The course aims to give the students the competence and skills to deal with an archival document of the early modern period. The documents that the students will study in the classes are judicial records coming from Cagli and Sant'Angelo in Vado (XVII-XVIII centuries). All the documents are kept in the Archivio di Stato di Urbino. The students have to reach the following goals:

- To decipher an early modern manuscript document (with abbreviations, formulas, and so on)

- to understand court procedures;

- to collect information, to read the documents in their context and to understand the events narrated in the judicial records

Each week of the course will be divided into two phases:

1) One or more introductive lessons kept by the lecturer;

2) In the second phase, the class will be divided into working groups; each group has to examine a trial record. The group must write a paper concerning the trial record. The paper will be delivered to the lecturer, and then exposed in class. The analysis of the trial record and the writing of the paper will take place under the supervision of the lecturer. During these phases, the lecturer will give advice to the entire class and also to each work group.

The topics that the lecturer will expose in the introductive lessons are :

1. A general introduction on the archives and on the Italian archival system

2. A brief history of Urbino and its territory

3. Lay and ecclesiastical tribunals: jurisdiction and procedures

4. The discipline of the clergy

5. Misdemeanors and felonies ot the laity. Sex and marriage

At the end of the course, the students:

- Will know the structure of Italian archival system

- Will understand the judicial records of the early modern period

- Will be able to uniderstand the fundamental principles of judicial criminal procedure in the early modern period

- Will know how to collect information from the documents

- Will be able to write a critical narration of the events witnessed in the sources, and fo make a comparison between the information coming from the sources and the general history contained in textbooks;

- Will be able to argue historical hypotheses founded upon primary. sources

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

Frontal teaching and group works on the historical sources. The latter will be kept in the rooms of the Archivio di Stato di Urbino (via Piano Santa Lucia, 40), only if the number of attending students is 20 or a few more (the maximum capacity of the room is 20 people). Otherwise, the group work will be kept in the university rooms,  and digitalized documentation will be used.

Given the need to determine the number of students immediatly after the beginning of the course, the studens are strictly required to be present from the first lesson

Innovative teaching methods

Attendance

Attending is mandatory for the students who want to give the exam with the attending studens program. Other students will give the exam studying the texts for non-attending students.

A general knowledge of general history of early modern period is recommended

A basic knowledge of Latin language is also recommended.

The lecturer, in collaboration with the studens, will ensure that in each group there is at least a student who has a basic knowledge of Latin

Course books

For attending studens, the texbooks are needed only for composing the papers that they have to write. The following list is therefore merely indicative. The lecturer will tell (or supply) other books and articles during the lessons and, if possible, he will upload them on Moodle.

It is therefore suggested not to buy books before the beginning of the course.

O. Niccoli, Storie di ogni giorno in una città del Seicento, Roma, Officina libraria, 2021

G. Romeo, M. Mancino, Clero criminale. L'onore della Chiesa e i delitti degli ecclesiastici nell'Italia della Controriforma, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013

Marco Cavarzere, La giustizia del Vescovo. I tribunali ecclesiastici della Liguria orientale (secc. XVI-XVIII), Pisa, Pisa University Press, 2012

Textbook for the students who choose to give the exam in English

Thomas B. Deutscher, Punishment and Penance. Two Phases in the History of the Bishop's Tribunal of Novara, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2013

Assessment

At the end of the cours, each group will deliver a paper to the lecturer. Then each group will expose its paper in front of the lecturer and the other students. Both the paper and the oral exposition will be evaluated. 

During the lessons will be made agreements between the lecturer and each group, about the papers and their delivery. In any case, the paper must be delivered at least 15 days before the oral exposition.

The content of the paper will be discussed with the lecturer before writing, but in general the papers must contain:

1) a full transcript of the judicial record;

2) a critical analysis (that can also be a narrative) of the content of the document, according to the perspective illustrated by the lecturer and found in the books and articles read.

Criteria of assessment

(approx.: level 2 = from 18 to 22; level 3 = from 22 to 26; level 4 = from 26 to 30) 

A. Papers

Field 1: Accuracy of data and transcript

• Level 1 (not sufficient) = many transcription errors; misunderstanding of the meaning of the text
• Level 2 (sufficient) = many transcription errors, lesser misunderstandings
• Level 3 (good) = negligible errors
• Level (excellent) = (almost) no errors

Field 2: Understanding the events narrated by the document

• Level 1 (not sufficient) = Misunderstanding and confusion as for the persons implied in the facts and as for the events
• Level 2 (sufficient) = general understanding of the events, but with misunderstandings as for the judicial procedures
• Level 3 (good) = presence of misunderstandings, but in general good comprehension of the events and of the judicial procedures;
• level 4 (excellent) = no misunderstandings at all; full understanding of all aspects of the document.

