Monarchy on the move:
Digital Humanities for royal itinerancy
One of the areas of study and research at the Humanities Lab at the University of San Sebastián is technology, and within that field, a particular area of interest is the Digital Humanities, which can be defined as the application of computational analysis to phenomena related to the humanities.
Royal itinerancy is precisely one such phenomenon, as in times past the monarchs of various European kingdoms traveled with their courts throughout their territories to assert their authority and perform a variety of functions. Since kings issued documents during these constant travels, we can trace their routes and analyze certain spatial patterns that allow for a better understanding of the nature of the monarchy, its relationship with the territory and its inhabitants, as well as the political and cultural circumstances that explain this itinerancy.
A multidisciplinary team from the Humanities Lab at the University of San Sebastián, composed of José Manuel Cerda (medieval historian), Sebastián Caro (digital humanist), Francisca Díaz and Chloe Brodie (research assistants), has developed a groundbreaking research project that uses computer programming with Digital Humanities tools and methodology to analyze the travels of medieval kings, generating an interactive and open-access map visualization of their movements throughout the kingdom and offering search options by month, year, and location.
Professor Cerda has been responsible for laying the groundwork for the project and establishing the parameters for analyzing historical sources, while Professor Caro has handled the programming for the computational analysis and visualization of the data.
The aim is for these georeferenced visualizations to provide an analytical foundation for historiography and to open up new avenues of research regarding the reigns.
