28494 - Paleography (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will have learned to read, analyse, transcript, date and make the critical edition of a manuscript text and, in particular, of a documentary source.

Course contents

The critical edition: the critical edition between Phylology and Diplomatics. The course will start from the analysis and the comparison between what is considered a critical edition of a diplomatic source in Diplomatics and in Phylology, through the analysis of the differences and analogies in the critical edition of literary texts and in the edition of documentary sources, and the various problems connected to them. In this perspective, it will be analysed the main rudiments of Palaeography and Diplomatics, in order to give the necessary tools to read, analyse, transcript, date and make the critical edition of a manuscript text, in particular of a document.

Through the analysis of fac – similes of already existing editions, provided during the course, it will be analysed, in particular, the main paleographical, diplomatics and editorial problems connected to some particular kind of medieval sources: polittici, cartularies, agricultural valuations, commercial documents, law documents (IXth – XIVth centuries), with a special attention for the links between critical edition of texts and their use for historical reconstruction.

Moreover, the course will be followed by practical exercises of reading, transcription and edition of manuscripts, lead on of reproduction of original documents, with special attention for the private documents of Bologna in the centuries Xth – XIIth.

Readings/Bibliography

1) Attenders

G. Cencetti, Paleografia latina, Roma 1978

A. Antonelli, G. Feo, M. Modesti, Filologia e diplomatica: un modello bolognese dall'edizione di documenti in volgare (secc. XIII-XIV), in Regionale Urkundenbücher. Die Vorträge der 12. Tagung der Commission Internationale de Diplomatique (St. Pölten, 23. bis 25. September 2009), herausgeber Th. Kölzer, W. Rosner, R. Zehetmayer, St. Pölten 2010 (Nöla. Mitteilungen ausdem Niederösterreichischen Landesarchiv, 14-2010), pp. 50-85 

Didactic material provided during the course (only for attenders).

 

Optional readings:

G. Nicolaj, Il volgare nei documenti italiani medievali, in La langue des actes. Actes du XIe Congrès de la Commission Internationale de Diplomatique (Troyes, 11-13 septembre 2003), that can be found at the following link: <http://elec.enc.sorbonne.fr/CID2003/nicolaj> and in Nulla historia sine fontibus. Festschrift für Reinhard Härtel zum 65. Geburtstag, hrsg. von A. Thaller, J. Gießauf und G. Bernhard, Graz 2010, pp. 339-347

G. Ropa, Sulla lingua e su alcuni modi espressivi delle più antiche carte bolognesi (secc. X-XII), in Studio bolognese e formazione del notariato. Atti del convegno (1989), pp. 71-115

F. Sabatini, Dalla scripta latina rustica alle scriptae romanze, in Studi Medievali, IX, 1968, pp. 320-358

 

2) Unattenders

G. Cencetti, Paleografia latina, Roma 1978

A. Antonelli, G. Feo, M. Modesti, Filologia e diplomatica: un modello bolognese dall'edizione di documenti in volgare (secc. XIII-XIV), in Regionale Urkundenbücher. Die Vorträge der 12. Tagung der Commission Internationale de Diplomatique (St. Pölten, 23. bis 25. September 2009), herausgeber Th. Kölzer, W. Rosner, R. Zehetmayer, St. Pölten 2010 (Nöla. Mitteilungen ausdem Niederösterreichischen Landesarchiv, 14-2010), pp. 50-85 

G. Nicolaj, Il volgare nei documenti italiani medievali, in La langue des actes. Actes du XIe Congrès de la Commission Internationale de Diplomatique (Troyes, 11-13 septembre 2003), can be found at the following link: <http://elec.enc.sorbonne.fr/CID2003/nicolaj> and in Nulla historia sine fontibus. Festschrift für Reinhard Härtel zum 65. Geburtstag, hrsg. von A. Thaller, J. Gießauf und G. Bernhard, Graz 2010, pp. 339-347

 

Optional readings:

F. De Marini, C. Lanza, Critica testuale e studio storico del diritto, Torino 2001, in partic. capp. VI-VII, Il Medio Evo, L'Umanesimo giuridico, pp. 121-165

G. Ropa, Sulla lingua e su alcuni modi espressivi delle più antiche carte bolognesi (secc. X-XII), in Studio bolognese e formazione del notariato. Atti del convegno (1989), pp. 71-115 

F. Sabatini, Dalla scripta latina rustica alle scriptae romanze, in Studi Medievali, IX, 1968, pp. 320-358

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons and practical exercises of reading, transcription, analysis and dating of manuscript texts, held on reproductions of original manuscripts taken from library and documentary sources  (IXth-XIIIth cent.).

Assessment methods

1) Attenders: written test.

The aim of the written test is the transcription and the edition of a documentary source using the methods and the critical tools acquired during the lessons. There will be evaluated, in particular, the critical abilities demonstrated in the transcription, above all in the cases of problematic points in the texts.

2) Unattenders: oral examination.

It will be evaluated the knowledge and the comprehension of the main steps of the History of the Latin Palaeography and the one the main rudiments and methods of the discipline, with particular attention to the critical edition in the palaeographical and diplomatics field, reached by students through the analysis of the studied bibliography. Particular attention will be given to the critique abilities of the student, who will have to demonstrate to be able to orient himself into the world of manuscript sources, handing the tools and the method of Palaeography.

 

In the both cases (attenders and unattenders), a systematic and critical vision of the themes analysed during the lessons, and also the correct use of the specific language, will be evaluated with excellence marks.

A mechanical and/or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, bad structured analysis abilities and/or a correct but not always appropriate language will lead to decent evaluations; formative lacks or an inappropriate language – even if in a context of basic knowledge of the exam material – will lead to marks that will not go beyond sufficiency. Formative lacks, inappropriate language, scarcity of orientation in the bibliography offered during the course will be evaluated in a negative way.

Teaching tools

During the course there will be provided documents' reproductions and critical editions of sources (only for attenders).

Office hours

See the website of Maddalena Modesti