DOCSLIB.ORG

Cartography and Culture in Medieval Iceland Dale Kedwards

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Cartography and Culture in Medieval Iceland Dale Kedwards Cartography and Culture in Medieval Iceland Dale Kedwards PhD University of York English and Related Literature September 2014 2 Abstract While previous studies of the medieval Icelandic world maps have tended to be cursorily descriptive, and focus on their roles as representatives of the geographical information available to medieval Icelanders, this thesis directs attention towards their manuscript contexts. Rather than narrowly approaching the maps as vehicles for geographical information, the chapters assembled in this thesis explore their relevance to other areas: pan-European histories of astronomy and the computus (chapters 1 and 2), Icelandic literary history (chapter 4), and the history of the Icelandic Commonwealth (chapter 5). Ultimately, this thesis attempts to rehabilitate the Icelandic maps as sources for the cultural history of medieval Iceland, and demonstrates that they connect with more textual worlds than has previously been supposed. Chapter 1 presents an examination of the Icelandic hemispherical world map, preserved in two manuscripts: the encyclopaedic fragments in Copenhagen’s Arnamagnæan Institute with the shelf marks AM 736 I 4to (c. 1300) and AM 732b 4to (c. 1300-25). I demonstrate that this map’s primary function was to illustrate the configurations of the sun and moon responsible for variations in tidal range. Chapter 2 presents an examination of the Icelandic zonal map, preserved in the large illustrated encyclopaedia in Reykjavík’s Stofnun Árna Magnússonar with the shelf mark GkS 1812 I 4to (1315-c. 1400). This map also shows the structure of the ocean and the mechanisms responsible for the tides. These two chapters restore these maps to their manuscript contexts, and demonstrate that they sustain a complex suite of relationships with the items preserved alongside them. Chapter 3 concerns the relationship between the two world maps preserved in Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to (c. 1225- 50). Although these two maps are preserved on the recto and verso of the same manuscript folio, the relationship between them has not hitherto been examined. The two chapters that follow concern different aspects of these paired maps, and foreground their implications for Icelandic national identity at the time of their production. Chapter 4 concerns their depiction of Europe, with a particular focus on Iceland. Chapter 5 concerns the relationship between the two maps and a register of forty highborn Icelandic priests preserved alongside them, and calls attention to the secular uses to which maps might have been put in thirteenth-century Iceland. 3 Contents Abstract 3 Contents 4 Illustrations 5 Note on translations 8 Acknowledgements 9 Declaration 10 Introduction. Cartographic knowledge in medieval Iceland 11 Chapter 1. The Icelandic hemispherical world map 39 Chapter 2. The Icelandic zonal map 100 Chapter 3. The Viðey maps 151 Chapter 4. Iceland in Europe 173 Chapter 5. Forty Icelandic priests and a map of the world 223 Conclusion. 283 Abbreviations 288 Bibliography 289 4 Illustrations Introduction 1. Toulmin Smith’s reconstructed Icelandic map (1839). 2. Small T-O map from the Icelandic Teiknibókin. Chapter 1. The Icelandic hemispherical world map 3. Icelandic hemispherical world map, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 736 I 4to f. 1v. 4. Icelandic hemispherical world map, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 732b 4to f. 3r. 5. Macrobius’s celestial-terrestrial zone diagram, Cologne, Cathedral Library MS 186, f. 108v. 6. Hemispherical world map in the Liber Floridus, Ghent, University of Ghent Library, MS 92, f. 227v. 7. Ecliptic on the Icelandic hemispherical map and Macrobius’s fourth diagram. 8. Zonal map in the Liber Floridus, Ghent, Ghent University Library, MS 92, f. 24v. 9. Ecumene and antoecumene on the Icelandic hemispherical world maps, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 736 I 4to, f. 1v and AM 732b 4to, f. 3r. 10. Globe as imagined by Crates of Mallus. 11. New and full moons on the Icelandic hemispherical world map, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 736 I 4to, f. 1v. 12. Icelandic Geographical Treatise and names of the three Biblical Magi, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 736 I 4to, f. 1r. 13. Details from the Icelandic Geographical Treatise, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 736 I 4to, f. 1r. 14. Biblical Magi on the Catalan World Atlas, Paris, Bibliothequè Nationale de France, c. 1375. 