The sense of an ending: time and temporality in the Vita Ædwardi regis

My paper explores different patterns and visualisations of time within a late eleventh-century text, the 'Vita Ædwardi regis'. I draw on Frank Kermode’s exploration of the temporal regimes of apocalyptic literature to think about four patterns or shapes of history: linear history (what Kermode terms the chronos or sequence of events) and its relationship with cyclical history; fractal history (what Kermode terms the kairos, or moments of crisis, in which multiple possibilities become open); and finally the shapeless and timeless aevum.

Rather than a piece of 'failed history' - the text is often disparaged by historians as it fails to mention a key event that took place during its composition, namely the Norman Conquest of 1066 - it is a very successful attempt to integrate different temporalities into a single tapestry, through its use of visual metaphors such as streams and trees.