Conference: The Cult of Saints and Legitimization of Elite Power in East Central Europe and Scandinavia until 1300

 
Next week, from Monday November 8 to Tuesday November 9, I am co-organising a conference as a part of the project where I am currently employed. The project, ELITES: Symbolic Resources and Political Structures on the Periphery: Legitimization of the Elites in Poland and Norway, c. 1000-1300, is a collaboration between the University of Warsaw and the University of Oslo. The conference will be held in Warsaw. 

The title of the conference is 'The Cult of Saints and Legitimization of Elite Power in East Central Europe and Scandinavia until 1300', and can non-participating audiences can follow this conference by livestream from the University of Warsaw's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO3-bjLxBShHeZQQWUn19Ew. 

All are welcome!

Sources for a conference presentation (30.04.21)

 
As I mentioned in my previous blogpost, I am giving two conference presentations this week. The first of these is tomorrow, where I will be speaking on the third and last day of the Becket conference, the belated 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of Thomas of Canterbury in 1170 (as well as the 800th anniversary of the translation of his relics in 1220). 

In my presentation, I talk about the veneration of Saint Thomas in medieval Norway, as evidenced by materials for the liturgical office for his feast-day on December 29. While there are many interesting sources to the cult of Saint Thomas in medieval Norway, my focus is only on the materials from the feast-day office, and not about his translation feast or the materials for the mass. 

The presentation is pre-recorded, and to access it you need to register for the conference. If you have not done so, you might still find this blogpost useful, as the purpose of the post is to provide links to some of the sources that I have used in my research. 

AM 679 4to, f.10r

The first source is AM 679 4to, a thirteenth-century Icelandic manuscript which contains a version of the so-called Ordo Nidrosiense, i.e. a book containing the liturgical feasts celebrated in the Norwegian archiepiscopal province, which included Iceland, Greenland, Shetland, the Orkneys, the Faroes, the Hebrides and Man. This source is invaluable for understanding the yearly cycle of liturgical performance in the churches throughout the Norwegian archdiocese.

The second source is Breviarium Nidrosiense, a breviary containing the materials for the office for the feasts celebrated throughout the liturgical year in the Norwegian church province. The breviary was printed in Paris in 1519, commissioned by Archbishop Erik Valkendorf. The content was most likely drawn - at least in part - from a manuscript of the Ordo, or some similar manuscript used at Trondheim, the metropolitan see of Norway. This means that despite the use of new technology, the content was old and therefore a valuable source to liturgical observance in earlier centuries. 

A digitised edition of Breviarium Nidrosiense can be found on the website of the Norwegian National Library.

A searchable, transcribed edition of the content of the Breviarium can be found on the website Bokselskap. This version is edited by Ingrid Sperber, and it includes an introduction by Espen Karlsen and Sigurd Hardeide, and it is a phenomenally useful tool for any researcher or enthusiast. The edition was published by the National Library for the 500-year-anniversary of the printing of what are known as the first Norwegian (printed) books, and which was celebrated by a series of events throughout Norway in The Norwegian Year of the Book in 2019. 


The third source that I mention, although I do not engage with it, is Missale Nidrosiense, the sister-volume of the Breviarium containing the materials for the mass celebrations in the Norwegian archdiocese. 

A digitised edition can be found at the Norwegian National Library. 

And as with the Breviarium, the National Library has also published a transcribed edition made by Ingrid Sperber, including an introduction by Espen Karlsen and Sigurd Hardeide. And as with the edition of the Breviarium, this edition is an extremely helpful and valuable tool for anyone interested in the medieval liturgy of Norway.



These sources will be mentioned in the course of my talk, and in the event that my presentation, or just the reading of this blogpost, inspires you to explore these sources, here they are gathered on one single plate. Enjoy.

Two online conferences

 
This week, I am participating in two online conferences, where I will be presenting my research. Since these conferences are available for anyone who registers, and because these conferences have a great number of interesting speakers, I am including the links for the events here, and I hope that you will have the time and the interest to join. 




Thomas Becket - Life, death and legacy (28-30.04)

This conference is a belated commemoration of the 850-year-anniversary of the death of Thomas Becket, one of the most famous ecclesiastics of his time, and subsequently one of the most famous saints of Latin Christendom. I will be presenting on the liturgical veneration of Saint Thomas in the Norwegian archdiocese, and there are also a number of other interesting topics covering a wide geographical remit. The conference is organised by Canterbury Cathedral and the University of Kent.

