Bibliotheca Digitalis. Reconstitution of Early Modern Cultural Networks. From Primary Source to Data. DARIAH / Biblissima Summer School, 4-8 July 2017, Le Mans, France. 2nd day, July 5th – Establishing Prosopographical data. Prosopographical data and Cultural networks in the Early Modern Europe. Aurélien Ruellet – Early Modern History Lecturer, University of Maine, Le Mans. Abstract: https://bvh.hypotheses.org/3310#conf-ARuellet

1. Bibliotheca Digitalis
Reconstitution of Early Modern Cultural Networks
From Primary Source to Data
DARIAH / Biblissima Summer School
Le Mans, 4-8 July 2017
Prosopographical data & Cultural
networks in the Early Modern Europe
2nd day, July 5th – Establishing Prosopographical data
Aurélien Ruellet
Early Modern History Lecturer,
University of Maine, Le Mans

2. Aurélien Ruellet
(Le Mans University)
Bibliotheca Digitalis Summer School, July 4‐8, 2017, Le Mans
Biblissima / Humanities at Scale

3.  1. Prosopogaphy & social network analysis
 2. The « relational turn »
 3. Assessing the soundness of prosopographical data
 4. Working with heterogeneous data
 5. Making sense of the place
 6. Dealing with epistolary networks
 7. EMLO: a major achievement
 8. Conclusion

4.  ‘prosopography’ is derived from the Greek ‘prosôpôn‐graphia’ ´(προσπων‐
γραφα), from ‘(to) prosôpon’ and ‘graphia’.
 Prosôpon’ is derived from ‘proshoraô’ (πρφοσ‐ρω: to behold) and literally
means ‘face’, ‘that which is beheld’ ; ‘Graphia’ means ‘description’.
 prosopography is the ‘description of
external/material individual characteristics.

5.  ‘prosopography’ is derived from the Greek ‘prosôpôn‐graphia’ ´(προσπων‐
γραφα), from ‘(to) prosôpon’ and ‘graphia’.
 Prosôpon’ is derived from ‘proshoraô’ (πρφοσ‐ρω: to behold) and literally
means ‘face’, ‘that which is beheld’ ; ‘Graphia’ means ‘description’.
 prosopography is the ‘description of
external/material individual characteristics.
“Prosopography is the investigation of the common background characteristics of a
group of actors in history by means of a collective study of their lives. The method
employed is to establish a universe to be studied, and then to ask a set of uniform
questions – about birth and death, marriage and family, social origins and
inherited economic position, place of residence, education, amount and source of
personal wealth, occupation, religion, experience of office, and so on”.
Lawrence Stone, “Prosopography”, Daedalus, Vol. 100, No. 1, Historical Studies Today (Winter, 1971), pp. 46‐79.

6. Set of metrics & specific
vocabulary coming from
graphs theory.
Clusters
Density
Connectivity
Centrality…
From the founding fathers
Simmel and Durkheim to
the computerized
formalization in the 80s
Ronald Burt:
‐Toward a Structural Theory
of Action: Network Models of
Social Structure, Perception,
and Action. (1982).
‐Structure Software

7. Common broad theoretical grounds:
‐At odds with an atomized view of society (market
models theory) where individuals are not reacting to
specific ties but to a whole and separate context using a
radical free agency.
‐ at odds as well with radically structuralist models were
people automatically follow patterns of behaviour
according to their position in society.
‐ Both prosopography and SNA go beyond the agency vs
structure debate and agree loosely on the meso‐social
level as the best way to observe social phenomena.

9. A few common assumptions:
‐Social networks exist and
constitute a ressource for action
and a « social capital » which can
used by individual to foster their
position
‐ Individuals are consciously
networking to increase this « social
capital »
‐ Networking can challenge social
boundaries and traditional
hierarchies

10.  Thinking in terms of « social network » could flatten
the social interactions: all relationships in Facebook
are labelled « friendship » in an undiscriminating way.
 Contentious to historians, especially those dealing
with early modern period:
‐ Data sometimes too fragmentary to go through
formalization process
‐ Challenges the commonly held narrative about early
modern societies: organicist view of society, with
strong bounds of solidarity, communal ideal, etc.

