Summary
This research project will examine a history of views of pre-Christian Scandinavia that begins in the High Middle Ages and continues
in the present day, focusing on a persistent association between runic inscription, eddic poetry, and magic. Rather than continuities
or survivals of pre-Christian practices into the Christian period, this research will reveal them as fundamentally High to Late Medieval
practices (such as magical runic inscriptions using eddic meters, and eddic poetry referring to runes and magic) showing a form of
alienated attraction toward the pagan past. The survival of this attitude will be traced through the Early Modern period, in which
learned writers not only take these Medieval Christian textual objects at face value, but also reproduce their stance of alienated
attraction, continuing to view the pre-Christian past as a source of esoteric knowledge. Finally, we see this view continually
reproduced through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries even as modern philology continues to develop. In this period, we also
see both “serious” scholarship on this subject and para-academic occultist interest in it become increasingly entangled with the
politics of the far right. Ultimately this research will reveal the continuing stance of alienated attraction as a form of runic “kitsch.” The
project will be carried out in four phases to cover the necessary methodological concerns and sources from three periods (Medieval,
Early Modern, Modern). The results will be disseminated as a monograph manuscript, as well as in media articles and through papers
given at international conferences.
in the present day, focusing on a persistent association between runic inscription, eddic poetry, and magic. Rather than continuities
or survivals of pre-Christian practices into the Christian period, this research will reveal them as fundamentally High to Late Medieval
practices (such as magical runic inscriptions using eddic meters, and eddic poetry referring to runes and magic) showing a form of
alienated attraction toward the pagan past. The survival of this attitude will be traced through the Early Modern period, in which
learned writers not only take these Medieval Christian textual objects at face value, but also reproduce their stance of alienated
attraction, continuing to view the pre-Christian past as a source of esoteric knowledge. Finally, we see this view continually
reproduced through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries even as modern philology continues to develop. In this period, we also
see both “serious” scholarship on this subject and para-academic occultist interest in it become increasingly entangled with the
politics of the far right. Ultimately this research will reveal the continuing stance of alienated attraction as a form of runic “kitsch.” The
project will be carried out in four phases to cover the necessary methodological concerns and sources from three periods (Medieval,
Early Modern, Modern). The results will be disseminated as a monograph manuscript, as well as in media articles and through papers
given at international conferences.
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101107206 |
| Start date: | 01-09-2023 |
| End date: | 31-08-2025 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | - 206 887,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
This research project will examine a history of views of pre-Christian Scandinavia that begins in the High Middle Ages and continuesin the present day, focusing on a persistent association between runic inscription, eddic poetry, and magic. Rather than continuities
or survivals of pre-Christian practices into the Christian period, this research will reveal them as fundamentally High to Late Medieval
practices (such as magical runic inscriptions using eddic meters, and eddic poetry referring to runes and magic) showing a form of
alienated attraction toward the pagan past. The survival of this attitude will be traced through the Early Modern period, in which
learned writers not only take these Medieval Christian textual objects at face value, but also reproduce their stance of alienated
attraction, continuing to view the pre-Christian past as a source of esoteric knowledge. Finally, we see this view continually
reproduced through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries even as modern philology continues to develop. In this period, we also
see both “serious” scholarship on this subject and para-academic occultist interest in it become increasingly entangled with the
politics of the far right. Ultimately this research will reveal the continuing stance of alienated attraction as a form of runic “kitsch.” The
project will be carried out in four phases to cover the necessary methodological concerns and sources from three periods (Medieval,
Early Modern, Modern). The results will be disseminated as a monograph manuscript, as well as in media articles and through papers
given at international conferences.
Status
SIGNEDCall topic
HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01-01Update Date
31-07-2023
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