Medieval Christian nonconformism and gender : analysing data on the actions of men and women from a corpus of inquisition registers
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| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | This paper investigates the question of gender in medieval Christian nonconformism which, in spite of decades-long theoretical interest, still lags behind in quantitative studies backed by specific data. To mitigate this gap, we analyse data from a corpus of 25 inquisition registers dating from the 1230s to the 1520s, which provide a valuable window into the potentially gendered nature of religious dissidence. We assess whether different types of actions (e.g. believing, communing, moving around, talking, listening, and such) betray any overrepresentation of women or men, or any specific interaction patterns between genders. Specifically, we generate large random samples of relevant query patterns, esp. verbal, from a corpus of ca. 2 million words. Through manual annotation and validation of this data, we then study the representation of women vs. men as grammatical subjects and objects of different types of action. We identify some areas of activity trending female and some others trending male. We also look at gender mixing patterns, signalling potential gender homophily of some activities (e.g. women predominantly interacting with other women in some areas of activity). We then relate these findings to previous research, also paying attention to differences between inquisition registers, kinds of Christian nonconformism, and historical contexts. Ultimately, we hope to contribute to a deeper understanding of medieval religion at the intersection between gender, power, and religious practice. |
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