OVERVIEW

The course aims to provide the tools for an understanding of the main political-institutional, economic-social and cultural phenomena that characterized the areas of medieval Europe facing the Mediterranean, in relation to the Byzantine and Islamic worlds.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will expand their knowledge in Medieval History (achieved in the three-year degree) and will have a grasp of the problems connected with the development of political, economic and cultural relations in the Mediterranean. They will also study maritime societies in the Middle Ages. Students will get acquainted with sources, research methods and updates in historiography related to specific topics.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, students are expected to:

· have acquired specific knowledge of the main events and long-term phenomena that characterised the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages, in order to understand the link between the great civilisations overlooking the Mediterranean (Western Europe, Byzantine area, Islamic area);

· be familiar with the methodological tools of the discipline, the basic outlines of specific historiography and the sources proposed during the lessons.

PREREQUISITES

None prerequisite is required.

TEACHING METHODS

60 hours of lectures on the main topics of the history of the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages and on specific themes, also with the use of teaching materials (mainly sources, mostly translated into Italian but also in the original version) provided by the lecturer.

Although not mandatory, class attendance is strongly adviced. 

The class schedule is available on the site https://easyacademy.unige.it/portalestudenti//index.php?_lang=it.

Lessons will include PowerPoint presentations and some of them will be in seminar format.

Students with disabilities and students with DSA are reminded that in order to request adaptations for examinations they must first enter their certification on the University website at servizionline.unige.it in the ‘Students’ section. The documentation will be checked by the University's Services for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and DSA Sector (https://rubrica.unige.it/strutture/struttura/100111).
Subsequently, at least 10 days before the date of the exam, an e-mail must be sent to the lecturer, indicating both the School's Contact Person for the inclusion of students with disabilities and with DSA (Prof. Elisabetta Colagrossi: elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it) and the Sector indicated above. In the e-mail it is necessary to specify: the name of the lesson; the date of the roll call; the student's surname, first name and matriculation number; the compensatory and dispensatory measures considered functional; and required.  The contact person will confirm to the teacher that the applicant has the right to request adaptations during the exam and that these adaptations must be agreed upon with the teacher, who will respond by communicating whether it is possible to use the requested adaptations (in particular, concept maps, which must be much more concise than the maps used for study) 

For further information on the request for services and adaptations, please consult the document: https://unige.it/sites/unige.it/files/2024-05/Linee%20guida%20per%20la%20richiesta%20di%20servizi%2C%20di%20strumenti%20compensativi%20e_o%20di%20misure%20dispensative%20e%20di%20ausili%20specifici%20Maggio%20202

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Outlines of Mediterranean History in the Middle Ages; orientation to research and reading of sources.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS:

The material presented in class and the following handbook:

• ·A. Musarra, P. Silanos (a cura di), Storia del Mediterraneo medievale. Tempi, spazi, interazioni, Bologna, il Mulino, 2025

In addition, 2 texts among the following options:

• ·S. Gasparri, S. Gelichi, Le isole del rifugio. Venezia prima di Venezia, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2024 (Premise + Part 1, pp. 3-159)
• ·E. Basso, Insediamenti e commercio nel Mediterraneo bassomedievale. I mercanti genovesi dal Mar Nero all’Atlantico, Torino, Marco Valerio Editore, 2008
• ·Mediterraneo mare aperto (secc. XII-XV). Atti del LIX Convegno storico internazionale (Todi, 9-11 ottobre 2022), Spoleto, CISAM, 2023 (4 essays at the choice of the student)
• ·B. Figliuolo, Alle origini del mercato nazionale. Strutture economiche e spazi commerciali nell’Italia medievale, Udine, FORUM, 2020 (Introductory note + chapters I, II, III and VI)
• M. Tangheroni, Commercio e navigazione nel Medioevo, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2021
• A. Musarra, Medioevo marinaro. Prendere il mare nell'Italia medievale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2021
• E. Orlando, Le Venezie di Marco Polo. Storia di un mercante e delle sue città, Bologna, il Mulino, 2023
• L. Tanzini, S. Tognetti (a cura di), «Mercatura è arte». Uomini d'affari toscani in Europa e nel Mediterraneo tardomedievale, Roma, Viella, 2012

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:

The following handbook:

• · A. Musarra, P. Silanos (a cura di), Storia del Mediterraneo medievale. Tempi, spazi, interazioni, Bologna, il Mulino, 2025

In addition, 4 texts among the following options:

• · S. Gasparri, S. Gelichi, Le isole del rifugio. Venezia prima di Venezia, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2024 (Premise + Part 1, pp. 3-159)
• · E. Basso, Insediamenti e commercio nel Mediterraneo bassomedievale. I mercanti genovesi dal Mar Nero all’Atlantico, Torino, Marco Valerio Editore, 2008
• Mediterraneo mare aperto (secc. XII-XV). Atti del LIX Convegno storico internazionale (Todi, 9-11 ottobre 2022), Spoleto, CISAM, 2023 (4 essays at the choice of the student)
• · B. Figliuolo, Alle origini del mercato nazionale. Strutture economiche e spazi commerciali nell’Italia medievale, Udine, FORUM, 2020 (Introductory note + chapters I, II, III and VI)
• M. Tangheroni, Commercio e navigazione nel Medioevo, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2021
• A. Musarra, Medioevo marinaro. Prendere il mare nell'Italia medievale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2021
• E. Orlando, Le Venezie di Marco Polo. Storia di un mercante e delle sue città, Bologna, il Mulino, 2023

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The class schedule is available on  EasyAcademy.

Class schedule

 STORIA DEL MEDITERRANEO NEL MEDIOEVO (LM)

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

 Oral exam.

Register online for your final exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The final examination will consist of an oral interview, which will cover the topics presented in class, including the topics addressed in seminars and exercises, and the textbooks indicated in the Bibliography.

In order to pass the exam, the student will have to demonstrate that he/she understands the main topics covered in the course, that he/she can identify the main socio-economic, cultural and institutional processes of the Middle Ages, and that he/she can critically use, with reference to them, the sources available on the website and the bibliographical material indicated by the lecturer. Assessment will also take into account autonomy of judgment and the ability to express oneself using the specialized vocabulary related to the discipline.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For any information, pleasy send un e-mail to the teacher.