Flateyjarbók project launch in London

TH E S AG A H E RI TAGE FO U N D ATI O N presents

FLATEYJARBÓK For the first time in history, this unique and enigmatic saga treasure is being translated into English in its entirety. Flateyjarbok’s panoramic scope combines elements of history, mythology and medieval drama to the extent unknown to other sagas.

Please join us as four of the world’s preeminent scholars on Flateyjarbók and the world of the Norse sagas comes together to celebrate this special event.

SPEAKER S:

Profess or A lis on Fin l ay (Birkb e ck, Universit y of L ondon) Dr. E lizab et h Ashman R owe (C ambr idge Universit y) Profess or Tom D uB ois (Universit y of Wis consin Madis on) Profess or Hara ldur B er n hardss on (Háskoli Isl ands)

DEN NORSKE KLUB 4 St James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4JU www.dennorskeklub.co.uk June 6th, at 1pm–5pm

FRE E E V E N T sponsor

to r d a gf inn v e en

P R OGR A M Introductions by: Baard Titlestad – project manager, [ , Norway] HE Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson – Ambassador, The Embassy of Iceland Haraldur Bernharðsson [Háskoli Islands, Iceland] ‘FLATEYJARBÓK – THE HISTORY OF A UNIQUE MANUSCRIPT’ In this talk I will discuss some of the highlights of the history of Flateyjarbók, the Icelandic 14th-century manuscript that can considered unique in many ways. Some of the most noteworthy physical properties of the manuscript will be addressed, the two scribes and what we know about them and their other works, the subsequent history of the manuscript including its being one of the two first manusucripts to be returned from Denmark to Iceland in 1971, as well as its currently ongoing restoration.

Elizabeth Ashman Rowe [Cambridge University, UK] ‘THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FLATEYJARBÓK’ Although we cannot prove why Flateyjarbók was produced, it has been suggested that it was intended as a gift for Olaf IV, the young prince of Norway, who would soon be old enough to take the throne. This talk will first explore what sagas and stories were considered appropriate for the king-to-be, before going on to discuss the dramatic circumstances that led to the manuscript’s remaining in Iceland and being expanded with additional sagas and stories, as well as poems and a set of mysteriously unfinished annals.

Alison Finlay [Birkbeck, University of London, UK] ‘READING FLATEYJARBÓK’ Within its ample scope, Flateyjarbók includes both Old Norse texts that are not preserved anywhere else (The Saga of the Faroe Islanders, the saga of the Greenlanders, and a large number of þættir and poems), and much-expanded versions of texts, such as the sagas of the two Olafs in Snorri’s Heimskringla, that are better known in earlier versions. Rather than extracting these texts in an attempt to reconstitute their originals, what is gained by reading them in their context, interwoven to produce a history of the wider expanses of the Northern world?

Tom DuBois [University of Wisconsin Madison, USA] ‘PICTURING FLATEYJARBÓK’ Just as Flateyjarbók is famous for some of the unique materials that appear in its pages and nowhere else in the surviving corpus of Icelandic/Old Norse literature, so have some of its illuminations become well-known as covers of saga editions, illustrations in histories, or visuals for the tourist industry. At the same time, as I will try to show in my talk, illuminations were added--deployed--in Flateyjarbók with great care, and with what I believe is a clear aim to unify the manuscript and characterize its contents visually for its readers. I will discuss the illuminations of the manuscript as a kind of incipient interpretation of the manuscript and as a sort of road map for understanding the manuscript’s rich array of materials.

PL E ASE R.S.V.P. T O : saga @sa g a h e r ita g e. c o m