14. Michel Popoff, Prosopographie des gens
du Parlement de Paris (1266‐1753), Paris,
Le Léopard d’Or, 1996.
Formal institutions specially suit prosopography…

15. Abraham Tessereau, Histoire chronologique de la grande
chancellerie
The Grande Chancellerie

16. Michael Hunter, « The social basis and changing fortunes of an early scientific institution:
an analysis of the membership of the Royal Society”, 1660‐1685, NRRSL, 1976, 31, pp. 9‐114.
The Royal society

17. David J. Sturdy, Science and Social Status: The Members of the Academie Des Sciences
1666‐1750, Woodbridge, the Boydell Press, 1995.
Académie des Sciences de Paris

18.  HENRY ROGERS an eminent Theologist of his time, a Ministers Son, and a Herefordshire man by
birth, was admitted scholar of Jesus Coll. in 1602 aged 18 years, took the degrees in Arts, holy orders,
and soon after was cried up for a noted preacher. At length being made Vicar of Dorston in his own
Country, and Residentiary of the Cath. Ch. of Hereford, he proceeded in Divinity. This person having
several years before fallen into the acquaintance of a Yorkshire man named John Perse alias Fisher a
Jesuit, with whom he several times had disputes, the said Fisher did at length without Rogers his
consent publish certain matters that had passed between them: whereupon our Author Rogers put
out a book entit.
 An answer to Mr. Fisher the Jesuit his five propositions concerning Luther, with some passages by way
of dialogue between Mr. Rogers and Mr. Fisher‐‐‐printed 1623. qu. to which is annex'd Mr. W. C. his
dialogue concerning this question, Where was the Church before Luther? discovering Fisher's folly.
Afterwards came out a Reply by Fisher or some other Rom. Cath. which made our Author Rogers to
publish,
 The protestant Church existent, and their faith professed in all ages and by whom. Lond. 1638. qu. To
which is added A catalogue of Counsels in all ages who professed the same. [Note: Clar. 1641. ] What
other things he hath written or published I cannot tell, nor any thing else of him, only that, as his Son
in Law hath told me by Letters, he was buried under the Parsons seat in the Church of Wellington
about four miles distant from the City of Hereford, but when, he added not, or that he was beneficed
there. Yet that he died in the time of the civil War, or Usurpation, those of his acquaintance have
informed me.
 Wood, Anthony à, Athenae Oxonienses an exact history of all the writers
and bishops who have had their education in the most ancient and famous
University of Oxford, 1692.
Universities’ biographical catalogs

19. What about unformal institutions ?

20. What about unformal institutions ?
‐ Republic of letters
‐ unformal academies (sodalitates,
gatherings…)
‐ specialized cultural fields
(« (al)chemists »)

21. What about unformal institutions ?
‐ Republic of letters
‐ unformal academies (sodalitates,
gatherings…)
‐ specialized cultural fields
(« (al)chemists »)
‐ No list of members
‐ Boundaries not precisely
defined
‐ membership always
contentious

22.  1. Dates
 2. Father
 3. Nationality
 4. Education
 5. Religion
 6. Scientific Disciplines
 7. Means of Support
 8. Patronage
 9. Technological Involvement
 10. Scientific Societies
‐A web‐hosted catalogue of 16th and 17th century scientists
compiled in 1995 by Richard W. Westfall
‐ 631 detailed biographies built mainly from secondary
sources and reference tools (Oxford DNB, Dictionary of
scientific biographies, etc.)
‐ 10 categories

