From the Court to the Archive: Criminal Justice and Documentary Culture in Premodern Italy

Catalog description

This 1-credit course will introduce students to the functioning of the criminal justice system in the city-states of Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Italy through an archival approach. Drawing on materials in Stanford's Special Collections, students will trace step-by-step the development of a criminal case, with each course meeting focusing on a specific phase of the legal procedure and its resulting documentation. Along the way, students will receive basic training in the analysis of medieval and early modern handwriting, scribal conventions, and notarial formulas. A basic knowledge of Latin is therefore helpful, though not required.