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Universal History beyond Empire: Rethinking History-Writing, Identity and Temporality in the High Middle Ages, ca. 1070–1228.

Objective

This project offers a transformative reassessment of universal history-writing in High Medieval Europe, exploring its critical, but underexamined, role in shaping identities, political memory, and temporality beyond empires. Universal history has long been recognized as the dominant form of historical thought in the Middle Ages. Traditionally, it has been seen as a coherent ideological project to convey the providential history of universalising institutions such as empires. However, its broader adaptability and ideological function in non-imperial contexts remain largely unexplored. By comparing the writing of universal history in England and southern Italy, the project advances a new framework for understanding how narratives of the past were universalized to reshape sociopolitical identities, royal agency and complex constructions of temporality. Far from being ideologically static, these texts were reinterpreted to address specific political, religious, and institutional identity formations, functioning as vehicles for constructing universal awareness and framing political legitimacy. By integrating temporality studies with tailored digital humanities methods, this project challenges the traditional dichotomy between 'local' and 'universal' history, reveal instead how information networks and shifting conceptions of power shaped medieval historical frameworks. In so doing, the project offers fresh insights into the cultural dynamics entangling identity construction, historical thinking and the perception of the world. Ultimately, the project pioneers a new interdisciplinary approach to medieval historical writing, illuminating the intellectual infrastructure that enabled broader and more complex notions of universality to emerge across Europe in the High Middle Ages.

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Keywords

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI CATANIA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 193 643,28
Address
PIAZZA UNIVERSITA 2
95131 CATANIA
Italy

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Region
Isole Sicilia Catania
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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