B5128 - STORIA AMBIENTALE DEL MEDIOEVO (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be familiar with the methodologies of investigation and the interdisciplinary and thematic approaches to environmental history, to the interactions between environmental transformations and social, economic and cultural changes and they will be able to appropriately use different types of sources and tools; they will have a specific and interdisciplinary knowledge of the evolution of the natural and human environment in the Middle Ages and will be able to plan and realise an effective communication of the specific contents also within heterogeneous work groups and cultural contexts. They will be able to evaluate the connections between historical studies and the social sciences and make use of different types of knowledge related to society and territory for professional purposes, operating in a conscious manner to produce quality content that can be used through the various channels of dissemination and diffusion of science and culture, including teaching, thereby enhancing the specific contribution of historical studies.

Course contents

The course examines the interactions between environment and society during the Middle Ages, with particular attention to how these dynamics are studied by historians, also in dialogue with the results of archaeological investigations. The medieval environment was not a static reality, but a constantly evolving system, shaped both by human activity and by climatic changes. The environmental history of the Middle Ages therefore offers a complex and multifaceted perspective on the relationship between humans and their environment during a crucial period in European history, with a specific focus on the Italian peninsula.

The analysis of the medieval millennium will be structured into three main phases:

1) Early Middle Ages (5th–9th century):
This phase was characterized by a generally colder and wetter climate compared to both the Late Antiquity and the following centuries. This was accompanied by a marked decline in population and agricultural activity, leading to an increase in woodland and uncultivated areas. This environmental configuration reflected not only ongoing climatic changes, but also the profound political and economic transformations linked to the crisis and collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

2) High Middle Ages (10th–13th century):
The central centuries of the Middle Ages were marked by a period of moderate climate warming, with conditions favorable to agricultural expansion. There was significant demographic growth, accompanied by an increase in cultivated land, deforestation, land reclamation, and more intensive exploitation of mineral resources. This revival contributed to a profound transformation of the landscape, with an increasing impact on the natural environment.

3) Late Middle Ages (14th–15th century):
This phase was marked by a deterioration in climatic conditions: temperatures dropped and precipitation became more irregular, with serious consequences for agriculture. Extreme events—such as floods, storms, and landslides—became more frequent, damaging crops and infrastructure. At the same time, medieval society had to deal with the long-term effects of environmental transformations it had itself caused. The environmental crises of the late medieval period were more often due to anthropogenic, political, and social causes than to climatic factors alone, and were largely the result of growing pressure on natural resources from demographic expansion and economic activities.

The following topics will be studied in particular:

• Climate and its role in anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic transformations

• Uncultivated lands, pastures, and wetlands

• The forest

• Crops and agrarian landscapes

• Mineral resources

• Water exploitation and management

• Technological innovations and energy resources

• Land clearing, reclamation, deforestation

• Hydrogeological imbalances, floods, famines

Readings/Bibliography

Exam Texts for Attending Students:

• Lecture materials and slides

• M. Campopiano, Storia dell’ambiente nel Medioevo. Natura, società, cultura, Rome, Carocci, 2025

• 3 essays of your choice from the list below

Exam Texts for Non-Attending Students:

• M. Campopiano, Storia dell’ambiente nel Medioevo. Natura, società, cultura, Rome, Carocci, 2025

• R. Hoffmann, An Environmental History of Medieval Europe, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014 (only chapters 2, 4, 5, and 6), available online and downloadable via Almastart

• 4 essays of your choice from the list below

 

LIST OF OPTIONAL ESSAYS
(available online, in the Medieval Studies Library, or on Almastart)

• B. Andreolli, The Use of Forests and Uncultivated Lands, in Storia dell’agricoltura italiana. II. Il Medioevo e l’età moderna, edited by G. Pinto, C. Poni, U. Tucci, Florence 2002, pp. 123–144

• B. Andreolli, The Bear in Noble Culture from the Historia Augusta to Chrétien de Troyes, in Il bosco nel medioevo, edited by B. Andreolli and M. Montanari, Bologna, Clueb, 1988, pp. 37–54

• B. Andreolli, Landscapes of Vine and Olive in Early Medieval Italy, in Olio e vino nell’alto Medioevo, Spoleto, CISAM, 2007, pp. 317–351

• D. Balestracci, Urban Water Policies in Communal Italy, in Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Moyen Âge, 104(2), 1992, pp. 431–479. Downloadable: https://www.persee.fr/doc/mefr_1123-9883_1992_num_104_2_3252

• M. Campopiano, F. Menant, Irrigated Agriculture in the Po Valley, in I paesaggi agrari d’Europa (secoli XIII–XV), Rome, Viella, 2015, pp. 291–322

• M. Campopiano, Cooperation and Private Enterprise in Water Management in Iraq: 6th–10th Centuries, Environment and History, 23 (2017), pp. 385–407

• G. Cherubini, The "Chestnut Civilization" in Italy at the End of the Middle Ages, Archeologia Medievale, VIII (1981), pp. 247–280 (especially pp. 247–249)

• G. Chiodi, Conflicts over Water Use in 12th-Century Milan, in L’acqua nei secoli altomedievali, Spoleto, CISAM, 2008, pp. 505–582

• M. E. Cortese, Medieval Ironworking on Mount Amiata: Technology, Economy, Environment (13th–14th Centuries), in Artisans, industrie. Nouvelles révolutions du Moyen Âge à nos jours, edited by N. Coquery et al., Paris, ENS Editions, 2004, pp. 149–160 (available via Virtuale)

