Jessica van t Westeinde: Mapping Jerome’s noble network. Social interaction and connectivity beyond controversy?

Jerome’s epistolary correspondence with his Roman senatorial patrons often manages to catch the reader with surprise. How could such a marginal, socially incompetent, and contentious figure liaise on amicable terms with the grandees of his day? Yet, perhaps this is not all that suspicious. The selective nature of historical transmission of Jerome’s writings must have surely contributed to the image we have of the Dalmatian monk-scholar. Although already in his own time Jerome was criticized by ecclesial authoritative figures for example for going back to the Hebrew text for his translations, perhaps his commissioners would find such an approach phenomenally exotic. He caters for their appetite. When in his scholarly expositions he craftily combines the three traditions (Classical, Jewish, Christian) this perfectly matches the taste of his aristocratic patrons. In this paper I aim to complement the philological approach by offering a sociological perspective: looking at select letters and dedications from the period between 392 and 410 CE I will map Jerome’s senatorial correspondents, and see if a pattern of connectivity emerges. This pattern will force us to think beyond the rhetoric of controversy. Jerome’s elite network facilitates literary exchange beyond the (later) established boundaries of ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘Christianity’, allowing for liberal interaction between traditions, and people.