Moving Words in the Nordic Middle Ages

Tracing Literacies, Texts, and Verbal Communities

By (author) Brepols Publishers

Book cover: Moving Words in the Nordic Middle Ages

Extent: 356 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Language & Linguistics, Medieval Studies, Music & Performing Arts

Series: Acta Scandinavica

Series volume number: 8

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(November 2019)

ISBN: 9782503578101

Price: $125.00

In stock

Literacies on the edge: verbal cultures and communities of the medieval North.


The culmination of over a decade’s research on verbal culture in the pre- and post-Conversion medieval North at Bergen’s Centre for Medieval Studies, this volume traces the movement of words and texts temporally, geographically, and intellectually across different media and genres. The contributions gathered here begin with a reassessment of how the unique verbal cultures of Scandinavia and Iceland can be understood in a broader European context, and then move on to explore foundational Nordic Latin histories and vernacular sagas. Key case studies are put forward to highlight the importance of institutional and individual writing communities, epistolary and list-making cultures, and the production of manuscripts as well as runic inscriptions. Finally, the oral-written continuum is examined, with a focus on important works such as Islendingabok and Landnamabok, Old-Norse Icelandic translated romances, and the development of prosimetra. Together, these essays form a state-of-the-art volume that offers new and vital insights into the role of literacy in the Norse-speaking world.

  • By (author) Brepols Publishers