MEDIEVAL AND HUMANISTIC PHILOLOGY

The course is inserted in the curriculum of Filologia e letteratura italiana and in the curriculum of Filologie, letterature e storia dell’antichità, Laurea magistrale of Scienze dell’antichità: letterature, storia e archeologia. It aims to provide the students a deep knowledg of the domain of Italian Literature from the Middle Ages to contemporary ages. Being inserted in the Medieval and Byzantin curriculumm, it aims specifically to provide the students with basic elements both of intellectual history of the late Middle Ages and of philological technique in order to critically read and prepare editions of medieval Latin and Vernacular texts in relation to Latin texts. The intellectual history of 200-300 will be studied through one of the most important authors of the time, Dante Alighieri. However, not the vulgar works will be studied, but the collection of letters (12 authentic and some attributed).

 The text of Dante's letters will be submitted to a close reading, in order to analyze it in relation to medieval texts of the same literary genre; the manuscript tradition, in Latin and the Vernacular, will be analyzed starting from the critical editions of the text; the contribution that the text (and its manuscript tradition) can give to the so-called "Franciscan question" will be evaluated.

At the end of the course, the student will earn the following skills: - the ability to critically elaborate the secondary literature dealing with the intellectual and religious history of the late Middle Ages (in particular, the Franciscan history, the question of the Spirituals, the Franciscan chronicle tradition); - the ability to work on case studies through the application of the methods developed in the secondary literature concerning the Franciscan question; - the ability to collaborate with scholars from different fields (in particular, historians of the Middle Ages and the Church), providing an open contribution to the multidisciplinary debate; - the ability to organize working groups on seminar topics.
In this way, the following skills will be developed, consistent with the course of study:
- awareness of the plurality of the methodological approaches to the text (with particular attention to the rhetorical-stylistic methodes):
- use of philological instrumentation;
- digital skills, especially starting from the tools provided by the Web for philological research.

Knowledge also elementary of the Latin language.

Knowledge also elementary of paleography and medieval codicology.

Knowledge of methods of critique of text and stomatology.

Elementary knowledge of the history of Italian culture (Latin and vernacular) between the two and fourteenth centuries.

Reference bibliography dealing with the preliminary skills:

A. Stussi (a c. di), Fondamenti di critica testuale, Bologna, Mulino (diverse edizioni).

S. Timpanaro, La genesi del metodo di Lachmann (Utet, diverse edizioni).

A. Petrucci, Breve storia della scrittura latina, Bagatto.

Dante's letters: philological and rhetorical problems

1) Introduction
2) Retorics and ars dictaminis in the thirteenth century
3) The manuscript tradition of Dante's letters
4) The history of critical editions
5) Case Study: Monotestimonial Epistles (Letter I and II)
6) Study of cases: letters with indirect testimony (Letter III)
7) Case study: letters with multiple testimony (Letter V)
8) Case study: letters with multiple testimony (Letter VI)
9) Case study: papal rhetoric and Dante's rhetoric (Letter XI)
10) Case study: reconstructing lost letters.

References will be presented and discussed during the lessons.
G. Inglese, Dante. Una biografia possibile, Roma, Carocci, diverse edizioni.
Dante, a c. di R. Rea, J. Steinberg, Roma, Carocci, 2020.
A. Montefusco; G. Milani, Le lettere di Dante Alighieri. Ambienti culturali, contesti storici e circolazione dei saperi, Berlino, De Gruyter, 2020 (download gratuito qui: https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/537214 )
A. Montefusco; G. Milani, Dante attraverso i documenti. I. Famiglia e patrimonio (secolo XII-1300 circa). Premessa. Reti Medievali Rivista, 15 (2), 2014 (download gratuito qui: http://www.rmojs.unina.it/index.php/rm/article/view/4861 )
A. Montefusco: G. Milani, Dante attraverso i documenti. II. Presupposti e contesti dell’impegno politico a Firenze (1295-1302). Reti Medievali Rivista, 18(1), 2017 (download gratuito qui:
http://www.rmojs.unina.it/index.php/rm/article/view/5154 )
Dante Alighieri, Epistole, Egloge, Questio de aqua et terra, Roma, Salerno Editore, 2016.
Antonio Montefusco ; Sara Bischetti Prime osservazioni su «Ars dictaminis», cultura volgare e distribuzione sociale dei saperi nella Toscana medievale in CARTE ROMANZE, vol. 6, 2018, pp. 163-240 (download gratuito qui: https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/carteromanze/article/view/10322 )

Students who will not attend the seminar must add the following literature:
M. Bertè, M. Petoletti, La filologia medievale e umanistica, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2017.
They are expected to be on touch with the Professor.

The knowledge will be verified through an oral examination. The students will be strongly invited to produce works on their own.

Conventional lessons, Seminar, practical exercises.

Italian

written and oral