Ezechiel Spanheim and the Learned Culture of 17th-Century Europe

FAIN: FA-50308-04

Brian W. Ogilvie
University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Amherst, MA 01003-9242)

This project examines the relationships between the scholarly study of the classical world and the broader classical idiom of early modern European culture in a critical period: the second half of the seventeenth century. It will trace the intellectual trajectory of Ezechiel Spanheim (1629-1710), a career diplomat, numismatist, and antiquarian. Spanheim's works on ancient coins, Roman citizenship, Greek satire, and the rational Biblical criticism of Father Richard Simon involved him in central intellectual and cultural debates of his time. At the same time, his diplomatic career brought him to the major cultural capitals of Baroque Europe: Rome, Paris, and London. Spanheim's career epitomizes the changing place of classical scholarship and the classical world between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. The project will examine the connections between scholars and their publics in both specific local communities and the European Republic of Letters. In particular, it will illuminate five broader aspects of the history of scholarship and culture in the late seventeenth century: (1) developments in historical method; (2) the purposes of scholarship; (3) the ethos and motivation of the amateur scholar; (4) the political setting of the Republic of Letters; and (5) the connections between Christian erudition and the Enlightenment.

Associated Products