15. Biblical Magi on Vallseca’s map of 1439, Barcelona, Museu Marítim de Barcelona, Inv. 3236. 16. Hemispherical world map with planetary diagram, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 736 I 4to, f. 1v. 17. Map of Jerusalem, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 736 I 4to, f. 2r. 18. Hemispherical world map with metrological notes, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 732b 4to, ff. 2v-3r. 19. Icelandic wind diagram, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 732b 4to, f. 3v. Chapter 2. The Icelandic zonal map 20. Icelandic zonal map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 I 4to, f. 11v. 21. Heliocentric orbits of the inner planets, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 I 4to, f. 10v. 5 22. Epicyclic motions of the planets in William of Conches’s Dragmaticon philosophiae, Vatican City, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Pal. lat. 1042, f. 23r. 23. Epicyclic motions of the outer planets, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 I 4to, f.11r. 24. Icelandic zonal map and lunar diagram, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 I 4to, f.11v. 25. Sun and moon on the Icelandic hemispherical and zonal maps, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 736 I 4to, f. 1v, and Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 I 4to, f.11v. 26. Zonal maps in William of Conches’s De philosophia mundi, Philadelphia, University of Penn, LJS 384, ff. 13r, 13v, and 15r. 27. Eclipse diagram, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 I 4to, f.12v. Chapter 3. The Viðey maps 28. The larger Viðey map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, ff. 5v-6r. 29. The smaller Viðey map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Arna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, f. 6v. Chapter 4. Iceland in Europe 30. T-O from the smaller Viðey map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, f. 6v. 31. List map in the Liber Floridus, Ghent, University of Ghent Library, MS 92, f. 19r. 32. Europe on the larger Viðey map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, f. 6r. 33. Europe’s western seaboard on the larger Viðey map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, f. 6r. 34. Continental and Mediterranean Europe on the larger Viðey map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, f. 6r. 35. Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region on the larger Viðey map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, f. 6r. 36. Matthew Paris’s itinerary map, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 26. 37. Iceland and Thule on the larger Viðey map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, f. 6r. 38. Iceland and Thule on the Anglo-Saxon Cotton map, London, British Library, MS. Cotton Tiberius, f. 56v. 39. Iceland and Thule on the Hereford map. 40. Gerald of Wales’s map of Europe, Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS 700, f. 48r. Chapter 5. Forty Icelandic priests and a map of the world 41. Wind diagram, Oxford, St. John’s College MS 17 f. 40v. 42. Icelandic wind diagram, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 732b 6 4to f. 2r. 43. English Psalter map, London, British Library, Add. 28681, f. 9r. 44. Diagram from Bede’s De natura rerum, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 210, f. 132v. 45. Wheel of life in the De Lisle Psalter, London, British Library, MS Arundel 83 II, f. 126v. 46. Duchy of Cornwall world map. 47. Byrhtferth’s diagram, Oxford, St John's, MS 17, f. 7v. 48. Annus-Mundus-Homo diagram, Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, MS W. 73. 49. Planetary diagram, Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute, AM 736 I 4to f. 1v. 50. Asia on the larger Viðey map, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, f. 5v. 51. Register of forty highborn Icelandic priests, Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, GkS 1812 III 4to, f. 5r. 52. The Cosmati pavement at Westminster Abbey. 7 Note on translations I have maintained the orthography of the editions from which I have quoted. Where bibliographical details of a Latin or Greek translation (or edition with translation) of a text are given, translations will be those of the editors; otherwise translations are my own. Citations from the Icelandic maps are drawn from my own transcriptions. When under discussion, place-names are written in italics. Thus Iceland refers to the place-name, but Iceland refers to the island. 