IMC 2023: Sessions

Most of the studies about Pre-modern European sciences have been dedicated to the role played by a relatively small number of primary characters who had a significant impact on knowledge, culture, and modi pensandi of the Latin West throughout and beyond the Middle Ages. However, this presentation has led to two closely related consequences. The first consequence is that while the works of the 'main' authors tend to be thoroughly studied and thus their ideas continuously observed and reinforced, those of other, less known characters, have received little, if any, attention, or have simply been forgotten, primarily when they evolved on the fringe of the mainstream. The second consequence is that Pre-modern and Medieval science is often perceived as a monolith, one composed, and shaped, only by a few inspired authors.

In response to this observation, this panel aims to shed light on these neglected voices in Pre-modern sciences and to give a voice even to those 'underrated' actors (authors, scribes, compilers, copyists, readers, users…) who nevertheless have somehow contributed to the formation of medieval science.