Uncovering Patterns in Dissident Interactions Among Late Medieval German Waldensians Using Social Network Analysis




Välimäki, Reima; Zbíral, David

Matthew Hammond

2025

Social Network Analysis and Medieval History

Arc Companions

229

253

978-1-80270-128-9

978-1-80270-356-6

https://www.arc-humanities.org/9781802701289/social-network-analysis-and-medieval-history/

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/498483821



We use social network analysis to provide a comprehensive overview of the suspects, their social relations, kinship ties, and dissident interactions in the extant protocols from the Stettin inquisition against Waldensians in 1392-4. We provide a general description of the Waldensians appearing in the Stettin records: their places of residence, occupation, and age. We then proceed to consider the insights gained from network analysis. We explore whether the Waldensians interrogated in Stettin formed one connected component, or more components isolated from one another. We also compare the network positions of religious specialists (i.e. Brethren) vs. those of supporters (i.e. local Waldensians). Finally, we analyse the degree to which Brandenburg-Pomeranian Waldensianism was a local and familial phenomenon. In terms of network analysis, this means analysing how far different kinds of social closeness (kinship ties, same gender, and same place of residence) underpinned dissident interactions. Overall, the study provides an important contribution to historical network research, showing the potential of social network analysis to decide controversial questions in medieval studies. Through our analysis of homophily, we also stress that network analysis is not about centralities alone


The participation of David Zbíral (Masaryk University) in this study is a part of the “Dissident Networks Project” (DISSINET, https://dissinet.cz) that hasreceived funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 101000442). The participation of Reima Välimäki (University of Turku) in this study is a part of the “Causalities of Polemics and Persecution in Late Medieval Europe” (PERSECUTIO, https://sites.utu.fi/persecutio/), which is funded by the Research Council of Finland (Academy Fellowship 2023–2027, grant number 356086). The research was also supported by the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies.


Last updated on 2025-20-10 at 12:05