04100 - Latin Palaeography

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows in detail the history and development of Western hanwriting until the invention of printing, through the study and the analysis of different writings made with methods, tools and documentation of the paleography.

He acquires a critical knoweldge of the writing history; he is also able  to study the manuscripts in its cultural context, time and space.

Course contents

The course aims to provide the knowledge required to read and to date the Latin manuscripts, with particular attention to the late medieval period, the Renaissance and the early modern age.

Main topics:

1. methods, tools and terminology of the paleography;

2. history of the Latin writing with regard to the graphic and cultural aspects.  The period from the beginning to the early Middle Ages will be treated in summary form. The development  of the writing  between the late Middle Ages and the invention of printing will be instead  studied analytically.

Readings/Bibliography

1. One books among the following:
A. Petrucci, Breve storia della scrittura latina, Roma, Bagatto Libri, 1989.
B. Bischoff, Paleografia latina. Antichità e Medioevo, a c. di G. Mantovani e S. Zamponi, Padova, Antenore, 1992.
G. Cencetti, Lineamenti di storia della scrittura latina, ristampa a c. di G. Guerrini Ferri, Bologna, Pàtron Editore, 1997.
P. Cherubini - A. Pratesi, Paleografia latina. L'avventura grafica del mondo occidentale, Città del Vaticano, Scuola Vaticana di Paleografia, Diplomatica e Archivistica, 2010 (Littera antiqua, 16).

2. A. Petrucci, Prima lezione di paleografia, Roma, Laterza, 2002 (Universale Laterza, 811).

3. Materials distributed in class.

Teaching methods

Lectures with the support of Power Point and Internet for access to collections of digitized manuscripts.

Reading exercises, recognition, dating of handwriting on facsimiles of manuscripts.

Assessment methods

Oral assessment of knowledge about the topics discussed in class and the bibliography suggested. The discussion will base on the reading of facsimiles of manuscripts illustrated and discussed in class.

Teaching tools

Lectures alternated with reading exercises of facsimiles of manuscripts distributed in class.

In view of the practical aspect of the teaching, attendance is strongly recommended.

Office hours

See the website of Paola Degni