90551 - Medieval Latin Philology (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course the students 1) acquire advanced skills about the application of the philological method for the textual tradition of the Latin Middle Ages; 2) know the main unsolved problems in the philological method; 3) know in depth the relationship between philological work and literary criticism; 4) realize the critical edition of a medieval Latin text.

Course contents

Philology and literary criticism. How, when and why we make the critical edition of a Latin text of the Middle Ages

1.1 What is a Medieval Latin Text? Tools of Middle-Latin philology. Problems of History of historiography. Specific character of the Middle Latin text. The manuscript tradition.

1.2. Text criticism and literary criticism (Poetics and language of the author). Study cases. Reading and commenting on texts

2.1. Exercises in criticism of the text on Medieval Latin Text (Canon of manuscripts, Recensio, Conjectures, Selectio, Constitutio textus, critical apparatus). Examples will be drawn this year in particular from the work done for the edition of an anonymous 14th century text entitled Invitatorium ad amorem sanctae humilitatis.

2.2. Make a critical edition of a short text with a simple manuscript tradition (a short text from the 13th-14th centuries).

The text to be edited is chosen in consideration of the profile of the students who attend the course. To give an idea the following works are remembered

(A) Bonaventura di Bagnoregio Sermo de diversis n. 59 de sancto Francisco (AA. 2019/2020)

(B) Arnau de Vilanova, Eulogium (edition published in Franciscana 23 (2021). (AA. 2020/2021)

(C) Gerardo d'Auvergne, Prologus of the Abbreviatio Historiae figualis (in preparation) (AA. 2021/2022)

(D) Le epitomi della Historia beati Nicolai de Tolentino nei leggendari abbreviati del secolo XV. Con le edizioni di quattro redazioni della Vita Nicolai nei leggendari di Hermann Greven e di Johannes Gielemans. (edizione pubblicata sulla rivista Hagiographica. Journal of Hagiography and Biography 30 (2023) (AA. 2022/23).

 

Readings/Bibliography

1. Lectures summary, textual critic's exercises available online by the teacher

2. Seven chapters selected by student within one of the following works (with the exception of G, which must be prepared in full).

(A) Claudio Leonardi et al., Letteratura latina medievale (secoli VI-XV), un manuale, Firenze 2002; (B) Gustavo Vinay Alto medioevo latino. Conversazioni e no cur. Massimo Oldoni - Ileana Pagani, adiuv. Corinna Bottiglieri - Iolanda Ventura, Napoli, Liguori 2003² pp. 507 (Nuovo medioevo 14) (prima edizione: Napoli, Guida editori 1978); (C) Claudio Leonardi Medioevo latino. La cultura dell'Europa cristiana cur. Francesco Santi, praef. I Deug-Su - Oronzo Limone - Enrico Menestò, Firenze, SISMEL. Edizioni del Galluzzo 2004 pp. XX-900; (D) Francesco Santi L'età metaforica. Figure di Dio e letteratura latina medievale da Gregorio Magno a Dante Spoleto (Perugia), Centro italiano di studi sull'Alto Medioevo (CISAM) 2011 pp. XVIII-404 tav. 1 (Uomini e mondi medievali. Collana del Centro Italiano di Studi sul Basso Medioevo - Accademia Tudertina 25). (E) Franz Brunhölzl, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des MittelaltersI-II München 1975-1992 (also Histoire de la littérature latine du moyen âge I-II, Paris 1990-1992. (F) AA.VV. Medioevo latino e cultura europea cur. A. Paravicini Bagliani-F. Santi, Firenze, SISMEL 2021 (G) Peter Stotz Il latino nel medioevo. Guida allo studio di un'identità linguistica europea cur. Luigi G.G. Ricci, Firenze, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo 2013 pp. XXX-261 (Galluzzo Paperbacks 2) (transl. of Peter Stotz,  Handbuch zur lateinischen Sprache des Mittelalters, I, München, C.H. Beck (Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft).

