29631 - Diplomatics (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will have learned the specific notions of discipline: the definition of document; the nomenclature of documents; factors, characters and parts of the document in general; general classification of documents and close examination of them; he will be able to do a comparative analysis of the various categories of the documents. He will be able to completely use the main informatic tools and data-bases useful for the study of documentary sources.

Course contents

1) Hints about the History of Diplomatics, from Mabillon to the more recent leanings.

2) Introduction to the general basics of the discipline, starting from the definition of the object and of the confines of Diplomatics: the document, which will be analyzed in its main features (internal and external ones).

3) Description and analysis of shapes and functions of the medieval document, with some reference to modern and contemporary documentation. Moreover, it will be examined some of the main documentary types of the Middle Ages, as the public as the private ones , and it will be tried to rebuild their genetic process, in order to follow their historical development, highlighting their relationships with Law, History and Palaeography. Part of the course will be dedicated to practical workshops concerning reading and analysis of specific documentary types and their formularies (sales, donations, exchanges, leases, wills, business documents, letters).

4) The method of Diplomatics and the critical judgement about the authenticity of the document. The concept of authenticity and the problem of forgery. The tradition of the document: minute, original, copy.

5) The dating of the document with hints of medieval chronology (with practice).

6) A permanent attention will be dedicated the theme of the critical edition of documentary sources and to the analysis of the relationship between Diplomatics and History, highlighting the importance of the documentary sources for the historical research.

Readings/Bibliography

1) Attenders:

• A. Pratesi, Genesi e forme del documento medievale, Roma 1999
• G. Tamba, Una corporazione per il potere. Il notariato a Bologna in età comunale, only pp. 57-99
• G. Nicolaj, Lezioni di diplomatica generale. I. Istituzioni, Roma 2007, only chap. II
• Didactic material provided during the course.

2) Unattenders:

• A. Pratesi, Genesi e forme del documento medievale, Roma 1999
• G. Tamba, Una corporazione per il potere. Il notariato a Bologna in età comunale, only pp. 57-99
• G. Nicolaj, Lezioni di diplomatica generale. I. Istituzioni, Roma 2007, only chap. II
• One article chosen among the following:

• M. Ansani, Sul tema del falso in diplomatica. Considerazioni generali e due dossier documentari a confronto, in Secoli XI e XII: l'invenzione della memoria. Atti del Seminario Internazionale, Montepulciano, 27-29 aprile 2006, a cura di S. Allegria e F. Cenni, Montepulciano 2006, pp. 9-50, url: http://www.fupress.net/index.php/scrineum/article/download/12140/11512
• P. Cordasco, Il vero e il falso nei documenti medievali. Un’ambigua frontiera, in Per Enzo: studi in memoria di Vincenzo Matera, a cura di L. Capo, A. Ciaralli, Firenze 2015, pp. 59-68
• M. Giansante, I falsi nella storia di Bologna. Dal Privilegio Teodosiano a Lodovico Savioli, in Documenti, archivi, storie della città. Quattro digressioni bolognesi fra Medioevo ed Età Moderna, a cura di Massimo Giansante, Bologna 2015, pp. 95-112, url: https://www.academia.edu/12243744
• F. Bougard, Écrire le procès: le compte rendu judiciaire entre VIIe et XIe siècle, in «Médiévales», 56 (2009), pp. 23-40, online: https://www.academia.edu/34682652/%C3%89crire_le_proc%C3%A8s_le_compte_rendu_judiciaire_entre_VIII_e_et_XI_e_si%C3%A8cle
• P. Chastang, Des archives au codex: les enjeux de la redaction des cartulaires (XIe-XIVe siècle), in «Cahiers électroniques d’histoire textuelle du Lamop», 1 (2008), url: https://lamop.univ-paris1.fr/fileadmin/lamop/publications/Cahiers_Histoire_Textuelle/CEHTL__1__2008_/Pierre__Chastang.pdf
• A. Antonelli, G. Feo, M. Modesti, Filologia e diplomatica: un modello bolognese dall'edizione di documenti in volgare (secc.XIII-XIV) , in Regionale Urkundenbücher, herausgeber Th. Kölzer, W. Rosner, R. Zehetmayer, St. Pölten 2010 , pp. 50-85
• C. Carbonetti Vendittelli, Documentazione scritta e preminenza sociale, in La nobiltà romana nel medioevo, a cura di S. Carocci, Roma 2006 (Collection de l'École française de Rome, 359), pp. 323-343; online: www.fupress.net/index.php/scrineum/article/download/13696/12761
• C. Carbonetti Vendittelli, «Duas cartas unius tenoris per alphabetum divisas scripsi». Contributo a una geografia delle pratiche documentarie nell’Italia dei secoli XII e XIII, in «Scrineum», 10 (2013), pp. 215-258, url: http://www.academia.edu/5359534
• G. Tamba, Formazione professionale del notaio in età medievale e moderna, in «Studi e materiali. Consiglio Nazionale del notariato», Milano 2007, pp. 1273-1288
• G. Feo, “Notariati” bolognesi del secolo XIII tra Salatiele e Rolandino. Appunti di Diplomatica, in La norma e la memoria. Studi per Augusto Vasina, a cura di T. Lazzari, L. Mascanzoni, R. Rinaldi, Roma 2004, pp. 195-212;
• G. Feo, L. Iannacci, A. Zuffrano, Il formulario del documento privato tra norma giuridica e prassi notarile. L’apporto della scuola bolognese di notariato del secolo XIII, in Les formulaires. Compilation et circulation des modèles d'actes dans l'Europe médiévale et moderne XIIIe congrès de la Commission internationale de diplomatique (Paris, 3-4 septembre 2012), Elec 2016, url: http://elec.enc.sorbonne.fr/cid2012/part7
• C. Mantegna, I documenti dei mercanti nel quadro socioeconomico del Medioevo, in «Archiv für Diplomatik», 57 (2011), pp. 377-394
• M. Calleri, D. Puncuh, Il documento commerciale in area mediterranea, in Libri, documenti, epigrafi medievali. Possibilità di studi comparativi, Spoleto 2002, pp. 273-376, url: http://www.storiapatriagenova.it/Scheda_vs_info.aspx?Id_Scheda_Bibliografica=1570
• M. Modesti, Due cartulari notarili bolognesi tra XII e XIII secolo, in «Atti e Memorie della Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Province di Romagna», n.s., vol. LV (2004), Bologna 2005, pp. 287-314;
• A. Rovere, I libri iurium dell'Italia comunale, in Libro, scrittura, documento della civiltà monastica e conventuale nel basso medioevo (secoli XIII-XV), a cura di R. Avarucci, R.M: Borracini, G. Borri, Spoleto 1999, pp. 157-199, url:http://scrineum.unipv.it/biblioteca/scaffale-nz.html#Antonella Rovere
• I. Lazzarini, Materiali per una didattica delle scritture pubbliche di cancelleria nell'Italia del Quattrocento, in "Scrineum Rivista" 2 (2004), pp. 155-239, url: http://www.fupress.net/index.php/scrineum/article/view/12103

