Medieval Bologna Research Articles

The spatial logic of health: Managing waste, water and infrastructure in later medieval Bologna

Medieval Bologna was a vibrant and dynamic city with hundreds of artisans, craftsmen, students, government officials (and other professionals), as well as animals, all sharing the same streets, neighborhoods, and waterways. As this paper will show, medieval officials were highly concerned with keeping their city and its environs, safe and healthy, and devoted significant amounts of time and resources to achieve these goals. Using Bologna as a case study, this article maps in GIS over one hundred regulations from the city’s urban statutes from 1245-67, to examine public health strategies. In doing so, it will demonstrate that medieval officials in Bologna employed a spatial logic as they created health regulations and oversaw the construction and maintenance of infrastructure. This spatial logic was grounded in an understanding of movement and an awareness of how, where, and when people, animals, goods, water, and waste moved through the city. In this way, the knowledge of space and movement were critical aspects of public health strategies which officials deployed to maintain a healthy and working city.

Medieval Bologna: Art for a University City ed. by Trinita Kennedy

Medieval Bologna: Art for a University City ed. by Trinita Kennedy

Healers in the Making: Students, Physicians, and Medical Education in Medieval Bologna (1250–1550). Kira Robison. The Medieval Mediterranean 126. Leiden: Brill, 2021. x + 200 pp. €110.

Healers in the Making: Students, Physicians, and Medical Education in Medieval Bologna (1250–1550). Kira Robison. The Medieval Mediterranean 126. Leiden: Brill, 2021. x + 200 pp. €110. - Volume 76 Issue 1

Healers in the Making. Students, Physicians, and Medical Education in Medieval Bologna (1250–1550), by Kira Robison

Healers in the Making. Students, Physicians, and Medical Education in Medieval Bologna (1250–1550), by Kira Robison

A War of Words Among Women: An Anonymous Bolognese Poem from 1282

Abstract Not only do the city registers of medieval Bologna, the Memoriali Bolognesi, contain legal and economic transactions, but they also transmit poetry of the age. Across the decades, the scribes introduced poems between the transactions; over some one hundred such poems have been preserved, many of them unica. Thus, the registers offer a glimpse into the popular entertainments of the times, providing valuable information about the culture of thirteenth-century Italy. One such poem is the ballata “Oi bona gente, oditi et endenditi” (“Oh, good people, hear and understand”), an insulting dialogue between two women. Intended to provoke laughter, the poem traffics in traditional misogynistic stereotypes. Its two antagonists accuse one another of drunkenness, gluttony, but mostly sexual impropriety such as cuckolding their husbands and attempting to pimp one another out to the parish priest. Through analysis of the poem, the anxieties provoked by the socio-economic changes of the Italian communes come into focus. The society was in flux, and the ballata employs the traditional insults of women to address the concerns that it raised.

Monastic Women and Religious Orders in Late Medieval Bologna

Monastic Women and Religious Orders in Late Medieval Bologna

Organization and Use of Archival Records in Medieval Lucca and Bologna

Organization and Use of Archival Records in Medieval Lucca and Bologna

Sherri Franks Johnson.Monastic Women and Religious Orders in Late Medieval Bologna.

Sherri Franks Johnson.<i>Monastic Women and Religious Orders in Late Medieval Bologna</i>.

Monastic Women and Religious Orders in Late Medieval Bologna, by Sherri Franks Johnson

Monastic Women and Religious Orders in Late Medieval Bologna, by Sherri Franks Johnson

A Study on Student Power through the History Survey of Medieval Bologna University

Student power plays an important role in constructing the modern university system and improving internal administering of the universities. University of Bologna was academically well-known and “university of students” was its character in the Middle Ages, where student power reached unprecedented climax under the support of student guild in this period of time. Here by analyzing the carrier, contents and characteristic of the student power in the viewpoint of their rise and development in Bologna University in the Middle Ages, the essay intends to inspire the theoretical thinking for position of designing of student power in the system construction in modern universities.

Fiscalità e limiti dell'appartenenza alla città in età comunale. Bologna fra Due e Trecento

The difussion of direct taxation in the Italian city-states of the 13th century marks an important step towards the development of new forms of belonging. The registration of individual properties in urban inventoires and the payment of direct taxes such as the collecta became essential requirements in order to be recognized as cives. On the other hand, the evasion of taxes and the non-registration of properties in fiscal inventories were considered acts of political infidelity and punished with growing severity from the beginning of the 14th century onwards. This paper focuses both on the forms of tax evasion and on their effects on citizenship rights in medieval Bologna, analysing especially the list of tax wvaders ( the so-called books of malpaghi) and the judicial registers dating back to the first decade of the 14th century. The malpaghi books testify that tax evasion was massive; more than half of the active urban population didn't pay the collectae or didn't inscribe their properties in public registers (estimo). the judicial registers, on the other hand, show the serious consequences of the crime of evasion; tax evaders lost the protection of their cities and could not defend themselves in court even if they were assaulted. The severity of the punishments on the one hand, and the massive proportions reached by tax evasion on the other, can be reald as signs of the deep crisis of direct taxation: a significant part of the population and some important families of the economic elite did not participate in the urban tax system.

