Complexity Theory (History)

Visualising Communities. Possibilities of Network Analysis and Relational Sociology for the Survey and Analysis of Medieval Communities (in German)

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Working Paper for a presentation for the SGB "Visions of Community" (http://www.univie.ac.at/viscom/index_viscom.php?seite=events) and the FSP "Gemeinschaftskonzepte, Identitäten und politische Integration", University of Vienna; slides online: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks

Der Begriff des Netzwerkes erlebt spätestens seit der rasanten Verbreitung von „social
networks“ wie Facebook... more Der Begriff des Netzwerkes erlebt spätestens seit der rasanten Verbreitung von „social
networks“ wie Facebook einen fast inflationären Gebrauch in der öffentlichen Diskussion,
aber auch in verschiedenen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen, darunter der Geschichtsforschung.
Dabei ist es oft schwer zu entscheiden, wo dem Netzwerk-Begriff auch eine analytische
Aussagekraft zugrunde liegt und wo es sich nur um eine „Metapher“ oder ein „Schlagwort“
handelt, das Vergleichbarkeit mit Phänomenen der Gegenwart suggeriert, ohne
Wesentliches für den historischen Erkenntnisgewinn zu leisten.
Ein Ziel der sozialen Netzwerkanalyse ist es, Geflechte von Akteuren und Beziehungen in
strukturell und quantitativ fassbarer Form darzustellen. Darüber hinaus betrachtet aber die
„relationale Soziologie“ Akteure nicht nur als in soziale Netzwerke eingebettet; vielmehr
werden ihre Verhaltensweisen und Identitäten durch Interaktionen und Kommunikationsakte
im Netzwerk geprägt, ja überhaupt definiert. Die strukturell-quantitative Perspektive wird
damit wesentlich um qualitative Aspekte ergänzt; sowohl die Verknüpfungen zwischen
Akteuren als auch deren Rollen und Identitäten werden als Ergebnisse dynamischer
Prozesse verstanden.
In den letzten Jahren wurden diese Ansätze auch mit Konzepten der Systemtheorie (Niklas
Luhmann) und der Komplexitätsforschung verknüpft, um die Emergenz und Dynamik von
Gemeinschafts- und Identitätsbildungen von der individuellen Ebene über Gruppen bis hin zu
großen sozialen Formationen besser erfassen zu können. Diese Konzepte werden im
Vortrag präsentiert, diskutiert und durch auf der Grundlage mittelalterlicher Quellen erstellte
Fallbeispiele illustriert. Einige Ansätze und Beispiele wurden bereits in diversen Beiträgen
und Working Papers näher ausgeführt, die unter
http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller auch im Internet frei zugänglich sind.

A complex systems approach to the evolutionary dynamics of human history: the case of the Late Medieval World Crisis

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Working Paper for the European Meetings on Cybernetics and Systems Research (EMCSR) 2012, Vienna, University Campus, April 10th 2012 (http://www.emcsr.net/symposium-b-evolution-throughout-the-sciences-and-humanities/) (Slides of the presentation here: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks/78041/A_complex_systems_approach_to_the_evolutionary_dynamics_of_human_history_the_case_of_the_Late_Medieval_World_Crisis)

