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–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 22

03-Feb-2026

A Stemma of Sigurgarðs saga frækna, and a Case Study of Saga-Anthologization

Alaric Hall (University of Leeds), Alaric Hall (University of Leeds), Sheryl McDonald (University of Copenhagen), Hervin Fernandez-Aceves (Universidad Panamericana / El Colegio de Jalisco), Katelin Marit Parsons (University of Iceland and Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies), and Ian Simpson (Independent Scholar)

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18475600

Abstract: This article publishes the first stemma of the manuscripts of the fifteenth-century Icelandic romance Sigurgarðs saga frækna, taking in 58 of the 61 known witnesses. It capitalizes on digitally-native publication to publish all underlying data, presenting a fully open-data approach to stemmatics. The article shows how the post-medieval transmission of the saga supports previous claims about how Icelandic sagas in this genre circulated but also takes manuscripts containing Sigurgarðs saga frækna produced in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries in the Dalir region of Iceland as a case study for a methodologically novel investigation of how scribes went about anthologization. Refining previous work on the manuscript filiations of Ambrósíus saga og Rósamundu, Sigurðar saga turnara, Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar, Nítíða saga, and Konráðs saga keisarasonar, and making the first outline of a stemma of Nikulás saga leikara, the study gives our first systematic insight into how the scribes of the eighteenth-century manuscript Rask 32 assembled their anthology, and how their work influenced subsequent anthologies that drew material from that manuscript.

03-Feb-2026

“The Ancient Tradition of our Elders”: A Structural Analysis of the Historia Brittonum

Edwin Pace (Independent Scholar)

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18475808

Abstract: Analysis of the structure of the Historia Brittonum suggests that an extended, very early account of British history is embedded therein. This account began with Britain’s founding by Britto, included at least seven Roman emperors, and ended with the military exploits of the Post-Roman figures Arthur and Guorthemir. In the Ninth century the historian Nennius then dismantled this original account and dispersed its various parts to their present positions. The HB56 citation about an alternate victor for the battle of Badon, which refuted the earlier historians Gildas and Bede, fully explains Nennius’ frustration with Insular historians in the Historia Brittonum’s Prologue. Most important, reassembling these narratives into their original sequence provides one of the earliest Insular accounts of events in Post-Roman Britain.

Featured Article from Issue 3

Shaping Anglo-Saxon Lordship in the Heroic Literature of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries

John Hill (US Naval Academy)

Abstract: Most scholars of Anglo-Saxon heroic story think of that literature as embodying conventional virtues (generosity, bravery, boasting), obligations (to kin and lord) and conflicts of loyalty. This overview of a contrary view stresses the political nature of those stories—whether in prose or poetry—and argues, essentially, for the reformation of traditional codes and obligations. That reformation has the strengthening of lordship and, ultimately, of kingship in mind. The reshaping of traditional codes begins in the literary record during the period of Alfred's father and grandfather, early to mid-eighth century, and continues down to the end of the eleventh century.

Featured Article from Issue 7

Civilized Rage in Beowulf

Thomas L. Wymer and Erin Labbie (Bowling Green State University)

Abstract: This article explores the ways in which battle rage is presented as a positive force in Beowulf. The admonitory theme of the dangers of uncontrolled rage manifested by the monsters, well explored in the critical literature, is balanced by the glorification of appropriately controlled and directed rage exemplified in Beowulf, a point that has gone unnoticed. Discussion focuses on the contexts in which forms of belgan appear, forms that denote the heightened emotional state of battle rage rather than the weaker states of anger as most translators render it. Seen in terms of Norbert Elias' notions of the civilizing process, the warrior culture of Beowulf exemplifies how rage functions ambiguously in this early stage of cultural development as both a sustainer of and a threat to civil order.

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.

International Congress on Medieval Studies 2026

Archaeology in the Medieval Past

This session invites contributions focused on archaeological approaches to the medieval past. We hope to broaden the conversation around the unique insights archaeological methods provide into the material culture and lived environments of medieval societies. We welcome all proposals, including updates and insights emerging from current projects, applications of innovative methodologies (both theoretical and applied), and fresh approaches to traditional methods.

Submissions are due September 15, 2025 through the ICMS Confex System.

Connections in and through Early Medieval Northwestern Europe

This session seeks submissions that explore any type of connection with or within Northwestern Europe in the Early Middle Ages from any disciplinary approach (linguistic, historical, literary, archaeological, artistic, economic, theological, etc.). JEMNE examines the place of Northwestern Europe in a wider context, exploring connections among the cultures within and beyond the region, including the Mediterranean, Byzantine, Arabic, and global contexts. We particularly encourage submissions using innovative methods or bringing fresh approaches to traditional methods.

Submissions are due September 15, 2025 through the ICMS Confex System.

Legal Notices

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