177
Identities of Vikings along the Scottish and Irish Sea
Coasts”, by Danica Ramsey-Brimberg.
17. “Come In, and Sit Down: Gesture, Posture and
Movement as a Contribution to the Study of Domestic
Social Space in
Íslendingasögur”, by Teva Vidal.
18.
“
Exploring the Great Beyond: Outlands and the
Beginnings of the Viking Age”, by Andreas Hennius.
19.
“Viking Age Law Embedded in Eddic Poetry: What
Was It and How Can It Be Dated?”, by Anne-Irene
Riisøy; “Judicial Violence in the Viking Age”, by
Keith Ruiter and Steve Ashby.
20.
“Imagination of Equity: Coming to Terms with
Rulers in the Viking World”, by Roland Scheel.
21.
“Norse Cult Sites and Performance” by Alexandra
Sanmark; “The Royal Site of Jelling in Denmark –
Latest Investigations and Results from the Jelling-
Project” by Charlotta Lindblom.
22.
“Ship Burials and Royal Origin Myths in Viking Age
Norway and Denmark”, by Jan Bill.
23.
“A Conceptual Approach to Infectious Disease in Old
English and Old Norse Charms”, by Stefanie Künzel.
24.
“Skaldic Poetry and the Danish Dynasty”, by Judith
Jesch.
25.
“Fathers and Sons: What viðkenningar can tell us
about Viking Age Kinship”, by Kate Heslop.
26. “Female Characters’ Contributions to the Character-
izations of Haraldr
harðráði”, by Megan Arnott.
27. “Norse Stories and a Battle in Ireland: Revisiting
Sources”, by Rosemary Power.
28. “Diversity Leadership: Strength in Compromise in
the Viking World”, by Shannon Lewis-Simpson;
Edmund Ironside: The Forgotten King of 1016 by
Heather Flack.
29.
“
Dró ek djarfhǫtt um døkkva skǫr: Transformation in
Egill’s
Arinbjarnarkviða”, by Eleni Ponirakis.
30.
“Why Vafþrúðnir Did Not Have to Die”, by John D.
Shafer.
31.
“Transformation on the Borders: Christianization
without Missionaries or Kings”, by Margaret
Cormack; “Early Christian Grave Monuments and
Ecclesiastical Organisation in 11
th
Century Sweden”,
by Cecilia Ljung; “The Cottingham Font: An
Example of the 9
th
Century Conversions in England”,
by Christopher Ferguson and Andrew Ferrara.
32.
“Remembering ‘Good Pagans’ in the Early Christian
Scandinavian World”, by Alban Gautier.
33.
“Conversion to Christianity: Expectations of
Transformation in the Overseas Settlements”, by
Lesley Abrams.
34.
“Visual Narratives in the Viking World by Lilla
Kopár; Art and Cosmology in Viking Age Norway”,
by Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide; “Stone, Style and
Salvation: Ecclesiastic Sculpture in the Early
Medieval Insular”, by Heidi Stoner.
35.
“Finding the Vikings in Viking art: Makers, Patrons,
Users, and Subjects”, by Nancy L. Wicker, quotation
from the presented version of the paper.
36. “Viking Age Shields: Intersections between Life,
Death and Myth”, by Kerstin O. Näversköld.
37. “From Spirits to Short People, or What Does a Dwarf
Look Like?”, by Ugnius Mikučionis.
38. “Technologies for Transformation: Smiths on
Stones”, by Howard Williams.
39. “Scandinavian Embroidery and its Influence in Early
Medieval England”, by Alexander Lester-Makin.
40. “Transforming Traditions? Scandinavian Manuscript
Runes in the Middle Ages”, by Aya van Renterghem.
41. “Long-Distance Cultural Contacts and Names:
Onomastic Studies in Bergen, Norway”, by
Elisabeth Magin.
42. “The Danish Dynasty in Hedeby: Manifestation of
Power on the Frontier by Jörg Staecker;‘Sacral
Kingship’ in the North: A New Perspective” by
Sophie Bønding.
43. “Hidden Treasures: Deposited Precious Metal as a
Resource on the Island of Gotland (Sweden) during
the Viking Age”, by Janina Dieckmann.
44. “The World-Tree Project: A Teaching Resource for
the Study of the Vikings” by Roderick Dale.
45. “Can these dry bones live? The Potential of Archaeo-
logical Fiction by Victoria Whitworth; ‘Through a
Glass Darkly’ Inspiration and Exploration from
Fictional Narratives of the Viking Age”, by Justin Hill.
46. “Viking Facts in Fiction? How Much Research Does
A Historical Novel Need?”.
