Is a history of medieval historiography possible?

Abstract

Starting from a possible dubiousness of medieval historiography, this article reflects on the limitations of a temporal and spatial episteme centered on Europe and modernity; furthermore, we trace some possible ways to understand medieval modes of historicization. These discussions are based on a debate leveraged by the French historiography of the second half of the 20th century about the existence of a divide between moderns and pre-moderns that would prevent an accurate perception of the human experiences of the past from a vocabulary guided by modernity. In this perspective, the very modern concept of history – fruit of the 18th and 19th centuries – would be unable to grasp ways of producing and representing the past prior to its conception. To answer these questions, we look to trace other possibilities for understanding the concepts of history and historiography by bringing together the medieval studies, the history of historiography, and anthropology. The considerations established here seek to reaffirm the current demands of disciplinary history, while also suggesting an opening of the history of historiography as a means of embracing the multiple pre-modern and non-Western modes of historicization.