HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INSTITUTIONS

The teaching is among the 'caratterizzanti' teachings of the dregree in the course: ‘Storico – mediterraneo antico e medievale’. As part of the degree, basic knowledge of the medieval institutions is fundamental in order to understand the working of medieval societies.

Acknowledgement with the fundamental medieval political and ecclesiastical institutions. Introduction to the reading and discussing of medieval sources. Introduction to a the specific theme: the Western empire, from Charlemagne to Frederick Barbarossa.

Attending Medieval History classes is recommended before joining this course.

The empire in the West, from Charlemagne to Frederick Barbarossa.
On Christmas Eve 800, Pope Leo III imposed the imperial crown on Charlemagne. There, among the majestic architecture of the ancient basilica of Saint Peter, the church commissioned by Emperor Constantine, the imperium had been reclaimed in the western fringes of the Mediterranean after centuries of inaction. From Rome and the march that marked the limit with the Langobardia minor, passing south of the Pyrenees, to reach the coasts of Friesland, Saxony and Denmark, the border of the Danes, the ideal of the universal empire was re-proposed at the extreme margins of the great world of trade that from Constantinople and the Caliphate, crossed the great empires of Central Asia to reach China. It was a space, that of the reborn empire, which despite the presence of Rome, overlapped the one of the Caesars minimally, extending over a fraction of its territory and going beyond the ancient Rhine frontier. A mostly cold world, where the settlements were scattered and surrounded by vast desolations and impenetrable forests. Above all, it was a state entity that laboriously wanted to coincide with Christianity, surrounded by heretics and pagans, assuming salvific and eschatological dimensions.
The course will explore four centuries of imperial history in the tortuous elaboration of political theology, and relations with real and imaginary neighbors. Barbarians, like Hungarians and Vikings; the powerful eastern neighbors, in Constantinople as in Baghdad; in order to reach fabulous and distant destinations, such as the reign of the mysterious Priest John.

Besides the lectures' notes, it is necessary the study of:

M. Ascheri, Medioevo del potere: Le istituzioni laiche ed ecclesiastiche, 2nd edn (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2009)


Students who cannot attend should additionaly read one of the following texts:

A. Barbero, Carlo Magno: un padre dell'Europa (Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2004)

H. Keller, Gli Ottoni: una dinastia imperiale tra Europa e Italia (secc. X e XI) (Roma: Carocci, 2012)

G.M. Canaterella, Il sole e la luna: la rivoluzione di Gregorio VII papa 1073-1085 (Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2005)

P. Grillo, Legnano 1176: una battaglia per la libertá (Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010)

Discussion in class, oral exam.

Frontal lectures, reading of sources, Joint discussion.

Italian

oral