98940 - Medieval Society and Institutions

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student will possess the basic critical tools to analyse sources and texts relating to societies and political and religious institutions in the Middle Ages, so to be able to understand their chronological developments and some of the macro-themes specific to the European area that produced and used Latin texts. The student will have become familiar with and be able to discuss with the appropriate terminology some specific cases – geographically and temporally circumscribed - studied in their historiographic implications. The student will be able to explain and interpret social, cultural and institutional phenomena by means of comparisons and linkages. The student will be able to approach critically to texts and data and to apply theoretical models of interpretation to social and institutional processes.

Course contents

The monographic topic of the course is 'Preaching and society in the Middle Ages'. Preaching was an essential component of several medieval societies, capable to help set in motion main historical events (e.g. the 'crusades', the Hussite reformation) as well as to shape long-lasting phenomena and a widely shared cultural horizon. Approaching different types of sources, the course investigates how the action of (male and female) preachers interacted (as official expression or antagonistic voice) with the ecclesiastical and political institutions of the time and how the words of these professionals of communication had an impact on the lives of women and men in different social contexts.

The course is one, yet structured in two modules. Students that have in their study plan only a module of 6 cfu are suggested to follow the first module.

First module: 'The power of the word from Augustine to the Mendicant Orders'

The module discusses the relationship between preaching and society along some key moments in the development of European medieval societies, focusing on political and religious institutions. Within a broad chronological framework, some of the following topics will be discussed:

• Facing the 'barbarians': the bishop’s voice
• Gregory the Great: pastoral care and the relief of the poor 
• Itinerant preachers, visionaries, abbesses: into Bede’s world
• The Carolingian rule of the preached word
• Urban II in Clermont-Ferrand: preaching the 'crusade’
• Monastic preaching and carisma: Hildegard of Bingen
• 'Heretics' and preaching
• Francis of Assisi preacher/peacemaker
• Dominic and the Ordo praedicatorum
  

Second module: 'The fire and the halo: late medieval preaching'

The module focuses on the socio-political dimension of late medieval preaching. The module investigates some of the key preaching topics of the time (penitence, sexuality, political struggles) and, after framing the novelty of the mendicant orders,  focuses on four main preachers, two proclaimed saints (Vicent Ferrer and Bernardine of Siena) and two burned at the stake (Jan Hus and Girolamo Savonarola), and studies their collaboration and conflict with political/ecclesiastical institutions. The lectures frame the historical context in which these preachers acted (e.g. schisms, councils, wars) and discuss a plurality of sources (sermons, chronicles, images, legends, canonical and inquisitorial trials) in order to give students the ability to critically interpret them and the phenomenon of late medieval preaching.

Readings/Bibliography

ATTENDING STUDENTS (12cfu):

During the lectures, a reader will be progressively composed with essays and sources presented and discussed in the classroom. These materials will be made available online (as much as possible)  during the module and will constitute the basis for the preparation of the exam. At the end of each module, the lecturer will provide the exact list of these sources and texts.

Two books chosen from the list below

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS (12 cfu):

1) The book: R. Rusconi, Predicazione e predicatori in Italia nel medioevo e in età moderna (Roma: Viella, 2023), without considering chapter 10

2) Two books chosen from the list below

3) Two essays from the following list (available online, see the section about publications in the webpage of the lecturer):

• Predicatori e moltitudini: dare un volto alla folla (XIII secolo), Artes - Rivista di arte, letteratura e musica dell’Officina San Francesco Bologna 2 (2023), 15-40
• ‘Hoc est tempus ascendendi’. Il quaresimale a stampa di Vicent Ferrer: note su un bestseller europeo, Arxiu de Textos Catalans Antics 33 (2020-2021), 169-203
• Enea, la Sibilla e Dante: Primi appunti su un quaresimale virgiliano, Cahiers d’études italiennes 29 (2019), online journal
• ‘Et zostrabo tecum’: Lo scontro tra Bernardino da Siena e Amedeo Landi: Note sull’edizione dei processi milanesi, Il Santo 62 (2022), 325-358
• Hidden in a European Bestseller: The Quadragesimale of Gritsch/Grütsch and the Reception of Dante’s Commedia in Sermons, Medieval Sermon Studies 65 (2021), 34-61
• Drammatizzare il Vangelo dal pulpito. Il sermone di Bernardino da Siena su Lazzaro e il ricco epulone (Padova 1423), Loxias 73 (2021), online journal

 

ATTENDING STUDENTS (6cfu)

During the lectures, a reader will be progressively composed with essays and sources presented and discussed in the classroom. These materials will be made available online (as much as possible) during the module and will constitute the basis for the preparation of the exam. At the end of each module, the lecturer will provide the exact list of these sources and texts.

