{"title":"From Schedæ Ara Prests Fróða to Íslendingabók – When an Intradiegetic Text Becomes Reality","authors":"Lukas Rösli","doi":"10.1515/9783110695366-009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110695366-009","url":null,"abstract":"In this chapter, I will argue that the text we know today as Íslendingabók was not understood as such in the days of its textualization in the mid-seventeenth century. In fact, Íslendingabók in its present-day manifestation and conception can be regarded as a product of an interaction between different modes of modification. These modes of modification can individually be enumerated as follows: paratextual, medial, scholarly or editorial, and mnemonic. Most of the modifications applied to the text seem to be rather marginal, in the most literal sense, as they mainly affected the title of the text, as well as the narrative’s textual, or rather, paratextual framing. Nevertheless, together with the paratextual feature we call the title of a text, the whole notion of the text in question changed tremendously due to the aforementioned modifications. Hence, I will argue that the modification of the title influenced the text’s perception on a scholarly level and on the levels of the cultural memory and the national identity that the text produces. I did not chose Íslendingabók to discuss these modes of modification on the basis of paratexts and paratextual features simply because it is a highly canonized text in the corpus of Old Norse-Icelandic literature or because this is something solely to be found in this specific text. On the contrary, the present study of Íslendingabók can readily be transferred to other texts of the same literary corpus from the “renaissance of Old Norse-Icelandic manuscript production”.","PeriodicalId":356220,"journal":{"name":"The Meaning of Media","volume":"68 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132223179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"At the Crossroads between Script Cultures","authors":"A. Blennow, A. Palumbo","doi":"10.1515/9783110695366-003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110695366-003","url":null,"abstract":"of a region despite a lack of other sources from the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Moreover, this study shows that the combined investigation of runic and Latin epigraphy can shed new light on the development of a literate society in medieval Sweden.","PeriodicalId":356220,"journal":{"name":"The Meaning of Media","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130363682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Reading of the Canons of Laon Story","authors":"Hjalti Snær Ægisson","doi":"10.1515/9783110695366-005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110695366-005","url":null,"abstract":"Amid the plethora of tales and episodes related to saints in European literature, relic tales are one category that is by and large associated with a localized religiosity rather than a universal reverence. Significantly, these are stories linked to and promoted by those Church institutions that preserve the relics concerned. However, in some instances, there is a demand for implanting translated relic tales into literatures distant from the establishment that produced them. One is tempted to hypothesize on the causes behind such translations and speculate on whether they can be seen as arguments for or against matters that are being debated in the target language. In the case of Iceland, relics of a foreign origin are rarely mentioned in vernacular sources and relic tales are mostly found in the sagas of the three Icelandic saints, Þorlákur, Jón, and Guðmundur. In Maríu saga, a collection of miracles from various manuscripts edited by C.R. Unger in 1871, we find the story of the canons of Laon, a translated medley of tales where relics play a large part (Mariu saga: 639–654). This is an exception to the regional emphasis of most relic tales, and it seems worthwhile to consider how this text reflects Icelandic society at the time of its translation. The story of the canons of Laon is an account of two fundraising tours carried out in order to rebuild a cathedral that was burned down in a riot. It is presumably based on real events that happened in the wake of a revolt in 1112 when the people of Laon turned against their bishop, Waldric, and burned down his house. The burning of the cathedral was unintentional and happened by accident. The translated text is somewhat unclear about how this all came about; it simply says that Bishop Waldric wanted to “prevent the townsfolk from keeping that oath they had wrongly sworn”. We are not told what oath or why it was wrongly sworn. It is an abrupt beginning, and the narrator seems eager to get to his main concern, the ensuing travel story. There is actually an even earlier prelude to the narrative. It all begins with a murder in the cathedral of Laon, where a certain Gérard of Quierzy is brutally killed by his enemies while he is kneeling in prayer. As with the revolt against Bishop Waldric, we are not given the backstory; we have practically no idea who this Gérard is or what he did to deserve his harsh fate. But Gérard’s blood is spilled on the church floor and cannot be washed off. Anselm, dean of the cathedral, is said to have secretly whispered to his assistants that he was afraid that Gérard’s blood could never be washed off unless the cathedral was purged by fire. So, when the revolt against Bishop Waldric breaks out and the flames engulf the cathedral of Laon, it is not a complete misfortune. The cathedral had already been blemished by the spilling of innocent blood, and the overall motivation behind our story is the need to build a new cathedral in Laon.","PeriodicalId":356220,"journal":{"name":"The Meaning of Media","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124712958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Danish Translation of Amadís de Gaula in the Thott Collection in the Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen","authors":"Anna