The course has an institutional character and intends to offer a basic knowledge of the great phases of Western history in the medieval period, each of the two modules emphasizing a specific sector of historical reality, that is: in the first module on the forms of political domination, in order to illustrate their diversity and their succession in relation to changes in society and the social, economic and cultural peculiarities of each area; in the second module on the religious and cultural aspects of the history of the West, with particular attention to the role of religion in society and to the evolution of ecclesiastical structures, to the changes and to the methods of acquisition and circulation of written culture.