Erasmus and the 16th Century ‚respublica literaria‘ Of Letters, Data and Networks Christoph Kudella 

Covered Topics  Erasmus and the Digital Republic of Letters  Overview: The Corpus of Erasmus‘ Correspondence  Data Capture and Model(ing)  Common Approaches to Analysis and Visualization o Statistical Representations o Spatial Representations o Network Representations  Extended and Multifaceted Data  Outlook: Intersecting Networks 

Overview: The Corpus of Erasmus‘ Correspondence 

Overview: The Corpus of Erasmus‘ Correspondence  In Numbers: o c. 3150 letters: c. 2000 written BY and c. 1150 written TO Erasmus o 202 Individual locations from which Erasmus and his correspondents wrote letters o 730 correspondents (incl. Erasmus): individuals, groups and institutions  Relevance as Historical Source o major source for all modern biographies of Erasmus o major source for research on all aspects of the „Northern Renaissance“ and the Reformation 

Data Capture and Model(ing) The Workflow and Common Pitfalls 

The Workflow – Step 1.1 Data Capture based on the most current edition o Letter No o Sender o Recipient o Source Location o Date of Dispatch 

The Workflow – Step 1.2  Intermediate Result: A Correspondence Spreadsheet era_letters_id cwe_ep_no cwe_volume sender_id recipient_id label_cwe send_date_annotation_cwe source_city_annotatio n_cwe era_cwe_142 142 2 Willem HERMANS Servatius ROGERUS Letter From Willem Hermans to Servatius Rogerus 1501? January 6 Haarlem era_cwe_143 143 2 Erasmus Antoon (I) van BERGEN Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Antoon van Bergen 1501, January 14 Paris era_cwe_144 144 2 Erasmus Nicholas de BURGUNDY Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Nicholas of Burgundy 1501, January 26 Paris era_cwe_145 145 2 Erasmus Anna van BORSSELE Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Anna van Borssele 1501, January 27 Paris era_cwe_146 146 2 Erasmus Jacob BATT Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Jacob Batt Paris 1501, January 27 Paris era_cwe_147 147 2 Erasmus ANTONIUS of Luxembourg Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Antonius of Luxembourg 1501, January 27 Paris era_cwe_148 148 2 Erasmus ANTONIUS of Luxembourg Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Antonius of Luxembourg 1501, February Paris era_cwe_149 149 2 Erasmus Antoon (I) van BERGEN Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Antoon van Bergen 1501, March 16? Paris? era_cwe_150 150 2 Erasmus ANTONIUS of Luxembourg Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Antonius of Luxembourg 1501, March 16 Paris era_cwe_151 151 2 Erasmus Jacob BATT Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Jacob Batt 1501, April 5 Paris 

The Workflow – Step 1.3  Pitfalls concerning the capturing of letters in general o Uncertainty/ambiguity relative to the  date of dispatch  source/target location  sender/recipient o Letters can have multiple senders o Letters can have multiple recipients = Obstacles for computation  Pitfalls concerning the capturing of the Erasmus corpus o Merging of two major editions (ALLEN and CWE) is necessary 

The Workflow – Step 1.4  Possible solutions for uncertainty/ambiguity relative to: o Date of dispatch  Introduction of a time frame for the date of dispatch: start/end = terminus post/ante quem o Source/target location  Introduction of region specific URI‘s for locations: e.g. unknown_nl or unknown_gb  Introduction of boolean operators, i.e. source location certain = y/n o Sender/recipient  Introduction of boolean operators, i.e. sender/recipient certain = y/n  One workaround for letters with multiple senders/recipients  Splitting of those letters into multiple letters with one sender/recipient and one unique letter ID but with the same letter_no 

The Workflow – Step 2.1  Creation of a list of correspondents correspondents_id type gender viaf_id name_in_coe cochlæus_johannes_viaf_4969350 individual male 4969350 Johannes COCHLAEUS cock_ludolf_viaf_unknown individual male unknown Ludolf COCK louvain_collegium_trilingue body male NULL [Collegium Trilingue] colet_john_viaf_34454805 individual male 34454805 John COLET cologne_nuns_of group male NULL [Nuns of Cologne] colster_abel_van_viaf_unknown individual male unknown Abel van COLSTER conti_prime_de'_viaf_unknown individual male unknown Primo de' CONTI copus_guilielmus_viaf_22249056 individual male 22249056 Guillaume COP coppin_nicolas_viaf_unknown individual male unknown Nicolas COPPIN cordus_euricius_viaf_122063278 individual male 122063278 Euricius CORDUS cornarius_janus_viaf_71422380 individual male 71422380 Janus CORNARIUS cornelis_of_bergen_viaf_unknown individual male unknown CORNELIS of Bergen (Ep 1562 of 26 March 1525) cornelissen_van_mierop_vincent_viaf_unknown individual male unknown Vincent CORNELISSEN van Mierop coronel_ludovicus_viaf_349420 individual male 349420 Luis Núñez CORONEL de_corte_pierre_viaf_14805099 individual male 14805099 Pieter de CORTE cortehoeven_dirk_viaf_8201663 individual male 8201663 Theodericus CORTEHOEVIUS 