One books chosen from the list below

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS (6 cfu) will need to prepare the following three parts:

1) The book: R. Rusconi, Predicazione e predicatori in Italia nel medioevo e in età moderna (Roma: Viella, 2023), without considering chapter 10

2) One book chosen from the list below

 

LIST OF BOOKS (valid for all students):

• La predicazione dei frati dalla metà del ‘200 alla fine del ‘300 (Spoleto: CISAM, 1995), pp. 19-188 and pp. 301-450
• M. Benedetti (ed.), Eretiche ed eretici medievali (Roma: Carocci, 2023) pp. 13-178, 221-243 and 293-317
• M. Benedetti e T. Danelli (eds), Contro frate Bernardino da Siena. Processi al maestro Amedeo Landi (Milano 1437-1447) (Milano: Unicopli, 2021; open access) [it requires the knowledge of Latin]
• M. Benedetti, Io non sono Dio: Guglielma di Milano e i Figli dello Spirito Santo (Milano: EDF, 2004)
• N. Bériou, Religion et communication: Un autre regard sur la predication au Moyen-Age (Genéve: Droz, 2018), pp. 1-263 and pp. 435-453
• L. Bolzoni, La rete delle immagini: Predicazione in volgare dalle origini a Bernardino da Siena (Torino: Einaudi, 2007)
• D. d’Avrey, The Preaching of the Friars: Sermons diffused from Paris before 1300 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1985)
• J. Dalarun et al (eds.), Francesco in piazza: Nell’ottavo centenario del sermone di Francesco d’Assisi a Bologna (Milano: EBF, 2023)
• P. Delcorno, Lazzaro e il ricco epulone: metamorfosi di una parabola tra Quattro e Cinquecento (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2014) (available online via the Unibo library system)
• A. Francone, La predicazione latina e volgare di Bertoldo di Ratisbona (1210 ca-1272) (Roma: Istituto storico dei Cappuccini, 2020) [it requires Latin]
• I frati osservanti e la società in Italia nel secolo XV (Spoleto: CISAM, 2013), chapters 1-2, 4, 6-9, 111
• M. Lodone, I segni della fine: Storia di un predicatore nell’Italia del Rinascimento (Roma: Viella, 2021) (accessibile online - link)
• G.G. Merlo, Valdo l'eretico di Lione (Torino: Claudiana, 2010, rist. 2024) e Id., Eretici ed eresie medievali (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2011, rist. 2021) [both, since are very short books]
• C. Muessig (ed.), Preacher, Sermon and Audience in the Middle Ages (Leiden: Brill, 2002), pp. 1-124 and 255-315 (available online via the Unibo library system)
• M.G. Muzzarelli, Pescatori di uomini: predicatori e piazze alla fine del Medioevo (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2005)
• R. Rusconi, Immagini dei predicatori e della predicazione in Italia alla fine del medioevo (Spoleto: CISAM, 2016), cap. 2-4, 6, 8-9, 12-13
• P. Soukup, Jan Hus: The Life and Death of a Preacher (West Lafayette: Perdue University Press, 2015) (available online via the Unibo library system) – available also in German
• D. Weinstein, Savonarola: Ascesa e caduta di un profeta del rinascimento (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2016)

 

Teaching methods

Frontal lecture + PowerPoint slides

Reading and discussion of a selection of primary sources (original text and Italian translation - some of the sources are available also in English).

Assessment methods

Those who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending students.

For attending students: Oral exam, on the topics presented in the lectures (corresponding to the selection of essays and sources available online) with the discussion of the relevant sources and the handbook and the book selected from the proposed bibliography. Optional choices for attending students only (subject to agreement with the lecturer): a) the exam can be split in two parts; b) the examination on one of the chosen books can be done in written form - instructions on this will be given in class.

For non-attending students, the oral exam will focus on the materials presented above.

Exam sessions are at least seven along the academic year and will be scheduled for the following months: September, October, January, February, March, June, and July. The exact dates will be announced gradually (link).

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skills displayed by the student in handling the sources and the secondary literature in the exam bibliography and his/her ability to find and use information and examples to explain and connect the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the topics;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the topics and the ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.

Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the course and is able to summarise them satisfactorily, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.

Minimal and correct knowledge of the contents of the module, yet with lack of significant details and deficiencies in the use of the appropriate terminology will lead to barely sufficient marks.

A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he/she displays significant errors in his/her understanding and fails to present the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Teaching tools

Usually lectures will be supported by a PowerPoint.

For what is possible, the materials (sources, essays, and PowerPoint) will be accessible on virtuale.unibo.it.

Resources of the library.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first of all contact the appropriate office: Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en)

Office hours

See the website of Pietro Delcorno