MEDIEVAL HISTORY

This course is aimed to give students the useful knowledge to understand Middle Age events and problems as a fundamental moment for the constitution of the European civilization and identity, particularly focusing on the main dynamics of the Mediterranean and the history of Sicily.

This course is also aimed at retrieving the processes of construction of the historical event through an exemplification of the documentary sources. This course aims to investigate the mindset of the men and women of Middle Age through the events of some of the protagonists and/or circumstances of high historical value (e.g., Adelaide del Vasto, motherhood and so on) or through emblematic cases of the predominant symbolism of the aforementioned period.

Formal lectures

The course aims to delve into the creation of a historical event also through an analysis of written sources.

1) G.Vitolo, Medioevo. I caratteri originali di un’età di transizione, Sansoni, Milano 2000

2) C. Urso, La mentalità medievale fra immaginario e simbolismo, Adda, Bari 2016, pp. 9-186

3) Un’isola nel contesto mediterraneo. Politica, cultura e arte nella Sicilia e nell’Italia meridionale in età medievale e moderna. Atti del Convegno internazionale (Catania 21 marzo 2017), cur. C. Urso, P. Vitolo, E. Piazza, Bari, Adda, 2018: E. Piazza, La Sicilia tra papato, impero e Saraceni: l’immagine dell’isola nel contesto mediterraneo nei secoli IX-XIII, pp. 35-68; C. Urso, Regine aragonesi e Catania nel Trecento, pp. 149-185