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Obedience Orations in Renaissance Rome: Who Cared?

Fri, March 27, 3:00 to 4:30pm, Hauptgebäude, Unter den Linden 6, Floor: First Floor, 2095B

Abstract

The "obedience oration" would seem to be one of the least interesting of all the genres of humanist oratory aired in Renaissance Rome. Even papal masters of ceremonies complained that these speeches, delivered by foreign ambassadors on the election of a new pope, were tedious, long, and painful to sit through. Their rhetorical shortcomings are clear. But the profession of obedience was integral to the diplomatic life of the papal court: elaborate rituals surrounded the arrival of the orator and the delivery of his speech, as well as its subsequent circulation. And circulation included print: the majority of orations delivered before Popes Innocent VIII, Alexander VI, and Julius II were printed, sometimes in multiple editions by different printers in Rome and elsewhere. Were these simply vanity publications, commissioned by their authors to advertise a prestigious assignment? Or did they serve other purposes, whether political, diplomatic, or literary?

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