Communities of Dissent. Social Network Analysis of Religious Dissident Groups in Languedoc in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
[eng] This dissertation focuses on the application of the methods of Social Network Analysis to the study of religious dissident movements in late medieval Languedoc. The aim of the project is to analyse the community performance of late Cathars, and Beguins of Languedoc in order to identify and com...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2018 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/130518 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/130518 http://hdl.handle.net/10803/666284 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Història medieval Heretges Inquisidors Xarxes socials Medieval history Heretics Inquisitors Social networks |
| Sumario: | [eng] This dissertation focuses on the application of the methods of Social Network Analysis to the study of religious dissident movements in late medieval Languedoc. The aim of the project is to analyse the community performance of late Cathars, and Beguins of Languedoc in order to identify and compare organizational patterns and to reassess the participation of women in late medieval heresy. The study is based on a relational reading of inquisitorial sources, mainly registers and books of sentences. I argue that the relational nature of inquisitorial records makes them the ideal source not only for the study of social relationships within dissident religious movements but also for the application of formal network analysis methods. This approach stresses the need to consider the dissident community as encompassing both priestlike elites traditionally identified as the leadership of heretical groups and the social basis that shaped them and made them possible. Furthermore, as will be discussed, despite the current acknowledgement of the importance of female involvement in religious dissent, the fact that women were soon excluded from sacerdotal functions within some of these non- orthodox communities has fostered the underestimation of their contribution as brokers and, therefore, as key players within spiritual networks. The following pages will describe the different kinds of relations between actors that can be retrieved from the sources, as well as the role played by women in such relational structures. Acquaintanceship, family, and friendship ties are the most common, but the flows of information, beliefs, money, victuals, and relics have also been considered. In the case of women, the application of this methodology shows that they were central in sustaining dissident networks, but that this function was neither exclusive to them nor their sole purpose. Finally, I will propose that understanding the relational mechanisms that led new members to join the network—that is, to convert— contributes to the ongoing debate on the so-called “invention of heresy.” Thus, the social dimension of the flow of beliefs and spiritual practices leads to the conclusion that the networks that can be extracted from inquisitorial records were indeed social networks and not inquisitorial constructs, and that they provided the basis for the transmission of alternative religious cultures. |
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