Learning objectives

Acquisition of a good command of the research tools related to early modern history, so that the student is able to critically use the sources and scientific literature related to one or more themes chosen as central to the course. The teaching activity will therefore aim to develop the individual research skills of the student as much as possible.

Prerequisites and basic notions

Good knowledge of early modern history. The course will be seminar-based. Students will be expected to actively participate in discussions, having read and being prepared to comment upon the sources under consideration.

Program

"Family memory in the early modern period."
Since antiquity within the nobility, and since the Late Middle Ages within the mercantile and bourgeois classes, special forms of memory, written and unwritten, have developed, specifically designed to remember the past of the family, to perpetuate its self-awareness, and to build a reference model for future generations. The written form of this unusually early kind of memory, initially born also for practical purposes (remembering everything that can be useful) is the "family book", which emerged in vernacular in Italy at the end of the thirteenth century and through the whole early modern period will get up to today. After an introduction on the oldest forms assumed by family history, the course will analyze in a specific way especially the Italian texts (15th-18th centuries), through which the family expressed its "need for eternity" in all ages. Comparisons will be carried out also with other European situations. At least one lesson will be dedicated to aspects of iconography and art history.

The following bibliographic references must be seen as merely indicative and will be supplemented by texts that will be assigned by the professor during lessons, and published in the Moodle platform.
G. Ciappelli, Memoria collettiva e memoria culturale. La famiglia fra antico e moderno, "Annali dell'Istituto Storico Italo-Germanico", 29 (2003), pp. 1-23.
R. Mordenti, I libri di famiglia in Italia, II, Geografia e storia, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2001, pp. 9-81.
G. Ciappelli (a cura di), Memoria, famiglia, identità fra Italia ed Europa nell'età moderna, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009.
Non-attending students must in any case contact the professor.

Didactic methods

The course will be a seminar course, and therefore foresees the reading and comment, with the participation of students, of the sources that are gradually analyzed. Readings of particular texts will be gradually assigned by the teacher, and students will take care to read them in time so as to encourage a better active participation.

Learning assessment procedures

The exam will be composed of:
1. an ORAL EXAM, based on knowledge of assigned readings (see Assigned readings), material distributed during lessons and (for attending students) class notes;
2. a WRITTEN ESSAY of 40-50,000 characters (including notes and spaces) on a topic agreed with the professor. Papers must be sent to the professor at least two weeks in advance of the oral exam, in ways agreed upon with the professor during office hours.