30062 - Urban and Territorial History in the Middle Age

Learning outcomes

Aim of this discipline is to provide the student with a patrimony of knowledge and abilities, able to lead him to understand (with the help of written sources) the formation of the urban, monumental, and documental patrimony, in Italy, Europe and the whole Mediterranean area. At the end of the course, students must acquire deep knowledge of the political-institutional processes and of the socio-cultural interactions which shaped medieval Europe in its particular identity and historical memory, and they must be able to apply this knowledge to a specific urban or territorial area. They must be able to communicate the results of a bibliographical research or of a critical analysis of written sources, and  to approach the study of new topics on the basis of the knowledge acquired during the course.

Course contents

Cities and Territories in Italian and European Middle Ages: general characters and regional specificities.

Civil and ecclesiastical organization, economic rooms. Kingdoms, Comitati, Signorie, Feuds, Dioceses, Pievi, Parrochies, Urban Autonomies.

Typologies of towns: capital cities, episcopal cities, emporia,  mercantile country, sea-towns. Castles and Villages.

Kingship, aristocracy, ruling class in medieval towns. City and coutryside.

 Cultural memory in medieval churches and towns: chronicles, laudes civitatum, libri pontificales, statutes, iconography of power. Urban rituals and civic consciousness.

Readings/Bibliography

Part A) the sources used during the classes et others sources chosen with the professor ( http://campus.cib.unibo.it/)

Part B: one of these books:

1)  H. Pirenne, Maometto e Carlo Magno, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1969 and Pirenne,  Le città del Medioevo, Roma-Bari Laterza 1982; 

2) J. Heers, La città nel Medioevo, Milano, Jaca Book, 1995;

3) Per antiche strade: caratteri e aspetti delle città medievali, Roma, Viella, 2013

4) G. Cherubini, Città comunali di Toscana, Bologna, CLUEB, 2003

5) Ravenna da capitale imperiale a capitale esarcale, 2 voll., Spoleto, CISAM, 2005 i saggi concordati col docente)

6) M. Seidel-R. Silva, Potere delle immagini, immagini del potere: Lucca citta imperiale: iconografia politica, Venezia, Marsilio, 2007 (edizione inglese The power of images, the images of power : Lucca as an imperial city: political iconography, Munich 2007);

7)  Imago urbis: l' immagine della città nella storia d'Italia : atti del Convegno internazionale, a cura di F. Bocchi e R. Smurra, Roma, Viella, 2003 (i saggi concordati col docente);

8) Roma medievale, a cura di A. Vauchez, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2006

9) C. Wickham, Roma medievale: crisi e stabilità di una città, 900-1150, Roma, Viella, 2013 

10) J.C. Maire Vigueur, L'altra Roma. Una storia dei romani all'epoca dei Comuni (sec. XII-XIV), Torino, Einaudi, 2011

11) E. Faini, Firenze nell'età romanica (1000-1211): l'espansione urbana, lo sviluppo istituzionale, il rapporto con il territorio, Firenze, Olschki, 2010;

12) Due volumi a scelta della collana "Il Medioevo delle città italiane" CISAM, Spoleto): ad esempio P. Cammarosano, Siena, Spoleto 2009; G. Milani, Bologna, Spoleto 2012; P. Guglielmotti, Genova, Spoleto 2013

13) G.P. Scharf, Potere e società ad Arezzo nel XIII secolo (1214-1312), Spoleto 2013;

14) A. Feniello, Napoli: società ed economia (902-1137), Roma 2011

o altre letture concordate col docente.

2) J. Heers, La città nel Medioevo, Milano, Jaca Book, 1995

3) Les élites et leurs espaces, ed. Ph. Depreux-F. Bougard-R. Le Jan, Turnhout, Brepols, 2007 (the essays agreed with the professor);

  4) Riti e rituali nelle società medievali, ed. J. Chiffoleau, L. Martines e A. Paravicini Bagliani, Spoleto 1994 

5) G. Ciappelli, Carnevale e Quaresima : comportamenti sociali e cultura a Firenze nel Rinascimento, Roma, Storia e letteratura, 1997 

 6) M. Lauwers, Naissance du cimetiere : lieux sacres et terre des morts dans l'Occident medieval, Paris, Aubier, 2005;

 7) M.C. Miller, The bishop's palace : architecture and authority in medieval Italy, Maureen C. Miller, Ithaca-London 2000 

8) M. Seidel-R. Silva, Potere delle immagini, immagini del potere: Lucca citta imperiale: iconografia politica, Venezia, Marsilio, 2007 (The power of images, the images of power : Lucca as an imperial city: political iconography, Munich 2007);

9) Imago urbis: l' immagine della città nella storia d'Italia, atti del Convegno internazionale, a cura di F. Bocchi e R. Smurra, Roma, Viella, 2003 (the essays agreed with the professor);

10) Il senso della storia nella cultura medievale italiana, 1100-1350, Atti del XIV Convegno di studi (Pistoia, 14-17 maggio 1993), Pistoia 1995; 

11)  La costruzione della città comunale italiana (secoli XII-inizio XIV), Atti del XXI Convegno (Pistoia, 11-14 maggio 2007), Pistoia 2009;

12) G. Ortalli, La pittura infamante nei secoli XIII-XVI, Roma, Jouvence, 1979

or a different reading chosen with the professor. 

 Non-attending students are requested to discuss their program with the professor, and to prepare, in addition to the assignments:

F. Franceschi-I. Taddei, Le città italiane nel Medioevo: XII-XIV secolo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012 

Teaching methods

Seminar lections. Special attention will be given to the reading, analysis and discussion of historical sources (narrative, documental, archaeological sources). Sources and bibliography will be available to students during class.

Assessment methods

The test will consist in an oral examination, which will take part after the end of the lessons. It will be divided in 3 principal questions. The partecipation showed by the student during the lessons or during discussion in the forum will be considered for the final mark, as well as partecipation to seminars or conferences and lectures about Middle Ages organized or suggested by the teacher. The student, in order to pass the examination, will have to show to have understood the topics of the course, to be able to identify the social-economical, cultural and istitutional transformations in Middle Ages and to be able to use in a critical way the sources (at least in italian language) available in the wesite Alma-DLCampus  http://campus.cib.unibo.it/ or in the website  http://www.moodle.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=663, as well as the material indicated by the teacher. 

In order to obtain a high mark, the student will have to demonstrate to have a good knowledge of the specific vocabulary, also latin, to be able to easly move through the different topics and sources using the appropriate links, and confront critically the different sources concerning the same topic. If the student appears not to be able to move through the principal subjects studied and not to be able to order in time and space the most important historical events, he won't be able to succeed in the examination. The (at least) generical knowledge of the principal subjects, even without the use of an appropriate vocabulary, will be sufficient, and the student will pass. 

The students who followed regularly the lessons, could write a a paper (of approximately ten pages) on a topic agreed with the professor (the paper must be submitted before the exam) and containing also the list of principal sources and bibliography used. The discussion of the paper is one of the three questions that will be examined during the final test.

Teaching tools

Seminar lections based on the reading and analysis of historical sources (narrative, documental, monumental, iconographical, cartographical sources). Sources will be listed at the beginning of the course. Guidance towards a selective use of the web for scientific purposes. Students will be guided towards a direct approach to libraries and archives, with the aim of a better contact of primary sources.

Links to further information

http://www.unibo.it/docenti/raffaele.savigni

Office hours

See the website of Raffaele Savigni