1. The People of Medieval Scotland
database: structure, prosopography
and network visualisation
Matthew Hammond
University of Glasgow

3. Today’s Seminar
1) Behind the scenes of the PoMS database: the
transactional model of factoid prosopography
2) A glance at the prosopography of the People
of Medieval Scotland database
3) Visualising Interactions: user interface and
PoMS ‘Labs’
4) New Directions: the Leverhulme project

4. Part One
Behind the scenes

6. The PoMS database

7. Print prosopography: PLRE
• Records biographical details about a person’s life
• Martindale’s Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire:
• Eucherius 4 (v.inl. 470)
– Of noble birth; Sid. Ap. Ep. III 8.2.
– Addressee of a letter from Sidonious Apollinaris praising him as one to whom
the Roman state owed much for his military activities without having
rewarded him; Sid. Ap. Ep. III 8 (facile clarescit rempublicam morari beneficia
vos mereri) (the date is unknown, but the circumstances to which Sidonius
alludes in this letter may have been the attacks by the Visigoths in 471/474).
– VIR INLVSTRIS: he and Pannychius were 'inlustres'; Sid. Ap. Ep. VII 9.18 (written
in 470).
– He was apparently a candidate for the bishopric of Bourges in 470, but was
ineligible since he was twice married and so excluded by the canons; Sid. Ap.
Ep. VII 9.18.
– He was an enemy of Victorius 4 who had him imprisoned and then murdered;
Greg. Tur. HR II 20 (super Euchirium vero senatorem calumnias devolvit, sc.
Victorius).

8. PBW
Factoid types:

9. PBW

10. The ‘factoid model’ (John Bradley)

11. Factoid model (ultra-basic Hammond
version)
PERSON
SOURCE FACTOID
PLACE

18. PoMS document types
(simplified categories)
Agreements & Settlements
Brieves & Brieve-charters
Charters & Charter/brieves
Diplomas
Papal documents
Letters
Inquests, instruments
Notifications
Memoranda, notitia, rubrics

19. PoMS factoid types (authority lists)
• TRANSACTIONS
– ROLES of PERSONS in TRANSACTIONS
– Intersection of DOCUMENT TYPE & TRANSACTION
• POSSESSIONS & PRIVILEGES
• BROWSING THE FACTOIDS (faceted browser)
– TRANSACTION FACET
• Includes POSSESSIONS and PRIVILEGES
– TERMS OF TENURE

20. PoMS transaction types (-1286)
Gifts
Grants of property
Concessions
Confirmations
Renewals
Successions
Sales
Quitclaims/ resignations
Lease
Agreements
Settlements
Commands
Statements
Inquests
Obligations
Appointments
Other14,112 transactions (now 16,056)

21. What kind of people appear in a
transaction? (Roles)
• Grantor
• Beneficiary
• Addressor
• Addressee
• Consentor
• Pro anima people
• Previous holder/ grantor
• Witnesses

22. Roles

23. PoMS factoid types (authority lists)
• TRANSACTIONS
– ROLES of PERSONS in TRANSACTIONS
– Intersection of DOCUMENT TYPE & TRANSACTION
• POSSESSIONS & PRIVILEGES
• BROWSING THE FACTOIDS (faceted browser)
– TRANSACTION FACET
• Includes POSSESSIONS and PRIVILEGES
– TERMS OF TENURE

24. Brieve (writ)
KING EARL
SHERIFF
SWORN MAN
Transaction:
forbids
anyone from
disturbing
monks while
taking fuel in
his wood

25. (SECONDARY TRANSACTIONS)
Agreement (chirograph)
PARTY 1 PARTY 2
PRIMARY TRANSACTION: AGREEMENT BETWEEN A & B
P1 gives X
to P2
P2 gives Y
to P1
Witnesses to primary transaction (agreement)

26. Charter (gift)
TRANSACTION: GIFT OF LOCAL CHURCH TO
MONASTERY
GRANTOR
(LANDHOLDER)
WITNESSES
BENEFICIARY
(MONASTERY)
CONSENTOR
(e.g., spouse or
heir)
PRO ANIMA
PEOPLE

27. Renewal
SECONDARY
TRANSACTION: GIFT OF
LANDS BY LANDHOLDER
(e.g. Knight)
PRIMARY TRANSACTION: RENEWAL OF GIFT(S)
GRANTOR (e.g.,
KING, POPE)
BENEFICIARY
(MONASTERY)
WITNESSES
SECONDARY
TRANSACTION:
CONFIRMATION OF GIFT
BY LORD (e.g. Earl)
GRANTORS

28. PoMS factoid types (authority lists)
• TRANSACTIONS
– ROLES of PERSONS in TRANSACTIONS
– Intersection of DOCUMENT TYPE & TRANSACTION
• POSSESSIONS & PRIVILEGES
• BROWSING THE FACTOIDS (faceted browser)
– TRANSACTION FACET
• Includes POSSESSIONS and PRIVILEGES
– TERMS OF TENURE

