Difference between revisions of "Háskóli Íslands Student Conference on the Medieval North"

Revision as of 21:03, 30 March 2026

Theme

Stirring up trouble: Antagonists, Outlaws, Troublemakers, & Rebels

Abstract

Medieval alchemists, despite great optimism and strenuous efforts, never achieved their dream of transmuting base metals into gold. Yet near the end of the twelfth century, the Icelandic abbot Karl Jónsson wrote of a transformation equally dramatic and almost as unlikely: how an obscure outlaw-priest from the Faroe Islands successfully fashioned himself into the king of Norway. Sverrisaga chronicles the contentious ascent of Sverrir Sigurðarson, arguably the most disruptive troublemaker in Norwegian history, given his central role in Norway’s civil wars. This paper uses Sverrir’s narrative to evaluate the process by which an individual is transformed from one social status into another—in this case, from renegade to sole ruler of his country.

Medieval texts featuring saints, bishops and kings often depict their subjects as divinely predestined for office, or instead attribute their change in status to a single decisive event such as a battle or coronation ceremony. This tendency can obscure the many cumulative factors underlying and contributing to the transformation. I argue that Sverrir’s metamorphosis was neither predetermined nor instantaneous, but instead the result of a multifaceted process beginning in his youth and continuing throughout his contested reign. I propose a more fluid and expansive set of criteria by which personal transformation may be recognised and understood. The paper is part of a larger dissertation that uses the same criteria to assess other twelfth-century narratives of individuals in the process of becoming bishops or kings. Through this approach, I hope to lay a foundation for broader research into the ways in which individuals have redefined themselves, moved up and down the social order and in so doing, contributed incrementally to political and ecclesiastical changes in the medieval Scandinavian world.

From Renegade to Ruler: Personal Transformation and Self-Fashioning in Sverrisaga

In twelfth century Europe, the translation of Arabic texts into Latin brought about a renewed interest in the proto-science known as Alchemy. I'm not an expert on medieval alchemy, but I understand that two broad goals of alchemists were to create an elixir of immortality, and to create a philosopher's stone--a substance that could transform base metals like lead into more valuable substances, like gold.