The RMN is an open social network intended bring together scholars interested in using evidence from one period for developing an understanding of the same or a corresponding phenomenon in an earlier period. In other words, the RMN is united by an interest in the problems, approaches, strategies and limitations related to approaching some aspect of culture in one period through evidence from another, later period, and it is open to all scholars who share in those interests. Such research includes assessments of continuity between historical periods, historical relationships between synchronic forms of a tradition in the same or diverse cultures, and also uses of analogical comparisons in which parallels are purely typological. Because the focus is on practical and constructive strategies, the network is multi-disciplinary, although the majority of the network’s members are presently in various fields related to medieval studies, folklore studies, linguistics, archaeology and history.