Debate of history students from the universities of Ljubljana, Padua, Trieste and Zagreb

28 May 2025 at 12 noon in Celje, Celje Youth Centre (atrium), Mariborska cesta 2, 3000 Celje, Slovenia ((in case of bad weather: Celje Regional Museum, Barbara's Hall, Trg Celjskih knezov 8, 3000 Celje Slovenia).

Despite popular belief, the Middle Ages were not the Dark Ages, which were mainly marked by oppression, material poverty and intellectual decline. On the contrary, the period was marked by fundamental changes in the forms of social and economic organisation. From an agrarian society emerged a society of thriving urban settlements, vibrant commercial activity and complex political structures.

In Celje, the city under the largest castle in Slovenia, the event Rags to Riches? The Transformations of Medieval Communities will focus on these changes. Eleven history students from Slovenia, Italy and Croatia, from the universities of Ljubljana, Padua, Trieste and Zagreb will discuss several aspects of this remarkable period in a debate open to the public. They will focus on the following topics: the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages, the emergence of Italian city states, communes and the origins of complex trading systems in the High Middle Ages. The event's sessions will take as a starting point for their discussions the groundbreaking monographs of Chris Wickham, one of the leading medievalists of our time.

Participants in the debate:

Klemen Bergant, asist. Matic Kristan, Aja Onuk, asist. Aljaž Sekne, Matija Terglav and Katarina Tič from the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana (Oddelek za zgodovino, Filozofska Fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani),

Filippo Vigini, MA graduate of the Department of Historical, Geographical and Ancient Sciences, University of Padua (Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e dell'Antichità DiSSGeA - Università degli Studi di Padova),

Italo Brocca, Daniel Venturuzzo and Davide Vitali from the Department of Humanities, University of Trieste (Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università degli Studi di Trieste) and

Ivan Mrnarević from the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Zagreb (Odsjek za povijest, Filozofski fakultet, Sveučilište u Zagrebu).

The event will be moderated by: assist. prof. Dušan Mlacović (ICCHS, Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana) and associate prof. Miriam Davide (Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università degli Studi di Trieste). The event will be held in English.