29. TRANSACTIONS
(faceted
browser)

31. TERMS OF
TENURE
(faceted
browser)

33. PoMS: possessions & privileges

34. Relationship types

35. A charter manuscript
William Comyn, the clerk and prior and convent of St Andrews, Easter 1234

36. St Andrews Liber, 260 (3/337/1)

37. Person Page Display

38. Part Two
A glance at the prosopography
of the People of Medieval
Scotland database

39. Edinburgh: 160
Stirling
113
Roxburgh: 72
Scone: 67
Perth
89
Forfar 83
Selkirk 57
Berwick 36
Dunfermline 43
St Andrews 42
Traquair 37
Jedburgh 34
Kelso 32
Kinghorn 25
Haddington 34
Ayr 11
Lanark
21
Dumfries 6
Aberdeen 24
Montrose 23
Glasgow 22
Arbroath 18
Paisley 17
Alyth 11
Survival of charters in
east central zone:
Place-dates

40. PoMS 2010 (1093-1286)
Men
Women
Unspecified
Institutions
People and Institutions

41. Men
Women
Unspecified
Institutions
PoMS 2012 (1093-1314))
People and Institutions

42. Top 11 personal names
William
Robert
John
Richard
Adam
Walter
Thomas
Hugh
Henry
Ralph
Roger
Other Names

43. Top Forty Personal Names (-1286)
• Individuals
1. William/ Guillaume 1376
2. Robert 858
3. John 817
4. Richard 576
5. Adam 500
6. Walter 458
7. Thomas 426
8. Hugh / Hugo 360
9. Henry 354
10. =Ralph / Raoul 287
10. = Roger 287
12. Gilbert 268
13. Simon 247
14. Alan 224
15. Alexander 209
16. Peter / Piers 184
17. Geoffrey 179
18. Patrick 169
19. = Nicholas 152
19. = David 152
21. Malcolm / Máel Coluim 127
22. Andrew 124
23. Duncan / Donnchad 117
24. = Michael 111
24. = Stephen 111
26. Reginald / Reynaud 108
27. Elias 90
28. Philip 87
29. Matthew 75
30. Gilchrist / Gilla Críst 67
31. = Maurice 65
31. = Waltheof/ Waldef 65
33. Laurence 62
34. James / Jacques 61
35. Uhtred 60
36. = Gregory 50
36. = Edward 50
38. Bernard 49
39. Matilda 48
40. Ranulf 47

44. Top 20 women’s names
1. Matilda 48
2. Margaret 40
3. Alice 29
4. Agnes 28
5. Christiana 25-29
6. Ada 25
7. Isabel 20
8. Cecily/ Cecilia 19
9. Mary 19
10. Emma 17
11. Marjory 17
12. Helen 16
13. Amabilla 16
14. Christina 15-19
15. Joan 12
16. Sybil 10
17. Mariota 9
18. Juliana 8
19. Eda 8
20. Euphemia 7
21. Beatrice 7

45. The frequency of names (PoMS 2010)
1x
2x
3x
4x
5x
6-10x
11-15x
16-20x
21-99x
100+x

46. Part Three
Visualising Interactions: user
interface and Poms ‘Labs’

48. Dynamic Connections Cloud

49. Dynamic Connections Cloud

50. Dynamic Connections Chain

51. King William I & Scone Abbey

52. Relationships Explorer

53. Relationships Explorer

54. Popularity Tag Cloud
- Size of name based on
number of factoids associated
with them
-can click on name to take you
to person page

55. Transactions and Witnesses

56. Transactions and Witnesses

57. Transactions and Witnesses
Can centre around Person or Transaction

58. Part Four
New directions: the
Leverhulme project

59. The Transformation of Gaelic Scotland
in the 12th & 13th centuries
• Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, 2013-16
• Project team: Dauvit Broun, John Bradley,
Matthew Hammond, Neil Jakeman, SNA
person
• Development of further network analysis,
visualization, and mapping tools to better
understand the Poms set of data

60. Mapping facility: PASE Domesday

61. Potential geographical analysis in Poms
• Information about place attached to the following
entities:
– Locative Surnames (Person Page)
• Scottish places (Douglas, Ogilvie, Leslie)
• English places (Lindsey, Ramsey, Berkeley)
• French places (Brix [Bruce], Morville, Bailleul [Balliol])
– Titles (bishop of St Andrews, earl of Fife)
– Documents (place-dates of charters)
– Possessions & privileges
• Land
• Parish church
• Right of patronage of church
• Permission to take wood in forest of Edzell

62. Network visualization potential
• Explicitly defined relationships
– 18,956 relationship factoids in PoMS
– 191 types of relationship falling into three
categories:
• Familial relationships
• Employment relationships
• Tenurial and lordship relationships
• Implicitly defined relationships/ connections
– E.g., witnesses to same charters of same person

63. Thank You.