The Workflow – Step 2.2  Pitfalls concerning the capturing of the correspondents o Pseudonyms/ name variations have to be resolved  E.g. Jan Robijns (Vol. 5 CWE) = Jan Robyns (Vol. 10 CWE) o ‚Status enhancements‘ have to be resolved  E.g. Giovanni de‘ Medici = future Pope Leo X  E.g. Prince Henry = future King Henry VIII 

The Workflow – Step 3.1  Creation of list of locations locations_id locations_name_ modern locations_name_cwe locations_name_allen locations_modern_state locations_modern_province locations_lat locations_lng locations_further_annotation mussy_sur_seine_FR Mussy Mussy NULL France Champagne-Ardenne 47.97939 4.498015 LL for Mussy-sur-Seine naples_IT Naples [Naples] Naples Italy Campania 40.8517746 14.2681244 NULL niederheimbach_DE Heimbach [Heimbach] Heimbach Germany North Rhine-Westphalia 50.0317727 7.8071772 for the identification with Niederheimbach see Allen VII, p. 530 FN noves_FR Noves Noves NULL France Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur 43.877232 4.902065 Error in ALLEN, who identifies this location as Chateauneuf conc. Ep. 1287 1288 - cf. CWE nozeroy_FR Nozeroy [Nozeroy] Nozeroy France Franche-Comté 46.775187 6.038639 NULL nunnery_lens_saint_croix_BE Lens St. Croix [Lens St. Croix] Lens St. Croix / Lens Sainte Croix Belgium Walloon Region 50.5187153 5.2396656 LL for Huy nürnberg_DE Nürnberg Nürnberg Nuremberg Germany Bavaria 49.45203 11.07675 NULL orléans_FR Orléans Orléans NULL France Centre 47.902964 1.909251 NULL otford_UK Otford Otford NULL United Kingdom Kent 51.311376 0.189816 NULL ottobeuren_DE Ottobeuren Ottobeuren NULL Germany Bavaria 47.941043 10.3006937 NULL oxford_UK Oxford Oxford NULL United Kingdom Oxfordshire 51.751724 -1.255285 NULL padua_IT Padua Padua Padoa Italy Veneto 45.4064349 11.8767611 NULL palencia_ES Palencia Palencia Palencia Spain Castille and León 42.0124584 -4.5311748 NULL paris_FR Paris Paris NULL France Île-de-France 48.856614 2.3522219 NULL passau_DE Passau Passau NULL Germany Bavaria 48.5667364 13.4319466 NULL pavia_IT Pavia [Pavia] Pavia Italy Lombardy 45.1847248 9.1582069 NULL piotrków _trybunalski_PL Piotrkow [Piotrkow] Piotrkow Poland Łódź Voivodeship 51.4051721 19.7030244 NULL porrentruy_CH Porrentruy Porrentruy NULL Switzerland Jura 47.4173938 7.0752875 NULL prague_CZ Prague Prague NULL Czech Republic Hlavní Mesto Praha 50.0755381 14.4378005 NULL regensburg_DE Regensburg [Regensburg] Ratisbon Germany Bavaria 49.0145423 12.1008559 NULL 

