This article was written by guest contributor Raúl Cervera Álvarez (Universitat de Barcelona).
Introduction
The REDIF research project is based in Barcelona, Spain at the University of Barcelona. It aims to provide a new perspective on the Catholic Monarchy (15th-18th centuries) through the development of local knowledge and the role of territorial mediators during the process known as the first globalization.
It has numerous international ties: Some related projects include the research initiative Political Communication and Governance of the Río de la Plata Territory, 1580–1700, funded by the Fund for Scientific and Technological Research through a BID loan (CONICET, Argentina); the node “Languages of Governance: Interpreters, Scribes, and Translators in the Iberian Worlds” within the Red Columnaria at UNAM; the research network Power and Representations: Cultural Transfers in the Early Modern Period, coordinated between the University of Barcelona and the Ministry of Science and Innovation; and the consolidated research group ECERM (Ethnographies, Cultural Encounters and Religious Missions), based at UPF and supported by the Government of Catalonia.
Its main goal is to focus on the case study of the Hispanic Monarchy and its territories in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia, analyzing the process of “knowledge generation” and its key players from a local and territorial perspective. The goal is also to explore how the network of informants and representatives of the urban elites (especially corporate and ecclesiastical), who traveled to the court or the Roman Curia from the nearest centers of Castile to the most remote Asian territories, was a tool for the articulation and integration of a “global Catholic” monarchy.
As part of the project, a database is being compiled. The database seeks to clarify the role of each deployed agent, trying to specify if they were informants, mediators etc., while highlighting their location of origin, networks of contacts, diverse religious beliefs, shared positions of power, the production and circulation of texts, ethnographic information, and the (personal or collective) outcomes of their time at the Roman Court or Curia. This information forms the basis for the analyses and reflections of the international team of 30 researchers involved in the project.
REDIF’s Logo
What is the REDIF database?
REDIF is a collaborative database dedicated to documenting historical agents of the early modern Hispanic Monarchy. Although it is open to contributions from a broad range of scholars (undergraduates, master students and even renowned scholars), it maintains academic rigor. Each entry undergoes a thorough review process, in which all submitted entries are verified and refined by the project’s organizers before publication. As mentioned, the main goal of this database is to provide a well-structured source of information on the individuals who operated within the monarchy’s vast imperial structure—diplomats, missionaries, intermediaries, interpreters, soldiers, merchants, and other agents of governance and cultural exchange. For each figure, REDIF records their known contacts and networks of loyalty, mapping the relationships that shaped political, diplomatic, and religious action across multiple territories. It also documents the geographic scope of each agent’s activities, identifying where their influence, missions, or administrative tasks were carried out. When applicable, the database includes material objects associated with their diplomatic or evangelizing work, whether surviving artifacts or items mentioned in the primary sources. Finally, every entry specifies the archival or documentary sources used to reconstruct the agent’s trajectory, ensuring transparency, traceability, and scholarly reliability.
Functionality
The main menu of the database.
The above images shows the database’s main menu. From here you can access the list of agents included in the database ordered by name (left column). The next columns provide the date (sometimes the primary sources even specifies the exact day) of the beginning of their diplomatic or religious activities and the date they concluded their duties. The fourth column specifies their occupation (missionary, ambassador, bishop, etc.) during their deployment.
An example of an entry showing an agent deployed in China (specifically the city of Guangzhou), Martín Ignacio de Loyola.
If you click on any agent further information is offered to the user. The user can access all the information related to their contacts, if there are any objects related to the person, what primary sources have been used to put together the entry, if they were a member of a religious order, their position and even the corporation, group or congregation they represented.
Screenshot from Rodolfo Acquaviva’s entry.
More information is revealed as the user scrolls down: why were they selected for their position, the results of their work (in the above screenshot, one can read that the agent, while being head of the mission, was assassinated by idolaters in Conculin, Salsete District, which marked the end of the embassy to the Great Mughal Empire), the network they developed in such territories etc.
Some entries contain gaps due to the limitations we face as historians. For instance, it might not be possible to track down information on a historical figure, the primary sources might not mention details on subjects such as funding, or they may be in a bad state or incomplete. That said, the database has more information on the deployed agents than many other reference materials or websites.
Finally, it is important to highlight that at the end of the file there is information on where to find the primary sources used to write the entry including hyperlinks when available.
Example of a source referenced in the database.
The database is currently only available in Spanish, but there are plans to make it available in Catalan, English and Italian. Before this is realized, the auto-translate option on Google Chrome or other browsers, might help non-Spanish speakers to navigate through the website in their native tongue.
The Locations Entry
The “Localización” tab.
If you are interested in regional studies and you think you might find useful using Hispanic agents for your work, the locations tab might be especially useful for you. By accessing this tab, the user can access all the areas mentioned in the database including cities, regions, or countries.
A Work in Progress: Call for Collaborators
The REDIF project is currently in its beta phase, a stage in which its structure, interface, and editorial workflow are still being refined to ensure long-term stability and scholarly reliability. Despite being under active development, the platform is already fully functional as a space for compiling, organizing, and analyzing information about historical agents of the early modern Hispanic Monarchy. During this phase, the team is testing new features, evaluating user experience, and strengthening the mechanisms that guarantee the academic rigor of each entry—particularly the internal review system through which organizers verify, edit, and approve all submitted materials. This makes the beta stage an ideal moment for expanding the project’s network of collaborators who can help shape the future of the project and participate directly in its intellectual direction.
For that reason, the team is actively seeking scholars, graduate students, and emerging researchers interested in contributing to the database. Collaborators will have the opportunity to work with a growing, international community dedicated to studying early modern Iberian worlds, while also gaining experience in digital humanities methodologies and collaborative research environments. Anyone interested in participating can be provided with a personal username and password that will allow them to enter, edit, and enrich the database. To request access or obtain more information, potential contributors are invited to contact the team at pr.redif[at]ub.edu.
Final Thoughts
This ambitious database might prove very useful in the future. If used in conjunction with the PARES project, about which I wrote an article in The DO two years ago, we will be able to learn much more about the Hispanic Monarchy and its agents from different historical contexts around the world. Together these databases allow us to work with primary sources from diverse geographical areas. The REDIF database in particular offers the added advantage of facilitating the study of links between agents and the metropolis, their networks of loyalty, and even whether their interventions beyond the borders of the Hispanic Empire left any significant material legacy.
