VENANTIUS FORTUNATUS
Organized by Joseph Pucci, Brown University

[Panel as described in Call for Papers]
In the just-published Late Antiquity, A Guide to the Post-Classical World, Raymond Van Dam applies the word "magnificent" to the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus. I would hazard to guess that such an adjective has never been applied to his poetry (at least since the invention of philological studies in the eighteenth century). Yet, Van Dam is correct to think of Fortunatus' poetry in such terms, for no late Latin poet has left an array of writing so varied as to purpose, theme, and tone.  The publication of a new edition of Fortunatus' poetry  and of a major work interpreting much of it  suggests perhaps that scholarly opinion is coming around to Van Dam's view. Given this, the time seems right to devote a panel to Fortunatus' varied and prodigious output. I propose a panel for the January, 2003 meeting of the Medieval Latin Studies Group that investigates all aspects of Fortunatus' work, but which takes special cognizance of the secular and occasional pieces, and especially the quasi-erotic pieces written to Radegund and Agnes. All approaches are welcome, especially those that are inter-disciplinary in terms of method.

Claudia Schindler, University of Tübingen
Venantius Fortunatus’ Panegyrics to Kings and the Tradition of Latin Verse Panegyric

Stephen D’Evelyn, University of Cambridge
Gift Exchange in Fortunatus

Michael Roberts, Wesleyan University
My Flaccus: The Presence of Horace in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus

Judith George, Open University, Scotland
Venantius Fortunatus: Friends and Feelings

 Catherine Conybeare, Bryn Mawr College
Perpetuo Felix nomine mente fide: Felix, Felix, and Fortunatus

 Respondent: Joseph Pucci, Brown University