Käthe Sophie Hanschmann

PhD candidate - 2nd cohort
Medieval-Latin and Neo-Latin Philologies

Käthe Sophie Hanschmann is a research associate at the DFG Research Training Group 2792 ‘Autonomy of Heteronomous Texts in Antiquity and the Middle Ages‘. After finishing her studies to become a teacher in Latin and mathematics at the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, she is now writing her doctoral thesis in Medieval and Neolatin Philology. Her thesis on Horace in the Accessus literature is related to the history of reception and thus is also connected to her interests in classical Latin.  She gained experience in scientific work since the beginning of her studies: She has been part of the Neolatin research group ‚Papebroch‘ since 2020 and has also participated three times in the conference ‚Nachwuchsforum Latein‘ in Berlin, Leipzig and Ghent.

Käthe Sophie Hanschmann

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
GRK 2792 (Theologische Fakultät)
Fürstengraben 6
07743 Jena

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.