The Centre for Nordic Studies UHI invites you and your colleagues to
submit abstracts for the Inaugural St Magnus Conference, Orkney 2011 at the Centre for Nordic Studies, UHI Millennium Institute, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland, 14-15th April, 2011.

The 2-day international conference will feature presentations on cultural and geographical connections between Scotland and the Nordic World, fostering dialogue and knowledge exchange between academia, government and the public. The theme of this event concerns cultural, geographical and historical links between Scotland and the Nordic World. However, we welcome talks on all Nordic and maritime topics, particularly comparative studies. Abstracts are due by 30/11/10.
Conference Programme

Day 1: Norroway ower the Faem (Norway over the foam) Scotland and
Norway – Intimate Contact over 1200 years.

Keynote speakers for day 1 include Judith Jesch, Professor of Viking
Studies, University of Nottingham.

Day 2: The Northern Isles and Scandinavia – Cultural and historical
connections.

Keynote speakers for day 2 include Steve Murdoch, Professor of
History, University of St Andrews.

Submission guidelines

Papers will be presented to a broad, interdisciplinary audience of
diverse interests and backgrounds and should therefore be engaging
colleagues from a variety of subject areas. The conference language is
English, and standard presentations will be 20 minutes in length.
Presenters will be encouraged to submit written versions of their papers
for inclusion in the conference proceedings. If you wish to present a
paper at the conference, please e-mail the following information to
cns@orkney.uhi.ac.uk:

● Your name
● Your institution/affiliation (if any)
● Your e-mail address
● Your telephone number (including country code)
● Abstract (150-200 words, including paper title)
● Biographical note (100 words).
● At least three keywords.

For more information, or to propose an organised session of 3-4 related
presentations, please e-mail cns@orkney.uhi.ac.uk.

Dr Marie Stoklund, Curator Emerita and Senior Researcher at the National Museum, Copenhagen

Prof. Hans Frede Nielsen, Dept. of English, University of Southern Denmark, Odense

Prof. Henrik Williams, Dept. of Scandinavian Languages and Director of the Centre for Runology, University of Uppsala

MA Irene García Losquino, Centre for Scandinavian Studies, University of Aberdeen

Prof. Stefan Brink, Centre for Scandinavian Studies, University of Aberdeen

Dr Tarrin Wills, Centre for Scandinavian Studies, University of Aberdeen

All are welcome–if you’re interested in attending please contact Stefan Brink directly at s.brink@abdn.ac.uk

The theme of this year’s conference is Skaldic Poetry, and the programme is as follows:

10.30 Coffee, Registration (Jeremy Bentham Room)

11.00 Richard North (London): ‘Skaldic verses. How to read them; how not to fear them’.

11.45 Debbie Potts (Cambridge): ‘Myth and metaphor in the self-referential language of early skaldic verse’.

12.30 Erin Goeres (Oxford): ‘My hope of wealth died”: Personal gain and personal grief in the commemorative verses of Glúmr Geirason and Eyvindr skáldaspillir’.

1.15 LUNCH

2.00 Alaric Hall (Leeds): ‘Kennings, personal names, and understanding supernatural beings’ (across the skaldic corpus as a whole, but definitely with some reference to Ragnarsdrápa).

2.45 Heather O´Donoghue (Oxford): ‘Skaldic verse in saga prose’.

3.30 David Ashurst (Durham): ‘Verse as sex act: chiefly in Kormaks saga‘.

4.15 TEA

The conference will be held in the Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, University College London. (South Junction of the main building, at the top of the stairs. Registration and refreshments will be in the Jeremy Bentham Room.)

To Register: Please email Alison Finlay <a.finlay@bbk.ac.uk> by Monday 8 February to inform us of your intention to attend. The conference costs £10 — which covers the cost of coffee, tea and a sandwich lunch. Please send a cheque for this sum to Alison Finlay, Department of English, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, WC1E 7HX (to arrive by 12th February) OR pay using a credit card via PayPal at the Society’s website.

The conference is organized by the Retrospective Methods Network in cooperation with the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Bergen, Norway. The purpose of the network is to promote and develop retrospective methods in historical studies in a wide sense. The background is the growing interest in folklore and other 19th and 20th century evidence as a supplement in studies of pre-Christian Scandinavian beliefs. Methodologically this is highly problematic, however; we must not use late evidence in the same naïve way as the scholars of the early 20th century. Therefore, a renewed effort in the development of retrospective methods is required, hence the network and the conference.

