Medieval Latin Language and Literature

The course aims to provide students with: 1) a deepening of the knowledge already acquired in the three-year course on Middle Latin literature, with particular attention to the methodological aspects of the analysis and historical-literary framework of the texts, through the examination of a specific literary genre or a single author or work; 2) a basic preparation on the specificities of Latin in use in the Middle Ages and the bibliographical tools useful for its analysis; 3) an introduction to the use of basic bibliographical tools for the study of Middle Latin literature, with practical application experiences.

Knowledge - At the end of the course the student will have acquired an awareness of the characteristics of Latin texts of the Middle Ages, in their linguistic and formal specificity, and will master the fundamental bibliographical tools to deal autonomously with their identification and critical study. They will know the main methods of philological-literary investigation applicable to medieval Latin texts; the main characteristics assumed by the Latin language in the Middle Ages; the criteria for the bibliographical identification of texts, in the specific problematic of the history of studies on Middle Latin sources.

Skills - At the end of the course the student will be able to analyse and critically interpret Middle Latin literary texts both from a linguistic point of view, with awareness of the variables determined by the chronological and geographical context, and in the various aspects connected with their genesis and transmission, their purposes, and their relationship with the previous tradition. Thanks to practical exercises, they will also be able to write a short encyclopaedic entry on an author or text of medieval Latinity and to prepare a public presentation of an individual research.