Abstract

The story of Bologna’s identity as a cradle of law is testified by certain sources: chronicles and narratives as early as the start of the 12th century. These reflect the Studium’s reputation for legal wisdom, which it established from a very early date considering university teaching in its early forms was developed in Bologna and Paris between the end of the 11th and start of the 12th century. The origins of Bologna’s Studium is a theme that from the outset fascinated scholars and June 1888 saw the celebrations of the eighth centennial. The centennial marked the arrival point of the building process of the history and memory of the University of Bologna in their diverse expressions and manifestations from the more famous to the less evident. Among the sources are student genealogies and repertories from between the 17th and 19th century, which are particularly interesting since the sources reflect the evolutionary dynamics of the foundational memory in their artificial and selective nature, which is both oriented and distorted with respect to the legend of the Alma Mater Studiorum’s identity.