23.  1. Dates
 2. Father
 3. Nationality
 4. Education
 5. Religion
 6. Scientific Disciplines
 7. Means of Support
 8. Patronage
 9. Technological Involvement
 10. Scientific Societies
…More or less all contentious
‐A web‐hosted catalogue of 16th and 17th century scientists
compiled in 1995 by Richard W. Westfall
‐ 631 detailed biographies built mainly from secondary
sources and reference tools (Oxford DNB, Dictionary of
scientific biographies, etc.)
‐ 10 categories

25.  A forerunner in the use of prosopographical data in history
of culture
 The goal: investigate shift in vocational interest to highlight
the expanding interest in scientific endeavours in 17th
century
 Method: a sampling prosopography based on « the least
objectionable source »  the Dictionary of National
Biography.
 Records « doubtful instances », consults other materials
 Raise of science as vocational occupation ; rising prestige of
medicine ; relative decline of arts
 Movement backed by the increasingly popular puritan
values  tendency investigated by the following chapters.
so‐called « Merton Thesis ».
Whatever works…

26.  « On the basis of the foregoing study, it may
not be too much to conclude that the
cultural soil of seventeenth‐century England
was peculiarly fertile for the growth and
spread of science »

27.  « On the basis of the foregoing study, it may
not be too much to conclude that the
cultural soil of seventeenth‐century England
was peculiarly fertile for the growth and
spread of science »
Prosopographical data may be difficult to
consolidate. Focus on links and relationships might
be equally fragile…

28.  The case of book dedications
William Oughtred, The circles of proportion
and the horizontall instrument, London,
Thomas Allen, 1632.

29. Franklin B. Williams, Index of dedications and commendatory verses in English
books before 1641, London, Bibliographical Society, 1962.
A wealth of information regarding patronage
networks ?

30.  Numerous dedications « To the King », « to the
Queen » with general discourse  mere prefatory
devices ?
 Parodic / aggressive dedications
 I know no one so worthy of (so fit for) this my dedication, as your self ; it is the usual way of those that make books, to
chose a Patron that doth affect the Subject, but contrary to that custom, have I shrouded this my little Lark under your
Protection, not doubting but you‘ll trim his feathers, (whether he have need or not) what though you have professed your
self an utter enemy to the Subject I treat of, yet my more Christian thoughts will not suffer me to conclude, the Sun shall
set, before your wroth be over
 John Gadbury, Animal Cornutum, Londres, 1653, f. A3, dedication to Thomas Gataker.
 Dedications to administrative bodies or trading companies
 “To the right worshipfull Sir Morris Abbott Knight, Governour ; the Worshipfull Chrostopher Cletherow, Deputy, the
worthy treasurers and Committies of the Honourable Company of Merchants of London, trading to East Indies”
 Thomas Addison, Arithmetical Navigation, Londres, 1625.

31.  Different state variants and issues of the same
edition can bear different dedications
‐ WINGATE, Edmund. L’usage de la reigle de proportion. Paris : Melchior Mondière, 1624 dedicated to
Gaston, duke of Orleans but copy from Sainte‐Geneviève public library (8 V 144 INV 2178) dedicated
to Jacques Alleaume.
‐ Many occurences compiled in Franklin B. William, Index of dedications
 How should we treat and formalize these outliers ?

32. Daniel Browne, A New Almanach and Prognostication for the Yeare of God 1624,
London, 1624, f. C2rv.
What kind of links can we capture ?

33. A lazy dedication in France (Didier Henrion)

34. Lazy dedications in England

35. Dedications tell us things not so much about
maecenasship networks…

36. Dedications tell us things not so much about
maecenasship networks…
But rather about rhetorical strategies, letter‐
writing models, teaching and bookselling
marketplace…

37. Dedications tell us things not so much about
maecenasship networks…
But rather about rhetorical strategies, letter‐
writing models, teaching and bookselling
marketplace…
Is this source totally discarded for the
investigation of cultural networks ?

