Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author of several notable works on Germanic religion and mythology (including Old Norse religion and mythology), Germanic peoples, Vikings, Old Norse literature, and the culture of Medieval Europe.

Since 1995, Simek has been Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn.[1] Simek was appointed Professor of Comparative Religion at the University of Tromsø in 1999, and Professor of Old Nordic Studies at the University of Sydney in 2000. Simek has held a number of visiting professorships, having had long research stays at the universities of Reykjavik, Copenhagen, London, Oxford and Sydney. From 2000 to 2003, Simek was Chairman of the International Saga Society (German: Internationalen-Saga-Gesellschaft). Simek is a member of many additional learned societies, including the International Arthurian Society, the Österreichische Gesellschaft für Germanistik, the Viking Society for Northern Research, the Society for Northern Studies, and the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy.[1]

Simek researches a wide variety of topics connected to the Middle Ages. This includes Germanic religion and mythology (including Old Norse religion and mythology), Vikings and the Viking Age, Old Norse literature, and medieval science (including astronomy) and popular religion. Simek has published a number of notable works on these subjects, several of which have been translated into multiple languages.[1]

Selected works

• Lexikon der germanischen Mythologie, Stuttgart, Kröner, 1984 ISBN 3-520-36801-3 (translations to English, French and Icelandic)
• Lexikon der altnordischen Literatur (with Hermann Pálsson), Stuttgart, Kröner, 1987 ISBN 3-520-49001-3
• Altnordische Kosmographie. Studien und Quellen zu Weltbild und Weltbeschreibung in Norwegen und Island vom 12. bis zum 14. Jahrhundert, Berlin/New York, de Gruyter, 1990 (Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. Ergänzungsbände, Bd. 4) ISBN 3-11-012181-6
• Erde und Kosmos im Mittelalter. München, C.H. Beck, 1992. ISBN 3-406-35863-2
• Die Wikinger, München, C.H. Beck, 1998 ISBN 3-406-41881-3 (translation to Spanish)Religion und Mythologie der Germanen, Stuttgart, Theiss 2003 ISBN 3-8062-1821-8
• Götter und Kulte der Germanen, München, C.H. Beck, 2004 ISBN 3-406-50835-9
• Runes, Magic and Religion: A Sourcebook (with John McKinnell und Klaus Düwel), Wien, Fassbaender, 2004 ISBN 978-3-900538-81-1
• Mittelerde – Tolkien und die germanische Mythologie, München, C.H. Beck, 2005 ISBN 3-406-52837-6Der Glaube der Germanen, Limburg und Kevelaer, Lahn-Verlag, 2005 ISBN 3-7867-8495-7
• Die Germanen, Stuttgart, Reclam, 2006. ISBN 3-15-017051-6
• Die Edda. C. H. Beck, München 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-56084-2 (C. H. Beck).
• Ewige Orte. Reliquien und heiligen Stätten in Wien. Metro, Wien 2007, ISBN 978-3-902517-64-7.
• Artus-Lexikon. Mythos und Geschichte, Werke und Personen der europäischen Artusdichtung. Reclam, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-15-010858-1.
• Die Schiffe der Wikinger. Reclam, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-15-010999-1.
• Monster im Mittelalter. Die phantastische Welt der Wundervölker und Fabelwesen. Böhlau, Köln, Weimar, Wien 2015. ISBN 978-3-412-21111-0.
• Vinland! Wie die Wikinger Amerika entdeckten. C. H. Beck, München 2016, ISBN 978-3-406-69720-3.
• Trolle. Ihre Geschichte von der Mythologie bis zum Internet. Böhlau, Köln/Weimar/Wien 2018, ISBN 978-3-412-50743-5.
• Die Geschichte der Normannen. Von Wikingerhäuptlingen zu Königen Siziliens. Reclam, Ditzingen 2018, ISBN 978-3-15-011174-1.
• Monster im Mittelalter. Köln und Wien: Böhlau 2019, ISBN 978-3412514037

