Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DEMALPS (Democracies of the Alps. Issues, practices and ideals of politics in mountain communities, 1300-1500)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-06-01 bis 2025-11-30
DEMALPS studies late medieval mountain areas as the cradle of original political experiments, inspired by values and practices of self-governance. The focus of the project is on the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Western Alps, a broad territory (including modern French, Italian and Swiss regions), densely populated at the time, which saw unprecedented political unrest and experimentation with institutions, practices and types of registration. This area was marked by numerous efforts at, and some successes in, establishing collective governments, autonomous from the power of princes and lords. This branch of the Alps is characterised by an unparalleled abundance of exceptional sources for investigating this phenomenon: the records of council proceedings, which reported the local assemblies’ composition, debates, and decisions over time; the privileges and statutes, which shed light on the transactional relationship between communities and their lords; notarial and trial records, which document the more daily and quiet agency of ordinary inhabitants, including women. This rich corpus of sources, mostly scattered across more than a hundred local archives, offers an extraordinary insight into the Alpine inhabitants’ political ideals and practices, highlighting the various forms of collective action and participation in local affairs. To explore such a large and diverse region, DEMALPS adopts an interdisciplinary approach combining medieval history, digital humanities, diplomatics and archival science.
The project addresses several main questions. How did institutional politics evolve in mountain communities? Who could take part in decision making? What topics were at the centre of the communities’ attention? What constituted the fabric of political life, not only within councils, but also in daily conflicts and negotiations between denizens, and with superior authorities? How much of these practices were registered, and how? Finally, what were the specificities of mountain communities in the broader European context?
To answer these questions, the project provides innovative diplomatic and archival analysis of Alpine sources in comparative perspective. To this end, DEMALPS proposes to be the first native digital project specifically designed for collaborative work and sharing data in medieval history on this scale. All data (archival descriptions, pictures of documents, partial transcriptions, spatial and network visualizations) will be made publicly available online during and after the project. The hypothesis, case-studies and analytical research will also be made available on the website and on open-access platforms. Following the FAIR principles of digital humanities research (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), any researcher will be able to access and use the database, even after the end of the project.
DEMALPS thus aims to offer the scholarly community not only a new view of politics in late medieval Europe as they transformed into the modern institutions we know today, but also a research instrument to carry out further studies.
The project addresses several main questions. How did institutional politics evolve in mountain communities? Who could take part in decision making? What topics were at the centre of the communities’ attention? What constituted the fabric of political life, not only within councils, but also in daily conflicts and negotiations between denizens, and with superior authorities? How much of these practices were registered, and how? Finally, what were the specificities of mountain communities in the broader European context?
To answer these questions, the project provides innovative diplomatic and archival analysis of Alpine sources in comparative perspective. To this end, DEMALPS proposes to be the first native digital project specifically designed for collaborative work and sharing data in medieval history on this scale. All data (archival descriptions, pictures of documents, partial transcriptions, spatial and network visualizations) will be made publicly available online during and after the project. The hypothesis, case-studies and analytical research will also be made available on the website and on open-access platforms. Following the FAIR principles of digital humanities research (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), any researcher will be able to access and use the database, even after the end of the project.
DEMALPS thus aims to offer the scholarly community not only a new view of politics in late medieval Europe as they transformed into the modern institutions we know today, but also a research instrument to carry out further studies.
During the first two years, the DEMALPS team has led dozens of visits to the archives, collective and individual analysis of the sources, technical reflections and trainings on the digital tools, while keeping up to date with former and current publications to build a comprehensive bibliography on the team’s Zotero database.
Members of the team have visited 39 communal and State archives (20 in France and 19 in Italy), to describe all medieval records, and take pictures of the sources relevant to the project online database (demalps.com). These pictures are stored in a collective cloud and are being progressively integrated to the database, to make them publicly available (in accordance with national rules on the non-profit use of archival material). In addition, a thorough review of all old and modern inventories has been made to target the next archives that seem the most promising. This comprehensive description is already available to the public in the Archive section of the database.
Records relevant to the project have been examined in detail, to collect information regarding political practices and ideals of Alpine communities: data concerning political participation (who took part in politics and with which roles), how assemblies and councils worked, the crucial topics under discussion and how they were eventually solved.