Interdisciplinary Student Symposium on Viking and Medieval Scandinavian
Subjects
17
th
–18
th
March 2016, Aarhus, Denmark
Filip Missuno,
University of York
Held at Aarhus University, the ninth instalment
of the Interdisciplinary Student Symposium on
Viking and Medieval Scandinavian Subjects
represented the crowning of a remarkable
expansion in size, quality, international
visibility and attractiveness over the previous
years. As it unfolded over two full days packed
with vibrant scholarly communication, it
became apparent that this event, now the
largest of its kind, had reached full maturity
and perhaps an ideal format.
The symposium saw a delightful diversity
of presentations by 25 MA and PhD students
representing ten different universities across
178
Europe. The papers, skilfully distributed
thematically across eight sessions, engaged
with an impressive spectrum of research areas
within
the
cultural,
historical
and
archaeological contexts of Viking Age and
Medieval Scandinavia as well as Old Norse
language,
literature
and
myth.
(The
programme of the symposium and an archive
of past events are available online at
www.vikingoldnorse.au.dk.)
Chair of the organizing committee Simon
Nygaard (Aarhus University) addressed a
warm welcome to a large gathering of young
researchers keen to learn, exchange results and
insights from their ongoing work and acquire
the indispensable experience in the academic
genre of research presentation. He stressed that
the Aarhus Symposium still remained true to
its original principle – which has been decisive
in its growing success – namely, to be a
scholarly event organized “for students, by
students, with students as speakers, in a
professional yet informal setting”.
The first session, themed “Reception
History”, opened with Jay Anthony Hash’s
(University of Iceland) presentation on the
challenges besetting the early days of runic
studies as seen through the letters of a pioneer
in the field, the Danish polymath Ole Worm.
Offering an original, modern counterpoint,
Shirley McPhaul (University of Iceland) spoke
enthusiastically on how Norse myth is used
(and changed) in video games, mainly in terms
of
narrative.
Hana
Spacilova
(Aarhus
University) rounded up this rousing opening
session by comparing the treatment of the
character of Brynhild in retellings of
Vǫlsunga
saga, focusing on the versions by Morris, Lang
and Tolkien.
Logically moving on to the written sources
themselves, the following session’s topic was
“Manuscript Studies”. It was started by Anne
Ladefoged (University of Copenhagen) who,
from a consideration of medieval Danish law
manuscripts,
analyzed
the
relationship
between a manuscript’s layout to its
function(s) and intended audiences. Balduin
Landolt (University of Iceland/University of
Basel) followed with a study of two variants of
Færeyinga saga interpolated in kings’ sagas,
examining their relation to the framing text and
demonstrating their adherence to a shared
structural pattern. The session concluded with
Anthony Jay Bunker’s (University of Iceland)
inquiry into the treatment of the Huns in Old
Norse sources, showing that these ‘others’
were instrumental to the articulation of
important cultural and literary themes, such as
kinship or inheritance.
This provided a brilliant transition to the
session that set off after lunch under the banner
“
Á austrvega: On the Eastern Way”. Emily
Reed (University of York) opened the session
by examining the stylized tropes and
conventions of medieval
letter writing through
the correspondence between the Swedish
monk Petrus de Dacia and the German mystic
Christina von Stommeln, interrogating the
possibility for us to hear their original voices.
Johan Sandvang Larsen (Aarhus University)
followed by arguing that what evidence we
have for the island of Bornholm’s Viking Age
material culture points to Swedish tradition
and influence rather than to the island having
been part of Harald Bluetooth’s kingdom. The
session closed with two papers that travelled
further afield on the ‘eastern way’: Csete
Katona (University of Debrecen) reviewed the
question of the presence and influence of the
Vikings in the Carpathian Basin and their
supposed friendship with the Hungarians in
early medieval times. Katona struck a sceptical
note in view of the sparse and inconclusive
nature of the evidence. Klaudia Karpińska
(University of Rzeszów) discussed the quality
and authenticity of Viking Age re-enactment in
Poland (and exhibited a finely-wrought replica
of a putative
seiðr-staff), stressing the fine line
between the valorization of the past and its
depreciation.
For the closing session of the day, with the
theme of “Daily Life”, the audience was
treated to two presentations revolving around
food and drink: Beth Rogers (University of
Iceland) explored the significance of milk and
dairy products in medieval Scandinavia and
showed their centrality in the culture and
mentality of the North. Benjamin Sibley
(University of Iceland) analyzed the references
to brewing and drinking alcohol in the prose of
Íslendingasögur and
Sturlungasögur with a
view to assess their uses in historical,