Books by Stefan Drechsler
Manuscripta Publications in Manuscript Research (Brepols Publishers), 2021
This book examines a cultural revolution that took place in the Scandinavian artistic landscape d... more This book examines a cultural revolution that took place in the Scandinavian artistic landscape during the medieval period. Within just one generation (c. 1340–1400), the Augustinian monastery of Helgafell rose to become the most important centre of illuminated manuscript production in western Iceland. By conducting cross-disciplinary research that combines methodologies and sources from the fields of Art History, Old Norse-Icelandic Manuscript Studies and Nordic History, this study presents a comprehensive and international approach that respects both the historical setting of the manuscript production and the illuminated products themselves. It examines not only one but several medieval cultures in relation to similar domestic artistic monuments and relevant historical evidence: Helgafell in Iceland, East Anglia in England, and Bergen in Norway. It offers a detailed account of one cultural site in relation to its scribal and artistic connections with other ecclesiastical and secular scriptoria in the broader North Atlantic region.
The North as Home: Proceedings from the Nordic Research Network 2017, 2019
The Nordic Research Network (NRN) was established in 2010
by graduate students of Scandinavian St... more The Nordic Research Network (NRN) was established in 2010
by graduate students of Scandinavian Studies in the UK, as a
forum for sharing ongoing research and fostering collaboration
across the wide range of disciplinary and methodological
perspectives that characterise scholarship on the Nordic region.
Held at eighteen-month intervals, the NRN conference has grown
steadily and has provided many emerging scholars with their
first opportunity to introduce their research to the academic
community. Like previous volumes of proceedings from the NRN
conference (Illuminating the North, 2013, and Beyond Borealism,
2016) this anthology showcases the scope of current research by
early-career scholars in Scandinavian Studies. The essays in this
volume originated as papers delivered at the 7th Nordic Research
Network conference, organised at the University of Aberdeen in
summer 2017, and explore how the North has been imagined and
mediated as ‘home’ in literature, historiography, language and the
arts.
Articles by Stefan Drechsler
Open Cultural Studies 7:1 (Special Issue: Writing the Image, Showing the Word: Agency and Knowledge in Texts and Images, edited by Jørgen Bakke, Jens Eike Schnall, Rasmus T. Slaattelid, Synne Ytre Arne), 2023
This article is intended to provide new methodological and iconographic insights into the cultura... more This article is intended to provide new methodological and iconographic insights into the cultural adaptation and integration of European iconographic motifs in the medieval western Scandinavian arts and culture, as well as the relations between the iconographic detail and its surrounding texts. At the same time, this article offers a new approach to existing research on the basis of two methodological theories hitherto little investigated in iconographic research: cultural syncretism and interpicturality. In archaeology and media studies, these approaches are used to interpret cultural-historical artefacts that were created for one and then reused in a new context which may alter their meaning. The present article seeks to explain how both meaning and appearance of a single motif change between the vernacular texts it accompanies, and how the working methods of the illuminators differ between manuscripts. As a qualitative example, the investigation will focus on a complex iconographic motif that is found in six Icelandic manuscripts from the fourteenth century, namely the feature of animal heads as extensions on throne seats. Although little studied in the context of manuscripts, this is a motif widely used throughout the Middle Ages and with various secular and religious connotations. In particular, this is linked to the specific narrative roles that iconographic details play in relation to the written text and generally to the physical objects that carry both text and iconography: the manuscripts.
Opuscula 20, 2020
I fotsporene til materiell filologi gir denne artikkelen en ny tilnærming til norske lovmanuskrip... more I fotsporene til materiell filologi gir denne artikkelen en ny tilnærming til norske lovmanuskripter og fragmenter fra middelalderen. Når det gjelder kodikologiske særegenheter, er samlingsstrategiene i disse manuskriptene undersøkt, så vel som forskjellige mise-en-page og mise-en-texte, paratekster som innholdsfortegnelser, rubrikk, kapitteloverskrifter, og bokmaleri. Formålet med denne artikkelen er å vise at en tverrfaglig studie kan gi viktig informasjon om produksjonssteder og bruksmåter for norske lover fra 1280 frem til 1400.
