IMC 2026: Sessions

Paper 534-a:

Comets, with their sudden appearance and unpredictable nature, have always inspired a mixture of awe and fear. The study aims to explore the different theories that emerged regarding the nature of the "Stella Commata", often seen as a disruptive force to the cosmic order of creation and the atemporality of the crystalline spheres.

The research will situate these theories within the historical and scientific cultural context of the 11th to 14th centuries. Furthermore, it will present some specific eyewitness accounts of the 1066 passage of Halley's Comet, such as those reported by Amminuno in the appendix to the Liber Canonicorum (Canon's Book) of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo (Viterbo, Diocesan Archive, Ms. 31). These annotations will be compared with the similar annotation found in the Eadwine Psalter (Cambridge, Trinity College Library, Ms. R17.1) as well as with the records found in the Chronica Majora of Matthew Paris and the Chronicon of Romuald of Salerno.

Paper 534-b:

While Joachim of Fiore is usually described as an apocalyptic prophet who made revelations about the future, in his own time he was also viewed as a scholar, whose method resembled very much what would later be called “scientific”. A close reading and textual analysis of the Scriptures (which were supposed to be accurate historical accounts), sophisticated mathematical calculations, or subsuming empirical observations to general laws all point to this direction. Yet, although sometimes Joachim saw himself as a theoretical expert, he also emphasized divine inspiration as an indispensable part of his investigations. The ambiguity surrounding his method nevertheless indicates how easily prophecy can be mistaken for science. This, in turn, has some relevance for those modern predictions that use a similar method of calculating future events from the established historiography of their own time. All such approaches, however, presuppose an external point of observation that is only accessible to God or those who received some special revelation from Him. It might be disputed whether Joachim or any of his disciples rightly attributed this “God’s eye view” to themselves, but they were at least consistent in realizing the insufficiency of human knowledge to construct a general theory of history.

Paper 534-c:

Chronica Poloniae Maioris. The introduction and first nine chapters of the Chronicle, containing the description of Polish and Slavic lands geography, presumed origins of Slavs and Poles, and the legendary history of Polish monarchy, in several passages points at the specific events, persons and dates, in this way trying to link the history of Poland and neighbouring countries (and its inhabitants) to the Biblical and Roman history. The proposed descent of Slavs and Germans from Biblical Japheth, as well as mentions of the Queen of Sheba, Nimrod, Ahasuerus, Alexander the Great, and Attila, are also part of the bid to place the Slavs and Germans in the Biblical history, and shift the starting point of those peoples history to the distant (and well-known) past. The somehow chaotic introduction is followed by first nine chapters of the Chronica, concerning the pre-Christian – in fact, legendary – history of Poland. The succession of legendary Polish rulers from Gracchus to Lestek is pinpointed in time by references to Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Jesus and Nero, and from more recent times, Niklot and emperor Henry II.