Social Network Analysis and Medieval History

Matthew Hammond, FRHistS, is a researcher at the University of Hull, and has previously worked at the University of Glasgow, King's College London, and the University of Edinburgh. As a creator of the People of Medieval Scotland database, he has been interested in social network analysis since 2013.

Social network analysis (SNA) has been gathering momentum in medieval studies for several decades, but edited volumes that systematically survey its application across such a wide range of sources, periods, and methodological questions remain rare. This collection, assembled by Matthew Hammond, fills that gap with ambition and considerable success. Fifteen chapters, organized into five thematic parts, carry the reader from foundational methodology to specific case studies in Scotland, Flanders, Iceland, and Germany, with a preface by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller that frames the broader stakes of the enterprise. The result is a serious and valuable reference point for historians wishing to understand what formal network methods can do with medieval evidence.[...]The volume’s strengths are considerable. The range of sources covered--narrative hagiography, saga literature, charter witness lists, inquisition depositions, benefice registers, urban debt records--demonstrates convincingly that SNA can be adapted to almost any relational evidence that survives from the medieval period. The willingness of contributors to reflect carefully on the limitations of their own methods, to distinguish network patterns that correspond to historical realities from those that may be artefacts of source survival or authorial shaping, is one of the volume’s most reassuring qualities. The five parts are coherently organized, and the progression from methodological introduction through source-specific applications to explicit testing of the approach gives the volume a satisfying intellectual arc.[…]Social Network Analysis and Medieval History is a serious and stimulating collection that will serve anyone working at the intersection of digital humanities and medieval studies. It is also an accessible and challenging introduction for historians considering formal network methods for the first time.

• List of Illustrations"Preface," by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller"Introduction," by Matthew HammondPart One. Introducing the Network Approach to Medieval HistoryChapter 1. "Network Science Meets Medieval History: Approaches and Methods in an Emergent Field," by Matthew HammondChapter 2. "A Network History of Historical Network Analysis: Using a Citation Network to Explore Historiography," by Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani and Sébastien de ValeriolaChapter 3. “'Big Data' in History?: The Use of Social Network Analysis in Medieval Studies—Challenges and Perspectives," by Robert Gramsch-StehfestPart Two. Exploring Medieval Sources with SNAChapter 4. "Bede, Network Analysis, and the Historica ecclesiastica gentis anglorum," by Máirín MacCarronChapter 5. "Graphing Networks of Medieval Latin Hagiography in Early Medieval England," by Carson Koepke Chapter 6. "Using Social Networking Analysis to Identify and Understand the Relationships Present in the Liber Eliensis," by Ian StylerChapter 7. “'Frá Birni er nær allt stórmenni komit á Íslandi': A Social Network Analysis of Bjǫrn buna’s Descendants in Landnámabók (The Book of Settlements)," by Cassidy CrociPart Three. Revealing Social Networks of Medieval Ecclesiastics and NoblesChapter 8. "Social Networks in the Gregorian Era: Some Methodological Remarks on the Case of the Investiture Controversy in the Diocese of Cambrai–Arras," by Nicolas Ruffini-RonzaniChapter 9. "Marriage Strategies, Clientelism, and Factions in the Social Networks of the Nobility of the Île-de-France Region from Philippe Auguste to Charles VII (1180–1437)," by Laurent NabiasChapter 10. "Uncovering Patterns in Dissident Interactions Among Late Medieval German Waldensians Using Social Network Analysis," by Reima Välimäki and David ZbíralChapter 11. "Network Analysis of German Clerical Careers in the Late Middle Ages," by Robert Gramsch-Stehfest and Clemens BeckPart Four. The Temporal Dimension in Medieval Social NetworksChapter 12. "Biography and Network Analysis in the Early Middle Ages: Methodological Issues Around the 'Networked Life-Course',” by Isabelle RoséChapter 13. "Change Over Time in Charter Co-Witnessing Networks: The Case of the Scottish Royal Household, 1124 to 1371," by Matthew HammondPart Five. Testing the Methodology of Medieval Network StudiesChapter 14. "Monks, Merchants, and Matrices: Quantifying Social Interaction in Reading, 1350–1600," by Joe ChickChapter 15. "Personal Guarantees and Credit Networks in Ypres, Tournai, and Douai in the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries," by Sébastien de Valeriola