29466 - Civilization of the High Middle Ages (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, the student should acquire a critical knowledge of the original characters of the culture and society of the High Middle Ages (V-X centuries) by applying the appropriate tools and highlighting the differences and peculiarities of the previous and subsequent ages. He should be able to communicate in written and/or oral form, accurately documenting the conclusions of his own historiographic path.

Course contents

Climate, environment, economy in the early Middle Ages.

Productive forms: the interaction between economic culture and environmental conditions.

Early medieval economy has a particularly complex character, intertwining the economy of the forest and pastures and the agricultural one, with original methods compared to other eras, both previous and later. This is the result of a particularly complex economic structure, careful to enhance - without any cultural bias - all environmental resources. But this economic and cultural structure has in itself close links to the environmental and climatic conditions, which give the landscape characteristics that are peculiar to this era.

The course will examine written and archaeological sources on the double track of economic history and environmental history. Outline of the topics covered:

- Man and environment in the high Middle Ages

- Climate constraints and cultural choices

- Land work and forestry resources

- Men facing famine

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students will have specific readings in order to prepare their own papers.

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Not attending students will have a written and an oral test.

Written test will be based on S. Gasparri, C. La Rocca, Tempi barbarici. L'Europa occidentale tra antichità e Medioevo (300-900), Roma, Carocci, 2012.

For the oral test, they will study these books:

V. Fumagalli, Paesaggi della paura. Vita e natura nel Medioevo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2006.

Teaching methods

The course will have a seminar format and will be structured along 15 lessons of two hours each. It requires a regular attendance and an active involvement of the students.

After some introductive lectures, readings will be proposed to understand the topic in its complexity, on a European dimension (therefore, not always in Italian language). Readings will be compulsory made during the course, in order to ensure a good collective discussion of the contents.

Finally, some lessons will be devoted to reading, cataloging and interpreting written sources.

Assessment methods

The course constitutes, together with Storia dell’Europa medievale, the integrated course Origini dell'Europa and therefore the final exam is conceived as unique.

Students attending both courses will prepare a paper that will be the only final test of the integrated course.

Final assessment will be based both on the completeness and accuracy of the work, and the ability to expose critically the topics.

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Not attending students will take only one written test, common for both courses, followed by an oral test: the two tests can be taken in the same scheduled exam date but it’s also possible to take the oral test in a succeeding scheduled exam date.

To access the oral exam, students need to have taken the written test and to have passed it with a score of minimum 18/30.

The written test will verify the knowledge gained through the manual and consists of five open-ended questions which requires correct and concise answers (the first one, with a score from 0 to 10; the others with a score from 0 to 5). The best possible result is 30/30.

The oral exam, also common to both courses, will be a free conversation to verify the knowledge of chosen books.

The maximum score assigned for the oral test is 30/30. For the evaluation, language skills, understanding of the discussed issues, ability to propose connections among the various topics will be taken into account.

The final score will come out from the average between the results of the written and the oral test. A word of praise can be added at the discretion of the teacher.

Teaching tools

The University's repository will be used for the distribution of teaching tools: power points for the synthesis of lesson contents, pdf files of sources and further readings.

Office hours

See the website of Massimo Montanari