  The project "Complexities and networks in the Medieval Mediterranean and Near
East" (COMMED) at the Division for Byzantine Research of the Institute for
Medieval Research (IMAFO) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences focuses on the
adaptation and development of concepts and tools of network theory and
complexity sciences for the analysis of societies, polities and regions in the
medieval world in a comparative perspective. Key elements of its methodological
and technological toolkit are applied, for instance, in the new project
"Mapping medieval conflicts: a digital approach towards political dynamics in
the pre-modern period" (MEDCON), which analyses political networks and conflict
among power elites across medieval Europe with five case studies from the 12th
to 15th century. For one of these case studies on 14th century Byzantium, the
explanatory value of this approach is presented in greater detail. The
presented results are integrated in a wider comparison of five late medieval
polities across Afro-Eurasia (Byzantium, China, England, Hungary and Mamluk
Egypt) against the background of the {\guillemotright}Late Medieval
Crisis{\guillemotleft} and its political and environmental turmoil. Finally,
further perspectives of COMMED are outlined.
