66782 - History of Medieval Europe (LM)

Academic Year 2025/2026

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Modern, Post-Colonial and Comparative Literatures (cod. 6723)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student has an in-depth knowledge of themes, phenomena, moments and problems relating to the history of Europe in the Middle Ages and, with the help of evidence of various kinds, acquires knowledge, methodological skills and the ability to carry out research independently.

Course contents


Women, power and writing abilites during the Middle Ages.

The course draws on the most recent historiography on the subject of literacy among women during the medieval period, based on a research project recently completed by the lecturer. We will also explore the theme of the power of dominae , both religious and secular, in the context of a new international project.

The approach to these issues will be chronological (the medieval period from the 5th to the 15th century, with a focus on the 12th-14th centuries), historiographical (critical reading of recent contributions on the topics studied) and documentary (direct study of some historical sources). The course will enable students to acquire knowledge on gender history during the Middle Ages and skills in reading historical sources and essays.


Readings/Bibliography

The teacher will later publish a list of books and articles, highlighting the mandatory and recommended ones.

Teaching methods

Frontal lesson in Italian language with the aid of Power Point materials. The powerpoint files used during the lecture will be made available on Virtuale. In addition, images and transcripts of the sources studied during the course will be uploaded on Virtuale.

Assessment methods

The examination consists of an oral interview in which the student's critical and methodological skills are assessed and he/she is invited to engage with the course material. In the assessment of the test, particular account will be taken of the student's ability to orientate himself/herself within the examination material in order to draw out useful information that will enable him/her to illustrate themes and problems and to be able to link them together. In order to meet the teacher's requirements, the student must demonstrate his or her knowledge and analytical skills not only on the basis of the theoretical content of the course, but also through the skills acquired in reading and understanding the historical sources (analysed during the course).

The final interview will focus on the course, the required readings and/or the work carried out based on the various contributions studied during the course, in particular the documentation related to some cases of women in power during the 12th-14th centuries.


Teaching tools

The course will make use for almost all the lectures of texts and images presented on Power Point. The presentations used during the lectures and the proposed readings will be found on Virtuale, the University's repository for sharing teaching support tools.

Office hours

See the website of Sylvie Marie Laure Duval