Transitions - Transitions (Département de recherches sur le Moyen Âge tardif & la première Modernité) - ULiège
Disciplines :
History
Author, co-author :
Adam, Renaud ; Université de Liège > Département des sciences historiques > Histoire moderne
Language :
English
Title :
The First Edition of Thomas More’s Utopia, its Printer and the Erasmian Network: Exploring the Role of a Humanist Network in a Printing Workshop
Publication date :
30 November 2016
Event name :
Authority Revisited. Towards Thomas More and Erasmus in 1516
Event organizer :
Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven
Event place :
Louvain, Belgium
Event date :
du 30 novembre au 2 décembre 2016
Audience :
International
References of the abstract :
Theodoricus Martinus Alostensis published the editio princeps of Thomas More’s Utopia at the end of the year 1516 in Louvain. But for which reason would the English humanist entrust his text to this printer and not to someone like Johann Froben in Basel or Jodocus Badius Ascensius in Paris? In fact, Thomas More did not choose Theodoricus Martinus randomly, but had been guided by his friend Erasmus, who was living in Brabant at that time and was working directly with this printer, even in his workshop. Members of the circle of the humanist from Rotterdam were charged to monitor closely the printing of the Utopia, to do the proofreading and to direct the publishing. Pieter Gillis – clerk of city of Antwerp and close friend of both More and Erasmus – and Gerard Geldenhouwer were involved in this edition. By studying the correspondence of Erasmus, we will first rebuild the process of printing the first edition of the Utopia. This will also be an opportunity to study the role and the composition of the network of humanists working closely with Theodoricus Martinus. Without them, this printer would never have been able to build his identity as a “printer humanist” and to transform his workshop into one of the leading places for the diffusion of humanism in the Low Countries in the first decades of the 16th century.
