Jan M. Ziolkowski
Encyclopedia
Jan Ziolkowski is the Arthur Kingsley Porter
Professor of Medieval Latin
at Harvard University
and Director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. His scholarship has focused on the literature of the Latin Middle Ages
.
. He is the son of Theodore Ziolkowski
, a scholar of German and Comparative Literature. Jan Ziolkowski received his A.B. from Princeton University
in 1977 and, in 1982, his Ph.D. in medieval Latin from the University of Cambridge
, where he was a Marshall Scholar. At Harvard, where he has taught since 1982, he has chaired the Department of Comparative Literature, the Committee on Medieval Studies, and, briefly, the Department of Classics.
Since 2007, Ziolkowski has been Director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, a Harvard institution for scholarship in Byzantine
, Pre-Columbian
, and Garden and Landscape
studies, situated on a historic property in Washington, D.C.
Under his tenure Dumbarton Oaks has expanded the scope and pace of its activities, welcoming to its campus both more scholars and more members of the public as well as establishing new partnerships with universities and other cultural institutions in the Washington area.
Ziolkowski is general editor of the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
, a book series that he initiated, which presents medieval primary texts in Latin, Greek, and Old English along with facing-page translations. The first volumes of the series were released in 2010 by Harvard University Press.
Translation anthologies
Editions and translations of Latin texts
Other
Arthur Kingsley Porter
Arthur Kingsley Porter was an American art historian and medievalist. Porter's most significant contribution has been his revolutionary studies and insights into the spread of Romanesque sculpture...
Professor of Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. His scholarship has focused on the literature of the Latin Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
.
Career
Ziolkowski was born in New Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
. He is the son of Theodore Ziolkowski
Theodore Ziolkowski
Theodore Ziolkowski, born 1932 in Birmingham, Alabama, is a scholar in the fields of German studies and comparative literature. He received an A.B. from Duke University in 1951, an A.M. from Duke in 1952 and, following studies at the University of Innsbruck, his Ph.D from Yale University in 1957...
, a scholar of German and Comparative Literature. Jan Ziolkowski received his A.B. from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1977 and, in 1982, his Ph.D. in medieval Latin from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, where he was a Marshall Scholar. At Harvard, where he has taught since 1982, he has chaired the Department of Comparative Literature, the Committee on Medieval Studies, and, briefly, the Department of Classics.
Since 2007, Ziolkowski has been Director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, a Harvard institution for scholarship in Byzantine
Byzantine studies
Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, costumes, religion, art, such as literature and music, science, economy, and politics of the Byzantine Empire. The discipline's founder in Germany is considered to be the philologist Hieronymus...
, Pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
, and Garden and Landscape
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
studies, situated on a historic property in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Under his tenure Dumbarton Oaks has expanded the scope and pace of its activities, welcoming to its campus both more scholars and more members of the public as well as establishing new partnerships with universities and other cultural institutions in the Washington area.
Publications
Ziolkowski’s books include critical editions and translations of medieval Latin texts, such as Jezebel: A Norman Latin Poem of the Early Eleventh Century, as well as wide-ranging studies in literary and intellectual history, such as Fairy Tales from Before Fairy Tales: The Medieval Latin Past of Wonderful Lies. He has also co-edited two anthologies of translations, The Medieval Craft of Memory (with Mary Carruthers) and The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years (with Michael C.J. Putnam). Ziolkowski is presently at work on a Vergil Encyclopedia, co-edited with Richard F. Thomas, to be published by Wiley-Blackwell.Ziolkowski is general editor of the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library is a new series published by in collaboration with the which presents original medieval Latin, Greek, and Old English texts with facing-page translations designed to make written achievements of medieval and Byzantine culture available to English-speaking...
, a book series that he initiated, which presents medieval primary texts in Latin, Greek, and Old English along with facing-page translations. The first volumes of the series were released in 2010 by Harvard University Press.
Partial bibliography
Books and monographs- Nota Bene: Reading Classics and Writing Songs in the Early Middle Ages. Publications of The Journal of Medieval Latin 7. Turnhout: Brepols, 2007.
- Fairy Tales from Before Fairy Tales: The Medieval Latin Past of Wonderful Lies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2007.
- The Cambridge Songs (Carmina cantabrigiensia). Garland Library of Medieval Literature, vol. 66, series A. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1994
- Talking Animals: Medieval Latin Beast Poetry. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
- Alan of Lille’s Grammar of Sex: The Meaning of Grammar to a Twelfth-Century Intellectual. Speculum Anniversary Monographs 10. Cambridge, Mass.: The Medieval Academy of America, 1985.
Translation anthologies
- Co-editor with Michael C. J. Putman. The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
- Co-editor with Mary Carruthers. The Medieval Craft of Memory: An Anthology of Words and Pictures. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.
Editions and translations of Latin texts
- Co-editor with Bridget K. Balint. A Garland of Latin Satire, Wisdom, and History: Verse from Twelfth-Century France (Carmina Houghtoniensia). Houghton Library Studies 1. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press for Houghton Library, 2007.
- The Cambridge Songs (Carmina cantabrigiensia). Garland Library of Medieval Literature, vol. 66, series A. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1994
- Nigel of Canterbury, The Passion of St. Lawrence, Epigrams, and Marginal Poems. Mittellateinische Studien und Texte 14. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994
- Jezebel: A Norman Latin Poem of the Early Eleventh Century. Humana Civilitas 10. New York: Peter Lang, 1989. ISBN 0820409324.
- Nigel of Canterbury, Miracles of the Virgin Mary, in Verse. Miracula sancte Dei genitricis Marie, uersifice. Toronto Medieval Latin Texts 17. Toronto: Published for the Centre for Medieval Studies by the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1986
- Solomon and Marcolf. Harvard Studies in Medieval Latin 1. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008.
- Letters of Peter Abelard, Beyond the Personal. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2008.
Other
- Editor of translated volume. Dag Norberg, An Introduction to the Study of Medieval Latin Versification. Trans. Grant. C. Roti and Jacqueline Skubly. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2004.
- Editor of essay collection by various authors. Obscenity: Social Control and Artistic Creation in the European Middle Ages. Cultures, Beliefs and Traditions 4. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1998.
- Editor of essay collection by various authors. On Philology. University Park, Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 1990.