Luigi Andrea Berto
Biographic Data
| ID | 4447680 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Luigi Andrea Berto |
| GIVEN NAMES | Luigi Andrea |
| FAMILY NAME | Berto |
| SIGNATURE | BERTO L A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Michigan University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Apologia della storia” o “Mestiere di storico,”
The Natural History of a Neapolitan Miracle
Rome, Ravenna, and Venice, 750–1000
This book aims to compare how the late antique and Byzantine heritage “remained, changed, or disappeared” in Rome, Ravenna, and Venice between 750 and 1000 by examining “their social, cultural, and ideological history” (p. 1). The first date is justified by the fact that the rule of the Byzantine Empire in north-central Italy ended at that time. In the early 750s, the Lombards in fact conquered Ravenna and the surrounding Byzantine territories. A…
Writing a Book about the Barbarians in Italy during Fascism and Reading It from the 1940s to the Early 2000s
Il Medio Evo barbarico d’Italia (Italy’s Barbarian Middle Ages) by Gabriele Pepe, published in 1941 by Giulio Einaudi Editore, is undoubtedly the longest selling Italian book about the Middle Ages. The goal of this article is to examine the reasons for this success, how the period in which the book was written influenced the depiction of the early medieval period in Italy, and how the volume was interpreted and used from the 1940s to the early 20…
Antieroe dai molti volti
In 361, after the death of his cousin Constance II, Flavius Claudius Iulianus (Julian) became sole emperor. Immediately, he declared his intention to restore the ancient polytheistic religion that his uncle Constantine (d. 337) had abandoned for Christianity, but without resorting to persecutions and in fact propagating the principle of religious tolerance. His attempt failed, and after his death in 363, fighting against Persia, Christianity affi…
Tractatus de ludo scachorum
Chess was one of the most common games in the Middle Ages, a part of the daily life of courts and cities. Although the game probably originated in India in the sixth century CE, it quickly spread throughout Persia and subsequently, as a product of trade between Muslims and Christians beginning in the tenth century, throughout Europe. In the passage from East to West, the game of chess was subjected to variations and changes because Europeans did …
The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages
Responding to the attacks of British politicians and administrators, who defined medieval history as an irrelevant topic of research, and defending public funding in the humanities, Ian Wood has examined the relevance of scholarship on late antiquity and the early Middle Ages for the better understanding of the modern world. According to Wood, “to write about early medieval history is not just to solve a series of problems relating to the distant…
Memory and Propaganda in Venice after the Fourth Crusade
By examining the first Venetian chronicle written after the Fourth Crusade, the Historia ducum Venetorum (1102–1229), this article shows how the Venetian ruling elites wanted to present their recent past. In particular, it proves that the author of that work and probably many of his fellow countrymen wished to point out that the Venetians gave fundamental support toward the defense and strengthening of the Kingdom of Jerusalem without expecting a…
The Others and Their Stories
The ninth century was a fundamental period for the history of Naples. Newly untethered from Constantinople and trying to forge a stable state, the Campanian city faced a complex political landscape in Southern Italy. The Frankish conquest of the Lombard kingdom and the weakening of the Byzantine Empire, which allowed the Saracens to seize Sicily, reshaped the South into a region dominated by several competing protagonists. Naples resisted conques…
As an Angel Revealed to Her”
The study of miracles, visions, predictions, and other supernatural phenomena has become important for understanding religious practices, mentalities, and the use of the past in the Middle Ages. In spite of the absence of local martyrs and saints and the small hagiographical production in Venice during the early Middle Ages, these phenomena were also relevant in this regi0n. This article emphasizes both the unique aspects of the Venetian texts an…
The Image of the Byzantines in Early Medieval South Italy
This article analyzes how the neighbors of the Byzantines, the Lombards (who occupied a portion of southern Italy), and the Normans (who put an end to Byzantine rule in southern Italy in 1071), described their common adversary. The examination of the features that the chroniclers living in early medieval southern Italy attributed to the Byzantines demonstrates that, at least for this part of Europe, there is evidence of strong hostility to Byzant…
Erchempert, a Reluctant Fustigator of His People
At the end of the ninth century, the Cassinese monk Erchempert composed a chronicle (ca. 774–889) blaming the southern Italian Lombard leaders for recent Lombard defeats. Erchempert hoped that future generations might learn from their forebears' folly. This article analyzes the reasons why, in the wake of his monastery's destruction by Muslim raiders, Erchempert did not express a generalized criticism toward all the elites of his homeland. The ar…
Remembering Old and New Rulers
This article aims at analysing how the chroniclers of Carolingian Italy (774–875) perceived the Franks and the previous rulers, the Lombards (569–774), and what role the ancient past had in the more recent history of Italy. For this period and this part of Italy, there are just two chronicles: the anonymous Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani and the Historia of Andreas of Bergamo. These texts are the only historical works produced in Caroling…
Erchempert, a Reluctant Fustigator of His People
