90137 - History of Culture and Latin Text of Middle Ages (1)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students gain a basic understanding of the philological method as applied to the tradition of medieval texts (how to study the manuscript tradition of a medieval Latin text, how a critical edition is produced, how to read a critical edition) and are able to apply this knowledge to the history of culture and literary criticism. Students are acquainted with the working conditions of medieval authors and they are introduced to the different concrete forms of medieval textual production in relation to the diversity of the reading public. Students are able to reconstruct critically a brief text transmitted by a simple manuscript tradition.

Course contents

The invention of the Middle Ages.

Is the end of the ancient world just the end of a world or the invention of a new world? how long was it necessary to develop this invention? how long to get rid of the grandiose figures of antiquity and replace them? The Latin texts of the Middle Ages that tell us about this decisive work for human culture, remain in the vast majority of cases in manuscript codes, hidden and unknown.

1. The course illustrates the specific conditions of the Latin culture of the Middle Ages (notion of text, modality of elaboration of the text, modality of diffusion of the work) and the methods to study this specificity, also considering the authors of reference. The teacher will present the themes and problems foreseen by the program, discussing with the students the critical aspects of the method and the authors of reference in the history of the Middle Latin culture.

 

2. Specific methodologies for the description of Latin authors, texts and manuscripts of the Middle Ages will be illustrated, as tools for understanding the dynamics posed by Latin texts of the Middle Ages.

Readings/Bibliography

1. General part

Only one book from the following

C. Leonardi, Medioevo latino. La cultura dell'europa cristiana, Firenze, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2004 (Il millennio medievale)

C. Leonardi (cur.) Letteratura latina medievale (secoli VI-XV). Un manuale, Firenze, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2002 (Il millennio medievale)

G. Vinay, Alto Medioevo latino, Napoli, Liguori ed. 2003 (II edizione)

F. Santi, L'età metaforica. Fugure di Dio e letteratura latina medievale da Gregorio Magno a Dante, Spoleto, Fondazione Cisam 2011 (Uomini e mondi medievali)

2. Medieval Latin texts

Only one text from the following

Gregorius Magnus, Dialogi (ed. A. de Vogüé-B. Calati, Roma 2000)

Petrus Abaelardus-Heloissa Epistolario (ed. I. Pagani-G.Orlandi, Torino 2015)

Linguistic, literary and attributive examination of the chosen work.

Students who do not attend classes must prepare two medium-latin texts between those indicated (nr. 2)

 

Teaching methods

1. The introductory part of the course will be dedicated to the presentation of the authors and the emerging moments of the Middle Latin tradition and its concrete conditions.

2. Once the awareness of the intellectual significance of the sources of the Latin Middle Ages has been acquired, the teacher will introduce students to the creation of erudite tools capable of describing them (descriptive cards for authors, texts, manuscripts, lexical cards, in traditional forms and in electronic media of the new platforms).

3. Reading experiences of critical apparatuses will be carried out and first experiences of the procedures of critical editions will be proposed. The close relationship between literary criticism and criticism of the text will be indicated.

Assessment methods

The exam is oral (thirty minutes). The teacher considers it a moment of evaluation but also a moment of teaching, giving the student the opportunity to present information and thought in an articulated way.

Evaluation criteria.

The interview serves to evaluate:

1. acquisition of the canon of information useful for orienting oneself in the historical-literary and methodological panorama of the sources that are the subject of the discipline.

2. familiarity with the elements of reference in the historiographical and methodological framework, showing awareness of the methodological plurality of the approaches to the tested sources, placing this plurality also in relation to general visions (with an international horizon).

3. ability to react to the problematic elements on the level of the method posed by the sources (also in consideration of their handwritten condition), with the awareness of the reference elements useful for setting the solution of those problems.

4. ability to interpret and comment on a Latin text from the Middle Ages among those indicated in the exam program.

Teaching tools

Texts

medieval manuscripts

Electronic platforms dedicated to authors, texts, manuscripts, linguistic corpora

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Santi