04100 - Latin Palaeography

Learning outcomes

The course presents the history of the Latin handwriting from Antiquity to the invention of movable type printing. Particular attention will be given  to the handwriting between the Middle Age and the Renaissance and to the manuscripts of the Italian language of the origins. The knowledge acquired enables to read book handwriting and to evalue in a critical way the production process of the manuscript book.

Course contents

The course will present the history of the Latin handwriting until the invention of movable type printing. Particular attention will be given  to the handwriting between the Middle Age and the Renaissance and to the manuscripts of the Italian language of the origins. Methodological tools will supplied  to distinguish and describe the handwritings. Some lessons are devoted to the cultural and institutional history of book manuscripts as well as to problematic topics of the latin palaeography. The corse includes reading on manuscript fac-similes exercises.

The program is recommended only to students attending the course. The attendance is warmly recommended. The students unable to attend must contact the teacher at the beginning of the course in order to establish an alternative program :

1.The Latin palaeography: purpose, object, method.

2. Historical outline of the handwriting from Antiquity to the Middle Ages

3.  Latin handwriting  between the Late Middle Ages and the  Renaissance. Handwritings  of the books and documents.

4. Production and circulation areas of the book manuscript in the Medieval West.

Readings/Bibliography

A. Petrucci, Breve storia della scrittura latina, Roma, Il Bagatto, 1992.

P. Cherubini – A. Pratesi, Paleografia latina. L'Avventura grafica del mondo occidentale, Città del Vaticano,  Scuola Vaticana di Paleografia, Diplomatica e Archivistica (Littera Antiqua, 16) pagine scelte.

Petrucci, Prima lezione di Paleografia, Roma-Bari, Laterza 2002.

Other materials distributed during the lessons.

 

Teaching methods

Lessons and practical exercices.

Assessment methods

The oral exam aims at assessing the knowledge of the recommended reading as well as of the topics discussed during the lessons.

Teaching tools

Educational visits as well as lessons in the most important  libraries of Ravenna and Bologna are planned in order to provide practice with original book manuscripts.

Office hours

See the website of Paola Degni