8 Acknowledgements A project such as this incurs many debts, and it is my happy duty to acknowledge them here. I would like to thank my supervisor, Matthew Townend, for his tireless encouragement from early days to the completion of this thesis, which is all the better for his advice. My thanks are also due to Christopher Callow, who first taught me Old Norse; and to Judith Jesch, for good much advice and encouragement to travel. To these three guides I am extremely grateful. I would like to convey my thanks to my colleagues in York and Odense at the Centre for Medieval Literature and the York Centre for Medieval Studies. These two centres have been my adoptive homes for these three years, and I have been privileged to write this PhD in such intellectually generous company. I also thank scholars at the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum and the Arnamagnæan Institute permitting me to work with their collections in successive summers, and to the Árna Stofnun for their kind permission to reproduce images from their collection in this thesis. I am also grateful to the map historians for their stimulating conversations and helpful leads, and extend my warmest thanks to Catherine Delano Smith and Paul Harvey.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Influence of National Culture on Entrepreneurial Processes
    1 The influence of national culture on entrepreneurial processes The usage of causation and effectuation among Dutch and Polish student entrepreneurs Master Thesis To obtain the Master of Science degree at the University of Twente By: Robin Steentjes Born on January 21, 1988 in Enterbroek, The Netherlands Student number: s1133314 Business Administration Specialization: International Management Supervisory committee: First Supervisor: R. Harms Second Supervisor: M. Stienstra 2 Index Index .................................................................................................................................................................2 List of figures ................................................................................................................................................5 1. Management summary .....................................................................................................................6 2. Foreword ...............................................................................................................................................7 3. Thesis Outline ......................................................................................................................................8 3.1 Introduction of the thesis .............................................................................................................8 3.2 Purpose and scope of the research ........................................................................................ 10 3.3 EPIC-C project
    [Show full text]
  • Readings in Late Antiquity
    READINGS IN LATE ANTIQUITY “This is a wonderful anthology. Clear, accessible, and vividly engaging, it presents the panoply of Late Antique life from east to west, from city to village, from the powerful to the humble, from transcendent hopes to ordinary burdens – a world to explore, relish, and ponder.” Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Brown University “Unusually comprehensive and enterprising in its selections, this sourcebook will give an entire new generation a choice and a challenge.” Peter Brown, Princeton University Late Antiquity (c. 250–650) witnessed the transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. Christianity displaced polytheism over a wide area, offering new definitions of identity and community. The Roman Empire collapsed in western Europe to be replaced by new Germanic kingdoms. In the East, Byzantium emerged, while the Persian Empire reached its apogee and collapsed. Arab armies carrying the banner of Islam reshaped the political map and brought the Late Antique era to a close. This sourcebook illustrates the dramatic political, social and religious trans- formations of Late Antiquity through the words of the men and women who experi- enced them. Drawing from Greek, Latin, Syriac, Hebrew, Coptic, Persian, Arabic, and Armenian sources, the carefully chosen passages illuminate the lives of emperors, abbesses, aristocrats, slaves, children, barbarian chieftains, and saints. The Roman Empire is kept at the centre of the discussion, with chapters devoted to its government, cities, army, law, medicine, domestic life, philosophy, and its Jewish population. Further chapters deal with the peoples who surrounded the Roman state: Persians, Huns, northern barbarians, and the followers of Islam.
