RENOM – Networks, Spaces, and Nobility in the Mediterranean

Project led by Anne BROGINI (Center for the Modern and Contemporary Mediterranean – CMMC, EA 1193), Charles BOUVEYRON (J.A. Dieudonné Laboratory – LJAD, UMR 7135 and E-Patient: Images, data & models for e-medicine group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation – EPIONE INRIA), and Germain BUTAUD (Laboratory for Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Cultures and Environments – CEPAM, UMR 7264).

RENOM (Networks, Spaces, and Nobility in the Mediterranean) is an interdisciplinary collaboration between historians (CMMC and CEPAM laboratories) and mathematicians (LJAD laboratory) who are working on the statistical analysis of unexploited historical data.

Based on investigations of noble Provençal knights of the Order of Malta between 1400 and 1789, the project retraces their relatives and clienteles, and the strategies used to combine and transmit fiefdoms. The final prosopographical corpus, of nearly 20,000 individuals, will be gathered in a database currently being developed. Statistical analysis and clustering methods will make it possible to visualize in the long term and create a map of the networks of Provençal families from Marseille to Monaco (Grimaldi, Castellane, Villeneuve, Blacas, Grasse, Lascaris, etc.) by analyzing the characteristic behavior of a social elite (marriages, property transfers, cadet placements).

Because the Order of Malta is international, RENOM is extending the prosopographical study to the whole Euro-Mediterranean arc (Spain, Provence, Italy) and comparing the noble and military strategies specific to the Mediterranean world. RENOM brings together researchers from Europe (from Poland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France) and the United States of America (Malta Study Center, Minnesota). As usual in the university, RENOM relies on agreements signed with local associations: the Order of Malta France association, several municipalities and archives in the Alpes-Maritimes (Nice, Villeneuve-Loubet, Castellar, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Grasse) and the Archives du Palais Princier of Monaco.

Project start and end dates: February 2018 - February 2020