84275 - Historiography and Travel chronicles in the Middle Ages (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the programme, the student will have achieved a general vision of Medieval historiography and chronicles as sources of reconstruction and historical, geographic, political and social interpretation. He will be able to recognize the main writing systems of the historical narration thanks to the reading and analysis of the original sources, and he will have learned to identify its main models with rigorous methodology. He will be able to place the textual production in diachrony, identifying its changes and function in the historical context of reference. He will be capable of verifying, with analytical and synthesis capacities, the long term effectiveness of the forms of representation of the historical frame, given by the historiographic and chronicles sources.

Course contents

The general part of the course will be focused on a critical and methodological synthesis about the practice of historical writing in the Middle Ages, with particular attention for the formal and content characteristics of the chronicle and of the travel literature, in constant reference to the historical and political context of the works (20 hours).

The second part of the course will be focused on a selection of excerpts taken from the Cosmoghraphia dell'Africa of Leone Africano.

Readings/Bibliography

ATTENDING STUDENTS

READING REQUIRED:

1. V. Bertolucci Pizzorusso, La certificazione autoptica: materiali per l’analisi di una costante della scrittura di viaggio, in Ead., Scritture di viaggio. Relazioni di viaggiatori ed altre testimonianze letterarie e documentarie, Roma 2011, pp. 9-26
2. P. Fasano, Viaggio, Letteratura di, in http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/letteratura-di-viaggio_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/
3. Nuovi Mondi. Relazioni, diari, racconti di viaggio dal XIV al XVII secolo, a c. di C. Spila, Milano 2010
4. A. Musarra, Medioevo marinaro, Bologna 2021

STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO CONSULT THE SLIDES PUBLISHED ON IOL

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

READING REQUIRED:

1. Nuovi Mondi. Relazioni, diari, racconti di viaggio dal XIV al XVII secolo, a c. di C. Spila, Milano 2010
2. G. R. Cardona, I viaggi e le scoperte, in Letteratura Italiana, dir. da A. Asor Rosa, V, Le questioni, Torino 1986, pp. 687-716
3. V. Bertolucci Pizzorusso, La certificazione autoptica: materiali per l’analisi di una costante della scrittura di viaggio, in Ead., Scritture di viaggio. Relazioni di viaggiatori ed altre testimonianze letterarie e documentarie, Roma 2011, pp. 9-26
4. I. Bueno, C. Rouxpetel, Les récits historiques: circulation des pratiques et des traditions entre Orient et Occident, in Les récits historiques entre Orient et Occident (XI-XV siècle), études réunies par I. Bueno et C. Rouxpetel, Roma 2019, pp. 1-11
5. P. Fasano, Viaggio, Letteratura di, in http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/letteratura-di-viaggio_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/

6.  A. Musarra, Medioevo marinaro, Bologna 2021

7. D. Baloup, D. Bramoullé, B. Doumerc, B. Joudiou, I mondi mediterranei nel Medioevo, Bologna 2020, pp. 185-269

STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO CONSULT THE SLIDES PUBLISHED ON IOL

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures

Assessment methods

NB Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

The final exam will be an oral one, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes discussing during frontal lectures (only for attending students) as well as those treated in the program's texts.

Non-attending students will have to take an oral final exam about the themes treated in the program's texts.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the sources and material in the exam bibliography and his ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his 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 material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.
A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Teaching tools

We will use power point slides with images and maps. Various examples of historical sources will be used and discussed.

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Roversi Monaco