CIVILIZATION 'AND CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Learning outcomes of the course unit
Knowledge and understanding
The student will deepen the functioning mechanisms of the structures of power and of the forms of organization of the associated life of the early Middle Ages.
Applying knowledge and understanding:
The students will develop the practice of considering the political, institutional, social and economic relations and the ideologies not as a natural given, but as the result of changes that have taken place in specific contexts, and to apply the notion of context to the analysis of a text, and, more generally, to any social and political phenomenon and to any artistic and cultural form of expression.
Making judgments:
The students will improve their ability to make autonomous judgments through the analysis of complex phenomena, which involve multiple sets of causes and can be understood and explained by the historians through different and sometimes conflicting approaches and interpretations.
Communication skills:
The students will be able to report and discuss the notions learned during the classes and from the texts, with particular attention to the accurate use of language, concepts and categories, and will be able to make an appropriate use of the specific vocabulary of the discipline.
Learning skills:
The students will improve their autonomous learning ability getting used to place in a hierarchy the information gathered during the classes and studying the texts in the syllabus, developing a critical attitude towards the sources.
At the end of the course the student is expected to be able to contextualize and relativize universal problems such as poverty, crime, and migration.
Knowledge and understanding:
students will develop knowledge and comprehension competence in the
field of medieval history thanks to the use of different sources
(manuals, books and scientific articles, lectures, online learning objects
etc.) regarding foundation topics and advanced research in the field of
medieval studies.
Competences acquired in the first cycle will be strengthened and
expanded allowing students to elaborate and apply original ideas.
Applying knowledge and understanding:
students will be able to apply knowledge and comprehension skills useful
for an initial training for teachers, as as well as for other
professional profiles related to the field of school and academic
publishing and to public history. In particular,
students will develop skills needed both to create and support
argumentation and to solve problems in the field of medieval studies.
Comprehension and problem solving skills will be reinforced and applied
to new or unfamiliar topics, belonging to wider or interdisciplinary
contexts related to their field of study.
Making judgements:
students will be able to collect and interpret data to determine
autonomous judgements in in the field of medieval studies,
including cross-cultural and interdisciplinary thinking on cultural and
intercultural, scientific and ethical topics connected to the judgements
expressed.
Students will be able to integrate their knowledge, manage complexity
and make judgements based on limited or incomplete data.
Communication skills:
thanks to the specific focus on communication competences and in
particular on the development and use of mediation skills, students will
be able to convey information, ideas, problems and solutions to
specialists and non-specialists.
Students can make conclusions clearly and through the support of their
knowledge. They will also be able to explain the reasons for their
conclusions.
Learning skills:
thanks to the general scaffolding of the course which puts processes
related to medieval history learning and teaching in a social context at the
centre, students will develop learning skills useful to continue studying
autonomously and in a self-directed way in lifelong learning education.
Prerequisites
Students are expected to possess a basic knowledge of the main thematic and chronological nodes of the Italian and European medieval history acquired during the first cycle degree.
Appropriate knowledge of medieval history. In case the student does not feel secure about his / her previous studies, he / she is invited to add to the texts in program the following manual: Manuale di storia medievale di Andrea Zorzi, Torino: Utet 2016.
Course contents summary
High Middle Ages: ASpects and Problems (3rd - 12th Century)
The course aims to provide students with critical information and tools for an in-depth understanding of economic dynamics, social structures, cultural and religious life between the third and twelfth centuries in Europe, with particular attention to the structures of power.
The main themes examined are, in order: 1) The classical legacy and the Roman-barbaric symbiosis 2) The hegemonic effort of the Greek-Eastern empire 3) The formation of a West gravitating on Gaul 4) The Byzantine Empires and Carolingian in the confrontation with Islam 5) The diffusion of the personal bonds and the expansion of the aristocratic land base 6) The pluralism of the powers in the post-Carolingian age 7) The bishops and the seigneurial power over the cities 8) The demographic and economic expansion of the West 9) Changes in religious sensitivity and culture of the elites 10) The European outskirts and the Normans 11) The reform of the Church 12) The reorganization of the seigneurial public powers
The course will develop the theme of social marginality in the Middle Ages. Through the analysis of specific categories of people, such as migrants, criminals, poors, during the course will come to light the material conditions of existence of a great part of the medieval population and the cultural and political answers of the society of time to these phenomena.
