IMC 2026: Sessions

This session explores archives as instruments of governance, memory, and identity in late medieval Europe, with particular attention to how archival practices articulated conceptions of time and authority. Sebastian Robert examines the creation and organization of the Royal Archives in Barcelona, one of the best-preserved repositories of the medieval Crown of Aragon. From their centralization in the fourteenth century to the work of archivists such as Pere Miquel Carbonell, these archives reveal a sophisticated temporal logic, structuring both retrospection on past actions and preparation for future governance. Ludovica Sasso shifted focus to Italy, where compilations of Türkenlieder functioned as narrative archives. These literary collections memorialized trauma and celebrated triumph, reorganizing memory of Ottoman conflicts into trajectories of mourning, redemption, and imagined futures. Giulia Laboranti examins how notaries played a central role in medieval society by managing written documents and shaping how memory was preserved and transmitted. Their influence extended beyond archives into language, law, and procedure, determining what information was recorded and how it was understood. Key legal and intellectual traditions—especially in canon law—framed this role around the concepts of veritas (truth), instrumentum (document), and fides (trust).