Call for Papers: “Temporalities” Through Digital Approaches to Late Medieval Charters at IMC 2026
Sessions for the International Medieval Congress 2026, Leeds
The University of Graz’s Department of Digital Humanities, host of the ERC-funded project “From Digital to Distant Diplomatics” (DiDip), invites submissions for a series of three interconnected sessions at the International Medieval Congress 2026. Our sessions will explore the conference theme of “Temporalities” by applying innovative digital methods to late medieval charters (c. 1300–1500).
While often seen as static, the formulas underpinning medieval legal documents were in constant flux, acting as sensitive barometers of societal, political, and ideological change. This dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation offers a unique lens through which to measure the passage of time. We aim to bring together historical perspectives with cutting-edge computational methods to explore this phenomenon.
We welcome papers for the following three sessions:
Session 1: The Historical Perspective – Charters as Chronicles of Change
This session grounds our inquiry in historical and diplomatic questions. We seek papers that explore the formulaic language of charters as a mechanism for understanding medieval temporalities. How did legal and intellectual developments prompt shifts in notarial practice? In what ways did chanceries deliberately invoke formulas of the past to project authority into the future? This session will set the stage by examining the historical significance of continuity and change in documentary culture.
Session 2: The NLP Perspective – Decoding Diachronic Language
Focusing on the charter as a text, this session explores how Natural Language Processing (NLP) can uncover the temporal evolution of formulaic language. We invite contributions that use computational techniques to analyze legal terminology, scribal practices, and the dissemination of documentary conventions across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Papers might address how network analysis or topic modeling can reveal patterns of textual transmission and change over time.
Session 3: The Computer Vision Perspective – The Shape of Time
This session addresses the charter as a visual and material object. How can computer vision techniques reveal evolving patterns in the physical layout, script styles, or graphical elements (e.g., seals, monograms) of charters? We welcome papers applying machine learning algorithms to large datasets of digitized charters to identify and analyze how the visual and material aspects of these documents changed across regions and time.
Submission Guidelines
By bridging traditional diplomatics with state-of-the-art computational methods, these sessions will foster a more interconnected and nuanced understanding of European documentary cultures.
- Please submit a 100-word abstract and a brief CV.
- Send submissions to: didip@uni-graz.at (Subject: IMC2026)
- Deadline: September 24th, 2025
We look forward to your contributions!
The ERC DiDip Team
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Tamás Kovács (September 8, 2025). Call for Papers: “Temporalities” Through Digital Approaches to Late Medieval Charters at IMC 2026. DiDip. Retrieved January 21, 2026 from https://didip.hypotheses.org/3832

