IMC 2026: Sessions

Paper 622-a:

This paper investigates the intricate relationship between time and economic practice in medieval thought, focusing on the ethical regulation of their interrelation and the emergence of a distinct economic temporality. In early reflections, speculation and usury were condemned, since the exploitation of the temporal dimension for profit was considered sinful. From the twelfth century onward, canonists and theologians acknowledged that the just price was rooted in specific temporal contexts and accepted the interest doctrines of damnum emergens and lucrum cessans. In particular, Peter John Olivi's theory of time's marketability, and his distinction between productive commerce and sterile usury, were of crucial importance. Taken collectively, these reflections generated a new intellectual paradigm and marked a turning point in medieval thought, as temporal calculation became an accepted dimension of virtuous trade. By examining how ecclesiastical authorities first forbade and then progressively legitimized the exploitation of temporal dynamics, this study argues that medieval discourse on time shaped the moral framework of mercantile activity and laid the conceptual foundations for later theories of interest, labor compensation, and productive capital. Thus, the Middle Ages witnessed the birth of an economic temporality that balanced ethical imperatives with commercial rationality.

Paper 622-b:

Time played often a very different role in the medieval economy than it does today. This was mainly because trade, especially long-distance trade, was much more susceptible to disruption at that time. The role and significance of time in business life will be illustrated by an example from the turn of the century, namely the long-distance trade of the two publishers, printers and booksellers Anton Koberger in Nuremberg and Johann Amerbach in Basel (1470-1513). Based on their preserved correspondence, the aim is to highlight the temporal aspects of their business activities. This includes, for example, the shipment of books: how long did it take to send books from Basel to Lyon or from Lyon to Venice? What did the delivery times of their books depend on? What role did time play in the payment of the carters? Which factors disrupted the timing of theses processes and what consequences did this have for their economic activities?

Paper 622-c:

The Via degli Abruzzi, an ancient route linking Florence and Naples across the Apennines, embodies multiple and overlapping temporalities. In the Middle Ages, it functioned as a commercial artery of the Kingdom of Naples. This economic temporality, rooted in cycles of production and trade, shaped monuments, settlements, and cultural practices along the route. Yet in the 19th century, the same landscape was reactivated within new temporal frameworks: romantic travellers such as Edward Lear and Heinrich Wilhelm Schulz reinterpreted medieval ruins, mountain villages, and rural traditions as symbols of the sublime and of a world seemingly suspended outside modernity. Their writings and images did not simply document the past; they reshaped temporal perception, projecting medieval heritage into romantic imagination. At the same time, local figures such as Gennaro Della Monica engaged with the medieval revival, transforming memory into built form through his neo-medieval castle in Teramo. In this sense, the Via degli Abruzzi illustrates how temporalities coexist and interact: the medieval past as lived experience, the romantic rediscovery as cultural construction, and the modern reception as identity-making process. The paper argues that this route exemplifies the dynamic negotiation of time in which history, memory, and imagination converge.