In:
Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, PERSEE Program, Vol. 48, No. 189 ( 2005), p. 31-52
Abstract:
Time is the central question for the one who wants to take up the historiography of the XXth century, and more precisely the writing of medieval history. It's a double question, with an « objective » purpose concerning how the medievalist historians treat the medieval concept and use of time ; but also a "reflexive" purpose concerning how these medievalists are questioning their own treatment of the historical lenght of time, how they date or divide time into periods or epochs (that of « Middle Ages », for a start). One typical feature of the renewal historical studies in the XXth century is to have treated both of these questions. The first part of this article examines the main studies of medievalists who have given a greater place to researches on temporal (and spatial) structures at stake in medieval society. Since Marc Bloch (whose thought has its roots in the « turning-point of social sciences » happening at the beginning of the century), the founder works of Jacques Le Goff (with, among others, the concept of a « long Middle Ages »), those of Aaron Gourevitch, Arno Borst, amply recapitulate and developed by more recent works, notably by many colloquiums and French or German books (more than in the historiography in the English language, in our opinion) are distinguished here. The second part of this article examines time as a category of the historian today : from the reception of Marc Bloch's and Fernand Braudel's suggestions (the three lenghts of time) to more recent reflections (K. Pomina, F. Hartog and above all Paul Ricœur) are discussed. On these bases, the article adopts a more thematic process focused on the following questions : 1. In the considered period, what were the categories of time used by medievalists (see, for instance, the debates on « the year 1000 », on the « event » (Bouvines), on the « biography « (St. Louis), on « the anachronism », etc.) ? 2. What were the « mental tools » used by the medieval authors themselves, what meaning to give to the words they used to talk about time (the studies on aevum, tempora, sacra or sancta, modernitas, etc. are mentioned) ? 3. What about the medieval division of time (concept of horae, problems of calendar, « ages of life », mechanical clock, that have given rise to an abundant bibliography) ? 4. How has the problematic of memory become imperative for ail the medievalists since the pioneering works of M. Halbwachs ? 5. How do the medievalists articulate the complementary notions of future and prospects, millenarianism and eschatology ? 6. In the end, the article suggests to examine another (partially) temporal notion, that of rhythm. This study ends with three remarks concerning the international nature of researches, the necessity to pay more attention to the temporality of the medieval Jews, and finally the essential reflection on the articulation of time and space.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0007-9731
DOI:
10.3406/ccmed.2005.2899
Language:
French
Publisher:
PERSEE Program
Publication Date:
2005
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1405-9
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2710956-2
detail.hit.zdb_id:
220287-6
SSG:
9,10
SSG:
8
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