Klaustur á Íslandi (Monasticism in Iceland) - verkefni lokið
Fréttatilkynning verkefnisstjóra
The aim of the project was to explore and map the monasteries and nunneries that were run in Iceland from AD 1000 to 1550. New data on their existence was collected through literary examination, recording of relics and surveying.
The surveying included geophysical measuring on the monastic sites, surface documentation through maps and photos, test pit excavations and analyzing of insects, pollen and seeds but even of tephra layers and radiocarbon samples for dating. It may be fairly stated that the project did shed new light on monasticism in Iceland from the Christianization to the Reformation. The monastic institutions proved to be fourteen – not nine or ten – run for longer and shorter periods during the medieval times. All of them became highly influential on the Icelandic society, although each reciprocally in their own way, but at all times according to the internationally imposed model of the Roman-Catholic monasticism.
The overall results of the project will be applied as a part of the general history of Iceland through two separate peer-reviewed publications written by the PI; one in Icelandic by the publisher Sögufélag in cooperation with the National Museum of Iceland in 2017 and another in English published by the Brepols Publishers in 2018/2019. In the Icelandic version, the results of mapping the monasteries and nunneries will be the central theme but the history of each of them even presented in fourteen separate chapters. The English version of the book will on the other hand provide a general overview of monasticism in Iceland – in its international context – during the medieval times.
In total, 37 reports were written by the project´s team members from 2014 –2017 and one master thesis finished in 2016. Five articles were also published in five different peer-reviewed journals. Lastly, the project was presented in 12 lectures on conferences and meetings in Vilnius, Odense, Durham, Copenhagen, Kristiansand, Istanbul, Reykjavík and Skriðuklaustur from 2014 –2017. Furthermore, an exhibition will be opened at the National Museum of Iceland in June 2018 depicting the research itself, methods and aims, but also the main results in brief.
Heiti verkefnis: Klaustur á
Íslandi
Verkefnisstjóri: Steinunn J. Kristjánsdóttir, Háskóla Íslands
Tegund styrks: Verkefnisstyrkur
Styrktímabil: 2014-2016
Fjárhæð styrks: 28,95 millj. kr. alls
Tilvísunarnúmer Rannís: 140983
