IMC 2014: Sessions

This session explores universal empire as a common framework for a globalizing history of medieval and pre-industrial societies. The notion of 'the Middle Ages' is derived solely from the European historical experience and is not easily transferred to other coeval parts of Eurasia. Even within Europe, the concept, originally indicating a dark interlude between the Roman empire and the Renaissance, is problematic. In this session we ask what a medieval history fit for a globalizing era might look like. One way to take up the challenge of world history, we suggest, would be to map the medieval European world within a wider history of universal empires covering much of Eurasia for long stretches of time. Could the development of universal empires serve as the basis for a Eurasian or even global chronology? How were models of universal kingship diffused and adapted throughout Eurasia and other parts of the pre-16-17th-century world? How does the interpretation and use of ancient legacies of universalism in medieval times compare in different world regions? More broadly, we ask what are the challenges for a comparative history of medieval empires.