Networking the Revolution (1688-1692)

The seventeenth century was a century of revolution and warfare in the British Isles, particularly Scotland. Events in the late seventeenth-century changed the relationship between the monarch and parliament and set the stage for turbulence as the infant empire would realize, as the blast wave of the Revolution rippled through Scotland, Ireland, England, and the larger Atlantic world at large. Networking the Revolution is a 2024-2025 DH@MSU seed grant funded project. Inspired by more recent developments in the field of network science and early modern studies, Networking builds on the idea that communication and relationships during conflict are incredibly important in terms of building out a more holistic picture of the period. To allow for more scholars to harness the data, the project is an open access digital repository of code and data specifically related to relationships and networks of people in Scotland during the Revolution.

This project is a marriage of early modern Scottish history and computational data science. It brings together methods of network science, prosopography, and traditional early modern political history surrounding communication. The letters exchanged in this period are more than just networks of correspondence; people were bound together through community, print, and dialogue. Exchanging letters in a period of chaotic and often violent warfare was even more complex. Given this, understanding the relationships is paramount to visualizing the data. Networking the Revolution allows further access to critical information about seventeenth century British history and this pivotal period which shaped much of the modern British state. Perhaps more importantly, the project democratizes the pursuit of knowledge and expands the potential for research in the field.