„There are few theoretical approaches to which historian respond so negatively as to the explanation of historical... more „There are few theoretical approaches to which historian respond so negatively as to the explanation of historical processes by such theories“, the German historian Rainer Waltz states most accurately in his study on „Theories of Social Evolution and History“; there he also presents two main causes for this rejection: a moral one, the perversion of evolutionary thinking in so-called Social Darwinist theories in the 19th and 20th centuries, and a scientific one, the fear of a biologistic interpretation of human history by adopting evolutionary models (Walz, 2004). This distinguishes historical studies from other social sciences and humanities such as anthropology or sociology and even other historical disciplines such as archaeology, where evolutionary models have become part of the methodological toolkit (Renfrew & Bahn, 2008; for a rare example from the field of history of literature cf. Moretti, 2009).
Although most historians are reluctant to adopt evolutionary models (yet alone in their mathematized or sociobiologist form) for the interpretation of human past (respectively the larger or smaller period of time they are specialised in), terms such as “evolution” and concepts of evolutionary thinking such as “adaption” or “selection” are used in numerous descriptions of historical events and processes, albeit often in a metaphorical way (Walz, 2004). At the same time it is evident that major developments in human history such as the emergence of the human kind itself, of human culture and of complex social structures such as states as well as phenomena of long duration (up to the scale of “Big History” from the Big Bang until present times as it has been attempted in the last decades, Spier 2010) cannot be explained without the help of evolutionary concepts (cf. Blute, 2010; Voland, 2009); but again, these subjects refer mainly to the fields of evolutionary biologists and psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists or (prehistoric) archaeologists (cf. Yoffee, 2004). Some specialists from these disciplines have also tried to adapt such concepts for the entire human history beyond its “beginnings”, but have equally found mixed reception among historians, especially if they try to demonstrate some kind of progress in the development of humanity as for instance Steven Pinker has done most recently in his study on “Why Violence has declined” (Pinker, 2011; see also Atran, 2002; Boyd & Richerson, 2005; Morris, 2010).
In contrast to this (non)-use of evolutionary concepts for historical studies, we intend to demonstrate the benefit of a complex evolutionary approach for the analysis of a specific period of late medieval/early modern history between 1200 and 1500 CE, which has been attributed central importance for the so-called “Rise of the West”, since it saw the beginning of European overseas expansion at its end (cf. Goldstone, 2009; Morris, 2010).
In the “calamitous” 14th century, as Barbara Tuchman called it (1978), the medieval world entered a period of severe crisis in demography, economy, politics and religion. This crisis took hold in all regions, ranging from China in the East to England in the West. Even before the catastrophic pandemic of the Black Death (1346-1352), deteriorating climatic conditions had ended the period of demographic and economic expansion that began in the 10th century (Behringer, 2007; Atwell, 2001; Benedictow, 2004; Brook, 2010).
The local and regional impacts and consequences of these general crisis-laden conditions may have differed; outcomes ranged from actual societal collapse to the emergence of powerful new polities. But these conditions provide a framework for global perspective on this period and allow us to use the 14th century-crisis as a field of “natural experiments of history”, as Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson have called them (Diamond & Robinson, 2011); accordingly, we analyse how similar crisis phenomena influenced the development of societies with different (or similar) traditions, religions, institutions, geographies or ecologies (cf. also Borsch, 2005). In particular, we will analyse and compare five polities in the “Old World”, England, Hungary, Byzantium, Egypt and China, of which three disappeared around the end of this period due to the expansion of the most successful newly emerged Ottoman Empire (Byzantium in 1453, Mamluk Egypt in 1517, Hungary in 1526/1541; cf. also Preiser-Kapeller, 2011).
In order to be able to capture variations and complexities within this sample, we adopt concepts and tools provided by the field of complexity science. We understand complex systems as large networks of individual components, whose interactions at the microscopic level produce “complex” changing patterns of behaviour of the whole system on the macroscopic level. In the last decades, historians and social scientists also tried to use concepts of complexity theory for the description of phenomena in their own fields, but again often only in a “metaphoric” way (Gaddis, 2002; Hatcher & Bailey, 2001). Less frequently, though, historians have tried to make use of the mathematical foundations of complexity theory or of quantitative tools provided by this field (Kiel & Elliott, 1997; Preiser-Kapeller, 2012). Recent scholarship has implemented some of these tools especially for the construction of macro-models of socio-economic development (Goldstone, 1991; Turchin, 2003; Turchin & Nefedov, 2009).
In addition, we combine complexity theory with the analytical framework of “systems theory” developed by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) in order to capture the interdependencies between politics, economy and religion within a polity and with the political, economic and ecological environment (Luhmann, 1997; Becker & Reinhardt-Becker, 2001; Becker, 2004). Luhmann´s theory is valuable for our analysis in various aspects; it makes us aware of the reduction of environmental and social complexity which is reflected in our historical sources, and it provides a framework to approach complex mechanisms within and the dependencies between various social spheres and their environment. Its evolutionary aspects have also been analysed by Walz (2004). In addition, we employ methods and tools of network analysis, which allow us to capture, analyse and model linkages and cause-effect correlations in society, economy, politics and religion on the macro- and micro-level down to groups and individuals (Gould, 2003; Lemercier, 2005).
Overall, our analytical approach allows us to capture the “diversité véritable” without losing track of essential commonalities (the “strange parallels”, as Victor Liebermann has called them, 2009) with regard to the transformation of polities and societies and their adaption to this “first world crisis”. Thereby, the value of a framework of evolutionary dynamics for the exploration of human history will be demonstrated