Arms, A Saint and Inperial sedendo fra più stelle

Scholars have proposed Milan, Pisa and/or Bologna as possible locations for the copying of the inner gatherings (II–IV) of the manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, α.M.5.24 (Mod A) and have argued that some of the compositions might have originated in the circle of Archbishop of Milan Pietro Filargo. Yet evidence based on Mod A's repertory and the scant biographies of its composers is insufficient for determining the manuscript’s origin. To solve this problem, I look at Mod A as a cultural artifact, attributing its illumination to the Master of 1411, an illuminator active in Bologna from 1404 to 1411, or to his assistant, both associated with the manuscript workshop of the Olivetan abbey of San Michele in Bosco, on the outskirts of medieval Bologna. The Master of 1411 might have been Giacomo da Padova, an illuminator documented there between 1407 and 1409. Iconographical analysis shows that the illuminator of Mod A possessed considerable knowledge of Paduan culture before the fall of the ruling Carrara family in 1405. This knowledge is apparent in his use of an astrological allusion to Carrara heraldry in his decoration of the song Inperial sedendo. His illumination of a Gloria by Egardus with the figure of Saint Anthony of Padua implies a familiarity with Padua's musical institutions. Mod A may have been illuminated when the papal entourage of John XXIII visited San Michele in Bosco in the fall of 1410, although further compositions were added after the illuminator had finished his work. This conclusion invites scholars to consider afresh the social context that might have fostered the compilation of the repertory in the inner gatherings of Mod A.

Sarah Rubin Blanshei, Politics and justice in late medieval Bologna

Sarah Rubin Blanshei, Politics and justice in late medieval Bologna

Sarah Rubin Blanshei, Politics and Justice in Late Medieval Bologna. (Medieval Law and Its Practice, 7.) Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010. Pp. ix, 671; many tables and 1 map. $251.

Sarah Rubin Blanshei, <i>Politics and Justice in Late Medieval Bologna</i>. (Medieval Law and Its Practice, 7.) Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010. Pp. ix, 671; many tables and 1 map. $251.

Instruments of Concord: Making Peace and Settling Disputes through a Notary in the City and Contado of Late Medieval Bologna

Instruments of Concord: Making Peace and Settling Disputes through a Notary in the City and Contado of Late Medieval Bologna

Instruments of Concord: Making Peace and Settling Disputes Through a Notary in the City and &lt;i&gt;Contado&lt;/i&gt; of Late Medieval Bologna

Notarial culture permeated all aspects of social life in late medieval Italy, including dispute settlement. This article examines the notarial acts produced to settle conflicts and make peace outside of a court in the city and countryside of Bologna. Through their offer of legal expertise and an array of contract options (namely, the instrumenta conpromissi transactionis, arbitrii, laudi, and pacis et concordie) notaries facilitated reconciliations made by private citizens and contadini as well as Bologna's signore, Taddeo Pepoli, and the men of his dominant Scacchese faction. The trail of contracts demonstrates how Taddeo Pepoli orchestrated his rise to power through peace acts and arbitrations, and after he was declared lord of his allies—university professors linked to him through marriage and Scaccese officials—continued as arbiters and hosts for peace acts. While the elite had arbitrators for political purposes, commoners and women used simple contracts without arbitration for family matters, often dowry and inheritance. The most common contract was the pax, which at times ended feuds and vendetta, but was more frequently used to release assailants from criminal bann after personal assault. Notaries—common witnesses and proxies for parties in all types of settlement—were essential components to power and justice.

Theft and Gender in Late Medieval Bologna

This article aims to challenge the prevalent presentation and analysis of gender in studies of theft in the Middle Ages. Female thieving is usually differentiated from men's – by motivation and mode, by venue and value – and these differences are related either to women's physical inferiority or to their nurturing roles (thieving to support the domestic economy) or to inequalities of access to such elements as weapons (for robbery) or tools (for burglary). When studying theft, historians have focused on male thieving as the norm, and they have tended to differentiate thieving according to gender: women mainly commit petty theft, often for immediate consumption, and do not steal on the highways, in gangs or with weapons and violence. Men, on the other hand, operate in groups: their motivation is more diverse and they use a more varied repertoire of modus operandi, which includes highway robbery. To re‐examine these characterisations, I have taken data from three twenty‐year periods from the criminal court of the city of Bologna in northern Italy (one of the most complete series of judicial records for the period). These yield a total of over 700 prosecutions and over 1,300 accused. The focus of the analysis is on elements of differentiation, such as the numbers of individual and gang thefts, the nature of goods stolen, the use of violence, et cetera. These show that, while there was some differentiation between male and female thieving, this was mainly quantitative, and that qualitatively there were more shared features of behaviour. What are often seen to be the distinguishing features of male thieving – robbery, violence, gangs, professionals – turn out to be a small, untypical group. What is often seen to be the distinguishing features of female thieving – petty theft for immediate consumption – turns out to be equally or more true of male theft.

