LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY AND DIPLOMATICS

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

PAL001

Academic Year of enrolment:

2016

Year of supply:

2016/2017

Type of Course:

Characterising

Degree:

Course of 2nd Cycle Degree in PHILOLOGY, LINGUISTICS AND LITERARY TRADITIONS

Disciplinary Sector:

Palaeography

Location:

CHIETI

Credits:

Programme Year:

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

114

Prerequisites:

It is suggested to approach this course, having already gained a basic knowledge in the Latin language, in the history from Late Antiquity to the late Middle Ages and in Latin Palaeography.

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LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY AND DIPLOMATICS

CULTURAL HERITAGE: ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF ART

Objectives

The study of the Beneventan scritp in Abruzzo will show how writing – not as much as “text”, but also and even more as a complex system of signs – can provide useful information in the process of understanding the history of a territory.

Contents

Between the 9th and the 12th century, the Beneventan script is “the” script of Southern Italy. Notwithstanding a huge amount of critical literature about this script, little attention has been paid so far to its birth and developments in Abruzzo, an area exposed to a double influence, from the Southern and from the Northern halves of the Italian peninsula. The course is intended to draw a history of the Beneventan script in Abruzzo, from the earliest evidence, at the beginning of the 9th century, to the 12th century, when it was definitively replaced by the Caroline minuscule. A thorough analysis of the writing will be useful to better understand how the universal (the Empire, the Papacy) and national powers (the Longobard principalities), as well as the great monasteries (Farfa, Montecassino, S. Vincenzo al Volturno) and the local élites interact among each other in a border region like Abruzzo.

Extended Syllabus

The evolution of the Beneventan script in Abruzzo will be analysed through the study of codices and documents.
In particular, we’ll concentrate on:
1) ms Karlsruhe, BLB, Aug. perg. 229, a miscellaneous codex dating back to AD 806-822 and recently attributed to a monastery of Southern Abruzzo;
2) ms Vat. Reg. lat. 1997, known as "collectio canonica Teatina", dating back to the half of the 9th century and originally from the Cathedral of Chieti;
3) 11th-century documents from several monasteries of Southern Abruzzi and Northern Molise;
4) 11th-century documents preserved in the Chieti Archbishopric Archives;
5) ms Vat. lat. 7810 (11th century);
6) ms New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M.642, a martirologium from the 11th century, and from the monastery of S. Bartolomeo di Carpineto, near Penne.

Recommended Bibliography

Some chapters of the following books:

• E.A. Loew, The beneventan Script. A History of the South Italian Minuscule, pp. 93-152;

• P. Cherubini-A. Pratesi, Paleografia latina. L'avventura grafica del
mondo occidentale, Città del Vaticano 2010.

• L. Pellegrini, Abruzzo medioevale. Un itinerario storico attraverso la documentazione, Altavilla Silentina 1988.

The following articles:

• V. Longo - M. Palma, Alle origini della scrittura beneventana: un sondaggio sulle più antiche testimonianze documentarie e librarie, Convegno Il monachesimo italiano dall’età longobarda all’età ottoniana (secoli VIII-IX, Nonantola, 9-13 settembre 2003.

• M. Palma, La nascita di una scrittura nazionale. A proposito del libro di Paolo Bertolini, "Actum Beneventi".Documentazione e notariato nell’Italia meridionale langobarda (secoli VIII-IX),Milano, Giuffrè, 2002 (Fonti e strumenti per la storia del notariato italiano, 9).

• P. Supino Martini, Per lo studio delle scritture altomedievali italiane: la collezione canonica chietina (Vat. Reg. lat. 1997), “Scrittura e civiltà”, 1 (1977), pp. 133-154.

• Id, L. Miglio - C. Tedeschi, Echi romaneschi, "Scripta", 6 (2013), pp. 95-113.

• C. Tedeschi, Illuminare l’Abruzzo, codici miniati tra Medioevo e Rinascimento, a c. di G. Curzi, F. Manzari, F. Tentarelli, A. Tomei;

• C. Tedeschi, Dedicatio Sancti Sisti. Due iscrizioni dipinte e la data di
dedicazione della chiesa di S. Sisto a L’Aquila, “Medioevo e
Rinascimento”, XXIII/n.s. XX (2009), pp. 1-17.

• Id, Un centro scrittorio nell’Abruzzo franco. Il ms Aug. Perg. 229 e il monastero di S. Stefano in Lucana, "Bullettino dell'Istituto storico italiano per il Medioevo", 106 (2014), pp. 1-23.

• Id, Un dossier documentario abruzzese (aa. 1019-1065), in c. di s.

Further readings will be suggested during the course.

Teaching Methods

In addition to frontal lectures, visits to archives in the Chieti-Pescara area will be organized, as well as seminars involving teachers from the "Università G. D'Annunzio" or scholars from other institutions.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

The exam consists in a discussion about some of the topics presented during the course. Students who wish to write an essay can present it as part of the exam.

Contacts/More Information

Students who have never attended a basic course of Latin Palaeography are requested to let the teacher know in advance, or at the beginning of the course.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

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