References
Atran, S. (2002). In Gods We Trust. The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Atwell, W. S. (2001). Volcanism and Short-Term Climatic Change in East Asian and World History, c. 1200–1699. Journal of World History 12/1, 29-98.
Becker, F. & Reinhardt-Becker, E. (2001). Systemtheorie. Eine Einführung für die Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften. Frankfurt, New York: Campus Verlag.
Becker, F. (Ed.). (2004). Geschichte und Systemtheorie. Exemplarische Fallstudien. Frankfurt, New York: Campus Verlag.
Behringer, W. (2007). Kulturgeschichte des Klimas. Von der Eiszeit bis zur globalen Erwärmung. Munich: C. H. Beck.
Benedictow, O. J. (2004). The Black Death 1346–1353. The Complete History. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Blute, M. (2010). Darwinian Sociocultural Evolution. Solutions to Dilemmas in Cultural and Social Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Borsch, St. J. (2005). The Black Death in Egypt and England. A Comparative Study. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Boyd, R. & Richerson, P. J. (2005). The Origin and Evolution of Cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brook, T. (2010). The troubled Empire. China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Cambridge (Mass.), London: Harvard University Press.
Diamond, J. & Robinson, J. A. (Eds.). (2011). Natural Experiments of History. Cambridge (Mass.), London: Harvard University Press.
Gaddis, J. L. (2002). The Landscape of History. How Historians map the Past. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Goldstone, J. A. (1991). Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Goldstone, J. A. (2009). Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History, 1500–1850. New York: Mcgraw-Hill Higher Education.
Gould, R. V. (2003). Uses of Network Tools in Comparative Historical Research. In: J. Mahoney & D. Rueschemeyer (Eds.). Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (p. 241-269). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hatcher, J. & Bailey, M. (2001). Modelling the Middle Ages. The History and Theory of England´s Economic Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kiel, L. D. & Elliott, E. (Eds.). (1997). Chaos Theory in the Social Sciences. Foundations and Applications. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Lemercier, Cl. (2005). Analyse de réseaux et histoire. Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine 52/2, 88-112.
Lieberman, L. (2009). Strange Parallels. Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830. Vol. 2: Mainland Mirrors: Europe, Japan, China, South Asia, and the Islands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Luhmann, N. (1997). Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft. 2 Vols., Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag.
Moretti, F. (2009). Kurven, Karten, Stammbäume. Abstrakte Modelle für die Literaturgeschichte. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag.
Morris, I. (2010). Why The West Rules For Now: The Patterns of History and what they reveal about the Future. London: Profile Books.
Pinker, S. (2011). The Better Angels of our Nature. Why Violence has declined. London: Viking.
Preiser-Kapeller, J. (2012). Complex historical dynamics of crisis: the case of Byzantium. In: A. Suppan (Ed.). Krise und Transformation (in print). Vienna: Austrian Academy Press (pre-print online: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Papers/506625/Complex_historical_dynamics_of_crisis_the_case_of_Byzantium).
Preiser-Kapeller, J. (2011). (Not so) Distant Mirrors: a complex macro-comparison of polities and political, economic and religious systems in the crisis of the 14th century. In: A. Simon (Ed.). Proceedings of the International Conference "The Angevin Dynasty (14th Century)" in Târgoviște (Romania), October 21st-23rd 2011 (forthcoming). Vienna: Peter Lang (working Paper online: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Papers/506595/_Not_so_Distant_Mirrors_a_complex_macro-comparison_of_polities_and_political_economic_and_religious_systems_in_the_crisis_of_the_14th_century)
Renfrew, C. & Bahn, P. (2008). Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice. London: Thames & Hudson.
Spier, F. (2010). Big History and the Future of Humanity. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Tuchman, B. (1978). A Distant Mirror. The calamitous 14th Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Turchin, P. & Nefedov, S. A. (2010). Secular cycles. Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Turchin, P. (2003). Historical Dynamics. Why States Rise and Fall (Princeton Studies in Complexity). Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Voland, E. (2009). Soziobiologie. Die Evolution von Kooperation und Konkurrenz. 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Spektrum Akademischer Verlag.
Walz, R. (2004). Theorien sozialer Evolution und Geschichte. In: F. Becker (Ed.), Geschichte und Systemtheorie. Exemplarische Fallstudien (p. 29-75). Frankfurt, New York: Campus Verlag.
Yoffee, N. (2004). Myths of the Archaic State. Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Luhmann in Byzantium. A systems theory approach for historical network analysis

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Working Paper for the Conference "The Connected Past: people, networks and complexity in archaeology and history", March 24-25th 2012, University of Southampton, GB; http://connectedpast.soton.ac.uk/schedule/
The slides of the presentation you will find here: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks/74834/Luhmann_in_Byzantium._A_systems_theory_approach_for_historical_network_analysis

While Social Network Analysis (SNA) has become an accepted research tool in historical studies in the last decades,... more While Social Network Analysis (SNA) has become an accepted research tool in historical studies in the last decades, actual theoretical foundations for the approach to depict and analyse past social realities in the form of nodes and ties have remained as many-voiced and sometimes under-determined as in other fields of network analysis. A theoretical framework from which historical network analysis may benefit is the systems theory established by the sociologist Niklas LUHMANN (1927–1998). In Luhmann´s theory, social systems are systems of communication; in modern society, Luhmann identified several differentiated communication systems such as politics, religion or economy. For the analysis of Byzantine society, we combine Luhmannʼs framework with the concepts of SNA: we understand ties between nodes as potential channels of communication which can pertain to any communication system. And while communications between individuals in a specific institutional framework such as state administration or the church may primarily pertain to one system, we have to account for “multiplex” ties of communication and an overlap of various communication systems on the same set of nodes (who, in Luhmannʼs theory, are not per se part of any of these social systems, which only consist of communications). This approach also enables us either to examine communication ties (their density, distribution patterns, etc.) of one system separately or to concentrate on the structural position of individuals within the general social framework. Thus, we demonstrate that Luhmann can provide a coherent and at the same time flexible framework for historical network analysis.