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons and practical workshops concerning reading and analysis of documents. There are also planned visits to the State Archive and to the Archbischop Archive of Bologna, discovering the Bolognese documentary Heritage.

The course will start on March 23th 2020.

Assessment methods

For all, attenders and unattenders, the exam consists in an oral test.

1) Attenders: the exam consists of two parts:

a) one or more questions of general theory, based on the manuals in the bibliography;

b) the diplomatistic analysis of a document similar to those examined during the lessons, with the method and the specialized terminology of the own discipline. The student will be required to make a general partition of the document, to analyze the formulary, to describe the essential elements of the text and to formulate the document summary.

The aim of the exam is to evaluate the discriminating and methodological abilities of the students, that will have to examine one of the documentary types analyzed during the course. In particular, it will be evaluated the abilities of the student to orientate among documentary sources, in order to distinguish the information of historical – variable kind and the juridical formulary, and the comprehension of all those formal elements which allow to create a critical judgment about the authenticity of the document.

2) Unattenders: the exam consists of two parts:

a) one or more questions of general theory, based on the manuals in the bibliography. The examination aims to verify the knowledge about the document, considered on its extrinsic and intrinsic characters and in its forms and typical functions through a diplomatic approach. There will be evaluated student’s critical and methodological abilities gained through the reading of the bibliography.

b) One or more specific questions on the article chosen by the student. In particular, it will be evaluated if the student is able to move in the world of the documentary sources and if he is be able to handle the critical tools and the method of the discipline.

In the both cases (attenders and unattenders) the achievement of a systematic and complete comprehension of the basic principles of the discipline, joined with their critical use, in addition to the demonstration of owning the competence of the specific language, will be evaluated with excellence marks. A mechanical and/or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, bad structured analysis abilities and/or a correct but not always appropriate language will lead to decent evaluations; formative lacks or an inappropriate language – even if in a context of basic knowledge of the exam material – will lead to marks that will not go beyond sufficiency. Formative lacks, inappropriate language, scarcity of orientation in the bibliography offered during the course will be evaluated in a negative way.

Teaching tools

During the course didactic material will be provided to attenders (Diplomatics_didactic materials): transcriptions and fac-similes of documents, examples of the analysis of formularies, thematic bibliography, and informations about the main informatics tools and data-bases useful for the study of documentary sources.

Office hours

See the website of Maddalena Modesti