11379 - Medieval History

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will have a general critical knowledge of the medieval era, grasp its various components and be familiar with the historians’ trends and latest research avenues, tackling at least some of the most important sources upon which the Middle Ages have been defined. They will be able to state issues and interact critically, with texts and data to hand. They will have come to appreciate the importance of setting categories, languages and concepts in a long-term framework. They will be able to talk about the basic bibliography, showing they can read and critically understand it, linking up to issues discussed in class. They will read history texts in at least one language besides Italian and, in speaking, use the appropriate technical terminology.

Course contents

The course aims to provide a basic knowledge of the medieval period and will be divided into two parts.

In the first part, topics and problems related to the very definition of the historical period and the structure of the sources available for the reconstruction of those centuries are dealt with at the beginning, followed by a series of lessons that select salient features of the chronological narration of events.

In the second part of the course, three in-depth thematic studies are presented on long-term phenomena characteristic of the medieval millennium: the evolution of ecclesiastical structures and religious phenomena; the structure of the family and kinship; law and justice.

Readings/Bibliography

All students, attending and non-attending, must study the textbook:

G. Albertoni, S.M. Collavini, T. Lazzari (eds.), Introduzione alla storia medievale. Nuova edizione, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2020 (also available in digital format on the "Pandora" platform).

on which the written test will be based.

Attending students will have to read short scientific essays that will be uploaded on Virtual and study the notes of the lessons to prepare the oral test.

Non-attending students will have to choose two books from this list to prepare for the oral test:

B. Jussen, I Franchi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015.

G. Albertoni, L'elefante di Carlo Magno, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020.

I. Barbiera, Memorie sepolte. Tombe e identità nell'alto medioevo (secoli V-VIII), Roma, Carocci, 2012.

P. Geary, In principio erano le donne, Roma, Carocci, 2018.

G. Albertoni, Vassalli, feudi, feudalesimo, Roma, Carocci, 2015.

N. D'Acunto, La lotta per le investiture, Roma, Carocci, 2020.

J.-C. Maire Vigueur, Cavalieri cittadini. Guerra conflitti e società nell'Italia comunale, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2004.

J.-C. Maire Vigueur, E. Faini, Il sistema politico dei comuni italiani, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2010.

 

Teaching methods

Traditional frontal lectures always using the presentation of written, archaeological and iconographic sources in order to illustrate the process of critical construction of the historical narrative.

The active participation of the students in the discussion of the texts and the problems presented will be stimulated, both through the usual dialogue in the classroom and through the proposal of small precognition tests.

Assessment methods

Students who choose to take the oral examination on the basis of their lecture notes and further reading on "Virtuale" are considered to be attending.

All students, whether attending or not, must take a written test.

To be admitted to the oral test it is necessary to have taken the written test and passed it with a score of at least 18/30.

The written test and the oral test can be taken in the same call or in different calls.

The written test is designed to test your knowledge of the textbook and consists of 6 open questions, requiring precise answers and good synthesis skills, marked from 0 to 5 points. The maximum possible result is 30/30.

Therefore, the following will be assessed:

- The mastery of the contents

- The ability to synthesise and analyse themes and concepts

- The ability to express oneself in writing in an adequate manner and with language appropriate to the subject matter.

The student's attainment of an organic vision of the themes addressed by the textbook, their critical use, a good mastery of expression and the use of specific vocabulary will be assessed with marks of excellence.

A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with the ability to synthesise and analyse in correct, but not always appropriate, language, will lead to fair marks.

Inadequate training and/or inappropriate language - albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the examination material - will lead to grades below satisfactory.

Inadequate training, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the textbook content will result in negative marks.

The oral test is a free conversation aimed at ascertaining the knowledge acquired:

- of the contents of the lectures and the in-depth readings on "Virtuale" for the attending students;
- of the two books chosen for the not attending students.

The interview will assess the knowledge acquired, the ability to synthesise and the critical skills developed by the student.

The assessment of the test will take into account, in particular, the student's ability to orientate himself within the examination material in order to extract useful information that will allow him to illustrate themes and problems and to be able to link them together.

Therefore, the following will be assessed:

- The mastery of the contents

- The ability to synthesise and analyse themes and concepts

- The ability to express oneself adequately and in language appropriate to the subject matter.

The student's achievement of an organic vision of the themes, together with their critical use, a good mastery of expression and specific language will be assessed with marks of excellence.

A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with the ability to synthesise and analyse articulated in correct, but not always appropriate, language, will lead to fair marks.

Inadequate training and/or inappropriate language - albeit in the context of a minimal knowledge of the examination material - will lead to grades below satisfactory.

Formative deficiencies, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic materials will be negatively evaluated.

The maximum mark for the oral examination is 30/30.

The final examination mark will be the average of the written and oral examination results.

At the teacher's discretion, an honourable mention may be added.

Teaching tools

"Virtuale", the University's repository, will be used to share tools to support teaching: power points summarizing the contents of the lessons, pdf files of sources and proposed readings.

Office hours

See the website of Tiziana Lazzari