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The international Medieval Animal Data-Network (MAD) was founded in 2005 at the Department of Medieval Studies at Central European University (Budapest) as an attempt to bring together multi-stranded intellectual thought concerning human-animal relationships in the European Middle Ages. It is intended to explore the exploitation of animals by documenting and analyzing archaeozoological, textual and visual data.
It leaves the door wide open for study of ambiguities in the cultural attitudes towards those same flesh and blood beasts.
MAD not only impacts life in the medieval past but has repercussions for the way people of today may view and understand the world around them.
MAD strengthens consciousness of the complex interplay between culture and nature. MAD accumulates a large body of data. Analyses of these data reveal local, regional, and Europe-wide patterns which aid understanding of long-term environmental and social processes, representing a vital part of the cultural heritage of Europe.