    [Show full text]
  • Breaking Definitional Boundaries – Museums in Iceland Policy Cultural Heritage, Cultural
    zarządzanie w Kulturze 2017, 18, z. 1, s. 61–74 61 doi:10.4467/20843976ZK.17.005.6288 www.ejournals.eu/Zarzadzanie-w-Kulturze Weronika Pokojska BREAKING DEFINITIONAL BOUNDARIES – MUSEUMS IN ICELAND POLICY CULTURAL HERITAGE, CULTURAL Abstract The article presents the results of a research on Icelandic museums and their specifics. The analysis is based on the traditional concept of ‘land, nation and language,’ which form the core of the Icelan- dic culture and national identity. The first section of the paper describes the definitional problems which occurred during the research. Then the methodology is explained, also taking into consider- ation the difficulties in examining Icelandic museums using standard tools and guidelines. The last section is devoted to the results of the research, presenting a few examples of different Icelandic museums and their approach to heritage through the prism of the abovementioned trinity. SŁOWA KLUCZE: dziedzictwo niematerialne, koncepcje muzeów, kultura Islandii, zarządzanie dziedzictwem KEY WORDS: intangible heritage, museum concepts, culture of Iceland, heritage management Introduction The aim of the article is to present some thoughts resulting from an on-site ob- servation on Icelandic museums proceeded during a research project named “Icelan- dic Museums: Between Tradition and Today,” conducted at Háskóllinn á Bifröst. The research was about the specifics of Icelandic museums and similar activities. I exam- ined how the image of the country is created through its approach to heritage and ex- hibiting
    [Show full text]
  • With a Particular Focus on the Saga of Grettir the Strong, Gisfi Surrson's
    Volume 3: 2010-2011 ISSN: 2041-6776 School of English Studies With a particular focus on The Saga of Grettir the Strong, Gisfi Surrson’s Saga and Nijar’s Saga, discuss the nature and role of the supernatural in Icelandic saga literature and assess the extent to which it reveals a religious significance. Georgina Georghiou At the end of the Viking Age, the Icelanders developed a literary tradition in the vernacular, Old Icelandic, in which the legendary tales of Iceland’s sogooki (the Saga Age, c. 9E1030 CE) were written.’ Hitherto sustained by the oral tradition (hence the designation saga, from segja, to say, tell’), the tales which constitute the islendrgasogur (Sagas of Icelanders, written between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries) journeyed through phases of Iceland’s cultural evolution, most notably its political movement from the Commonwealth to the Norwegian monarchy in 1262 CE, and its religious conversion from Norse paganism to Christianity under the sovereignty of King Olaf Tryggvason (995-1000 CE). Chronicling events which occurred during and after this cultural whirlwind, the sagas in their present form reflect a mystical synthesis of Norse-pagan and Christian conceptions of the sacred, both of which incited a conviction in the Supernatural’. Despite their differences, they commonly present the Scandinavian world as one which interacts with unworldly beings and forces, and whilst this ‘unworldliness’ has contributed to the modern view that the sagas are ‘pseudo- historical’,5 for the medieval Icelander, they were a record of historical truth. The truth’ invested in the supernatural involves it, inevitably, in sacred matters, and the affiliation between the supernatural and the religious has thus been a highly debated topic among saga scholarship.
    [Show full text]
  • In Versions of Saint Brendan's Travels
    PARADISE (?) IN VERSIONS OF SAINT BRENDAN’S TRAVELS Leif Søndergaard Syddansk Universitet Abstract Travel accounts were the most popular genre during the Middle Ages. Travelling went in all directions but preferably to the East, where Paradise was believed to be located. Paradise was hidden behind an ocean, a wall of fire or insurmountable mountains and thus inacces- sible. Saint Brendan’s voyage went west and the vast majority of scholars have claimed that Saint Brendan arrived in Paradise even if the various texts lack evidence for it, and in several ways. I characterize this apparent Paradise in the Navigatio version as a “fake Paradise,” because it is located to the west in contrast to the long tradition of Paradise descriptions and the mappae mundi where Paradise is always situated to the east. I call the Promised Land in the vernacular Voyage version a “pseudo-Paradise” despite the Christian elements, primarily because of its location and because Saint Brendan claims that he had been there. Key words: Travel account, Saint Brendan, Paradise, Promised Land, Garden of Eden, Mappa mundi, Land of Cockaigne. Resumen Los relatos de viajes fueron el género más popular durante la Edad Media. El viajero partía 13 en todas direcciones, pero preferiblemente hacia el este, donde se creía que se localizaba el Paraíso. Éste se escondía tras un océano, una muralla de fuego o montañas inaccesibles, por lo que era inalcanzable. El viaje de San Brendano se dirigió hacia el oeste, y una amplia mayoría de especialistas ha destacado, aun sin textos que lo evidencien, que el santo llegó al Paraíso.
