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IDEAL VS. REAL: MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE ROME
| Carrie Benes New College of Florida Fall 2005 W 12:30-3:20 pm |
Office: Palmer E-127
Fall Office Hours: M 3:30-5, T 2-4 pm Email: benes at ncf dot edu Classroom: CHL 215 |
Course Description
Rome in the Middle Ages was a city with schizophrenia: everyone acknowledged, especially in literature, that it was the caput mundi, the head of the world, but in reality it was a marshy backwater, torn apart by the squabbles of the local nobility and with a not-undeserved reputation for venality and corruption. Great expanses of land inside the huge city walls of the second century lay uninhabited, while residents lived and hung their washing up to dry in great ancient monuments like the Colosseum. This seminar will examine the paradoxes that defined medieval Rome after the fall of the classical Empire, as well as the city’s reinvention by the Renaissance popes, who once again brought urban reality in line with the city’s reputation. No prerequisites, but enrollment will be limited to 15; priority will be given to history and medieval/Renaissance studies majors.
Required Texts
¶ Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes (Yale, repr. 2001).
¶ Eileen Gardiner and Frances Nichols, eds., Mirabilia Urbis Romae (Italica Press, 1986).
¶ Ferdinand Gregorovius, Rome and Medieval Culture (Chicago, 1971).
¶ Richard Krautheimer, Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308 (Princeton, 2000).
¶ Charles Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome (Indiana, 1998).
¶ John Wright, ed., The Life of Cola di Rienzo (PIMS, 1975).
¶¶ Robert Brentano, Rome before Avignon (UC Press, reprinted 1991)—recommended only.
All of these are available at the Campus Bookstore, except the Gregorovius (required) and the Brentano (recommended). These are out of print, and you will have to purchase them used. I recommend going here, and taking your pick. Do it quickly, before the rest of your classmates snag the cheapest copies…
Other required readings will be available in the library and on the internet; links will be posted on the readings page (found here).
Procedures and Requirements
Students are expected: to attend and participate in all class meetings, as well as to complete weekly readings; to pass a map quiz in week 4; to give an oral presentation in week 8; and to complete a final paper. Please do the assigned week’s reading before the seminar meets, so that you can participate fully in class discussion. Lateness, absence, and failure to participate will all affect your evaluation.
As a courtesy to those around you, please turn off all cell phones, pagers, and other electronic devices before entering any classroom. If you use such devices (PDAs, laptops, etc.) for notetaking, please ensure their volume is turned off. I reserve the right to answer any ringing cell phone.
Assessment
Your final evaluation will depend chiefly on two major assignments:
1) Palimpsest presentations. One of this course’s major themes is the notion of Rome as a palimpsest (palimpsest, noun. 1: a parchment or other surface on which writing has been applied over earlier writing which has been erased. 2: something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form. —The Compact OED). For our midterm summary in week 8, each student will present the “palimpsest” of a major Roman monument (such as St. Peter’s or the Capitoline Hill), showing how the physical fabric of the monument as it exists today reflects its historical development. Monuments will be assigned and more information provided in week 3.
2) Term papers may be on any topic associated with the course. Chosen topics must be cleared with me by submitting a 2-3 page project proposal (including a bibliography) in week 10. The last two weeks of class will be devoted to short discussions of each student’s submitted draft.
Completed papers should be between 15 and 20 pages long; they must be typed, double-spaced, and spell-checked, with page numbers. Papers must include a bibliography or full footnotes in Chicago format, and all sources must be documented. Emailed papers and papers outside the specified length will not be accepted. Extensions will be granted only in the most exceptional of circumstances, and documentation (doctor’s note, etc.) will be required.
I am happy to help you with the paper-writing process up to the last day of classes. Although your argument is by far the most important part of your essay, you will be assessed for style as well as content. If you are uncertain about how to write a research paper, or how to cite your sources, please consult my “Guidelines for Writing a History Paper” handouts, the Writing Resource Center (which also has fabulous online advice on the writing process), and/or the following resources:
Strunk and White, The Elements of Style (New York, 1918; online at www.bartleby.com).