The conference is open to all and only half of the papers will be invited. Papers on all kinds of retrospective approaches are welcome, from all kinds of fields, treating all kinds of topics and material, as long as they can help develop better and more explicit methods for retrospective reasoning. The organizers hope that a renewed discussion of retrospective methods can lead to a higher level of methodological consciousness and a stronger demand for explicitness in claims, methods and reasoning in Old Norse studies.

The Call for Papers is out now, with a deadline of 15 February. Please see the conference website for further details.

22-23 October 2009

Myth and Theory in the Old Norse World

Background to the Conference (from the conference website)

In 2005 Scandinavian scholars assembled in Aarhus, Denmark to discuss progress in the study of Old Norse mythology.  The reason for this gathering was a fresh interest in this field (and in particular in the reassessment of its theoretical-methodological foundations), which has recently resulted in new research projects, PhD theses and academic articles.  This has generated a new fascination for the topic amongst the general public, leading to several museum exhibitions and newspaper articles.  All this has taken scholars by surprise.  In response, leading academics have decided to meet and discuss methodological foundations, sources and current issutes in the field of Old Norse mythology at an annual conference.  The aim is to construct a new theoretical foundation for future study, through discussion of a vital aspect of Early Scandinavian culture, history and religion:  namely our pagan mythology.

In 2008 it was decided that the 2009 conference should take place in Aberdeen, organised by the Centre for Scandinavian Studies (www.abdn.ac.uk/cfss).  The theme for this conference in Aberdeen is Myth and Theory in the Old Norse World, with contributions from Literary Historians, Linguists, Historians, Historians of Religions, Archaeologists and Ethnologists.

Participant speakers will reassess and qualify current scholarly opinion, and papers are expected to provoke lively debate.  Speakers will include many leading international scholars as can bee seen in the programme.

It looks like another excellent conference in a series that has already produced some highly stimulating results.  Speakers will include Robert Segal, Margaret Clunies Ross, John Lindow, Terry Gunnell, Rudolf Simek, and many more…

The Call for Papers has been issued, and is available at the Conference Website. Deadline for paper proposals is 2 October There aren’t many details on the site as yet, so keep checking back.

Chris Callow writes to give us the very heartening news that Old Norse language is returning to the syllabus at the University of Birmingham, after a few year’s hiatus. Chris will be teaching an introductory level course in the School of History and Cultures. He hopes to extend the teaching to more advanced levels in the future.

Chris also thought that Old Norse News readers might be interested in Birmingham’s new  MA in Medieval History, which has its first
intake in September 2009:
http://www.postgraduate.bham.ac.uk/prog2009/taught/arts/medieval-history.shtml.

It is expected that this will be the precursor to a series of other taught, graduate-level programmes in medieval studies and Late Antiquity which will become available over the next few years.

Finally, he mentions that Old Norse and Viking-Age scholars will be more than welcome at the annual Gender and Medieval Studies conference held in Birmingham on 7th-10th January 2010 (see http://www.medievalgender.co.uk/). The theme of the conference next year will be the family.

Obviously exciting times for medievalists at Birmingham, and I’m grateful to Chris for letting us know about them.

It didn’t take very long to find the Scandinavian content in the programme for the 2009 Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, which will be in Chicago from 26-29 March. It looks like there’s just one paper:

16.15 on Friday: Marianne Kalinke, ‘The Arthurian Legend in Breta sögur: Historiography on the Cusp of Romance’

The Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies’ meeting in Madison, Wisconsin (30 April-2 May) unsurprisingly has a stronger medieval Scandinavian component. It looks like being a strong strand in the programme this year:

Old Norse: Philology (Friday, 08.30)
Chair: Jackson Crawford
1) Collin Olson, “Beowulf: The Value of the Scandinavian Analogues”
2) Valentine Pakis, “Centaurs, Aurochs, and the Names of the U-Rune”
3) Molly Jacobs, “Lokasenna and Old French fabliaux”
4) Thor Templin, “Snorri’s ‘Republic’: Comparing the Rigsthula with Plato’s Republic and Indo-European Class Structure”

Old Norse: New Approaches (Friday, 10.30)
Chair: John Lindow
1) Carrie Roy, “Fastening, Fixing and Binding: Exploring the Transcendent through Norse Material Culture”
2) Susanne Fahn, “Scribbles with Potential: The Importance of Marginalia in Icelandic Manuscripts.
3) Zoe Borovsky, “ePhilology, Giants and Old Norse”
4) Helga Hlaðgerður Lúthers, “Clashes in the Classroom: Scandinavian Studies Meets the Popular North”

