Published November 4, 2025 | Version 2 - November 2025
Dataset Open

Dataset for "Narratives of religious dissidence in medieval inquisition records: computing the representation and sequencing of crimes in Peter Seila's register of sentences (1241–2)"

Description

This dataset supports the article:
Robert L. J. Shaw , Tomáš Hampejs David Zbíral, "Narratives of religious dissidence in medieval inquisition records: computing the representation and sequencing of crimes in Peter Seila’s register of sentences (1241–2)", Historical Research (2025), https://doi.org/10.1093/hisres/htaf030.


It is composed of three sheets, containing data derived from Peter Seila's register of inquisition sentences (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Doat 21, fols. 185r–324r).

1. A table of all crimes ("crimes" sheet; n=3789) narrated in the summaries of guilt in textual order. 

  • “crime_id": a unique identifier for each crime

  • "suspect_id", "suspect_name": specifies the suspect i.e., the person in whose summary the crime appears

  • "suspect_sex": records the sex of the suspect

  • "region", "period": records the region and period in which the crime was recorded 

  • "crime_type": a variable based on the original Latin form/s of particular crime semantics; there are 143 such “crime types”, mostly describing various forms of contact with dissident ministers 

  • "crime_category": an analytical categorization (6 categories in total); based on the different forms of contact 

  • "dissident_minister_affiliation": a record of the sect affiliation of the crime, depending on the type of the dissident minister involved; "h" = heretici; "v" = valdenses, "b" = both, "u" = unaffiliated

  • "recurrence": a recurrence category ("once", "multiple" or "being") capturing three levels of crime recurrence specification

  • "aggravating_alleviating_circumstance": a record of any guilt contextualizaton  ("aggravating", "alleviating" or "NA"), capturing whether there are any additional circumstances pertaining to guilt mentioned in the crime's narration

  • "location_circumstance": a record ofwhether a location is specified in relation to the crime ("location" or "NA")

  • "statement_text": the original text from which the coding of the crime derives

2. A table of all individual summaries of guilt in the register ("summaries" sheet"; n=649). Each summary describes the guilt of one person. The 7 textual summaries in the source referring to two people have each been rendered as two individual summaries. Parts of the table are a projection of the “crimes” sheet. 

  • "summary_id": a unique ID for each summary

  • "suspect_id", "suspect_name": specifies the suspect of the summary

  • "suspect_sex": records the sex of the suspect

  • "region", "period": records the region and period in which the summary was recorded

  • "crime_sequence": the sequence of crime types (individual crimes separated by spaces); derived from the data in the “crime_type” data in the ““crime” sheet, grouped by “suspect_id” and retaining textual order

  • "sect_sequence": the sequence of crime sect affiliations (h = heretici; v = valdenses, b = both, u = unaffiliated); derived from the "dissident_minister_affiliation” data in the “crime” sheet, grouped by “suspect_id” and retaining textual order

  • "recurrence_sequence": the sequence of crime recurrence categories ("once", "multiple" or "being" values separated by spaces); derived from the “recurrence” data in the “crime” sheet, grouped by “suspect_id” and retaining textual order

  • "sequence_length": length of summary crime sequence (i.e., number of crimes within the summary)

  • "crime_type_non-adjacent_reps", "seeing_and_seeking_non-adjacent_reps": the two types of non-adjacent crime repetitions defined in the article; derived from the sequence of crime types 

  • "narbonne_language_sequence": the rendering of the summary’s crime sequence in the crime language of the Narbonne Order interrogatory, performed in the manner described in the article

  • “narbonne_number_sequence”:  the rendering of the summary’s crime sequence as a series of numbers (separated by “_”) according to the place numbers of the associated crimes within the Narbonne Order interrogatory sequence

  • "narbonne_conformity_index", "narbonne_conformity_index_vidit_segmented": the two types of Narbonne Order conformity index defined in the article

3. A dictionary of the crime types found in the register ("crime_dictionary" sheet, n=143). 

  • "crime_type": the crime type based on its Latin form/forms and meaning

  • "crime_type_english": an English translation of the Latin crime type

  • "crime_category": the crime category (out of 6 such categories) within which the crime type falls

  • "crime_count": the count of each crime type within the register's summaries 

  • "narbonne_crime_equivalent": the Narbonne Order interrogatory crime to which we have associated it with for the purpose of the conformity analysis

  • "narbonne_sequence_number": the place number (from 1 to 28) of the associated Narbonne Order interrogatory crime within the Narbonne Order interrogatory sequence

Files

Files (373.9 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:839a308d9364aa1f35135aacaaa3e332
373.9 kB Download

Additional details

Funding

European Commission
DISSINET - Networks of Dissent: Computational Modelling of Dissident and Inquisitorial Cultures in Medieval Europe 101000442