constitutional framework. The third and final astical matters to mundane issues of everyday part presents cases ‘related to the High Court’ life (although the bishop and his assembly cer- under the heading Íslenskt réttarfar, ‘Icelandic tainly did not view them as ‘mundane’). The judicial culture’. As the editor explains in her editors are especially to be applauded for both preface to the volume, each volume of the se- the thorough indices of names and topics and ries will contain such an appendix for relevant the marginal headings, making thematic sear- material deemed indispensable for the reader. ching and browsing very comfortable. Each The format of the new series underscores volume contains a brief but informative intro- its close relations to its sibling Alþingisbækur. duction to the bishop in question and his sy- There is a thorough introduction, including nodal assemblies, coupled with a summary of an informative sketch of the court’s history, relevant manuscripts and bibliography. coupled with a thirty-two-page section of co- In sum, the volumes in question are a wel- lour photographs of primary documents, se- come and overdue addition to our printed cor- als, and illustrations. Detailed bibliographic pus and will be of great use to early modern information is distributed throughout and the historians and scholars of various denomina- volume closes with a glossary and indices. My tions. only real worry is that with the current publi- cation phase (a second volume is yet to ap- Viðar Pálsson pear), I will be at least ninety when the series is completed – and I just turned forty. The pace is quicker in the series Sýnisbók íslenskrar alþýðumenningar, ‘Excerpts from Ice- Arne Jönsson & Gregor Vogt-Spira (eds.), The landic Popular Culture’. Initiated in 1997, its Classical Tradition in the Baltic Region: Perceptions publications cover a wide range of early mo- and Adaptations of Greece and Rome, Spudasmata, dern and modern primary sources. Despite its Band 17 (Hildesheim/Zurich/New York: Ge- title, the series includes texts that are usually org Olms Verlag, 2017). 600 pp. not labelled ‘popular’ but nevertheless offer valuable insights into popular culture and eve- The collective volume The Classical Tradition in ryday life. Thus, the late thirteenth-century the Baltic Region: Perceptions and Adaptations of Greece royal law code Jónsbók founds its place within and Rome has its origin in the network Collo- the series in 2004. There is reason to draw quium Balticum. Initially established in 2001 as special attention to the much-neglected col- a joint German-Swedish collaboration, it has lections of episcopal orders from early modern since gone on to include peers from Estonia, synodal assemblies (prestastefnudómar) compri- Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia. With its annual sing volumes 10, 12, and 13, edited by Már conference, this international association has Jónsson, Gunnar Örn Hannesson, and Skúli S. been a stimulating venue for Classicists from Ólafsson (Guðs dýrð og sálnanna velferð in 2005, Í the above-mentioned countries to enjoy pro- nafni heilagrar guðdómsins þrenningar in 2006, and fessional exchange and inspiration. Eftir skyldu míns embættis in 2008). Together, the The volume contains 25 essays. As sug- collections cover the orders of Bishop Bryn- gested in its title, it explores various recep- jólfur Sveinsson of Skálholt 1639–74, Bishop tions and interpretations of Classical antiquity Þórður Þorláksson of Skálholt 1675–97, and in the area around the Baltic Sea. Among previ- Jón Vídalín of Skálholt 1698–1720. ous essay collections on the Classical tradition The episcopal orders address remarkably in this part of Europe, we find Mare Balticum diverse topics, ranging from routine ecclesi- – Mare Nostrum: Latin in the Countries of the Baltic

175 Sjuttonhundratal | 2018 Sea (1500–1800) (Jyväskylä, 1994) and Erudi- convincingly demonstrates that this early tion and Eloquence: The Use of Latin in the Countries modern scientist moves from self-descriptions of the Baltic Sea (1500–1800) (Saarijärvi, 2003), as a humble disciple of Urania to boldly por- both edited by Outi Merisalo and Raija Saras- traying himself as Urania’s master who has un- ti-Wilenius. The volume edited by Jönsson and derstood the mysteries of the universe. Vogt-Spira has a broader thematic scope: the Section II, The Translation and Reception contributions shed light on such wide-ranging of Classical Literature, consists of five essays. topics as neo-Latin poetry and the history of These contributions treat paratexts to an Classical philology in Latvia and Lithuania. It early modern poetry collection, translations includes both case studies of individual texts of ancient literature in early modern Swe- and explorations of larger phenomena such as den, the reception of the Daphne myth by university translations of ancient literature the Swedish scholar and poet Esaias Tegnér, and plagiarism in early modern academia. and Latvian translations of ancient language The Classical Tradition in the Baltic Region con- theorists. The material covers the eighteenth sists of four sections. In what follows, I will to the twentieth centuries. Thus, Magdalena offer a short overview of each section and dis- Öhrman offers an insightful study of the re- cuss some of the individual contributions to ception of Ovid’s Heroides in late eighteenth- conclude with some general reflections. century Sweden. Öhrman wisely argues that Section I is entitled Prominent Writers in these Swedish translations must be examined Latin of the Early Modern Period. Containing eight in a national literary context, where they essays, it is the most extensive section in the served as Swedish equivalents of the pre-Ro- volume. The contributions encompass sub- mantic novel. Anna-Maria Lenngren’s 1778 jects such as historiographical works of dif- translation of Dido’s letter to Aeneas is an ferent periods, early modern poetry, epigraphy, excellent illustration of