The event can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thomas-becket-life-death-and-legacy-tickets-133210749939. 





Medievalisms on the Screen: The Representation of the Middle Ages in Audiovisual Media in the 21st Century (29.04-01.05)   

This conference brings together scholars of medievalism in order to explore the various ways that the medieval past is imagined, represented, used and abused in contemporary audiovisual media. As has become abundantly clear these past twenty years, the Middle Ages exert a tremendous influence on popular imagination, popular culture, politics and identity-formation. While the influence of the medieval past is not a new discovery, the recent developments in audiovisual culture has allowed that influence to become even stronger, and therefore in greater need of being understood. I will be presenting on how the historical encounter between Norse and indigenous American cultures has been utilised and developed in popular culture, and how this should be understood in light of contemporary politics. There is also a great array of other interesting topics, all immensely relevant to how we understand our current political and cultural climates.


The event can be found here: https://medievalstudies.ceu.edu/article/2021-03-24/medievalisms-screen-representation-middle-ages-audiovisual-media-21st-century 

Conference - Saints and their several images

At the end of May and the beginning of June, I'm organising a conference in Odense on the various representations of saints in different texts and in different media. A brief description of the event itself can be found on the website of the Centre for Medieval Literature (here), the organisation funding the conference. Below you will find the programme. This is a conference that will hopefully inspire fruitful discussions and contribute to important perspectives in the study of the medieval cult of saints.

Edward the Confessor carrying Gillemichel

BL MS Egerton 745, French collection of saints, first half og the 14th century

Courtesy of British Library

Saints and their several images – programme            

International conference – May 31^st – June 1^st             

Noble Women’s Convent, Albani Torv 6, 5000 Odense C                

Day 1           

09.30 – 10.00: Registration                     

10.00 – 10.15: Welcome    

10.15 – 11.00: Keynote, Roman Hankeln (Norwegian University of Science and Technology): The forged saint and his chants: reflections of identity in text and music in honour of St. Dionysius of St. Emmeram

11.00 – 11.15: Coffee break                   

11.15 – 12.45:  Session 1 – Ireland and England         

Elva Johnston (University College Dublin): Changing Saints in the Medieval Irish Martyrologies: Patterns of Topography and Gender   

Rebecca Browett (University of London): The image of St Æthelwold of Winchester: adaptation and survival                     

Steffen Hope (University of Southern Denmark): Edward the Confessor’s three images – historiography, saint-biography and liturgy        

12.45-14.00: Lunch, including a guided tour of Odense Cathedral and the shrine of Saint Knud Rex

14.00 – 15.00: Session 2 – Scandinavia and Germany 

Sara Ellis Nilsson (Malmö University): Shifts in Perception and Veneration – the case of two regional saints from the medieval Skara Bishopric, Sweden         

Danette Brink (University of Regensburg): Alternative facts in the liturgical office: a study of St. Maximinus of Trier                                                         

15.00 – 15.30: Coffee break and discussion                 

18.00: Dinner                     


Day 2           

10.00 – 11.15: Session 3 – Rus and Byzantium                                 

Monica White (University of Nottingham): Constantine the Great in Byzantium and Rus: A Case Study       

Christian Høgel (University of Southern Denmark): On the enkomion and the office by Psellos in celebration of Symeon Metaphrastes       

Susana Torres Prieto (IE University): Hagiography beyond the Church                 

11.15-11.30: Coffee break

11.30 – 12.45: Session 4 – Central Europe                  

Grzegorz Pac (University of Warsaw): St Adalbert – two-headed bishop of two sees                

Nora Berend (University of Cambridge): The Lives of St Stephen of Hungary     
                     
12.45 – 14.00: Lunch        

14.00 – 15.00: Session 5 – Southern Europe                

Pilar Herráiz Oliva (Medeniyet University, Istanbul): St. Thomas Aquinas: from condemnation to canonisation                     

Amy Fuller (University of Nottingham): Sowing the Seeds of Empire: rehabilitating the reputation of San Hermenegildo and rewriting the history of Spain        

15.00 – 15.15: Coffee break                   

15.15 – 16.00: Discussion and closing remarks

Call for papers - Renewal in the Cult of Saints, 1050-1300

Renewal in the Cults of Saints, 1050-1300
Leeds IMC, 2015

We are seeking proposals for papers on the topic of renewal, reinvention and reinterpretation in the cults of saints in the period 1050-1300. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to:

The reinvention of saints across cultural, national, or linguistic borders
The impact of church reform on the cults of saints
Reinterpretation of a saint's cult within cult practice, saints' texts, liturgy and art
How a saint's cult might be renewed or revitalised for a new audience

Papers dealing with renewal in the cults of Anglo-Saxon or British saints in this period will be particularly welcomed. 

