Roundtable: Accessing the Confessional History of Early Modern Southeast Europe through Local Archives: Possibilities and Challenges

Following up on last year’s roundtable organized by the Balkan Studies Research Unit and focusing on the rich collections from archives of Roman Catholic institutions – such as the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, the Holy Office, and the Society of Jesus –, this roundtable aims to put sources drawn from regional archives in the center of the study of the confessional and religious history of the Balkans. Researchers working on different regions, themes, and time periods will bring together their experience with such archives, shedding light on their potential for future research, but also problematizing archival silences and difficulties in accessing collections.
From the Aegean archipelago to the Banat, from Sofia to Budapest, from Dubrovnik to Bosnian monasteries, the participants will discuss how to connect sources from different – and at times unexpected – places within a unified analytical framework. The roundtable thus aims to foster dialogue on integrating local archival material more fully into the study of Catholic and other confessional and religious groups – Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Armenian – in the Ottoman and non-Ottoman Balkans.

SPEAKERS:

Dana Caciur-Andreescu (“N. Iorga” Institute of History, Romanian Academy)
Cristian Gaşpar (Department of Historical Studies, Central European University)
Emese Muntán (Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Silvia Notarfonso (Higher School of Historical Studies, University of San Marino)
Ovidiu Olar (Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Lena Sadovski (Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Tsvetan Vasilev (Department of Classical Philology, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”)