HIST 318B Rome in the Age of Dante
This course examines the history of Rome in the Middle Ages. It is an age that produced the glittering mosaics at S. Prassede, the powerful papal court of Innocent III, the appealing spirituality of Saints Francis and Clare, the Jubilee of 1300, to say nothing of the sublime vernacular poetry of Dante, each topics considered in turn. Through primary sources in translation, lectures, discussions, and on-site visits we will study how the Christian Middle Ages sanctified the pagan landscape of ancient Rome. We will also examine how political ideology, economic practice, and religious sentiment have been expressed in Roman topography, monuments, architecture, and artifacts. Twin themes pursued in this course are the development of Rome as Christian capital and Rome as it was memorialized in the medieval imagination throughout our period.