D0175 - LABORATORIO DIDATTICO:Luoghi e simboli del potere nel Medioevo

Learning outcomes

The workshop aims to provide an overview of medieval history through the analysis of selected places and symbols of power. This analysis is carried out within an interdisciplinary framework, which combines history, art history, landscape history and archaeology, together with anthropology, law and the study of the sacred and the religious. 

More specifically, the workshop examines five distinct case studies, each of which refers to a particular type of place or symbol of power of medieval Europe: a monastery; a royal palace in an urban setting; a fortified curtis in a rural setting; a solemn public document; and an illuminated liturgical manuscript.

For each of these case studies, a lecture is first delivered and then the seminar and workshop session actually begins. The latter may involve the teaching and use of digital resources; learning how to conduct bibliographic research; a visit to a historical archive in Ravenna to analyse a documentary source or a manuscript book in detail; and the immersive reading of selected medieval sources at a historically significant and evocative location in the city.

Course contents

Five case studies regarding as many places and symbols of power in the Middle Ages are designed as carefully selected gateways to some of the most relevant issues of Medieval History, with particular reference to the Early Middle Ages (450–1050).

At the center of the workshop is the interplay between politics and religion, which deeply shaped medieval societies. This interplay is analysed in relation to the topographies of power, sacred geographies, architectural models, forms of symbolic communication such as ceremonies and rituals, royal and ecclesiastical insignia, and the production of solemn charters and illuminated manuscript codices.

The workshop is particularly recommended for students seeking an accessible and innovative, yet scientifically rigorous, approach to the discipline.

Readings/Bibliography

- Workshop notes.

- Recommended reading: N. D'Acunto, Sillabario medievale, Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 2023.

Teaching methods

For each of the five case studies, the workshop is structured in two distinct sessions.

The first session—a two-hour introduction—consists of a lecture, which aims at presenting and explaining the case study, providing the necessary basic knowledge on it.

The second session—a three-hour seminar and workshop activity—involves a close interaction between lecturers and students, and among students themselves. This session aims at analysing the case study more in depth; properly contextualising it within a wider historical framework; finding bibliography on the subject; exploring available digital resources; where possible, consulting archives in Ravenna that preserve original documents or codices pertaining to the case; and conducting group readings of sources at monuments or significant sites in the city connected to the specific case study.

Once the analysis of the case studies is complete, the remaining five hours of the workshop are dedicated to oral presentations by the students.

The total duration of the workshop is thirty hours. Attendance is mandatory. The minimum attendance required is 75% of the laboratory hours (22 out of 30 hours).

During the workshop, maps, images, and texts integrate the professor's oral explanation. They become available to students once uploaded on the online platform Virtuale (https://virtuale.unibo.it/).

Assessment methods

Learning assessment takes place during the laboratory, and is primarily based on a short oral presentation—individual or group—on one of the analysed case studies.

The evaluation criteria for this oral presentation include:

- knowledge of the case study;

- use of a correct methodological approach and appropriate vocabulary;

- acquisition of a critical perspective on historical issues;

An additional and more general evaluation criterion refers to:

- an active participation during the workshop through questions, requests for clarification, discussions, and comments to the oral presentations by other students.

The workshop is not graded on a thirty-point scale; students receive a pass/fail evaluation.

Teaching tools

Projection (with comments) of maps, images, and texts

The initiatives organised by the professor—such as visits to archives or immersive readings of medieval sources at historically relevant places of Ravenna—are to be regarded as integral and constituent parts of the workshop.

***

Message for students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), or temporary/permanent disabilities. They are strongly encouraged to contact the relevant University office in good time (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it). This office will propose any necessary accommodations to the students involved. These accommodations must be submitted to the professor for approval at least fifteen days in advance; the professor will evaluate their appropriateness, also in relation to the learning objectives of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Manganaro