OURSE
WEEKLY TOPICS
Week 1 (August 24-28): Introduction.
- A bit of Italian geography [Kleinhenz 409-412]; see a relief map
of the Italian
Peninsula; see also images of a typical Tuscan and
Apulian
landscapes
- Sources of the early medieval history of Italy [Wickham 1-8; Kleinhenz 215-218]
- The many Italies of the Middle Ages [Abulafia 1-23]
Week 2 (August 31-September 4): Roman legacy [Wickham 9-27]
- Romans and barbarians in Italy; see a
map of the Late Roman Empire and an example of Roman centuriation
surviving in the Italian landscape
- Late Roman society and post-Roman rulers (from Odovacar to Theoderic the Great) [Kleinhenz 396-397, 794, 806-807, 948-954]; see a reconstruction of a villa rustica, portraitd of Petronius Maximus (emperor in 455) and Anicius Olybrius (emperor in 472); see also a portrait of Theoderic
the Great on one of the coins struck in his name and another of Cassiodorus in a later illuminated manuscript; see also a map of the Ostrogothic and neighboring kingdoms at the death of Theoderic
- The Lombards before Lombardy [Kleinhenz 5, 13-14, 649-650]; see
examples of sixth-century bow
and disc-fibulae,
typically associated with rich female graves in Hungary
Week 3 (September 7-11): The kingdom of Italy [Wickham 28-63]
- Monday, September 7: Labor Day (no classes)
- Conquest and kingdom [Kleinhenz 102-103, 647-648, 735-736, 862-867, 1056-1057]; read a stipulation
of King Rothari's
lawcode (645); see a map of the
Lombard kingdom before its conquest by Charlemagne; see an image of King
Agilulf (on the helmet fragment preserved at Bargello, in Florence)
and the image of a Lombard
horseman on a shield ornament found in a warrior grave in Stabio; see the altar of King
Ratchis and a relief
from the sarcophagus of Abbess Theodata; see a mosaic from
the oratory of Pope John VII in Vatican; see also the portrait of St. Benedict of
Nursia from the catacomb of Hermes in Rome and an illumination
from the Gospels of St. Gregory (showing Pope Gregory the Great)
produced in the early Carolingian period in Nonantula; see an image of the late medieval building on the site of
the former
royal palace in Pavia
- Carolingian Italy [Kleinhenz 37, 210-211, 294-295, 376-380, 655]; see a map
of the Carolingian Empire, a portrait of Charlemagne
and another of Louis
the Pious; see a coin struck
for Louis II and his wife, Angilberga
Week 4 (September 14-18): Economy and society [Wickham 80-114]
Week 5 (September 21-25): The South [Wickham
146-167]
- Byzantine Italy [Jansen 506-507; Kleinhenz 165-167]; see a map of the duchy of Benevento during the eighth century, a map of Byzantium ca. 800, a map of Italy ca. 1000, and ; see the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna; see an aerial image of Otranto and another of Bari; see an aerial view of Monte Gargano; see a view of Tricarico (Lucania); see a gold coin (solidus) of Emperor Constans II
- The Beneventan principality [Jansen 165-166, 501-505; Kleinhenz 23-26, 106-107, 755-757]; see a gold coin (solidus) of Sicard, Prince of Benevento, and a silver coin (denarius) of Sico; see a picture of Pierre Toubert, a model of the incastellamento and the ruins
of the castello of Pontecorvo,
built by Rodoald, gastald of Aquino; visit the Church of
Santa Sofia in Benevento
(with views of the plaza and
of the interior vaults)
built by Arichis II;
see the plan
and images of
the refectory,
crypt
church, and a reconstruction
of the
Benedictine
abbey at San Vincenzo al Volturno; see a reconstruction
of the eleventh-century appearance of the Abbey of Montecassino; see images of Benevento, Naples, Salerno, Amalfi, and Isernia; read the History of the
Lombards by Erchempert of Benevento and the Chronicon Salernitanum (with
the English translation of a passage
regarding Guaimar II, prince of Salerno)
- Arabs in Italy [Jansen 490-500; Kleinhenz 46-48]; see a map of the Abbasid Caliphate; see aerial views of Kairouan, Syracuse, Taormina, and the ribat of Sousse, from which was