• A. Cortonesi, The Olive Tree, chap. 3 in Il Medioevo degli alberi. Piante e paesaggi d’Italia, Rome, Carocci, 2024, pp. 147–195

• A. Cortonesi, The Chestnut Tree, chap. 4 in Il Medioevo degli alberi. Piante e paesaggi d’Italia, Rome, Carocci, 2024, pp. 197–232

• M. G. Di Renzo Villata, Late Medieval Legislation in Central-Northern Italy and the "Challenge" of the Forest, in Il bosco. Biodiversità, diritti e culture dal medioevo al nostro tempo, edited by A. Dattero, Rome, Viella, 2022, pp. 123–142

• P. Grillo, The Forests of Morimondo Abbey in the Ticino Area (12th–Early 13th Century), in Il bosco. Biodiversità, diritti e culture dal medioevo al nostro tempo, edited by A. Dattero, Rome, Viella, 2022, pp. 307–320

• F. Gutiérrez Lloret, The Case of Tudmir: Archaeological Evidence for the Introduction of Irrigation Systems in al-Andalus, Early Medieval Europe, 27(3), 2019, pp. 394–415

• H. Kirchner, Archaeology of Irrigated Spaces in the Middle Ages and Their Forms of Social Management, in L’acqua nei secoli altomedievali, Spoleto, CISAM, 2008, pp. 471–504

• M. Montanari, The Forest as Economic and Cultural Space, in Uomo e spazio nell’alto Medioevo, Spoleto, CISAM, pp. 301–340

• G. Pasquali, Coastal Forests in the Middle Ages, from Rimini to the Po Delta, in Il bosco nel medioevo, edited by B. Andreolli and M. Montanari, Bologna, Clueb, 1988, pp. 265–301

• F. Saggioro, M. Marchesini, S. Marvelli, Toward an Archaeology of the Medieval Forest: Elements, Dynamics, and Processes, in Il bosco. Biodiversità, diritti e culture dal medioevo al nostro tempo, edited by A. Dattero, Rome, Viella, 2022, pp. 35–54

• F. Salvestrini, The Arno River and the Florentine Flood of 1333, in Le calamità ambientali nel tardo Medioevo europeo: realtà, percezioni, reazioni, edited by M. Matheus et al., Florence, Firenze University Press, 2010, pp. 231–256

• G. J. Schenk, “…prima ci fu la cagione de la mala provedenza de’ Fiorentini…”: Disaster and "Life World": Reactions in the Commune of Florence to the Flood of November 1333, The Medieval History Journal, 10(1–2), 2007, pp. 355–386

• P. Squatriti, Marshes and Mentalities in Early Medieval Ravenna, Viator, 23 (1992), pp. 1–16

• G. M. Varanini, Vineyards and Olive Groves in Major Monastic Estates, in Olio e vino nell’alto Medioevo, Spoleto, CISAM, 2007, pp. 359–404

• C. Verna, Iron, Wood, Coal: Water-Powered Forges and Fuel Management (14th Century, Pyrenees–Languedoc), in Economia ed energia. Secc. XIII–XVIII, edited by S. Cavaciocchi, Florence, Le Monnier, 2003, pp. 388–401

• C. Wickham, European Forests in the Early Middle Ages: Landscape and Land Clearance, in L’ambiente vegetale nell’alto Medioevo, Spoleto, CISAM, 1990, pp. 479–545

Teaching methods

Lectures, including the presentation of key topics, historiographical analysis, examination of specific case studies, and reading of documents (in translation or in the original language accompanied by an Italian translation).

Assessment methods

Assessment and Evaluation Methods

At least seven exam sessions are scheduled throughout the academic year for all students, taking place in the following months: January, February, May, June, July, September, and December.

The course (6 ECTS) is part of the integrated course LANDSCAPES AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE MIDDLE AGES (12 ECTS). If a student is enrolled in the integrated course (12 ECTS), the final grade will be the arithmetic average of the grades obtained in the two components:
B5128 – ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES + B5127 – SETTLEMENTS AND SETTLEMENT SYSTEMS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

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

For attending students, the final exam will consist of an oral interview covering:

• the topics discussed during the lectures, including analysis of related sources

• the texts listed in the bibliography for attending students

For non-attending students, the final exam will consist of an oral interview covering:

• the texts listed in the bibliography for non-attending students

The evaluation will take into account:

• the appropriate use of language

• understanding of the topics discussed

• the ability to establish connections between different themes

The grade will be expressed on a scale of 30, with honours (cum laude) awarded at the instructor’s discretion.

Evaluation Criteria and Grading Scale

• Excellent grades will be given to students who demonstrate thorough critical understanding of the topics covered in the course and mastery of the specific terminology.

• Good grades will be awarded for solid factual knowledge, with the ability to synthesize and analyze, even if the language used is not always precise.

• Passing grades will be given in cases of limited knowledge and/or use of inappropriate language.

• Failing grades will be assigned to students with serious gaps in knowledge, inadequate language, and inability to navigate the required course materials.

Teaching tools

Reproductions or editions of the sources analyzed during the lectures will be made available online.
At the end of each class, the corresponding PowerPoint presentation will be uploaded to the Virtuale platform.

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 Maria Elena Cortese