Proposals for papers of 15-20 minutes should be sent to steffenabhope@gmail.com or eleanor.parker@ell.ox.ac.uk by August 25.

Dunstan pinching the devil's nose

MS Harley 315

Courtesy of British Library

Seamus Heaney in Iceland

To a medievalist, summer season is conference season, and in the course of June and July several conferences have been arranged and are being arranged for the purpose of bringing together people who study the Middle Ages in some capacity. I myself gave a paper at the annual International Medievalist Congress in Leeds, and in time I might dedicate a somewhat lengthy blogpost on this wonderful experience. I'm still composing myself in the aftermath of the congress and finally moving out of my apartment, so I'm still not in a frame of mind suitable for writing lengthy blogposts. In the interrim, here is a poem by Seamus Heaney, which is a friendly nod to my fellow medievalists who last week participated at the New Chaucer Society at Reykjavik. 

Ingolfr Arnasson at Reykjavik
Johan Peter Raadsig (1806-82)
Courtesy of Wikimedia

A Postcard from Iceland

As a dipped to test the stream some yards away
From a hot spring, I could hear nothing
But the whole mud-slick muttering and boiling.

And then my guide behind me saying,
'Lukewarm. And I think you'd want to know
That luk was an old Icelandic word for hand.'

And you would want to know (but you know already)
How usual that waft and pressure felt
When the inner palm of water found my palm.

The Althing
W. G. Collingwood
Courtesy of Wikimedia

Performing Medieval Text, an Oxford Conference

In April last year I attended my first academic conference as a participant. The conference in question was titled Performing Medieval Text and was held at Merton College, Oxford, arranged by Merton's own Pauline Souleau and Henry Hope. I was very excited to go, not only because it was an important academic experience, but because I have a long-standing fascination with Oxford, fuelled by the TV-series Inspector Morse, Lewis and now recently Endeavour. These series are not the best advertisement for academic life in Oxford, however, as academics in these series are either murdered, murderous or generally unpleasant beings. A good friend of mine noted that I should take care to deliver a mediocre paper, for according to the series, only good or bad academics were at risk. I'm still alive, so it would appear I managed to follow his advice.

Edward the Confessor carrying a cripple into Westminster Abbey

From MS Egerton 745, a French collection of saints from early 14th century

Courtesy of British Library

During the two days of the conference I lodged at Balliol College, a college that vies with Merton (and presumably others) for the title of Oxford's oldest. Originating in the 13th century - according to a flyer in my room - they do at least have a very good basis for this claim. As a resident guest, I was allowed not only access to the college quad - which was like entering the court of a medieval castle - but also inside the college buildings, taking my breakfast in a rather magnificent dining room with stained glass roundels in the windows, and watching the evening settle over Oxford from a terrace right outside my room.

The Canadian novelist Robertson Davies once pointed out that the universities originated in the Middle Ages, and much of the Middle Ages remained in them still. Architecturally speaking, this is very true of Oxford. It was all very different from what I had grown accustomed to at NTNU in Trondheim, where the humanities are gathered in one single campus which was built in a modern - but not unappealing - design in 1996. As I navigated the streets and lanes finding my way from Balliol to Merton, I must admit I felt more academically significant, more academically capable. Like in the case of that old cliche that some people make you feel smarter by their mere presence, the atmosphere of Oxford made me feel grander. 

The conference itself was also a great and pleasant experience. It was a small conference with attendees from far and wide, which ensured that there was a wide array of perspectives and experiences, but also that there was only one session going on at any given time, so when you stepped up to speak, the audience was as complete as an audience can be, allowing of course for the odd absentee. I met a great number of interesting people, I was exposed to that generous kindness which I have realised is more typical of academia than most people are aware, and I learned a great number of things from the other papers, all of which were to some degree fascinating, providing me with valuable insight in the field of medieval studies. The papers were interspersed with two excellent keynote lectures, a brief presentation of medieval books from Merton College's collection, a beautiful concert in the college chapel and the various food breaks required to keep at it for eight hours.

