28955 - History of Medieval Europe (1) (LM)

Course contents

Europe in the Early Middle Ages

This course provides an overview of the events related to the transformation of the Roman world, the emergence of the early medieval kingdoms and their development. Lessons will focus on the European context, without forgetting the connections of that world with the Nordic and Mediterranean areas, and will cover a chronological period between the 4th and 11th centuries.

The lectures will focus on cultural and religious aspects as well as on the problem of defining ethnic and gender identities.

Readings/Bibliography

For students attending the Master's degree course in Scienze storiche e orientalistiche, this first part of the integrated course Origini dell'Europa will serve only as a preparation for the second module.

Students attending the Master in Italianistica will have to take a written test based on the textbook:

S. Gasparri, C. La Rocca, Tempi barbarici. L'Europa occidentale tra antichità e Medioevo (300-900), Roma, Carocci, 2012.

and then an oral test, based on the lecture notes and some in-depth readings that will be uploaded on "Virtuale".

Non-attending students of the Master's degree course in Italianistics will have to take a written test based on the textbook:

S. Gasparri, C. La Rocca, Tempi barbarici. L'Europa occidentale tra antichità e Medioevo (300-900), Roma, Carocci, 2012.

For the oral test they will discuss the contents of a book, to be chosen among the following:

W. Pohl, Le origini etniche dell'Europa: barbari e romani tra antichità e Medioevo, Roma, Viella, 2011.

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

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

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.

Tesori. Forme di accumulazione della ricchezza nell'alto medioevo (secoli V-XI), a cura di S. Gelichi e C. La Rocca, Roma, Viella, 2004.

Teaching methods

Traditional face-to-face 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 problems presented will be stimulated.

Assessment methods

This course is a module of the course Origine dell'Europa and is fully integrated with the module Civiltà dell'Alto Medioevo.

It is not possible for students of the Master's degree course in Scienze storiche e orientalistiche to attend a single module and they must therefore refer to the examination procedures specified in the programme of Civiltà dell'Alto Medioevo.

Students of the Master's degree course in Italianistica, attendig and not attending, must take a written test, followed by an oral test.
The written test and the oral test can be taken in the same appeal or in different appeals.

To take the oral test you must have taken the written test and passed it with a score of at least 18/30.

The written test is designed to test your knowledge of the manual and comprises five open questions, which require precise answers and a good ability to summarise; the first question will be marked out of 10 and the others out of 5. The maximum possible result is 30/30.

The following will be assessed:

- The mastery of the contents

- The ability to synthesise and analyse themes and concepts

- The ability to communicate adequately and in a language proper to the subject.

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 the higest grades.

A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with the ability to synthesise and analyse with a correct language but not always appropriate, will lead to intermediates grades.

Inadequate knowledge and/or inappropriate language - albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the course's material - will lead to grades not exceeding sufficiency.

Inadequate training, inappropriate language and lack of orientation within the textbook content will be assessed negatively.

The oral test, also common to both courses, is a free conversation aimed at assessing your knowledge of the two books you have chosen, one for each course.

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

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

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 addressed in the bibliography 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 in correct, but not always appropriate, language, will lead to to intermediates grades.

Inadequate training and/or inappropriate language - albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the examination material - will lead to grades not exceeding sufficiency.

Formative deficiencies, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographical material will lead to negative marks.

The maximum score awarded in the oral test is 30/30.
The final exam grade will be the average between the result of the written test and the result of the oral test.

At the teacher's discretion, a mention of praise 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