Call for Papers for St Magnus Symposium 2022
1 to 3 September 2022, Kirkwall
Ruler, Poet, Saint: R谦gnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson and his World
The Institute for Northern Studies 杏吧原创, the Centre for Nordic and Old English Studies University of Silesia, and the School of European Languages, Culture and Society University College London are the organisers of this special St Magn煤s Symposium and invite abstracts of 3-400 words along the following theme. Please email abstracts to ins@uhi.ac.uk by 28 February, 2022.
Travel Bursaries are available
鈥楾afl emk 谦rr at efla / 铆镁r贸ttir kannk n铆u鈥� (I am swift at playing board-games; I have nine skills), announces the young nobleman Kali Kolsson, before listing accomplishments as diverse as skiing, rowing, playing the harp, and composing verse (Orkneyinga saga ch. 58).
Kali, who would rule as R谦gnvaldr, Earl of Orkney, from 1137-58/59, was a Renaissance man before the Renaissance, a medieval polymath who combined political responsibility with a passion for poetry and a spirit of adventure. Warrior, poet, crusader, saint: R谦vnvaldr鈥檚 story encapsulates an uncommon diversity of experiences for the period. This conference will explore the history and literary representation of R谦gnvaldr Kali Kolsson, set in the wider context of twelfth-century Orkney and the world beyond. The complexity of R谦gnvaldr鈥檚 character and the breadth of his travels and experiences will offer a focal point for further investigation into issues central to the study of medieval Scandinavian history and culture, including literary myth-making and the construction of social memory; the relationship between prose and verse in the Icelandic sagas and manuscript tradition; and the interaction between east and west during the medieval period. We hope this conference will rekindle interest in the understudied figure of R谦gnvaldr Kali Kolsson, and that the life and times of this enigmatic Earl of Orkney will offer new perspectives for the study of the medieval north.
The conference will be divided into four strands:
- R谦gnvaldr Kali Kolsson: ruler, poet, saint
- Prose and Poetry in the North
- Crusaders and the North
- Orkney in the Twelfth Century and Beyond
For more information visit our St Magnus Symposium page.