The Limits of Erudition: Daniello Bartoli SJ (1608-85) and the mission of writing history

TY - CHAP

T1 - The Limits of Erudition

T2 - Daniello Bartoli SJ (1608-85) and the mission of writing history

AU - Ditchfield, Simon Richard

N1 - This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

PY - 2019/12/26

Y1 - 2019/12/26

N2 - This chapter uses the case study of the volume on the English mission in Daniello Bartoli’s unfinished, multi-volume Istoria della Comagnia di Giesu (1653-73) to examine whether or not a specifically Jesuit ‘way of proceeding’ can also be discerned in the Society's history writing. It is argued that in order to understand the rhyme of Bartoli’s reason one needs to integrate his history writing with both his prior experience as a star preacher for the Society and as experienced teacher of rhetoric as well as with his wider interests in natural philosophy. By doing so, it is possible to understand better Bartoli's intensely visual language as well as his command of such a ‘huge multiplicity of styles and almost distinct languages' which so impressed Giacomo Leopardi (for whom Bartoli was ’the Dante of baroque prose') but which can make the Jesuit such a challenging read today. In the final analysis, notwithstanding his use of archival and manuscript evidence, Bartoli subordinated historical scholarship to rhetorical priorities in his mission both to celebrate his order’s achievement as well as to defend it from attack from within.

AB - This chapter uses the case study of the volume on the English mission in Daniello Bartoli’s unfinished, multi-volume Istoria della Comagnia di Giesu (1653-73) to examine whether or not a specifically Jesuit ‘way of proceeding’ can also be discerned in the Society's history writing. It is argued that in order to understand the rhyme of Bartoli’s reason one needs to integrate his history writing with both his prior experience as a star preacher for the Society and as experienced teacher of rhetoric as well as with his wider interests in natural philosophy. By doing so, it is possible to understand better Bartoli's intensely visual language as well as his command of such a ‘huge multiplicity of styles and almost distinct languages' which so impressed Giacomo Leopardi (for whom Bartoli was ’the Dante of baroque prose') but which can make the Jesuit such a challenging read today. In the final analysis, notwithstanding his use of archival and manuscript evidence, Bartoli subordinated historical scholarship to rhetorical priorities in his mission both to celebrate his order’s achievement as well as to defend it from attack from within.

KW - accommodation - style - Jesuits - mission (to England) - martyrdom - rhetoric - preaching - history writing - natural philosophy - unity - variety - visual imagination

M3 - Chapter

SN - 9780197266601

T3 - Proceedings of the British Academy

SP - 218

EP - 239

BT - Confessionalisation and Erudition in Early Modern Europe

A2 - Hardy, Nicholas

A2 - Levitin, Dmitri

PB - Oxford University Press

CY - Oxford

ER -