11779 - Medieval History (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student: acquires the methodological and knowledge bases necessary for the study of the long medieval period; masters key themes of medieval history (the transition from the late ancient to the early Middle Ages; the barbarians and the fracture constituted by the Longobards in Italy; the Franks and Carolingian Europe; the affirmation of Islam; the transformation from the city of the late antique to the episcopal city; land lordship and territorial lordship; the Reform of the Church; the ‘crusade’ period; the dynamism of cities and Comuni; the new religious Orders); is able to engage critically with visual and written sources and the historiographic debate.

Course contents

The module is articulated in two parts, one general and the other thematic. 

In the first part, some of the following topics will be discussed:

- the transition to the late antiquity: Rome and its successors

- Goths, Longobards and Byzantines in Italy

- the rise and affirmation of Islam

- the Franks and Carolingian Europe

- the Vikings

- vassalatic-beneficiary relationships

- the reform of the Church

- the 'crusades'

- the dynamism of cities: merchants, universities and Comuni

- 'heresies' and the mendicant Orders

- new political systems (signorie, kingdoms and councils).

In the second part, the topic discussed will be: Describing the afterlife: texts, images and purposes. This will be done through the analysis of different types of sources (visions, sermons, spectacles, frescoes), the analysis of the cultural and social contexts that produced them, and the scholarship about them.

Readings/Bibliography

Each student is required to know well the handbook M. Montanari (ed.), Storia medievale, Rome-Bari, Laterza, 2002 (alternatively, it is possible to use: C. Wickham, Medieval Europe, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2016).

In addition:

For attending students: the materials discussed during the lectures (sources and short passages of historiography) and one book chosen among the list here provided or among those indicated by the lecturer during the lectures.

For non-attending students: two books chosen from the list here provided.

- A. Barbero, Carlo Magno: un padre dell’Europa, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2002.

- L. Bolzoni, La rete delle immagini: predicazione in volgare dalle origini a Bernardino da Siena, Torino, Einaudi, 2002 (*).

- P. Brown, Il riscatto dell’anima: aldilà e ricchezza nel primo cristianesimo occidentale, Torino, Einaudi, 2016 (*).

- F. Cardini, Francesco d’Assisi, Milano, Mondadori, 1989.

- C. Casagrande – S. Vecchio, I sette vizi capitali: storia dei peccati nel medioevo, Torino, Einaudi, 2000.

- F.-X. Fauvelle, Il rinoceronte d’oro, Torino, Einaudi, 2017 (*).

- V. Fumagalli, Matilde di Canossa: potenza e solitudine di una donna del medioevo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1996 insieme a M.G. Muzzarelli, Un’italiana alla corte di Francia: Christine de Pizan, intellettuale e donna, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2007.

- G.G. Merlo, Eretici ed eresie medievali, Bologna, Il Mulino, 20112.

- G. Milani, I comuni italiani, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2005.

- G. Ravegnani, Bisanzio e l’Occidente medievale, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2019.

- R. Simek, I vichinghi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020.

- A. Toaff, Il vino e la carne: una comunità ebraica nel medioevo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1989 (*).

- C. Tyerman, Come organizzare una crociata, Torino, UTET, 2018 (*).

The title marked with a * are available also in English

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons, with some seminar parts.

Assessment methods

Oral exam, according to the indications given during the lectures, where how to study the materials (books, sources, notes) and some examples of possible questions will be presented, so to avoid doubts and surprises.

For non-attending students, the oral exam will be focused on the key themes of the programme (i.e. handbook) and the two books they have chosen.

Teaching tools

During the lectures some source will be read and commented and key trends in the scholarship will be discussed, providing students with bibliographical references useful for further investigations.

Office hours

See the website of Pietro Delcorno