Learning outcomes

Aims:
The course aims to provide the methodological and cultural foundations for a study of the history of Christianity within the wider context of the history of the Western world. It sets out to develop the skills needed to:
- read and interpret sources and use the tools of historical-religious scholarship;
- critique sources in relation to the issues faced by historical-religious scholarship;
- navigate specialised bibliography, in addition to the manual;
- read and transcribe an archive source.
Prerequisites are at least a basic grasp of Latin and a general familiarity with the history of Antiquity, late Antiquity and the Middle Ages from the I to the XV centuries.

Program

Outline: Religious experiences, charitable works and leper hospitals between the XII and XIII centuries. The course will look at the most important religious experiences and forms of conversion occurring between the XII and XIII centuries in the Christian West. Special attention will be given to the results of these conversions in the area of charity and hospital aid. This will be followed by an examination of medieval leper hospitals and a special look at Verona’s hospital San Giacomo alla Tomba and its documents. An opportunity has also been planned for the study, reading and transcription of documents in the Archivio di Stato di Verona where the fund of documents pertaining to the Veronese leper hospital is stored.


Required reading for students attending the course:
-Malsani. Lebbra e lebbrosi nel medioevo, a cura di G. De Sandre Gasparini, M.C. Rossi, Verona 2013 (“Quaderni di storia religiosa, 19). In particolare i saggi di R. Argenziano, G. De Sandre Gasparini, P. Massa Piergiovanni, D. Solvi, G. Albini, M.T. Brolis, G. Gardoni, S. Carraro, E. Orlando, A. Czortek.
-B. Tabuteau, Historical Research Developments on Leprosy in France and Western Europe, in The Medieval Hospital and Medical Practice, ed by B. S. Bowers, 2007, pp. 41-56, oppure E. Brenner, Recent Perspectives on Leprosy in Medieval Western Europe, in «History Compass», 8/5 (2010), pp. 388-406.
-Le carte dei lebbrosi di Verona tra XII e XIII secolo, a cura di A. Rossi Saccomani, Padova 1989 (2 documents to be chosen with the teacher)
-Esperienze religiose e opere assistenziali nei secoli XII-XIII, a cura di G.G. Merlo, Torino 1987 (solo i saggi di G.G. Merlo, Esperienze religiose e opere assistenziali in un’area di ponte tra XII e XIII secolo, pp. 11-42; D. Rando, “Laicus religiosus” tra strutture civili ed ecclesiastiche: l’ospedale di Ognissanti in Treviso (sec. XIII), pp. 43-84; G. De Sandre Gasparini, L’assistenza ai lebbrosi nel movimento religioso dei primi decenni del Duecento veronese: uomini e fatti, pp. 84-121.

Required reading for students not attending the course:
In addition to the texts for students attending the course there is also
-La conversione alla povertà nell’Italia dei secoli XII-XIV, Spoleto 1991 (Essays by
G.G. Merlo, F. Dal Pino, G. De Sandre Gasparini, A. Rigon, G.P. Pacini, O, Capitani).

Teaching methods
For students attending the course the main teaching methods will be the traditional lecture, interspersed with seminar type discussions where students will have an opportunity to raise particular questions and issues. In this course there will also be a mid-course evaluation consisting of a paper/presentation to be given by the student on the topics developed in the lectures. During the lectures a collection of sources will be distributed and examined which will constitute part of the programme. Other bibliographic references useful for an exploration of the topic will be provided over the course of the lectures.
Activities supporting the teaching: seminars, meetings and conferences on the topics of Christianity recommended or organized by the teacher.

Examination Methods

Examination methods: oral interviews.
The oral exam will be an interview covering the topics that were dealt with during the lectures and expanded on in the study manuals. The interview will aim to determine:
-the students’ knowledge of the topic,
-their ability to use a specialised language,
-their ability to make connections between various arguments and to argue points in an appropriate manner,
-their ability to read and contextualize an archive source.