Käthe Sophie Hanschmann
PhD candidate - 2nd cohort
Medieval-Latin and Neo-Latin Philologies

Research project
Like most of the preserved classical authors, the pagan poet Horace was read in medieval schools mainly to study his latin language. However, his position in the reading canon was not a matter of course. For each of his works, it was necessary to justify whether reading it had a benefit for the education. The Accessus, which preceded most Horace commentaries, not only set out the advantages of reading Horace, they also provided contextual information - such as a short biography or information on the structure of the work - which is intended to prepare students for the lecture of the Horace text. For this reason information about Horace and his work are collected from many different sources such as grammars, commentaries, vitae, other Accessus or the Horace text itself. As a consequence oft he use of similar sources, the different accessus show great similarities in terms of content.
The aim of this project is to identify the often unmarked sources in the Accessus. By looking at the individual selection of information and their linguistic presentation, the autonomy of the anonymous authors shall be recognised and honoured. A systematic look at the Accessus according to the various groups of Horace's works should also help to resolve the contradictions in the current research literature on the reception of Horace, which have arisen primarily due to the different and quite selective primary sources used as a base for conclusions.