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DiDip at the International Medieval Congress (Leeds, 2025)

At the International Medieval Congress (IMC) 2025 in Leeds, we organized a series of three sessions on the first day under the thematic umbrella “From Digital to Distant Diplomatics”. The sessions aimed to showcase how cutting-edge computational methods are transforming the study of pre-modern ‘worlds of learning’. The presentations collectively demonstrated a clear trend away from simple digitization towards large-scale, data-driven analysis, enabling researchers to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and foster a more holistic understanding of medieval knowledge transmission.


The first session, “Digital Methods for Historical Research,” focused on the foundational tools and models for analyzing medieval charters. It began with VIRGILE REIGNIER (Paris), who presented an extension of the CEI2TEI data model. He argued that robust data modeling is crucial for efficiently tagging and exploiting the rich diplomatic and historical information contained within charters, thereby enhancing digital diplomatic analysis. Following this, MICHELA GALLI (Rome) showcased the practical application of Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) on a Parisian cartulary. Her study demonstrated not only the potential of HTR for transcribing complex collaborative manuscripts but also how extracted data can be visualized with tools like Tableau to investigate an institution’s historical and social networks. ŽARKO VUJOŠEVIĆ (Graz) then shifted the focus to the spatial dimensions of document production in 14th-century Serbia. By creating a GIS-based map, he visualized the relationships between document issuers, scribes, and recipients, effectively illustrating the decentralized “charter networks” that existed outside of a formal chancery. Finally, JOHANNES LAROCHE (Graz) applied network analysis to the documentary evidence from the late medieval Austrian towns of Krems and Stein. His paper traced the evolution of ‘scribal centers’ and mapped the connections between various actors, shedding light on the spread of literacy within a complex urban society.


The second session, “Computational Linguistics and Text Analysis,” explored how linguistic patterns can reveal cultural and administrative connections. MANEX AGUIRREZABAL ZABALETA (Copenhagen) opened the panel by investigating multilingualism in medieval prayer books. Using a simple probabilistic model based on character trigrams, he proposed a method of language recognition to determine whether Danish prayer books were translated directly from Latin or through a Middle Low German intermediary. Next, NOÉ LEROY (Paris) explained how stylometric visualization can be used to compare the outputs of entire chanceries. He argued that despite the formulaic nature of charters, stylistic proximity between institutions can serve as a strong indicator for the circulation of scribes and administrative practices, using the chancery of Liège as a case study. FRANZISKA DECKER (Graz) demonstrated the power of Named Entity Recognition (NER) combined with network analysis on a large corpus of notarial charters. By automatically extracting individuals and visualizing their connections, her project aims to identify the specific communities and social tendencies that influenced why clients chose particular notaries. The session concluded with MICHAEL GERVERS (Toronto), who used network analysis to measure the semantic shifts in Anglo-Saxon legal vocabulary after the Norman Conquest. By examining how the relationships between words and phrases in charters changed over time, his work quantifies the transformative impact of the Conquest on England’s administrative culture.


The final session, “Manuscript Studies and Digital Preservation,” bridged the gap between traditional codicology and new digital technologies. ANTONELLA AMBROSIO (Naples) and ANGUELOS NICOLAOU (Graz) presented an interdisciplinary study of writing practices in a 15th-century female monastery in Naples. Their research integrates traditional paleography with Computer Vision and digital editing to overcome challenges like anonymous hands and delegated writing, offering a deeper understanding of female literacy. VLADIMIR POLOMAC (Kragujevac) then detailed the process of creating a bespoke HTR model for Serbian medieval charters written in semiuncial and cursive Cyrillic. He emphasized that such a model, developed using the Transkribus platform, is vital for accelerating the creation of digital editions and a historical corpus of the Serbian language. Concluding the session, AGNES BOUTREUX (Toronto) discussed the development of the open-source eScriptorium platform. Co-authored with Michael Gervers and Avery Manton, the paper highlighted their project’s efforts to train HTR software to handle the specific challenges of medieval Latin script, such as complex abbreviations and inconsistent hands, thereby contributing to more accurate and accessible HTR technology for all scholars.


In summary, the three sessions provided a comprehensive overview of the current state and future direction of digital diplomatics. The presentations consistently demonstrated that by creatively applying a diverse toolkit—including HTR, NER, GIS, and network analysis—scholars can ask new questions and uncover complex patterns of social, administrative, and cultural exchange that were previously invisible. The day’s discussions underscored a decisive shift from simply creating digital surrogates to performing true “distant reading” of medieval sources, fulfilling the promise of a more interconnected and data-rich approach to historical research.


Session Overview:

Organizers: Tamás Kovács & Georg Vogeler (Institut für Digitale Geisteswissenschaften, Universität Graz)

From Digital to Distant Diplomatics, I: Digital Methods for Historical Research

Moderator: Daniel Luger

  • 138-a – Virgile Reignier (École Nationale des Chartes, Paris): Data Modelling for Medieval Charters: Extending CEI2TEI for Enhanced Digital Diplomatic Analysis
  • 138-b – Michela Galli (Sapienza Università di Roma): HTR Analysis of Cartulary LL 387: Insights and Visualisation
  • 138-c – Žarko Vujošević (Universität Graz): Mapping the Diplomatic Production of Serbia in the 14th Century
  • 138-d – Johannes Laroche (Universität Graz): Distribution of Documentary Evidence in the Late Medieval Small Town of Krems/Stein, Austria

From Digital to Distant Diplomatics, II: Computational Linguistics and Text Analysis
Moderator: Georg Vogeler

  • 238-a – Manex Aguirrezabal Zabaleta (Københavns Universitet): When Danes Prayed in German
  • 238-b – Noé Leroy (École Nationale des Chartes, Paris): Stylometric Visualisation of the Medieval Chancery of Liège
  • 238-c – Franziska Decker (Universität Graz): Named Entity Recognition and Network Analysis on Clients of Late Medieval Notaries
  • 238-d – Michael Gervers (University of Toronto, Scarborough): The Norman Conquest of 1066 Was a Transformative Event

From Digital to Distant Diplomatics, III: Manuscript Studies and Digital Preservation
Moderator: Adam Zapała

  • 338-a – Antonella Ambrosio (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) and Anguelos Nicolaou (Universität Graz): Learning to Write in Medieval Female Monasteries: An Interdisciplinary Study of SS. Pietro e Sebastiano in Naples, Italy
  • 338-b – Vladimir Polomac (University of Kragujevac, Serbia): Creating a Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) Model for Serbian Medieval Charters and Letters
  • 338-c – Agnes Boutreux (University of Toronto): Development of the Handwritten Text Recognition Software eScriptorium

OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Tamás Kovács (July 22, 2025). DiDip at the International Medieval Congress (Leeds, 2025). DiDip. Retrieved March 7, 2026 from https://didip.hypotheses.org/3611


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