Project description
How and why did European scholars and artists engage with Old English in the 19th century?
In the 19th century, German scholars dominated the study of the language spoken in early medieval England; the first editors and scholars of the Old English epic Beowulf were Danes; Old English texts were claimed as part of the Dutch literary canon; some of the first ‘popular’ adaptations of Old English material appeared in French, Dutch, Danish, and German; and non-Anglophone scholars discovered important Old English documents in archives all across the European continent. This multi-faceted European, transnational reception of Old English is the focus of the ERC-funded EMERGENCE project, which seeks to identify and analyse engagements with early medieval English across 19th-century Europe. The findings are expected to reveal new materials, intellectual networks, and forgotten protagonists in this context.
Objective
This project adds an essential decentralizing dynamic to the historiography of Old English studies, by studying the reception of early medieval English in 19th-century continental Europe and going beyond an Anglo-American focus.
Many current linguistic theories, modes of literary criticism and editorial and pedagogical practices have their roots in the 19th century; investigating this legacy helps to better understand paradigms and institutions that still influence the field today. Recent researchers typically link 19th-century engagements with Old English to a desire to historically underpin a patriotic sense of Englishness or the perceived racial superiority of white Americans. Problematically, this Anglo-American lens overlooks an important transnational dimension: the reception of Old English in continental Europe.
In the 19th century, Old English poems were claimed as cultural heritage by various non-Anglophone nations, including the Danes, the Germans and the Dutch. These competing nationalistic, cultural appropriations happened against the backdrop of a growing interest in Old English language and literature across the European continent. Exploring this transnational reception of Old English offers a new perspective on the 19th-century foundations of Old English studies and thus contributes to ongoing discussions about the field’s past, present and future in terms of diversity and visibility.
This project will identify and analyse interactions with Old English across Europe to explore how a more geographically diverse genealogy of the field affects our perception of the 19th century as a foundational period for the study of Old English. The project, situated on the intersection of history of humanities and medievalism studies, is powered by a bibliographical and relational database and a multi-disciplinary, multilingual approach. It will reveal new, insightful materials, uncover intellectual networks and put forgotten protagonists in the limelight.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
2311 EZ Leiden
Netherlands