Scholarly Self-Fashioning and Public Image Creation

On August 29, 1518, Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) ascended the academic rostrum to inaugurate his professorship at Wittenberg University with a fiery speech supporting the studia humanitatis, entitled De corrigendis adolescentiae studiis (On the reform of the studies for the young). However, only twenty-one years old, with a slight speech impediment and a small and skinny build, Melanchthon did not look anything like the awe-inspiring figurehead he would become. To compensate for the impression conveyed, he gave his all to convince both the audience present and the reading audience—that is, the res publica literaria—of his qualities and intellectual virtues. His inaugural oration bears witness to his self-fashioning efforts, rendering him as a credible authority worthy of the academic office ahead. To better understand these efforts, this article analyzes Melanchthon’s self-fashioning strategies and outlines the different roles Melanchthon impersonates

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