Auxilliary Sciences of History

Pre-requisites: Enrollment in the appropriate semester/year of study.

Course objectives: Acquainting students with the basics of the auxiliary sciences of history and introduction to the techniques of analysis of the major types of historical sources for the medieval period - written texts (primarily documents), coins, and seals.

Course description: After delineating the theoretical framework of the auxiliary sciences of history as a group of related disciplines, lectures expound the common genesis of these disciplines and then proceed to present the specific fields of research of the most important among them - paleography, diplomatics, chronology, numismatics, and sigillography. At practical classes, concrete examples are used to demonstrate differentiation and complementarity among different auxiliary sciences of history, and to acquire knowledge about the terminology and basic methodology of the most important among them.

Learning Outcomes: Acquiring basic theoretical knowledge from several auxiliary historical sciences as a starting point for further training in practical techniques of academic research of the medieval period.

Literature/Reading:

• J. Stipišić, Pomoćne povijesne znanosti u teoriji i praksi, Zagreb 1972.
• S. Marjanović-Dušanić, Vladarska ideologija Nemanjića. Diplomatička studija, Beograd 1997, 9-42.
• J. M. Powell, Medieval Studies. An Introduction, New York 1992.
• S. Stanojević, Studije iz srpske diplomatike, Beograd 1935.
• Dž. Dž. Vitrou, Vreme kroz istoriju, Beograd 1993.