Teaching code

4S02137

Teacher

Marco Stoffella

Credits

6

Also offered in courses:

• Medieval history - MODULO 1 of the course Bachelor's degree in Philosophy
• Medieval History (i) of the course Bachelor’s degree in Humanities

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

M-STO/01 - MEDIEVAL HISTORY

Period

2 A dal Feb 14, 2022 al Mar 26, 2022.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

To show the organization of the course that includes this module, follow this link:  Course organization

Learning outcomes

The aim of the introductory course in Medieval History is to guide the student to the critical analysis of historical sources and to develop her / his capacity to analyze a historical problem in its complexity. Overall, the introductory course aims to provide students with the necessary skills to orient themselves independently in a problem of medieval history. During the introductory course, therefore, the teacher underlines some aspects that will be then deepened and recalled in the progress course. During the advanced course, a direct analysis of medieval sources and documents is foreseen (translated into Italian).
The final aim of this course, which is a part of the integrated course in Storia medievale (i+p) is to make student comprehend the complexity of researching in history. This will allow students to acquire part of the useful tools, which will permit them to individually start leading their own researches and/or autonomous investigations.
Moreover, the aim of this course is also to give students the following knowledge:
- general knowledge of the political and social organization in Europe between 5th and 15th century
- knowledge of the current historical debate on “Urban and rural communities in Lombard, Carolingian and post-Carolingian Italy: infrastructures and productions in early medieval northern Italy”
Through this course students should acquire the following abilities:
- capability of distinguish the different kind of medieval sources
- capability of autonomously analysing sources referred to the subject of this course
- capability of autonomously analysing essays in medieval history written in the mayor modern languages
- capability of autonomously writing papers on topics discussed in class or on topics next to the one discussed during the lectures.

Prerequisites
- In order to follow the topics of this course a basic knowledge of the social and political history of the Middle Ages is asked. Even if it not strictly necessary, a basic knowledge of Latin is welcomed: this will allow the reading and comprehending of the sources presented and discussed during lectures. Latin sources will be translated and discussed by the lecturer.

Program

After a short introduction, during which general concepts like Middle Ages, historical sources, and typologies of sources will be discussed, the course will synthetically analyse the following topics:

- Late Antiquity and the diffusion of Christianity (the growth of new religious communities that became a fundamental element in the Roman Empire and at the same time a tool of government)
- Western Europe in the early Middle Ages and his regna (the end of the Western Roman Empire, migrations, the birth of new political kingdoms based on ethnic distinctions)
- the Byzantine and Islamic Mediterranean (the progressive rupture of the unity of the Mediterranean See under the Arabic expansion and the role of Byzantium)
- Carolingian Europe (Lombard Italy, the Frankish expansion, Charlemagne and the roots of contemporary Europe)
- the seigniorial order (post-Carolingian Europe, the “feudal society”, the control over work and security in the cities and in the countryside)
- Church reforms (the ideological and political conflicts related to the growth of papal prestige and of the Communal autonomy)
- Empire and Papacy in the Late Middle Ages (conflicts related to different concepts and practice of power between political and spiritual authority)
- political institutions of the Late Middle Ages (political experimentations in order to give equilibrium to representation and participation within society)
- society and culture in the Middle Ages (the various aspects related to knowledge, its access and its administration)
- Religious experiences in the Middle Ages (principal religious movements that led to reforms and to very different experiences) - the economies of the Middle Ages (the organisation of work and commerce in the early Middle Ages)

In the last section of the course the current historical debate on “Urban and rural communities in Lombard, Carolingian and post-Carolingian Italy: infrastructures and productions in early medieval northern Italy” will be shortly taken into exam, starting with the analysis of the current debate and the study of some sources.
During the academic year the lecturer will receive students during the office hours, published on the web page and in the announcements place; students are recommended to fix via e-mail an appointment with the lecturer.
READINGS FOR ALL STUDENTS:

All students, attending the lectures or not, will be asked to study the introductory book: G. Sergi, L’idea di medioevo. Fra storia e senso comune, Rome, Donzelli, 2005.

