Gender, kinship, and other social predictors of incrimination
in the inquisition register of Bologna (1291–1310) : Results
from an exponential random graph model

J 2025

Gender, kinship, and other social predictors of incrimination in the inquisition register of Bologna (1291–1310) : Results from an exponential random graph model

ZBÍRAL, David; Katia RICCARDO; Tomáš HAMPEJS a Zoltán BRYS

Základní údaje

Originální název

Gender, kinship, and other social predictors of incrimination in the inquisition register of Bologna (1291–1310) : Results from an exponential random graph model

Autoři

ZBÍRAL, David; Katia RICCARDO; Tomáš HAMPEJS a Zoltán BRYS

Vydání

PLOS One, 2025, 1932-6203

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Článek v odborném periodiku

Obor

60304 Religious studies

Stát vydavatele

Spojené státy

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

full text of the article

Impakt faktor

Impact factor: 2.600 v roce 2024

Označené pro přenos do RIV

Ano

Kód RIV

RIV/00216224:14210/25:00140641

Organizační jednotka

Filozofická fakulta

Klíčová slova anglicky

incriminations; inquisition; social predictors; gender; incrimination homophily

Štítky

rivok

Příznaky

Mezinárodní význam, Recenzováno

Změněno: 6. 2. 2026 07:47, Mgr. et Mgr. Stanislav Hasil, Ph.D.

Anotace

V originále

The medieval inquisition of heresy strongly relied on depositions, where witnesses were expected to report on the crimes of others and oneself. The resulting patterns of incrimination could be influenced by various factors, including the characteristics of the underlying dissident social network; the investigators’ choices and biases; the trial circumstances, some of which must have exerted considerable pressure upon deponents; and the deponents’ decisions to protect some suspects more than others. This case study aimed at disentangling selected social factors of incrimination in the register of the inquisition in Bologna, 1291–1310. We used social network analysis and, more specifically, an Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM) to assess the influence of four social predictors: gender, churchperson status, membership of the urban “middle class”, and kinship ties between incriminators and the incriminated. To increase the validity of our results, we controlled for various trial circumstances and structural parameters of the incrimination network. Our model corroborated a tendency towards female-to-female incrimination, while we did not find any positive or negative tendency towards male-to-male incrimination. We identified no effect of churchperson status on incriminating, while we found that among Cathars, members of the middle class were more likely to be incriminated than people without this status. Our model also corroborated the tendency to incriminate one’s kinship group. Overall, our study underlines the relevance, but also the non-trivial operation, of social and demographic predictors in medieval heresy trials. The study is outstanding and innovative in several respects, including: 1) the application of statistical models for networks (ERGM) in Historical Network Research, which usually remains limited to visual analysis and descriptive statistics; 2) the search for intersections between history and social scientific questions of trial procedures; and 3) the extensive manual collection of structured data from Latin sources.

Návaznosti

101000442, interní kód MU

Název: Networks of Dissent: Computational Modelling of Dissident and Inquisitorial Cultures in Medieval Europe (Akronym: DISSINET)

Investor: Evropská unie, Networks of Dissent: Computational Modelling of Dissident and Inquisitorial Cultures in Medieval Europe, ERC (Excellent Science)

Přiložené soubory

bolincr.pdf

Požádat o autorskou verzi souboru

Citovat

ZBÍRAL, David; Katia RICCARDO; Tomáš HAMPEJS a Zoltán BRYS. Gender, kinship, and other social predictors of incrimination in the inquisition register of Bologna (1291–1310) : Results from an exponential random graph model. PLOS One. 2025, roč. 20, č. 2, s. 1-23. ISSN 1932-6203. Dostupné z: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315467.

@article{2476517,
   author = {Zbíral, David and Riccardo, Katia and Hampejs, Tomáš and Brys, Zoltán},
   article_number = {2},
   doi = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315467},
   keywords = {incriminations; inquisition; social predictors; gender; incrimination homophily},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {1932-6203},
   journal = {PLOS One},
   title = {Gender, kinship, and other social predictors of incrimination in the inquisition register of Bologna (1291–1310) : Results from an exponential random graph model},
   url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0315467},
   volume = {20},
   year = {2025}
}

TY  - JOUR
ID  - 2476517
AU  - Zbíral, David - Riccardo, Katia - Hampejs, Tomáš - Brys, Zoltán
PY  - 2025
TI  - Gender, kinship, and other social predictors of incrimination in the inquisition register of Bologna (1291–1310) : Results from an exponential random graph model
JF  - PLOS One
VL  - 20
IS  - 2
SP  - 1-23
EP  - 1-23
SN  - 19326203
KW  - incriminations
KW  - inquisition
KW  - social predictors
KW  - gender
KW  - incrimination homophily
UR  - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0315467
N2  - The medieval inquisition of heresy strongly relied on depositions, where witnesses were expected to report on the crimes of others and oneself. The resulting patterns of incrimination could be influenced by various factors, including the characteristics of the underlying dissident social network; the investigators’ choices and biases; the trial circumstances, some of which must have exerted considerable pressure upon deponents; and the deponents’ decisions to protect some suspects more than others. This case study aimed at disentangling selected social factors of incrimination in the register of the inquisition in Bologna, 1291–1310. We used social network analysis and, more specifically, an Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM) to assess the influence of four social predictors: gender, churchperson status, membership of the urban “middle class”, and kinship ties between incriminators and the incriminated. To increase the validity of our results, we controlled for various trial circumstances and structural parameters of the incrimination network. Our model corroborated a tendency towards female-to-female incrimination, while we did not find any positive or negative tendency towards male-to-male incrimination. We identified no effect of churchperson status on incriminating, while we found that among Cathars, members of the middle class were more likely to be incriminated than people without this status. Our model also corroborated the tendency to incriminate one’s kinship group. Overall, our study underlines the relevance, but also the non-trivial operation, of social and demographic predictors in medieval heresy trials. The study is outstanding and innovative in several respects, including: 1) the application of statistical models for networks (ERGM) in Historical Network Research, which usually remains limited to visual analysis and descriptive statistics; 2) the search for intersections between history and social scientific questions of trial procedures; and 3) the extensive manual collection of structured data from Latin sources.
ER  -

ZBÍRAL, David; Katia RICCARDO; Tomáš HAMPEJS a Zoltán BRYS. Gender, kinship, and other social predictors of incrimination in the inquisition register of Bologna (1291–1310) : Results from an exponential random graph model. \textit{PLOS One}. 2025, roč.~20, č.~2, s.~1-23. ISSN~1932-6203. Dostupné z: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315467.

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