A history of empty spaces

How well can we recall the last 24 hours? And how much more difficult does it get when it comes to the last 10, 100 or 500 years? According to early modern historian Achim Landwehr, gaps are the norm for times that are no longer immediately available to us. Forgetting, loss and information that was not passed along are all unavoidable. "What is left is not the tip of the iceberg, but rather a small dome of snow on top of the iceberg", Landwehr says.

How does a historian come to study empty spaces? It was calendars from the 17th century that aroused Landwehr's curiosity. As cheap mass media, they were sold by the millions back then. Every household had such a calendar, but it looked very different from today: Calendars were packed with information, predicting what would happen during the year, touching on the weather or planetary constellations, and also including tips on when to cut hair or harvest crops. The historian was surprised to see that the calendars in the second half of the 17th century were quite empty, with nothing left but the date. Why?

The researcher explains: "I thought that there could be a story behind this banal media development. That it might demonstrate a different attitude about time, a different approach to time, and, thus, to the world. If you no longer think that everything is predestined in the divine plan of creation, time is suddenly no longer predeterminable. This means that you can manage time yourself. These empty calendars invite you to fill them."

Why were scientific experiments involving vacuum also being conducted at this time? What is the largest void of the 17th century? And how did people in the past deal with empty spaces? Our background article "Looking into emptiness" gives insights into the unusual field of research that fascinates early modern historian Achim Landwehr.

Landwehr says: “As people, we are constantly working with empty spaces, and filling in the calendar pages. However, we know that some of these pages will remain permanently empty. We cannot reconstruct the past one-to-one. And despite all the modern forecasting possibilities, we are aware of their limitations."