Skip to main content

IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1625: Mental and Material: Building World(s) in the Medieval North, II - Worlds of History

Thursday 4 July 2019, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Rebecca Merkelbach, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge
Moderator/Chair:Rebecca Merkelbach, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge
Paper 1625-aCreating the Court in Skáldatal: The Skalds, Their Poetry, and the World of Scandinavian Kings
(Language: English)
Anna Solovyeva, Faculty of Icelandic & Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Iceland, Reykjavík
Index terms: Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Literacy and Orality, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1625-bConstructing Settlements: Social Network Analysis and Landnámabók
(Language: English)
Cassidy Croci, School of English, University of Nottingham
Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Language and Literature - Scandinavian
Paper 1625-cMapping Medical Knowledge in Medieval Scandinavia
(Language: English)
Sarah Baccianti, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast
Index terms: Education, Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Medicine, Science
Abstract

The concept of worldbuilding, and the related idea of story-worlds - originally derived from the creation and study of the imaginary worlds of fantasy literature - have been influential tools in the analysis of narrative worlds across literatures. This series of sessions aims to apply these tools to the worlds of the medieval north. Employing an interdisciplinary focus that includes but ultimately goes beyond narrative worlds, they investigate how medieval Scandinavian worlds were built in history, archaeology and material culture. This second session explores the way the historical worlds of the medieval North are constructed through interaction, examining poetry and the manuscript that preserve it, social networks in settlement narratives, and cultural contacts that shape medical knowledge.