Francesca Coscia

Some notes and main points (+ succession of kings) on Sverre Bagge's "From Viking Stronghold to Christian Kingdom: State Formation in Norway c. 900 - 1350" that might be useful to students and scholars alike, read and studied for Viðar Pállsson's class "The Medieval North" (academic year 2020).

Verhandeling voor de lectuuropdracht in het kader van
het vak “Geschiedenis van Japan” (Prof. dr. C. Uhl)

In this essay, I try to give a general outline of the political and social situation in Japan at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603 - 1868).

The main focus is to understand how Japan came to put to an end - at a certain point in history - the policy of seclusion launched by that very same shogunate which, in 1853, opened Japan’s gates to the American Black Ships of Commodore Matthew Perry, and - as a consequence - to the whole of the Western trade.

Japan’s relations with the various countries it came into contact with (namely Great Britain, Russia, America, France, and Holland) strongly affected the Japanese people, eliciting a widespread mood of scepticism and growing disappointment that originated from the way in which the Bakufu (Shogunate) coped with the wave of the foreign influence.

According to Sansom (1963), the perseverance of the foreigners was one of the critical reasons for the fall of the last Shogunate - even though he doesn't ignore the preexisting issues of the Japanese government and its faults in administrating the country and its society.

How did the Americans manage in opening a country that had devoted itself to seclusion since Iemitsu’s policies of 1633-39?
How did the anti-foreign sentiment rise and what part did it have in the Bakumatsu era?
How did the outcome of the Opium War influence the signs of intellectual stress that were already quite widespread across the Japanese society?

19th Century Japan has seen the cry for Sonnō Jōi become a political slogan after Perry’s warships dropped anchor in the Edo Bay on his second visit; after that particular event, the shogunate became more and more erratic and uncertain in its policy and even vulnerable to the influence of the Imperial court, foreshadowing the end of the Feudal Society which Ieyasu had founded two and a half centuries before its end.

"In 1970, Baltimore’s white longshoremen were forced quite suddenly by the U.S. Justice Department to merge their local - number 829 - with black 858 ILA local and to change their own institutions so as to give way to the black working class, as required by the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Justice Department had previously accused Baltimore’s International Longshoremen’s Association of violating said Act and saw fit to introduce racially mixed gangs in Baltimore, an experiment they had already carried out in New York (Durr 187). What followed were a series of protests – not only by white locals, but by black gangs as well – and unending litigation that would later come to be defined as “white backlash” which, according to the majority of historians (Durr 2), purely arose to oppose racial integration.

Among the historians and sociologists that made “white backlash” the issue of their papers and research, Kenneth D. Durr is perhaps the most controversial, as he offers a different picture by giving voice to those “people whose political views were not always laudable” (4).
In addition, historian Ronald Formisano and sociologist Jonathan Reider have both investigated the cultural background that shaped the 1969-1970 white backlash, as opposed to other journalists and historians who have come to regard said reaction as a matter of race (or racism), without giving much insight into the lacks and flaws that characterized affirmative action, as criticized by Durr himself (2).

What this essay aims to convey is that the surge of anger following affirmative action promoted by NAACP politicians and liberals was not merely inspired by issues of race. The working system that prevailed at the time – the so-called “gang system” – may have encouraged segregation and separation, but before accusing American blue collars of racism, it is important to understand that behind their resentment and bitterness there was a general sentiment of reliance on social and cultural institutions that had until then dominated their everyday life and had allowed them to earn money and live peacefully. After the 1970 liberal reconstruction, this world they knew and depended on was put under threat."

Paper presented for the class in "English Linguistics and Language" taught by prof. Maria Giovanna Fusco, academic year 2015/16.

Based on the social implications as illustrated in the TV show "The Wire".

