Between runes and manuscripts. Roman-alphabet inscriptions in Viking Age and Medieval Norway.

The Vikings did not just take home gold and slaves they also brought the Roman alphabet with them. The project ”Between runes and manuscripts” is the first to study inscriptions in Roman script from the Norwegian Viking Age and the Middle Ages. The Roman alphabet was introduced as part of with other strong impulses that people in Scandinavia received during the Viking Age. The impulses led to a change of religion, consolidation of royal power and not least: a writing revolution. Indeed, the Scandinavians had been writing before, they had the runic script. Now came the Latin script, and with it the European writing culture, as well as a new medium: the book. Runic inscriptions are carved into stone, bone, wood or metal. The Roman script was written with quill and ink on parchment, and the parchment could be bound together into books. However, letters were also used in inscriptions, in the same way as the runes, and we find them on the same type of material. Therefore, from the end of the Viking Age and throughout the Middle Ages, there are three groups of script side by side in Norway: Roman script on parchment, runic inscriptions and inscriptions in Roman script. The results that have emerged in the project “Between runes and manuscripts” provide a basis for seeing these three script groups as three script cultures. Furthermore, we see that those who wrote inscriptions with the Roman alphabet were stylistically quite confident with respect to letter forms, content and wording. We see that there are several features typical for the inscriptions in Roman script and runic inscriptions, but which are not as common in the manuscripts, and vice versa. At the same time, there are other features that can be found in texts where Roman script is used, but which are not common in runic inscriptions. These are features applying to content and design among other things. Therefore, even if we can talk about three writing cultures, they are not completely separate. The differences and similarities between the writing norms in the various script cultures have a lot to do with what functions the use of writing was supposed to fulfil, and this is reflected in the choices made by those who wrote. The project “Between runes and manuscript” started in August 2017. Elise Kleivane has been the project manager and Johan Bollaert has worked as a PhD-candidate. He defended his thesis on 2 September 2022 with the thesis “Visuality and Literacy in the Medieval Epigraphy of Norway”. Here he analyses the use of writing and visuality in inscriptions, and the dissertation contains a catalogue of 110 inscriptions. Most of these are inscriptions on tombstones and in churches. They will be included in the database that is under construction, together with inscriptions in Roman script on other types of objects. During the project period, we have been on fieldwork in many places in Norway, both in collections, in churches and outdoors. In many cases, we have been able to correct previous readings of inscriptions, and we have come across inscriptions that were not previously documented. This work will continue with other funding.

Verknader: Ph.d.-kandidaten har disputert. Han leverte på tida, og har fått gjennomføringsstipend som vil kvalifisere han ytterlegare for akademisk arbeid på høgt nivå. Prosjektleiar har i prosjektperioden fått fast tilsetjing som førsteamanuensis ved UiO, noko prosjektet bidro til. Prosjektet arbeidet og resultata har bidratt til mykje større merksemd om og interesse for innskrifter med bokstavar frå vikingtid og mellomalder og for skriftkulturane i Norden i denne perioden. Fleire forskarar arbeider nå med tilsvarande materiale og forskingsspørsmål i andre land. Databasen over bokstavinnskrifter som er eitt resultat av prosjektet, er ikkje klar til lansering ennå, men prosjektet har skaffa ytterlegare finansiering for å halde fram og utvide arbeidet med denne. Det er dessutan påbegynte planar for eit ennå større nordisk samarbeid om dokumentasjon av epigrafi i Norden. Effektar: På lengre sikt er det forventa at prosjektet og det vidare arbeidet vil føre til ytterlegare merksemd omkring skrift i det offentlege rom, om skriftkultur i vid tyding og om kva slags verdi det ligg i historisk kunnskap.

The Vikings wrote with runes, but after bringing home Christianity and the Latin writing culture, they started using the Roman alphabet as well. Throughout the Medieval Period Norwegians produced manuscripts with Roman script and inscriptions with both Roman and runic script. Runic inscriptions and medieval manuscripts have been given a lot of scholarly and popular attention. This is not the case with the Roman-alphabet inscriptions. They have not been sufficiently documented nor have they been studied as a whole. Unless this situation is improved, the implications of the triangular relationship between manuscripts, runes and Roman-alphabet epigraphy cannot be sorted out, and this prevents a full understanding of Viking Age and Medieval writing culture. The primary objective of this project is therefore to provide a comprehensive study of Roman-alphabet inscriptions from the Viking Age and Medieval Norway, the first of its kind. To make this study possible, the project will develop a systematic database where description of a substantial corpus of inscriptions will be entered. The database will be made available online which will allow for further studies on literacy in the Viking Age and Medieval Period. The first stage of the project is a prerequisite for the second stage which will provide analyses of the Roman-alphabet inscriptions in order to meet the project's secondary objectives. These are a) to demonstrate how the foreign Roman script introduced in the Viking Age was transformed into a vernacular script; b) to bring forth new knowledge about the uses and functions of writing outside manuscripts; and c) to determine whether Roman-alphabet inscriptions are best understood in relation to runic inscriptions or to manuscript culture, or if they are best understood as a writing culture of their own.