3. Seven chapters selected by student within one of the following works.

(A) Giovanni Orlandi Scritti di filologia mediolatina cur. Paolo Chiesa - Anna Maria Fagnoni - Rossana Eugenia Guglielmetti - Giovanni Paolo Maggioni, Firenze, SISMEL. Edizioni del Galluzzo 2008 pp. XII-916 tavv. 57 (Millennio medievale 77. Strumenti e studi. N.S. 19); (B) La critica del testo mediolatino. Atti del convegno (Firenze, 6-8 dicembre 1990) cur. Claudio Leonardi, praef. Horst Fuhrmann, Spoleto (Perugia), Centro italiano di studi sull'Alto Medioevo (CISAM) 1994 pp. VIII-455 tavv. 2 (Società Internazionale per lo Studio del Medioevo Latino (S.I.S.M.E.L.). Biblioteca di «Medioevo latino» 5). C) La trasmissione dei testi latini del Medioevo/Mediaeval Latin Texts and their Transmission I-VIII, cur. P. Chiesa-L. Castaldi-V. Mattaloni, Firenze, SISMEL 2004-2024 (Millennio Medievale).

Readings sincerely recommended but not direct object of the examination: Giorgio Pasquali, Storia della tradizione e critica del testo, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1952, pp. XXIV-525 (also cur. Dino Pieraccioni, Firenze, Le Lettere 2003); Gianfranco Contini, Breviario di ecdotica, Milano, R. Ricciardi 1986, pp. 252 (or at least Filologia, cur. Lino Leonardi, Bologna, Il Mulino 2014, pp. 127).

4. One short medieval latin work of choice (in critical edition) by one of the following authors: Boethius, Cassiodorus, Gregory of Tours, Gregory the First, Colombanus of Bobbio, Bede the Venerable, Paul the Deacon, Alcuin of York, Einhard, Walafrid Strabo, Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim,Letaldus of Micy, Gerbert of Aurillac, Anselm of Canterbury, Pietro Alfonsi, Goeffrey of Monmouth, Peter Abelard, Heloissa Paracletensis abbatissa, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Walter of Châtillon, Richard of Saint Victor, Alan of Lille, Francis of Assisi, Carmina Burana,James of Vitry, John of Plano Carpini, William of Rubruk, Thomas of Aquino, Bonaventura of Bagnoregio, Salimbene of Parma, Angela of Foligno, Ramon Llull, Dante Alighieri, Invitatorium ad amorem sanctae humilitatis, Nicholas of Cusa.

Students who do not attend the course must bring two Middle Latin texts among those indicated (nr. 4).

 

Teaching methods

The aim of the course is to show how producing a critical edition of a text entails competence with regard to certain procedures, but above all a full historical and literary awareness of the language of the author of that text. This is achieved through the intellectual experience of producing a critical edition. For this reason, the course - after an initial institutional part - will consist of the realisation of the edition of a Middle Latin text, starting with the examination of its manuscript witness.

1. The lecturer will present the themes and problems foreseen by the programme, discussing with the students (A) the critical aspects of the method and (B) some reference data regarding the various forms in which Latin was performed in the Middle Ages.

2. Armed with basic knowledge, students will be able to experiment with the various stages of performing a critical edition of a difficulty commensurate with their initial skills.
3. During the course, the teacher will introduce students to the main on-line digital libraries dedicated to manuscripts, the resources of which will be used for the proposed exercises.

4. The second part of the course will be devoted to the critical edition of a text. The choice of text depends on the situation of the students attending the course each year. To give an idea, the following work is recalled:

(A) Bonaventure of Bagnoregio Sermo de diversis n. 59 de sancto Francisco (AA. 2019/2020)

(B) Arnau de Vilanova, Eulogium (edition published in the journal Franciscana 23 (2021). (AA. 2020/2021)
(C) Gerard of Auvergne, Prologus of the Abbreviatio Historiae figuralis (AA. 2021/2022)

(D) The Epitomes of the Historia beati Nicolai de Tolentino in the Abbreviatio Historiae figualis of the 15th century. With editions of four editions of the Vita Nicolai in the legendaries of Hermann Greven and Johannes Gielemans (edition published in the journal Hagiographica. Journal of Hagiography and Biography 30 (2023) (AA. 2022/23).

(E) Miracula beati Dominici text dictated by Cecilia Romana to Angelica of Bologna, in preparation for printing.

 

 

 

 

Assessment methods

The final exam consists of an interview (normally about thirty minutes). Topics:
1. Medieval Latin Literature: authors, works, manuscripts.
2. How and why a critical edition?
3. Presentation of the poetics of the chosen work.

The interview always begins with a topic that is congenial to the student.

Teaching tools

Online (and off-line) manuscripts.

Infrastructure electronics online

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Santi