Around Denis Petau (Dionysius Petavius S.J., 1583-1652): a network analysis centered on a French Jesuit

This project is in line with a current trend of research aiming at a better understanding of the respublica litteraria and at a reconstruction of its networks. While recent research around this topic mainly focusses on intellectual laymen, we suggest to study the case of a Jesuit, the Frenchman Denis Petau (Dionysius Petavius S.J., 1583-1652). Far from the irenic position advocated by some great figures of the Republic of Letters, Petau is characterized by a deep religious commitment, which could lead him to virulent controversies. However, this position did not prevent him from having an active role within the Republic of Letters nor from entering into transconfessional relationships in the field of letters and science. In order to shed light on these aspects, this project proposes to reconstruct Petau’s relational network and analyse it in detail. The corpus of sources we will study will be made up not only of letters the Jesuit father received or sent, but also of elements from the paratext of Petau’s or his contemporaries’ publications, relevant passages of his works as well as archival material.