IMC 2024: Sessions

Diurnal temporalities might seem straightforward, universal, and not easily historicised, but experiences and understandings of the day and night can vary dramatically across different social and intellectual contexts and across time. These sessions build on a recent swell of scholarly interest in ‘small time’, through which we can gain a new perspective on the history and literary culture of England c.650–1500. This first session explores the quotidian in both senses of the word: the daily and the ordinary. First, Máirín MacCarron reveals how ideas of the day were engaged with by Bede, including the question of whether the day was a 24-hour period, or one half of the 24-hour cycle in combination with night. Then, Abigail M. Sargent investigates how labour after dark featured in people’s lives in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century rural communities, illuminating a neglected area of scholarship. Finally, Eduardo Correia considers how anchorites experienced temporal tension with the outside world – how can the day be removed from the cell? These three speakers therefore provide different views on the experience of the day-to-day in medieval England, foregrounding the diurnal context that we may sometimes lose sight of in pursuit of grand historical narratives and more linear temporal models.