Medieval Epistolaries and Digital Methods: An Introduction Based on the Letters of Alcuinus (c. 790-804)

Recent studies have shed light on epistolaries as a literary genre, a specific medium, and an expression of a connected history, as well as analyzed its material composition. This article aims to demonstrate how digital methods can be used to reveal supra-local aristocratic connections. Thus, it intends to contribute to an understanding of the connected history of the high medieval aristocracy. The main source for this will be Alcuin’s epistolary writings. We argue that the use of GIS technologies to map the author’s epistolary collection can reveal how these networks manifest and reproduce diverse power relations, connecting and transforming the aristocracy in the process. Two aspects will be highlighted: how these networks manifest themselves differently according to the gender of the people involved in the missives (in particular women), and how mastery of the flow of rivers was fundamental in long-distance aristocratic connections.

Keywords:
Medieval History; Digital Methods; Alcuin