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Sunday, January 13, 2019

Dr. Brooke Hunter publishes Forging Boethius in Medieval Intellectual Fantasies


Congratulations to Dr. Brooke Hunter, whose book, Forging Boethius in Medieval Intellectual Fantasies, was published by Routledge at the end of last year! Dr. Hunter's book examines the influence of the thirteenth-century Pseudo-Boethian forgery De disciplina scolarium on medieval understandings of Boethius (died 524 CE). Tracing the popularity of De disciplina’s vision of Boethius in the middle ages in relation to its current scholarly neglect, Dr. Hunters shows how medieval schoolmen saw themselves and the past, and how modern scholars imagine the medieval past. In exploring this alternate Boethian persona through a variety of different works including texts of translatio studii et imperii, common school texts, the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, and humanist writings, Dr. Hunter's book reveals a new vein of medieval Boethianism that is earthy, practical, and even humorous.