Abstract Summary
The respublica litteraria, the imagined community of scholars in the early modern period, was kept together beyond confessional borders through collective ideals. These ideals were celebrated and embodied by exemplary scholars – most notably Erasmus – who served as role models for virtue and participation in the learned community. By presenting an overview of the virtues ascribed to exceptional and exemplary learned men we gain insight into the development of the transconfessional respublica litteraria in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Early modern collective scholarly life-writing often referred to as "vitae" or "elogia" offered an overview to early modern readers of the most eminent scholars, their deeds and virtues. This paper will present the results of a text-mining analysis of a variety of collective scholarly life-writings. Vitae and elogia from both sides of the confessional divide will be taken into consideration and compared against each other. Do Italian or Dutch compendia of scholars include the same scholars? And, more importantly, were scholars ascribed the same virtues throughout Europe? All in all, this paper addresses the scholarly virtues expressed in collective scholarly life-writing in the early modern period.
