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Jewish pogrom in the Chronicle of Gilles Li Muisis, fol. 12v Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, Brüssel

The Medieval Chronicle Society

The Medieval Chronicle Society is an international and interdisciplinary organisation founded to facilitate the work of scholars interested in medieval chronicles, or more generally medieval historiography

Alongside annals, chronicles were the main genre of historical writing in the Middle Ages. Consequently they have always been of great importance to historians. The extent to which they are also of interest to students of medieval literature or of historical linguistics was only fully realised in the latter part of the 20th century. Since many chronicles are illustrated, they are also a fruitful object of study for art historians.

It was the desire for a forum in which these disciplines could operate together that led to the foundation of the society. The history of the society began with a series of triennial conferences initially in Utrecht, but later moving from place to place. These early conferences were hosted by Erik Kooper (English studies, Utrecht). It was at the second of these conferences, in 1999, that the society was formally founded.

The Medieval Chronicle Society gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship by the Liverpool Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and the University of Liverpool’s School of English.

The medieval Chronicle Society publishes a yearbook – The Medieval Chronicle – with the proceedings of the annual conference. The yearbook is published by Rodopi. So far seven volumes have been published.

The Society has also been heavily engaged in the production of a major reference work – Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle – which was published in 2010 at Brill under the auspices of the general editor, Graeme Dunphy.

 

Source https://www.handritinheima.is/dk/juni2002/html/olikar.htm

Heimskringla

Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse King’s Sagas, But it is also the name of a very useful resource for students of the Icelandic sagas and other Medieval Icelandic literature.

Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings’ sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (1178/79–1241) ca. 1230. The name Heimskringla was first used in the 17th century. It derives from the first two words of one of the manuscripts (kringla heimsins – the circle of the world).

Snorri's Farm in Iceland © Medieval Histories
Snorri’s Farm in Iceland
© Medieval Histories

Heimskringla is a collection of sagas about the Norwegian kings, beginning with the saga of the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings, followed by accounts of Norwegian rulers from Harald Fairhair of the 9th century up to the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla in 1177. The exact sources of his work are disputed, but included earlier kings’ sagas, such as Morkinskinna, Fagrskinna and the twelfth century Norwegian synoptic histories and oral traditions, notably many skaldic poems. Also, Snorri sojourned in both Norway and Sweden. For events of the mid-12th century, Snorri explicitly names the now lost work Hryggjarstykki as his source. However, the composition of the sagas is Snorri’s.

BUT:

Heimskringla is also an extremely rich online collection of Old Norse source material, primarily Eddas, Icelandic sagas, scaldic poetry, and some background material.

  • Heimskringla consists of some 4200 titles in the Old Norse language or translated into the modern Scandinavian languages.
  • Heimskringla also presents other material – articles, photos etc.
  • Heimskringla builds on the assumption that these texts – being part of our cultural heritage – should be made available for everybody.
  • Heimskringla is subject to the laws of copyright. Consequently we are restricted when it comes to more recent publications.
  • Heimskringla is run as an idealistic project. Therefore we always need volunteers. On this link you can read how to become part of the project.

Heimskringla is simply the place to begin for students of Old Norse!