Calculating the Middle Ages? Quantitative Research and Social Network Analysis as New Tools for Historical Studies

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Guest Lectures at the Romanian Academy of Sciences, Calea Victoriei, 125, Bucharest, Council Room (Ground-floor), Wednesday, 18th of January 2012, 10.00, Slides online: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks/71263/Calculating_the_Middle_Ages_Quantitative_Research_and_Social_Network_Analysis_as_New_Tools_for_Historical_Studies

Overview on the possibilities of quantitative research and Network Analysis for Medieval Studies.

Three... more Overview on the possibilities of quantitative research and Network Analysis for Medieval Studies.

Three main focuses:
* Quantitative data from the natural sciences: climatic and natural phenomena

* Quantitative data from medieval sources: economic and demographic quantities

* The complexity of medieval societies: social network analysis on the basis of medieval sources

Conclusio:
* Complexity allows us to establish a framework for comparative research across time and space > the patterns of interaction between environment and society and within societies are and were always complex.
* We can analyse how similar crisis phenomena influenced the development of societies with different (or similar) traditions, religions, institutions, geographies or ecologies > differences matter!
* At the same time, we do not  loose track of essential commonalities (the “strange parallels”) of environmental impacts and historical change in pre-modern societies.
* We recognize the high significance of endogenous social dynamics in the polities in this period, on which exogenous changes (such as climatic) and extreme events had an impact, but not along the lines of an overwhelming linear causation as postulated in (older and) recent research.

Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Analyse mittelalterlicher sozialer Netzwerke am Beispiel der spätbyzantinischen Kirche und Gesellschaft (Possibilities and limits of the analysis of medieval social networks on the example of Late Byzantine Church and Society)

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Paper for a lecture at the Oberseminar für mittelalterliche Geschichte, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena (Germany), November 17th, 2011, Dept. of Medieval History; the slides for the presentation you find here:
http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks/60893/_In_the_Holy_Spirit_beloved_brothers._Possibilities_and_limits_of_Social_Network_Analysis_for_research_on_the_Late_Byzantine_church_and_society_in_German_

Contents:

- Einige Grundlagen der (Historischen) Sozialen Netzwerkanalyse

- Vom historischen... more Contents:

- Einige Grundlagen der (Historischen) Sozialen Netzwerkanalyse

- Vom historischen Dokument zum Netzwerk

- Das Individuum im Zentrum – Ego-Netzwerke in Byzanz

- Die Verflechtungen innerhalb einer Institution – Netzwerke der Interaktion in der Synode von Konstantinopel und ihre zeitliche Dynamik

- Die Ungleichverteilung von Netzwerkverbindungen – das Geflecht der spätbyzantinischen Aristokratie
-
Ein kurzer Ausblick: die Erfassung des Raumes – der geographische Aspekt von Netzwerken

- Zusammenfassung

(Not so) Distant Mirrors: a complex macro-comparison of polities and political, economic and religious systems in the crisis of the 14th century

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Paper for the International Conference "THE ANGEVIN DYNASTY (14TH CENTURY)" in Targoviste (Romania), October 21st-23rd 2011.
Slides here: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks/58247/_Not_so_Distant_Mirrors_a_complex_macro-comparison_of_polities_and_political_economic_and_religious_systems_in_the_crisis_of_the_14th_century

In the “calamitous” 14th century, as Barbara Tuchman called it in her classic „A Distant Mirror“ (1978) , the medieval... more In the “calamitous” 14th century, as Barbara Tuchman called it in her classic „A Distant Mirror“ (1978) , the medieval world entered a period of severe crisis in demography, economy, politics and religion. This crisis took hold in all regions, ranging from China in the East to England in the West. Even before the catastrophic pandemic of the Black Death (1346-1352), deteriorating climatic conditions had ended the period of demographic and economic expansion that began in the 10th century.
The local and regional impacts and consequences of these general potentially crisis-laden conditions may have differed; outcomes ranged from actual societal collapse to the emergence of powerful new polities – while Byzantium´s power dwindled away, Hungary entered a period of strong rulership and external power in the reign of Louis I of Anjou (1342-1382), for instance. But these conditions provide a framework for global perspective on this period and allow us to use the 14th century-crisis as a field of “natural experiments of history”, as Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson have called them ; accordingly, we analyse how similar crisis phenomena influenced the development of societies with different (or similar) traditions, religions, institutions, geographies or ecologies.
In order to be able to capture the local variations and complexities, we adopt concepts and tools provided by the field of complexity science. Mono-causal or linear explanations are inadequate for the analysis and the description of crisis, transformation or collapse of pre-modern polities. Within this framework, complex systems are understood as large networks of individual components, whose interactions at the microscopic level produce “complex” changing patterns of behaviour of the whole system on the macroscopic level. In the last decades, historians and social scientists who became interested in complexity theory tried to use its concepts and terminology for the conceptualisation and description of phenomena in their own fields, but often only in a “metaphoric” way. Less frequently, though, historians have tried to make use of the mathematical foundations of complexity theory or of quantitative tools provided by this field. Recent scholarship has implemented some of these tools especially for the construction of macro-models of socio-economic development. While these studies help us construct analytical tools for the macro-level of our own research, they run the same risk as earlier scholarship of neglecting complex variations at the local and regional levels.
Therefore, we combine complexity theory with the analytical framework of „systems theory“ developed by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann in order to capture the interveawements between politics, economy and religion within a polity and with the political, economic and ecological environment. In addition, we employ the methods and tools of network analysis, which allow us to capture, analyse and model linkages and cause-effect correlations in society, economy, politics and religion on the macro- and micro-level down to groups and individuals.
Overall, as a complement to earlier studies our analytical
approach shall allow us to capture the “diversité véritable” of our period without losing track of essential commonalities (the “strange parallels”, as Victor Liebermann has called them in his remarkable study on Southeast Asia in Global Context, 2009 ) of this “first world crisis” across all cultures and societies. The scientic value of this approach will be demonstrated for some specific cases.

