Empire of the Sea and King Cnut 1016-2016 is an international conference marking the millennium of Cnut’s conquest of England.

Empire of the Sea and King Cnut 1016-2016
10.03.2015 – 13.03.2015

To launch the second year of National Maritime Museum Cornwall’s major exhibition and programme Viking Voyagers, we are organising and hosting an international conference to mark the millennium of Cnut’s conquest that would bring England, Denmark and Norway into a maritime empire. This conference will bring together scholars of early medieval maritime history and archaeology, and northern European historical boat building to share the latest research in a comparative context.

Optional field trips are planned to iconic medieval sites of King Arthur’s Seat, Tintagel, the once-international pilgrimage site of St Michael’s Mount, and Padstow – raided by Vikings in 981.

Themes

• Cnut as a naval commander, as a maritime strategist, as king, as emperor
• Queen Aelfgifu of Northampton and other North Sea women
• Iconography and identity in Cnut’s North Sea empire
• Boat and shipbuilding
• Sailing and seafaring
• Coastal sites and settlements
• Seagoing and coastal commerce
• Religious change and pilgrimage
• Cnut’s legacy, myths and the popular imagination
• Did the Vikings come to Cornwall?

Confirmed speakers

• Dr. Gareth Williams, British Museum
• Dr. Anne Pedersen, National Museum of Denmark
• Dr. Andy Halpin, National Museum of Ireland
• Dr. Allison Fox, Manx National Heritage
• Anna Tyacke, Portable Antiquities Scheme, Cornwall
• Dr. Oliver Padel, University of Cambridge
• Dr. Chris Loveluck, Centre for Viking Studies, University of Nottingham
• Prof. Judith Jesch, Centre for Viking Studies, University of Nottingham
• Dr. Ryan Lavelle, University of Winchester
• Prof. Robert van de Noort, University of Reading
• Prof. Michelle Brown, University of London, British Library
• Jonny Mills, Falmouth Marine School
• Dr. Steve Allen, York Archaeological Trust

Further details and ticketing information will be announced soon.

Please contact Tehmina Goskar for more information: tehminagoskar@nmmc.co.uk

Viking Voyagers

The conference is part of the initiative behind a two year exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall , Viking Voyagers.

Inviting visitors to take a journey into the Viking world and explore the truth behind the popular myth of the bloodthirsty raiders it offers the opportunity to get up close to rare antiquities on loan from the British Museum, National Museum of Ireland, National Museum of Denmark and Manx National Heritage.

Dr Tehmina Goskar, Exhibitions Registrar at National Maritime Museum Cornwall says: “The Maritime Museum is now guardian to ancient artefacts from national and international collections, the like of which have never been seen in Cornwall and rarely seen outside of London and the UK’s other metropolitan centres before. Cornish audiences are remote from these blockbuster exhibitions and do not often get the opportunity to enjoy the world’s cultural heritage on their doorstep and so the loans to the Viking Voyagers exhibition take on even more significance for our local visitors.”

Treasured artefacts from the Viking world sit alongside a 14m climb aboard full scale replica cargo ship. Raiding and trading, navigation and seamanship, Viking beliefs and rituals and Cnut’s empire of the sea are all explored alongside the history of Vikings in Cornwall. The legacy of Norse men and women in popular culture, a Viking boatyard complete with an iconic 6m Viking boat and hands on weapons and tools add to the epic experience of Viking life 1000 years ago.

Dr Gareth Williams, co-curator on the exhibition and the British Museum’s world-leading Viking historian says: “The Vikings raided Cornwall, but they also allied with the Cornish against West Saxon expansion and Cornwall was an important point on a sailing route from Scandinavia round Scotland to the Irish Sea and on to Brittany. To a great extent the history of the Vikings is the history of their ships and boats and there is nowhere better placed than National Maritime Museum Cornwall to tell this story.”

Richard Doughty, Director of National Maritime Museum Cornwall concludes: “Viking Voyagers offers us the opportunity to display the cultural heritage of four nations in the Museum for the next two years. It is an honour and a privilege to host these rare treasures and confirms that National Maritime Museum Cornwall has truly developed over the past decade into a highly respected museum, sitting alongside industry giants.”

“This is our most ambitious exhibition to date and launches our plans to develop new partnership projects with more national and international museums in the future, bringing new connections with world cultures to Cornwall.”
Lectures, family themed make and take activities, Viking sleepovers, a Nordic café menu, dedicated Viking school workshops and Viking battle re-enactments on ‘Thorsdays’, every Thursday of the school holidays, as well as a host of other supportive Viking themed activities add to an extraordinary journey into the Viking world.

VISIT:

Viking Voyagers
National Maritime Museum Cornwall
Discovery Quay Falmouth, Cornwall
20.03.2015 – 22.02.2017

FEATURED PHOTO:

From the opening of the exhibition