Studying and working in Bologna in the Middle Ages

• Main Author: Rosa Smurra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bologna 2012-11-01
• Series: Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica
• Subjects: Medioevo; Bologna; studenti; attività economiche; fonti fiscali
• Online Access: http://rpd.unibo.it/article/view/3214

Foreign students who attended the University of Bologna during the Middle Ages contributed to creating the reputation of the city and to deepening its capacity to attract students from cross over Europe. The city had, however, from remote times, experimented with welcoming practices (temporary or not) and experienced significant events in the circulation of persons. It was not just in the Middle Ages that such introductions of people coming from other regions can be verified in the Bolognese territory. A great immigration was decreed by Rome in the 2nd century B.C. with the establishment of a Latin colony and the transfer of 3,000 families of tenant farmers from central-southern Italy. Even if the migratory processes in the history of Bologna were numerous, this contribution nevertheless directs its attention to the 12th -13th centuries, a period that, thanks to the presence of the Studium and to economic activities, forced the city to confront anew an elevated number of students. It should be specified that while in present-day terminology those whose mother tongue is not Italian are called foreigners, in the Middle Ages all those who did not belong to the Bolognese district were called forenses (foreigners). In particular certain events concerning foreigners will be analyzed on the basis of data obtained from fiscal sources at the end of the 13th century.