Snorrastofa mun í samvinnu við Háskólann í Edinborg standa fyrir alþjóðlegu málþingi 13. til 16. nóvember um Harald konung harðráða og aðra norræna menn á Miðjarðarhafi, aðallega í textum Snorra Sturlusonar. Vettvangurinn þetta sinnið verður Università di Catania í Palazzo Chiaramonte, sem staðsett er í Sirakúsa á Sikiley.

Formlegt heiti verkefnisins er „A Viking in the Sun: Harald Hardrada, the Mediterranean, and the Nordic World between the Late Viking Age and the Eve of the Crusades“. Þema ársins er „Multi-Ethnicity in 11th-Century Armies. From the Mediterranean and Beyond“.

               Um er að ræða þriðja málþingið af sex um konunginn.

              Hér með er auglýst eftir hugmyndum um erindi („Call for Papers“):

We welcome proposals for the third symposium of our project, which uses Harald Hardrada’s status of frontier-crosser extraordinaire as a common thread to explore themes related to the Mediterranean, the Nordic world, and their connections, in Harald’s times: blogs.ed.ac.uk/hardrada/

This symposium aims to explore how, in the century before the crusades, military service was a medium for multi-ethnic and multi-cultural co-operative encounters across a large, diverse, but interconnected geographical area that went from Scandinavia in the north, to Sub-Saharan Africa in the South, Central Asia in the East, with the Mediterranean at its centre.

Tackling that enquiry requires a collaborative approach, and this project uses the experiences of the Norwegian Harald Hardrada as its centre of gravity, whose Byzantine formative years (from c. 1034 to 1042) are one of the best documented embodiments of that phenomenon.

Papers can address a variety of topics, including but not limited to:

• The presence and intensity of multi-ethnic and multicultural features in military life in the geographical area described above, including their conceptualisation.
• How ethnic groups interacted with one another and with the surrounding populations, their geographical spread, and the existence of barriers or special relationships and allegiances.
• Textual and visual depictions of ethnic and cultural diversity, and the presence of distinctive features, such as equipment, military activities, apparel, practices, and dedicated spaces.
• Other frontier-crossers comparable to Harald.

The symposium will include a performance responding to the project and visits to relevant historical sites in Siracusa.

Proposals for papers are welcome from postgraduate students as well as established scholars. They should include the participant’s name, affiliation, contact details, the proposed title, and an outline of no more than 500 words. Applicants will need to cover their travel costs, but accommodation and meals will be provided by the organisers. Please submit proposals by 30 April 2025 to Dr Gianluca Raccagni (gianluca.raccagni@ed.ac.uk).