Katharina Richter","doi":"10.1515/9783110695366-008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110695366-008","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter is concerned with an early modern manuscript, kept in the Thott Collection of the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen (Ms. Thott 470 8vo), which contains a Danish translation of book I of the famous novel of chivalry Amadís de Gaula .","PeriodicalId":356220,"journal":{"name":"The Meaning of Media","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114248374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Some Reflections on Writing a New History of Texts for the Scandinavian Middle Ages","authors":"A. C. Horn, Karl G. Johansson","doi":"10.1515/9783110695366-001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110695366-001","url":null,"abstract":"The present book is the first in a new series intended to provide the foundation for a new history of texts in transmission in the Scandinavian Middle Ages. It is therefore relevant to stress what is central to and new about this approach to medieval manuscript culture. The traditional synthesis in the form of literary history is generally presented as a chronological narrative formed around the production of works, primarily works at the centre of an accepted canon. Our contention is that it is more relevant to establish a dynamic model based on the dissemination, distribution, and reception of texts in motion rather than static works , while to some degree, however, retaining relevant aspects of the production of the original form. One central aim is to provide the theoretical and methodological framework for such a narrative of the history of texts. Our use of the concepts of genre and type of text will, for example, as a consequence also be determined by the actual reception of texts over time rather than by fixed and static categories. At the outset, it is also important to stress that the material taken into account will to a large extent involve texts that are traditionally placed outside of the canon. This enables us to form a more comprehensive view of the emerging literate culture in Latin and the vernacular. The literate Ages, manuscripts writing, has all levels, motifs larger textual units e.g. is obvious, however, that tendency earlier various fields study, and conflicting tendencies leading changes manuscripts to concept, and suggest the following hypotheses about central phenomena in the processes of","PeriodicalId":356220,"journal":{"name":"The Meaning of Media","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128471123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Personal name Index","authors":"M. Sable","doi":"10.1300/J103V07N01_04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1300/J103V07N01_04","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":356220,"journal":{"name":"The Meaning of Media","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1989-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122891172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Emergence of an Authorial Culture: Publishing in Denmark in the Long Twelfth Century","authors":"Samu Niskanen","doi":"10.1515/9783110695366-004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110695366-004","url":null,"abstract":"This essay seeks to outline how the publication of original Latin literary works began and matured as a process in Denmark in the course of the long twelfth century. 1 Characterized by cultural and societal transformations in Western Christendom, the period witnessed the emergence of a Latin literary culture in Scandinavia. The present paper ’ s geographical focus is on Denmark because, in comparison with other Scandinavian realms, the kingdom was a forerunner in the field of Latin composition. 2 The corpus of texts discussed embraces selected Latin literary works from Denmark datable to the long twelfth century. The principle governing the selection was that the texts furnish evidence regarding their publication and are representative of pertinent key trends. The corpus tends towards the hagiographical and historical, rather than the theologi-cal and scholarly, because writings falling into the former categories were authored throughout the period under study. The earliest text in our corpus is an anonymous hagiographical text from the turn of the eleventh century; the latest is the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus, published in 1208 or soon after. Before embarking on the analysis, I must clarify how the terms literary and publication are applied here, and how the subject is approached. Literary here denotes texts that were transmitted by means of books or booklets (as opposed to inscriptions), that were not produced in the course of business and were characterized by at least a degree of commitment to elegance of expression (as opposed to administrative docu-ments), and that were longer than a few lines. The term publication calls for a more detailed treatment; a short overview of previous research on authorial publication in the Middle Ages is likewise necessary. Today, the vehicle for publishing is a printed or","PeriodicalId":356220,"journal":{"name":"The Meaning of Media","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123153400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Frontmatter","authors":"","doi":"10.1515/9783110695366-fm","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110695366-fm","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":356220,"journal":{"name":"The Meaning of Media","volume":"207 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122179754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Work Index","authors":"","doi":"10.1515/9783110695366-011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110695366-011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":356220,"journal":{"name":"The Meaning of Media","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133118196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}