:Beyond Florence: The Contours of Medieval and Early Modern Italy

PART ONE. FLORENCE, ITALY, AND THE RENAISSANCE I 1 Florence Redux 5 Gene Brucker 2 In and Out of Florence 13 Paula Findlen PART TWO. CITY AND COUNTRYSIDE 29 3 The Other Florence Within Florence 33 Samuel K. Cohn, Jr. 4 A World of Its Own: Economy, Society, and Religious Life in the Tuscan Mugello at the Time of Dante 45 George Dameron 5 The Country Parish at Late Medieval Lucca 59 Duane J. Osheim 6 Do Not Say That This Is a Man from Assisi 72 Robert Brentano PART THREE. LAW AND SOCIETY 8I 7 Concubines, Lovers, Prostitutes: Infamy and Female Identity in Medieval Bologna 8 5 Carol Lansing 8 Lost Faith: A Roman Prosecutor Reflects on Notaries' Crimes IO1 Laurie Nussdorfer PART FOUR. URBAN AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES I15 9 Pilgrim-Tourism in Late Medieval Venice I19 Robert C. Davis 10 The Hermit Returns: Sanctity and the City in the March of Ancona 133 Robert L. Cooper 11 In the Shop of the Lord: Bernardino of Siena and Popular Devotion I47 Cynthia L. Polecritti 12 Angels of Peace: The Social Drama of the Jesuit Mission in Early Modern Southern Italy i60 Jennifer D. Selwyn PART FIVE. TOPOGRAPHIES OF POWER 177 13 Topographies of Power in the Urban Centers of Medieval Italy: Communes, Bishops, and Public Authority 181 Maureen C. Miller 14 In Search of the Quiet City: Civic Identity and Papal State Building in Fourteenth-Century Orvieto I90 David Foote 15 Back to the Future: Remaking the Commune in Ducal Modena 205 Michelle M. Fontaine 16 The Spanish Foundations of Late Renaissance and Baroque Rome 2I9 Thomas Dandelet AFTERWORD Where Is Beyond Florence? 233 Randolph Starn Notes 243 Bibliography 283 Index 3I5

CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITIES IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

This paper presents an Christian overview of the Christian university from its roots in medieval Pads and Bologna to the present. From its birth as a dominant Christian culture to being one of many in a modern pluralistic culture, the Christian university was influenced by early tension between faith and reason, the ideas of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, and the intellectual leadership that shaped the development of higher education in America. The sectarian nature of the early colonial colleges along with the classical tradition inherited from Europe were affected by profound changes in American society. They were replaced in the late 1800 s by the elective system, the ideals of the German university model, and the American land-grant movement. The emphasis on scientific methodology and the elective system diminished the classics and religion, and the process of secularization swept traditional Christian thought to the periphery of the enterprise. By the middle of the 20th century, institutional references to Christianity were no longer evident in most university publications. The multiversity became the dominant institution in the latter half of the 20th century, characterized by its enormous size, its disconnected schools and academic programs, its political power and affluence, and its secular nature. Many church-affiliated colleges and universities were also affected by the secular culture and changes in the more prestigious institutions, and chose to disengage from their Christian churches and traditions. However, a small number of colleges and universities have maintained and reinforced their historic faith commitments, and a growing number have reflected renewed interest in the integration of faith and learning. These include Catholic institutions, mainline Protestant institutions of different faith traditions, and a large number of Evangelical schools that represent the fastest growing segment of American higher education today. While the modern university has left its historic religious roots and struggles with a crisis of purpose, the Christian university is focusing increased attention on historical issues of faith and learning and the articulation of a Christian worldview. The Christian university is connected to its historic faith traditions and is well positioned to provide a strong intellectual and spiritual foundation in a rapidly changing postmodern world.

The rise of an administrative elite in medieval Bologna: notaries and popular government, 1282–1292

The impact of popular movements on medieval Italian towns from c. 1200 to c. 1500 remains open for debate. Scholars taking a broad perspective on Italian city-states conclude that progress occurred chiefly within the aristocratic sphere. Others have instead singled out Florence as a model for Italian popular movements, and consider the popular regimes of 1293–95, 1343–48 and 1378–82. Bologna’s guild-based popular government of the 1280s has been largely overlooked. Rolandino Passaggeri, renowned Bolognese master of notarial arts, authored the Sacred Ordinances, launching the popular government, and reorganised the notaries’ guild as part of the reform initiative. He provided the guild with a strong leadership hierarchy, advanced professionalism in notarial practice, and institutionalised checks on the loyalty of the members of the notaries’ guild to the popular government. As a result of Rolandino’s efforts in the 1280s, an administrative elite emerged within the popular coalition that had been previously dominated by an elite of wealthy merchants and bankers.