The Immensity of Time

The thirteenth century could be characterised as an age obsessed with getting the correct measure of time, gripped by the task of reconciling time as perceived by human minds with time as understood and planned out by God. That compulsion manifested itself in two quite different attempts to conceptualise and explain the temporal order. The first was the rapid growth in eschatological thinking, given new impetus by the prophetic inspiration of Joachim of Fiore and his disciples. Joachite eschatology emphasised an imminent change in the nature of historical time and a coming reckoning. The other expression of this concern with explaining humankind's place in time can be seen in scholastic discussions which attempt to define the nature of time itself. These are the works which look to reconcile the divergent accounts of time provided by Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius, and Averroes, to explain the relationship between temporality and eternity, and express the ways in which time could, or could not, be defined and divided into categories. The first, eschatological, approach moved from the interpretation of signs (whether in Scripture or in the created universe) to anticipate the succession of the ages of the world; the second, scholastic, effort posited that an improved understanding of temporal relations had to begin by fixing the correct language with which to talk about time, imbuing words such as simultaneity, priority, and posterity with precise meaning. Both approaches, however, represent a search for certainty, an attempt to impose some measure of conceptual order and formalisation on phenomena which, by their nature, lie partially outside human experience.

Both these endeavours to get to grips with temporality, however, could fall short. Even the most detailed eschatological schemes could be hard to pin down, the identification of signs and portents uncertain or contingent. The Cistercian Adam of Perseigne, for example, demanded in an interview with Joachim of Fiore to know whether or not the Antichrist had yet been born, and whether the place of his birth would be Babylon or Rome – a point on which there was evident confusion. Similarly, when the appointed year of 1260 passed without the anticipated apocalyptic transformation, there was disappointment and a sense of anti-climax amongst some believers.