    [Show full text]
  • For People Who Love Early Maps Early Love Who People for 143 No
    143 INTERNATIONAL MAP COLLECTORS’ SOCIETY WINTER 2015 No.143 FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE EARLY MAPS JOURNAL ADVERTISING Index of Advertisers 4 issues per year Colour B&W Altea Gallery 57 Full page (same copy) £950 £680 Half page (same copy) £630 £450 Art Aeri 47 Quarter page (same copy) £365 £270 Antiquariaat Sanderus 36 For a single issue 22 Full page £380 £275 Barron Maps Half page £255 £185 Barry Lawrence Ruderman 4 Quarter page £150 £110 Flyer insert (A5 double-sided) £325 £300 Collecting Old Maps 10 Clive A Burden 2 Advertisement formats for print Daniel Crouch Rare Books 58 We can accept advertisements as print ready artwork saved as tiff, high quality jpegs or pdf files. Dominic Winter 36 It is important to be aware that artwork and files Frame 22 that have been prepared for the web are not of sufficient quality for print. Full artwork Gonzalo Fernández Pontes 15 specifications are available on request. Jonathan Potter 42 Advertisement sizes Kenneth Nebenzahl Inc. 47 Please note recommended image dimensions below: Kunstantiquariat Monika Schmidt 47 Full page advertisements should be 216 mm high Librairie Le Bail 35 x 158 mm wide and 300–400 ppi at this size. Loeb-Larocque 35 Half page advertisements are landscape and 105 mm high x 158 mm wide and 300–400 ppi at this size. The Map House inside front cover Quarter page advertisements are portrait and are Martayan Lan outside back cover 105 mm high x 76 mm wide and 300–400 ppi at this size. Mostly Maps 15 Murray Hudson 10 IMCoS Website Web Banner £160* The Observatory 35 * Those who advertise in the Journal may have a web banner on the IMCoS website for this annual rate.
    [Show full text]
  • Þingvellir National Park
    World Heritage Scanned Nomination File Name: 1152.pdf UNESCO Region: EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA __________________________________________________________________________________________________ SITE NAME: Þingvellir National Park DATE OF INSCRIPTION: 7th July 2004 STATE PARTY: ICELAND CRITERIA: C (iii) (vi) CL DECISION OF THE WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE: Excerpt from the Report of the 28th Session of the World Heritage Committee Criterion (iii): The Althing and its hinterland, the Þingvellir National Park, represent, through the remains of the assembly ground, the booths for those who attended, and through landscape evidence of settlement extending back possibly to the time the assembly was established, a unique reflection of mediaeval Norse/Germanic culture and one that persisted in essence from its foundation in 980 AD until the 18th century. Criterion (vi): Pride in the strong association of the Althing to mediaeval Germanic/Norse governance, known through the 12th century Icelandic sagas, and reinforced during the fight for independence in the 19th century, have, together with the powerful natural setting of the assembly grounds, given the site iconic status as a shrine for the national. BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS Þingvellir (Thingvellir) is the National Park where the Althing - an open-air assembly, which represented the whole of Iceland - was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798. Over two weeks a year, the assembly set laws - seen as a covenant between free men - and settled disputes. The Althing has deep historical and symbolic associations for the people of Iceland. Located on an active volcanic site, the property includes the Þingvellir National Park and the remains of the Althing itself: fragments of around 50 booths built of turf and stone.
