75893 - History of Institutions and Cultural Heritage in the Middle Ages

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 cultural Heritage and of the 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-institutional 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 or to a specific archival and librarian context and to understand the cultural Heritage of an institution. 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

(6 h.) General overview: Cities and Territories in Italian and European Middle Ages: general characteristics and regional specificities. Different typologies of urban settlements. Urban space and sacred space (churches,  monasteries and cemeteries). Cathedral schools and monasteries.

The different types of written sources and the ways in which they werw composed and used. The construction of the memory of  ecclesiastical institutions, secular elites and medieval cities.

2) (24 h.) Medieval Ravenna: its political and ecclesiastical organization from the Ostrogothic kingdom to Venetian domination. Urban space, the construction of city memory, and cultural heritage. Written sources: the Liber pontificalis of Agnello ravennate and its continuators; the epigraphs; the archival documents; the city Statutes. Sixteenth-century erudition: Giovanni Pietro Ferretti and Girolamo Rossi. Political and religious iconography: the statues of Theoderic and their reuse; the Greek Madonna and other images.

The role of the archbishop of Ravenna and the exarchate. Ravenna as imperial and exarchal capital. The Communal Society. Ravenna in the age of Dante and in the Venetian age.

Urban planning policy and management of water resources.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Students will bring to the exam a written paper (15-20 folders) on a topic agreed with the professor, the sources and teaching materials analyzed in class and the following readings:

R. Savigni, “Memoria urbis”: l’immagine di Ravenna nella storiografia di età carolingio-ottoniana, in Ravenna da capitale imperiale a capitale esarcale, Atti del XVII Congresso del Centro di studi sull’Alto Medioevo (Ravenna, 6-12 giugno 2004), Spoleto 2005, II, pp. 615-701

A.M. Orselli, Ravenna basileousa polis nella memoria della storiografia umanistica e rinascimentale, in Ravenna da capitale imperiale a capitale esarcale, II, pp. 593-614.

J. Herrin, Ravenna. Capitale dell'Impero, crogiolo d'Europa, Milano, Rizzoli, 2022, pp. 259-460

Recommended reading:

A.I. Pini, Il comune di Ravenna fra episcopio e aristocrazia cittadina, in Storia di Ravenna, III, Venezia, Marsilio, 1993, pp. 201-257

A. Vasina, Dai Traversari ai Da Polenta: Ravenna nel periodo di affermazione della signoria cittadina (1275-1441), ivi, pp. 565-603

R. Savigni, Il patrimonio culturale della Chiesa e della città ravennate nei racconti dei viaggiatori e nelle guide per forestieri, "VIAGGIATORI», 2019, Atti di convegni, 2, pp. 151-167

For further study:

V. West-Harling, Rome, Ravenna and Venice, 750-1000: Byzantine heritage, imperial present, and the construction of city identity, Oxford 2020 (the chapters on Ravenna)

Instructions on writing the final paper can be found on the professor's Website  (https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/raffaele.savigni/contenuti-utili).

Non-attending students should bring yo the exam a second volume or other additional readings agreed upon with the professor. 

The course requires a knowledge of the general outlines of medieval history. Students who have not previously taken a course in Medieval History may acquire the basic knowledge using the textbook of A. Zorzi, Manuale di storia medievale, Torino, Utet, 2016 (new edition 2021).

Teaching methods

Analysis of written sources, and discussion of relevant bibliography, with attentions to the content but also to the use of historical methodologies.

Seminar lections and interactive sessions through the forum, with special attention to the reading, analysis and discussion of different historical sources (narrative, documental, archaeological sources). Sources and bibliography will be made available to students during classes and through the website Virtuale, on which students can interact constantly with the teacher.

Assessment methods

Oral examination with discussion of a written paper (10-15 pages). The topic of the paper must be agreed with the teacher, and the paper itself should be submitted at least one week in advance. (https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/raffaele.savigni/contenuti-utili).

The oral examination will be held after the end of the lessons. It will be oral, and made of three principal questions. The discussion of the paper will be considered as one of the three questions of the final test. The final evaluation will be determined also by class participation, i.e. by interventions and questions of the student during the lessons and through the forum, as well as attendance to seminars, conferences, and lectures about Middle Ages organized or suggested by the teacher.

The student, to pass the examination, must prove his knowledge of the principal topics of the course, his ability to identify the principal socio-economic, cultural and institutional processes of the Middle Ages, and his awareness of the characteristics of a number of medieval sources, that he has to use and discuss critically (at least in their Italian translation). The list of sources, provided in class by the teacher, is available on Virtuale.

To obtain high marks, students should demonstrate good knowledge of specific vocabulary (in Latin too, if necessary); ability to easily move through different topics and sources, and to connect them logically; ability to critically compare different sources on the same topic.

Students unable to describe the principal topics, or to correctly place in space and time major historical events, will not pass the examination.

Minimum requirement to pass the exam is the generic knowledge of principal topics (even without use of appropriate vocabulary).

Non-attending students must bring a second volume agreed with the teacher before the end of the course (in addition to the general assignments) and their grades will be high only if they will prove their ability to critically discuss the sources and the bibliography used in the paper, as well as their capacity to connect different texts and contexts, and to answer the question with specific vocabulary.

Teaching tools

Databanks, digital libraries, digital archives, online resources (sources, bibliography).

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 and on the website Virtuale. 

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 (edited or not).

Students who are affected by learning disability (DSA) and in need of special strategies to compensate it, are kindly requested to contact the Teacher, in order to be referred to the colleagues in charge and get proper advice and instructions.

Office hours

See the website of Raffaele Savigni