The 14th Bergen International Postgraduate Symposium In Old Norse Studies 2023
The international symposium for postgraduate students of Old Norse studies is hosted annually by the University of Bergen, now back after a break due to the pandemic.
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We're looking forward to three days of papers and one day of excursion. The details of the excursion will be announced shortly.
The conference will take place at Auditorium (Jusbygg II, Jektevikesbakken 31, Room 145)
The programme and abstract booklet is available for download as PDF below. There is a map of the locations in the booklet on p. 11.
Monday 17th April
Auditorium (Jusbygg II, Jektevikesbakken 31, Room 145)
10:15-10:30 Welcome
10:30-11:30 Keynote Lecture
Chair: Helen Leslie-Jacobsen (Universitetet i Bergen)
Irene Baug (Universitetet i Bergen)
Viking Age Urbanisation and Long-Distance Trade
11:30-12:30 Lunch
12:30-14:00 Session 1: Prophecies
Chair: Judy Quinn (University of Cambridge)
12:30-13:00 Francesca Squitieri (Durham University)
The Weaving of Threads: Towards a Collectivist Understanding of Fate in Scandinavian Culture
13:00-13:30 Saskia Cowan (Universitetet i Bergen)
Prophecies of Doom in Three Íslendingasögur
13:30-14:00 Samuel Masters (University of Nottingham)
Deceptive Dreams: Truth and Oraculum Structure in Gísla saga Súrssonar
14.00-14:30 Coffee
14:30-16:00 Session 2: Religious Discourses
Chair: David Ashurst (Durham University)
14:30-15:00 Natalia Radziwillowicz (University of Nottingham)
Religion as a Point of Neighbourly Contention: Christian and Heathen Entanglements between Scandinavians and Their Slavic Neighbours During the Tenth - Thirteenth Centuries
15:00-15:30 Davide Salmoiraghi (University of Cambridge)
A Neglected Church Father in the History of the Nordic Middle Ages: The Presence and Influence of St Ambrose of Milan in Medieval Iceland
15:30-16:00 Tom Hughes (Durham University)
Demonic Foresight in Antóníuss saga in Relation to Óðinn’s Hamfǫr in Ynglinga saga and the Gandus Episode of the Historia Norwegiæ
16.00-16:30 Coffee
16:30-17:30 Session 3: Legal Cultures
Chair: Jens Eike Schnall (Universitetet i Bergen)
16:30-17:00 Nikolaus Frenzel (University of Suffolk)
Legal Identity in Scandinavian-Scotland
17:00-17:30 Michele Roncarati (University of Nottingham)
Dogs and Wolves in Old Norse Law: A Matter of Agency
Tuesday 18th April
09:00-10.30 Session 4: Old Norse Myth and Reality I
Chair: David Ashurst (Durham University)
09:00-09:30 Hilkea Blomeyer (Universität Tübingen)
Fylgði þér einn hvítabjarnarhúnn - The Mystery Behind the Polar Bear in Þorsteins þáttr uxafóts
09:30-10:00 Adrian Rodriguez (University of Cambridge)
Beyond the Textual Error: The Child Tor and the Karlavagn
10:00-10:30 Konstantinos Georgakopoulos (University of Innsbruck)
Rewriting the Magical Past as a Form of Conversion in Old Norse Literature
10:30-11:00 Coffee
11:00-12:00 Session 5: Linguistic Approaches
Chair: Jens Eike Schnall (Universitetet i Bergen)
11:00-11:30 Celine Weisenfeld (Universitetet i Bergen)
The Development of the Gender System of the Bergen Dialect
11:30-12:00 Katrine Andersen (Universitetet i Bergen)
Quantity in Medieval Icelandic Poetic-Grammatical Literature
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:00-15:00 Session 6: Old Norse Cultures I
Chair: Stefan Drechsler (Universitetet i Bergen)
13:00-13:30 Tom Fairfex (University of Nottingham)
The Forgotten Dynasty of Rǫgnvaldr Kolsson
13:30-14:00 Ambra Ventura (Università degli Studi di Milano)
Cold Counsel and Hot Bodies of Law: An Analysis of Women and Transgression in the Íslendingasögur
14:00-14:30 Josie Fairley Keast (University of Cambridge)
‘What's Life Got To Do With It?: Autobiographical Verse in Ǫrvar-Odds saga
14:30-15:00 Carla Schäffler (Universitetet i Bergen)
Place and Characterisation in the Translated Riddarasögur
15:00-15:30 Coffee
15:30-16:30 Session 7: Manuscripts
Chair: Helen Leslie-Jacobsen (Universitetet i Bergen)
15:30-16:00 Robert K. Paulsen (Universitetet i Bergen)
MenotaBlitz: A Private Passion Project Attracts Academic Attention
16:00-16:30 Hadrian Harms (University of Cambridge)
Compiling the Past in Iceland's Legendary Saga Manuscripts
Wednesday 19th April
Manuskript og Librarsamlingen (HF-bygget, Sydneshaugen 7, 1. etasje)
09:00-10:00 University Library Special Collections exhibition
10:00-10:30 Walk to Auditorium (Jusbygg II, Jektevikesbakken 31, Room 145)
10:30-12:00 Session 8: Old Norse Myth and Reality II
Chair: Helen Leslie-Jacobsen (Universitetet i Bergen)
10:30-11:00 Sebastian Pohland (Universitetet i Bergen)
Monstrosity in Eddic Poetry
11:00-11:30 Emily Deag (University of Cambridge)
Bound by Blood: Old Norse Blood-Brotherhood and Sworn Oath in Myth and Reality
11:30-12:00 Adele Kreager (University of Cambridge)
Consumption, Cognition and Culpability in the Sigurðr-Cycle
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:00-14:30 Session 9: Old Norse Cultures II
Chair: Judy Quinn (University of Cambridge)
13:00-13:30 Jonas Zeit-Altpeter (Universität Bonn)
Putting Norway on the Map. Discourses on Natura and the Old Norwegian Speculum Regale
13:30-14:00 Elizabeth Windisch (University of Aberdeen)
The Saga of Beer and Beef: Old Norse Feasting Culture and the Icelandic Settlement Story
14:00-14:30 Rebecca Drake (University of York)
‘Í valnum í fjörunni’ [‘Among the slain on the beach’]: Reading Beached Whales and Humans in Gríms saga Loðinkinna
14.30-15:00 Coffee
15:00-16:00 Session 10: Charters
Chair: Stefan Drechsler (Universitetet i Bergen)
15:00-15:30 Tonje H. Waldersnes (Universitetet i Bergen)
Patterns in Writing- A Paleographic Analysis of Selected Norwegian Charters from 1300 to 1500.
15:30-16:00 Embla Aae (Universitetet i Bergen)
Sálugjafir and Sáluhjǫlp within the Medieval Church Province of Níðaróss: An Analysis of the Motivation and Documentation of Pious Provision, c. 1200–1537