The Workflow – Step 3.2  Replacement of the raw entries for Sender, Recipient, Locations with URI‘s letters_id letters_no_ cwe in_volume _cwe first_page_ cwe letters_no_ allen in_volume _allen first_page_ allen letters_no_ brussels in_volume _brussels first_page_ brussels sender_id recipient_i d sender_ce rtain recipient_ certain label_cwe label_alle n label_brus sels send_date _year_start send_date _month_st art send_date _day_start send_date _start_com putable send_date _year_end send_date _month_en d send_date _day_end send_date _end_com putable send_date _annotatio n_cwe send_date _annotatio n_allen send_date _annotatio n_brussels source_loc _id source_loc _certain source_loc _annotatio n_cwe source_loc _annotatio n_allen source_loc _annotatio n_brussels target_loc _id target_loc _certain target_loc _annotatio n_and_ref letter_hea der_cwe letter_hea der_allen letter_hea der_brusse ls letter_lang uage letter_type _genus letter_type_x_to_x further_annot ation F 96 1 189 96 1 NULL NULL NULL NULL andrelini_ publio_fau sto_viaf_32 016421 erasmus_d esiderius_v iaf_876739 96 1 1 Letter From Fausto Andrelini To Erasmus of Rotterdam From and to Faustus Andrelinus . NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499?, May NULL NULL paris_FR 1 Paris NULL NULL unknown_ XX 0 NULL NULL NULL NULL latin familiar letter letter_1_to_1 NULL era_cwe_ 97 97 1 189 97 1 NULL NULL NULL NULL erasmus_d esiderius_v iaf_876739 96 andrelini_ publio_fau sto_viaf_32 016421 1 1 Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Fausto Andrelini From and to Faustus Andrelinus . NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499?, May NULL NULL paris_FR 1 Paris NULL NULL unknown_ XX 0 NULL NULL NULL NULL latin familiar letter letter_1_to_1 NULL era_cwe_ 98 98 1 189 98 1 NULL NULL NULL NULL andrelini_ publio_fau sto_viaf_32 016421 erasmus_d esiderius_v iaf_876739 96 1 1 Letter From Fausto Andrelini To Erasmus of Rotterdam From and to Faustus Andrelinus . NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499?, May NULL NULL paris_FR 1 Paris NULL NULL unknown_ XX 0 NULL NULL NULL NULL latin familiar letter letter_1_to_1 NULL era_cwe_ 99 99 1 189 99 1 NULL NULL NULL NULL erasmus_d esiderius_v iaf_876739 96 andrelini_ publio_fau sto_viaf_32 016421 1 1 Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Fausto Andrelini From and to Faustus Andrelinus . NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499?, May NULL NULL paris_FR 1 Paris NULL NULL unknown_ XX 0 NULL NULL NULL NULL latin familiar letter letter_1_to_1 NULL era_cwe_ 100 100 1 190 100 1 NULL NULL NULL NULL andrelini_ publio_fau sto_viaf_32 016421 erasmus_d esiderius_v iaf_876739 96 1 1 Letter From Fausto Andrelini To Erasmus of Rotterdam From and to Faustus Andrelinus . NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499?, May NULL NULL paris_FR 1 Paris NULL NULL unknown_ XX 0 NULL NULL NULL NULL latin familiar letter letter_1_to_1 NULL era_cwe_ 101 101 1 190 101 1 NULL NULL NULL NULL erasmus_d esiderius_v iaf_876739 96 batt_jaco b_viaf_unk nown 1 1 Letter From Erasmus of Rotterdam To Jacob Batt To James Batt. NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499 05 NULL NULL 1499, May NULL NULL paris_FR 1 Paris NULL NULL unknown_ XX 0 NULL NULL NULL NULL latin familiar letter letter_1_to_1 NULL 

The Workflow – Step 3.3  Creation of a basic Relational Database 

The Workflow – Step 4  Creation of a web-interface for queries and data visualization 

Common Approaches to Analysis and Visualisation Statistics – Maps – Networks 

Common Approaches to Analysis and Visualization  Statistical Representations o per year (in total) o per location (in total / per year) o per correspondent (in total / per location / per year) o etc  Geospatial Representation • per location • per correspondent • etc  Network Representations o static o dynamic 

Breakdown: No of letters per year 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 1484 1485 1486 1487 1488 1489 1490 1491 1492 1493 1494 1495 1496 1497 1498 1499 1500 1501 1502 1503 1504 1505 1506 1507 1508 1509 1510 1511 1512 1513 1514 1515 1516 1517 1518 1519 1520 1521 1522 1523 1524 1525 1526 1527 1528 1529 1530 1531 1532 1533 1534 1535 1536 Erasmus as Sender Erasmus as Recipient 

Breakdown: Top Recipients of Erasmus 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 No Letters FROM Erasmus No Letters TO Erasmus 

Spatial Representation: Locations from where Erasmus has sent letters 

Spatial Representation: Locations from where Erasmus has recieved letters 

Spatial Representation: Overlay 

Static Network Representation  Egocentric Network o Represents the epistolary connections of Erasmus to his correspondents o No of letters = edge weight  Usage of SNA Metric? o At this stage not constructive  Capturing of the whole network? o Not feasible within a fixed timeframe o Disparate historical tradition 

Shortcomings of these Approaches -1  Disregard for the dynamic evolution of correspondence networks in time and space  Example Question concerning time: How did the network evolve within certain time-frames with regard to (1) the no of correspondents involved? (2) the frequency of epistolary exchange? (3) the quantity of letters exchanged in total / per individual exchange? 