During collective seminars, the team designed the architecture of the online database and reflected upon the research tools which are being added to the website (geolocalization, spatial analysis, network analysis). An intensive stage of indexation of one type of document (deliberations) has provided us with a lot of feedback on the ways to enhance visualization and data construction - the collection and presentation of data is now stable. The framework for three more types of documents (charters, statutes, notarial contracts) is ready to be implemented. Finally, the team thoroughly reviewed all data and sections of the website to proceed with the opening of the database to the public, which is scheduled in early autumn.
Several members of the team have attended training sessions for various tools of digital social science: automated text recognition, Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, and various large corpus analysis techniques to deepen collective knowledge and start applying it to our research.
Reading seminars have been organized to discuss specific publications important to refine and enrich the main research questions, as well as source reading workshops useful to resolve palaeographic difficulties or to reflect on cases of interest on a more scientific point of view.
Members of the team have visited 39 communal and State archives (20 in France and 19 in Italy), to describe all medieval records, and take pictures of the sources relevant to the project online database (demalps.com). These pictures are stored in a collective cloud and are being progressively integrated to the database, to make them publicly available (in accordance with national rules on the non-profit use of archival material). In addition, a thorough review of all old and modern inventories has been made to target the next archives that seem the most promising. This comprehensive description is already available to the public in the Archive section of the database.
Records relevant to the project have been examined in detail, to collect information regarding political practices and ideals of Alpine communities: data concerning political participation (who took part in politics and with which roles), how assemblies and councils worked, the crucial topics under discussion and how they were eventually solved.
During collective seminars, the team designed the architecture of the online database and reflected upon the research tools which are being added to the website (geolocalization, spatial analysis, network analysis). An intensive stage of indexation of one type of document (deliberations) has provided us with a lot of feedback on the ways to enhance visualization and data construction - the collection and presentation of data is now stable. The framework for three more types of documents (charters, statutes, notarial contracts) is ready to be implemented. Finally, the team thoroughly reviewed all data and sections of the website to proceed with the opening of the database to the public, which is scheduled in early autumn.
Several members of the team have attended training sessions for various tools of digital social science: automated text recognition, Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, and various large corpus analysis techniques to deepen collective knowledge and start applying it to our research.
Reading seminars have been organized to discuss specific publications important to refine and enrich the main research questions, as well as source reading workshops useful to resolve palaeographic difficulties or to reflect on cases of interest on a more scientific point of view.
The most innovative result of the project in its earliest stages is represented by the project online application (demalps.com) which is much more than a simple database to collect and display data. The application successfully put in place unprecedented methodology. Soon open to the general public, the application makes it possible to carry out comparative research on a large scale, thanks to the collective contributions. In terms of methodology it offers an unparalleled example of a truly research-based database, in which historians are directly involved in building the interfaces structures.
One of the main impacts of the project so far has been to connect archives and documents which were scattered and, for some, very difficult to access, due to geographical or institutional reasons. The open-access publication of these documents will bridge the gap between researchers and citizens and these sources, providing at least a complete description of all the medieval documents kept in every archive relevant to the project. Furthermore, we can hope that the contacts made with archivists and local administrations will ease future relationships between these institutions and future researchers, and encourage the promotion and divulgation of these immensely rich collections. Partnerships and actions have already been started in that sense, for example with the Archives Départementales in Digne-les-Bains and the municipal archives of Elva. The first results of the project have been discussed in workshops and conferences, and are forthcoming in various journals and books. In particular, a special issue of the Annali dell’Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento-FBK is currently in press.
One of the main impacts of the project so far has been to connect archives and documents which were scattered and, for some, very difficult to access, due to geographical or institutional reasons. The open-access publication of these documents will bridge the gap between researchers and citizens and these sources, providing at least a complete description of all the medieval documents kept in every archive relevant to the project. Furthermore, we can hope that the contacts made with archivists and local administrations will ease future relationships between these institutions and future researchers, and encourage the promotion and divulgation of these immensely rich collections. Partnerships and actions have already been started in that sense, for example with the Archives Départementales in Digne-les-Bains and the municipal archives of Elva. The first results of the project have been discussed in workshops and conferences, and are forthcoming in various journals and books. In particular, a special issue of the Annali dell’Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento-FBK is currently in press.