IMC 2022: Sessions

The scarcity of economic history papers at medieval history conferences and - on the flip side - chapters on the Middle Ages in handbooks of economic history is striking, if not disturbing. Even more so, since European research on these topics is thriving and economic topics (e.g. finance and banking, work, economic ethics) are a vital part of contemporary discourses in our societies.

The round table discussion will bring together an international group of six researchers from different scientific traditions and countries (Britain, Russia, Italy, Austria, and Germany), sharing a common expertise in the economic and social history of the Middle Ages. The discussion will tackle recent and future trends, approaches, and topics related to the medieval economy. What are the grand narratives and theories economic historians of the medieval period take into account or maybe ignore? On which sources can economic historians rely to foster empirical research and how does this situation influence our research practices? Which methods are currently applied in medieval economic history and what can we do to narrow the gap between qualitative and quantitative approaches?

Participants include Maria Aleksandrova (University of Oxford), Pietro Delcorno (Università di Bologna), Spike Gibbs (Universität Mannheim), Ulla Kypta (Universität Hamburg), Tony Moore (University of Reading), and Stephan Nicolussi-Köhler (Universität Innsbruck).