Recasting Histories of Sound and Matter

Erasmus and the Bells of Averbode

Bibliographic Data

ID16616528
AuthorsMatthew S Champion (0000-0003-0217-7355, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume54
Issue1-2
Pages73-98
Publication date2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSixteenth Century Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0361-0160 • E-ISSN: 2326-0726
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/727948
OpenAlexW4394003632
LanguageEN
References cited26

Erasmus’s epigrams “On six restored bells” (ca. 1501) draw attention to their material origins in bells remade for the Premonstratensian Abbey of Averbode following a calamitous fire. In doing so, they allow an exploration of the tensions between holy matter speaking with present, embodied, sanctified voices, and a world where resonant matter is marginalized and past material voices speak to the soul through words on the page. By tracing bell cultures in the period, and emphasizing the dense resonances of bronze as a material, this article shows how Erasmus’s approach to sound and matter both resonates with and transforms classical traditions and the local cultures of religious reform in the Low Countries

Acoustics · Art history · Erasmus · Physics · Sound (geography · The Renaissance · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies

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