this argument: in and academic writings in Latin. In fact, the her translation, the Swedish poet privileges section covers a period longer than indicated themes that are characteristic of the Euro- in its title, as the opening essay by Vita Pa- pean epistolary novel. parinska deals with a thirteenth-century text. Section III, The Presence of Antiquity in Early In her “Riga in Heinrici Chronicon”, Paparinska Modern Culture, contains five essays as well. It looks at the medieval chronicler’s description starts with a text on the use of ancient mo- of Riga and its role in the Christianization of tifs in a seventeenth-century Dutch pamphlet Livonia. Even though the contributor does not against Sweden. It then proceeds to a study mention this explicitly, the chronicle exhibits that examines how an early modern printer many of the features that are associated with used his printer mark to present himself as a neo-Latin literature of the early modern peri- humanist figure. The remaining contributions od such as the use of Latin in the construction look at Frederick the Great’s reception of an- of an identity. It is therefore fitting that the tiquity, the motivation behind the creation of next essays in this first section also deal with the coin cast collection at the University of the use of Latin as a tool of self-identification. Tartu, and the work of the Latvian scholar Ju- For example, Martina Björk in her “Urania and ris Aluna¯ns. Oja¯rs La¯ms’ essay about Aluna¯ns Apollo: Myth and Identity in Tycho Brahe’s shows how the twentieth-century compara- Latin Poetry” explores how the famous Dan- tive linguist viewed his own country’s past ish astronomer employs Ovidian elegiacs as a through references to the culture and language means of self-fashioning. Through her close of ancient Greece. It is interesting to compare readings of Brahe’s three Latin poems, Björk Aluna¯ns’ scholarly endeavours to Frederick

176 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7557/4.4499 the Great’s reception of antiquity. As Vogt- ten in Latin would have made a stronger case Spira explains, the Prussian ruler was also a of their own research by aligning it with the thinker and he sought the answers to many of most recent scholarship in the field of Neo- his questions in ancient literature. Vogt-Spira Latin studies. Such linkage is especially desir- makes it clear that this approach to ancient able now, when four major reference-works Greece and Rome was in line with the contem- in the field of the Neo-Latin discipline have porary traditions. appeared. These four are Brill’s Encyclopaedia of Section IV, The History of Scholarship and Edu- the Neo-Latin World edited by Jan Bloemendal, cation, consists of seven contributions. Its first Charles Fantazzi and Philip Ford (Leiden and essays engage with early modern material. The Boston, 2014), The Oxford Handbook of Neo-Latin opening text discusses the moral poetry of edited by Sarah Knight and Stefan Tilg (Ox- the German humanist Johannes Mylius. The ford, 2015), Martin Korenjak’s Geschichte der next two essays relate to the history of Tartu neulateinischen Literatur: Vom Humanismus bis zur University: Kaidi Kriisa investigates how the Gegenwart (Munich, 2016), and A Guide to Neo- vernacular languages took over the role of Latin Literature edited by Victoria Moul (Cam- Latin as the language of academia in Tartu, bridge, 2017). whereas Janika Päll inquires into the practice I will give two examples of how refer- of rhetorical exercises at the same university. ences to previous research could have helped The final contributions analyse eighteenth- some of the authors put their own studies in century dissertations on silk production in a broader scholarly context. The first exam- their socio-historical context, the work of the ple concerns the ideological applications of Latvian philologist Ka¯rlis Strausbergs, and neo-Latin literature. As recent research in the the history of Classical studies in Latvia and field has shown, nearly all the early modern Lithuania during and after the Soviet occupa- milieus where Latin functioned as a means of tion. The story of the suppression of Classical communication were politically and ideologi- research in the former Soviet republics serves cally charged. Marc Laureys has been one of as a reminder of how totalitarian regimes have the most important voices in this scholarly a habit of using culture and literature as an field with his contributions to the Brill en- ideological instrument. cyclopaedia and Oxford handbook as well as There is a certain thematic overlap in the the co-edited volume Discourses of Power: Ideology volume’s four sections. Many of the essays and Politics in Neo-Latin Literature (Hildesheim/ could fit into two or in some cases even three Zürich/New York, 2012). The latter volume’s of the four categories. At the same time, the introduction, essays and bibliographies could category The Presence of Antiquity in Early Mod- have provided many thought-provoking paral- ern Culture could host a great majority of the lels and a theoretical backdrop to several con- contributions. As the topics treated in the es- tributions in The Classical Tradition in the Baltic says differ in terms of their material and ap- Region. Similarly, the essays about the neo- proaches, it is understandable that it would Latin epigram and epitaph would have profited have been difficult to create a limited number from the view of the centrality of this genre in of niched categories for them all. What is per- early modern culture, as demonstrated in the haps missing in this volume is a clearer point volume The Neo-Latin Epigram: A Learned and Witty of conjunction between the essays’ approaches Genre edited by Karl Enenkel, Susanna de Beer, and the current international research on the and David Rijser (Leuven, 2009), referred to same phenomena. Thus, many of the contrib- in the surveys of both the Oxford and the Brill utors working with early modern texts writ- volumes.

