I’m a PhD student (second year) at the University of Bucharest, tutor: Prof. Florica Bechet
My doctoral research project has in view the elaboration of a philological study of Alcuin of York’s Ars grammatica, and it includes a paleographic, linguistic, historic and literary approach. The medium-sized treaty (PL 101, 854-902) on Latin grammar is an intelligent compilation which played a quite important role in the Carolingian Renaissance, but which has yet to receive a modern critical edition that would shed more light on its real cultural significance. The main objectives that I am aiming at in my research are to edit Ars grammatica, to translate it, and to provide a philological and literary commentary on the text. Thus, I will compare and contrast 24 textual variants transmitted by manuscripts, I will describe the relation between these codices, I will establish a final variant of the text which I will then translate and analyze, and I will identify the references used by Alcuin in his work. The expected outcomes of my research are a bilingual (Latin-English) edition of Ars grammatica with an apparatus, stemma(ta) codicum, reference notes, and a study regarding the sources and the content of Ars grammatica. I am aiming to publish my thesis in the collection Biblioteca Medievală (‘The Medieval Library’) of Polirom Publishing House.
During the second semester of my first doctoral year, I attended the DEEM program (Diplôme Européen d’Études Médiévales) organized by FIDEM (Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Mediévales) in Rome, where I studied Medieval Latin, Latin paleography and text editing with professors from renowend universities from Europe and Canada. During the last four months, I have been conducting my research in Switzerland, at University of Fribourg, under the supervision of Prof. Karin Schlapbach. The results of my research in Fribourg are a critical edition and a commentary of Alcuin of York’s Disputatio de vera philosophia, long considered to be the introduction of Ars grammatica. However, I prove in my study that, even though Disputatio is vital for understanding the scope of Alcuin’s grammar, it is actualy a vocational text meant to sustain the study of the liberal arts, and not a real introduction of Ars grammatica.
