Research theses
1. Introduction
This research internship offers foreign researchers the opportunity to join an ambitious project that reinterprets the medieval Atlantic through the lens of Global History. Far from being marginal spaces, Atlantic ports between the 12th and 15th centuries acted as critical nodes of connectivity, linking Europe with Africa, the Mediterranean, and wider Eurasian circuits. Their governance structures—jurisdictional, fiscal, and institutional—shaped the flows of people, goods, and ideas that contributed to the emergence of a more interconnected medieval world.
The internship invites early‑career scholars to explore how these ports functioned as laboratories of political negotiation, commercial regulation, and cultural interaction. By combining archival research, comparative analysis, and digital humanities tools, participants will contribute to a renewed understanding of the Global Middle Ages.
2. Research Objectives
The internship focuses on several interconnected goals:
- Analyse governance frameworks in medieval Atlantic ports, including municipal institutions, seigneurial powers, and royal authorities.
- Investigate fiscal and regulatory systems, such as customs, tolls, maritime law, and port ordinances.
- Examine Atlantic ports as global connectors, tracing how they facilitated long‑distance trade, migration, and knowledge circulation.
- Compare governance models across Iberian, French, English, and Hanseatic contexts to identify convergences and regional specificities.
- Apply digital humanities methods—network analysis and data visualisation—to reconstruct patterns of mobility and institutional change.
- Contribute to global‑scale debates on urban governance, maritime power, and pre‑modern globalisation.
3. Significance of the Project
This internship positions participants at the forefront of current historiographical debates. The study of medieval Atlantic ports offers a unique vantage point for understanding how local institutions interacted with global dynamics. Ports were not passive recipients of external influences; they actively shaped the circulation of commodities, technologies, and cultural practices.
By situating these spaces within a global framework, the project challenges traditional narratives that confine medieval Europe to regional or continental boundaries. Instead, it highlights the entangled, multi-scalar nature of medieval governance and mobility. Participants will gain experience in methodologies that are increasingly valued in international academia, including comparative history, connected histories, and digital approaches to the past.
4. Research Activities
Interns will engage in a structured set of activities designed to develop both analytical and methodological skills:
- Archival and bibliographical research on port institutions, maritime regulations, and fiscal systems.
- Analysis of primary sources, including customs registers, municipal ordinances, notarial records, and maritime law codes.
- Comparative case studies across different Atlantic regions.
- Digital humanities work, such as building datasets, mapping port networks, and visualising maritime routes.
- Participation in research seminars, workshops, and discussions with international scholars.
- Preparation of a research report or article-length paper contributing to the project’s collective outputs.
5. Expected Outcomes
By the end of the internship, participants will have:
- Produced a substantial research output (report, article draft, or digital project).
- Contributed to a comparative database on Atlantic port governance.
- Developed skills in archival research, comparative analysis, and digital humanities.
- Strengthened their international academic profile and expanded their professional network.
- Gained a deeper understanding of how medieval Atlantic ports shaped—and were shaped by—global dynamics.
The research group has a dedicated workspace available for researcher.