FACING FOREIGNERS Between the Medieval and Early Modern Period in the North Adriatic Towns

FACING FOREIGNERS will investigate the social, economic, political, cultural and legal status of foreigners and the attitudes towards them in urban settlements in the Northern Adriatic, with special regard to the territory of present-day Slovenia during the transition from the medieval to early modern period. The overall objective of this project is to examine the changes in the attitudes towards foreigners and to the concepts of foreignness in the investigated period and area, under the influence of the altered social situation, the rise of central state authorities, and centralisation of the judiciary and administration. The approach will be both diachronic and synchronic. Specific objectives will address the definitions and categories of foreignness, the role of foreigners in all aspects of urban life, policies of migration, inclusion and exclusion, the status of marginal groups and foreign women. The current state-of-the-art shows that in Slovene historiography the investigation of foreigners in medieval and early modern towns is a rather neglected area of research, as the few hitherto studies have largely addressed only the identification of foreigners, often based on contemporary national boundaries. Slovene research especially lacks studies on the concepts of foreignness, the social consequences of migration, legal and customary systems of integration, urbanist aspects of immigration and the status of foreign women. The project will fill in the gaps in the investigation with the analysis and interpretation of varied typologies of sources. The main sources for the research are serial records of central and urban administrative and judicial authorities and parish registers, in combination with legislation (state, local) and treatises by early modern thinkers dealing with foreigners and foreignness. With its original theoretical and methodological approach the project will decisively upgrade hitherto research in Slovene historiography and contribute new insights to international studies. As archival research will be conducted in several archives (Ljubljana, Maribor, Ptuj, Koper, Trieste, Venice, Graz, Vienna, Szombathely, Zalaegerszeg), the project team has already done a preliminary survey and prepared a detailed work plan, including the dissemination of research results to the international research community. Although the research is very ambitious, requiring a large number of sources and their careful analysis, the detailed work plan and its rationalisation will enable unhindered research. The key results of the project will be the preparation of 20 original scientific papers, the organization of an international scientific conference, the publication of 2 monographs and the development of new tools for digitisation in humanities. The project will make a significant contribution to the development of the science field – historiography, as it will address a problem that has yet to receive the necessary historiographic attention in Slovenia. Concurrently, it will provide an original and modern scientific contribution at the international level, bringing Slovene historiography closer to international trends. It is expected that the research will also be useful to other humanities and social sciences, which use similar methodological and theoretical approaches, thus providing new insight on important topics such as foreigner, migrations, the state and community. An international network of researchers and research institutions will be formed that will collaborate in different forms of dissemination of research results. FACING FOREIGNERS will achieve its objectives with its deliverables and establish a wider international network for further research as well as encourage the career building and inclusion of a young generation of researchers, who will further develop the field.