The Myth of Republicanism in Renaissance Italy
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Book Series
Cursor Mundi, vol. 31
Visions of North in Premodern Europe
Dolly Jørgensen, Virginia Langum (eds)
- Pages: x + 373 p.
- Size:156 x 234 mm
- Illustrations:17 b/w
- Language(s):English
- Publication Year:2018
- € 100,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-57475-2
- Hardback
- Available
- ISBN: 978-2-503-57476-9
- E-book
- Available
An essay collection investigating where, who, and what was envisioned as North in the Premodern era.
Subject(s)
- Historiography (c. 500-1500)
- Cultural studies (general & theoretical)
- North Germanic/Scandinavian languages & literatures
- Comparative & cultural studies through literature
- Cultural & intellectual history (c. 500-1500)
- Geography & cartography (c. 500-1500)
- Viking studies
- North Sea lands studies (c. 500-1500)
- Scandinavian & Baltic lands (c. 500-1500)
- Late antique & medieval history: subperiods
- The Renaissance world (c.1450-1550) : specific topics
- Cultural & intellectual history (c. 1501-1800)
Review(s)
“The historical material is treated through various disciplines, such as cultural history, literary studies, art history, environmental history, and the history of science. The volume will be of interest to everybody eager to learn about the North as concept.” (Jolanta Gelumbeckaitė, in Renaissance Quarterly, LXXIII/1, 2020, p. 273)
“An impressive amount of erudition has gone into this project, not to mention linguistic Skill (…) In short, Visions of North in Premodern Europe covers a lot of ground, both literally and historically. There are some fresh perspectives presented upon some old issues, and it is indeed a valuable resource with something for everyone.” (Susan C. Brantly, in Journal of Northern Studies, 14/1, 2020, p. 97-99)
“All in all, the volume comprises a collection of essays, sophisticated in themselves, which engage with modern concerns and new methodologies, but are expertly integrated with each other too.” (Patrick Ball, in Parergon, 37/2, 2020, p. 218)
Summary
The North has long attracted attention, not simply as a circumpolar geographical location, but also as an ideological space, a place that is ‘made’ through the understanding, imagination, and interactions of both insiders and outsiders. The envisioning of the North brings it into being, and it is from this starting point that this volume explores how the North was perceived from ancient times up to the early modern period, questioning who, where, and what was defined as North over the course of two millennia.
Covering historical periods as diverse as Ancient Greece to eighteenth-century France, and drawing on a variety of disciplines including cultural history, literary studies, art history, environmental history, and the history of science, the contributions gathered here combine to shed light on one key question: how was the North constructed as a place and a people? Material such as sagas, the ethnographic work of Olaus Magnus, religious writing, maps, medical texts, and illustrations are drawn on throughout the volume, offering important insights into how these key sources continued to be used over time. Selected texts have been compiled into a useful appendix that will be of considerable value to scholars.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Envisioning North from a Premodern Perspective — DOLLY JØRGENSEN AND VIRGINIA LANGUM
Scythia or Elysium? The Land of the Hyperboreans in Early Greek Literature — PÄR SANDIN
Inter imperium sine fine: Thule and Hyperborea in Roman Literature — LEWIS WEBB
The North in Antiquity: Between Maps and Myths — MIRELA AVDAGIC
The Making of Normandy as a Northmen Land: Mythological Cultivation and Coastal Way-Finding — BARBARA AUGER
The North in the Latin History Writing of Twelfth-Century Norway — STEFFEN HOPE
Cold Characters: Northern Temperament in the Premodern Imaginary — VIRGINIA LANGUM
Northern Seas, Marine Monsters, and Perceptions of the Premodern North Atlantic in the Longue Durée — VICKI E. SZABO
Beastly Belonging in the Premodern North — DOLLY JØRGENSEN
Making Sámi of the Scots: Britain’s and Scandinavia’s Near Norths — JEREMY DEANGELO
The Contours of the North? British Mountains and Northern Peoples, 1600–1750 — DAWN HOLLIS
Unknown and Barbarian: Scandinavia and the Boundaries of Civilization in Early Modern Spain — MATEO BALLESTER RODRIGUEZ
Omne malum ab Aquilone: Images of the Evil North in Early Modern Italy and their Impact on Cross-Religious Encounters — HELENA WANGEFELT STRÖM AND FEDERICO BARBIERATO
Elevating the Early Modern North: The Case of the Faroe Islands — KIM SIMONSEN
The Vagina nationum in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: Envisioning the North as a Repository of Migrating Barbarians — STEFAN DONECKER
The 'Northern Atlantis' Revisited: Inventing the Arctic Roots of Civilization in Late Eighteenth-Century Paris — PÄIVI MARIA PIHLAJA
Appendix: Excerpts from Primary Sources
Index
