Project description
Redefining freedom through the history of wills
In late medieval and early modern Europe, testamentary law offers a valuable lens through which to examine the boundaries of personal freedom and legal authority. Between 1450 and 1620, the ability to dispose of property after death was shaped by complex social, familial and jurisdictional factors. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the TESTAMENT project brings together legal and social historians to study these dynamics, with particular attention to regions on the periphery of established academic traditions. By moving beyond rigid binaries of ‘freedom’ and ‘unfreedom’, the project aims to develop new conceptual frameworks and digital research tools. TESTAMENT also trains early-career researchers and promotes public engagement through digital archives, exhibitions and educational initiatives.
Objective
TESTAMENT, an interdisciplinary consortium of social and legal historians from the universities of Leuven, Kraków, Jena, Prague and
Warsaw, will study dynamics of freedom and 'unfreedom', of power and oppression, through the lens of testamentary law and
practice in Western and Central Europe (c. 1450-1620), with a particular focus on the regions in the 'periphery' of the late medieval
and early modern academic tradition. The project members will develop a language to transcend the traditional dichotomy between
'freedom' and 'unfreedom' and will single out criteria that can be used to situate specific cases on this continuum. On the basis of
thorough archival and doctrinal-historical research, the project will single out the family, policy, jurisdictional and jurisprudential
dynamics that determined the extent to which people could dispose of their goods post-mortally.
To this end, the consortium will train promising junior scholars into professional, critically-minded, communicative, cooperative and
digitally competent social and legal historians. The Ph.D. students will be integrated in a unique international network of scholars
from both law and social history. They will be trained in both disciplinary and transferable skills at summer and winter schools, at
monthly online seminars, through a secondment at another academic partner abroad and also through meaningful experiences in
collaboration with non-academic actors (especially archives and musea).
This project will open new scientific perspectives for research by using digital methods (especially HTR-tools) and will add new
unedited material to existing open access databases for further research. Through social media, blogposts, (online) exhibitions, course materials for secondary school teachers, interdisciplinary university seminars and presentations at alumni events, the consortium explicitly aims to introduce new approaches to the past through lesser-known historical documents to a wide range of audiences.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-DN - HORIZON TMA MSCA Doctoral Networks
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-DN-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 Leuven
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.