Publications by Richard Cole
Comparative Studies in Society and History, 2023
In this article, I take up the case of runic writing to reflect upon James Scott's view of the ne... more In this article, I take up the case of runic writing to reflect upon James Scott's view of the nexus between writing and various forms of domination in early states, especially the use of literacy for taxation in cereal-growing societies. Scott's theses provide interesting matter "to think with," even when his grasp of historical detail has been found wanting. It is not controversial to grant Scott that cuneiform writing was a remarkable tool for statecraft, and exploitation, in the first states of Mesopotamia, around 3500 BC. The same is true of writing in other early states. But in the first states of Scandinavia, particularly Denmark ca. AD 500-800, writing had a more troubled relationship with the state. No evidence survives that runic writing was used to administer taxation or much else, as it was in other agrarian civilisations. It is true that the runic script was used to commemorate kings, most famously by Haraldr Blátǫnn (r. ca. 958-ca. 986.). But, statistically speaking, it was more often used to aggrandize the sort of local big men who usually resisted centralized power. In this article, I survey the relationship between runic writing and administration. I consider what the Danish situation suggests about the relationship between states and writing and offer a tentative hypothesis of a short-lived attempt at runic bureaucracy around 800, which created-and quickly lost control of-a shortened variety of the runic script (the Younger Futhark).
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Scandinavian Studies, 2023
In 1402 a Prussian peasant was burnt to death in a grisly public execution, during the Scanian Ma... more In 1402 a Prussian peasant was burnt to death in a grisly public execution, during the Scanian Market at Falsterbo-Skanör, Denmark. He had pretended to be King Olaf of Denmark and Norway, who had died fifteen years earlier. The peasant was consigned to the flames, garlanded with the documents that had been issued in his name during his imposture. This article considers the meaning of this macabre gesture. What was intended by it? How did it integrate into late medieval paperwork practices in the Baltic region? And what can it tell us about the relationship between bureaucracy and belief?
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Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, 2022
The case of the False Olaf has received comparatively little attention. In 1402, a Prussian peasa... more The case of the False Olaf has received comparatively little attention. In 1402, a Prussian peasant was brought to Scandinavia, heralded by his supporters as King Óláfr Hákonarson (known in modern Danish as Oluf II, or in Norwegian as Olav IV). The real King Óláfr had died in 1387, and the imposter seems to have capitalized on a popular belief that Queen Margaret, the King's mother, had him killed. In this article I begin by introducing the sources for the False Olaf affair. I consider the case alongside international analogues, and I build on earlier theories concerning the sorts of actors who probably organized the imposture. Previous assertions that the False Olaf was mentally ill are shown to be unnecessary. I underline the relative amateurishness of the scheme to suggest that it belongs to a broader genre of hapless intervention that occurs when mercantile interests (or the interests of capital) fail to grasp properly the workings of governments.
(Apologies to Brian Patrick McGuire for being given the title of psychiatrist by the typesetters!).
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Temp, 2021
In the same issue:
Pete Sandberg, "A 'Valknut' in the Capitol. Viking Age Symbol and Modern Myth... more In the same issue:
Pete Sandberg, "A 'Valknut' in the Capitol. Viking Age Symbol and Modern Myth", pp. 198-203.
Frederik Lynge Vognsen, "Ejendomsret, demokrati og retten til 'at tage'. Mellem middelalder og stormen på Capitol 6. januar 2021", pp. 204-207.
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Myth, Magic, and Memory in Early Scandinavian Narrative Culture: Studies in Honour of Stephen A. Mitchell, 2021
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Collegium Medievale, 2020
In this article I discuss the political themes attached to the eusocial creatures, specifically a... more In this article I discuss the political themes attached to the eusocial creatures, specifically ants and bees, in Old Norse sources. I consider the situation of Old Norse as a transnational literature, encompassing one country that lacked ants and bees (Iceland) and one that did not (Norway). Although the behavioural ecology of eusociality, or indeed the classification of ants and bees as taxonomically related, is a relatively recent development in human knowledge, I argue that the fundamental qualities of swarming and mutual aid were clearly recognisable long before modern science. The differing environments and differing political systems between Iceland and Norway are examined as factors shaping the depiction of eusocial insects. However, the Old Norse sources are also integrated into their European context in order to explore the abstract - even universal - ideological questions that are prompted when humans compare their own societies to those of ants and bees.
