Corso di laurea magistrale in Scienze storiche

Written sources and social action. The course will propose an itinerary through the written sources of medieval Italy and their production and preservation processes, with the aim of showing how sources are not a casual remnant of social action, and how instead their very production constitutes an action aimed at changing society. Those who write (an action in itself rare, difficult and costly in the Middle Ages) do so in order to change small and large balances within society.

The aim of the course will therefore not be to present a formal typology of the written sources, but rather an overview of the social actions reflected in the sources and especially of the actions carried out through the editing of the sources.

The themes and topics covered, as well as the skills and abilities they are intended to train, are an essential part of the characterising content required for the degree course; the teaching is therefore aimed at providing specific preparation both in the field of history and in the context of the Degree Course in Historical Sciences.

In particular, the teaching provides knowledge and understanding of the development of the structure of written sources of the Italian Middle Ages, with a specific focus on the mechanisms of production, purposes and forms of preservation. This will provide a better understanding of the processes of historical knowledge formation.

Knowledge and understanding: at the end of the course, the student should know:

• protagonists and forms of medieval documentary production
• fundamental documentary types
• links between political and social developments and the formation of written sources
• source selection and preservation processes
• visibility (and its limits) of peasant society
• imperial political action, production of sources and conditioning by other political actors

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding / Autonomy of judgement

The student should be able to apply this knowledge to frame and contextualise the different moments and specific developments of the production of written sources in the Italian Middle Ages, with an adequate ability to evaluate and judge the sources analysed in class.

Communication skills

The student is expected to acquire an adequate specific vocabulary with regard to institutions, social forms, economic mechanisms and source production processes.

Learning capacity

The teaching specifically aims to develop students' ability to learn the complexity of historical developments, one of the fundamental skills for the humanities as a whole.

Knowledge and understanding: at the end of the module, the student should know:

• actors and forms of documentary production in the Middle Ages
• fundamental documentary forms
• connections between political and social developments and the building of written sources
• processes of selection and preservation of written sources
• visibility of peasant society (and its limits)
• imperial political action, production of sources and conditioning by other political actors

The student should be able to employ these knowledges to frame and to put in the right context several different historical developments in the production of written sources in Italian Middle Ages, with a suitable ability to judge the texts read during classes.

The student should acquire a correct lexicon related to institutions, social forms, economic workings and processes of production of written sources.

The module has the specific goal to develop the students' ability to understand the complexity of historical evolutions, that is one of the most important abilities to humanities as a whole.

Lectures lasting a total of 72 hours (12 CFU), which will include a journey through the written sources of medieval Italy, with extensive use of direct reading of the sources.

Without prejudice to what is indicated in the notes field regarding a possible renewal of the emergency situation, students who are unable to attend classes in person will be ensured the possibility of using teaching materials via the Moodle platform and of replacing attendance of classes in person with the study of the books indicated below, in respect of which the lecturer provides support for study and exam preparation through online meetings (the dates will be communicated in the teaching notices)

Knowledges and abilities will be verified through a question/answer oral exam; attending students will also discuss the written report. The competence will be judged appropriate (with a vote based on a 30 points scale) if the student

- will show to have clearly learnt the fundamental frames of the forms of production of written sources and the relation with social, ecclesiastical and political developments;

- will be able to connect and compare in a suitable way different historical processes (economic, social, political and religious evolution)

- will show explaining ability and conscious use of a suitabile lexicon;

- will show the ability to evaluate and judge in analyzing and framing specific historical moments and texts, through the use of acquired knowledges.

Part One

Between Sources and History: North-Western Italy in the Middle Ages

The course will trace the history of the Italian Middle Ages, with specific reference to the north-western area, from the point of view of the sources, whose production is a direct expression of various social actions. Starting with the ecclesiastical hegemony over early medieval written sources (produced and preserved almost exclusively by the great churches), the true "documentary revolution" of the 12th century will be shown, which gave rise to a new lay protagonism in writing and to a new and growing variety of social actions conducted through the production of written documents.

• The hegemony of ecclesiastical tradition from the early Middle Ages to the 11th century
• Centres and peripheries: the political reorganisation of Italy and the writings of public authorities (12th-15th centuries)
• Secular solidarity and church society
• Notarial writing, private memory, historical narration
• Imperial political action in the middle centuries of the Middle Ages

Part two

The mercantile sources of Italian cities

The second part of the course, in collaboration with visiting professor Jean-Louis Gaulin of the Université de Lyon 2 Lumière, will develop the topic of sources specifically related to commercial activities in Italian cities in the late Middle Ages.

Part Three

The Order of the World: Models of Society in Late Mediaeval Painting Cycles

The third part of the course will examine some late mediaeval painting cycles from the perspective of the social and political ideology expressed within them. Despite their great variety (not only formal, but also ideological), the different cycles converge in proposing an ideal of world order.

The cycles examined will be:

Gli effetti del Buongoverno, Siena;

Il ciclo dei mesi di Torre dell’Aquila, Trento;

Prodi ed eroine, Manta (CN);

La camera degli sposi, Mantova

With reference to the teaching methods indicated, in addition to the compulsory texts listed above:

- students attending face-to-face classes should prepare themselves on

Teaching material on late medieval fresco cycles

- students who will not be able to attend the in-person lectures should prepare themselves on

L. Provero, Dalla guerra alla pace. L’Arazzo di Bayeux e la conquista normanna dell’Inghilterra (secolo XI), Firenze, Firenze University Press, 2020 [available as a free download on the publisher's website].

The module is intended for students who have already taken an examination in Medieval History (or followed one of the core modules of Medieval History A, B, C, D or E)

The course will be held in presence, unless a health emergency imposes new restrictions. If face-to-face teaching is not possible, all students will be provided with a streaming of the lectures and their storage on the Moodle platform, together with the teaching material