launched the expedition to Sicily led by Asad ibn al Furat (827); see a map of the conquest of Sicily; visit
the Favara
(al-Fawwara) Castle and see a golden tari
(quarter-dinar) struck in Sicily under the Fatimid caliph al-Muizz
Week 6 (September 28-October 2): The failure of the state [Wickham 168-193]
Week 7 (October 5-9): Cities and communes [Abulafia 168-193]
Week 8 (October 12-16): The Norman Kingdom of Sicily [Abulafia 58-81]
- From Roger II to Frederick II [Kleinhenz 248-249, 253-254, 382-385, 493-494, 775-780, 1068-1070]; visit Melfi and Noto; see a portrait of King Roger II in La Martorana and visit the royal chapel in Palermo; see a portrait of King William II from the Cathedral in Monreale and portrait of Tancred of Lecce in a twelfth-century manuscript; see the gold
seal of Henry VI following his proclamation in Palermo (1194) and a portrait of Frederick II; visit Emperor Frederick's castle at Lucera and read about the emperor's encounter with the
Ayyubid sultan al-Kamil in 1228; visit Castel del Monte, the "hunting lodge" Frederick II built in Apulia in 1249; read the sentence
of deposition that Gregory IX pronounced at the Council of Lyons
against Frederick II (1245) and see the ruins of the Castel
Fiorentino where Frederick II died in 1250
- Norman administration [Jansen 65-70, 122-123, 175-186, 234-240; Kleinhenz 212-213, 318-319, 412-413, 840-842]; visit the villa of the Rufolo family in Ravello and Tagliacozzo, the site of the victory of Charles of Anjou over Conradin, Frederick II's grandson; another of Charles of
Anjou receiving the crown of Sicily from Pope Clement IV (1266)
- Friday, October 16: Homecoming (no classes)
Week 9 (October 19-23): Papal Italy [Abulafia 82-103]
Week 10 (October 26-30): The "commercial revolution" and urban signorie [Abulafia 104-146]
- Italian maritime expansion in the Mediterranean: Genoa and Venice [Jansen 117-121, 159-161, 514-516; Kleinhenz 399-405, 1085-1087, 1121-1133]
- Trade and urban economy [Jansen 7-9, 104-109; Kleinhenz 89-92, 235-238, 780-784, 1109-1111]
- Urban signorie: Piacenza, Verona, Milan, and Ferrara [Jansen 43-46,124-126, 337-350; Kleinhenz 335-336, 708-720, 892-893, 1134-1137]; see a view of the Este castle in Ferrara, another of Mantua with the palace of the Gonzaga family, and an aerial view of Parma; see a picture of Pierre Racine, the French scholar who studied the signoria of Piacenza; see an equestrian statue of Cangrande della Scalla, the lord of Verona (1311-1329), and views of Vicenza, Feltre, Belluno, Padua, and Treviso, all cities he included into the Veronese state; see Archbishop Ottone Visconti's triumphal entry into Milan and Napo della Torre's capture in 1277; see also views of Bergamo, Cremona, and Brescia, three of the Lombard cities included into the state of Milan during Azzone's rule; see also a view of Modena, incorporated into the state of Ferrara under the rule of Obizzo II d'Este
Week 11 (November 2-6): Family and daily life in medieval Italy [Abulafia 147-160 and 183-196]
- Domestic life and food; see examples of ivory combs, of Gela ware, protomaiolica (plate and jug), bacini (and on the facade of a building), and oliphants
- Housing and urban architecture [Jansen 228-229, 265-267]
- Kin structure in medieval Italy [Jansen 423-427, 441-445, 451-455; Kleinhenz 330-332]
Week 12 (November 9-13): Rural Italy during the Middle Ages [Abulafia 161-182]
Week 13 (November 16-20): Language and culture [Abulafia 197-211]
- A brief history of the Italian language [Kleinhenz 603-605]
- Literacy, schools, and libraries [Jansen 459-465, 472-473]; visit the universities of Bologna and Padua
