International FIDEM Meeting: Varieties of Readings of Medieval Sources

Cluj, Romania, 23–26 September 2015

http://hiphi.ubbcluj.ro/fidem2015

In his Glossae super Boethium (CCCM 158, ed. Nauta, 1999, p. 202, 90-93), William of Conches states: “...de eadem re secundum diversas considerationes diversae inveniuntur expositiones. Sed non est curandum de diversitate expositionum, immo gaudendum, sed de contrarietate si in expositionibus esset ...”

What is the nature of the diversity of reading medieval sources? How do theological, philosophical, literary, historical or musical sources relate to the text? How do Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Arabic or vernacular texts allow researchers to decipher the meaning of the “textual source” for the medieval man of letters? Why does the same text inspire different readings? Why do medieval texts rely so heavily on sources, and why is this habit at the root of an entire tradition of interpretation? This is an interdisciplinary problems and it can be identified in all fields of medieval studies. It therefore challenges every specialist in the texts he studies, whether from the Early Middle Ages, or from the end of this period which covered an entire millennium.

The goal of this FIDEM meeting is to provide an analysis of the varieties of interpretation, and of its importance for the intellectual life of the Middle Ages.