    [Show full text]
  • MAR 19—22 BAM Fisher
    Kindur MAR 19—22 BAM Fisher Compagnia TPO Artistic Direction by Francesco Gandi and Davide Venturini A co-production with Teatro Metastasio Stabile della Toscana Study Guide written by Nicole Kempskie with excerpts from Compagnia TPO BAM PETER JAY SHARP BUILDING 30 LAFAYETTE AVE. BROOKLYN, NY 11217 TABLE OF CONTENTS DEAR EDUCATOR YOUR VISIT TO BAM Welcome to the Study Guide for the The BAM program includes: this study Page 3: The Production production of Kindur that you and guide, a pre-performance workshop in Page 4: Scene-by-Scene your students will be attending as your classroom led by a BAM teaching Page 5: Iceland: A Magical Land part of BAM Education’s School Time artist, and the performance (March 19- Performance Series. This magical tale 22; 90 minutes) immediately followed by Page 6: Iceland: Its Magical follows the travels of three sheep as a post-show discussion (30-40 minutes). Creatures they make their annual journey through Page 7: Classroom Activities the Icelandic landscape. Three dancers Please arrange for your students to stay bring these adventurous sheep to life and participate in this unique question- accompanied by massive screens filled and-answer session. with gorgeous projections depicting the vast beauty of Iceland’s landscape. At this performance, students will not only sit back and watch the story unfold, they will also participate in the story, at times being invited onto the stage in order to trigger and co-create the sounds, images, music, and colors that make up this world. In addition, this performance provides a wonderful opportunity to explore the natural wonders and culture of Iceland in the classroom; its fairy-tale landscape of glaciers, volcanoes, waterfalls, and Northern Lights, as well as its mysterious elves and troublesome trolls.
    [Show full text]
  • Recent Publications 1984 — 2017 Issues 1 — 100
    RECENT PUBLICATIONS 1984 — 2017 ISSUES 1 — 100 Recent Publications is a compendium of books and articles on cartography and cartographic subjects that is included in almost every issue of The Portolan. It was compiled by the dedi- cated work of Eric Wolf from 1984-2007 and Joel Kovarsky from 2007-2017. The worldwide cartographic community thanks them greatly. Recent Publications is a resource for anyone interested in the subject matter. Given the dates of original publication, some of the materi- als cited may or may not be currently available. The information provided in this document starts with Portolan issue number 100 and pro- gresses to issue number 1 (in backwards order of publication, i.e. most recent first). To search for a name or a topic or a specific issue, type Ctrl-F for a Windows based device (Command-F for an Apple based device) which will open a small window. Then type in your search query. For a specific issue, type in the symbol # before the number, and for issues 1— 9, insert a zero before the digit. For a specific year, instead of typing in that year, type in a Portolan issue in that year (a more efficient approach). The next page provides a listing of the Portolan issues and their dates of publication. PORTOLAN ISSUE NUMBERS AND PUBLICATIONS DATES Issue # Publication Date Issue # Publication Date 100 Winter 2017 050 Spring 2001 099 Fall 2017 049 Winter 2000-2001 098 Spring 2017 048 Fall 2000 097 Winter 2016 047 Srping 2000 096 Fall 2016 046 Winter 1999-2000 095 Spring 2016 045 Fall 1999 094 Winter 2015 044 Spring
    [Show full text]
  • Webinars Highlight Spectrum of Icelandic Topics
    Connect Celebrating 2 Years! June/Júní 2021 Webinars Highlight Spectrum of Icelandic Topics Heritage, scholarship opportunities, contemporary issues, and Icelandic horses have all taken center stage for engaging 2021 INLUS webinars. INLUS volunteers and special guests educated and entertained webinar audiences, Inside this issue: and special guests answered questions from audience members. Jonathan Wood’s passion for being an advocate was what propelled him President’s Message 2 to a law career and graduate studies in polar law in Akureyri, Iceland. In a March 21 webinar about contemporary issues in Iceland, INLUS Volunteer Kaffi Tími 2 Jeannie Fox Entenza interviewed Wood to find out about how a practicing lawyer from the warm state of Georgia transitioned to snowy northern Fitness Challenge 2 Iceland. They covered everything from Wood’s experiences learning the Icelandic language, to graduate studies at universities in Iceland, to climate Chef Brent Skarðaborg 3 change and human rights. His thesis research is about the consent process of the resource extraction industry in Greenland, an area that has been Why We Celebrate June 17 4 changing as he has been writing his thesis. Wood’s advocacy now centers on policies that affect the indigenous people of Greenland and the environment, Webinars continued 5 and he hopes to continue being an advocate in the arctic as long as he’s able. Chef Skarðaborg 6 What is the best way to preserve and care for shared heritage? The INLUS continued webinar April 14 featured Katelin Parsons, Project Manager of the Fragile Heritage Project at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík.
