ICELANDIC SCRIBES · Scribal networks in 17th-century Iceland: The patronage of Magnús Jónsson í Vigur
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2016-04-01 → 2018-03-31
- EU contribution
- €212,195
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-CAR
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Scribal networks in 17th-century Iceland: The patronage of Magnús Jónsson í Vigur
While the introduction of print in the 15th century altered literary production in Europe, its influence was somewhat less definitive than was once thought. Especially in Iceland, people continued to copy books by hand, keeping alive medieval scribal practices long after they had ended elsewhere, while also adopting innovations in book production in response to the new but highly restricted and inaccessible medium of print. By researching how and why new copies of popular medieval and early modern texts were made in 17th-century Iceland, this project has made insights into early modern reading culture, the preservation of literary culture and heritage through active patronage, and the ways that small, local communities can be linked with larger, international ones through the transfer of textual materials. The project’s main focus was a detailed study of the manuscripts themselves, to uncover what they tell us about their scribes and readers, and about the texts they transmit. The project had three main objectives: 1. to examine the scribal networks cultivated by Magnús Jónsson, a wealthy patron of manuscripts in 17th-century Iceland, and to record his role in the development of secular manuscript production in the century after the end of the Middle Ages and the Icelandic Reformation. 2. to produce a detailed record of Magnús Jónsson’s manuscripts, their early provenance before reaching their current repositories (especially those outside of the Arnamagnæan collection), and the scribes who copied them. 3. to consider the broader areas of early modern Icelandic literacy, patronage, and reading culture as seen in this manuscript collection, which is a representative cross-section of the material available in Iceland at the time, and to relate the Icelandic case to that of the wider area of early modern Europe. As a multi-disciplinary investigation of the society and culture of post-Reformation Iceland, the project advances our understanding of the significance of literature, reading, and physical books to society. It also brings new perspectives to the wider fields of the history of the book and the reception and transmission of texts.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
While much work has been carried out on medieval (including Nordic) manuscripts, literary patronage, and reading culture, less attention has been paid to these issues after the Middle Ages. While the introduction of print in the 15th century certainly altered literary production throughout Europe, its influence is now understood as less definitive than was once thought, and in Iceland especially, people continued to copy books by hand until the early 20th century, keeping alive medieval scribal practices long after they had ended elsewhere.By researching the creation of new copies of popular texts and their transmission in 17th-century Iceland, I will discover how the manuscripts associated with one man at the centre of an important scribal network are linked with both the small Icelandic community in which they were produced and the wider networks of literacy and reading cultures throughout early modern Scandinavia. My project will gain insights through study of the manuscripts themselves, their scribes and patron, and also the texts they transmit. As a cross-disciplinary investigation of the society and culture of post-Reformation Iceland, my work will advance our understanding of Icelandic literature and society, and bring new perspectives to the wider fields of socio-cultural history, the history of literacy, and the history of the book.Doing my research at UCPH, which has an unbroken tradition of work on Icelandic texts and manuscripts back to the 18th century, will allow me to gain new skills through training in electronic textual editing, and to produce a digital edition of an early modern Icelandic manuscript in its entirety, making my work widely accessible to diverse audiences, alongside more traditional methods of dissemination. As Danish is a major research language in my field, living and working in Copenhagen, with the daily immersion in Danish language and culture, will also enhance my skillset and advance my career prospects in my field.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNCoordinatorDenmark
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union