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Old Norse Myths as Political Ideologies, 2020
"Æsirism: The Impossibility of Ideological Neutrality in Snorra Edda" in Old Norse Myths as Polit... more "Æsirism: The Impossibility of Ideological Neutrality in Snorra Edda" in Old Norse Myths as Political Ideologies. Critical Studies in the Appropriation of Medieval Narratives. Edited by Nicolas Meylan and Lukas Rösli, Acta Scandinavica 9 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2020), pp. 27-48.
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Harvard Theological Review, 2020
Even gods are not always above bureaucracy. Societies very different from each other have enterta... more Even gods are not always above bureaucracy. Societies very different from each other have entertained the idea that the heavens might be arranged much like an earthly bureaucracy, or that mythological beings might exercise their power in a way that makes them resembles bureaucrats. The best-known case is the Chinese “celestial bureaucracy,” but the idea is also found in (to take nearly random examples) Ancient Near Eastern cosmology, the Hebrew Bible, Late Antiquity, and modern popular culture. The primary sources discussed in this essay pertain to an area of history where bureaucracy was historically underdeveloped, namely medieval Scandinavia. Beginning with the Glavendrup runestone from the 900s, I examine a way of thinking about divine power that seems blissfully bureaucracy-free. Moving forwards in time to Adam of Bremen’s description of the temple at Uppsala (1040s–1070s), I find traces of a tentative, half-formed bureaucracy in the fading embers of Scandinavian paganism. In the 1220s, well into the Christian era, I find Snorri Sturluson concocting a version of Old Norse myth which proposes a novel resolution between the non-bureaucratic origins of his mythological corpus and the burgeoning bureacratization of High Medieval Norway. Although my focus is on medieval Scandinavia, transhistorical comparisons are frequently drawn with mythological bureaucrats from other times and places. In closing, I synthesise this comparative material with historical and anthropological theories of the relationship between bureaucracy and the divine.
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Introduction to Nordic Cultures, 2020
"The Trial of Bróka-Auðr: Invisible Bureaucracy in an Icelandic Saga" in Introduction to Nordic C... more "The Trial of Bróka-Auðr: Invisible Bureaucracy in an Icelandic Saga" in Introduction to Nordic Cultures, ed. by Annika Lindskog and Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (London: UCL Press, 2020) pp. 87-101.
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Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, 2019
Is it possible for characters in fiction to be motivated by unique ideologies in the way that pol... more Is it possible for characters in fiction to be motivated by unique ideologies in the way that political movements are in real life? This essay considers the example of the Æsir (the dominant tribe of gods) in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda. Analogies with later ideologies are offered as a way to highlight the idiosyncratic ideological brew which seems to govern the Æsir’s actions. The Æsir have the acquisitiveness, violence, and sexual neurosis of a colonial regime. They have the reactionary’s aptitude for cynical manipulation of history. They have the frailties of the modern capitalist. These comparisons are used to sketch out an ideology which is more than the sum of its comparanda: Æsirism
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Antisemitism in the North. History and State of Research. Ed. Jonathan Adams & Cordelia Heß (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019) pp. 41-67., 2019
The central concern of this article is why research on depictions of Jews was almost non-existent... more The central concern of this article is why research on depictions of Jews was almost non-existent in Old Norse-Icelandic Studies until just a few years ago, while in the analogous field of Middle English Studies it has flourished. In addition to surveying the research culture in both disciplines, I consider tangible connections between the medieval English blood libel tradition and the Norwegian-Icelandic cultural elite, with the myth of Kvasir from Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda suggested as an example of how future research based on such connections might look.
