Ernst Peter Michael Dronke
FBA (30 May 1934 – 19 April 2020) was a scholar specialising in
Medieval Latin literature. He was one of the 20th century's leading scholars of medieval Latin
lyric
Lyric may refer to:
* Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song
* Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view
* Lyric, from t ...
, and his book ''The Medieval Lyric'' (1968) is considered the standard introduction to the subject.
Life and career
Dronke was born in 1934 in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
,
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
,
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, the son of
Maria Dronke (born Minnie Kronfeld), a prominent actress, and Adolf John Rudolf Dronke, a judge. His mother was born Jewish, and later converted to Catholicism. In 1939, he left the country because of the
Nazi regime
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
, settling in New Zealand and becoming a naturalised New Zealand citizen.
Dronke earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
. In 1955 he received a travelling scholarship to study at
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...
.
[John Marenbon, ed., ''Poetry and Philosophy in the Middle Ages: A Festschrift for Peter Dronke'', Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2001, ]
pdf
p. 1. After graduating with a first in English, in 1958 Dronke was elected to a three-year Junior Research Fellowship at
Merton College
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor ...
.
He took up a
lectureship in Medieval Latin at the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
in 1961 and became a fellow of
Clare Hall in 1964. He was awarded a personal
readership in 1979 and a personal
chair
A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
in Medieval Latin literature in 1989. He became a
Fellow of the British Academy
Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are:
# Fellows – scholars resident in t ...
in 1984. He became a foreign member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam.
In addition to various advisory a ...
in 1997. In 2001, he retired.
Dronke married fellow
medievalist
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
Ursula Brown in 1961.
He died on 19 April 2020.
Selected works
*''Medieval Latin and the Rise of the European Love-Lyric'', 2 vols., (1965-6; 2d ed. 1968)
*''The Medieval Lyric'' (1968; 2d ed. 1978; 3d ed. 1996)
*''Poetic Individuality in the Middle Ages: New Departures in Poetry 1000–1500'' (1970; 2d ed. 1986)
*''Fabula: Explorations into the Uses of Myth in Medieval Platonism'' (1974)
*''Women Writers of the Middle Ages: A Critical Study of Texts from
Perpetua to
Marguerite Porete'' (1984)
*''
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
and Medieval Latin Traditions'' (1986)
*''A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy'', editor (1988)
*''Latin and Vernacular Poets of the Middle Ages'' (1991)
*''Intellectuals and Poets in Medieval Europe'' (1992)
*''Nine Medieval Latin Plays'', translator (1994)
*''Verse with Prose from
to Dante: The Art and Scope of the Mixed Form'' (1994)
*''Sources of Inspiration: Studies in Literary Transformations, 400–1500'' (1997)
*''Imagination in the Late Pagan and Early Christian World: The First Nine Centuries A.D.'' (2003)
*''The Spell of
Calcidius: Platonic Concepts and Images in the Medieval West'' (2008)
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dronke, Peter
1934 births
2020 deaths
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to New Zealand
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
Fellows of the British Academy
Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge
Linguists from the United Kingdom
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America
Naturalised citizens of New Zealand
Fellows of Merton College, Oxford