School of History

Personal Details

Research Interests

Supervision

Teaching

Publications

Conferences

Early Medieval History

The bulk of my research has been in the lively field of early medieval European history, with a focus on Italy. My monograph The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan is to be published by Brepols in 2008. An edited collection Narrative and History in the Early Medieval West (ed. with E. Tyler) was published in September 2006 (Brepols). Since 1990 I have published 13 articles and 9 chapters in books dealing with aspects of the early medieval period, especially gender and sexuality. An article dealing with fatherhood in the Lombard period is nearing completion.

Ligurian Landscapes

Since 1994 I have also collaborated with colleagues in Geography and Archaeology on the landscape history of the Italian region of Liguria. A book - Ligurian Landscapes (ed. with M. J. Pearce and C. Watkins) – was published in 2004, the first book in English on this subject (launched at the University of Genoa 13 December 2004). This book was, in part, the result of ten years of undergraduate field visits to the town of Varese in Liguria, which I have led together with Professor Charles Watkins in the School of Geography. Another book, La natura delle montagne is in preparation. I am also working on a complete annotated English translation of the history of Varese Ligure written by Antonio Cesena in 1558 and a further book on landscape history, in collaboration with Diego Moreno (Department of Modern and Contemporary History, University of Genoa) and Charles Watkins (School of Geography, University of Nottingham).

In 2004 (29 March) I gave an invited seminar (with Prof. C. Watkins, Geography, Nottingham), at the University of Genoa, to the multidiscplinary LASA group: "Landscape Histories of Liguira: the fieldwork of the University of Nottingham in Vara Valley".

History of Travel to Italy

I am beginning research into the history of travel between Britain and Liguria in the period since 1550. In the summer of 2006 I spent several weeks at the British school at Rome (thanks to a research grant from the Paul Mellon Foundation for Studies in British Art) studying their unique collection of printed travel books. I intend to follow this up with archival research in British and Italian archives.

Gender & History

An interest in gender informs all my research. I am currently editor of Gender & History (since 2004) and have been on the editorial collective of the journal since 1993.

Teaching

My teaching is centred on the history of Italy, since the Roman period. My main area is the social and cultural history of early medieval Europe, which I have taught across all years including masters. Since 1994, I have taught the landscape history of Eastern Liguria (with Prof. Charles Watkins in Geography) with an annual field trip to the small town of Varese Ligure and more recently the history of travel to Italy, both active research interests of mine. At MA level I teach the history of Lombard Italy, palaeography and seminars on microhistory. I am actively involved in the establishment at Nottingham of MATILDA, the new 2-year joint European Masters in Women’s and Gender History.

Books: single-authored / joint-authored / edited

R. Balzaretti, The Lands of Saint Ambrose. Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan (Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming).

Edited collections of essays

R. Balzaretti and E. Tyler (eds), Narrative and History in the Early Medieval West (Turnhout, 2006).

R. Balzaretti, M.J. Pearce, C. Watkins (eds), Ligurian Landscapes: studies in Archaeology, Geography and History (London, 2004). A co-publication with the University of Genoa

Essays in edited collections

(2007) ‘Sexuality in Late Lombard Italy, c.700-c.800’ AD, in A. Harper and C. Proctor, ed. Medieval Sexuality: a Casebook (Routledge), 7-31.

(2006) [with E. M. Tyler] ‘Introduction’, in E. M. Tyler and R. Balzaretti, ed. Narrative  and History in the Early Middle Ages (Turnhout, Brepols), 1-9.

(2006) ‘Spoken narratives in ninth-century Milanese court cases', in E. M. Tyler and R. Balzaretti, ed. Narrative and History in the Early Middle Ages (Turnhout, Brepols), 11-37

(2005) 'Masculine Authority and State Identity in Liutprandic Italy', in W. Pohl and P. Erhart, ed. Die Langobarden. Herrschaft und Identität (Vienna, Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters), 363-384.

(2004) [with M. Pearce and C. Watkins] 'Ligurian landscapes: microhistory and environmental history', in R. Balzaretti, M. Pearce and C. Watkins, ed. Ligurian Landscapes. Studies in Archaeology, Geography and History (Accordia, London, ISBN 1 873415 28 1), pp. xi-xvi.

(2004) 'The History of the Countryside in sixteenth-century Varese Ligure', in R. Balzaretti, M. Pearce and C. Watkins, ed. Ligurian Landscapes. Studies in Archaeology, Geography and History (Accordia, London, ISBN 1 873415 28 1), 123-138.

(2002) 'Liutprand of Cremona’s Sense of Humour', in Humour, History and Politics in the Early Medieval West, ed., G. Halsall (Cambridge University Press), 114-128.

(2001) 'Sexual cultures in the early medieval West', in Indecent Exposure: Sexuality, Society and the Archaeological Record, ed. L. Bevan (Cruithne Press, Glasgow), 147-161.

Encyclopedia, dictionary and similar pieces

(2004) Entries on "Agriculture". "Fieschi", "Land Tenure and Inheritance", "Peasants" and "Viticulture", in Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia, ed. C. Kleinhenz, (Routledge, New York and London), 2 volumes, pp. 6-8; 336-337; 599-601; 868-871; 1157-1158.

Conferences

'Title of Paper', paper presented at 'Title of conference / event'. University of Munich, March 2007.

‘Micro-communities in early medieval Liguria’, paper presented at ‘Medieval Communities, 500-1200 AD’, University College London, September 2007.

‘Urban communities in Italy: from Roman to Medieval’, paper presented at ‘International Medieval Congress’, University of Leeds, July 2007.

‘Elites and the formation of urban society in eighth-century Milan’, paper presented at ‘4th workshop of the Centre for Urban Culture’, University of Nottingham, June 2006.

‘Coming of Age in Lombard Italy’, paper presented at ‘International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 2005.

‘The Search for Sex in Lombard Italy’, paper presented at, ‘Mediaeval Sex’, University of St Andrews, June 2004.

‘Varese Ligure: a medieval planned town, past, present and future’, paper presented at ‘Learning from the Past: Medieval Townscapes and Modern Cities in Europe’, Centre for Urban Culture, University of Nottingham, May 2004.

‘Fathers and Sons in Lombard Italy’, paper presented at ‘Masculinity, Patriarchy and Power’ University of Southampton, April 2004.

‘Milan, Genoa and the Three Chapters’, paper presented at ‘The Crisis in the Oikumene’, University of York, May 2002.

‘Masculine Authority and State Identity in Lombard Italy’, paper presented at ‘Die Langobarden: Herrschaft und Identität’, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, November 2001.

Full pre-2001 publication list

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