('No One had Heard Such a Thing Before'): Women in Old Norse Translations of Latin

Despite recent interest in the role of women in Old Norse literature, there is currently no analysis of the fascinating and complex women in the Old Norse translations of Latin texts. Jenny Jochens (1996), and others have extensively analysed the presentation of Old Norse women but do not mention the translations of Latin. Such texts have generally received little critical attention, and many are only available in semi-diplomatic editions. The women presented in them, however, are rich with analytical potential. My thesis will expand the field of Old Norse gender studies, which currently restricts itself to the popular Eddas and sagas. By analysing this literary collision of cultures, my thesis will reveal nuances within the depiction of Old Norse women. Similarities are often drawn between Old Norse and Latin female figures due to surface parallels. My thesis will dispel the assumption of a homogenous depiction by examining the translators' development of the presentation of women when faced with the vernacular. My project will contribute not only to the sparse field of research into Old Norse translations of Latin, but it will also add a new dimension to Old Norse gender criticism. My research will be divided as follows:
Sagas of Antiquity
Texts like Breta sogur (1892-6), Trojumanna saga (1963 and 1981), and Romverja saga (2010) contain complex female characters. My research will build upon Stefanie Wurth's book Der Antikenroman (1998) and numerous articles (2006, 2011, etc.), but with a specific focus on women. I will analyse figures such as Troumanna saga's Helen of Troy, Hecuba, and Medea, as well as Breta sogur's Igerna. These texts exist in multiple manuscripts, each placing different emphasis on emotion. This affects our reading of female characters, most of whom exist with emotional connections to men. My thesis will also analyse mythological women, including the intervening goddesses and the volva-like witch in Romverja saga, who is also depicted visually in the marginalia of the manuscript AM 595 a-b 4to.
Biblical Translations
The Old Norse translation of parts of the Latin Vulgate Bible, Stjorn (1862), also depicts women with interesting relationship dynamics. Sian Gronlie's recent publication (2019) explores some of the gendered relations within Stjorn, particularly the conflict between Hagar the Egyptian and Sarah, which has parallels in Laxdæla saga. My research will touch on this but also work outwards to analyse figures such as Rehab the Harlot and the wives of David. The Old Norse Book of Judith will form an essential part of this section; the writing of Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir (2000) remains the text's only major study. This powerful biblical figure, whose Old English version receives extensive critical attention, is relatively ignored by Old Norse scholarship. My thesis will rectify this.
Saints' Lives
The Old Norse hagiographies also depict intriguing women such as Cecilia, Margaret, Mary Magdalen, and the Virgin Mary. The early saints' lives, which predate the popular sagas, offer a unique insight into earlier Christian Norse attitudes to women. Multiple versions of these hagiographies exist; I shall focus my close textual analysis on the earlier versions, which are closer to the Latin originals, but I shall also take account of later versions, which adapt the Latin to comply with Old Norse culture. This will reveal transnational changes to the portrayal of women as Old Norse writers freely develop the stories.
The Old Norse translations of Latin depict women with selfhoods and relationships as nuanced as those of the popular Eddas and sagas. By selecting case studies from this corpus, my research will fill an important gap in Old Norse scholarship, enriching our knowledge of how the depiction of women is transformed across temporal and cultural divisions.