Concepts of time in medieval Portugal: temporalities and simultaneities in the Conto de Amaro.

The concept of time reveals a great deal about deep-rooted sentiments in society, and is therefore fundamental for any historical understanding that aspires to reach beyond the superficial. A short and anonymous Portuguese tale of the fourteenth century - the Conto de Amaro - allows us to address the confluence of the mental, the religious, the cultural, and the social in its concepts of time. The Conto registers the coexistence of various synchronicities, but an almost immobile form of time predominates, contrasting - not by chance - with the accelerated transformations of its time: the affirmation of the Portuguese monarchy, the development of the national language, a demographic crisis, territorial expansion overseas, and criticism of traditional formalist spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]