Course contents
The students are required to study the following texts:
- G. Tabacco, Alto medioevo, a cura di G. Sergi, UTET, Torino 2010
- G. Tabacco, L’ambiguità delle istituzioni nell’Europa costruita dai Franchi, in Id., Sperimentazioni del potere nell’alto medioevo, Torino, Einaudi 1993, pp. 45-94
- G. Tabacco, Regno, impero e aristocrazie nell’Italia postcarolingia, in Id., Sperimentazioni del potere nell’alto medioevo, Torino, Einaudi 1993, pp. 95-118
- G. Tabacco, Il volto ecclesiastico del potere in età carolingia, in Id., Sperimentazioni del potere nell’alto medioevo, Torino, Einaudi 1993, pp. 165-208
- G. Tabacco, Autorità pontificia e impero, in Id., Sperimentazioni del potere nell’alto medioevo, Torino, Einaudi 1993, pp. 209-242
- G. Tabacco, La sintesi istituzionale di vescovo e città in Italia e il suo superamento nella res publica comunale, in Id., Egemonie sociali e strutture del potere nel medioevo italiano, Torino, Einaudi 2000 (3ed), pp. 397-427
Recommended readings
- G. Tabacco, Alto medioevo, a cura di G. Sergi, UTET, Torino 2010
- G. Tabacco, L’ambiguità delle istituzioni nell’Europa costruita dai Franchi, in Id., Sperimentazioni del potere nell’alto medioevo, Torino, Einaudi 1993, pp. 45-94
- G. Tabacco, Regno, impero e aristocrazie nell’Italia postcarolingia, in Id., Sperimentazioni del potere nell’alto medioevo, Torino, Einaudi 1993, pp. 95-118
- G. Tabacco, Il volto ecclesiastico del potere in età carolingia, in Id., Sperimentazioni del potere nell’alto medioevo, Torino, Einaudi 1993, pp. 165-208
- G. Tabacco, Autorità pontificia e impero, in Id., Sperimentazioni del potere nell’alto medioevo, Torino, Einaudi 1993, pp. 209-242
- G. Tabacco, La sintesi istituzionale di vescovo e città in Italia e il suo superamento nella res publica comunale, in Id., Egemonie sociali e strutture del potere nel medioevo italiano, Torino, Einaudi 2000 (3ed), pp. 397-427
G. Albini, Poveri e povertà nel medioevo, Roma: Carocci 2016;
E. Orlando, Migrazioni mediterranee. Migranti, minoranze e matrimoni a Venezia nel basso medioevo, Bologna: Il Mulino 2014;
M. Gazzini, Storie di vita e di malavita. Criminali, poveri e altri miserabili nelle carceri di Milano alla fine del medioevo, [e-book in print on "Reti Medievali" < www.retimedievali.it >]
Texts are the same for attending and non-attending students.
Teaching methods
Lectures
In classroom: lectures combined with guided practical exercises on sources, edited and unpublished. At home: studying the lessons learned and the recommended texts in the program.
Assessment methods and criteria
Oral examination in Italian.
The examination aims to assess, in particular:
a) The lexical precision in describing specific phenomena of the High Middle Ages and, more generally, the use of the specific language of the historical disciplines.
b) The adequate ability to study independently, critically revise and conceptualize the contents learned during the course and through the study of the texts
c) The aptitude to link structures and dynamics, and to identify complex causal relationships.
Failure is determined by the inability to understand the basic elements of the course: in particular, by the inability to describe and explain the way the institutions and the political, economic, cultural and ecclesiastical structures worked in the High Middle-Ages context with adequate lexical and conceptual accuracy.
Sufficient performance (18 to 23/30) is determined by the student’s ability to explain and contextualize the concepts and phenomena typical of the High Middle Ages with adequate lexical precision, and by the ability to reprocess the information by making independent judgments.
Medium marks (24 to 27/30) are given to the student who shows a level more than sufficient (24 to 25/30) or good (26 to 27/30) according to the indicators listed above.
Higher scores (28 to 30/30 or 30/30 cum laude) are awarded to students who demonstrate a very good or outstanding level according to the indicators listed above; as well as the ability to articulate complex discourses on specific topics, and the aptitude to formulate personal and original judgments on the phenomena considered.
The assessment of the student’s learning involves a final exam, which will be held during an oral exam, with a scale of 0 to 30, in which the student will have to prove that he/she has acquired the tools of analysis and understanding of a historical phenomenon. Students should also demonstrate that they know how to use the terms of the specialized language of the discipline.
A fail is determined by the lack of an understanding of the minimum
content of the course, the inability to express oneself adequately, by a
lack of autonomous preparation, the inability to solve problems related to
information retrieval and the decoding of complex texts, as well as an
inability to make independent judgments. A pass (18-23/30) is
determined by the student’s possession of the minimum, fundamental
contents of the course, an adequate level of autonomous preparation
and ability to solve problems related to information retrieval and the
decoding of complex texts, as well as an acceptable level of ability in
making independent judgments. Middle-range scores (24-27/30) are
assigned to the student who produces evidence of a more than sufficient
level (24-25/30) or good level (26-27/30) in the evaluation indicators
listed above. Higher scores (from 28/30 to 30/30 cum laude) are awarded
on the basis of the student’s demonstration of a very good or excellent
level in the evaluation indicators listed above.
