EARLY MODERN HISTORY

The course is one of the activities characterizing the humanistic degree courses.
The training objective of the course is to provide knowledge related to the:
a) knowledge of the main problematic issues in the history of the modern age (1492-1815);
b) awareness of the complexity of the cultural roots of contemporary Europe, and of the historical roots of so-called 'globalisation'.
c) awareness of the sources and methods of historiographic work

The students will acquire:
- general knowledge of European history and of relationships between Europe and the rest of the world (1492-1815) and of processes leading to modernity;
- familiarity with problems of historical method;
- familiarity with historiographic terminology;
- ability to rework and discuss the content acquired in a correct and comprehensive manner.

Basic knowledge of the main events of early modern history.

The main themes of modern European history: demographic frameworks; political, economic, social and family structures; changes in state forms, religious conflicts and systems of control and social regulation.
The course is divided into two parts:
Part I: 40 hours (20 lessons): The great themes of the modern age:
The idea of "modern age" and the periodisations
The "modern state" (models, categories, historiographical discussions)
The European population in modern times ( notes of historical demography)
Humanism and Renaissance.
The discovery/conquest of America and European expansion into other continents
The Protestant Reformation
The Counter-Reformation and Religious Conflicts
The empire of Charles V and Europe of the XVI century
The Mediterranean and the Ottoman Empire
Spain of Philip II
The Baroque Age
The seventeenth century crisis and the Thirty-year war
The English Revolutions
The Absolute monarchy,
The scientific revolution
The ancient Italian states between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries
Europe outside Europe and the world
The Enlightenment and the eighteenth century
The American Revolution
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Age

Part II: 20 hours (10 lessons): Deepening: Debates around freedom of speech (16th-18th centuries). Texts by Antonio Possevino, John Milton (areopagitica), John Locke, Voltaire will be read.

Part I:
1. Carlo Capra. Storia moderna (1492-1848), Milano, Mondadori, 2011; Renato Ago, Vittorio Vidotto, Storia moderna, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2004.
2. lecture notes

3. Choose a book from the following list
- Stephen Greenblatt, Il manoscritto. Come la riscoperta di un libro perduto cambiò la storia della cultura europea, Milano, BUR Rizzoli, 2013.
- Vincenzo Ferrone, Il mondo dell’illuminismo. Storia di una rivoluzione culturale. Torino, Einaudi, 2019.
- Gigliola Fragnito, Rinascimento perduto. La letteratura italiana sotto gli occhi dei censori (secoli XV-XVII), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015.
- Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Vita e leggenda di Vasco da Gama, Roma, Carocci 2018

part II

Edoardo Tortarolo, L'invenzione della libertà di stampa. Censura e scrittori nel Settecento, Roma, Carocci, 2011.
Robert Darnton, I censori all’opera. Come gli Stati hanno plasmato la letteratura, Milano, Adelphi, 2017

The students' competence will be verified with a written examination consisting in a series of questions on the topics of the course

Frontal lectures
Discussion of historical sources presented via Moodle.

NB: The course is exclusively for students who need 12 credits.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development