    [Show full text]
  • Barbarian Liquor Rituals
    Hugvísindasvið A GIANTESS DECEIVED A Re-Investigation into the Origins and Functions of Hávamál Stanzas 104-110 in the Light of Sacral Kingship Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs Dorian Knight Maí 2012 Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Medieval Icelandic Studies A GIANTESS DECEIVED A Re-Investigation into the Origins and Functions of Hávamál Stanzas 104-110 in the Light of Sacral Kingship Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs Dorian Knight Kt.: 230584-5169 Leiðbeinandi: Gísli Sigurðsson Maí 2012 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my parents who inspired me in the first place and whose financial contributions have allowed me to follow my interests, and to Zuz, who helped me in more ways than she knows. I would also like to greatly thank my friends in Iceland for all the memorable times we have shared and my supervisor Gísli Sigurðsson and Torfi Tulinius, the director of the M.A. programme in Medieval Icelandic Studies, for academic guidance when and where necessary. ABSTRACT (ENGLISH) The thesis illuminates stanzas 104-110 in Hávamál as a motif of initiation into sacral kingship by a comparison to the very same theme within Celtic mythology. Using Gísli Sigurðsson‟s premise that the oral background to much eddic poetry was more open to Gaelic influence than normally assumed and the inherent conservatism of the pagan Irish sacral kingship tradition I will focus on the following points: through a detailed analysis and comparison of a selected 11th century Old Irish text I illustrate that salient mythological aspects in Hávamál point to an initiation into sacral kingship underlying the text. Furthermore, in a similar manner to that which Gro Steinsland has recently provided for certain other eddic poems I attempt to show that these stanzas in Hávamál were written by a Christian editor/scribe using the hieros gamos motif on behalf of a Norwegian royal lineage, with Gunnlöð as an ancestress of Hörðaland.
    [Show full text]
  • The Values Underpinning Iceland's Food System Risk Implications for Resilience Planning
    The values underpinning Iceland's food system risk Implications for resilience planning by Holly Johanna Jacobson Bachelor of Science in Biology and Environmental Studies Bowdoin College 2011 Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER IN CITY PLANNING at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2016 © Holly Johanna Jacobson. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce istribute and to d publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Author: ________________________________________________________________________ Holly Johanna Jacobson Department of Urban Studies and Planning May 6, 2016 Certified by: ____________________________________________________________________ Janelle Knox-­‐Hayes Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning Thesis Supervisor Accepted by: ___________________________________________________________________ P. Christopher Zegras Associate Professorof Urban Studies and Planning Chair, Master in City Planning Committee 1 The values underpinning Iceland's food system risk Implications for resilience planning by Holly Johanna Jacobson Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on May 6, 2016in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree ofMaster in City Planning ABSTRACT Some claim Iceland’s food security is in grave danger. Farms fear financial failure as they compete with cheaper imports; high import reliance renders the country vulnerable to natural, political, and financial volatility; climate changethreaten s to exacerbatethese food systemweaknesses . Yet Iceland has no contingency plan, and adaptation measures are absent from national climate change reports.While thisgap could be perceived asnegligence , to do so assumes a universalistic framework for risk and resilience—a trendcurrently seen in theglobal proliferation of formulaic, resiliency plans.
    [Show full text]