Mary Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History (3rd ed., New York, 2001).
Please feel free to consult me with any questions.
Academic Dishonesty
Plagiarism or cheating in any form will not be tolerated. This includes using anyone else’s words, data, or bibliographical information as your own—if you have questions on how or what to cite, consult the sources listed above or see me. Any infractions will be referred at once to the proper college authorities.
Communications
Email and internet access are essential in this course. Syllabi, assignments, and announcements will all be posted here on the course webpage. This web syllabus will always be the most recent "official" version; the “readings” page will always be the most up-to-date list of assignments. Please note, the readings page (a hotlinked version of the course schedule, found here) is password-protected: to access this page, you must use New College authentication procedures. (i.e. for “username” enter “student\yourusername”, then your password).
In addition, I will be contacting you via email to answer questions, make announcements, and so forth. Please make sure that the email address you give me is correct, and that it is one you use—otherwise you will miss out. Email is also the best way for you to contact me; I am a self-confessed email junkie, and I make every effort to reply to questions as soon as I get them.
Office Hours
If you have any questions or comments about the course during the term, please stop by my office hours; I am happy to chat about college, history, grad school, or other totally irrelevant subjects. If you have a conflict with my regularly scheduled hours, just email me or see me during class to set up an alternative meeting time. In particular, please let me know as soon as possible if you have any unusual circumstances or difficulties with which I can help you.
Important Note: Links listed as "E-Reserve: part 1/2/etc." are entire articles or chapters broken into parts to keep file sizes and download times low. You should always read all parts of an assignment. I have tried to allay any confusion by giving direct links to all online assignments, but please keep in mind that confusion is no excuse for not having done the assignment...
Other Important Note: You will need to develop a familiarity with Roman topography (see “map quiz”, week 4); I recommend xeroxing maps showing the city in different eras out of your textbooks. The following links may also be helpful: a site collecting historical maps of Rome; an interactive map showing the monuments of classical Rome; Rome in the Nolli/Piranesi map of 1748; & a modern tourist map from the online Michelin site.
Third Important Note: This is the public version of this syllabus. The NCF-only version with links to online readings can be found here.
| Week 1 (Aug 24) Reading: |
Introduction: The Roman Palimpsest and the Absence of Dirt |
| Week 2 (Aug 31) Reading: |
Constantine and Roma Christiana |
| Week 3 (Sept 7) Reading: |
The Rise of the Papacy: Gregory the Great & the Barbarian Hordes |
| Week 4 (Sept 14) Reading: |
The Rise of the Church: Rome & the Ninth-Century Empire |
| Week 5 (Sept 21) Reading: |
Struggle for Primacy: Antipopes & the Investiture Conflict |
| Week 6 (Sept 28) Reading: |
The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century: Toward a Commune 1.0 |
| Week 7 (Oct 5) Reading: |
Pilgrimage & the Jubilee of 1300 |
| --Fall Break (Oct 10-14)-- | |
| Week 8 (Oct 19) Reading: |
Palimpsest Presentations & Mid-Semester Summary |
| Week 9 (Oct 26) Reading: |
Popeless Rome & Cola di Rienzo: Toward a Commune 2.0 |
| Week 10 (Nov 2) Reading: |
Renovatio Romae: Nicholas V, Alberti, & the Humanists |
| Week 11 (Nov 9) Reading: |
High Renaissance Rome: Aristocratic Intrigue, Debauchery, & the Sack of 1527 |
| Friday, Nov 11: Annual Symposium at Florida Southern College: "Monsters and the Monstrous in the Middle Ages" |
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| Week 12 (Nov 16)
Reading: |
HRR Continued: The Artistic Legacy |
| Weeks 13 & 14 (Nov 23 & 30) | Roundtable Discussion of Student Paper Drafts |
Final drafts of term papers are due in my box in Social Sciences by 5 pm on Wednesday of exam week (Dec 7).
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