B5044 - Medieval Society and Institutions (1)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students acquire the tools to critically analyze sources and texts related to the sudy of medieval society. The students know and are able to frame in the historiographical debate a specific case study. Students will be able to discuss it using the specific terminology of the discipline, and through autonomous analysis of iconographic documents and passages of historical authors, through verification of translations on the original. Students will demonstrate the ability to approach texts and data critically.

Course contents

The monographic topic of the course is 'Preaching and society in the Middle Ages'. Preaching, as a key form of pubblic communication, was an essential component of several medieval societies, capable to help set in motion main historical events (e.g. the 'crusades', the Hussite reformation) as well as to shape long-lasting phenomena and a widely shared cultural horizon. Approaching different types of sources, the course investigates how the action of (male and female) preachers interacted (as official or antagonistic voices) with the ecclesiastical and political institutions of the time and how the words of these professionals of communication had an impact on the lives of women and men in different social contexts.

The course is one, yet structured in two modules. Students that have in their study plan only a module of 6 cfu are suggested to follow the first module.

First module: 'The power of the word: the 'heretical' challenge and the ecclesiastical control'

The module discusses the relationship between preaching and society at key moments in the development of medieval European societies, investigating in particular the tensions surrounding who had the right/duty to preach, the challenge posed in the 12th and 13th centuries by ‘heretical’ movements, and on the multifaceted response of the dominant Church, thanks in particular to the renewal brought about – or imposed – by the mendicant orders. Within a broad chronological framework, some of the following topics will be discussed:

• The bishop’s voice
• 'Charismatic' preaching: the monks - and the women?
  
• The Carolingian rule of the preached word
  
• Institution and charisma: Hildegard of Bingen
• 'Heretics' and preaching
• Waldo and the 'poor of Lyon'
• Dominic and the Ordo praedicatorum
• Innocent III and the re-organization of the Church
  
• Francis of Assisi preacher/peacemaker
• Claire of Assisi: her words (beyond silence)

Second module: 'Mass communication: the late medieval preaching'

The module focuses on the socio-political dimension of late medieval preaching, with particular attention to some of the key themes of preaching during that period (penance, superstitions, sexuality, and the role of women). After outlined the fundamental structures of late medieval preaching as a form of mass communication, the module will focus on four key figures – Vicent Ferrer and Bernardino da Siena (who were proclaimed saints) and Jan Hus and Girolamo Savonarola (who were burnt at the stake) – examining their interactions and conflicts with the political and ecclesiastical institutions of the time. The lectures frame the historical context in which these preachers acted and discuss a plurality of sources (sermons, chronicles, images, legends, canonical and inquisitorial trials) in order to give students the ability to critically interpret them and the phenomenon of late medieval preaching.

Readings/Bibliography

Those who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending students.

ATTENDING STUDENTS (12cfu):

During the lectures, a reader will be progressively composed with essays and sources presented and discussed in the classroom. These materials will be made available online (as much as possible)  during the module and will constitute the basis for the preparation of the exam. At the end of each module, the lecturer will provide the exact list of these sources and texts.

Two books chosen from the list below (or, with an agreement, among others discussed during the lectures)

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS (12 cfu):

1) Two books: M.T. Dolso, Gli ordini mendicanti. Il secolo delle origini (Roma: Carocci, 2021) and G.G. Merlo, Valdo: L'eretico di Lione (Torino: Claudiana, 2024 - or previous editionsi)

2) Two other books chosen from the list below

3) One essay from the following list (available online, see the section about publications in the webpage of the lecturer):

• Predicatori e moltitudini: dare un volto alla folla (XIII secolo), Artes - Rivista di arte, letteratura e musica dell’Officina San Francesco Bologna 2 (2023), 15-40
• «De toto corpore fecerat linguam». Francesco predicatore/parola, in Giullare di Dio: Lo sguardo rovesciato di Francesco d’Assisi sul mondo, Roma, Carocci, 2025, pp. 191-203
• ‘Hoc est tempus ascendendi’. Il quaresimale a stampa di Vicent Ferrer: note su un bestseller europeo, Arxiu de Textos Catalans Antics 33 (2020-2021), 169-203
• Enea, la Sibilla e Dante: Primi appunti su un quaresimale virgiliano, Cahiers d’études italiennes 29 (2019), online journal
• ‘Et zostrabo tecum’: Lo scontro tra Bernardino da Siena e Amedeo Landi: Note sull’edizione dei processi milanesi, Il Santo 62 (2022), 325-358
• Hidden in a European Bestseller: The Quadragesimale of Gritsch/Grütsch and the Reception of Dante’s Commedia in Sermons, Medieval Sermon Studies 65 (2021), 34-61
  

 

ATTENDING STUDENTS (6cfu)

During the lectures, a reader will be progressively composed with essays and sources presented and discussed in the classroom. These materials will be made available online (as much as possible) during the module and will constitute the basis for the preparation of the exam. At the end of each module, the lecturer will provide the exact list of these sources and texts.