Gripla (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum), 2021
This article discusses a number of interdisciplinary aspects of Icelandic law manuscripts, produc... more This article discusses a number of interdisciplinary aspects of Icelandic law manuscripts, produced in the fifteenth century, which contain important vernacular legal codes dealing with secular and ecclesiastical matters in medieval Iceland, such as Jónsbók and Kristinréttr Árna Þorlákssonar. In this article, it is argued that a continuity of law manuscript production exists in Iceland following the Black Death in 1402–04; this is seen in several ways: indications are found in textual
and artistic parts of the manuscripts, as well as in para-texts that accompany the law texts in the margins. With particular focus on the manuscript AM 136 4to (Skinnastaðabók), this article discusses four distinctive cross-disciplinary features of fifteenth-century Icelandic law manuscripts: the adaptation and further development of textual contents initially found in law manuscripts dating back to previous centuries, select types of layouts chosen by the initial scribes, the book painting, and the use of the margins by later users and owners for comments and
discussion on the textual content. The article concludes that with the changing Scandinavian politics in the late fourteenth century, Icelandic law manuscripts in the fifteenth century were first and foremost written for, and inspired by, domestic productions. While texts related to Norwegian royal supremacy and trade are rarely featured, the texts most used for domestic issues appear more frequently. On the other hand, statutes and concordats occur as regularly in these manuscripts as they do in earlier works, which indicates ongoing contact with the Norwegian Archdiocese of Niðaróss during the fifteenth century.
Das Mittelalter: Pespektiven mediävistischer Forschung (De Gruyter Verlag), 2020
In the present chapter, the design of select margins of late medieval Old Norse manuscripts conta... more In the present chapter, the design of select margins of late medieval Old Norse manuscripts containing the Icelandic ‘Jónsbók’, ‘Kristinréttr Árna biskups’ and Norwegian ‘Landslǫg’ law codes is addressed. In particular, it discusses the size and fillings of margins in these codices and the relation to their modes of use by original clients and later owners. Although it is well-known that Scandinavian law manuscripts contain a large number of notes written by both original and later users, the particular use of marginal spaces by original scribes and illuminators for glosses and other annotations and illuminations has scarcely been investigated to date. In my contribution, two distinctive features will be addressed: (1.) The different use of margins by Norwegian and Icelandic readers of the manuscripts, and (2.) the use of margins by illuminators surrounding the column(s) and incorporated initials.
Gripla (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum), 2017
This article is concerned with a number of illuminated Icelandic manuscripts and fragments from t... more This article is concerned with a number of illuminated Icelandic manuscripts and fragments from the thirteenth century, which have been grouped around the oldest Heimskringla fragment Lbs fragm 82 (Kringla). The overall aim is to show the importance of individual contributions made by a number of scribes and illuminators at different stages of the productions. It is discussed how these production units are related to a possible change of working environments. Accordingly, the first part of this article investigates the philological and art historical relations of the fragments and manuscripts within the group itself, followed by a discussion on the historical circumstances of the previously unallocated manuscript group. The second part of this article investigates with the help of a variety of textual and stylistic information how this group is related to a slightly younger western Icelandic manuscript group from the early fourteenth century. As this second group is loosely connected with a further manuscript workshop from the house of canons regular of Helgafell, the final part of this article discusses how these connections might have come into being, and how they changed through a time span of more than hundred years of medieval Icelandic manuscript production.
Viking and Medieval Scandinavia (Brepols Publishers), 2016
This article is concerned with a number of historiated initials that introduce one specific chapt... more This article is concerned with a number of historiated initials that introduce one specific chapter of the widerly copied Icelandic law code Jónsbók, the so-called Þjófabálkr. The overall aim is to show that the content of a single historiated initial in a widely copied and illuminated vernacular law text is more subject to change than the text itself, while still being partly dependent on the relation of the individual text to other texts. The minimal work and content changes to be found in the text generally relate to the content of the painted image. Accordingly, the first part of this article will give a brief overview and introduction to the these visual motifs and an investigation of the various text-image relations. In the second part of this article, the initials are compared with a historiated initial from an early fourteenth-century East Anglian canon law manuscript, followed by a discussion of the historical circumstances for the establishment and creation of the different initials.
