Welcome
This is just a modest site. Feel free to explore my research and programming work.
About Me
I am a historian with a profound interest in migration, identity, and concepts of power in premodern Europe. My academic journey began anew in 2020 when, after many years as a software developer and manager in the publishing industry, I decided to return to university to pursue my passion for history. I now hold a Research Master’s degree in Renaissance Studies from Utrecht University, specializing in early modern Italy. I am experienced in archival research, palaeography, and digital humanities tools such as Transkribus and Nodegoat. I am proficient in reading historical documents and literature in Dutch, English, French, German, and Italian.
Beyond my historical research, I bring over 30 years of experience as a software developer. During my studies and internships I inevitably dug into the field of Digital Humanities, combining my technical expertise with my academic pursuits. I developed several plug-ins for the Zotero annotation and reference tool. These plug-ins leverage Large Language Models to generate document summaries, translations, and transcribe sections of scanned, hand-written archival materials.
If you are interested in discussing custom development for your historical research project, or exploring my plug-ins and digital workflows, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Research
My academic journey has evolved around historical research focussed on early modern Italy. In 2023, I completed my BA in History at the University of Amsterdam, including a minor in Italian and participation in the honours program. I continued my academic training in the Renaissance track of the AMRS research Master at Utrecht University. During this program, I contributed as an intern to the project Correspondence of Christofforo Suriano (1616-1623) at the Huygens Institute, where I worked on the missives of Ambassador Extraordinaire Trevisano.
I have experience in archival research, palaeography, digital humanities tools such as Transkribus and Nodegoat, and am proficient in reading Dutch, English, French, German, and Italian documents and literature.
Programming
With over 30 years experience, I have a solid background as an entrepreneur and programmer. During my study and the internships that were part of it I have further honed my skills, specialising in what is generally called Digital History. After completing university I have developed some plug-ins for the Zotero annotation tool. These plug-ins use AI to generate summaries of documents, but there is also one that can transcibe area’s of scanned archival documents.
If you are interested in these plug-ins, or in custom development for your historical research project, feel free to contact me.
Latest Post
Hello!
A place to share thoughts on history, digital humanities, programming, and whatever else happens to catch my attention.
What to expect
Posts here will likely cover a range of topics reflecting my own interests:
- Early modern history — research notes, reflections on sources, thoughts on methodology
- Digital humanities — tools, workflows, and the intersection of computation and historical inquiry
- Programming — occasional technical write-ups, especially things related to the Zotero plug-ins I maintain
- Cycling — because some things simply need to be written about
I do not promise a strict schedule. Quality over quantity.
A note on language
I may write in Dutch or English depending on the topic and the audience I have in mind. History posts aimed at a Dutch-speaking academic audience will probably be in Dutch; more technical posts may well end up in English.
Thanks for stopping by. More soon.