Field 3: explanation and interpretations of the events narrated in the document

• Level 1 (not sufficient) = no reflection on the events;
• Level 2 (sufficient) = poor reflections on the events;
• Level 3 (good) = effort of reflection,  not always reaching good results
• Level 4 (excellent) = Good explanation and interpretation; capacity to go beyond the document (i.e. to guess the things that the document doesn't tell)

Field 4: balancing between bibliography and sources

• Level 1 (not sufficient) = the paper contains only generic statements taken from books and articles and sustantially ignores the document
• Level 2 (sufficient) = bibliography and sources are connected, but the link between them is mechanical and arbitrary
• Level 3 (good) = correct use of books and articles, someway still unbalanced
• Level 4 (excellent) = balanced and correct use of bibliography.

B. Oral exposition and discussion

Field 1: Quality of oral exposition

• Level 1 = almost no exposure ability
• Level 2 = limited exposure ability
• Level 3 = good exposure ability, with some flaws
• Level 4 = excellent and pleasant presentation

Field 2: discussion with the lecturer and with the class mates

• Level 1 = poor ability to respond to objections and questions
• Level 2 = inadequate answers
• Level 3 = Answers with an effort of reflections 
• Level 4 = Well argumented answers, use of new data.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Individual reading and study

Course books

The course books for non-attending students are different, depending on the different cases:

1) If the students have not yet attended a general history course for the early modern period (i.e. if they have not studied an Early Modern European history handbook), then they will study the following texts

a. One manual chosen among the following:

Francesco Benigno, L'età moderna. Dalla scoperta dell'America alla Restaurazione, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2005;

or

Carlo Capra, Storia moderna (1492-1848), Firenze, Le Monnier, 2004 (fino al capitolo 25 incluso, cioè fino a pagina 320)

(The students interested in the subject "Global history" can study the textbook Introduzione alla storia moderna, a cura di Marco Bellabarba e Vincenzo Lavenia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2018. It is a very complex and difficult textbook, written by many authors)

and

b. Another book, chosen among the following

Giampaolo Romagnani, La società di antico regime (XVI-XVIII secolo). Temi e problemi storiografici, Roma, Carocci, 2010

or

Guido Dall'Olio, Storia Moderna. I temi e le fonti, Roma, Carocci, 2004.

Textbook for the students who choose to give the exam in English:

M. E. Wiesner-Hanks, Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789, Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2013 (2nd edition)

2) If the students have already attended an early modern history course and they have studied a handbook, then they will study two text chosen from the following list:

Marzio Barbagli, Sotto lo stesso tetto. Mutamenti della famiglia in Italia dal XVI al XX secolo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1984

Giovanna Da Molin, Storia sociale dell’Italia moderna, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2014

Massimo Firpo, Fabrizio Biferali, Immagini ed eresie nell'Italia del Cinquecento, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2016

Carlo Ginzburg, Storia notturna. Una decifrazione del sabba, Torino, Einaudi, 1989 (rist. Adelphi 2017)

homas Kaufmann, I redenti e i dannati. Una storia della Riforma, Torino, Einaudi, 2017

Massimo Livi Bacci, Conquista. La distruzione degli indios americani, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005 (e successive ristampe)

Adriano Prosperi, Tribunali della coscienza. Confessori, inquisitori, missionari, Torino, Einaudi, 1996

Textbooks in English for non-attending students

Euan Cameron, The European Reformation. Second Edition, Oxford UP 2012

Stuart Clark, Thinking with Demons. The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe, Oxford UP 1997

It is possible, to ask the professor for a "personalized" syllabus. In this case, the students have to contact the professor by e-mail or talk to him during the office hours.

Assessment

Oral exam.

The oral exam aims to test the ability of the students to deal with specific topics of early modern history, with a critical perspective and with awareness of the problems and the historiographical debate.

Criteria of assessment:

Insufficient = poor or no awareness of the problems;

Sufficient (from 18 to 22) = sufficient knowledge of the topics, but few details and poor capacity of critical knowledge

Good (from 22 to 26) = good exposure capacity , level of awareness still relatively low

Excellent (from 26 to 30) = Full knowlege and awareness of historical topics and understanding of their importance for the present times.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.