Calculating the Synod? New quantitative and qualitative approaches for the analysis of the Patriarchate and the Synod of Constantinople in the 14th century

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Paper for the 22nd International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Sofia (Bulgaria), August 2011. Slides online in the "Talks"-section of my academia.edu-website: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks/51244/Calculating_the_Synod_New_quantitative_and_qualitative_approaches_for_the_analysis_of_the_Patriarchate_and_the_Synod_of_Constantinople_in_the_14th_century

For the period between 1315 and 1402, the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (PRK) provides hundreds of... more For the period between 1315 and 1402, the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (PRK) provides hundreds of decisions of the Patriarch and the synodos endemusa on ecclesiastical and other matters of local relevance as well as of importance for the entire Byzantine commonwealth; a new edition of this unique source is a long-term project of the Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.  The relatively high density of evidence enables us also to use quantitative methods for the analysis of the Register and of the body of hierarchs in Constantinople and their decision-making. On a basic level, this was already done by Jean Darrouzès ; however, the documents from the PRK enable us to use even more sophisticated tools from contemporary social sciences and statistical analysis for the study of the synod and the entire Late Byzantine church.
The instruments of social network analysis for instance, which have already been used for the analysis of various communities and institutions in medieval history, but until now very seldom for the Byzantine period, allow us to re-construct the interactions and connections within the episcopacy, to visualise and to analyse them. We constructed a network model of the synodos endemusa for the period between 1379 and 1387 (Patriarchate of Neilos Kerameus) and were able to determine and quantify differences and similarities between the various hierarchs with regard to their importance and activity in this central body of decision-making.  In addition, network analysis allows us to study several characteristics of the entire network of the synod regarding the distribution of influence or the flow of information.
The source evidence from the Registers further enables us not only to re-construct the structure of personal ties, but also to model processes of decision making. For this aim, we combined network analytical models with tools from contemporary political sciences, especially game theory and social choice theory. A primary target of our research will be the re-construction of a dynamic network model of the synod on the basis of the entire source evidence from the Register for the Patriarchate for the period from 1315 to 1402. This will make it possible to visualise and analyse the development of one of the most important institutions of Late Byzantium for almost a century in an entirely new way.

  See: http://www.oeaw.ac.at/byzanz/prk.htm.
  Cf. the tables in J. DARROUZÈS, Le registre synodal du patriarcat byzantin au XIVe siècle. Étude paléographique et diplomatique (Archives de l´Orient chrétien 12). Paris 1971, 344–388.
  Cf. J. PREISER-KAPELLER, Calculating the Synod? A network analysis of the synod and the episcopacy in the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the years 1379–1390, to be published in: Ch. GASTGEBER - E. MITSIOU – J. PREISER-KAPELLER (eds.), Das Patriarchatsregister von Konstantinopel. Eine zentrale Quelle zur Geschichte und Kirche im späten Byzanz (Veröffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung). Vienna 2011. (Online-Version: http://www.oeaw.ac.at /byzanz/repository/Preiser_WorkingPapers_Calculating_II.pdf).

Origines gentium, religious transformations and state building in the early medieval Caucasus: old sources, new methods, and many problems (in German)

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Paper presented at the „Arbeitskreis zum christlichen Diskurs der Spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters“, University of Vienna, 4th of March 2011. Slides of the presentation online: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks/39564/Origines_gentium_religiose_Transformationen_und_Staatsbildungen_im_fruhmittelalterlichen_Kaukasusgebiet_Alte_Quellen_neue_Modelle_und_viele_Probleme_Origines_gentium_religious_transformations_and_state_building_in_the_early_medieval_Caucasus_old_sources_new_methods_and_many_problems_
(paper section of my academia.edu-site)