One other book chosen from the list below

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS (6 cfu) will need to prepare the following three parts:

1) The book: M.T. Dolso, Gli ordini mendicanti. Il secolo delle origini (Roma: Carocci, 2021)

2) One book chosen from the list below

 

LIST OF BOOKS (valid for all students):

• M. Benedetti e T. Danelli (eds), Contro frate Bernardino da Siena. Processi al maestro Amedeo Landi (Milano 1437-1447) (Milano: Unicopli, 2021; open access) [it requires the knowledge of Latin]
• M. Benedetti, Io non sono Dio: Guglielma di Milano e i Figli dello Spirito Santo (Milano: EDF, 2004)
• N. Bériou, En quête d’une parole vive: Traces écrites de la prédication (Xe-XIIIe siècle) (Paris: IRHT, 2022), pp. 1-192 e 307-328 (accessibile online: link)
• L. Bolzoni, La rete delle immagini: Predicazione in volgare dalle origini a Bernardino da Siena (Torino: Einaudi, 2007) (it exist also in English: The Web of Images)
• Ph. Daileader, Saint Vincent Ferrer, His Wold, and Life: Religion and Society in Late Medieval Europe (Cham: Palgrave. 2016)
• J. Dalarun et al (eds.), Francesco in piazza: Nell’ottavo centenario del sermone di Francesco d’Assisi a Bologna (Milano: EBF, 2023)
• D. d’Avrey, The Preaching of the Friars: Sermons diffused from Paris before 1300 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1985)
• P. Delcorno, Lazzaro e il ricco epulone: metamorfosi di una parabola tra Quattro e Cinquecento (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2014) (available online via the Unibo library system)
  
• M.T. Dolso, Gli ordini mendicanti. Il secolo delle origini (Roma: Carocci, 2021)
• J. Hanska, 'And the Rich Man also died, and he was burried in hell'. The social ethos in mendicant sermons (Helsinki 1997) (accessibile online at this link)
• M. Lodone, I segni della fine: Storia di un predicatore nell’Italia del Rinascimento (Roma: Viella, 2021) (accessibile online - link)
• G.G. Merlo, Valdo l'eretico di Lione (Torino: Claudiana, 2024 - or previous editions)
• C. Muessig (ed.), Preacher, Sermon and Audience in the Middle Ages (Leiden: Brill, 2002), pp. 1-124 and 255-315 (available online via the Unibo library system)
• M.G. Muzzarelli, Pescatori di uomini: predicatori e piazze alla fine del Medioevo (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2005)
• D. Recchi, Santi in camicia nera: Il Medioevo francescano nella propaganda fascista (Milano: EBF, 2025)
  
• P. Soukup, Jan Hus: The Life and Death of a Preacher (West Lafayette: Perdue University Press, 2015) (available online via the Unibo library system) – available also in German
• L. Vandi, Margherita de’ Soderini nella storia religiosa del Quattrocento. Reportationes, Excerpta, Richordi (Spoleto, CISAM, 2023).
• D. Weinstein, Savonarola: Ascesa e caduta di un profeta del rinascimento (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2016)

Teaching methods

Frontal lecture + PowerPoint slides

Reading and discussion of a selection of primary sources (original text and Italian translation - some of the sources are available also in English).

Assessment methods

Those who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending students.

For attending students: Oral exam, on the topics presented in the lectures (corresponding to the selection of essays and sources available online) with the discussion of the relevant sources and the handbook and the book selected from the proposed bibliography. Optional choices for attending students of the whole module only (subject to agreement with the lecturer): a) the exam can be split in two parts; b) the examination on one of the chosen books can be done in written form - instructions on this will be given in class.

 

For non-attending students, the oral exam will focus on the materials presented above.

 

Exam sessions are at least seven along the academic year and will be scheduled for the following months: September, October, January, February, March, June, and July. The exact dates will be announced gradually (link).

The use of AI is prohibited during the exams. Any use constitutes a violation of academic integrity.

 

Assessment criteria

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skills displayed by the student in handling the sources and the secondary literature in the exam bibliography and his/her ability to find and use information and examples to explain and connect the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the topics;
- ability to summarzse and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the topics and the 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 course and is able to summarize them satisfactorily, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.

Minimal and correct knowledge of the contents of the module, yet with lack of significant details and deficiencies in the use of the appropriate terminology will lead to barely sufficient marks.

A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he/she displays significant errors in his/her understanding and fails to present the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Teaching tools

Usually lectures will be supported by a PowerPoint.

For what is possible, the materials (sources, essays, and PowerPoint) will be accessible on virtuale.unibo.it.

Resources of the library.

Students with specific learning disorders (SLD) and\or temporary or permanent disabilities are asked to contact the office responsible (link) 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 Pietro Delcorno