28955 - History of Medieval Europe (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student acquires the required knowledge to orient himself in the history of Europe and Mediterranean basin and the critical skills useful to operate in complex theoretical frameworks, even in terms of historical memory in contemporary culture. The student will be able also to face usefully the connections of historical studies with other human sciences. At the end of the course, the student gains in-depth critical knowledge of the main lines of the formation of Europe through the interaction between historical phenomena and spatial definitions, the most up-to-date historiographical and scientifical debate. Is able to apply specific tools and source analysis, and to critically evaluate different culture. Is able to communicate effectively in written and / or oral form.

Course contents

Rethinking the Tenth Century

The course aims to revisit the issues of the Tenth century, known in Italian historiography as "The iron century," reconsidering the events and processes of political and cultural transformation in a European context. Recent studies related to political experiments, resistance to social changes, and regulatory processes will be presented and discussed, with specific attention given to a renewed analysis of literary sources.

Various themes will be addressed: royal power and the problem of its legitimacy; structures of royal and aristocratic kinship; networks of elites and their relationship with the kingdom, as well as the role of monasteries and churches in such networks; forms of female power and the use of gender representation in political discourse.

Readings/Bibliography

The course is a module of the "Origine dell'Europa" course and is fully integrated with the "Civiltà dellAlto Medioevo" module.

Students attending the Master's degree in "Scienze storiche e orientalistiche" cannot attend a single module, and the following program applies to the entire "Origine dell'Europa" course.

Attending students will be required to read, study, and present, in small groups during class, a specialized essay on the course topic. They will also need to produce a short written paper (12,000 characters) analyzing the data obtained from the semantic indexing of edited sources.

For non-attending students, a written test and an oral examination are planned instead.

The written test will be based on the book by S. Gasparri, C. La Rocca, Tempi barbarici. L'Europa occidentale tra antichità e Medioevo (300-900), Roma, Carocci, 2012.

For the oral examination, students will discuss the contents of two books chosen from the following:

G. Albertoni, L'elefante di Carlo Magno, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020.

I. Barbiera, Memorie sepolte. Tombe e identità nell'alto medioevo (secoli V-VIII), Roma, Carocci, 2012.

F. Borri, Alboino. Frammenti di un racconto (secoli VI-XI), Roma, Viella, 2016.

G. Gandino, Contemplare l'ordine. Intellettuali e potenti dell'alto Medioevo, Napoli, Liguori, 2004.

S. Gasparri, Desiderio, Salerno, Salerno Editrice, 2019.

P. Geary, In principio erano le donne, Roma, Carocci, 2018.

H. Keller, Gli Ottoni. Una dinastia imperiale tra Europa e Italia (secc. X e XI), Roma, Carocci, 2012.

W. Pohl, Le origini etniche dell'Europa: barbari e romani tra antichità e Medioevo, Roma, Viella, 2011.

G. Ravegnani, Teodora, Salerno, Salerno Editrice, 2016.

C. Stedile, La Vita Mathildis antiquior e la scrittura femminile in epoca ottoniana, con introduzione di T. Lazzari, Pisa, Pacini Editore, 2023.

Teaching methods

The course is a module of the Origine dell'Europa course and is fully integrated with the Civiltà dell'Alto Medioevo module.

For students enrolled in the Master's degree in Scienze storiche e orientalistiche, it is not possible to attend only one module.

The first module, Storia dell'Europa medievale, will consist of frontal lessons covering the political and cultural history of the early Middle Ages (5th-10th centuries).

In the second module, Civiltà dell'Alto Medioevo, after some introductory frontal lessons on the specific theme of the course, students will be directly involved. They will be required to read small essays, not always in italian language, and present them to the class in small groups. Whenever possible, the authors of the essays will be invited to these presentations.

Regular attendance and active participation in the lessons are therefore required from students.

Following this, there will be lessons dedicated to the indexing of sources.

Students, divided into small groups, will be guided in preparing the necessary database for elaborating a short written paper at the end of the course, focused on the analysis of the obtained data and the study of the bibliography.

Assessment methods

The present course (6CFU) is part of the Integrated Course Origini dell’Europa C.I. (1) LM.

Attending students must attend both parts of the integrated course.

A student is considered attending if they participate in at least 75% of the classes.

Attending students must present to the class, in small groups, the results of reading some assigned scientific essays.

At the end of the course, they will prepare a written paper that will be discussed in a reserved examination section, and it will constitute the only final assessment of the integrated course and, therefore, of both parts of the course.

The assessment of the papers will be based on both the completeness and formal accuracy of the text, and the ability to critically analyze the themes and issues.

Non-attending students must take a single written exam, common to both parts of the course, followed by a single oral exam.

The written exam and the oral exam can be taken in the same exam session or in different ones.

To access the oral exam, it is necessary to have taken and passed the written exam with a score of at least 18/30.

The written exam aims to verify the acquired knowledge of the manual and consists of five open-ended questions, which require precise answers and good synthesis skills, the first one being evaluated from 0 to 10 points, and the others from 0 to 5. The maximum possible score is 30/30.

Therefore, the following will be evaluated:

• Mastery of the content

• Ability to synthesize and analyze themes and concepts

• Ability to express oneself in writing appropriately and with language suitable for the subject matter.

Achievement by the student of an organic understanding of the topics covered in the manual, their critical use, good expressive mastery, and the use of specific vocabulary will be evaluated with excellent grades.

Memorization of the material, along with synthesis and analysis skills articulated in correct but not always appropriate language, will result in satisfactory grades.

Educational gaps and/or inappropriate language use – even in a context of minimal knowledge of the exam material – will lead to grades that do not exceed the passing mark.

Educational gaps, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the manual contents will be evaluated negatively.

The oral exam, also common to both parts of the course, is a free conversation aimed at assessing the acquired knowledge of the two selected books, one for each part of the course.

During the conversation, the acquired knowledge, synthesis skills, and critical abilities developed by the student, who will prepare on the exam bibliography, will be assessed.

In evaluating the exam, particular attention will be paid to the student's ability to navigate within the exam bibliography in order to extract useful information to illustrate themes and issues and to connect them.

Therefore, the following will be evaluated:

• Mastery of the content

• Ability to synthesize and analyze themes and concepts

• Ability to express oneself appropriately and with language suitable for the subject matter.

The achievement by the student of an organic understanding of the topics covered in the lessons together with their critical use, good expressive mastery, and specific language will be evaluated with excellent grades.

Memorization of the material, along with synthesis and analysis skills articulated in correct but not always appropriate language, will result in satisfactory grades.

Educational gaps and/or inappropriate language use – even in a context of minimal knowledge of the exam material – will lead to grades that do not exceed the passing mark.

Educational gaps, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic materials will be evaluated negatively.

The maximum score assigned in the oral exam is 30/30. The final exam grade will result from the reasoned average between the result of the written exam and the result of the oral exam. At the discretion of the teacher, a mention of distinction may be added.

Teaching tools

The "Virtuale" platform, the university's repository for sharing teaching support materials, will be used. This includes PowerPoint summaries of lesson content, PDF files of sources, and suggested readings.

Office hours

See the website of Tiziana Lazzari