39. Aurélien Ruellet, La Maison de Salomon: contribution à l’histoire du patronage scientifique et technique,
France, Angleterre, ca. 1600‐ca. 1660, Thèse, Tours, 2014, p. 124.
Commendatory verses (gray lines) et dedications (black lines) among English astrologers
(1630‐1666) without isolated individuals (one‐degree nodes).

40. Aurélien Ruellet, La Maison de Salomon: contribution à l’histoire du patronage scientifique et technique,
France, Angleterre, ca. 1600‐ca. 1660, Thèse, Tours, 2014, p. 124.
Commendatory verses (gray lines) et dedications (black lines) among English astrologers
(1630‐1666) without isolated individuals (one‐degree nodes).

41.  Sir George Wharton, 1st Baronet (4 April 1617 – 12
August 1681)
 Astrologer and poet, made a baronet after the
Restoration.
 Staunch royalist ; political, anti‐parliamentarian
prophecies ; jailed and fined during the Interregnum ;
lived in Berkshire county.

42. George Wharton, Calendarium
Ecclesiasticum, London, 1657.
TITLE DATE DEDICATEE
Hemeroscopeion 1649 Charles I
Hemeroscopeion 1650 W.P. [Knight]
Hemeroscopeion 1652 Wharton, Thomas
Hemeroscopeion 1653 Bakehouse, William
Hemeroscopeion 1654 Davies, John [Armigero]
Hemerologium 1655 Robinson, John
Ephemeris 1655 Wroth, John
Calendarium ecclesiasticum 1657 Bishop, William
Calendarium ecclesiasticum 1658 Hyde, Francis [Esq.]
Calendarium ecclesiasticum 1659 Mason, Robert
Calendarium ecclesiasticum 1660 Lewkener, John [Esq.]
http://www.british‐history.ac.uk/cal‐treasury‐books/vol9/pp1537‐
1556#highlight‐first

44. Wenceslas Hollar, Long View of London from Bankside, 1647.
‐ A Royal castle
‐ A Prison
‐ Headquarters of the Mint
‐ Headquarters of the Ordnance Office
‐An Armoury

45. Wenceslas Hollar, Long View of London from Bankside, 1647.
‐ A Royal castle
‐ A Prison
‐ Headquarters of the Mint
‐ Headquarters of the Ordnance Office
‐An Armoury
Henry Percy, 9th earl of Northumberland

46. Wenceslas Hollar, Long View of London from Bankside, 1647.
‐ A Royal castle
‐ A Prison
‐ Headquarters of the Mint
‐ Headquarters of the Ordnance Office
‐An Armoury
Henry Percy, 9th earl of Northumberland
Thomas Aylesbury

47. Wenceslas Hollar, Long View of London from Bankside, 1647.
‐ A Royal castle
‐ A Prison
‐ Headquarters of the Mint
‐ Headquarters of the Ordnance Office
‐An Armoury
Henry Percy, 9th earl of Northumberland
Thomas Aylesbury
Robert Norton

48. Wenceslas Hollar, Long View of London from Bankside, 1647.
‐ A Royal castle
‐ A Prison
‐ Headquarters of the Mint
‐ Headquarters of the Ordnance Office
‐An Armoury
Henry Percy, 9th earl of Northumberland
Thomas Aylesbury
Robert Norton

50. Marin Mersenne
(1588‐1648)
Born in Oizé near Le Mans,
educated in La Flèche,
Minim friar, lived and worked
most of his life in the Parisian
convent of Place des Vosges
Wrote many books on theology,
anti‐protestant controversy,
music theory, mechanics,
mathematics…
Animated a vast network of
epistolary correspondence

51.  More than 1100 letters sent or received by Mersenne, kept in
many libraries across Europe
 Most of the « passive » correspondence (i.e. received letters) kept
in French National Library.
 A fragmentary corpus
 Several stages of destruction
‐ Mersenne sorted the letters he has received and probably got rid
of some
‐ His friend, and fellow Minim friar Hilarion de Coste, sorted
them again after his death and had them bound together in 4
books
‐ In the late 18th century or early 19th century, one of the books
disappeared ; three other ones bought by BnF in 1888.

