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| Iberian Medieval Names Project | |
|---|---|
| Name | Iberian Medieval Names Project |
| Established | 1990s |
| Location | Iberian Peninsula |
Iberian Medieval Names Project The Iberian Medieval Names Project is a long‑term scholarly initiative focused on the collection, analysis, and dissemination of anthroponymic data from medieval Iberian Peninsula sources. It brings together researchers from institutions such as the University of Oxford, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, University of Barcelona, University of Coimbra, University of Salamanca, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and the Spanish National Research Council to study names appearing in records related to Visigothic Kingdom, Al-Andalus, Kingdom of León, Kingdom of Castile, and Crown of Aragon. The project intersects with research on onomastics, palaeography, diplomatics, prosopography, and digital humanities initiatives like the Digital Humanities Observatory and the European Research Council–funded networks.
The project compiles anthroponyms from charters, cartularies, legal codes, episcopal registers, and chronicles spanning from the Visigothic Code era through the late medieval period covering the Reconquista, the Treaty of Tordesillas era precursors, and transitional records involving the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and the Crown of Castile. Collaborators include scholars affiliated with the Biblioteca Nacional de España, Archivo General de Indias, Archivo Histórico Nacional (Spain), Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla, Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela archives, and manuscript collections such as the Codex Vigilanus and the Chronicle of Alfonso III. The corpus supports comparative work with databases from Prosopography of Anglo‑Saxon England, the Regesta Imperii, and the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
Primary objectives are to establish standardized morphological entries for personal names, to map onomastic change across regions like Galicia, Asturias, Navarre, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Extremadura, and Andalusia, and to trace cultural contacts among communities including Visigoths, Basques, Jews, Muslims of Al-Andalus, and Franks. The scope includes given names, bynames, patronymics, toponyms used as surnames, and religious names referenced in sources tied to institutions such as the Council of Toledo, Monastery of Ripoll, Cathedral of Burgos, University of Salamanca, and civic charters of Seville, Toledo, Zaragoza, Lisbon, Porto, and Palma de Mallorca.
Methodological approaches combine systematic paleographic transcription, lemmatization, and linguistic normalization following conventions used by projects at the Institute for Name‑Studies and the Real Academia Española. Teams apply concordance protocols drawn from the International Council on Archives, XML encoding schemas influenced by TEI standards, and database architectures compatible with the Linked Open Data ecosystem and the Europeana platform. Prosopographical linking employs authority control practices akin to the Virtual International Authority File and crosswalks with identifiers used by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Library of Congress.
The corpus aggregates medieval sources: royal diplomas of Ferdinand I of León, royal charters from Alfonso VI of León and Castile, feudal documents referencing Ramiro II of León, notarial records from Barcelona, testamentary records tied to families of Seville and Valencia, Jewish community registers from Toledo and Cordoba, waqf documents preserved in Granada, and records from monasteries such as San Juan de la Peña, Santo Domingo de Silos, and Sobrado dos Monxes. Complementary datasets include census fragments, muster rolls linked to campaigns like the Siege of Zaragoza (1118), pilgrimage records for Camino de Santiago, and episcopal correspondence connected with Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada.
Analyses reveal continuity of Visigothic name elements (e.g., forms found in the Liber Iudiciorum) alongside influxes of Arabic anthroponymy after the establishment of Al-Andalus and resurgence of Roman/Latinate names associated with ecclesiastical elites at Cluny‑influenced houses. Geographic patterns show distinct onomastic zones in Galicia versus Castile and hybrid anthroponymy in frontier areas like La Mancha and Extremadura. Studies document the persistence of patronymic markers comparable to surnames found in later documents such as those of the Catholic Monarchs and link naming practices to social categories visible in burgher registers of Genoa and Venice merchants active in Iberian ports.
The database supports scholarship in medieval social history, genealogical reconstruction for noble houses like the House of Trastámara, legal history of institutions like municipal concejos, and cultural studies exploring interactions among Christian kingdoms, Jewish communities in medieval Spain, and Muslim principalities. It informs museum cataloguing at institutions such as the Museo del Prado (for patronymic provenance), aids archival digitization projects at the Archivo de la Corona de Aragón, and underpins linguistic reconstructions relevant to studies of Old Spanish, Mozarabic, Galician‑Portuguese, and medieval Catalan.
Governance blends university consortia, archival partners, and scholarly advisory boards with funding from sources including the European Commission, Horizon 2020 grants, national research agencies such as the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, and private foundations linked to the Ramon Llull Institute and the Prince of Asturias Foundation. Oversight involves ethics committees and data stewards liaising with the Council of Europe's cultural heritage initiatives.
Outputs include peer‑reviewed articles in journals like the Journal of Medieval History, monographs published by Cambridge University Press, Brill, and Routledge, edited volumes from Brepols, conference proceedings from meetings at Conferencia Internacional de Estudios Medievales, and open‑access datasets integrated with Pleiades and the Digital Medievalist community. Public interfaces provide search tools for scholars at partner repositories including the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Zaragoza and the Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Category:Onomastics Category:Medieval Iberia Category:Digital humanities