- Vernacular literature [Jansen 526-527; Kleinhenz 11, 15-16, 37, 59, 60-61, 89, 160-161, 214-215, 278-286, 298-299, 374-375, 537-565, 1018-1019]; read the Ritmo Cassinese, the Ritmo bellunese, browse Brunetto Latini's Li livre dou tresor, and read two stanzas in an Italian dialect (probably Genoese) in Raimbaut de Vaqueiras's Eras quan vey verdeyar; see an introduction to the work of Sordello da Goito, one of the first Italian troubadours; read sonnets by Giacomo (Jacopo) da Lentini, as well as a poem by Compiuta Donzella (with English translation); read Chiaro Davanzati's poem on the stormy sea, Ezra Pound's translation of Guido Cavalcanti's sonnets, Cino da Pistoia's sonnet to Dante Alighieri (in English translation), and Dante's own Vita nuova in English translation; listen to moderns renditions of St. Francis of Assisi's Cantico delle creature (with accompanying text) and of the Laudario di Cortona (with introduction and text); read Guittone d'Arezzo's sonnet to the Virgin Mary
Week 14 (November 23-27): Art in medieval Italy
- Architecture [Jansen 241-246; Kleinhenz 737-751]; see an aerial view of the Church of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan (with a view of the ribbed vaults in the interior); see the facade and the plan of the cathedral in Pisa (with a view of the incrustation and the pointed arches in the interior); see the baptisteries of Pisa, Parma, and Florence; see the facade of the church of San Miniato al Monte in Florence; see the western facade and the incrustation on the northern facade of the Cathedral in Orvieto; see the facade of the Doge's Palace in Venice; see the facade and plan of the Cathedral in Milan; see Giotto's bell tower (campanila) of the Cathedral in Florence; see a guild niche on the facade of Or San Michele (Florence);
- Painting and sculpture [Kleinhenz 19-21, 33-34, 38, 58-59, 223-225, 255-256, 308-311, 668-669, 824-834]; see the relief above the entrance into the Cathedral of Modena an the tympanum of the Cathedral in Parma; see Benedetto Antelami's statue of David on the facade of the Cathedral in Fidenza; see the frescoes in the churches of Sant'Angelo in Formis and St. Peter in Otranto; see Bonaventura Berlinghieri's St. Francis Altarpiece for the church in Pescia, Nicola Pisanos' pulpit for the baptistery of the Cathedral in Pisa, Giovanni Pisano's pulpit of the Church of Sant'Andrea in Pistoia, Pietro Cavallini's Seated Apostles in the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (rome), Cimabue's Enthroned Madona, Giotto's Enthroned Madona and Lamentation (in the Arena Chapel in Padua); see Taddeo Gaddi's Meeting of Joachim and Anna, Orcagna and Daddi's tabernacle in Or San Michele (Florence), Duccio di Buoninsegna'a Maestà,Simone Martini's Annunciation, Pietro Lorenzetti's Birth of the Virgin, and Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Peaceful City and Peaceful Country
- Music [Kleinhenz 28-29, 106, 453-454]; listen to Enigma's use of Gregorian chant; listen to examples of plainchant and Gregorian chant; see a modern performance of "proper chants" (introit and offertory) and listen to Agnus Dei; see an example of neumes and listen to examples of Milanese (Ambrosian) chant and organum; see a portrait of Guido d'Arezzo and the Guidonian hand (wrongly) attributed to him (with a performance showing its use for sight singing); see a portrait of Jacopo da Bologna and an example of madrigal; see a portrait of Francesco Landini and an example of ballata
Week 15 (November 30-December 4): Greeks, Muslims, and Jews in medieval Italy [Abulafia 215-236]
Week 16 (December 7-11): Sardinia and Corsica [Abulafia 237-250]
- Papal rule [Jansen 47-50; Kleinhenz 257, 1013-1016]; see views of Ajaccio and of the mountain area in the interior of Sardinia (Barbagia); see a map of the giudicati of Sardinia
- Pisan and Genoese rule and Catalan-Aragonese conquest; see a manuscript illumination showing the coronation of Barisone of Arborea as king of Sardinia by Emperor Frederick Barbaross (1164); see a view and a map of Castel di Castro built by the Visconti family above the Bay of Cagliari
December 17, 3:00-5:00: Final exam
To return to the course syllabus, click here