History, Anthropology, Religions

ANTONELLA GHIGNOLI

The aim of the course is to provide students with an overview of the main turning points in the history of Latin writing (from Roman period to the Renaissance), together with the conceptual and lexical tools specific to palaeographic work, in order to acquire historical knowledge of the evolution of Latin writing and, at the same time, the ability to describe, evaluate, transcribe and interpret evidence from the past written in Latin and in the vernacular, mainly Old Italian [Dublin descriptor 1]. Students will be taught to consider written records not only as evidence of a graphic fact and a mere object of palaeographic knowledge, but also as a testimony to the written culture of the past (in the broadest sense, which includes pragmatic written culture) and as a graphic mediation of the literacy of a society, inextricably linked therefore, to the medium that transmits it (in all its various material forms), to the tools and tecniques of writing, to the cultural, social, legal and political contexts and systems of its genesis and to those contemporary and subsequent contexts and systems, which enabled or determined its transmission, preservation and destruction [Dublin descriptor 2]. The course exercises, as well as the ongoing and final assessments – both written and oral – are designed to develop students’ independent judgement and their ability to communicate their knowledge and opinions in writing and orally [Dublin descriptors 3-5].

Historical knowledge of the evolution of Latin writing, from Roman period to the Renaissance; ability to describe, evaluate, transcribe and interpret a testimony from the period in question, written in Latin and in the vernacular (mainly Old Italian), in its nature as a testimony to the written culture (in the broadest sense, which includes pragmatic written culture) and in its nature as a graphic mediation of the literacy of a society, inextricably linked therefore, to the medium that transmits it (in all its various material forms), to the tools and tecniques of writing, to the cultural, social, legal and political contexts and systems of its genesis and to those contemporary and subsequent contexts and systems, which enabled or determined its transmission, preservation and destruction.

Good knowledge of Latin.

The aim of the course is to provide students with an overview of the main turning points in the history of Latin writing (from Roman period to the Renaissance), together with the conceptual and lexical tools specific to palaeographic work, in order to acquire historical knowledge of the evolution of Latin writing and, at the same time, the ability to describe, evaluate, transcribe and interpret evidence from the past written in Latin and in the vernacular (mainly Old Italian), not only as evidence of a graphic fact and a mere object of palaeographic knowledge, but also in its nature as a testimony to the written culture of the past (in the broadest sense, which includes pragmatic written culture) and in its nature as a graphic mediation of the literacy of a society, inextricably linked therefore, to the medium that transmits it (in all its various material forms), to the tools and tecniques of writing, to the cultural, social, legal and political contexts and systems of its genesis and to those contemporary and subsequent contexts and systems, which enabled or determined its transmission, preservation and destruction.

The course is divided into two modules – Module I and II – and each module is divided into sections (1, 2, 3, etc.) corresponding to the topics covered.
Module I covers the following topics:
_1) the subject matter of Latin palaeography, its specific characteristics, a brief history of the discipline;
_2) what writing is; conceptual tools and aspects of its analysis (ductus/morphology ratio, writing angle, module, weight; writing technique: writing “al tratto”, writing “currenti calamo”; variants and ligatures; formal relationships: capital letters, lowercase letters, writing hierarchies); a comparison of the two main paradigms of analysis adopted by the international community:
_3) writing materials and tools; the “containers” of writing and the various material forms historically attested; places of preservation and tools for consultation;
_4) synchronic description of the system of abbreviations and its brief presentation under diachronic perspective: Latin shorthand in the history of Latin writing;
_5) brief introduction to the punctuation system;
_6) principles for transcribing a handwritten text in Latin and vernacular (ancient Italian)
_ 7) a brief history of Latin writing from Roman period to the Renaissance; contextual illustration and reading of documents as examples of the main types of writing: these constitute the dossier for the oral examination (see 'assessment').