Opuscula (C.A. Reitzels Forlag), 2016
The present article is concerned with the text-image and image-image relationships in Flateyjarbó... more The present article is concerned with the text-image and image-image relationships in Flateyjarbók (Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, GKS 1005 fol). The study not only examines the various relations found between the two media, but also considers the cultural and historical background of manuscript production in Iceland. It is argued that texts as well as illuminations in Flateyjarbók are of invaluable importance to our understanding of medieval Icelandic book production and manuscript culture. This is exemplified by f. 79r, which is best known for its depiction of the death of St Óláfr in the main initial. Aside from the hagiographical scene of the death of the saint, it also features two further chivalric scenes of the king’s earlier life at the bottom of the page. His Christian belief is referenced in two of the three scenes on both iconographic and textual terms. In Flateyjarbók, the illuminations offer an art historical perspective on the cultural and the societal context in which the manuscript was produced. The article demonstrates the existence of cultural interaction between Iceland and Western Europe before and during the time of the book’s production. The present article also includes iconographic studies and a cultural geographical perspective, thus providing an all-encompassing view of Flateyjarbók and further related art objects from Iceland, Norway, Sweden and East Anglia.
Collegium Medievale (Novus Forlag), May 1, 2014
This article discusses the use of secular and Christian iconography found in the important Jónsbó... more This article discusses the use of secular and Christian iconography found in the important Jónsbók manuscript AM 350 fol., known as Skarðsbók, from 1363. The case study concerns the text-image relations of its illuminations and their form in terms of an interpicturality, that is the changed patterns of iconography in the context of a new textual frame. The study focuses on the symbolic importance of the historical book painting and sets it into the ideological background found in the polyphonic structure of the text. The article aims to show that in AM 350 fol. we find not only a strong Christian, holistic ideology visible in the interplay of text and image, but also that previous ideas about its commission and the claimed intention of its production needs to be questioned.
Chapters by Stefan Drechsler
Old Norse Law Books from a Material Perspective, 2024
This chapter offers new perspectives on the undoubtedly most costly and most beautiful law manusc... more This chapter offers new perspectives on the undoubtedly most costly and most beautiful law manuscript of medieval Norway, Codex Hardenbergianus. Firstly, the chapter provides historiographic overviews over previous philological and art historical research, and secondly, proposes new ideas on its initial use as legal Prachthandschrift, which was likely ordered by the noblemen Ívarr Andrésson in the 1350s. Furthermore, the chapter presents new evidence
for the international influences on both the book design and book painting, which mainly stemmed from model books and Church art such as altar frontals produced in Norway, Iceland, Germany and East Anglia in the early fourteenth century.
The whole volume is available here: https://issuu.com/nasjonalbiblioteket/docs/nota_bene_18
Dominican Resonances in Medieval Iceland: The Legacy of Bishop Jón Halldórsson of Skálholt (The Northern World, Brill Publishers), 2021
Chapter 6 explores a number of possibilities to link select medieval Icelandic manuscripts with t... more Chapter 6 explores a number of possibilities to link select medieval Icelandic manuscripts with the internationally educated Dominican Jón Halldórsson (died 1339), Bishop of Skálholt in 1322–39. It will be shown that textual evidence in the theological handbook AM 671 4to, the textual arrangement, layout and select book painting in the vernacular law codex AM 343 fol. (Svalbarðsbók), as well as administrative literacy through the production of Church charters pertaining to churches south of the Skálholt Cathedral, provide potential references for Bishop Jón’s influence on secular and ecclesiastical law book production in western Iceland in 1323-39.
