Judith Jesch
My expertise focuses on a variety of texts composed and written in Old Norse-Icelandic. These include:
◦poetry of the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, originally oral and now surviving in written versions of the 13th century or later, especially that usually termed 'skaldic'
◦runic inscriptions from the 8th to the 15th century
◦Icelandic sagas, especially the Kings' Sagas and other historical works, and the Sagas of Icelanders.
I have extensive research experience in the general and cultural history of the Viking Age in Scandinavia and in areas settled by Scandinavians, with a broad knowledge of interdisciplinary approaches and an interest in questions of orality and literacy, and of migration, diaspora and cultural memory. I also have research experience in the more general history, literature and culture of Norway, and of Scandinavian Scotland.
My current research centres on the relationships of language, texts and contexts in the Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia, with a particular focus on runic inscriptions, skaldic verse and historical sagas. My specific major projects within these three areas at the moment are:
◦an English dictionary of Viking Age and medieval Scandinavian runic inscriptions (see http://runic-dictionary.nottingham.ac.uk).
◦the poetry of Sigvatr Þórðarson and Rögnvaldr, Earl of Orkney, which I am editing for the Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages project (see http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php).
◦the literary and cultural history of Scandinavian Scotland, especially Orkney.
I also write on questions of orality and literacy, geography, migration and diaspora, and Scandinavian contacts with the British Isles.
I am currently director of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age (http://viking.nottingham.ac.uk) and also directed the AHRC-funded Viking Identities Network from 2006-2009 (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/csva/vin/). I am an 'utländsk arbetande ledamot' of Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien in Uppsala, Sweden.
For a full list of my publications, see the following page:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/English/People/judith.jesch
◦poetry of the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, originally oral and now surviving in written versions of the 13th century or later, especially that usually termed 'skaldic'
◦runic inscriptions from the 8th to the 15th century
◦Icelandic sagas, especially the Kings' Sagas and other historical works, and the Sagas of Icelanders.
I have extensive research experience in the general and cultural history of the Viking Age in Scandinavia and in areas settled by Scandinavians, with a broad knowledge of interdisciplinary approaches and an interest in questions of orality and literacy, and of migration, diaspora and cultural memory. I also have research experience in the more general history, literature and culture of Norway, and of Scandinavian Scotland.
My current research centres on the relationships of language, texts and contexts in the Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia, with a particular focus on runic inscriptions, skaldic verse and historical sagas. My specific major projects within these three areas at the moment are:
◦an English dictionary of Viking Age and medieval Scandinavian runic inscriptions (see http://runic-dictionary.nottingham.ac.uk).
◦the poetry of Sigvatr Þórðarson and Rögnvaldr, Earl of Orkney, which I am editing for the Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages project (see http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php).
◦the literary and cultural history of Scandinavian Scotland, especially Orkney.
I also write on questions of orality and literacy, geography, migration and diaspora, and Scandinavian contacts with the British Isles.
I am currently director of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age (http://viking.nottingham.ac.uk) and also directed the AHRC-funded Viking Identities Network from 2006-2009 (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/csva/vin/). I am an 'utländsk arbetande ledamot' of Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien in Uppsala, Sweden.
For a full list of my publications, see the following page:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/English/People/judith.jesch
less
InterestsView All (26)
Uploads
Books by Judith Jesch
Far better contemporary sources from the later Viking Age are available to document the activities of men and their uses of ships from c.950-1100, and Judith Jesch undertakes in this book the first systematic and comparative study of such evidence. The core is a critical survey of the vocabulary of ships and their crews, of fleets and sailing and battles at sea, based on runic inscriptions and skaldic evidence from c.950-1100. This nautical vocabulary is studied within the larger context of 'viking' activity in this period: what that activity was and where it took place, its social and military aspects, and its impact on developments in the nature of kingship in Scandinavia.
This volume examines the role of epigraphic literacy within the newly introduced Christian culture and the developing tradition of literacy in Northern Europe during the Viking Age and the High Middle Ages. The epigraphic material under scrutiny here originates from Scandinavia and North-West Russia – two regions that were converted to Christianity around the turn of the first millennium. Besides traditional categories of epigraphic sources, such as monumental inscriptions on durable materials, the volume is concerned with more casual inscriptions on less permanent materials. The first part of the book discusses a form of monumental epigraphic literacy manifested on Scandinavian rune stones, with a particular focus on their Christian connections. The second part examines exchanges between Christian culture and ephemeral products of epigraphic literacy, as expressed through Scandinavian rune sticks, East Slavonic birchbark documents and church graffiti. The essays look beyond the traditional sphere of parchment literacy and the Christian discourse of manuscript sources in order to explore the role of epigraphic literacy in the written vernacular cultures of Scandinavia and North-West Russia.
Papers by Judith Jesch
Far better contemporary sources from the later Viking Age are available to document the activities of men and their uses of ships from c.950-1100, and Judith Jesch undertakes in this book the first systematic and comparative study of such evidence. The core is a critical survey of the vocabulary of ships and their crews, of fleets and sailing and battles at sea, based on runic inscriptions and skaldic evidence from c.950-1100. This nautical vocabulary is studied within the larger context of 'viking' activity in this period: what that activity was and where it took place, its social and military aspects, and its impact on developments in the nature of kingship in Scandinavia.
This volume examines the role of epigraphic literacy within the newly introduced Christian culture and the developing tradition of literacy in Northern Europe during the Viking Age and the High Middle Ages. The epigraphic material under scrutiny here originates from Scandinavia and North-West Russia – two regions that were converted to Christianity around the turn of the first millennium. Besides traditional categories of epigraphic sources, such as monumental inscriptions on durable materials, the volume is concerned with more casual inscriptions on less permanent materials. The first part of the book discusses a form of monumental epigraphic literacy manifested on Scandinavian rune stones, with a particular focus on their Christian connections. The second part examines exchanges between Christian culture and ephemeral products of epigraphic literacy, as expressed through Scandinavian rune sticks, East Slavonic birchbark documents and church graffiti. The essays look beyond the traditional sphere of parchment literacy and the Christian discourse of manuscript sources in order to explore the role of epigraphic literacy in the written vernacular cultures of Scandinavia and North-West Russia.
memories, or subsequent contact of the Icelanders with Ireland or parts of Britain. The paper will address whether, and if so in what way, these saga memories can provide evidence for Scandinavian cultural practices (runes, poetry, storytelling) across the Irish Sea region. Was the region just a feeder of motifs and stories to Iceland, or was there a robust Scandinavian verbal culture there, distinct from both the continental homeland and the Icelandic colony?
The Vikings fought for power, wealth, and land in many areas of the Northern hemisphere, and left traces of their activities from Canada in the West to the Caucasus in the East. In many parts of Europe visual, literary, and material culture contain influences of past Viking activities.
This volume offers new insights on Viking female warriors; local defense systems; a Danish-Obodrite attack on a Frankish fortress; deeply rooted traditions relating to weapon production; viking encampments in Atlantic Europe; rune carvers in campaign; textiles essential for sea journeys, and related warfare; the symbolic power of weapons; the roles of Rus’ captives and slave soldiers; as well as the relationship between Viking and Norse settlers, and the local Picts of the Western Isles.
Viking Special Volume 1 is co-funded by the Centre for Viking-Age Studies (ViS) and the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo.