OBC004 - HISTORY OF MANUSCRIPT PRODUCTION

courses
ID:
OBC004
Duration (hours):
42
CFU:
6
SSD:
PALEOGRAFIA
Located in:
CHIETI
Url:
CULTURAL HERITAGE/Archeologia Year: 3
CULTURAL HERITAGE/STORIA DELL'ARTE Year: 2
HUMANITIES/LETTERE MODERNE Year: 2
Year:
2025
Course Catalogue:
https://unich.coursecatalogue.cineca.it/af/2025?co...

Overview

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (01/03/2026 - 31/05/2026)

Syllabus

Course Objectives


​​​​​​​This class contributes to the achievement of the learning objectives of the Bachelor Degree Course, as it provides the basic knowledge and methods which allow to analyse and to put in its context a Medieval manuscript, as regards physical aspects related to its production and use; such knowledge and methods play an important role in study and research in literary, philological, historical and art-historical fields, as all those disciplines require a first-hand approach to sources. More specifically, the course aims to provide the essential knowledge about the materials and techniques of book production and the development of the forms of manuscript books, and the basic methodologies of codicological analysis of Medieval manuscripts; to understand peculiarities, common features and different development of physical structures and functions of rolls, books, documents; to highlight the relationship between material aspects of Medieval manuscripts and documents and their script.

Course Prerequisites


No pre-requisites are required, yet the basic knowledge of Ancient and Medieval history is recommended.

Teaching Methods


Class lectures and practical exercitations.

Assessment Methods


An oral exam on the topics examined during the course. The final grade will take into account the command of the specific language, the clarity of exposition, the knowledge of the assigned texts and materials and of the specific methodologies, the critical skills.

Texts


6 CFU MODULE:
M. Cursi, Le forme del libro. Dalla tavoletta cerata all’e-book, Il Mulino, Bologna 2016, pp. 1-160.
M. L. Agati, Il libro manoscritto. Introduzione alla codicologia, L’Erma di Bretschneider, Roma 2004, pp. 45-145.
A. Petrucci, Medioevo da leggere. Guida allo studio delle testimonianze scritte del Medioevo italiano, Einaudi, Torino 1992, pp. 5-62.
F. M. Bertolo - P. Cherubini - G. Inglese - L. Miglio, Breve storia della scrittura e del libro, Roma 2004, pp. 37-84 (paragraphs 2.1 - 2.3; 2.4 only the introductory paragraph and 2.4.4; 2.5).
The course program includes the slides of class lectures, which will be downloadable from the Moodle platform. The texts which cannot be easily found will be too available on Moodle, together with further additional, not mandatory texts, in case they will be suggested during the course.
FURTHER 3 CFU MODULE:
For the further 3 CFU module, papers or book chapters about the manuscripts examined during the lessons:
C. Tedeschi, Itinerario paleografico abruzzese, in Illuminare l’Abruzzo. Codici miniati tra Medioevo e Rinascimento, Carsa, Pescara 2012, pp. 9-21.
C. Tedeschi, 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 Medio Evo», 116 (2014), pp. 1-23.
Exultet. Rotoli liturgici del Medioevo meridionale, Istituto poligrafico e zecca dello Stato, Roma 1994, pp. 39-59, 221-234.
A. Pratesi, Il “Chronicon Casauriense”, in Civiltà Medioevale negli Abruzzi, II, cur. M. R. Berardi, Colacchi, L’Aquila 1992, pp. 194-215.
V. De Bartholomaeis, L’Officium quarti militis, in Origini della poesia drammatica italiana, cur. F. Zimei, Libreria musicale italiana, Lucca 2009, pp. 137-141 e 492-495.
C. Tedeschi, Un nuovo frammento dei Danti del Cento, «Studi Danteschi», 72 (2007), pp. 267-282.
All those texts will be available on the Moodle platform, as well as the digital images of the manuscripts and the slides of class lectures. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Contents


6 CFU MODULE (42 hours of class lectures):
A general introduction to Codicology: materials and techniques of book production, development of the forms of manuscript books. Physical features and functions of other kinds of written sources: charters and non-professional writings. Basic principles of Latin Palaeography.
3 CFU MODULE (21 hours of class lectures):
Study of a selected group of manuscripts, written or preserved in the Abruzzese area: 1. Miscellany from the monastery of Santo Stefano in Lucana (Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Aug. Perg. 229); 2. Avezzano Exultet roll (Avezzano, Archivio Diocesano dei Marsi); 3. Chronicon Casauriense (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Latin 5411) and charters from the monastery of San Liberatore alla Maiella preserved in the Montecassino archives; 4. Actor’s roll of the Offitium quarti militis (Sulmona, Archivio Capitolare di San Panfilo, Fasc. 17, n. 9); 5. The Divina Commedia fragment in the convent of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Casalbordino.

Course Language


Italian

More information


Non-attending students are requested to contact the teacher in order to precisely define their study program (gabriella.gentemagnani@unich.it).

Degrees

Degrees (2)

CULTURAL HERITAGE 
Bachelor’s Degree
3 years
HUMANITIES 
Bachelor’s Degree
3 years
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People

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