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Back to the Future

@back2futureerc.bsky.social

What did people in the past think about the future and how did this affect their actions in Europe, c. 1400 - 1830? Using merchant letters. ERC Starting Grant www.uantwerpen.be/en/projects/back-…

Posts Replies Media

Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

🎓🍻 Yesterday team member Max-Quentin Bischoff successfully defended his PhD-dissertation Merchants' Futures: Plans and Expectations in the Tucher Trading Company, c. 1520 - c. 1550. Congratulations Dr. Bischoff! @urbanhistoryua.bsky.social

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

🎖️Project member @nicolozennaro.bsky.social received the Special Mention for the Human Solvency Historical Research Prize 2026. Congratulations! More info can be had here: www.uantwerpen.be/en/projects/...

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

‼️Publication alert‼️📯Born under Mercury: God’s Influence on the Future Perspective of the Medieval Italian Merchant by dr. Nicolò Zennaro www.uantwerpen.be/en/projects/...

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

📯Publication alert! What can 7,500 divine references in early modern letters tell us about how people imagined their futures? And how do you measure something as elusive as belief?

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Today @nicolozennaro.bsky.social presented his paper “Credo per la grazia di Dio farei bene”. Future thinking and knowledge of a risk (in)expert in late medieval Venice at the LVI Settimana di Studi Gestione del rischio, insolvenza e bancarotta nel mondo premoderno (secc. XIII-XVIII) in Prato

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

This afternoon @nicolozennaro.bsky.social successfully defended his PhD dissertation “1400: Un Fortunoso Anno. Future Thinking and Risk Late Medieval Venice” and now goes through life as Dr Zennaro. @erc.europa.eu @urbanhistoryua.bsky.social @uantwerpen.be

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

@kpo.bsky.social also drew parallels with apocalypticism in contemporary culture.

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Or how future thinking played a role in labour contracts in the Tucher business:

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Through a focus on education, Max was able to show what the senior members of the family had in mind for the juniors, or not...

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Penelope has a book out: www.whsmith.co.uk/Product/Pene...

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Sara used a very interesting visualisation to show per domain (the subject of the timed statement in the letters) how far these went into the historical past or future.

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Back to the Future @back2futureerc.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Sara Budts (Back2TheFuture, University of Antwerp) has shown us how to learn more about temporal awareness in the fifteenth- and sixteenth century letters of the Cely and Johnson families by annotating temporal markers in these large correspondences.

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