October 29-November 2, 2007. The Holy Roman Empire, Venice and South Eastern Europe in the XV Century
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Teaching Personnel
Prof. Dr. Claudia Märtl – Ludwig Maximilians Universität
Prof. Dr. Oliver J. Schmitt - University of Wien
The Holy Roman Empire, Venice and South-Eastern Europe in the Fifteenth Century
This course focuses about 150 years of Mediterranean history beginning with the reign of Sigismond (1387/1410-1437) and ending with Maximilian I (†1519).
The relationship between Sigismond, king of Hungary, and Venice was marked by political and economical tensions which lead at the beginning of the fifteenth century into a struggle with each power trying to secure the coasts of Dalmatia, and the early sixteenth century brought about Maximilian’s war against the still powerful sea republic, during which Venice was seriously threatened by the loss of important parts of its ‘terraferma’. In spite of the enormous problems caused by the Ottoman expansion, Venice remained in the fifteenth century the centre around which gravitated the relations between Central Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Pilgrims from all over Europe continued to use Venetian galleys directed to the Holy Land, German merchants entered into a fierce competition for the leadership of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, artists like Albrecht Dürer came to study Venetian painting, and Germans studied at the Venetian state university in Padova.
There are sources of all types which demonstrate the variety of experiences to be made in Venice: German-Italian dictionaries, merchants’ registers, pilgrims’ guides, letters and notebooks of visitors to Venice, testaments by German residents in Venice, humanist textbooks copied at Padova etc.
Students will be required to present a short paper, each prepared on the basis of one type of the above mentioned sources, and they will be expected to discuss texts in Medieval German, Latin, and Italian.
Contact
Cristina Di Gioia
Tel +39 041 2719511
Fax +39 041 2719510
