HA is now the Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe

We have changed our name to Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe (JEMNE). We've updated our domain to jemne.org and our mission statement. Links to articles published under The Heroic Age will continue to function without change.

We hope you share our excitement as we transition!

Mission

JEMNE is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal dedicated to the exploration of all aspects of early medieval Northwestern Europe from c. 300&ndassh;c. 1400. Our mission is to provide a forum for the investigation of the histories, cultures, and peoples of the medieval North Atlantic and North Sea regions in their local, intercultural, and global contexts. We seek to publish work using a variety of methodologies and frameworks both emergent and traditional. We welcome innovative approaches to the field.

Issue 21: Teaching in the Middle Ages

23-Aug-2023

Beowulf and Medievalism: The Monsters Are Now Heroes

Carol Parrish Jamison (Georgia Southern University)

Abstract: Assigning works of medievalism alongside canonical medieval texts can prove effective in engaging student interest and introducing new perspectives to familiar material. In this essay, I discuss teaching strategies that proved effective in my newly-created senior seminar course, Beowulf and Medievalism. In this course, I teach two translations of Beowulf, Seamus Heaney’s 1991 version and Maria Dahvana Headley’s 2020 version. Students then read several revisionist novels: John Gardner’s Grendel (1971), Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead (1976), Susan Signe Morrison Grendel’s Mother (2015), and Maria Dahvana Headley’s The Mere Wife (2018). Student responses to these works not only sparked interest in the original text, but inspired research on a variety of topics, including ecocritical perspectives to Beowulf, Beowulf-inspired video gaming, toxic masculinity in the heroic code, and the roles of women in both Anglo-Saxon and contemporary society. Notably, students showed interest in the shifting role of Grendel and Grendel’s mother, from monsters to heroes, as reflections of today’s political and cultural concerns.

Issue 21: General Articles

23-Aug-2023

Scyld and Grendel: Two Reigns of Terror

Richard Fahey (University of Notre Dame) and Chris Vinsonhaler (City University of New York)

Abstract: Scyld Scefing is often praised as a god cyning “good king” (11), who establishes a heroic encomium in the prologue of Beowulf. However, on closer investigation, we will argue that the brave deeds of Scyld do not appear very different from Grendel’s fyrendæda “crime-deeds” (1001). We will contend that this parallelism has profound ethical implications for both the famous Scyld and the infamous Grendel, and the juxtaposition of the Scyld-episode and Grendel-episode serves to highlight their lexical and thematic similarities. In this article, we will challenge conventional readings of Scyld as an appropriative model of heroism in the poem. We will suggest that while Grendel represents a terror to Denmark, Scyld equally represents a terror from Denmark. In the violent world of Beowulf, heroes and monsters reign supreme, and both pillage, plunder and terrorize their neighbors.

23-Aug-2023

Reviews

Jones, Fossil Poetry

Miles Tittle (University of Ottawa)

Featured Article from Issue 8

Pictish Art and the Sea

Craig Cessford (University of Cambridge)

Abstract: Although the sea must have been of crucial importance to the Picts, evidence for this is relatively scarce. Pictish art includes a number of depictions of boats and the form of a common symbol known as the Pictish Beast—although originally probably based upon dragonesque brooches—appears to partially be influenced by the shape of dolphins. The distribution of Pictish sculpture and place names allows the extent of 'Pictish territorial waters' to be defined and a number of sites that probably acted as naval bases can be identified.

Featured Article from Issue 11

The Germanic Sword in the Tree: Parallel Development or Diffusion?

C. Scott Littleton & Linda A. Malcor (Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA & Independent Researcher, Lake Forest, CA)

Abstract: In this paper we consider whether the Norse story of the "Sword in the Branstock" and the Arthurian tale of the "Sword in the Stone" may represent two variants of a tale about a celestial event that occurred 2160 B.C.E.

Call For Papers
General Submissions

Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe welcomes and encourages papers on topics unrelated to themed sections at any time. Please refer to the Submission Instructions for more information.

Themed Sections

JEMNE: Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe invites submissions for a themed section exploring issues of identity in Late Antiquity. A period of upheaval in every sphere, Late Antiquity saw chieftains become kings, Germans imitate Romans, Romans imitate Germans, and different religious expressions—whether within Roman Christianity, traditional Roman religion, or the religions of those the Romans conquered. This section looks to explore all issues of identity (gender, sexuality, class, ethnogenesis, religious, culture, etc.) as expressed in Northwestern Europe (Gaul/Francia, Britain, Early Medieval England, Ireland, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, etc.) during Late Antiquity (for our purposes here 284 CE to 800 CE) as expressed through humanly created media (art, literature, language, material culture, political and social structures). Submissions are due May 31, 2024.

JEMNE: Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe invites submissions for a themed section on the subject of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe and global contexts/contacts. We welcome essays that focus on ideas, perceptions, and diverse connections and interactions between the peoples of Northwestern Europe and the rest of the world. Submissions are due by May 31, 2024.

Our submission guidelines and style requirements can be found under Submission Instructions.

Legal Notices

All files in this issue are offered to users free of charge for educational or personal purposes. Authors retain intellectual ownership of copyrighted material. Permission is not granted for commercial use.

All artwork on this site is copyrighted to the credited artist, and permission must be obtained from that person before the art may be used elsewhere. All uncredited artwork is believed to be in the public domain. If this is incorrect, please email the Editor-In-Chief and proper credit will be given or the artwork will be removed at once, whichever is the preference of the artist and/or the artist's legal representatives. If an image is in the public domain, feel free to download it and upload it to your own site. Please do not link directly to the image.