16 May 2025

DISSINET Data on Witchcraft Trials featured on Aktuálně.cz

Our comprehensive dataset of witchcraft trials in Czech lands has been utilised by the popular online publication Aktuálně.cz to create a new map.

9 Apr 2025

CEDRR now uses Bluesky as the primary social media platform

CEDRR has joined the Digital Humanities community on Bluesky to connect with international scholars and share innovative research.

1 Apr 2025

Medieval anti-heretical hate speech: Support in submitting a Marie Skłodowska Curie postdoc application (MSCA-PF)

DISSINET is searching for Ph.D. graduates inerested in applying for a post-doc position focusing on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Send us a preliminary research proposal by 15 April 2025.

31 Mar 2025

Medieval anti-heretical hate speech: Funded Ph.D. opportunity

DISSINET is offering support to M.A. graduates applying for fully funded Ph.D. studies focusing on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Send us a preliminary research proposal by 15 April 2025.

31 Mar 2025

DISSINET is now on Bluesky and Mastodon

Stay up to date with DISSINET news by following our new social media accounts.

28 Mar 2025

Structural insights into the inquisition register of Bologna (1291-1310)

Inquisition registers are an excellent source for studying the social organisation of medieval communities. Did the investigated people form one or a few cohesive social bodies of “heretical movements” – communities – or are they better understood as many unrelated cases of small groups or individuals who drew the attention of the inquisitors separately?

17 Feb 2025

Witchcraft, Envy, and Norm Enforcement in Mauritius

In a new study published in Human Nature, LEVYNA was part of a team lead by A.K. Willard, studying how witchcraft beliefs affect social norms and behaviors. Specifically, researchers investigated whether witchcraft is regarded to be motivated by envy and how this notion influences community interactions. The findings show that, while witchcraft accusations were common, they were mostly directed at persons suspected of acting out of envy.

17 Feb 2025

Did ancient sources overestimate the mortality of the Antonine Plague?

In a new article, Anestis Karasaridis and Aleš Chalupa used epidemiological SIR/SEIR models to simulate different pathogen scenarios and found that the death toll might not have been as high as ancient sources suggest.

12 Feb 2025

Gender patterns in medieval heresy incriminations

Examining an extensive register of inquisition from Bologna, 1291-1310, we found that women tended to incriminate other women, while men incriminated across genders.

30 Jan 2025

Vyhlášení výběrového řízení na studijní pobyty ERASMUS+

28 Jan 2025

Socioeconomic variation in motivations for ritual practice – a new study by LEVYNA & UConn

In an ethnographic survey-based study published in the journal Religions, D. Xygalatas and P. Maňo looked at variation in motivations for ritual practice and how it relates to the socioeconomic status of respondents. The findings indicate that whereas people of lower socioeconomic standing address more immediate concerns related to material security and safety in their ritual practices, people at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum tend to focus on the fulfillment of spiritual, social, or cultural needs.

24 Jan 2025

Monasticism beyond the Monastery: religious life and society in the medieval West (RLBcB547)

23 Jan 2025

Experimentally testing the existential insecurity hypothesis

In a new Registered Report published in Collabra, M. Lang and R. Chvaja experimentally tested whether secular individuals would be willing to join religious groups when threatened with cooperative insecurity. The results showed that while this effect was weak in a behavioral test, a self-reported willingness to join was much stronger than anticipated.

12 Dec 2024

David Zbíral was appointed Professor in History

Professor Zbíral received his appointment decree from the president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, on December 10, 2024, in Karolinum, Prague. Congratulations!

20 Nov 2024

Members of customs offices impacted the spread of the Roman cult of Mithras: New article

Aleš Chalupa, Tomáš Glomb, and Juraj Sarkisjan published the article: Stations of the Publicum Portorium Illyrici are a Strong Predictor of the Mithraic Presence in the Danubian Provinces: Geographical Analysis of the Distribution of the Roman Cult of Mithras in Open Archaeology.

15 Aug 2024

Summer schools on quantitative methods: A report by Tereza Menšíková

In this short text, Tereza looks back at the experience of attending summer schools focusing on quantitative methods and evaluates how beneficial it was for her research and self-development in the Study of religions.