Medieval Italy, By Ian Hughes, Jacob Burckhardt, And David...

There exists a lot of literatures that exhibit different thoughts from varied authors. Upon conducting a research, it becomes important to appreciate other author’s work when making reference to it by paraphrasing and properly citing it. Paraphrasing can be termed as the art of active learning whereby one comprehends the main arguments of a particular author and puts them down in different words while ensuring that he does not erode the intended meaning. This paper seeks to examine the works of several authors including Jansen Katherine, Ian Hughes, Jacob Burckhardt, and David Lines who expound on the history of Italy in the medieval ages. Review of the Literatures A critical analysis of Jansen’s work entitled â€Å"Medieval Italy: Texts in Translation† will provide a paraphrased document of the author’s arguments. In her book, Jansen begins by noting that over the past five decades, the history of Italy in the medieval ages has been a vibrant scholarly research area with new discoveries of documents, methodologies, and theories. In the first chapter, the author observes the social life that existed in the Medieval Italy. The social events during the era were primarily recorded in legal documents known as ‘Charters.’ Some of the transactions recorded in charters included agricultural contracts, leases, wills, donations, and sales. The participants had to be present upon the record of these events because they would then preserve them and retrieve them when needed to prove that