Shortcomings of these Approaches - 2  Example Questions concerning space: (1) Which geographical space does the correspondence network encompass within certain time frames with regard to the individual locations from which Erasmus sends and/or recieves letters? (1) How did a change of residency by Erasmus impact the composition of his correspondence network within a certain time frame? 

Example: Erasmus Correspondence Network until his first trip to England  In Numbers:  99 letters in total concerning the proper correspondence (85 by Erasmus and 14 to Erasmus)  5 letters E‘s correspondents exchangend with one another  Erasmus wrote from 7 different locations – he recieved letters from 3 different locations 

Statistical Representation: No of Letters per Year 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 1484 1485 1486 1487 1488 1489 1490 1491 1492 1493 1494 1495 1496 1497 1498 1499 No of letters sent BY Erasmus No of letters sent TO Erasmus 

Statistical Representation: No of Letters per Location 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Antwerpen Brussels Gouda Halsterne Paris Steyn Tournehem Lopsen No of letters written BY Erasmus No of letters written to Erasmus 

Geospatial Representation 

Static Network Representation 

Dynamic Network Representation 

Extended and Multifaceted Data How to explore further 

Extended and Multifaceted Data - 1.1  Capturing additional relational data about the correspondents, e.g. o kinship o teacher—pupil relationships o Professional/mercantile relationships o patronage o personal encounters o etc  Capturing additional attribute data (essentially prosopographic), e.g. o education o academic degrees o ecclesiastical status o social Origin/Standing o socio-professional role o etc 

Extended and Multifaceted Data - 1.2  The additional relational data can be connected to temporal and spatial data: o Example: A personal encounter takes place at 1-n location(s), involves 2-n individuals and is situated at a specific point in time / within a time frame.  This also applies to additional attribute data o Example: The education of an individual takes place at 1-n locations (usually within an institution located there) and is situated at a specific point in time / within a time frame.  Why we need such dynamic data: o Example: A static classification of the socio-professional role of Giovanni de‘ Medici as ‚pope‘ can be misleading and distort computations under specific circumstances. o Antoon van Bergen, one of Erasmus correspondents, writes in 1501 a letter to G. de‘ Medici whose socio-professional role at this point is not yet ‚pope‘ but ‚cardinal‘. If we were to compute the socio-professional stratification of the correspondents then the underlying data has to reflect the attributes for a given point in time / within a time frame. 

Extended and Multifaceted Data - 1.3  Questions that can be answered through the inclusion of dynamic data: o When did two correspondents reside in the same location? o What places did individual correspondents visit during travels? o How were correspondents related to one another? o Which correspondents had a teacher—pupil relationship to one another? o When did a specific socio-professional group first engage in epistolary exchange with Erasmus or vice versa? o Was there a specific time frame in which a socio-professional group was dominant? 

Extended and multifaceted Data - 2.1  Capturing meta data on the content of the individual letters, i.e.: o Mentioned Persons o Mentioned Institutions o Mentioned Works o [Mentioned Events]  Research Advantages: o To understand not only who ‚talked‘ to whom, but also ABOUT WHAT  Example Questions: o With whom did Erasmus discuss his work „Institutio Principis Christiani“? o Which other persons or works got mentioned during this discussion? o In which timeframe did this discussion take place? 

Extended and multifaceted Data - 2.2  One possible approach: Reverse engineering of Indices: mentioned_works sub_keyword allen_letter_id allen_volume_and_page Institutio Principis Christiani, 1st ed., Basle, Froben, 1516 393, 853 I. 19(24), 39, 44, 65; III. 77n., 79, 161n., 491n.; V. 504 E. on his audacity in II. 254 given (?) to Antony of Bergen jun. III. 197 Colet on II. 257 Cop has not yet seen II. 449, 483 and Ferdinand of Austria III. 352, 536; IV. 57 Froben requests copy for reprinting III. 255 German II. 416n. in press II. 236, 240 printing complete II. 250 in progress II. 78, 93 (but see II. 205n.) on point of publication II. 248 purpose II. 93 reprinted III. 424 

Outlook: Intersecting Networks Piecing the16th century Republic of Letters back together 

Intersecting Networks: Erasmus and Jakob Wimpfeling Erasmus Wimpfeling No of letters 3136 381 No of correspondents 730 179 No of locations 202 37  Intersections: o 32 mutual correspondents o 24 shared locations 

Spatial Representation: Comparing Erasmus and Wimpfeling