Skip to main content

IMC 2026: Sessions

Session 1: Keynote Lectures 2026: Sounding Time - Senses, Spaces, Silences (Language: English) / Considering the Multiple Temporalities of Late Medieval Societies: A Path towards 'Differential History' (Language: English)

Monday 6 July 2026, 09:00-10:30

Introduction:Nada Zečević, Odsjek za povijest, Filozofski fakultet, Sveučilište u Zagrebu
Speakers:Matthew Champion, School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne
Elodie Lecuppre-Desjardin, Institut de Recherches Historiques du Septentrion (IRHiS - UMR 8529), Université de Lille
Abstract

Sounding Time: Senses, Spaces, Silences

Abstract: Across northern Europe from the 14th century, a range of new clocks, sandglasses, images, music, prayers, and devotional works configured and reconfigured the soundworlds and soundspaces of time. Yet specifically sonic histories of temporality are still emerging. Commencing with early Dominican textual clocks, moving through images of clocks in manuscripts produced in France and the Low Countries, and concluding with the musical sounds of public clocks of the 14th and 15th centuries, this lecture will ask: how can we best listen for the possible sounds of time across the period c. 1300-1500? What do such sensory approaches offer the history of temporalities now?

Considering the Multiple Temporalities of Late Medieval Societies: A Path towards 'Differential History'

Abstract: Historians of ancient societies often consider communities in their collective dimension: as inhabitants of a city, members of a court, nuns of a monastic group, etc... All become indistinguishable witnesses to an era, and their particular characteristics often merge into a general model. However, since Saint Augustine, we have known that we do not all have the same relationship with the passing of time and that the way time is perceived by people in centuries past is not the same as ours. Inspired by Einstein's theory that time is relative, the approach I will explore considers the past as a present 'lived' and perceived which should be regarded as a unique and multidimensional experience, based on parameters that are generally studied for their own sake (gender, social position, age, economic power, religion, etc.). This 'differential history' could enable historians to bridge 'historical gaps' and better grasp the multifaceted nature of human beings that lies at the heart of multiple historical truths.

Please note that admission to this event will be on a first-come, first-served basis as there will be no tickets. Please ensure that you arrive as early as possible to avoid disappointment.