March Roundup: New Birka-type Crucifix Discovered, Dexippus Fragment Translation Published, Rare Belt Buckle Found, and Galloway Hoard Images

March 29, 2016 by Joseph Hopkins in Archaeology, Publications

March has been pretty fruitful for news in ancient Germanic studies. From a new Birka-type Viking Age crucifix found on the Danish island of Funen, to a new translation of newly discovered fragment of an account of a Gothic invasion of Greece, to the implications of a curious belt buckle found in a Viking Age grave in Jutland, and finally to new images of a Viking Age hoard found in Scotland, there's plenty to talk about here.

Postmedieval Issue - Hoarders and Hordes: Responses to the Staffordshire Hoard

October 29, 2015 by JH Roberts in Education, Publications, Archaeology

A forthcoming issue of postmedieval on the Staffordshire Hoard is calling on the community for crowd review. The issue, edited by the Material Collective, will be published spring 2016. The edition will utilize Crowd Review instead of the more traditional peer review making this issue of postmedieval a community project, and redefining scholarly review in the process. From their website:

Selections from the Staffordshire Hoard. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

“In the spirit of our collaborative process, we now ask contributors–and the broader public–to respond to one another’s work in the form of a crowd review. We ask for comments, queries, suggestions, and ideas for new direction. As a reviewer, you are charged with being part of the collaboration, part of the Hoard/Horde. Our goal in this open review process is not to change the form of these experimental contributions, but rather to collaborate to expand, clarify, and refine. The crowd review mirrors the dialogic and collaborative form of the volume itself, and so we have generated an interface that allows for threaded comments in which readers can respond to one another as well as to authors directly. Our hope is that a lively month-long discussion will become its own kind of response to the Hoard, and we intend to archive the threaded comments on the Material Collective website. Authors may also incorporate suggestions into individual essays before final publication of the volume in summer of 2016.”

If you are interested in the Staffordshire Hoard, feel free to contribute, even if you are not a traditional academic. This special issue follows postmedieval’s efforts to redefine academia and include all interested parties, no matter your education level or scholarly discipline.

Now Available: RMN Newsletter #10 Free in PDF Format

July 30, 2015 by Joseph Hopkins in Publications

The University of Helsinki's logo. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

RMN Newsletter #10 is now available in PDF format and downloadable here for free. Entitled "Between Text and Practice: Mythology, Religion and Research", this is a special issue of RMN Newsletter. contains new articles from:

* Rudolf Simek
* Lotte Tarkka
* Yuri E. Berezkin
* Matthias Egeler
* Nadezhda Rychkova
* Karina Lukin
* Frog

In addition, RMN Newsletter #10 contains review articles, research reports, conference and event reviews, dissertation and thesis announcements, and calls for papers.

RMN Newsletter is a peer-reviewed journal published biannually via the University of Helsinki's Folklore Studies department. RMN Newsletter is edited by Frog, Helen F. Leslie-Jacobsen, and Joseph S. Hopkins (founder of Mimisbrunnr.info).

"Warrior Lore" by Ian Cumpstey

February 20, 2015 by Joseph Hopkins in Publications

Ian Cumpstey has sent word that the second collection of his translations of Swedish folk ballads, "Warrior Lore", is now available. The collection contains original illustrations and features various references to North Germanic gods from Swedish folk tradition. Cumpstey's press release is as follows:

"Warrior Lore" by Ian Cumpstey

Medieval Scandinavian ballads in a new English verse translation

The medieval Scandinavian ballads in this collection tell stories of
champions and fighters, vikings, and trolls, drawing on Norse
mythology and heroic legend. There are riddles, and there are
appearances from Thor, Loki, Sigurd, and other figures from the myths
of the Edda and from history. Narrative ballads were part of an oral
folk music tradition in Scandinavia, and were first written down
around 1600, although the ballads themselves are older. These new
English verse translations are mainly based on Swedish tradition.

The hero Widrick Waylandsson comes face to face with a troll in the
forest. Thor resorts to cross-dressing in a bid to recover his stolen
hammer. The daughter of a King of Sweden is abducted from a convent in
the Swedish countryside. A young fighter has to show off his prowess
in skiing and shooting for King Harald Hardrada. And more...