Einige zentrale Fragen sollen zur Diskussion gestellt werden, die sich aus einem Forschungsvorhaben zu den... more Einige zentrale Fragen sollen zur Diskussion gestellt werden, die sich aus einem Forschungsvorhaben zu den armenisch-byzantinischen Beziehungen vom 4. („Christianisierung“ und „Teilung“ Armeniens) bis zum 9. Jh. („Wiederherstellung“ der armenischen Monarchie durch die Bagratidendynastie) ergeben haben; im Rahmen dieser Forschung soll Armenien sowohl in den breiteren Kontext der Entwicklung (Trans-)Kaukasiens als auch der spätantiken und frühmittelalterlichen Welt überhaupt gestellt werden (bislang ein Desiderat der Forschung). Am 4. März werde ich vor allem drei Fragenkomplexe vorstellen, wobei ich auf Hinweise, Ratschläge und Erfahrungen von Kolleginnen und Kollegen hoffe, die an ähnlichen Problematiken arbeiten:

1. Die einheimische historiographische Tradition in Armenien, (Ost-)Georgien und Kaukasisch-Albanien (heute Nordwestaserbeidschan) beginnt mit der Etablierung eigener Alphabete und Schriftsprachen im 5. Jh. n. Chr. (wiederum als Folge der „offiziellen“ Christianisierung dieser Königreiche in der 1. Hälfte des 4. Jh.s); die ersten Werke, die „origines gentium“ für die Jahrhunderte vor der Christianisierung bieten, datieren meist noch später. Die traditionelle, vor allem nationale Geschichtsschreibung für diese Staaten versucht aber, aus diesen Werken nationalhistorische Traditionen zu „rekonstruieren“, die (zumindest) bis zur ersten inschriftlichen Erwähnung der jeweiligen Ländernamen als Provinzen der achämenidischen Großkönige (6. Jh. v. Chr.) zurückverfolgt werden. Inwiefern können aber allfällige „einheimische Traditionskerne“ ethnischer Identität und Erinnerung überhaupt auf diese Weise erschlossen werden?

2. Entscheidendes Ereignis der frühmittelalterlichen transkaukasischen Geschichtswerke ist die „offizielle“ Christianisierung (verbunden mit der Taufe des jeweiligen Königs), auf die auch die Darstellung der vorangegangenen Geschichte hin ausgerichtet wird. Die frühesten schriftlichen Schilderungen dieser religiösen Transformationsprozesse lassen sich ein Jahrhundert nach den Ereignissen datieren und zeigen eine starke Anlehnung an hagiographische und andere literarische topoi und Vorbilder aus Nachbarliteraturen (Griechisch, Syrisch). Gleichzeitig existieren verschiedene Versionen sowohl der Christianisierung des 4. Jh.s als auch von Traditionen, die auf erste Bekehrungsversuche in apostolischer Zeit verweisen (Jean-Pierre Mahé spricht von „einer Historiographie mit doppeltem Boden“). Es lässt sich z. T. vermuten, dass hier verschiedene lokale Traditionen der „Christianisierung“ einzelner Regionen der politisch stark fragmentierten Königreiche bewusst zu einer gemeinsamen übergreifenden Christianisierungserzählung des jeweiligen Landes vereinheitlich werden sollten. Inwieweit lässt sich überhaupt ein historischer Verlauf der Etappen der Verbreitung des Christentums daraus erschließen?

3. Im Gegensatz etwa zu Entwicklungen des europäischen Frühmittelalters folgte auf die Christianisierung keine Herausbildung eines gestärkten „christlichen“ Königtums; unter dem Druck der angrenzenden Großmächte Byzanz und Persien kam es zu Teilungen in Einflusssphären und der Abschaffung der einheimischen Königtümer (428 in Armenien, 580 in Ostgeorgien, 510 in Albanien). Erhalten blieb aber z. T. die Macht der Häuser der Aristokratie, aus deren Reihen die byzantinischen oder persischen Oberherrn oft „vorsitzende Fürsten“ einsetzten bzw. anerkannten. Mit der arabischen Eroberung gelangten dann die transkaukasischen Länder Ende des 7. Jh.s unter eine einheitliche politischer Oberhoheit, nahmen aber eine ganz unterschiedliche Entwicklung: in Albanien verschwand die staatliche und kirchliche Tradition bis zum 10. Jh. fast vollständig; in Armenien kam es zu einer „Erneuerung“ der Monarchie durch die Bagratiden, denen aber nie eine Vereinigung aller armenischen Territorien gelang (vielmehr kam es zu einer neuerlichen Fragmentierung, die in die Annexion durch Byzanz im 10./11. Jh. und schließlich in die seldschukische Eroberung mündete); den „georgischen“ Bagratiden gelang hingegen im 11. Jh. erstmals die Herstellung der „Einheit“ der west- und ostgeorgischen Länder und die Etablierung einer relativ starken Monarchie bis zum Einfall der Mongolen im 13. Jh. Die stark aristokratisch geprägten Machtstrukturen dieser Jahrhunderte werden immer noch mit dem aus der westlichen Mediävistik entlehnten Terminus des „Feudalismus“ charakterisiert, während dieser Begriff in der Mediävistik inzwischen stark in die Diskussion geraten ist (vgl. etwa das Werk von Susan Reynolds). Welche Konzepte und neuen Modelle können uns helfen, die Entwicklung der transkaukasischen Länder zwischen Fragmentierung und Verdichtung der politischen Macht und dem Wechselspiel zwischen regionaler aristokratischer Tradition und imperialen Machtansprüchen der Großmächte in diesen Jahrhunderten im Rahmen der allgemeinen Forschungsdiskussion der frühmittelalterlichen Staatlichkeit zu erfassen und zu analysieren?