Law|Book|Culture in the Early and High Medieval West (Explorations in Medieval Culture 14, Brill Publishers), 2021
In the spirit of Material Philology, this chapter provides a new perspective on the production of... more In the spirit of Material Philology, this chapter provides a new perspective on the production of medieval Scandinavian law manuscripts. For the first time to date, the codicological, textual and iconographic content of Lund, MS Medaltidahandskrift 15, Lundarbók is discussed, an important vernacular law compendium produced in Bergen, Norway. Written and illuminated as early as ca. 1305–20, Lundarbók offers an entirely new understanding of the establishment of legal iconography in Scandinavia; it provides visual evidence for a distant influence of Continental legal programs from Decretum Gratiani and Corpus iuris civilis manuscripts. Furthermore, Lundarbók may have acted as a model for a catalogue of legal iconography produced later at Icelandic and Norwegian workshops.
Beyond Borealism: New Perspectives on the North (Norvik Press), 2016
The Benedictine nunnery of Reynistaður in North Iceland, active from 1295 until 1562, is today co... more The Benedictine nunnery of Reynistaður in North Iceland, active from 1295 until 1562, is today considered one of the main centres of culture in northern Iceland in the fourteenth century. This is most related to several medieval embroideries that are believed to have been produced at Reynistaður in the later part of that century, and a number of important vernacular manuscripts containing mainly religious literature. The idea of the nunnery as a cultural centre, however, can be traced back further, as far as the establishment of the Benedictine house, using an older object: the chapter seal of the nunnery, commonly dated to c. 1300, and depicting an Icelandic stave church which is much in the style of the twelfth century Norwegian stave church at Borgund. In the present article, the chapter seal of Reynistaður is compared with other North-Icelandic Benedictine seals from Þingeyrar and Munkaþverá. Furthermore, a theory is proposed as to how the original church at Reynistaður might have looked like in the early fourteenth century, and why this church resembled so much the Norwegian stave church architecture at that time.
In case you are interested, please follow the link above and buy the book (£ 14.95) in which the article is published.
Saltari: Stilltur og sleginn Svanhildi Óskarsdóttur fimmtugri 13. mars 2014 (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum), Mar 13, 2014
A short article on a historiated initial in the Jónsbók manuscript AM 343 fol. Svalbarðsbók.
Book Reviews by Stefan Drechsler
European Journal of Scandinavian Studies, 52/2, 2022
This book, presented by Katharina Preißler in 2019, is a rigorous, well-designed and intermedial ... more This book, presented by Katharina Preißler in 2019, is a rigorous, well-designed and intermedial study on the wide-ranging world of the late medieval Scandinavian legendary ballads. The study discusses four case studies – St Staffan, St Olav (of Norway), St George and St Catherine of Alexandria – in the context of regional, national and international political and religious developments of medieval and early modern Christian belief and art.
Das Mittelalter 2/2020, 2020
A book review on Kate Heslop and Jürg Glauser's anthology 'RE:writing. Medial perspectives on tex... more A book review on Kate Heslop and Jürg Glauser's anthology 'RE:writing. Medial perspectives on textual culture in the Icelandic Middle Ages' from 2018.
Saga-Book (Viking Society for Northern Research), 2016
Book review of Stefka Georgieva Eriksen's monography "Writing and Reading in Medieval Manuscript ... more Book review of Stefka Georgieva Eriksen's monography "Writing and Reading in Medieval Manuscript Culture" from 2014.
Saga-Book (Viking Society for Northern Research), 2016
Book review of M. J. Driscoll and Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir's (eds.) book '66 Manuscripts from the ... more Book review of M. J. Driscoll and Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir's (eds.) book '66 Manuscripts from the Arnamagnæan Collection' from 2015.
Collegium Medievale (Novus Forlag), May 1, 2014
Book review of Lena Liepe's monograph "Studies in Icelandic Fourteenth Century Book Painting" fro... more Book review of Lena Liepe's monograph "Studies in Icelandic Fourteenth Century Book Painting" from 2009.
Uploads
Books by Stefan Drechsler
by graduate students of Scandinavian Studies in the UK, as a
forum for sharing ongoing research and fostering collaboration
across the wide range of disciplinary and methodological
perspectives that characterise scholarship on the Nordic region.
