ECTS - University of Pisa
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MEDIEVAL HISTORY I
SIMONE MARIA COLLAVINI
Academic year2020/21
CourseHISTORICAL STUDIES
Code084MM
Credits12
PeriodSemester 1
LanguageItalian

ModulesAreaTypeHoursTeacher(s)
STORIA MEDIEVALE I M-STO/01LEZIONI72
SIMONE MARIA COLLAVINI unimap
Learning outcomes
Knowledge

The course aims to introduce students to the knowledge of medieval history, illustrating its general lines and showing its characteristics of complexity and plurality. The course will consist of a series of lectures retracing some of the main themes of medieval history: 1) Concept and periodization of the Middle Ages. 2) From the Roman world to Roman-Barbarian Europe. 3) Economy and society in the Early Middle Ages. 4) The Carolingian empire and its crisis. 5) Europe in the High of the Middle Ages: social, political and cultural frameworks. 6) The first European expansion: economic growth and external projections. 7) The reform of the Church. 8) The Italian Communes; 9) The late medieval economy between crisis and recovery. 10) The political frameworks of the late medieval Europe.

Some lessons (or parts of lesson) will be dedicated to introduce students to a first knowledge of the sources useful for the study of medieval history, through the presentation, contextualization, reading and translation of these sources.

***

To cope with the difficulties arising from distance learning, two new teaching support activities have been introduced: tutoraggio d'aula (classroom tutoring) and esercitazioni (exercises).
Classroom tutoring is organized as follows: at the beginning of the year, students attending the course are divided into groups by the teacher and entrusted to a classroom tutor. The task of the classroom tutor, in collaboration with the teacher, is to:
• organize and manage study groups, promoting social spaces for students;
• discuss the topics covered in lessons at regular intervals with the students entrusted to him/her;
• help students find the bibliography for further information;
• organize moments of discussion within the group following the single course;
• facilitate communication between students and the teacher, in particular by pointing out any learning difficulties.
Participation in tutorings group by attending students is mandatory; attendance is highly recommended.
Parallel to the course, starting from the month of October, two seminars will also be held by two tutor esercitatori (exercisers). Students can ask to enroll in one of the seminars by writing an e-mail to the teacher (simone.maria.collavini@unipi.it): given that the seminars are limited, the priority in enrollment will determine the choice of enrolled students to exercises.
Attendance at the seminar, with passing of the relative final test, replaces one of the two monographs scheduled for the exam.


The two tutorial seminars are:

1. Paolo Tomei, Of iron and darkness. Post-Carolingian and pre-communal Italy (around the 10th century)
In the common sense, the darkest and most hectic phase of the medieval millennium is the tenth century: with reference to Italian events traditionally mythologized as an "iron century", and often studied even today not in itself, but as a moment of dissolution of pre-existing structures and / or germination of subsequent experiences. But what were the real characters of this period?

2. Jacopo Paganelli, On the edge of the Middle Ages: the fourteenth century
The seminar On the edge of the Middle Ages: the fourteenth century aims to identify the peculiar characteristics of the fourteenth century: on the one hand, those that make it a still 'fully' medieval century (such as the presence of the Empire in Italy) and, from the other, those of novelty and rupture with respect to the past (such as the plague of 1348 and its consequences).
Assessment criteria of knowledge

Final oral exam. Possibly optional written in itinere tests (yet to be determined).

For those who attend the training seminars there is a final test (yet to be determined).
Skills

The course aims to make students able to orient themselves in time and space of medieval history and introduce them to a first knowledge of the sources and conceptual tools useful to study medieval history. For those who take part in the training seminars, the ability to work in a group and interact with other participants in the seminar is also planned.
Assessment criteria of skills

Tests in progress (if provided) and final oral exam.
Prerequisites

 

  • Good knowledge of the Italian oral and written language is needed to take the exam.
  • The basic knowledge of European and Mediterranean geography is necessary to study medieval history: those who have difficulty in orienting themselves in space are advised to help themselves using a historical atlas.
  • The knowledge of Latin helps to get the maximum benefit from reading the sources.
  • The knowledge of one or more foreign languages allows greater freedom of choice between the proposed readings.
Teaching methods

The course will be held as it follows:

