Hanne Berendse

Hanne Berendse is a PhD student co-supervised between the Department of Classical Philology and Neo-Latin Studies at the University of Innsbruck and the Warburg Institute. She researches the verse of various female Latinists from the Low Countries and Germany. Moreover, she is working on a critical edition of one of the first palaeontological texts to have been authored in Austria. Before coming to Innsbruck, she obtained a BA at the Faculty of Global Affairs at Leiden University, and an MA in Early Modern Cultural, Intellectual, and Visual History at The Warburg Institute. Coming from an interdisciplinary educational background, her research interests include cultural history, intellectual history, history of science, women’s history, and visual expressions from the early modern period.

“My most comprehensive formal training in Latin occurred during secondary school, where our studies centred exclusively on classical authors. While I found great enjoyment in learning the language and was struck by the surprising relevance of certain texts even in a 21st-century context, I never envisioned myself delving deeper into Latin. At sixteen, I was mainly interested in current affairs, and I saw little practical value in a ‘dead’ language for my future academic studies. It was during my undergraduate studies in “Global Challenges” at Leiden University College that my perspective began to shift. As I explored the historical underpinnings of oppressive European systems related to gender and race, my fascination with the early modern period and its enduring influence on contemporary society grew. This interest culminated in a focus on proto-feminist movements within the Early Modern period, leading me to The Warburg Institute, a place for interdisciplinary research into early modern history. Since I chose to study there, a Latin module was also part of the curriculum, which became my first exposure to postclassical Latin. I was astounded by the vast diversity of texts the study of postclassical Latin opened to me as an aspiring historian – many of which remain untranslated and largely unexplored. This experience fundamentally transformed my view of Latin. I came to see it not merely as a relic of antiquity but as a dynamic tool that can illuminate the historical contexts of present-day societal challenges. By unlocking the often-overlooked wealth of postclassical sources, Latin has the potential to inspire and facilitate deeper historical inquiry into the issues we grapple with today.

In this process, it is essential to acknowledge that Latin has long been tied to traditions of exclusivity and elitism. Language and the study of it is never neutral, and this is especially true for a language like Latin, which carries deep historical resonances. Latin has played a role in great scientific discoveries and their international dissemination, and has seen early modern women write on their right to education and learning in a language that was understood across Europe. Simultaneously, Latin cosmopolitanism also encompasses Jesuit missions in, for example, Japan and New France. These things are not mutually exclusive, and therefore call for a nuanced understanding of the Latin language, its historical trajectory and subsequently, its relevance today. For this reason, the vision of RELICS strongly speaks to me. By bringing together researchers from different fields, we can foster a more holistic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of Latin, and understand the multi-faceted nature of the language, its history and its impact – albeit positive or negative – in a fairer light.”