177 Sjuttonhundratal | 2018 The other critical remark concerns the gruppen samlat kunniga experter och knutit volume’s editorial principles for the transla- internationella kontakter. Projektets resultat tions of the quoted texts. Some of the au- presenteras dels i antologin Karl XII och svensk- thors do not provide translations of their arna i Osmanska riket (2015), dels rapporten Latin passages. One can therefore wonder: When Sweden was ruled from the Ottoman Empire Who is the intended reader of this volume? I (2016). Antologin är utgiven på svenska och am afraid not all of today’s early modernists har haft stor distribution i handeln. Rap- are Latinate. porten innehåller bidrag på engelska, vars Leaving my two critical comments aside, grund är de föredrag som har hållits under I find The Classical Tradition in the Baltic Region a projektets fem symposier och har haft en mer useful collection of essays that fills many la- begränsad distribution, men gör således ändå cunae in our knowledge about the afterlives of projektets resultat tillgängliga för en interna- Classical antiquity in this part of the world. tionell läsekrets. Enligt inledningskapitlet i antologin var Elena Dahlberg syftet med projektet, och av allt att döma även antologin, att ”kartlägga mötet mellan svensk- arna och Osmanska riket samt fördjupa kun- skapen om de diplomatiska, administrativa, Åsa Karlsson, Klas Kronberg, & Per Sandin ekonomiska och kulturella omständigheterna” (red.), Karl XII och svenskarna i Osmanska riket, (2015, s. 18). Projektet är välmotiverat, men Armémuseum årsbok 73 (Stockholm: Atlan- också omfattande. Den avsedda målgruppen tis, 2015). 317 s. för antologin förefaller att vara den historiein- tresserade allmänheten, men dess vetenskapliga Åsa Karlsson, Klas Kronberg, & Per Sandin ambition och karaktär av grundforskning gör (red.), When Sweden was Ruled from the Ottoman att även forskare tillhör dess presumtiva läsare. Empire (Stockholm: Armémuseum, 2016). Det samlade intrycket är att antologin lyckats 219 pp. väl. De tvärvetenskapliga texterna är genomgå- ende fängslande och skrivna av erkända exper- Karl XII:s fem år långa vistelse i Osmanska ri- ter på karolinsk tid. Genom de översatta in- ket 1709–1714 är välkänd, omskriven och till ternationella bidragen har också internationell viss del mytomspunnen. Den så kallade ”kala- forskning blivit tillgänglig för svenska läsare, baliken i Bender” är väl förankrad i det svenska vilket är lovvärt. Bokens trevliga formgivning historiemedvetandet. Ändå har vistelsen och och rika innehåll på bild- och kartmaterial för- dess följdverkningar inte blivit särskilt väl ut- höjer också läsvärdet. forskade i vetenskapliga sammanhang i Sverige Antologin innehåller tolv kapitel och de senaste decennierna. Den svenska litteratu- föregås av en inledning som behandlar pro- ren som finns i ämnet har i stora drag varit jektets förutsättningar och utgångpunkter: ensidigt inriktad på specifika aktörer, storpoli- forskningsläget kring Karl XII, internationella tiska, ekonomiska och militära skeenden. kontakter och projektbeskrivning. Genom att Ett försök att bredda kunskapen om vis- hänvisa till den tidigare litteraturens ensidiga telsen i Osmanska riket har nyligen avslutats fokus motiveras en breddning som inkluderar genom forskningsprojektet När Sverige styrdes ”förvaltningshistoria, kulturmöten, vetenskap från Osmanska riket (Riksbankens Jubileums- och konst” (2015, s. 15). Den storpolitiska fond). Genom studieresor, symposier och be- och militära kontexten behandlas sedan av Lars sök på berörda platser i regionen har projekt- Ericson Wolke i första kapitlet och erbjuder en

178 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7557/4.4500