Module II is dedicated to in-depth studies or recent new theoretical acquisitions on individual moments or passages in the history of writing and on illustrious personalities of “writers”; it also serves to bring students into closer contact with the scientific literature of the discipline; specific critical essays related to the topics (s. section "Texts") will be presented and discussed in class. The in-depth studies will concern:
1) The scripts of the Roman period: Greek-Roman graphic koinè; the new Roman Cursive; Uncial script and Rustic capital script;
2) Merovingian script;
3) Caroline minuscule (and pre- and early Caroline minuscules);
4) the "littera textualis";
5) the Italian cursive scripts by notaries and merchants (cancelleresca and mercantesca);
6) the humanistic script;
7) Petrarca's writing;
8) Boccaccio's writing;
9) Leonardo's writing;
10) the writing of the semi-educated and those with basic literacy: the handwriting of Friar Francis.

Bibliography for Module I distributed according to its themes (see Programme):

I/1: A. Petrucci, Prima lezione di paleografia, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2002 (selezione di pagine, che sarà indicata a lezione); S. Zamponi, 470. Paleografia latina, in Biblioteconomia. Guida classificata, diretta da M. Guerrini, Milano, Bibliografica, 2007, pp. 869-872.
I/2: J. Mallon, Paléographie romaine, Madrid, 1952, pp. 21-29; G. Cencetti, Paleografia latina, Roma, Jouvence, 1978 (capitolo corrispondente al tema, che sarà specificato a lezione); S. Zamponi, Struttura esecuzione stile: ripensando il protocollo Mallon, in Id., Le ragioni della scrittura. Piccoli scritti di paleografia, a cura di T. De Robertis e N. Giové Marchioli, Roma, Viella, 2021, pp. 209-230.
I/3: B. Bischoff, Paleografia latina, Padova, Antenore, 1992, pp. 7-52 (Materiali e strumenti scrittori).
I/4: G. Cencetti, Paleografia latina, Roma, Jouvence, 1978 (capitolo dedicato al sistema abbreviativo); T. De Robertis, Questioni preliminari e generali, in «Medioevo e Rinascimento», 7 (1993), pp. 161-193.
I/5: M. B. Parkes, Pause and Effect. An Introduction to the History of Punctuation in the West, London, Routledge, 1992 (una selezione di pagine, che sarà indicata a lezione).
I/6: G. Tognetti, Criteri per la trascrizione di testi medievali latini e italiani, Roma, Quaderni della Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato, 1982 (una selezione di parti, che sarà indicata a lezione); F. M. Bertolo, P. Cherubini, G. Inglese, L. Miglio, Breve storia della scrittura e del libro, Roma 2004 (solo capitolo di G. Inglese)
I/7: A. Petrucci, Breve storia della scrittura latina, Roma, Bagatto Libri, 1992 (studio del manuale completo); 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) (una selezione di capitoli, che sarà indicata a lezione).

Please note that all material distributed during the lessons (available on the Classroom platform dedicated to the course) is an integral part of the preparation.
A good selection of materials for further independent practice (only for certain scripts) can be found on the website "Trame di vita", at the URL http://www.tramedivita.it/medieval.html, section "Materiali a supporto per lo studio della paleografia latina" edited by M. Palma and A. Cartelli

Bibliography for Module II distributed according to its themes (see Programme):