All students must learn the Medieval History through a manual, to be chosen among the following titles: G. Vitolo, Medioevo. I caratteri originali di un’età di transizione, Milano, Sansoni, 2000; L. Provero, M. Vallerani, Storia medievale, Firenze, Lemonnier, 2016; Introduzione alla storia medievale, a cura di G. Albertoni, S.M. Collavini, T. Lazzari, Bologna, il Mulino, 2020 (second edition); A. Zorzi, Manuale di storia medievale, Novara, Utet, 2021 (second edition). Students with good school knowledge can choose the more complex: R. Bordone, G. Sergi, Dieci secoli di medioevo, Torino, Einaudi, 2009.

The program includes more essays on different topics that are available in the moodle: students will be asked to chose three one of them and to discuss its contents and meaning during the examination. Students might prefer to chose one of the many essays from the list of books dedicated to students that are not attending the lectures.

Students attending lectures, and the one inscribed to the course, will receive didactical material related to the lectures on the e-learning platform; these materials are considered part of the exam program.

Students not attending lectures can receive help by the lecturer in order to define the program and to study the manual. All students not attending lectures will be asked to choose an additional book among the following titles: P. Brown, Il riscatto dell’anima. Aldilà e ricchezza nel primo cristianesimo occidentale, Torino, Einaudi, 2015; T. Lazzari, Le donne nell’alto Medioevo, Milano-Torino, Bruno Mondadori, 2010; S. Gasparri, Voci dai secoli oscuri. Un percorso nelle fonti dell’alto medioevo, Roma, Carocci, 2017; M. Costambeys, M. Innes, S. Maclean, The Carolingian World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011; A.A. Settia, Castelli medievali, Bologna, il Mulino, 2017; J.M.H. Smith, L’Europa dopo Roma. Una nuova storia culturale 500-1000, Bologna, il Mulino, 2008; C. Wickham, Sonnambuli verso un nuovo mondo. L’affermazione dei comuni italiani nel XII secolo, Roma, Viella, 2017; G. Milani, I comuni italiani. Secoli XII-XIV, Bari, Laterza, 2005; P. Grillo, Le guerre del Barbarossa. I comuni contro l’imperatore, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2014; J.C. Maire Vigueur, E. Faini, Il sistema politico dei comuni italiani (secoli XII-XIV), Milano-Torino, B. Mondadori, 2010; A. Zorzi, Le signorie cittadine in Italia (secoli XIII-XV), Milano-Torino, B. Mondadori, 2010; P. Freedman, Il gusto delle spezie nel Medioevo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009; C. Wickham, L’Europa nel Medioevo, Roma, Carocci, 2020; N. D’Acunto, La lotta per le investiture. Una rivoluzione medievale (998-1122), Roma, Carocci, 2020; L. Provero, Contadini e potere nel Medioevo, Roma, Carocci, 2020; G. Melville, Le comunità religiose nel Medioevo. Storia e modelli di vita, a cura di N. D’Acunto, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2020; B. Zeller, C. West, F. Tinti, M. Stoffella, N. Schroeder, C. van Rhijn, S. Patzold, T. Kohl, W. Davies, M. Czock, Neighbours and Strangers. Local societies in early medieval Europe, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2020. The choice of the additional text can be made autonomously; differently it can be discussed with the lecturer during office hours or per e-mail.

Didactical methods:
frontal lectures on main subjects will be followed by discussions with students; on some subjects texts and sources will be read and analysed, followed by a discussion on their content.

Bibliography

Examination Methods

EVALUATION METHODS AND CRITERIA
The target of the final oral exam is to verify the achievement level of the final aim of this course. The oral exam will be divided into two parts: in the first part students will be asked to answer to general questions on the main topics of the Middle Ages, on the topics discussed during lectures or on topics acquired through books that might substitute the missed lectures. If the first part will be successfully concluded, in the second part questions will be asked on the books chosen by students.

Further information
The attendance of lectures is welcomed. ERASMUS students and students not attending lectures will be asked to write an e-mail or to meet the lecturer before exams in order to avoid misunderstandings and/or to choose the topic of their paper.