The gateway to Merton College

It was an interdisciplinary conference, bringing together people from history, musicology, art history and literature to reflect on medieval texts from a performative perspective. I talked about texts for medieval saints, using as my case study Edward the Confessor, whom I had worked extensively on during my MA. In my paper I compared hagiographical texts with a liturgical item from the office material of Edward the Confessor, arguing that the distillation and compression of hagiographical material in liturgical texts owes to the performative aspects of liturgy, that liturgical items are shorter and more compact because they are performed in a set architectural setting, and for a set liturgical purpose. 

Merton College Chapel

The reason I bring up this conference now, more than a year later, is that a recording of my talk from the conference is now available on youtube, and so are the talks of many of my fellow attendees. They are all highly recommended.

 

Travels in Tuscany, part 1 - The Conference in the Citadel

 

The whole company, ladies and gentlemen alike, were in favour of telling stories.

- The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio (translated by G. H. McWilliam)

Every year a large group of musicologists gather for the Conference of Medieval and Renaissance Music, both for the purpose of presenting new finds of their own and to learn of new finds by fellow researchers. This group encompasses both the very seasoned professors and the undergrad neophyte, and the range of subjects being treated is delightfully diverse. This year, for instance, there were papers on topics such as the office for Saint Catherine, the liturgical programme of Reconquista Spain, a song from the Cambridge Songs and late medieval English carols.

Via Boccaccio, from Palazzo Pretorio

The MedRen conference was this year held in the Tuscan town of Certaldo, allegedly the hometown of Giovanni Boccaccio, and my supervisor for my Master's thesis invited me along to participate in a session arranged by one of his colleagues. Naturally, I accepted the offer gladly, and for a few days in the beginning of July I sauntered among musicologists in the medieval old city of Certaldo Alto overlooking the Tuscan denes and hills and soaked up knowledge.

The reason why I - a mere historian - was invited to a conference for musicologists was as follows. For my thesis I had looked at various texts for Edward the Confessor, and in particular a set of liturgical texts contained in a manuscript from the turn of the 14th century which had until then been ignored by scholarship. In the course of my work I managed to date one of these liturgial texts - an hexameter couplet - securely to the timeframe 1161-66, and this was one of the major discoversies of my research. The item in question belonged to the liturgical repertoire of Matins - known as the historia or the part of the liturgy recounting biographical details of the saint - and since the session in Certaldo took the historia as its subject, I was asked to contribute.

The conference lasted four days was comprised of 52 sessions. Each session was about 90 minutes long, and four sessions ran parallel at their alloted hours, with intermingled coffee breaks, lunches, book presentations and concerts. I went to a number of these sessions, but I could only manage two sessions a day since in many cases the papers given dealt with details far too technical for me to grasp or follow at great length. I felt very much like a fish out of water, but then again, that was how evolution started, so I absorbed as much knowledge as I could master and I did indeed learn a great deal. When I was not listening to papers, I walked about the old medieval town in exploration of its museums, churches, streets and gelaterias, or socialised with fellow academics who, like me, had come to present their findings. I met a great number of interesting people, and I almost learned as much from these sociable chats as from the papers themselves, and although I acknowledged the gap between their mastery of the subject and my own feeble clutching at straws, I found it very inspiring to be in the presence of such a great number of brilliant people.

Palazzo Pretorio

The conference headquarter was in the old pretorian palace, the seat of civic power in the Middle Ages, and three of the four parallel sessions were held here. The remaining session took place in the nearby Church of Saints Thomas and Prospero, commonly referred to as the Chiesetta, or the little church, and it was here I presented my paper at about half past nine the fourth day of the conference. I was not particularly nervous about the presentation, partly because I had already aqcuired some conference experience in Oxford in May of this year, and partly because in the preceding three days I had become well acquainted with how these sessions worked.

Unfortunately, this was the last day of the session, so some people were already leaving town, while others were perhaps drawn more to the parallel sessions. Whatever the reasons, the turnout was not great and I would have liked a more numerous audience. Nonetheless, it was a good and attentive crowd - with the exception of two rude cretins who walked out in the middle of my paper (seriously, you don't do that) - and I very much enjoyed presenting my findings.

The Chiesetta, dedicated to Saints Thomas and Prospero

The conference experience was, in sum, a very encouraging experience, and it reinforced my belief in the necessity of interdisciplinarity in medieval studies, for although I am no musicologist I nonetheless found it extremely rewarding to exchange experiences and knowledge with the brilliant minds in the field of musicology, and I do hope that the musicologists, too, will see the benefits in such an exchange - which I'm confident that they will, because they are brilliant.

Coffee break in the courtyard of the pretorian palace