Presentation

The present symposium, supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, aims to examine the contribution of Latinitas to the linguistic, theological and cultural development of the Slavic world. The starting point is a concrete and particularly representative text, i.e. the Slavonic translation of the commented Psalter (Expositio Psalmorum) by Bruno, bishop of Würzburg.

This compilation, dating from the eleventh century, was given new life in the second half of the fifteenth century, at the time of the invention of printing, when it was printed first by Georg Reyser in Würzburg and then by Anton Koberger in Nuremberg. The Slavonic translation, completed in 1535 in Novgorod by the famous translator and interpreter Dmitry Gerasimov, is based on one of these editions. The Slavonic text has been transmitted by a dozen manuscripts, testifying to the importance and spread over the vast territory of the Muscovite Rus'.
Until now this interesting chapter of the history of the cultural contact-conflict between East and West Europe has not been deepened, not only for scientific reasons.

The aim of the symposium is to examine more closely Bruno's commented Psalter, with particular attention to the cultural circumstances that have favoured its genesis, development and spread in time and space. The symposium will be attended by scholars whose research is directly related to Bruno's Psalter or takes into consideration aspects that enable to better understand its context, both in synchronic and diachronic terms.

The main topics will be:

1) Origin and meaning of the commented Psalter

2) Slavic translations from Latin: typology and history

3) Bruno's commented Psalter in Russia

4) Maximus the Greek, Dmitry Gerasimov and the commented Psalter in Russia in the first half of the sixteenth century

5) The translation activity of the Archbishop of Novgorod Gennady and of his circle

6) Prince Andrey Kurbsky and the westernization of East Slavic culture