La construcción retórica de la mujer en los textos neolatinos de la Silesia antigua

Resumen

The correlation between the rhetoric and the representation of woman takes on a particular importance in the old Silesian Latin texts. To begin with, the identity of Silesian woman has been distinguished in an original way dating back to medieval period. It can be demonstrated by two special material-literary monuments from the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, Saint Hedwig of Silesia’s cult and sermons preached by a Black Monk, Peregryn of Opole. Thanks to the discreet rhetorical measures, Silesian woman gains status of a resourceful and self-reliant person. She is even being compared to Saint Mary. The Renaissance is a time of rhetorical disputes concerning the rung women are placed on in a social ladder. In Silesia they were able to stand out and position themselves on a much higher rung thanks to the avid speech given by a woman in the church, publication of the work titled “The catalogue of educated women and girls” (Georgius Martin) and the most feministic encouragement in Europe for that period exhorting women to compete with men (Laurentius Corvinus). In the baroque, monuments represent a very distinctive rhetorical rule called memoria, which is a story about a woman depicturing her in successive pictures analogically to the ‘movie’. On the other hand, the two last centuries of Latin culture in Silesia were marked by literary works of women themselves. Maria Cunitia (Kunitz) unquestionably deserves a special attention. Not only was she a splendid seventeenth century astronomer, but also an active participant of all-Europe rhetorical discussion concerning the best rhetorical style.