Mapping the Scottish Reformation

FAIN: PW-264004-19

Washington and Lee University (Lexington, VA 24450-2116)
Michelle D. Brock (Project Director: July 2018 to present)

A collaborative planning project to develop a database documenting the lives of members of the Scottish clergy from 1560 to 1689, based on manuscripts held at the National Records of Scotland.

A digital prosopography that traces the careers of two centuries of Scottish clerics, Mapping the Scottish Reformation (MSR) will be one of the largest databases of Protestant thinkers, theologians, and preachers in the world. Built with data from manuscripts held at the National Records of Scotland (NRS), this is the first project to ever comprehensively chart the growth, movement, and networks of the Scottish clergy between 1560 and 1689. For scholars and students of this era, such a resource will provide crucial framing for inquiries into religious beliefs, political conflicts, and institutional change. For those interested in family history on both sides of the Atlantic, MSR will provide unprecedented information on individuals whose outsized archival footprints make them critical figures for genealogical research. We are requesting an NEH HCRR Foundations Grant to support the essential pilot phase of this multi-stage project.

Associated Products

Blog post: Verbs and the Clerical Life Cycle in Early Modern Scotland (Blog Post)
Title: Blog post: Verbs and the Clerical Life Cycle in Early Modern Scotland
Author: Christopher Langley
Author: Michelle Brock
Abstract: This post explores the ways that Hew Scott categorized clerical careers in the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, how they have clouded modern understandings of ministerial trajectories, and how Mapping the Scottish Reformation aims to correct this issue.
Date: 10/1/2019
Primary URL: http://mappingthescottishreformation.org/project-reports/verbs-and-the-clerical-life-cycle-in-early-modern-scotland/
Blog Title: Verbs and the Clerical Life Cycle in Early Modern Scotland
Website: Mapping the Scottish Reformation

Blog post: Mapping Parishes, c.1560-1689 (Blog Post)
Title: Blog post: Mapping Parishes, c.1560-1689
Author: Chris R. Langley
Abstract: A look at how the Project Directors have begun to map Scottish parishes.
Date: 10/01/2019
Primary URL: http://mappingthescottishreformation.org/project-reports/mapping-parishes/
Blog Title: Mapping Parishes, c.1560-1689
Website: Mapping the Scottish Reformation

Working with Imperfect Manuscripts: Image Manipulation in MSR (Blog Post)
Title: Working with Imperfect Manuscripts: Image Manipulation in MSR
Author: Chris R. Langley
Abstract: This post covers challenges of working with imperfect manuscripts and difficult paleography, and the range of solutions we have used thus far.
Date: 11/20/2019
Primary URL: http://mappingthescottishreformation.org/methodology/working-with-imperfect-manuscripts-image-manipulation-in-msr/
Website: Mapping the Scottish Reformation

Driving our Data (Blog Post)
Title: Driving our Data
Author: Chris R. Langley
Author: Michelle D. Brock
Abstract: This post discusses the use of Wikidata to build access to reliable information on clerical careers.
Date: 05/08/2020
Primary URL: http://mappingthescottishreformation.org/resources/driving-our-data/
Website: Mapping the Scottish Reformation

Mapping the Scottish Reformation: Tracing Careers of the Scottish Clergy, 1560-1689 (Article)
Title: Mapping the Scottish Reformation: Tracing Careers of the Scottish Clergy, 1560-1689
Author: Michelle D. Brock
Author: Chris R. Langley
Abstract: This article introduces readers to Mapping the Scottish Reformation, a digital prosopography of ministers who served in the Church of Scotland between the Reformation Parliament of 1560 to the Revolution in 1689. By extracting data from thousands of pages of ecclesiastical court records held by the National Records of Scotland, Mapping the Scottish Reformation (MSR) tracks clerical careers, showing where they were educated, how they moved between parishes, their age, their marital status, and their disciplinary history. This early modern data drives a powerful mapping engine that will allow users to build their own searches to track clerical careers over time andspace. In short, Mapping the Scottish Reformation puts clerical careers – and, indeed, Scottish religious history more generally – quite literally on the map.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://www.irss.uoguelph.ca/index.php/irss/article/view/5834
Access Model: open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: International Review of Scottish Studies
Publisher: The University of Guelph