Paper presented for the class “The Medieval North” - Winter semester 2020, Háskóli Íslands

Prof. Viðar Pálsson

Books for review:

- SVERRE BAGGE, "From Viking Stronghold to Christian Kingdom: State Formation in Norway, c. 900-1350"
- PATRICIA PIRES BOULHOSA, "Icelanders and the Kings of Norway. Mediaeval Sagas and Legal Texts"

This paper, based on Helen Gittos' essay "The Audience for Old English texts: Ælfric, rhetoric and 'the edification of the simple'", argues that the increasing popularity of vernacular literature in Anglo-Saxon England and Iceland is not only a consequence of the authors trying to aid students and readers in the understanding of Latin sacred texts, but it also represents a crucial indication of the changes that were taking place in the linguistic contexts of those countries.

A revealing example is the Preface to Ælfric's "Grammar", which was written in Latin. This work made Ælfric the first English author to write a vernacular Latin grammar in Europe.

Scholars like Susan Kelly and Barbara Raw have argued that such vernacular translations only served as support for those unable to read Latin. Ælfric's "Preface" seems to support this implication, as, in his work, he mentions that one of the motives for creating a Latin "Grammar" was the wish to preserve this language and not to cause it to fall into the state of decay and loss as it had happened a few years earlier; a statement that seems to support the idea that the vernacular was only considered as a means to aid students and the common people to understand the language of the church.

Despite this, there is a possibility that medieval Grammars might have been composed for clerics well versed in the understanding of Latin as well as for laymen who did not write or speak any Latin.
In a series of articles, Malcolm Godden argues that - rather than being a realistic explanation of the authors’ ideas and intentions - prefaces to medieval texts and Grammars often depended on rhetorical artifice and motifs. To make an example, Pope Gregory’s translation of the "Regula Pastoralis", presented as a textbook for students in Wessex who were learning Latin, might, in fact, have been written for educated clerics who could understand the language: a suggestion supported by the delivery of one of its chapters as a gift by Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, to one of his bishops. There appear to be many other examples of vernacular texts written in England and Germany intended for well-read clerics.

In a similar fashion, as an educated man and a translator, Ælfric showed openness and the acceptance of the linguistic diversity which was inevitably shaping medieval England. Despite the apparent dependence of the vernacular language on Latin, in his ‘Grammar’ he often favours Old English rather than Latin, such as when he states that the Latin word ‘civis’ (‘citizen’, O.E. ‘ceastergewara’) derived from ‘civitas’ (‘city’, O.E. ‘ceaster’), and not the other way around.

All of these instances - the reception of Latin Grammars among learned clerics, Ælfric´s interest in the grammatical features of Old English - seem, in conclusion, to indicate that Latin Grammars of this period - albeit often presented as a medium of instruction for the teaching of Latin - might, in fact, be rather evidence of an increasing interest in vernacular languages, at a time when they were slowly but surely taking precedence over the learned Latin speech.

The BA Thesis, entitled "The Disquiet of Death: the Concept of the Afterlife in Norse Mythology", seeks to look into the Norse idea of Death through the analysis of Scandinavian burial customs as represented in Skaldic poetry and the sagas - both rich in references to beliefs concerning the dead - as well as through archaeological evidence.

In the first chapter, I give a brief overview of medieval Scandinavia and its customs, particularly focusing on the encounter of Norse Religion with Christianity. This encounter, which was also a collision between two sets of beliefs belonging to two different societies, led to a "contamination" of the Norse concept of Death with several Christian beliefs. The influence Christianity had on Norse Mythology may be seen, for example, in the widespread use of the title "Alfǫðr" ("Allfather"), in reference to Odin, as well as in the idea of a life after Ragnarök.
I then focus on the burial practices of cremation and inhumation. According to "Ynglinga saga", Scandinavia had a long tradition of cremating the dead until the arrival of Christianity: that is when the practice of burying the dead started. Archaeological evidence shows that ship burial as a custom first started in Sweden, and then spread to Norway and Anglo-Saxon England, as attested by the discovery of the Oseberg and the Gokstad ship burials.