53.  Long and painstaking editorial process, from the 1930’s
to the 1980’s
 17 volumes ; carefully transcribed, annotated and
commented letters.
 Abstracts ; chronological, alphabetical, thematic tables
; biographies in footnotes…

54.  Long and painstaking editorial process, from the 1930s
to the 1980s
 17 volumes ; carefully transcribed, annotated and
commented letters.
 Abstracts ; chronological, alphabetical, thematic tables
; biographies in footnotes…
 Database almost ready !

55. An ever‐expanding network ?

56. Younger and younger correspondents

57. Mapping the correspondence network

58. Les correspondants de Mersenne,
1625‐1637
Les correspondants de Mersenne
1617‐1624

59. Pierre Bourdieu, La distinction, critique sociale du jugement. Paris,
Minuit, 1979.

60. Pierre Bourdieu, Raisons pratiques,
Paris, Seuil, 1994, p. 21.

64. Sets of correlation
Approximated in a 2‐
dimensions graph

65.  1 – Individuals
 location
 2 – University in the town of the individual ?
 3 – demographic rank
 4 – country of residence
 Social characteristics
 5 – difference of age at the time the individual
started to exchange letters with Mersenne
 6 – religious order ? Cleric ?
 7 – noble ?
 8 – teacher ?
 9 – patronized ?
 10 – Government official ?
 11 – Cleric ?
Cultural properties
12 – religion ?
13 – publications ?
14 – Interest in experimentation ?
15 – Interest in mathematics ?
16 – Interest in music theory ?
17 – Interest in theology ?
18 – Interest in literature ?
Relational properties
19 – Le correspondant est‐il lié à
d'autres membres du réseau
Mersenne ?

70.  Not a social reality…
 Because of all pieces of data which are not certain, which
are just inferred, which are reconstructed and assumed.
 A quite practical and efficient representation of the
properties of (some of) the correspondents of Mersenne as
they are recorded in the critical edition of his letters.
 It only confirms what we already knew: Mersenne was in
epistolary communication with various circles which
reflect his expanding « network » in the Republic of letters.

73. New Metadata
We aim to create a central repository of sixteenth‐, seventeenth‐, and
eighteenth‐century correspondence populated with metadata drawn from the
widest variety of sources worldwide, and increasingly representative of the early
modern Republic of Letters as a whole. We are pursuing this aim by
perimenting with a variety of methods and approaches to metadata aggregation
simultaneously:
Ingesting the digital catalogues of major scholarly projects in this field and
linking through to their digital archives where available;
Ingesting the digital catalogues of collections and archives with rich holdings of
relevant material;
Collecting the digital files of recent and forthcoming printed editions and
inventories of correspondence, from which metadata can be extracted efficiently
and accurately;
Scanning existing printed inventories of correspondence and outsourcing their
keying;
Piloting controlled crowd‐sourcing of metadata for key correspondences via a
distributed community of EMLO Digital Fellows;
Publishing digital images of corpora of learned correspondence within EMLO
and inviting collaborators to catalogue these letters directly within the editorial
interface.

76.  The network of data is not a social network, but a
reconstructed network of nodes and links based on
occurrences in a sometimes fragmentary and biased
documentation
 Those links have to be labelled
 A network does not have to be about people ; it can be
between archival documents, names, places…

77. Aurélien Ruellet, « Quelques liens entre la communauté réformée parisienne, les
sciences et l’entreprise dans les premières décennies du XVIIe siècle », Revue
d’histoire du protestantisme, janvier 2016.

78.  The network of data is not a social network, but a
reconstructed network of nodes and links based on
occurrences in a sometimes fragmentary and biased
documentation
 Those links have to be labelled
 A network does not have to be about people ; it can be
between archival documents, names, places…
 Pitfalls everywhere but formalization helps think
about categories, abnormal occurrences and help
refine the conceptual tools.