IMC 2015: Sessions

Session 842: Scandinavian History in the Viking and Middle Ages, II: Denmark in the Middle Ages

Organisers:	Edward Carlsson Browne, Independent Scholar, Cambridge Paul Gazzoli, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge
Moderator/Chair:	Mia Münster-Swendsen, Section of History, Roskilde Universitet
Paper 842-a	Saxo Grammaticus on the Gift: Between the Classics and Social Anthropology (Language: English) Lars Kjær, Department of History, New College of the Humanities, London Index terms: Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Social History
Paper 842-b	Invasion or Scam?: Valdemar IV’s Proposed Invasion of England in 1359 (Language: English) Thomas Heebøll-Holm, Institut for Historie, Syddansk Universitet, Odense Index terms: Maritime and Naval Studies, Military History
Abstract	The first paper in this session discusses the nature of the gift in the Middle Ages, concentrating on Saxo Grammaticus. It argues that argues that traditional social-anthropological models of the gift does not fit with the medieval evidence and suggests that medieval gift giving was descended from classical Roman models. The second looks at Valdemar IV's proposal to the French that they finance a Danish invasion of England: while the French may have believed the offer was genuine, they had been cheated some seventy years before by the Norwegians in a similar deal, and Valdemar IV seemed more interested in reconquering Scania in 1359 than invading England. The third examines the medieval Danish martyrology-necrologies.