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Saga-Book, 2019
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What are the psychological forces that imbue certain spaces with emotional power? Michel Foucault... more What are the psychological forces that imbue certain spaces with emotional power? Michel Foucault described one such space as “heterotopia.” Heterotopias are places of extreme colour and diversity, where the magical coming-together of usually contradictory forces exerted profound influence on people’s emotions. This article presents spaces in Old Norse literature where it is not difference and strangeness that have dramatic impact, but rather sameness and familiarity. The term “homotopia” is proposed to describe such spaces. Scenes depicting two particular farmsteads from the sagas, Helgafell and Hlíðarendi, are considered as homotopias. Moreover, with reference to Karl Marx’s theory of labour alienation, it is argued that homotopias have the potential to serve as political propaganda, convincing workers that their workplaces are not sites of exploitation, but are instead objects of aesthetic enjoyment. With this political purpose in mind, literary artifacts from the Old Norse-speaking world are integrated into an intellectual genealogy arriving at the present day. In closing it is therefore suggested that some of the homotopias of the Íslendingasögur provide parallels with the homotopian industrial estates and strip malls of late capitalism.
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Old Norse Mythology - Comparative Perspectives
This essay considers the mythological writing of Snorri Sturluson (d. 1241) in its most temporall... more This essay considers the mythological writing of Snorri Sturluson (d. 1241) in its most temporally proximal comparative context: the intellectual culture of thirteenth century Christian Europe, specifically one particular area of the High Medieval imagination: Christian narratives about Jews. Particular attention is paid to Snorri’s use of anti-Jewish typology in his depiction of Loki and the Muspellssynir “The Sons of Muspell” (the agents of the apocalypse who break loose at the end of the world). The essay argues that Snorri's configuration of Loki's status amongst the Æsir might well have been drawn from contemporary thinking about the status of the Jew amongst Christians: both were considered outsiders, whose presence was tolerated because they were thought to have special abilities, even while they were widely held to be untrustworthy and deleterious to society. Loki’s apocalyptic comrades, the Muspellssynir, obviously originate in the eddic poem Vǫluspá, but I argue that Snorri’s account of them is strongly coloured by the medieval motif of the “Red Jews”, menacing Jewish warriors who would break out of their subterranean tomb during the Last Days and ride forth into Christendom with warlike intent.
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Saga-Book, 2017
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The existence of the Icelandic Book of Joseph and Aseneth was first brought to scholarly attentio... more The existence of the Icelandic Book of Joseph and Aseneth was first brought to scholarly attention in M.R. James's introduction to Batiffol's Latin edition of 1889. Since then commentators have continued to include the Icelandic tradition in lists of translated versions (often by the shelfmark provided by M.R. James, BL Add MS 11068). However, until now the Aseneth contained in BL Add MS 11068 has remained unedited. This article provides an annotated edition and translation which presents the Icelandic Aseneth in comparison with the exemplar from which it was translated, namely Hans Mogensen's Danish version of 1580. Most importantly, the Icelandic translator, Árni Halldórsson (1630–1687), made an original contribution to the tradition, authoring a unique account of the death of Aseneth from grief.
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“Where one believed there was law, there is in fact desire and desire alone” – so wrote the philo... more “Where one believed there was law, there is in fact desire and desire alone” – so wrote the philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in their groundbreaking assault on the work of Franz Kafka, "Kafka: Towards a Minor Literature". Deleuze and Guattari expose the exploitative power-plays and the sometimes awe-inspiring (sometimes grubby) workings of desire in moments which superficially appear to be sombrely official or legalistic. "Árna saga biskups", an early fourteenth century saga concerning the life of Bishop Árni Þorláksson, readily presents itself for reconsideration through this theoretical lens. Often dismissed as dull and unfinished, the saga actually contains many episodes of narrative deftness and moving drama. In this article, attention is focused upon the narrative voice’s ambivalence towards Bishop Árni, the bishop’s essentially bureaucratic aspirations, and the merit of Árna saga biskups not only as a historical source, but as a literary triumph.