Mapping Religious Change with Messy Data (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Mapping Religious Change with Messy Data
Abstract: This presentation explores the data that underpins Mapping the Scottish Reformation, a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities that traces the careers of Scottish clergymen between the Reformation of 1560 and the Glorious Revolution of 1689. At first glance, the Church of Scotland’s meticulous records present an image of a rigid structure consistent over time and space that would ideally suit a digital approach. However, our period was one of dramatic shifts and regional diversity. Ecclesiastical policy was hotly debated; parishes were created, dissolved, or united with each other; and ministers’ roles changed, from mere exhorter to preacher of God’s word. This presentation discusses how Mapping the Scottish Reformation seeks to capture this data while remaining sensitive to messiness of clerical experiences during the pivotal post-Reformation era.
Author: Michelle D. Brock
Author: Chris R. Langley
Date: 01/24/2020
Location: Edinburgh, UK
Primary URL: https://www.cdcs.ed.ac.uk/events/mapping-religious-change-messy-data

Blog post: Introducing the Mapping the Scottish Reformation Website (Blog Post)
Title: Blog post: Introducing the Mapping the Scottish Reformation Website
Author: Chris Langley
Author: Michelle Brock
Abstract: introduction of our pilot website
Date: 12/11/2020
Primary URL: http://mappingthescottishreformation.org/announcements/launch/
Website: mappingthescottishreformation.org

Blog post: Pulling Back the Curtain on Transatlantic Collaboration (Blog Post)
Title: Blog post: Pulling Back the Curtain on Transatlantic Collaboration
Author: Michelle Brock
Abstract: This piece discusses our process of transatlantic collaboration on MSR.
Date: 9/21/2020
Primary URL: http://mappingthescottishreformation.org/resources/pulling-back-the-curtain-on-transatlantic-collaboration/
Website: mappingthescottishreformation.org

Blog post: Entering Stage Two: Mapping Parishes in Lothian and Tweeddale, 1560-1689 (Blog Post)
Title: Blog post: Entering Stage Two: Mapping Parishes in Lothian and Tweeddale, 1560-1689
Author: Chris Langley
Abstract: This post discussed the beginning of our work in building the pilot user interface.
Date: 8/18/2020
Primary URL: http://mappingthescottishreformation.org/project-reports/parishes-mapped/
Secondary URL: http://mappingthescottishreformation.org/project-reports/parishes-mapped/
Website: mappingthescottishreformation.org

Blog post: Visualization Matters: Collaborating to Show Religious Change (Blog Post)
Title: Blog post: Visualization Matters: Collaborating to Show Religious Change
Author: Chris Langley
Abstract: This post explores our work in collaborating with Interactive Content team at the University of Edinburgh to build the pilot website.
Date: 1/25/21
Primary URL: http://mappingthescottishreformation.org/project-reports/visualization-matters-collaborating-to-show-religious-change/
Website: mappingthescottishreformation.org

Pilot website: maps.mappingthescottishreformation.org (Web Resource)
Title: Pilot website: maps.mappingthescottishreformation.org
Author: Michelle Brock
Author: Chris Langley
Abstract: Mapping the Scottish Reformation (MSR) is a digital prosopography of the Scottish clergy between 1560 and 1689 that allows users to explore and visualize clerical careers during this essential period in Scottish history. Built with data from manuscripts held at National Records of Scotland (NRS), this is the first project to ever comprehensively chart the growth, movement, and networks of the Scottish clergy following the Reformation in 1560. For scholars and students of this era, such a resource provides crucial framing for inquiries into religious beliefs, political conflicts, and institutional change. For those interested in family history on both sides of the Atlantic, MSR offers unprecedented information on individuals whose outsized archival footprints make them critical figures for genealogical research. This project started in 2017 with the Project Team’s Directors Michelle D. Brock (W&L University) and Chris R. Langley (Newman University). This website reflects the findings of Stage 1 of the project, which focused on the diverse and important presbyteries in the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale. This stage was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Strathmartine Trust and supported by our wonderful Advisory Board and other generous collaborators. This pilot user interface was designed in collaboration with Hristo Meshinski, Stewart Cromar, and Ewan McAndrew of the University of Edinburgh. We are in the process of expanding the scope of Mapping the Scottish Reformation; eventually, it will provide and visualize data on the careers of the clergy from all regions of Scotland. We welcome you to keep up with our progress on our blog and Twitter feed!
Year: 2020
Primary URL: http://maps.mappingthescottishreformation.org

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