Held at eighteen-month intervals, the NRN conference has grown
steadily and has provided many emerging scholars with their
first opportunity to introduce their research to the academic
community. Like previous volumes of proceedings from the NRN
conference (Illuminating the North, 2013, and Beyond Borealism,
2016) this anthology showcases the scope of current research by
early-career scholars in Scandinavian Studies. The essays in this
volume originated as papers delivered at the 7th Nordic Research
Network conference, organised at the University of Aberdeen in
summer 2017, and explore how the North has been imagined and
mediated as ‘home’ in literature, historiography, language and the
arts.
Articles by Stefan Drechsler
and artistic parts of the manuscripts, as well as in para-texts that accompany the law texts in the margins. With particular focus on the manuscript AM 136 4to (Skinnastaðabók), this article discusses four distinctive cross-disciplinary features of fifteenth-century Icelandic law manuscripts: the adaptation and further development of textual contents initially found in law manuscripts dating back to previous centuries, select types of layouts chosen by the initial scribes, the book painting, and the use of the margins by later users and owners for comments and
discussion on the textual content. The article concludes that with the changing Scandinavian politics in the late fourteenth century, Icelandic law manuscripts in the fifteenth century were first and foremost written for, and inspired by, domestic productions. While texts related to Norwegian royal supremacy and trade are rarely featured, the texts most used for domestic issues appear more frequently. On the other hand, statutes and concordats occur as regularly in these manuscripts as they do in earlier works, which indicates ongoing contact with the Norwegian Archdiocese of Niðaróss during the fifteenth century.
Chapters by Stefan Drechsler
for the international influences on both the book design and book painting, which mainly stemmed from model books and Church art such as altar frontals produced in Norway, Iceland, Germany and East Anglia in the early fourteenth century.
The whole volume is available here: https://issuu.com/nasjonalbiblioteket/docs/nota_bene_18
In case you are interested, please follow the link above and buy the book (£ 14.95) in which the article is published.
Book Reviews by Stefan Drechsler
by graduate students of Scandinavian Studies in the UK, as a
forum for sharing ongoing research and fostering collaboration
across the wide range of disciplinary and methodological
perspectives that characterise scholarship on the Nordic region.
Held at eighteen-month intervals, the NRN conference has grown
steadily and has provided many emerging scholars with their
first opportunity to introduce their research to the academic
community. Like previous volumes of proceedings from the NRN
conference (Illuminating the North, 2013, and Beyond Borealism,
2016) this anthology showcases the scope of current research by
early-career scholars in Scandinavian Studies. The essays in this
volume originated as papers delivered at the 7th Nordic Research
Network conference, organised at the University of Aberdeen in
summer 2017, and explore how the North has been imagined and
mediated as ‘home’ in literature, historiography, language and the
arts.
and artistic parts of the manuscripts, as well as in para-texts that accompany the law texts in the margins. With particular focus on the manuscript AM 136 4to (Skinnastaðabók), this article discusses four distinctive cross-disciplinary features of fifteenth-century Icelandic law manuscripts: the adaptation and further development of textual contents initially found in law manuscripts dating back to previous centuries, select types of layouts chosen by the initial scribes, the book painting, and the use of the margins by later users and owners for comments and
discussion on the textual content. The article concludes that with the changing Scandinavian politics in the late fourteenth century, Icelandic law manuscripts in the fifteenth century were first and foremost written for, and inspired by, domestic productions. While texts related to Norwegian royal supremacy and trade are rarely featured, the texts most used for domestic issues appear more frequently. On the other hand, statutes and concordats occur as regularly in these manuscripts as they do in earlier works, which indicates ongoing contact with the Norwegian Archdiocese of Niðaróss during the fifteenth century.
for the international influences on both the book design and book painting, which mainly stemmed from model books and Church art such as altar frontals produced in Norway, Iceland, Germany and East Anglia in the early fourteenth century.
The whole volume is available here: https://issuu.com/nasjonalbiblioteket/docs/nota_bene_18
In case you are interested, please follow the link above and buy the book (£ 14.95) in which the article is published.