Mateusz Jakub Fafinski

Dr. Mateusz Jakub Fafinski is a Research Fellow at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt. His work bridges historical analysis, digital humanities, and narratological frameworks to explore post-Roman urban transformations shaped by religious institutions.

• Research Focus: Urban adaptation (6th-11th centuries), monastic influence on cityscapes, church organization's role in creating para-urban landscapes, and digital methodologies for historical analysis.
• Publications: Authored/co-authored critical works on monasticism's urban impact, digital reproduction in historical scholarship, and spatial uncertainty in medieval texts. His 2021 book Roman Infrastructure in Early Medieval Britain remains a key reference.
• Digital Humanities Leadership: Pioneered fuzzy ontologies for mapping geographical uncertainty in historical manuscripts (2020) and contributed to computational methodologies in the INFORMATIK 2020 workshop.

Current projects include Adapted Landscapes, redefining urban decline narratives through the lens of institutionalised religious life. His interdisciplinary approach integrates textuality, social interaction, and material culture to trace the foundations of High Medieval urban expansion.