Modern humanities

The course introduces production techniques and illustrates the circulation, fruition, conservation (and destruction) of book and documentary writings in the Latin West, from the Late Antiquity to the threshold of the Modern Age. The functions of the documentation activity and the role of the written document (in the double role of legal instrument and historical source) in the political and social history of medieval Europe will be presented. Some important phases in the history of the manuscript book will also be analyzed (from volumen to codex; from parchment to paper; from manuscript to printing), of the techniques and materials used in its making, of the cultural, social and economic dynamics of the book market.

In general, no specific knowledge is required. However, even elementary knowledge of history (at least from Late Antiquity to the Early Modernity) and of the Latin language can promote a deeper understanding of the topics.

Marilena Maniaci, Breve storia del libro manoscritto, Roma, Carocci, 2019. Giorgio Cencetti, Dal tabellione romano al notaio medievale, in Il notariato veronese attraverso i secoli. Catalogo della mostra in Castelvecchio, Verona, Collegio notarile di Verona, 1966, pp. XIX-XXIX http://www.scrineum.it/scrineum/biblioteca/scaffale-ae.html#Giorgio%20Cencetti Giorgio Cencetti, Il notaio medievale italiano, in Mostra storica del notariato medievale ligure, XIII Congresso nazionale del Notariato. Genova, maggio-giugno 1964, ed. by Giorgio Costamagna - Dino Puncuh («Atti della Società Ligure di Storia Patria, nuova serie», IV/1, 1964), pp. VII-XXIII https://memoriedigitaliliguri.it/Scheda_vs_info.aspx?Id_Scheda_Bibliografica=625 Giovanna Nicolaj, Lineamenti di diplomatica generale, in «Scrineum-Rivista», 1 (2003), pp. 5-112 (only pp. 5-34). DOI: https://doi.org/10.13128/Scrineum-12094 Cesare Paoli, Programma scolastico di paleografia e diplomatica. III, Diplomatica, Firenze, Sansoni, 1898, pp. 57-74 (only §11) (https://archive.org/details/programmascolas00paolgoog/) Armando Petrucci, Il libro manoscritto, augmented repr. in Armando Petrucci, Letteratura italiana: una storia attraverso la scrittura, Roma, Carocci, 2017, pp. 11-44. Mario Talamanca, Documentazione e documento (dir. rom.), in Enciclopedia del diritto, XIII, Milano, Giuffrè, 1964, pp. 548-558 only §§1-4, 6-11.

Attendance is not mandatory, but highly recommended.

The exam will consist in the presentation of one or more topics discussed in the course. The assessment will take into account not only the knowledge and skills acquired, but also the autonomy in establishing links between the different topics, the critical and interpretative capacity manifested in the discussion, the mastery of scientific language; the assessment will also take into account the participation in teaching activities during the course. The level of mastery of all these elements will determine the vote.

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Lectures in the classroom.