Medieval Art History (Friday, 13.30)
1) Kaaren Grimstad & Michelle Nordtorp-Madson, “Pictures without Words and Words without Pictures: A Case Study of the Niflung Legend”
2) Lori Talcott, “The Norwegian Bolesølje: A Microcosm of Medieval Aesthetics and Belief”
3) Karl Aspelund, “National Culture by Stealth and Design: How a 19th Century Artist and a Secret Society Defined 20th Century Icelandic Cultural Tradition”

Old Norse: Institutions in Sagas (Saturday, 10.30)
Chair: Scott Mellor
1) Verena Hoefig, “Origin of a Political and Religious Elite: The Icelandic Goðar”
2) Felicia Becerra, “Finding the Moral of Hrafnkels Saga: A Study of Kinship”
3) Adam Oberlin, “Hákon Hákonarson’s Norway and Crusading as Institution”
4) Sirpa Aalto, “Categorizing Otherness in the Kings’ Sagas”

Old Norse: Myth (Saturday, 13.30)
Chair: Jack Niles
1) Merrill Kaplan, “Odin Gets a Head: Mímir, Seiðr, and Völsa Þáttr”
2) James L Frankki, “If the Gods Can Do It, Why Can’t I?: Cross-dressing in the Poetic Edda”
3) Céline Leduc, “Sacrifices in the Icelandic Eddas”

Nordic Saints (Saturday, 15.30)
Chair: Natalie Van Deusen
1) Joel Anderson, “The Miraculous Water of Gudmundr Arason and the Limits of Holiness in Medieval Iceland”
2) Thomas DuBois, “Birgitta’s Visions in Context”
3) John Lindow, “Olafr Geirstadaalfr and St. Olafr”
4) Tracey R Sands, “Clothing and Bodily Adornment in the Revelations of Saint Birgitta”

It looks like being a fairly good year: I count ten sessions devoted solely to the Norse world, and a total of 49 papers on Scandinavian topics. It’s still perhaps not enough, considering that there are over 1500 papers delivered each year at Kalamazoo, but it’s a healthy number. Also encouraging is the interesting spread of sub-disciplines between the papers. Literature predominates, but people are talking about an interesting range of texts, including some less commonly studied ones: the session on biskupa sögur and the two papers on Tristans saga stand out, for example. There isn’t, however, very much on poetry this year. As usual, medieval Scandinavian history — even the Vikings — is a bit thin on the ground, although the titles of the individual history papers sound very interesting. It’s a shame there aren’t any sessions devoted entirely to Scandinavian history, though. There’s also a sprinkling of archaeology, and even some linguistic topics. It also looks as there are none of the major clashes between Norse sessions that annoyed some of us so much last year.

Alas, I can’t make it to Kalamazoo this year, but I shall be trying to persuade people to update Old Norse News  on what’s going on. In the meantime, there follows the digest of Scandinavian Studies sessions and papers at Kalamazoo this year; you’ll see that it will almost be possible to go to every session of the conference and only to hear papers on Scandinavia! Apologies if I’ve missed anything out.

Thursday 10.00

• 11 Old Norse Literature and Culture

Sponsor: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, St. Louis Univ., and the Viking Society for Northern Research

With Friends like These . . . : Thor as Outsider among the Æsir

Kevin J. Wanner, Western Michigan Univ.

The New World and the Numinous in the Vinland Sagas

Mahlika Hopwood, Fordham Univ.

Saving Face: Negotiating Feud in the Fornaldarsogur

Michael Nagy, South Dakota State Univ.-Brookings

• 14 Male Garrulity

Sponsor: Dept. of Medieval Studies, Central European Univ.

Talkative Men in Old Norse Culture: How Were They Judged?

Else Mundal, Senter for Middelalderstudier, Univ. i Bergen

• 29 Early Medieval Military History: Obligations, Sources, and Technology

Sponsor: De Re Militari and the Society for Military History

Viking Warfare in the Ninth Century: The Contributions of the Annales Xantenses and Annales Vedastini

Steve Bivans, Univ. of Minnesota-Twin Cities

• 31 The Tristan Motif: National Traditions and Their Significance

Sponsor: Tristan Society

“Translating” Tristan: Hákon Hákonarson’s Norway and the Possibilities of Translatio

Adam Oberlin, Univ. of Minnesota-Twin Cities

A Tristan Parody in the Saga of Thidrek of Bern

Edward R. Haymes, Cleveland State Univ.

