Mary Watt
Romance Languages and Literatures, CLAS
Italian Civilization / Explorations in the Holy Roman Empire
I propose to modify the existing ITA3500 (Italian Civilization) by expanding its current scope and cross-listing it with MEM3930 (Explorations in the Holy Roman Empire). The modified course thus extends beyond the Italic peninsula so that students may understand the international influences that transformed the vestiges of a crumbling classical empire into a vibrant and powerful medieval institution.
With the emergence of the Holy Roman Empire, the Italic peninsula, traditional dominion of the Papal States became a flashpoint for conflict between secular and spiritual powers. A study of this conflict and its impact on cultural artistic and literary development of Italian civilization will provide students with a paradigm through which to understand how the rise of the Holy Roman Empire similarly affected international development throughout Europe and in the Middle East. Students will also consider how the Empire fused elements of European culture, Christian and Islamic/Arabic aesthetics, to create the poetry, music, art and architecture of the imperial courts and how the product of such fusion may be seen as the progenitor of a Trans-European identity and culture.
While this course continues its focus on the literary legacy of the Imperial Court at Palermo, it will now also consider as well architectural, artistic, educational and jurisprudential legacy of the Empire. This award allows me to travel to Palermo to create a unique set of course materials that will include photographs and archival documents pertaining to the establishment of Universities, the displacement and relocation of Sicilian Muslim populations, and various other legal reforms.