MEDIEVAL EPIGRAPHY (ADVANCED COURSE)

The course is part of the degree course in Antiquity Science: Literatures, History and Archaeology, History from the Middle Ages to Present and History and Management of Archival and Bibliographic Heritage and its purpose is to provide students with the first methodological tools in the field of epigraphy from the late ancient age until the sixteenth century.
The teaching objectives are: to develop the ability to reflect on written forms, on the state of preservation of epigraphic materials, on the forms of transmission of epigraphic texts; to provide the main tools for transcriptions and critical editions of epigraphic texts; to provide the basic methodological tools for the palaeographic and epigraphic analysis of medieval writings.
The achievement of these objectives allows the student to have the basis for learning the main medieval epigraphic writings; tools for critical analysis and evaluation of artifacts, as well as the hanging of the main critical tools for the editions of epigraphic texts.
The course aims to provide the main tools for the critical analysis of medieval epigraphic sources also in view of a continuity of practices from the ancient world to the late Middle Ages, whether they are writings, text or materials.
The course also intends to deepen, through practical exercises on classes of materials in the area, the technical and practical skills for the drafting of epigraphic cards according to the editorial principles of Inscriptiones Medii Aevi Italiae (saec. VI-XII)

Knowledge and understanding:

can critically use the main tools for the epigraphic analysis of medieval artefacts;
can use the basic tools necessary for the cataloguing, critical and analytical study of the main medieval epigraphic writings and of the artefacts in their material aspect; can complete a critical edition of epigraphic texts with the problems connected to it.
knows the different types of sources useful for the historical reconstruction of the writer contexts that produced the medieval graphic typologies and is able to interweave them in a deep and effective way.

As part of the teaching activities are planned to begin the study of medieval epigraphy with the active and verifiable participation of students.
The course also aims to deepen, through practical exercises on classes of materials in the area, the technical and practical skills for the drafting of epigraphic cards according to the editorial principles of Inscriptiones Medii Aevi Italiae (saec. VI-XII).



In the field of teaching, activities are planned to start the study of medieval epigraphy with the active and verifiable participation of students.
The course also intends to deepen, through practical exercises on classes of materials in the area, the technical and practical skills for the drafting of epigraphic cards according to the editorial principles of Inscriptiones Medii Aevi Italiae (saec. VI-XII)

No prerequisites are required

recognition of the main categories of epigraphic artefacts; classification of epigraphic supports; type and class of epigraphic supports; processing techniques and chronology of the techniques used to process the artefacts; state of preservation and main categories of damage; causes of material damage to the epigraphic support; techniques for processing epigraphic writings; layout systems distributed by supports; types of writings from the II century d.C. to the XVI century; state of conservation of the writings and main problems linked to the state of conservation of the texts; criteria for transcription and editing of epigraphic texts.

the main writings discussed during the course are:
epigraphic capital; damasian capital; epigraphic merovingian writings; epigraphic visigothic writings; epigraphic island writings; epigraphic longobard writings; epigraphic carolingian writings; gothic epigraphic; epigraphic humanistic writings

S. Morison, Politics and script. Aspects of authority andfreedom in the development of Graeco-Latin script from the sixth century B.C. to the twentieth century A.C., a c. di N. Barker, Oxford

Any further reading:
A. Petrucci, La scrittura. Ideologia e rappresentazione, Torino, 1986 (Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi, 473).
A. Petrucci, Le scritture ultime. Ideologia della morte e strategie dello scrivere nella tradizione occidentale, Torino, 1995 (Saggi, 798).1972

Non-attending students wishing to take the exam in Medieval epigraphy and have not taken the Medieval Epigraphy Examination in the past should use the following bibliography
I. DI STEFANO MANZELLA, Mestiere di epigrafista. Guida alla schedatura del materiale epigrafico lapideo,Roma 1987 (Vetera 1): capp. 6.1-6.3 (pp. 41-3); 7 (pp. 49-68); 8 (pp.69-73); 9.1-9.3.5 (pp. 75-82); 11 (pp. 117-120); 12.5-12.8 (pp.126-134); 13.1-13.7.5 (pp. 135-151); 15.1-15.2 (pp. 169-171); 16.6 (pp.182-3); 19 (pp. 209-219).
A. PETRUCCI, Breve storia della scrittura latina, Roma 1992 (nuova edizione riveduta e aggiornata): pp. 17-136.

Students who have taken examinations in medieval epigraphy in the past should contact the teacher to agree on the themes of epigraphic research and the related bibliography, from the sixth to fifteenth centuries.

oral examination. The examination consists of of dating, recognition and localization of epigraphic materials in chronology between the Middle Ages and the end of the fifteenth century;
students must also submit a thesis on a group of medieval inscriptions of their choice: the cataloging card is present in MOODLE materials and will be treated in the lectures.

classroom lessons; classroom exercises; reading, dating and localization exercises using facsimiles. The course also includes visits to the main epigraphic collections in the area

Italian

Non-attending students wishing to take the exam in Medieval epigraphy are required to contact the teacher.

oral