Thursday 1.30

• 67 Celtic Literature

Norse Heathenism in the Irish Landscape

Gwendolyn Sheldon, Centre for Medieval Studies, Univ. of Toronto

• 73 Dress and Textiles I: Threads and Fibers

Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion)

Evidence for Roundels in Viking Age Embroidery from Bjerringhøj, Mammen Parish, Denmark

Raven Alexandra Fagelson, Independent Scholar

• 85 Medieval Icelandic Bishops’ Sagas

“If the Law Is Split Asunder”: The Confrontation between Religious and Political Authority in the Sagas of Guðmundr Arason

Annalisa C. Moretti, Western Michigan Univ.

Var með honum alla ævi: The Image of Mother in Þorláks Saga

Gregory L. Laing, Western Michigan Univ.

“A good name is better than precious ointment”: Sacred Names in Þorláks Saga

Colleen Dunn, Western Michigan Univ.

Clothing Sin: Sumptuary Law and Unction in Þorláks Saga

Jana K. Schulman, Western Michigan Univ.

• 103 Approaches to Magic in the Northern European World

Magic S(words)

Melissa Sprenkle, Whitworth Univ.

Norse Magic and the Power of Written and Spoken Words

Derek Newman-Stille, Trent Univ.

“Harðsnúin froeði”: Magic and Knowledge in Laxdæla Saga

Christopher Bailey

Thursday 7.30

• 184 The Beverage of Valhalla: Mead in the Viking World

The Drink of the Gods: The Origins of Mead Supremacy in Northern Europe

Max Nelson, Univ. of Windsor

Of Horn Maidens and Hostesses: The Role of Women in the Drinking Rituals of the North

Christine M. Bethke, Florida State Univ.

“Site nú tó symle, and onsæl meodo”: Quaffing Mead with the Vikings

Ken Schramm, Ann Arbor Brewers Guild

• 192 The Irish Sea in the Viking Age

Sponsor: Dept. of History, Appalachian State Univ.

Hitting Your Head on an Axe: The Impact of Weapons on Social Discourse

David B. Beogher, Eastern Michigan Univ.

“A Christian Burial”: Funerary Rites and the Cross of the Scriptures at Clonmacnois

Maggie McEnchroe Williams, William Paterson Univ.

Religious Controversy in the Kingdom of the Isles: Rushen Abbey’s Relations with the Norse Kings of Mann

Valerie Dawn Hampton, Univ. of Florida/Western Michigan Univ.

Tales of Three Brothers: Historical Fact or Literary Trope?

Mary A. Valante

Friday 10.00

• 205 Icelanders Abroad: International Adventures in Old Norse Literature

Sponsor: New England Saga Society (NESS)

Orkney as a Member of the Anglo-French Culture Club

Maria-Claudia Tomany, Minnesota State Univ.-Mankato

Race Relations in the Vinland Sagas

Gretchen Hendrick, Univ. of Connecticut

Royal Women and Their Power in Heimskringla

Jóhanna Katrin Friðriksdóttir, Lincoln College, Univ. of Oxford

Friday 1.30

• 268 Language in Contact and Context: Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Medieval English

Sponsor: Society for the Study of the History of the English Language (SSHEL)

Anglo-Scandinavian Language Contact Scenarios

Elise E. Morse-Gagné, Tougaloo College

• 311 Encounters and Transformations I: Material Cultures along the Silk Road

Encounters between Vikings and Persians on the Silk Road

Mark Bradshaw Busbee, Florida Gulf Coast Univ.

Friday 3.30

• 323 You Better Behave! II: Transgressive Behaviors

Sponsor: Medieval Academy of America

Outlaws and the Otherworld: The Divided Rebel in the Icelandic Sagas

Gregg Smith, Mountain State Univ.

• 371 Papers by Undergraduates II

Literary Representations of Cultural Liminality: The Old Norse and Latin Accounts of Sigurð Magnusson’s Travels to the Holy Land

Aaron James Vanides, Univ. of Chicago

Saturday 10.00

• 416 Between Understanding and Construction: Sanctity in the North

Sponsor: Háskóli Íslands

Shaping the Legitimacy of Leadership: The Royal Martyrs of Medieval Scandinavia in Pseudo-Historical Texts

Joanna Agnieszka Skorzewska, Univ. i Oslo

Selkolla: A Colorful Side of Medieval Icelandic Christianity

Gunnvör S. Karlsdóttir, Háskóli Íslands

Saturday 3.30

• 505 Medieval Languages: Barriers or Bridges to Teaching? II

Sponsor: CARA (Committee on Centers and Regional Associations, Medieval Academy of America)

