Parish Data

wenty-Fourth Warwick Symposium on Parish Research
Saturday 16 May 2026
University of Warwick, Central Campus, Coventry (hybrid)

Hosted by Beat Kümin (Warwick History / My-Parish) and Marek Słoń (Institute for the
Historical Geography of the Church in Poland - John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin)

 

The tax register of the Poznań diocese from 1561, digital edition: faksimile indexed with INDXR App and NODEGOAT App,
with data on the relationships of people, places and institutions mentioned in the source.

 

Parishes were one of the most developed territorial networks in medieval and modern Europe. They are documented in a range of important sources, some generated within the communities (registers of baptisms, marriages and burials; fabric / poor relief accounts; inventories), others by ecclesiastical bodies (visitation / court records; benefice registers) and secular authorities (for numerous administrative / taxation purposes). Throughout the Continent, furthermore, church buildings were filled with material culture, some of which survives. Taken together, this rich set of evidence has the potential to yield huge amounts of data on individuals, groups / institutions, socio-economic conditions, religious life, spatial organization and cultural change. Traditional source critique, machine learning applications, visualization techniques, geostatistical analyses and Digital Humanities opportunities, to name but a few, can all be used – and perhaps combined – to enhance our understanding of both parish affairs and their wider repercussions. This brings new research possibilities as well as numerous challenges, not only technologically but also methodologically and even philosophically. The 2026 Symposium seeks to illustrate and reflect on these themes within broadly conceived chronological, regional and disciplinary frameworks.

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

 

We now invite proposals for 15-minute papers. Submissions should contain a title, abstract and brief biographical note (on max. 2 A4-pages), reaching b.kumin@warwick.ac.uk by Friday 6 March 2026. The Symposium has always been an inclusive forum of exchange between anyone with related research interests from whatever background or career stage. It may be possible to offer a small number of postgraduate bursaries to help with travel expenses – please let the organizers know if you would like to apply. Further information and programme details will be published on the Symposium homepage at :

http://go.warwick.ac.uk/my-parish/parishsymposia/data/