II/1: G. Cavallo, La κοινή scrittoria greco-romana nella prassi documentale di età bizantina, ora in rist. Id., Il calamo e il papiro. La scrittura greca dall’età ellenistica ai primi secoli di Bisanzio, Firenze, Edizioni Gonnelli, 2005 (Papyrologica Florentina, 36), pp. 43-71; T. De Robertis, Old Roman cursive e Ead. New Roman Cursive (IVth-VIIth centuries), The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography, edited by F. T. Coulson, and R. G. Babcock, Oxford, Oxford university Press, 2020, rispettivamente pp. 39-59 e 60-68; P. Fioretti, Sul Livio tardoantico della Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona, XL (38), in «Segno e testo», 21 (2023), pp. 55-76; Id., Per la datazione del Terenzio Bembino, in «Bollettino dei Classici», serie III, fasc. XLV (2024), pp. 33-52.
II/2: P. Radiciotti, I frammenti papiracei di Avito. A proposito dell'origine della merovingica, in «Segno e testo», 6 (2008), pp. 73-120;
II/3: M. Bassetti, Genesi e diffusione della scrittura carolina in rapporto alle precaroline di area franca, in I Franchi, Spoleto, Cisam, 2023 (Settimane di studio della Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, LXIX), pp. 1149-1193
II/4: S. Zamponi, Quattro secoli di littera textualis in Italia, in S. Zamponi, Le ragioni della scrittura. Piccoli scritti di paleografia, a cura di T. De Robertis e N. Giové Marchioli, Roma, Viella, 2021, pp. 77-112.
II/5: I. Ceccherini, Le scritture dei notai e dei mercanti a Firenze tra Duecento e Trecento: unità, varietà, stile, «Medioevo e Rinascimento», 24 / n.s. 21 (2010), pp. 29-68; Ead., Le corsive italiane tra 1270 circa e 1350 circa. Cancelleresca e mercantesca, in De la herencia romana a la procesal castellana: diez siglos de cursividad. Actas del IV Encuentro Internacional del Seminario Permanente Escrituras cursivas", coord. por María Carmen del Camino Martínez, Universidad de Sevilla, Editorial Universidad de Sevilla, 2018., pp. 175-189;
II/6: T. De Robertis, Humanistic Script. Origins e Humanistic script. Italy, in The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography, ed. by F. T. Coulson, R. G. Babcock, Oxford, Oxford university Press, 2020, rispettivamente pp. 511-521, pp. 522-552; Eadem, Scritture umanistiche elementari (e altro), in «Scrineum", 14 (2017), pp. 363-392 https://doi.org/10.13128/Scrineum-21994.
II/7: S. Zamponi, Petrarca, la scrittura di glossa, la "notula", in «Italia medioevale e umanistica», LXIII (2022), pp. 127-141; Idem, Nota sulla scrittura, in M. Berté, M. Petoletti, S. Zamponi, Francesco Petrarca, in Autografi dei letterati italiani. Il Trecento. II, a cura di L. Azzetta et al., Antenore, Roma-Padova, 2026; M. Berté, Petrarca, i libri, le carte, Roma, Carocci, 2025 (only some chapters).
II/8: M. Cursi, La scrittura e i libri di Giovanni Boccaccio, Roma, Viella, 2013; T. De Robertis, Il posto di Boccaccio nella storia della scrittura, in Boccaccio letterato, a cura di M. Marchiaro e S. Zamponi, Firenze, Accademia della Crusca, 2015, pp. 145-170.
II/9: M. Cursi, Lo specchio di Leonardo. Scritture e libri del genio universale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2020.
II/10: A. Bartoli Langeli, Gli autografi di frate Francesco e di frate Leone, Turnhout, Brepols, 2000 (Corpus Christianorum; Autographa Medii Aevi) [only some chapters].

G. Cencetti, Paleografia latina, Roma, Jouvence, 1978; B. Bischoff, Paleografia latina, Padova, Antenore, 1992; A. Petrucci, Breve storia della scrittura latina, Roma, Bagatto Libri, 1992; 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) (una selezione di capitoli, che sarà indicata a lezione); The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography, edited by F. T. Coulson, and R. G. Babcock, Oxford, Oxford university Press, 2020.

Lectures and seminars; visits to libraries are planned.

Strongly recommended.

The written exam consists of a transcription test of two short texts (one from a manuscript and the other from a document), with identification of the type of writing, to be carried out in class at the end of the first module, on a date to be announced at the beginning of the course. The second written test, to be submitted at least one week before the chosen exam date, consists of a written palaeographic analysis of one of the texts examined in Module II, chosen by the student, accompanied by a brief commentary on the corresponding critical bibliography (also examined in Module II).
The oral examination will consist of 1) reading and commenting on some of the specimina commented in Module I, 2) discussing the topics covered in class, 3) discussing the bibliography.
The final mark will take into account class work, the written report to be submitted a week before the oral exam, and the oral exam as follows: written exam in class: 6/30; written report to be submitted before the exam: 6/30; oral exam: reading test 6/30, discussion of the main topics covered in class 6/30, discussion of the bibliography 6/30.

Transcription and comprehension of handwritten texts, recognition of handwriting.
The following will also be assessed: knowledge of the topics discussed during the course, knowledge of the bibliography included in the programme, ability to express oneself using appropriate scientific language.