian literature online - alo ), article Olympia Fulvia Morata .
  6. ↑ Gössmann p. 267.
  7. ↑ Claudia Ulbrich: Gender roles . In: Encyclopedia of Modern Times Online . October 9, 2019 ( brillonline.com [accessed April 28, 2020]).
  8. ^ Elisabeth Gössmann (Ed.): Eva Gottes Meisterwerk . 2nd edition 2000 (writings by 14 authors, with introduction and commentary).
  9. ↑ Johann. Frauenlob: The praiseworthy society of the learned women . 1631, p. 26 ( digitized in: austrian literature online - alo ). In: E. Gössmann: Eva Gottes Meisterwerk , pp. 114–159.
  10. ↑ The literary image of the persecuted co-religionist among the Protestant writers of Romania at the time of the Reformation . European university publications. Peter Lang, European Science Publishing House, Frankfurt a. M. etc. 2002, ISBN 3631-39499-3 , p. 300.
personal data
SURNAME Morata, Olympia Fulvia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian poet and humanist scholar
DATE OF BIRTH 1526
PLACE OF BIRTH Ferrara
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 1555
Place of death Heidelberg