Professor Emeritus Michael Barnes

Honorary Research Fellow

Institute for Northern Studies
University of the Highlands and Islands
Scott's House

Grainhsore Road
Kirkwall
Orkney
KW15 1FL

d: +44 (0)1856 569300

Biography

Professor Michael Barnes is Emeritus Professor of Scandinavian Studies, University College London, and is known as one of the world’s foremost runologists and experts on the Scandinavian languages, in particular their history. He has held the post of editor and chief editor of Saga-Book, journal of the Viking Society for Northern Research for a number of years, and is currently an editor of NOWELE, North-Western European Language Evolution, as well as being a member of the editorial board for a range of other linguistic and philological journals. Professor Barnes has acted as member of various panels evaluating teaching and research as well as applications for professorships and other senior academic posts in Britain and Scandinavia. For his merits in the course of a long and distinguished career, he has been awarded the Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon (1992); Honorary Doctorate, University of Uppsala (2002) and Knight 1st class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (2008).

Research Interests

Professor Barnes’ many publications include A New Introduction to Old Norse I. Grammar (Viking Society, London 1999), Runes: A Handbook (2012, Boydell Press), The Runic Inscriptions of Viking Age Dublin - with an appendix on the runic inscriptions in Ireland outside Dublin (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin 1997, with J.R. Hagland and R.I. Page), and The Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions of Britain (Uppsala universitet, 2006, with R.I. Page).

Professor Barnes’ broad range of interest within Scandinavian linguistics and philology is shown for example by publications such as Old Scandinavian Texts (Dept. of Scandinavian Studies UCL, 1968), Draumkvæde, An Edition and Study (Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1974), Faroese Language Studies (Novus Forlag, Oslo, 2001), and An Introduction to Scandinavian Phonetics (Alfabeta, Copenhagen, 2005 with A. Lindskog and T. Lundskær-Nielsen). In addition, his long list of publications includes some 100 articles, many in refereed journals, and some 40 book reviews, as well as various other forms of publication.

Of special relevance to Orkney and Shetland is his work on the now extinct Norn language and the runic inscriptions of the Northern Isles, with publications such as The Norn Language of Orkney and Shetland (Shetland Times, Lerwick 1998) and The Runic Inscriptions of Maeshowe, Orkney (Uppsala universitet, 1994).

Select publications

(with R.I. Page) The Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions of Britain. (Uppsala universitet 2006)

(with A. Lindskog and T. Lundskær-Nielsen) An Introduction to Scandinavian Phonetics. Alfabeta. (Copenhagen 2005)

Faroese Language Studies. (Novus Forlag, Oslo (2001)

A New Introduction to Old Norse I. Grammar. (Viking Society, London 1999)

The Norn Language of Orkney and Shetland. Shetland Times. (Lerwick 1998)

(with J.R. Hagland and R.I. Page) The Runic Inscriptions of Viking Age Dublin - with an appendix on the runic inscriptions in Ireland outside Dublin. (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin 1997)

The Runic Inscriptions of Maeshowe, Orkney. (Uppsala universitet 1994)

Draumkvæde, An Edition and Study. (Universitetsforlaget, Oslo 1974)

Old Scandinavian Texts. (Dept. of Scandinavian Studies UCL 1968)

In addition some 100 articles, many in refereed journals, and some 40 book reviews, as well as various other forms of publication.

Jesse Byock

PROFESSOR EMERITUS

E-mail: [email protected]

EDUCATION

Professor Byock completed his doctorate at Harvard University, following studies at the Sorbonne, Georgetown University Law School, the University of Iceland, and the University of Lund.