In die Betrachtung einbezogen werden sollen auch benachbarte kaukasische Ethnien und Staatsgebilde, insbesondere auch das Reich der Chasaren, wo die Bekehrung von Teilen der politisch führenden Gruppe zum Judentum (wohl Anfang des 9. Jh.s) einen besonders spannenden Vergleichsfall bietet.

Management of Shortage. The Byzantine Church in the face of crisis and collapse, 1204-1453

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Paper for the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, 2011
Session 602: "The Late Byzantine Empire: Crisis and Identity"
Tuesday 12 July 2011: 11.15-12.45
(Slide of the presentation are online in the "talks"-section of my academia.edu-website: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks/47703/Management_of_Shortage._The_Byzantine_Church_in_the_face_of_crisis_and_collapse_1204-1453)

At a time when the Byzantine State was shaken by invasions, relative decline in terms of political and economic power... more At a time when the Byzantine State was shaken by invasions, relative decline in terms of political and economic power and internal unrest and finally ceased to exist, the Byzantine Church was able to maintain essential elements of its pastoral and institutional framework in (South)Eastern Europe and Asia Minor beyond the catastrophes of 1204 and 1453 despite the adverse effects these events of course also had on its followers and properties. The paper aims at analysing important aspects of this resilience of the Late Byzantine Church as religious community and ecclesiastical institution; therefore “classic” instruments of historical research will be combined with new methods of (socio)historical and systems research (modern statistical tools, network analysis, institutional and system analysis).

Networks of border zones – multiplex relations of power, religion and economy in South-eastern Europe, 1250-1453 CE (working paper)

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

A shorter version of this paper has been presented in the “Data analysis”-session of the “39th Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology“ (CAA 2011) in Beijing (China) on the 14th of April 2011, organized by Tom Brughmans from the Archaeological Computing Research Group, University of Southampton (UK), cf. http://archaeologicalnetworks.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/caa2011-networks-session-summary-and-discussion/. The slides for this presentation are available in the talks-section of my academia.edu-website.

The centuries after the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204 were characterized by the political... more The centuries after the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204 were characterized by the political fragmentation of the former imperial sphere of the Byzantine Empire; especially in the period between 1250 and 1453, attempts to establish hegemony by one of the local powers (Byzantium, Bulgaria, Serbia) were followed by phases of disintegration of these polities until the Ottoman State restored “imperial unity” in the region. While political border zones frequently changed, religious denominations (the orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, the autocephalous orthodox Churches of Bulgaria and Serbia, the Catholic Church, Islam) tried to preserve or expand their spheres of influence within the entire Balkans; furthermore, local and regional trading networks criss-crossed the region and integrated it in the late medieval “Worldsystem”, which was dominated in the Mediterranean by the cities of Venice and Genoa, which also possessed colonies in the Aegean.
The concepts of network analysis allow us to understand these relations between different communities and authorities in a novel way; Michael Szell, Renaud Lambiotte and Stefan Thurner from the Vienna Complex Systems Research Group argued in a recent paper:
“Human societies can be regarded as large numbers of locally interacting agents, connected by a broad range of social and economic relationships. (…) Each type of relation spans a social network of its own. A systemic understanding of a whole society can only be achieved by understanding these individual networks and how they influence and co-construct each other (…) A society is therefore characterized by the superposition of its constitutive socio-economic networks, all defined on the same set of nodes. This superposition is usually called multiplex, multi-relational or multivariate network.” (2)
We will demonstrate the application of this “multiplexity”-approach for the analysis of various political, religious and mercantile networks which connected individuals and communities from the local and regional level to the level of the competing political, religious and economical centres in the late medieval Balkans within an across border zones. (3) We will present how we obtain relational data from our sources, such as the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which contains more than 700 documents for the years 1315 to 1402, and the integration of these data into networks of various scales; we will demonstrate how smaller networks can be connected to larger ones and how this influences the characteristics and topologies of networks. Finally, we will illustrate the applicability of this network analytical “toolkit” for other historical disciplines.
Our paper is strongly connected to the study of Mihailo St. Popović, who will present historical-geographical aspects of these phenomena for one specific region.

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(Johannes Preiser-Kapeller - Ekaterini Mitsiou) Hierarchies and fractals: Ecclesiastical revenues as indicator for the distribution of relative demographic potential within the cities and regions of the Late Byzantine Empire in the early 14th century

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

published in: Byzantina Symmeikta 20 (2010) p. 245-308.