Introduction
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I signed an agreement which expressly forbade public uploading of this article, but if you're out... more I signed an agreement which expressly forbade public uploading of this article, but if you're outside the university and so stuck without access to "Viking and Medieval Scandinavia", please do drop me an e-mail: richardcole@alumni.harvard.edu. ABSTRACT: It is well recognized that the use of formulae originally from the Hebrew language was not uncommon in the hymnody and liturgy of the medieval Church. This article surveys the protrusion of such formulae into Scandinavian runic inscriptions and postulates that there was a particular awareness of their Hebrew identity. The extent of clerical esteem for — and knowledge of — the Hebrew language in medieval Scandinavia is considered using runic and manuscript sources. Finally, some observations are offered concerning the geographical distribution of Hebrew formulae in the runic corpus. PUBLISHED IN: Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 11 (2015) pp. 33-77.
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in Fear and Loathing in the North. Jews and Muslims in Medieval Scandinavia and the Baltic Region... more in Fear and Loathing in the North. Jews and Muslims in Medieval Scandinavia and the Baltic Region. Ed. by Cordelia Heß & Jonathan Adams (Berlin: De Gruyter,2015) pp. 239-266
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Publications by Richard Cole
(Apologies to Brian Patrick McGuire for being given the title of psychiatrist by the typesetters!).
Pete Sandberg, "A 'Valknut' in the Capitol. Viking Age Symbol and Modern Myth", pp. 198-203.
Frederik Lynge Vognsen, "Ejendomsret, demokrati og retten til 'at tage'. Mellem middelalder og stormen på Capitol 6. januar 2021", pp. 204-207.
Introduction
(Apologies to Brian Patrick McGuire for being given the title of psychiatrist by the typesetters!).
Pete Sandberg, "A 'Valknut' in the Capitol. Viking Age Symbol and Modern Myth", pp. 198-203.
Frederik Lynge Vognsen, "Ejendomsret, demokrati og retten til 'at tage'. Mellem middelalder og stormen på Capitol 6. januar 2021", pp. 204-207.
Introduction
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CPH Post, 15th-28th October 2021
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Blurb:
In the summer of 1350, as a deadly pandemic tore across Europe, nine people were burnt at the stake in the Hanseatic city of Visby on the island of Gotland. Ostensibly, this was a sadly familiar story: the Black Death was rampant, and a supposed Jewish plot was offered as an explanation. The alleged perpetrators were forced to confess, and were duly executed. But the people who were consigned to the flames in Visby were not Jewish. In fact, there were no Jews on the island to be victimised. Of the nine accused, two were Christian preachers, and the only named individual, Tidericus, was an organista - probably the organ player at the church of St. Olaf in Visby. The outlandish theory was that the plague was a poisoning scheme run by an international conspiracy of Jews, oligarchs and secular administrators.
This book traces the story of the unfortunate Tidericus, and examines the implications of the antisemitic fantasy which led to his death. The positions of the different ethnic groups in Visby is considered against the backdrop of panic and paranoia which pandemics inspire. The interests of the native Old Gutnish-speaking population are compared to the motives of the Low German-speaking mercantile elite who were administering Visby at the time. A context of social unrest, with class divisions bisecting proto-national identities, proved to be a dangerous fuel for a surreal conspiracy theory. A popular willingness to believe in this lurid nightmare proved to be the undoing of Tidericus and his co-accused. The sources which record the affair, namely two pieces of Hanseatic correspondence, are edited and translated into English for the first time in the appendices.
Published by The Viking Society for Northern Research, London, 2020. 119 pp. ISBN 978-0-903521-99-4. £10 (£5 for Viking Society members). Order from sales@gazellebooks.co.uk. State Viking Society membership to qualify for members’ price.