"Warrior Lore" contents:
Widrick Waylandsson's Fight with Long-Ben Reyser; Twelve Strong
Fighters; Hilla-Lill; Sir Hjalmar; The Hammer Hunt; The Stablemates;
Sven Swan-White; The Cloister Raid; Heming and the Mountain Troll;
Heming and King Harald.

Paperback, 76 pages with 10 full-colour illustrations.
Published by Skadi Press Feb 2014
ISBN 978-0-9576120-1-3
RRP GBP 10.00

Further info / ordering etc: http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
Ebooks also available (from all the usual retailers)

"A charming introduction to Scandinavian Lore." -- Sam Smith, in The
Journal (once 'of Contemporary Anglo-Scandinavian Poetry')

Reader reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22568870-warrior-lore
https://matthewrettino.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/warrior-lore-by-ian-cumpstey/

"Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader" by Jesse Byock Now Available at Special Rate

February 08, 2015 by Joseph Hopkins in Publications

The second part to Jesse Byock's guide to Old Norse, Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader, was released at the end of 2014. Per the publisher's announcement:

"Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader is now available with a limited-time offer. The reader immerses the learner in the legends, folklore, and myths of the Vikings. The readings are drawn from sagas, runes and eddas. They take the student into the world of Old Norse heroes, gods, and goddesses. There is a separate chapter on the ‘Creation of the World’ and another on ‘The Battle at the World’s End,’ where the gods meet their doom. Other readings and maps focus on Viking Age Iceland, Greenland, and Vínland. A series of chapters tackles eddic and skaldic verse with their ancient stories from the old Scandinavian past. Runic inscriptions and explanations of how to read runes form a major component of the book. Where there are exercises, the answers are given at the end of the chapter. Both Viking Language 1 and 2 are structured as workbooks. Students learns quickly and interactively. More information on our website: vikinglanguage.com"

Byock has announced that both editions are now 20% off until April 30, 2015. For more information, see the offer announcement here.

"Fibula, Fabula, Fact - The Viking Age in Finland" by Joonas Ahola & Frog with Clive Tolley

January 10, 2015 by Joseph Hopkins in Publications

"Fibula, Fabula, Fact - The Viking Age in Finland" by Joonas Ahola & Frog with Clive Tolley is now available via the Finnish Literary Society's online bookshop. Per the publisher's description:

'Were there Vikings in Finland?’ Fibula, Fabula, Fact – The Viking Age in Finland is intended to provide essential foundations for approaching the Viking Age in Finland. The volume consists of a general introduction followed by nineteen chapters and a closing discussion. The nineteen chapters are oriented to provide introductions to the sources, methods and perspectives of diverse disciplines. Discussions are presented from fields including archaeology, folklore studies, genetics, geopolitics, historiography, language history, linguistics, palaeobotany, semiotics and toponymy. Each chapter is intended to help open the resources and the history of discourse of the particular discipline in a way that will be accessible to specialists from other fields, specialists from outside Finland, and also to non-specialist readers and students who may be more generally interested in the topic.

Pre-Order for Jackson Crawford's Translation of the Poetic Edda and Recent Poetic Edda Editions

January 07, 2015 by Joseph Hopkins in Publications

Jackson Crawford's English translation of the Poetic Edda is now available for pre-order at amazon.com.The edition is projected for publication on March 15, 2014 (source).

Jackson's translation is the most recent in a wave of new English language translations of the Poetic Edda. Other recent translations include the Jeramy Dodd's 2014 translation, the late Ursula Dronke's 2011 edition (volume III of, I believe, III volumes) and Andy Orchard's 2011 translation. In addition, a revised and expanded second edition of Carolyne Larrington's 1996 translation was also released in 2014.

The Poetic Edda (or, nowadays more rarely, the Elder Edda) is a 13th century compilation of Old Norse poems that are infamously difficult to translation yet are supremely important to the study of what we nowadays know as "Norse mythology", the religious narratives of the North Germanic peoples.