Petrarch Commentary and Exegesis in Renaissance Italy, c. 1350-c. 1650

The poet and humanist Francesco Petrarca (1304-74) or Petrarch remains to this day one of Italy's most iconic and influential vernacular poets. Petrarch's influence on poetic and linguistic practice was epoch-defining in Renaissance Europe. His vernacular poetry became the supreme model for lyric poetry and indeed for refined literary style itself. It spawned countless admirers and imitators in England, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and elsewhere. In Italy, Petrarch's poetry provided the basis upon which to establish the standards for developing and regulating the Italian language.

This project envisages a 3-year research collaboration focusing on the production and dissemination of commentaries and other exegetical writings upon Petrarch's vernacular verse (that is, his 'Canzoniere' or 'Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta' and his 'Triumphi') in Renaissance Italy. The collaboration involves the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at Warwick, the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at Leeds, and the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures and John Rylands Research Institute, Manchester.

With the rise of Petrarch's reputation and influence came the emergence, especially in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, of a rich and extensive body of critical commentary upon both of his vernacular poetic works. In manuscript and increasingly in print, we find over twenty major full-length commentaries (many in multiple reprints), several hundred items of other exegesis such as annotations in editions, public and private lectures ('lezioni'), dialogues, and treatises. And yet, quite remarkably, especially given Petrarch's influence, diffusion and transnational appeal, no attempt has been made to catalogue or understand as whole this body of critical interpretation. This ambitious collaborative project aims to address this neglect and to lay the foundations for all future research on the Italian context, and, given Italy's formative role in this period, for research on Petrarch's afterlife in a variety of other European contexts - by providing the following:
1. the first fully searchable online census of Petrarch commentaries, public and private lessons and related writings (c. 1350-c.1650). The database will incorporate a wealth of information on the authors, printers, dedicatees, paratexts (the corpus is especially rich in annotations, lives, commentaries, illustrations, and maps).
2. a digital library with full digitizations of 75 texts of commentary/exegesis made publically accessible
3. an enriched set of catalogue records, based on the census, surfaced to a worldwide audience of researchers via enhanced local catalogue records uploaded to the national and international union research catalogues
4. 10 academic articles and two sets of conference proceedings which will provide ground-breaking studies of: (i) the diffusion of the various works in both manuscript and print, their mechanisms of circulation and the interests/roles of particular printers; (ii) the major genres of critical discussion (e.g., public readings, commentaries, dialogues), thereby determining the extent to which the content and strategies used in the discussion differed by genre; (iii) the interactions between major commentators and other exegetes (not only on Petrarch but also on classical and vernacular authors), and the philosophical interests and citational practices of select commentators.
5. an international workshop will consider commentary on Petrarch in this period outside Italy.
6. a permanent online exhibition (based on the digital library), a month-long exhibition at the Marciana Library, Venice (plans are at an advanced stage), writers' workshops and school visits.

Since so little is known about commentary/exegesis on Petrarch as a whole, the project will define its contours, establishing a new field of study that will appeal to specialists across literature, language, philosophy, science, religion, print and scribal culture.

By creating and disseminating knowledge about a major cultural, literary and linguistic phenomenon in Renaissance Europe, Petrarch Commentary and Exegesis in Renaissance Italy, c. 1350-c.1650 will be of considerable public interest.

Impact will be directed at two main user groups:
1) (throughout the project but especially in year 3) librarians/those responsible for databases/meta-catalogues. Our impact activities are intended to have a transformative effect upon the presentation and understanding of Renaissance holdings in libraries worldwide. In particular, through close collaboration with the JRL - which has one of the strongest holdings of early prints of Petrarch in the UK -,we will provide: (a) enriched set of catalogue entries/bibliographical descriptions on the basis of the project census for 60 relevant prints held in the library (the rich bibliographical findings for the book-objects will be surfaced to a worldwide audience via enhanced local catalogue records uploaded to the national and international union research catalogues such as Copac, OCLC, and EDIT16); (b) a freely available digital library will also be created for these prints; and (c) a permanent digital exhibition based on these 60 digitized prints. In addition, detailed discussion has been progressed with three other libraries that have relevant holdings, one in Italy, two in the US - the Newberry Library, Chicago (which has agreed to provide digital images); the Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame (which has agreed to make a further 15-20 digitizations); and the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice. Plans are advanced for a month-long physical exhibition (with visitor book, data projection of our census and exhibition catalogue) at the Marciana (in Spring 2019) following a one-to-one meeting with the Director of the Marciana, Dr. Maurizio Messina, in April 2015 and further follow-up on the scientific dimensions of the project (both with Dr. Messina and the Head of Manuscripts and Rare Prints, Dott.ssa Susy Marcon). The Biblioteca Marciana has some of the richest holdings of Petrarch commentary worldwide and falls under the remit of the Ministry of Culture in Italy. It is part of a ticketed tourist route (available also at no cost) that brings 20,000 visitors per month to the library and its exhibition halls. Further impacts upon librarians and users/heads of databases will be achieved through a workshop at the John Rylands Library with librarians and database directors.

2) (in years 1 and 2) school children and adult learners interested in Renaissance studies and creative writing. This will be achieved in two main ways. First, by means of two workshops held at Leeds, both in collaboration with the School of English at Leeds University. Workshop 1, linked to the 2016 celebrations of Shakespeare, will profile, via public readings introduced by a short public lecture, the influence of Petrarch on the English tradition. Workshop 2 will be a practical writing workshop and will engage the same user groups in reading and writing poetry in relation to core questions underpinning the project (especially the role of commentary and exegesis in shaping our idea and understanding of poetry). The best poems written on the day will be published on-line on the project website and there will be a prize for 14-18 year old group for the best composition. Second, two school visits (end of Year 2) using established networks in the Midlands for up to 20 attendees will be held: one at Warwick's Modern Record Centre (MRC) where Renaissance materials will be used in a show-and-tell format. Two follow-up visits to specific schools in the Midlands and West Yorkshire will also be offered. Throughout years 1-2, initial engagement will take place via a Warwick-hosted web-site featuring images, a blog and podcasts, and a dedicated Twitter account. In addition, we will liaise with the Arts Communications Officer to secure publications in relevant outlets.