  • Frontal lessons held on Teams platform with the aid of slides and other teaching materials.
  • Use of the Moodle e-learning platform (for uploading teaching materials and for teacher-student communications).
  • During some of the lessons, remote connections are provided by teachers who are particularly experienced in the issues dealt with.
  • In some lessons we will comment on sources in the original language (Latin) and Italian translation. For reading and commenting on the sources, the Pandora platform (linked to the planned handbook) will also be used.
  • Tutoring of classroom tutors.
  • Exercises (on a voluntary basis) held by the tutor exercisers.
Syllabus
  1. Albertoni, S.M. Collavini, T. Lazzari (a c.), Introduzione alla storia medievale. Nuova edizione, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2020 (also available in digital format at the Il Mulino website on the Pandora platform)
  2. Reading of 2 essays of medieval history, among those included in list A
  3. Students will have to demonstrate the ability to discuss the material presented in class

 

 The attendance (with passing of the final test) of one of the seminars is a substitute for one of the two monographs referred to in point n. 2.
Bibliography

List A

  • Bartlett, The Making of Europe. Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350, Princeton Univ. Press, 1993
  • Bisson, Power, Lordship, and the Origins of European Government, Princeton University Press, 2009
  • Cammarosano, Nobili e re. L'Italia politica dell'alto medioevo, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1998
  • Carocci, Signorie di Mezzogiorno. Società rurali, poteri aristocratici e monarchia (XII-XIII secolo), Roma, Viella, 2015
  • E. Cortese, L’aristocrazia toscana. Sette secoli (VI-XII), Spoleto, Cisam, 2017
  • R. Epstein, Potere e mercanti in Sicilia. Secoli XIII-XVI, Einaudi, Torino, 1996
  • C. Maire Vigueur, Cavalieri e cittadini. Guerra, conflitti e società nell'Italia comunale, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2004
  • McCormick, Le origini dell’economia europea: comunicazione e commercio 300-900 d.C., Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2008 (o l’ediz. orig. The Origins of the European Economy, AD 300-900, Cambridge University Press, 2001)
  • Pohl, Le origini etniche dell'Europa. Barbari e Romani tra antichità e medioevo, Viella, Roma, 2000
  • Provero, Le parole dei sudditi. Azioni e scritture della politica contadina nel Duecento, Spoleto, Cisam, 2012
  • Julia Smith, L’Europa dopo Roma. Una nuova storia culturale, 500-1000, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2017
  • Tyerman, Le guerre di Dio: nuova storia delle crociate, Torino, Einaudi, 2012 (oppure l'ediz. orig. God’s War. A New History of the Crusades, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 2007)
  • Wickham, Le società dell’alto medioevo. Europa e Mediterraneo secoli V-VIII, Roma, Viella, 2009 (oppure l’ediz. orig. Framing the Early Middle Ages. Europe and Mediterranean, 400-800, Oxford University Press, 2005)
  • Wickham, Roma medievale. Crisi e stabilità di una città medievale, 900-1150, Viella, Roma, 2013
  • Wickham, L’eredità di Roma. Storia d’Europa dal 400 al 1000 d.C. (ed. ing. 2010), Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2014 (oppure l’ediz. orig. The Inheritance of Rome. Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000, London, Penguin, 2009)
  • Wickham, Sonnambuli verso un nuovo mondo. L'affermazione dei comuni italiani nel XII secolo, Roma, Viella, 2017 (oppure l’ediz. orig.Sleepwalking into a New World: The Emergence of Italian City Communes in the Twelfth Century, Princeton University Press 2015)
Non-attending students info
  1. Albertoni, S.M. Collavini, T. Lazzari (a c.), Introduzione alla storia medievale. Nuova edizione, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2020 (acquistabile anche in formato digitale presso il sito de Il Mulino sulla piattaforma Pandora);
  2. AAVV, Storia medievale, Roma, Donzelli ed., 1998;
  3. Reading of three essays on medieval history, among those included in list A.

 
Assessment methods

Tests in progress (if provided) and final oral exam.
Additional web pages

More informations about the course on Moodle (https://elearning.humnet.unipi.it).

Interested students are strongly invited to attend the course to access and register on the platform.
Notes

The organization of the Medieval History I course this year is particularly complex, also due to the health emergency, it is therefore absolutely essential for the teacher to know in advance the number of students who will follow the course.

Therefore students interested in attending the course are requested to register as soon as possible on the Moodle platform (https://elearning.humnet.unipi.it) and immediately send an e-mail to the teacher (simone.maria.collavini@unipi.it)), formalizing their enrollment in the course.

As for the exercises, which are limited in number, it is necessary to send your application to the teacher (indicating which seminar you intend to follow). The places will be assigned according to the order of application.

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Examination Body

Simone M. Collavini (Chairman)

Cecilia Iannella (Member)

Paolo Tomei (Member)

 

Alternate Chairman: Cecilia Iannella

Alternate Members: Alma Poloni; Jacopo Paganelli; Alberto Cotza
Updated: 09/09/2020 12:10