Erasmus from the perspective of an amanuensis - Gilbert Cousin
This year, Ann Blair, Professor of book history and early modern European cultural and intellectual history, Harvard University (USA), will focus on the life and works of Gilbert Cousin (1506-72), who lived with and assisted Erasmus between 1530 and 1535.
Thanks to P.S. Allen’s category of servant-pupils in his edition of the correspondence and to the study of Erasmus’ familia by Franz Bierlaire, we know a good deal about the young men who served as Erasmus’ amanuenses and famuli. Of these one amanuensis has left traces far beyond the norm, including prolific writings which survive in manuscript, in print, and in image. During the lecture, Blair aims to examine the dynamics of relationships in Erasmus’ circle during and after his life, and the impact of service as a phase in the formation of a humanist.
Ann Blair is Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor in the Department of History at Harvard University where she teaches book history and early modern European cultural and intellectual history to undergraduates and graduate students. Her research focuses on the working methods of scholars and authors ca. 1500-1700. She has studied for example: practices of reading and note-taking, of composing and using reference works and finding devices, and, in her project currently underway, the role of amanuenses. Her publications include: The Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science (1997); Too Much To Know: managing scholarly information before the modern age, 2010; L’Entour du texte: la publication du livre savant à la Renaissance (2021) focused on paratexts in learned books; and two recent co-edited volumes: New Horizons for Early Modern Scholarship (2021) with Nicholas Popper, and Information: a historical companion (2021) with Paul Duguid, Anja Goeing, and Anthony Grafton. See: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/ablair
Gilbert Cousin in a scene from the Erasmi images in which he is shown opposite Erasmus. Presumed engraving by Claude Luc.