FEATURED WORKS

Viking Language 1Learn Old Norse

Viking Language 1: Audio LessonsPronounce Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas

Viking Language 1: Audio Lessons 9-15 (Pronounce Old Norse, Runes, And Icelandic Sagas)Viking Language 2The Old Norse Reader

Altnordisch 1Die Sprache der Wikinger, Runen und Isländischen Sagas

The Prose Edda: Norse MythologyPenguin Publishing Group, 2006

Viking Age IcelandPenguin Publishing Group, 2001

Feud in the Icelandic SagaUC Press, March 1993

Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and PowerUC Press, February 7, 1990

The Saga of the VolsungsPenguin Publishing Group, 2000

The Saga of King Hrolf KrakiPenguin Publishing Group, February 1, 1999

Grettir’s SagaOxford University Press, July 26, 2009

Islande des VikingsFlammarion, September 3, 2007

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

ARTICLES

Articles include: “Governmental Order in Early Medieval Iceland,” “Modern Nationalism and the Medieval Sagas,” “Egil’s Bones” in Scientific American (analyzing the nature of an important Viking grave), and “A Viking-Age Valley in Iceland” in Medieval Archaeology.

COURSES COMMONLY TAUGHT

Professor Byock teaches in the areas of Viking history and archaeology, early Icelandic society, medieval feuds, and Old Norse saga literature. These texts are a key source of social-historical and legal information about northern European medieval culture. They are also the major source of mythical and heroic lore, containing crucial information about the Norse gods.

FIELD OF INTEREST

An archaeologist, Jesse Byock directs the Mosfell Archaeological Project and is a Professor at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology focusing on Viking Archaeology.

ADDITIONAL LINKS

Personal Website

http://www.viking.ucla.edu/mosfell_project/

Jackson W. Crawford (born August 28, 1985) is an American scholar, translator and poet who specializes in Old Norse. He previously taught at University of Colorado, Boulder (2017-2020), University of California, Berkeley (2014-17) and University of California, Los Angeles (2011–14).[1] Crawford has a YouTube channel focused on Old Norse language, literature and mythology.

Jackson Crawford is a former Instructor of Nordic Studies, and Coordinator of the Nordic Program. Crawford taught courses in the Old Norse language, Norse mythology, and the history of the Scandinavian languages. He received B.A. in Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics from Texas Tech University; an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Georgia (focusing on Indo-European historical linguistics); and a Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (specializing in Old Norse).[2][3]

In 2015 he published a translation of the Poetic Edda. His stated goal was to make an accessible translation for readers primarily interested in mythology rather than poetry or textual scholarship. The translated poems are rendered in free verse.[4] In 2017 he published his translations of the Saga of the Volsungs and the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok in one volume.[5] His book The Wanderer's Hávamál (2019) includes the Old Norse text of the poem Hávamál with Crawford's page-facing English translation along with commentary, a few brief Old Norse texts about Odin, and the Cowboy Hávamál, which is Crawford's translation of Gestaþáttr into his grandfather's dialect. Matthew Coker, reviewing the volume in The Medieval Review, called the Cowboy Hávamál a "refreshingly unique take on the poem" that brings "its hard natural and human world to life".[6] Crawford has also contributed to the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, where he consulted on topics mainly centered around linguistics.[7]

Crawford is a public educator on his YouTube channel where he lectures on Old Norse language and discusses literature and mythology. He says there is a great interest in Old Norse material, but much of what can be found on the Internet is unreliable, and he wants to provide accessible information that is separate from both popular culture and mystical practices.[8] Most of his YouTube videos are filmed in the natural outdoors of Wyoming or Colorado with him wearing a cowboy hat. He is affiliated with the Center of the American West, at the University of Colorado, Boulder.[9]

Bibliography

Crawford, Jackson (2015), The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes, Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN 9781624663567Crawford, Jackson (2017), The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN 9781624666339Crawford, Jackson (2019), The Wanderer’s Hávamál, Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN 9781624668357

Crawford, Jackson (2021), Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes: Hervor and Heidrek and Hrólf Kraki and His Champions, Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN 978-1624669958

External links

website

"Tattúínárdǿla saga: If Star Wars Were an Icelandic Saga"

Colorado.edu

YouTube