From Synchronizing to Visualization: Methods of Presenting History in Medieval Universal Chronicles

Abstract

The article deals with the development of graphical systems of presenting history in universal chronicles on the instances of Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome in late antiquity, Martinus Polonus in the thirteenth century, and Werner Rolevinck at the break of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. With the translation of the Eusebius’ Chronikoi Canones performed by Jerome, the synchronistic table was introduced into the Western historiographical tradition. This form of presenting history became firmly rooted in Latin chronicles, in particular within the genre of universal chronicles, which endeavoured to recount the history of mankind from Adam to the Final Judgement, and were very popular well into the early modern period. The author argues that the chronicles of Eusebius/Jerome and Martinus Polonus simply utilized synchronicity, in their pursuit to produce encyclopaedic works, aimed at the scholarly reader. In their intention, the synchronistic table was a technical means for a more effective presentation of past events. With Werner Rolevinck the case was different. The layout introduced by him was no longer asynchronistic table, but an attempt at visualizing history, with very little attention paid to precise dating of various events and persons. He constructed his complicated graphical system for religious purposes, to contemplate the magnificence of God’s creation, in accordance with the ideas of the devotio moderna, and destined his work for a much wider audience than scholars.