Protestant Letter Networks in the Reign of Mary I: A Quantitative Approach

Abstract

Protestant Letter Networksregulatory networks, and social networks-share an underlying order and follow simple laws, and therefore can be analyzed using the same mathematical tools and models.2 These publications build on work from various different disciplines, such as sociology, mathematics, and physics, which stretches back some decades. The theoretical approaches of social network analysis have already made an impact in the fields of historical corpus linguistics, coterie studies, and the history of science, amongst others; but the application of mathematical and computational techniques developed by scientists working in the field of complex networks to the arts and humanities is a relatively recent development, and one that is gaining increasing traction, offering as it does both technical tools and a sense of contemporaneity in a world now dominated by social networking platforms. despite these developments, however, there is still much work to be done before these statistical methods are embedded within the literary historian's toolbox. all too often the word "network" is used by scholars in this field as a useful metaphor-in much the way that Thomas More wielded the word "canker." This article will demonstrate how the mathematical tools employed by network scientists offer valuable ways of understanding the development of underground religious communities in the sixteenth century, as well as providing different approaches for historians and literary scholars working in archives.while it is not possible to corroborate More's fears about the extent and organization of evangelical communities in england during the 1530s due to lack of documentation, considerable evidence for the structure of the underground Protestant communities functioning in the catholic reign of Mary i survives in collections of correspondence. early modern correspondence provides a unique textual witness to social relations and structures. gary schneider has described renaissance letters as "sociotexts": as "crucial material bearers of social connection, instruments by which social ties were initiated, negotiated, and consolidated." 3 Letters were the method by which people sought patronage, garnered favor, and engineered their social mobility; they were a means of communicating alliance, fidelity, and homage; and they could be used "as testimonies, as material evidence of social connectedness."4 The modern perception of private correspondence was one that simply did not exist in the early modern period. instead, epistolary conventions implicated multiple parties in the composition, transmission, and reception of letters. common letters (intended for more than one recipient or written by more than one sender) most clearly demarcate the idea of an epistolary community, but senders also

In Between Research Cultures – The State of Digital Humanities in Finland

“…On the more successful use of computational methods to classic historical questions see Ahnert & Ahnert (2015).…”

Female Involvement, Membership, and Centrality: A Social Network Analysis of the Hartlib Circle

“…Thus, social network visualisation is an effective way of highlighting and drawing attention to the social ties that letters ‘initiated, negotiated, and consolidated’ (Schneider, 6). Two scholars to use this approach with regard to correspondence are Ruth Ahnert and Sebastian E. Ahnert. They used quantitative network analysis to visualise and analyse the Protestant letter network memorialised in John Foxe's Acts and Monuments , or the ‘Book of Martyrs’ as it is more popularly known.…”

Quantitative and qualitative approaches to early‐modern networks: The case of George Herbert (1593–1633) and his imitators

“…As Ahnert and Ahnert () point out, “A network is a collection of links, which can be combined into a myriad of possible paths,” and “The measurement of these paths is a crucial way of establishing the ranked importance of the people in that network” (p. 12). However, because the school of Herbert is an ego network, the selection of tools to measure this connectedness should be done with care.…”

“…125–26). Finally, Ahnert and Ahnert's study, “Protestant Letter Networks in the Reign of Mary I: A Quantitative Approach” also uses network analysis to reconstruct, visualize, and analyze the social network of Protestants living in England during the reign of Mary I, from 289 extant letters (pp. 1–3).…”

“…Although studies such as that of Ahnert and Ahnert (), and digital projects such as Six Degrees of Francis Bacon and Reassembling the Republic of Letters , indicate the rapid increase in the application of digital methodologies to literary‐historical studies over the last decade, investigations into practices of early‐modern imitation and adaptation have not broadened so rapidly. As Jennifer Clement indicated in 2013, studies of early‐modern adaptation have been reluctant to move away from inquiries into Shakespeare's influence (Clement, , p. 677).…”