An Ethical Reading and a Reading in Ethics. A Study of De la Gardie 4-7 fol

The main aim of this project is to discuss attitudes to knowledge in Old Norse medieval world. The main questions I will address are what is knowledge and how can it be attained. These questions, in epistemological theory, are traditionally seen as instru ctive of self-awareness and self-dentition, faith and absolute truth, and will be interpreted to enlighten similar questions also in this study. The theoretical framework of the study encompasses both medieval and modern cognitive theory. These lead t o a three-fold structure of the project where first the body is seen as the site for production of knowledge, then the mind and the soul. The bodily senses such as seeing and hearing, touching, smelling and tasting are certainly major stimuli to the produ ction of new knowledge. The mind, with its cognitive, rational, mnemonic and ethical capacities, which are often conditioned by sensual perceptions, leads to a different type of knowledge. Finally, the soul where ?second-sight?, emotionality, faith and pe rsonal mystical experiences usually evolve is a center of yet another type of knowledge. The main questions of the study and the different types of knowledges will be searched for by analysis of various genres of Old Norse literature from the thirteen th and the beginning of the fourteenth century. The sources include both translated as well as indigenous sources, which are all seen as hermeneutical interpretations on a scale, using and transforming existent material in the production of something new. The variance in the treatment of the three types of knowledge in the different genres will elucidate the process of making of Old Norse epistemological theory, and will also reflect the combination and multitude of ontological conceptions in this socio-c ultural sphere.

Medieval manuscripts, with their materiality and textuality, are the primary sources for studying textual and ideological transmission. In this project, I will study one Norwegian manuscript, De la Gardie 4-7 fol, as a source to textual and ideological tr anslatio in the 13th century. The manuscript contains four text-witnesses, representing different genres. They are written in Old Norse language, but two of them are translations from Latin and two from Old French. The four text-witnesses, read as a coher ent entity, well situated within a specific literary and ideological context, offer unique material for studying: - Translating strategies and attitudes to textual transmission in 13th century Norway seen against the background of both Latin and Old Fren ch literary traditions - The relationship between ethical ideologies in literature, and theological and political issues relevant in the same context. The two main topics will be discussed in a three-partite analysis: - Comparative reading of source an d target texts - Coherent reading of the text-witnesses in the manuscript - Survey of the ethical dilemmas described in DG 4-7 from an ideological perspective, against the contemporary literary, theological and political context. Both the two main issu es and my method are innovative and relevant beyond the scope of Old Norse studies. My two main discussions will provide new insight into scribal and ethical mentalities in 13th century Norway, and also raise the understanding of textual and cultural tran slatio, vernacularization and Europeanization in the Middle Ages in general. The synchronic and diachronic approach towards the manuscript would also be applicable and productive when working on any medieval manuscript. Textual and ideological translatio is a core discussion in current philological and cultural-historical networks, Nordic and European. These will frame and ensure the dialogue with the on-going interdisciplinary research on the subjects.