Until now the source material has made it impossible to reconstruct the distribution of economic power and population... more Until now the source material has made it impossible to reconstruct the distribution of economic power and population within the Late Byzantine Empire on a larger scale. Our new analysis of a list of contributions from 33 bishoprics to the Patriarchate of Constantinople from 1324 connects these figures with the economic performance of the respective town and its hinterland; we also demonstrate that the distribution of contributions shows characteristics which are typical for settlement hierarchies and therefore can be used to create the first model for the distribution of demographic and
economic potential in the Byzantine Empire at this time.

Calculating Byzantium? Social Network Analysis and Complexity Sciences as tools for the exploration of medieval social dynamics.

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Working paper for the International Medieval Congress in Leeds 2010, 27 p.

Complex historical dynamics of crisis: the case of Byzantium

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

to be published in: A. Suppan (ed.), Krise und Transformation. Vienna 2011 (working paper version online)

In more than 1000 years of history, the Byzantine Empire experienced several severe times of crisis which brought it... more In more than 1000 years of history, the Byzantine Empire experienced several severe times of crisis which brought it almost to the point of destruction. Yet, Byzantium proved to be one of the most resilient polities of medieval Europe and endured; even after the loss of its capital to the Crusaders of 1204, Byzantine statehood and church were able to regenerate in exile and to reclaim Constantinople after 57 years. But the political and economic environment had changed dramatically, and Byzantium could not re-establish its own imperial sphere in the Eastern Mediterranean; the commercial centres of Italy
(Venice, Genoa) had integrated Byzantium´s former territories in the late medieval “Worldsystem” , in which Byzantium only occupied a position at the periphery; and new expansive Turkish polities had emerged in Western Asia Minor, which reduced Byzantium to a South-Eastern European regional power
and finally after 1350 extended their power to the politically fragmented Balkans. Internally, competing aristocratic factions, ecclesiastical disputes and a “lack of unity and social cohesion” weakened the central state´s ability to adapt to the challenges of this new environment. Despite this complex of factors and
developments, contemporary scholarship still often considers Late Byzantium a “Pseudo-Empire”, more or less “programmed” for destruction after 1204 (or even earlier) , and interprets the development of these 250 years from the perspective of its endpoint – the Ottoman conquest of 1453. Our paper challenges this view; it aims at a new analysis of Byzantium´s “last centuries” not as an isolated case, but from the perspective of a pre-modern polity facing the same dramatic changes and challenges as others societies did at the same time of the “Late Medieval Crisis”, which took hold of the entire old world from China to England in the 14th century. At the same time, we implement concepts, models and tools provided by the
new fields of complexity studies and social network analysis in order to include the historical dynamics of crisis and adaptation in all its complexities at the level of macro-processes (in demography, climate and economy), of the structural framework of political, economic, social and religious networks, of individual
and collective decision making and reaction to crisis phenomena. Thus, it becomes possible to identify similarities and peculiarities of Byzantium´s development in comparison with other contemporary polities and to find answers to the question why some segments of the Byzantine framework were able to adapt and to survive beyond 1453 within the new Ottoman framework while the Byzantine polity in its totality
collapsed.

A network analysis of the synod and the episcopacy in the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the years 1379–1390

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

to be published in: Ch. Gastgeber et al. (ed.), Das Patriarchatsregister von Konstantinopel. Eine zentrale Quelle zur Geschichte und Kirche im späten Byzanz. Vienna 2011 (forthcoming; working paper version online)

On constructing a research model for historical cognitive linguistics (HCL): Some theoretical considerations

by Roslyn Frank

Full citation reference:

Frank, Roslyn M. & Nathalie Gontier. 2010 "On constructing a research model for historical cognitive linguistics (HCL): Some theoretical considerations." In Winter, M.E., Tissari, H. & Allan, K. (eds). Historical cognitive linguistics, pp. 31-69. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. (Book series: Cognitive Linguistics Research, nr 47)

This paper is the uncorrected proof.

This paper examines how historical cognitive linguistics can benefit methodologically through the application of the... more This paper examines how historical cognitive linguistics can benefit methodologically through the application of the notion of language as a complex adaptive system. The idea that languages are complex adaptive systems (CAS) was introduced initially in computational evolutionary linguistics, a discipline that was and remains inspired by biological, systems theoretical approaches to the evolution of life. Here the way that the CAS approach serves to replace older historical linguistic notions of languages as organisms and languages as species is explained as well as how the CAS approach can be generalized to encompass linguistic domains. Specifically, an overview of the CAS approach and its implementation in linguistics is provided with an emphasis on stigmergic, embodied, usage-based and socio-culturally situated language studies in particular.

Keywords: complex adaptive systems, evolutionary linguistics, historical and computational linguistics, language evolution, stigmergy, social cognitive linguistics, distributed and situated cognition, genes/ memes/linguemes, usage-based models