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Research Summary
Current Status
PhD (full-time) - currently registered Research Topic
Considering the connections between Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast c. 10th-12th centuries.
Research Summary
My research project centers around the connections between Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast, c. 10th-12th centuries. I am assessing both textual and archaeological evidence - including ship burials, chronicles and inscriptions, such as those found on the Mervalla runestone in Sweden - to reveal how Vikings and Baltic groups forged connections through trade, piracy and exploration, and how the growth of this engagement affected cross-European exchange.
Medieval authors such as Thietmar of Merseburg and Adam of Bremen referred to Viking and Slavic populations and to the geography of various regions in different ways, showcasing the ever-changing nature of external preconceptions and biases, while also indicating how cultural identities are formed and interpreted. Surviving texts by these authors and others provide crucial information - both in what is mentioned, and what is omitted - on perceptions of trade, settlement and cross-cultural growth and exchange.
Research Interests
The Viking Age
Ritual versus religion
Folk history and tradition
Cross-European contact in the medieval period
Mythology and notions of afterlives
Later medieval healthcare
Women's experiences through history
Dante Alighieri
Research Supervisors
Professor Judith Jesch
Dr Monica White
Primary Funding Sources
Christine Fell Award
Publications
Radziwillowicz, Natalia (2017). 'Considering the connections between Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast in the 10th-11th centuries.' Innervate: Leading student work in English studies.
Qualifications
MSc Medieval Literatures and Cultures (Pass with Distinction), University of Edinburgh, 2018.
BA (Hons) Viking Studies (1st Class), University of Nottingham, 2017.