Università Roma Tre

The first module of the course aims to illustrate the main historical processes concerning Europe and the Mediterranean in the medieval millennium (500-1500), taking into account the most recent historiographical debates and some of the written sources in question. The focus will be on the main aspects of human action between society, economy, religion, politics, and culture. The main topics of the course are: written and material sources, solids and voids; economy, religion, and culture in Late Antiquity (4th-6th centuries); the emergence of the Roman-Barbarian kingdoms (5th-6th centuries); early medieval empires (8th-9th centuries); the countryside: from the manorial system to incastellamento (7th-12th centuries); cities: urbanism, demography, economy from the inheritance of Rome to the new expansion (7th-12th centuries); the Reform of the Church (11th-12th centuries); political reorganizations, between cities and kingdoms (11th-13th centuries); cultural and religious paths between the early and late Middle Ages (6th-13th centuries); conjuncture and crisis of the 14th century (14th century); the new features of the Renaissance (15th century).

- One textbook to be chosen from the following three (a, b, c):
a) A. Cortonesi, Medioevo. Profilo di un millennio, Roma, Carocci, on of the various editions;
b) M. Montanari, Storia medievale, Laterza, one of the various editions;
c) G. Vitolo, Medioevo. I caratteri originali di un'età di transizione, Sansoni, one of the various editions;

- G. Sergi, L'idea di Medioevo. Fra storia e senso comune, Roma, Donzelli, 1998;

- V. Loré, R. Rao, Medioevo da manuale. Una ricognizione della storia medievale nei manuali scolastici italiani, in RM Rivista, 18/2 (2017), pp. 305-313 only (free download here: http://www.rmoa.unina.it/4710/).

The Medieval Economy (5th–15th Centuries).
Building on the broader framework introduced in the previous module (B1), this module focuses on a more specific topic: the Euro-Mediterranean economy in the Middle Ages (5th–15th centuries). The lectures, some of which will be seminar-based, will examine issues and sources relating to topics such as basic concepts for economic analysis, the relationship between humans and resources, the different types of sources available (e.g. written, material and visual) and how these can distort perspective; demography, economic logic in the Middle Ages; and the relationship between the agrarian economy and trade in the Mediterranean.

For attending students, the exam is based on the materials provided by the teacher and discussed in class;

For non-attending students, the exam is based on the following texts:
- Alessio Fiore, Alma Poloni, L'economia medievale. Un profilo storico (secoli V-XV), Roma, Carocci, 2024 (and subsequent reprints));
- C. Wickham, L'asino e il battello. Ripensare l'economia del Mediterraneo medievale, 950-1180, Roma, Viella, 2024, chapters 7 and 8 (available on the class Teams channel)
- D. Internullo, Logiche religiose dell’economia nell’Europa altomedievale. Internullo legge Wood, «Storica» 88 (2024), pp. 141-155 (available on the class Teams channel).