The second chapter focuses on the places associated with the Afterlife: Valhǫll, Óðinn's golden hall, and Hel. Snorri Sturluson's "Edda" also mentions Fólkvangr, where the goddess Freyja welcomes half the dead warriors in her hall.
I then delve into the gods and goddesses associated with Death as mentioned in the sagas: Hel, who presides over the place that bears her name; Gefion, the goddess of dead virgin maidens; Rán, goddess of the drowned; the Valkyries, Odin's maidens, entrusted with collecting those who die on the battlefield; and finally Óðinn, protector of the worthy warriors who die in battle.
An interesting account of a burial ceremony is found in Snorri's "Edda", where the death of Baldr is described.
Finally, I address the custom of human and animal sacrifice in Norse societies: archaeological evidence supports the theory that people living in medieval Scandinavia did, indeed, sacrifice animals who were meant to follow their owners to the Afterlife, as the ship burials of Vendel, Gokstad and Oseberg indicate.

The third and final chapter analyses "Helgakviða Hundingsbana II" ("The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane"), taken from the Poetic Edda, from a narrative as well as from a linguistic perspective.
The lay contains several references to the concept of death as it was perceived in Scandinavia and to the figures associated with it, such as the Valkyries and "draugar" (the "undead"), thus making it a valuable source for investigating the concept of a Norse Afterlife from a literary perspective.

The dissertation focuses on the Strengleikar, a collection of stories written in Old Norwegian in 1270, during the reign of the Norwegian king Magnús "lagabœtir" ("law-mender") Hákonarson, son of Hákon Hákonarson.

The Strengleikar (“string instruments”) are a translation of twenty-one Old French lais and one Prologue; eleven of the lais have been attributed to the poet Marie de France, who lived in England during the reign of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Born in France, Marie spent most of her life at the Plantagenet court and wrote in an Old French dialect known as the Anglo-Norman language. Despite her obscure identity, several attempts have been made to identify the 12th-century French poet, who is considered, today, one of the first female European writers in history.

In 13th-century Norway, Hákon Hákonarson encouraged and supported the translation of several works belonging to the Matière de Bretagne into Old Norse. Among these works, known today as riddarasögur ("chivarlic sagas"), the Strengleikar stand out in that they can be considered one of the very few examples of a 13th-century Old Norse translation surviving in a Norwegian manuscript (known as De la Gardie 4-7) rather than in an Icelandic manuscript.

The first part of the dissertation focuses on the historical context Marie de France lived in: the Anglo-Norman court of Henry II. This section also addresses the issue of the genre of the lai, which, before Marie's time, was still strictly considered an oral genre of poetry performed on string instruments; finally, the issue of Marie de France's identity is also addressed.

The second chapter introduces 13th-century Norway and the cultural impact of the various translation works supported by king Hákon Hákonarson. Among the riddarasögur, the Strengleikar survive in six extant manuscripts, the most important being De la Gardie 4-7. A close analysis of the orthography of the main manuscript suggests that the Old Norse translation may be the work of one translator (one theory argues that Brother Robert, the translator of "Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar", was also responsible for translating the lais), but that the manuscript itself was probably the work of two scribes working together.
In regard to the style of the work, the Strengleikar differ from the original poems in that they are a prose work, as opposed to the lais, which are rhymed tales. The shift from poetry to prose entails a change in the narrative style which leads to literary devices such as omissions, additions, and alterations.

The last chapter introduces a translation of two texts into Italian: "Forrœða" and "Geitarlauf".
"Forrœða" (“Prologue” in Old French) allows room for comparison between the original text and the Old Norse version, as it consists of two sections: the first, an almost literal translation of the Old French version; and the second, a completely original contribution by the Norwegian translator.
Finally, "Geitarlauf" (“Chievrefoil”) translates an episode taken from the everlasting romantic legend of Tristan and Iseult.