At the end of the ninth century, the Cassinese monk Erchempert composed a chronicle (ca. 774–889) blaming the southern Italian Lombard leaders for recent Lombard defeats. Erchempert hoped that future generations might learn from their forebears' folly. This article analyzes the reasons why, in the wake of his monastery's destruction by Muslim raiders, Erchempert did not express a generalized criticism toward all the elites of his homeland. The ar…
Remembering Old and New Rulers
This article aims at analysing how the chroniclers of Carolingian Italy (774–875) perceived the Franks and the previous rulers, the Lombards (569–774), and what role the ancient past had in the more recent history of Italy. For this period and this part of Italy, there are just two chronicles: the anonymous Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani and the Historia of Andreas of Bergamo. These texts are the only historical works produced in Caroling…
Erchempert, a Reluctant Fustigator of His People
At the end of the ninth century, the Cassinese monk Erchempert composed a chronicle (ca. 774–889) blaming the southern Italian Lombard leaders for recent Lombard defeats. Erchempert hoped that future generations might learn from their forebears' folly. This article analyzes the reasons why, in the wake of his monastery's destruction by Muslim raiders, Erchempert did not express a generalized criticism toward all the elites of his homeland. The ar…
The Image of the Byzantines in Early Medieval South Italy
This article analyzes how the neighbors of the Byzantines, the Lombards (who occupied a portion of southern Italy), and the Normans (who put an end to Byzantine rule in southern Italy in 1071), described their common adversary. The examination of the features that the chroniclers living in early medieval southern Italy attributed to the Byzantines demonstrates that, at least for this part of Europe, there is evidence of strong hostility to Byzant…
As an Angel Revealed to Her”
The study of miracles, visions, predictions, and other supernatural phenomena has become important for understanding religious practices, mentalities, and the use of the past in the Middle Ages. In spite of the absence of local martyrs and saints and the small hagiographical production in Venice during the early Middle Ages, these phenomena were also relevant in this regi0n. This article emphasizes both the unique aspects of the Venetian texts an…
Memory and Propaganda in Venice after the Fourth Crusade
By examining the first Venetian chronicle written after the Fourth Crusade, the Historia ducum Venetorum (1102–1229), this article shows how the Venetian ruling elites wanted to present their recent past. In particular, it proves that the author of that work and probably many of his fellow countrymen wished to point out that the Venetians gave fundamental support toward the defense and strengthening of the Kingdom of Jerusalem without expecting a…
The Others and Their Stories
The ninth century was a fundamental period for the history of Naples. Newly untethered from Constantinople and trying to forge a stable state, the Campanian city faced a complex political landscape in Southern Italy. The Frankish conquest of the Lombard kingdom and the weakening of the Byzantine Empire, which allowed the Saracens to seize Sicily, reshaped the South into a region dominated by several competing protagonists. Naples resisted conques…
The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages
Responding to the attacks of British politicians and administrators, who defined medieval history as an irrelevant topic of research, and defending public funding in the humanities, Ian Wood has examined the relevance of scholarship on late antiquity and the early Middle Ages for the better understanding of the modern world. According to Wood, “to write about early medieval history is not just to solve a series of problems relating to the distant…
Tractatus de ludo scachorum
Chess was one of the most common games in the Middle Ages, a part of the daily life of courts and cities. Although the game probably originated in India in the sixth century CE, it quickly spread throughout Persia and subsequently, as a product of trade between Muslims and Christians beginning in the tenth century, throughout Europe. In the passage from East to West, the game of chess was subjected to variations and changes because Europeans did …
Antieroe dai molti volti
In 361, after the death of his cousin Constance II, Flavius Claudius Iulianus (Julian) became sole emperor. Immediately, he declared his intention to restore the ancient polytheistic religion that his uncle Constantine (d. 337) had abandoned for Christianity, but without resorting to persecutions and in fact propagating the principle of religious tolerance. His attempt failed, and after his death in 363, fighting against Persia, Christianity affi…
Writing a Book about the Barbarians in Italy during Fascism and Reading It from the 1940s to the Early 2000s
Il Medio Evo barbarico d’Italia (Italy’s Barbarian Middle Ages) by Gabriele Pepe, published in 1941 by Giulio Einaudi Editore, is undoubtedly the longest selling Italian book about the Middle Ages. The goal of this article is to examine the reasons for this success, how the period in which the book was written influenced the depiction of the early medieval period in Italy, and how the volume was interpreted and used from the 1940s to the early 20…
Rome, Ravenna, and Venice, 750–1000
This book aims to compare how the late antique and Byzantine heritage “remained, changed, or disappeared” in Rome, Ravenna, and Venice between 750 and 1000 by examining “their social, cultural, and ideological history” (p. 1). The first date is justified by the fact that the rule of the Byzantine Empire in north-central Italy ended at that time. In the early 750s, the Lombards in fact conquered Ravenna and the surrounding Byzantine territories. A…
Apologia della storia” o “Mestiere di storico,”
The Natural History of a Neapolitan Miracle
Art (10 works) · History (10 works) · History (10 works) · Ancient history (9 works) · Byzantine Studies and History (9 works) · Classics (9 works) · Classics (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Political science (8 works)