Unit CULTURAL HISTORY IN THE EARLY MODERN AGE
- Course
- Italian, classical studies and european history
- Study-unit Code
- A000195
- Curriculum
- Letteratura e filologia italiana
- Teacher
- Erminia Irace
- Teachers
-
- Erminia Irace
- Hours
- 36 ore - Erminia Irace
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2022
- Offered
- 2022/23
- Learning activities
- Caratterizzante
- Area
- Discipline storiche, filosofiche, antropologiche e sociologiche
- Academic discipline
- M-STO/02
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- italian
- Contents
- Historians, judges and novelists. Judicial sources and "famous causes" in the early modern age
The manuscript and printed materials of the early modern age concerning the processes represent valuable sources for historical investigation. They allow us to reconstruct important aspects of the society and culture in which the judicial events took place, as well as to question the not always easy relations between the world of "high" culture to which judges and lawyers belonged and the "popular" extraction that often characterized people accused and tried. In addition, some court cases that met with a wide echo in the media of the time became the subject of reworking and rewriting by writers and publicists, who transformed the characters of "famous causes" into fictional heroes, thus contributing to the construction of the dimension of public opinion between the 16th and 18th centuries.
The course will analyze some of the most significant recent historical research dedicated to investigating processes that were debated in Italy and in France between the 16th and 18th centuries, in order to analyze the usefulness covered by this type of materials, the problems deriving from their investigation and transformation, in the over time, of some "deviant" characters in "heroes" or celebrities. - Reference texts
- 1) N. Zemon Davis, Il ritorno di Martin Guerre. Un caso di doppia identità nella Francia del Cinquecento, Roma, Officina Libraria, 2022;
2) P. Palmieri, L’eroe criminale. Giustizia, politica e comunicazione nel XVIII secolo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2022 (there is also an ebook edition).
This program is also valid for non-attending students. - Educational objectives
- The course aims to strengthen the critical knowledge and skills of the students through the analysis of the specific monographic topic of the course. Particular attention will be paid to the development of skills related to the analysis and interpretation of the historical sources as well as the scientific literature on the subject of the course.
- Prerequisites
- It’s very important the good knowledge of the early modern history of Europe and also high standards of argumentative skills.
- Teaching methods
- Frontal lessons in the classroom. The use of synchronous telematic mode (Teams platform) will be organized on the basis of the information provided by the University.
- Other information
- a) further information will be provided during lessons;
b) information and materials useful for exam preparation can be found on the Unistudium platform: https://www.unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/login/index.php on the page dedicated to this teaching.
Attention: students who cannot attend lessons (e.g. working students) and students with disabilities and / or SLDs must contact the teacher via email (at the address erminia.irace@unipg.it) at the beginning of the lessons in order to agree on the procedures for carrying out the exam. - Learning verification modality
- Oral exam that lasts about 20 minutes around the course topics. In particular, the critical-interpretative skills of the students will be evaluated, attesting to the good understanding and the ability to expose the subject matter of analysis in a complex and arguable way.
The achievement by the student of the ability to express an in-depth vision of the topics addressed (also elaborated on the basis of the careful study of the texts included in the program), combined with a good command of the expression and historiographical language, will allow to evaluate with good o excellent evaluations (from 27/30 to 30 e lode/30). A more superficial knowledge of the topics, combined with inadequate expressive skills, will lead to fair evaluations (from 24/30 to 26/30). Training gaps and / or inappropriate language - albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the exam program - will lead to sufficient grades (from 18/30 to 23/30). Significant training gaps, inappropriate language and the inability to orient themselves in the topics under consideration will be evaluated negatively.
For students with certified disabilities and / or SLDs, compensatory measures are envisaged as provided for by the indications of the University (https://lettere.unipg.it/home/disabilita-e-dsa). Contact the teacher at the beginning of the lessons. - Extended program
- Historians, judges and novelists. Judicial sources and "famous causes" in the early modern age
The manuscript and printed materials of the early modern age concerning the processes represent valuable sources for historical investigation. They allow us to reconstruct important aspects of the society and culture in which the judicial events took place, as well as to question the not always easy relations between the world of "high" culture to which judges and lawyers belonged and the "popular" extraction that often characterized people accused and tried. In addition, some court cases that met with a wide echo in the media of the time became the subject of reworking and rewriting by writers and publicists, who transformed the characters of "famous causes" into fictional heroes, thus contributing to the construction of the dimension of public opinion between the 16th and 18th centuries.
The course will analyze some of the most significant recent historical research dedicated to investigating processes that were debated in Italy and in France between the 16th and 18th centuries, in order to analyze the usefulness covered by this type of materials, the problems deriving from their investigation and transformation, in the over time, of some "deviant" characters in "heroes" or celebrities.
The topics that will be illustrated include: the methodologies of cultural history, micro-history, the use of judicial sources in historical investigations, the genre of historical biographies, the relationships between documentary sources and literary production.