Archive and Library Theory and Management

The first part of the course will be of a general nature and will be dedicated to a general introduction and to the various legal functions recognisable in contemporary records; afterwards, these categories will be applied to the documentary production of the Late Antiquity and Middle Age. Subsequently, focus will be on a deep and more critical analysis of specific cases traced back to the Italian private charter (VIIIth-XIIth centuries), to the Italian judicial records (VIIIth-XIth centuries) and to imperial chancery records of the Carolingian age (IXth century).

A knowledge, even elementary, of Latin language and a basic knowledge of Diplomatics are required.

G. Nicolaj, Lezioni di diplomatica generale. I. Istituzioni, Roma 2007 (pp. 51-88, except par. 6); R.-H. Bautier, La chancellerie et les actes royaux dans les royaumes carolingiens, in «Bibliothèque de l’Ecole des chartes», 142 (1984), pp. 5-80 (especially pp. 5-67); W. Huschner, L’idea della ‘cancelleria imperiale’ nella ricerca diplomatica. Diplomi ottoniani per destinatari in Toscana, in La Tuscia nell’alto e pieno medioevo. Fonti e temi storiografici ‘territoriali’ e ‘generali’ in memoria di Wilhelm Kurze. Atti dell’Incontro di studio (Siena-Abbadia San Salvatore, 6-7 giugno 2003), a cura di M. Marrocchi e C. Prezzolini, Firenze 2007, pp. 183-197; G. Nicolaj, Formulari e nuovo formalismo nei processi del Regnum Italiae, in La giustizia nell’alto medioevo (secoli IX-XI), Spoleto 1997 (Settimane di studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull’Alto Medioevo, XLIV), pp. 347-379, ora anche in Id., Storie di documenti. Storie di libri. Quarant’anni di studi, ricerche e vagabondaggi nell’eta antica e medievale, a cura di C. Mantegna, Dietikon-Zürich 2013, pp. 230-246; Padoa Schioppa, Le rôle du droit savant dans quelques actes judiciaires italiens des XIe et XIIe siècles, in Confluences des droits savants et des pratiques judiciaries. Actes du Colloque de Montpellier, Milano 1979, pp. 341-371 (pubbl. also Il ruolo della cultura giuridica in alcuni atti giudiziari italiani dei secoli XI e XII, in «Nuova rivista storica», 64 (1980), pp. 265-289); G. Nicolaj, Originale, authenticum, publicum: una sciarada per il documento diplomatico, in Charters, Cartularies, and Archives. The Preservation and Transmission of Documents in the Medieval West.Proceedings of a Colloquium of the Commission Internationale de Diplomatique (Princeton and New York, 16-18 September 1999), ed. by A.J. Kosto and A. Winroth, Toronto 2002, pp. 8-21, now in Id., Storie di documenti. Storie di libri. Quarant’anni di studi, ricerche e vagabondaggi nell’eta antica e medievale, a cura di C. Mantegna, Dietikon-Zürich 2013, pp. 113-120. C. Mantegna, Il documento privato di area longobarda in età carolingia, in Die Privaturkunden der Karolingerzeit, hrsg. P. Erhart, K. Heidecker, B. Zeller, Dieitkon-Zurich 2009, pp. 57-72. F. Santoni, il documento privato di area romanica in età carolingia, ibid., pp. 73-83.

Course attendance is not mandatory but highly recommended. Non-attending students are strictly required to contact the teacher. Likewise, students who have already taken a Codicology exam must contact the teacher.

By the end of the course, the final evaluation will be based on an oral exam with an open-ended question. Students must demonstrate full ownership of language and of thecnical vocabulary used in the field. They will also have to demonstrate the acquired ability to recognize and critically analyze the diplomatic forms and typical legal functions of medieval public and private records. Attendance and active participation in the lessons will contribute to the overall evaluation. Grades will correspond to the evaluation of all of the above aspects.

The course will be structured in theoretical and practical lessons in classroom, where copies of critical editions of documentary texts will be distributed: through the reading of these sources, students will be encouraged to participate on their historical-juridical exegesis.