Category: News

Using language modeling and the information-theoretic concept of perplexity, Friederike, Gleb, and Sven explore the influence of the Bible on early medieval canon law. We demonstrate that calculating perplexity of a corpus of canon law under a language model trained exclusively on Scripture can serve as a reliable proxy for accessing the overall linguistic similarity—stylistic, semantic, and syntactic—of canon law to the Bible. Our paper, presented at the conference on Computational Humanities Research 2025 (Luxembourg), presents the measured “biblicality” of various canon law texts, explores its chronological development, and delves into the linguistic and stylistic meaning of higher or lower “biblicality” by observing correlations between perplexity under the biblical language model and various linguistic features of canon law texts, which can be extracted from rich morpho-styntactic annotation. We hypothesise that changes in the levels of “biblicality”, clearly observable across the chronological subdivisions of the corpus, suggest that the imitation of scriptural language may have been a deliberate strategy reflecting evolving views on the role and place of Scripture in legislation. Further research is needed to trace in more detail the connection between the authoritative status of canon law collections and the use of the Bible.

The ‘Maison du Savoir’ of the University of Luxembourg, venue of CHR 2025

In the words of Kriston Rennie, canon law is a genre that intersects ‘with every aspect of medieval life and society’. This is illustrated by the fact that canonical works, in all their shapes and sizes, are often found in manuscripts that contain a variety of different texts. A study into the canonical tract, known as De ratione matrimonii (On the Nature of Marriage), led the SOLEMNE team to Vatican, Pal. lat. 973, a ‘multi-text manuscript’ in optima forma. Here, this normative text mingles with a plethora of other works, including several minuscule texts, which – despite being contextually extraneous – provide context and nuance to the medieval reception of canon law. This November, Sven was invited by Prof. Ildar Garipzanov and the MINiTEXTS project to present some of our findings in Oslo. This presented a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the important work done by the MINiTEXTS project members.

Last folio of the manuscript Vatican, Pal. lat. 973

The work on this edition started long before the SOLEMNE project saw the light, but since the text under consideration (the ‘Collection in 400 chapters‘) is relevant to the project, its publication after many years deserves mention here.

Although the Collectio 400 capitulorum is a so-called systematic collection, eminent scholars of canon law commented on its lack of structure. Even ‘with the best will in the world’, the collection’s system eluded them. Despite its flaws, however, there is evidence that the collection gained some popularity in the ninth century, apparently providing the basis for the Poenitentiale Martenianum, directly or indirectly influencing Hrabanus Maurus and Benedictus Levita. The ninth-century appreciation is understandable, for, as one of the many products of the vigorous canonical activity of the eighth and ninth centuries, the Collectio 400 capitulorum impresses in its handling of the canonical material as well as the breadth of sources and the topics covered.

This book constitutes the first in-depth study of this intriguing canonical collection, with a detailed description of the extant manuscript witnesses, its sources, and its influence. The critical edition offers scholars of the early Middle Ages in general and canon law in particular access to an instructive, if unpolished, product of Carolingian legal thought.

The book has now materialised (both as an actual book and an ebook) and is available for order on the website of the Catholic University of America Press, and at your local bookstore.

The SOLEMNE project has organised two sessions at this year’s IMC at Leeds, under the heading ‘States of Excerption’ (nos. 224 and 324).

In the (early) Middle Ages, learning meant collecting: the extant manuscript witnesses are filled with medieval collections made up of texts taken from (excerpts of) earlier works. These building blocks not seldom derive from texts of different genres and the resulting collection also often defies neat classification into genres. The picture becomes even more interesting when collections themselves are excerpted and their parts are used in ‘derivative’ collections.

Organised by SOLEMNE’s Gideon de Jong, and moderated by Catherine Cubitt (School of History & Art History, University of East Anglia), session 224 includes four papers addressing this theme.

• ‘Quales debeant esse pastores’: Moral Guidance for Preaching Monks
  Matthieu van der Meer, Syracuse University, New York
• An Early Medieval Epigraphic Sylloge as an Intentional Collection
  Seán Stewart, University of Toronto
• Patchworking the Truth: Some Aspects of Pseudo-Isidorius’ Textual Method of Excerpting Auctoritates
  Kristina Mitalaité, Lietuvos Kultūros Tyrimų Institutas, Vilnius
• ‘Hac pauperrima excerptione’, or, an Intellectual Powerhouse Disguised as a ‘Little Work’: The Case of the Collectio canonum quadripartitus
  Bruno Schalekamp, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen

In session 324, three speakers explore various ways in which digital research methods help us deal with excerptions and collections on their own terms.

• Formulae of Authority
  Gleb Schmitt, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen
• Mapping Rhetoric: A Digital Reappraisal of Synagoga and Ecclesia in Late Antiquity
  Celis Tittse, Universiteit Utrecht
• Vectorising the Fathers: Using Digital Methods to Explore the Reception of Patristic Exegesis
  Sven Meeder, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen

SOLEMNE’s Gideon de Jong speaks on Shifting Civic Identity in the Legal Disputes about Curial Duties in session 1123, while Jan van Doren discusses Something Fishy: Garum in Food and Medicine in the Early Middle Ages in session 514.

Following the conference, the recorded SOLEMNE sessions will be available to registered attendees for some time here and here.

The second postdoc position within the project has been advertised! We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher who will contribute to the main objectives of the project. Are you our new team member?

Studying the rich textual source material and its reception in different social and cultural contexts, you will investigate the ways in which developing social norms and values are manifested in the changes of particularly unstable texts, characterised by numerous ‘recensions’, variant readings and ‘contaminations’. You will use the project’s dataset, as well as contribute research results to it. Your findings should be presented in at least three major articles in international scientific journals, and you are also expected to contribute to wider communication of the project’s results. Furthermore, you will cooperate closely with all other subprojects and participate in the project’s programme of meetings as a speaker and organiser.

Profile

• You should hold a PhD degree in Late Antique, Medieval or Legal History (or a related field). If you have not yet completed your PhD, please submit a statement from your supervisor confirming that the degree will be obtained by the time of appointment.
• You have excellent research skills in relation to your career stage, clear descriptive and analytical abilities, and experience with palaeography, manuscript studies and the study of canon law.
• You have affinity with Digital Humanities and are willing to acquire or expand your digital skillset. Familiarity with exploratory data analysis would be an advantage.
• You must have excellent competence in English and Latin and a passive knowledge of the relevant modern languages. You are an independent thinker, ready to engage in interdisciplinary research, bridging philology, manuscript studies and social history.
• You have a strong willingness to work collaboratively in an international research team and you are able to adopt a leadership role.

To apply (and find more details) please go to the Radboud jobs website.

The first days of 2024 were dedicated to the opening workshop of the SOLEMNE project. In the intimate setting of Heyendael House on the Radboud University Campus, a group of specialists working with early medieval normative sources and digital datasets gathered to share lessons learned and future ambitions.

Inspiring examples of the combination of early medieval sources and digital humanities were presented by Sören Kaschke (Capitularia project), Abigail Firey (Carolingian Canon Law project), Helena Geitz (Burchards Dekret Digital project), Danica Summerlin and Christof Rolker (Clavis canonum project), Shari Boodts and Gleb Schmidt (PASSIM project). The current state of research on the technical side of digital datasets was presented by Arjen de Vries (Radboud Institute for Computing and Information Sciences). The meetings produced a lot of food for thought. The conversations will undoubtedly continue in the years to come.