MSc Renaissance to Enlightenment
Medieval and Renaissance Italy: Texts, Objects and
Practices
This options course is designed for postgraduate students interested in research in Medieval and Renaissance Europe in general, and Italy in particular. It will be taught intensively (approximately four hours a day) over one week on site either in Florence or Venice, normally in week 7 of semester 2. There will be one meeting with the Course Director in Edinburgh before the course starts, and one after to discuss the assessed essays. Daily seminars will take place in the Monash University
Centre in Prato (near Florence)
OR in the Centro Culturale Don Orione in Venice, though the majority of learning will take place on site in archives, museums, and galleries of Venice or Florence. Classes may be shared with staff and students from members of the Prato
Consortium for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
The emphasis during the course will be to study in detail
and at first hand a range of texts and artefacts written
during the later medieval and renaissance periods in
Italy. Some may be canonical in medieval and renaissance
studies generally - for instance Dante's Divine
Comedy, Machiavelli's The Prince, or Botticelli's
Birth of Venus; others may be less well known
- vernacular letters, diaries and sermons for example,
or renaissance costume, furniture and scientific instruments
in institutions such as the museum of domestic life
in the Palazzo
Davanzati. As well as the major civic museums, this unit will also include an introduction to archival work in Venetian and Florentine archives, including an opportunity for students to study original archival documents if they wish to. Research students will be expected to attend or, if agreed with their supervisor, take part in the postgraduate consortium that takes place at the end of the week.
This course is open as a research training option for
students taking an MSc by Research or in the first year
of their PhD in a relevant subject; as well as an options
course for students on taught MSc programmes in Medieval
or Renaissance Studies.
For more information, contact Dr Jill Burke (Jill.Burke@ed.ac.uk).
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