Special strand 2025

During the IMMLleida, we want to emphasise a specific objective: Medieval Landscape.

The lives of men and women in the medieval period unfold in close proximity to nature, which they fear due to its wilderness and consider full of significance. Yet, at the same time, they do not hesitate to transform it through their agricultural labour or to alter it with urban activities and the first polluting industries, always mantaining an interpretation in accordance to religious teachings.

The living space, whether domestic, local or regional, results from the sum of these different aspects and shapes a specific and rich landscape, like a palimpsest formed by the layers of human reality. It is for this reason that, over the past few decades, researching the Middle Ages has meant delving into the understanding of its landscape. The International Medieval Meeting Lleida 2026 constitutes a space to reflect on the different perspectives, methods and approaches to the landscape sorrounding the men and the women of the Middle Ages.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Urban and agrarian landscapes
• Historical landscapes 
• Conquered landscapes 
• Landscapes of pilgrimages, migrations, exile.
• Spiritual landscapes 
• Settlement
• Architecture and agrarian parcels

Keynote speakers: 

Wednesday 3^rd-June

09:00h. Sam Turner (Newcastle University), Medieval terraced landscapes as sustainable agricultural environments.

10:45h. Imma Ollich (Universitat de Barcelona) and Maria Ocaña (Museu de l'Esquerda), El territori i la fortalesa de Roda Ciutat en temps visigòtics i carolingis.

12:00h. Luigi A. Berto (University of West Michigan), Spazio e popolo nella Venezia altomedievale.