The Fusion of Old-Norse/Icelandic and Library and Information Studies in the Creation of Educational Materials and Tools

Todd Michelson-Ambelang, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

• 525 Old Norse-Icelandic Studies in Honor of Joseph Harris

The Cultivation of Personal Poetry in the Frankish Empire and the Viking Diaspora

Russell Poole, Univ. of Western Ontario

Eiríksmál and Hákonarmál: A Forschungsbericht and an Option or Two

Robert D. Fulk, Indiana Univ.-Bloomington

Beer, Vomit, Blood, and Poetry: Egils saga cap. 44-45

Thomas D. Hill

Sunday 8.30

• 559 Virtue, Vice, and Virility: High Status Men in the Middle Ages

Sponsor: Division of History, Univ. of Huddersfield

The Outward Urge: Gender, Status, and Migration in the Viking Age

Simon Trafford, Institute of Historical Research, Univ. of London

• 569 Thesaurus Reliquiarum: Relics and Relic-Like Objects in Monastic Contexts I

Shrines under Siege: The Defensive Role of Relics during the Viking Attacks in Francia (ca. 840-940)

Daniel DeSelm, Univ. of Michigan-Ann Arbor

• 581 Mostly Old Icelandic Manuscript Studies

Sponsor: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies

Margrétar saga II: The Perfect Edition

Kirsten Wolf, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

Outlaws and Knights on the Edge: Peripheral Manuscript Evidence Pertaining to Grettis saga, Gísla saga, Harðar saga, and Sigrgarðs saga frækna‘

Emily Lethbridge, Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Fixing, Fastening, and Gripping in Norse Society and Material Culture

Carrie Roy, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

• 588 Beyond Geography: New Work on the Old English Orosius

Frozen Debate: The Sagas’ Chilling Effect upon The Voyages of Ohþere and Wulfstan

Jeremy DeAngelo, Univ. of Connecticut

Sunday 10.30

• 610 Barlaam and Josaphat in the European Middle Ages

The Barlaams ok Josaphats saga: A Courtly Legend at the Royal Court in Bergen

Vera Johanterwage, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Univ. Frankfurt am Main

• 614 Scandinavian Studies

Sponsor: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies

Leaving It All Up to Chance (And Other Fateful Fictions)

Oren Falk, Cornell Univ.

Martha versus Mary: The “Sister Saints” and Roles for Women in Medieval Iceland

Natalie Van Deusen, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

Having Fun the Old Way, or, Tradition Never Really Dies: Semi-oral Retelling of Medieval Þorsteins saga bæjarmagnus in 1825 AD

Ilya V. Svedlov, Independent Scholar

The Forgotten Poem: Notes on a Latin Praise Poem for Saint Þorlákr

Susanne M. Fahn, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

Between the Islands: Interaction with Vikings in Ireland and Britain in the Early Medieval Period

Location: Faculty of English, University of Cambridge

Friday 13 – Sunday 15 March 2009

Website: http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/567/

‘Between the Islands’ seeks to illuminate the nature of interaction between Vikings and the peoples of Ireland and Britain in the early medieval period. The title alludes to the underlying significance of sea currents for these relations, as well as signalling a focus on what has come to be known as the Insular Viking zone. Our primary concern is what Vikings did when they went abroad; how their activities shaped the insular cultures of which they became an integral part and to what extent they were transformed themselves in the process. Our starting point is the ninth century when Vikings began to settle in what were to become their adopted homelands; we follow the progress of their integration down to the twelfth century by which time a considerable blurring of boundaries had occurred. Our focus will be precisely on those boundaries, upon the fertile interstices in which cultural transference most easily occurs. Our canvas is a broad insular landscape at a period during which it was truly transformed.
To enable us to view that transformation in the brightest possible light we aim to provide a wide arc, by bringing scholars of various disciplines together who are engaged in specialised research. We shall concentrate on specific areas of that canvas, rather than surveying it in its entirety. To this end, 45-minute sessions (10-15-minute presentation of a pre-circulated paper, followed by c.30 minutes of discussion) will provide detailed investigations of specific aspects of cultural interaction based on up-to-date, cutting edge research. Our succession of well-chosen topics drawn from different disciplines, and from various regions and time periods, will when taken together form a series of overlapping vignettes which will put our understanding of relations between these peoples on a more solid footing.

Click here for full programme.