Back to the Future: Future expectations and actions in late medieval and early modern Europe, c.1400-c.1830

Project description

How our ancestors viewed the future

What did people in the past think about the future and how did this affect their actions? This is the question the EU-funded Back2theFuture project will try to answer. It will draw on a highly innovative combination of close and distant reading methods for more than 15 000 letters written in Dutch, English, French, German and Italian – by and to European merchants – in the period 1400-1830. According to the researchers, these practical documents will allow them to identify the merchants’ thinking and shed light on their future expectations. By reviewing letters from various European regions and over a span of several hundred years, the project will be able to identify transformations.

Host institution

UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN

Net EU contribution

€ 1 470 883,00

Address

Prinsstraat 13
2000 Antwerpen
Belgium

Region

Vlaams Gewest Prov. Antwerpen Arr. Antwerpen

Activity type

Higher or Secondary Education Establishments

Links

Contact the organisation Website

Participation in EU R&I programmes

HORIZON collaboration network

Other funding

€ 0,00

Beneficiaries (1)