Università Roma Tre

The course intends to present the main features of documents in the Western legal tradition, with particular regard to their value for historical studies. In this perspective the external and internal characteristics of the document will be examined, as well as the cultural panorama of the times and places of production of the main documentary types, in order to place them in relation with the juridical and cultural traditions typical of the history of the West. In this way, diplomatics is understood as a historical science capable of acting as a fundamental critical support for the historical disciplines, which find an important part of their primary sources of study in the handwritten documentation. In particular, attention will be paid to illustrating documentation of medieval Latin origin, which is particularly complex in its evaluation as a historical document; a study dedicated to the medieval documentary system of the city of Rome is also planned.
The course includes both the examination of reproductions of documents and the direct examination of manuscripts and writing materials, through visits to archives and libraries. Knowledge of Latin is recommended.