90013 - Middle Ages and Medievalism: Historiography and Methodology (1)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide methodological and critical tools to understand the relationships between medieval historiography as a discipline that, through the analysis of sources – in the first place the historiographic ones -, interprets the historical and cultural dynamics of the medieval period, that is the post-medieval representations and uses of themes and subjects warned as medieval in later epochs, characterizing itself in a highly interdisciplinary sense. At the end of the module, students have gained a general view of the critical literature by reading and commenting on the texts; they will be able to recognise and use the main bibliographical resources; they will be able to grasp the prevailing models of the interpretation of events, the connections among the various phases of the construction of historical memory, the various cultural uses of the Middle Ages compared to the political-institutional evolution from a diachronic perspective; they will be able to place in a general framework the medieval/medievalism interactions in their cultural, political and ideological dimension.

Course contents

The general part of the course (20 hours) will focus on defining medievalism as an innovative and interdisciplinary field of research in relation to medieval historiography, from the point of view of both methods and content, with particular attention to the diachronic sequence of the main phases in the post-medieval reception of the Middle Ages (from nineteenth-century Romantic medievalism to twentieth-century ideological uses, up to contemporary forms), and to the presentation of the main bibliographical resources of reference for the study of medievalism (journals, reference works, specialist series).

A part of the course (10 hours) will be devoted to the theme of

Political medievalism, as a case study intended to exemplify, within a circumscribed thematic field, the general methodological framework outlined in the general part of the course.

 

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

The articles listed in the bibliography  will be uploaded by the instructor to Virtuale in correspondence with the relevant lectures.

ATTENDING STUDENTS

BASIC PART

• T. di Carpegna Falconieri, Cinque altri modi di sognare il medioevo. Addenda a un testo celebre, in «Bullettino dell’Istituto storico italiano per il medio evo», 122 (2020), pp. 407-433 (READING REQUIRED)
  
• U. Eco, Dieci modi di sognare il medioevo, in U. Eco, Sugli specchi e altri saggi, Milano 1985, pp. 78-89/U. Eco, Scritti sul pensiero medievale, Milano 2013, pp. 1093-1108 (READING REQUIRED)
• U. Longo, ‘Tra un manifesto e uno specchio’. Piccola storia del medievalismo tra diaframmi, maniere e pretesti, in «Bullettino dell’Istituto storico italiano per il medio evo», 122 (2020), pp. 383-405 (READING REQUIRED)
• D. Matthews, From Mediaeval to Mediaevalism: a New Semantic History, in «The Review of English Studies», New Series, Vol. 62, No. 257, pp. 695-715 (READING REQUIRED)
• F. Roversi Monaco, Medioevo 'medievale' fra stereotipi e storiografia, in Fortune del Medioevo Studi di Medievalismo, a cura di R.Capelli, Alessandria, 2023, pp. 13-30(READING REQUIRED)
  
  

Texts and materials relating to the theme of Political Medievalism will be indicated at the beginning of the module and made available on Virtuale prior to the relevant lectures, so as to allow for advance preparation and informed discussion in class.

 

STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO CONSULT THE SLIDES PUBLISHED ON VIRTUALE

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

 

• T. di Carpegna Falconieri,  Medioevo militante, Torino 2012(READING REQUIRED)
  
• T. di Carpegna Falconieri, Cinque altri modi di sognare il medioevo. Addenda a un testo celebre, in «Bullettino dell’Istituto storico italiano per il medio evo», 122 (2020), pp. 407-433 (READING REQUIRED)
  
• U. Eco, Dieci modi di sognare il medioevo, in U. Eco, Sugli specchi e altri saggi, Milano 1985, pp. 78-89/U. Eco, Scritti sul pensiero medievale, Milano 2013, pp. 1093-1108 (READING REQUIRED)
• U. Longo, ‘Tra un manifesto e uno specchio’. Piccola storia del medievalismo tra diaframmi, maniere e pretesti, in «Bullettino dell’Istituto storico italiano per il medio evo», 122 (2020), pp. 383-405 (READING REQUIRED)
• D. Matthews, From Mediaeval to Mediaevalism: a New Semantic History, in «The Review of English Studies», New Series, Vol. 62, No. 257, pp. 695-715 (READING REQUIRED)
• F. Roversi Monaco, Medioevo 'medievale' fra stereotipi e storiografia, in Fortune del Medioevo Studi di Medievalismo, a cura di R.Capelli, Alessandria, 2023, pp. 13-30 (READING REQUIRED)
  
• G. Sergi, L'idea di Medioevo fra storia e senso comune, Roma 2005 (READING REQUIRED)

    

 

Teaching methods

Lectures, with moments of in-class discussion on the texts and case studies presented, designed to develop the capacity for critical comparison and self-assessment required among the course's learning objectives. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the subject, the lectures will draw, where relevant, on tools and perspectives from different disciplinary fields (art history, literature, cultural studies).

Assessment methods

NB Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

The final exam will be an oral one, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes discussing during frontal lectures (only for attending students) as well as those treated in the program's texts.

Non-attending students will have to take an oral final exam about the themes treated in the program's texts.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the sources and material in the exam bibliography and his ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.
Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.
A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

 

During the academic year, 10 exam sessions are scheduled between January and December.

Teaching tools

We will use power point slides with images and maps. Various examples of historical sources will be used and discussed.

 

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Roversi Monaco