00929 - Modern History

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student acquires general knowledge of the themes and problems related to the Early Modern age (mid-fifteenth-mid-nineteenth century), as well as the awareness of the periodization criteria. He/she has particular knowledge of a broad internal theme of the early modern age, also in relation to the historiographical debate and the diversity and multiplicity of original sources. He is able to recognize the complexity of each historiographic construction by analyzing historical documents and authors and is able to frame the main historical problems according to the development of the historiographical debate.

Course contents

The course features a lesson part dedicated to the fundamental issues of the modern era. The modern state and its birth; the religious crisis (reform, counter-reform); discoveries and explorations in the New World and in Asia; monarchies and absolutism; social organisation, conflictual dynamics (European wars and military campaigns) and practices of tolerance; enlightened despotism and revolution.

A ropart of the course, more monographic, will be dedicated to the analysis of issues concerning gender history in the modern age. The role of women and female power; the family and marriage; sexual disciplining and masculinity in conversation with the images and the iconography.

Classroom attendance is advisable.

Readings/Bibliography

(A)

To add to the materials offered in class it is mandatory to prepare (both attending and non-attending students) these set handbooks:

• Carlo Capra, Storia moderna (1492-1848), Firenze, Le Monnier, 2004 (study up to 1815)

  -Introduzione alla storia moderna, a cura di M. Bellabarba - V. Lavenia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2023 (i capitoli I, III, IV, XIII, XV, XVII, XVIII, XXX, XXXI).

  (B)

• Along with the set handbook, one text of your choice is to be added (both attending and non-attending students) from among:

  
  
• Ottavia Niccoli, Vedere con gli occhi del cuore. Alle origini del potere delle immagini, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2011;
• Marina Caffiero, Storia degli ebrei nell'Italia moderna. Dal Rinascimento alla Restaurazione, Roma, Carocci, 2014;
• Adriano Prosperi, Il seme dell'intolleranza. Ebrei, eretici, selvaggi: Granada 1492, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2017;
• Daniele Di Bartolomeo, Francesco Benigno, Napoleone deve morire L'idea di ripetizione storica nella Rivoluzione, Roma, Salerno, 2020;
• Elisa Novi Chavarria, Accogliere e curare. Ospedali e culture delle nazioni nella Monarchia ispanica (secc. XVI-XVII), Roma, Viella, 2020;
• David Salomoni, Magellano: il primo viaggio intorno al mondo, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2022;
• Pasquale Palmieri, Le cento vite di Cagliostro, Bologna, Il mulino, 2023;
• Lucio Biasiori, Rinascimento sotterraneo. Inquisizione e popolo nella Firenze del Cinquecento, Roma, Officina Libraria, 2023.

(C)

Two volumes of your choice (Three for the non-attenders), for the monographic part, chosen from among:

• Daniela Lombardi, Storia del matrimonio dal Medioevo a oggi, Bologna, il Mulino, 2008;
• Cesarina Casanova, Regine per caso. Donne al governo in età moderna, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2014;
• Merry E. Wiesner - Hanks, Le donne nell'Europa moderna 1500-1750, Torino, Einaudi, 2017;
• Fernanda Alfieri, Vincenzo Lagioia (a cura), Infami macchie. Sessualità maschili e indisciplina in età moderna, Roma, Viella, 2018;
• Umberto Grassi, Sodoma. Persecuzioni, affetti, pratiche sociali (secoli V-XVIII), Roma, Carocci, 2019;
• Vincenzo Lagioia, Maria Pia Paoli, Rossella Rinaldi (a cura), La fama delle donne. Pratiche femminili e società tra Medioevo ed Età moderna, Roma, Viella, 2020;
• Tommaso Scaramella, Un doge infame. Sodomia e nonconformismo sessuale a Venezia nel Settecento, Venezia, Marsilio, 2021;
• Fernanda Alfieri, Veronica e il diavolo. Storia di un esorcismo a Roma, Torino, Einaudi, 2021.

 

Teaching methods

Lectures in face and seminar activities remotely and / or in the classroom

Assessment methods

The examination will be oral and the students will prepare by choosing the texts indicated in the Bibliography. For the non-attending students there is one extra text to read in point C).

For all students, it is possible to take the examination in two parts, always in oral mode: necessarily first the institutional part and then the monographic part.

The exam will assess the student's command of the material studied in the course. The student will be judged on his ability to summarise and critically discuss topics raised in the course, making use of the exam bibliography and the course tools provided.

The assessment will thus consider the student's:
- knowledge and understanding of the topics covered;
- 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.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special accommodations according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the teacher but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adaptations. For more information, visit the page:

https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

 

Teaching tools

As a teaching aid the lecturer will use Power Point presentations that will be available in the section dedicated to the Materials. There will be lectures and visits to libraries and sites of historical interest in the city of Ravenna. To refine the historiographical research online instruments will be presented along with updates relevant to enhancing the preparation.

Office hours

See the website of Vincenzo Lagioia