Symposium 2 Report: Women and Power (Swedish research Institute in Istanbul, Turkey, 8-11 September 2024)

The second symposium of the project was hosted by the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, within the Swedish Consulate.

This symposium explored how powerful women shaped Harald’s formative travels, from Ingegerd of Sweden in Kievan Rus’ to Empress Zoe of Byzantium and Rasad in Fatimid Egypt. Yet this symposium was also an opportunity to develop a wide-raging discussion and comparison on the broad theme of women and power across the varied cultures with which Harald interacted.  

Istanbul and the Swedish Research Institute were particularly suitable locations because, for Harald, Constantinople was the gateway to the Mediterranean, but also because of the troubled relationship between Harald and Empress Zoe, which plays a key role in Icelandic sagas, not to mention the roles of Ingegerd of Sweden and her daughter Elisiv, without whom Harald might not have reached Constantinople to start with.

The papers were divided into four sections, three of them dedicated to Byzantium, the Islamic World, and the Nordic World respectively, plus one entitled ‘Entangled Worlds’. The four sessions were followed by a general discussion that brought them together at the end of the symposium.

As customary with our format, the symposium featured a performance, by James Cave, which took place during a reception hosted by the Swedish Consulate, and there were visits to various relevant sites in the city, a trip on the Bosphorus to reenact Harald’s arrival to Constantinople, and visits to the works in progress at the Boukoleon Palace and the Church of St. Polyeuctus.

Below you can find the symposium’s programme and a series of photos that were taken by Felix Chang, from the University of Edinburgh.

Special thanks go to Olof Heilo (Director of the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul), Bergur Thorgeirsson (Director of Snorrastofa, Research and Cultural Centre in Reykholt, Iceland) for their support and their key roles in shaping the event, and to Johanna Strömquist (Swedish Consul General in Istanbul) for hosting us at the Swedish Consulate.

PROGRAMME

Sunday 8 September:

18:00: Welcome drinks at the Swedish Research Institute

Monday 9 September:

9:30-10:30: Welcoming Session

Welcome by Olof Heilo (Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul) and Bergur Thorgeirsson (Snorrastofa)

Overview of the Viking in the Sun Project by Gianluca Raccagni (University of Edinburgh)

Oskar Gudmundsson (Snorrastofa): Linking the First Two Symposia – Guđrún Ósvifursdóttir: Icelandic Sources for Snorri Sturluson’s Saga of Harald Hardrada

10:30-11:00: Coffee Break

11.00-12:30: Byzantium – Chaired by Gianluca Raccagni (University of Edinburgh)

Judith Herrin (King’s College London): Women and Power in Byzantium

Leonora Neville (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Roman Politics, Byzantine Intrigue, and Dangerous Women

Larisa Vilimonovic (University of Belgrade): Mothers and Power: Maternal Love, Maternal Passion, and Maternal Care in the Byzantine Imperial Discourse of the Eleventh-Century

12.30- 14.00: Lunch

14:00-15.30: The Islamic World – Chaired by Olof Heilo (Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul)

Delia Cortese (University of Middlesex-London): Women Out of Order and Lands Out of Control: Glimpses of Fatimid Rule in Harald’s Time

Jennifer Pruitt: (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Sitt al-Mulk: A Study in Fatimid Architectural Patronage

Glaire Anderson (University of Edinburgh): Women and Visual Culture as Power in Umayyad Cordoba

15.30-16.00: Coffee Break

16.00-17:30: The Nordic World: Chaired by Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland)

Audur Magnusdottir (University of Gothenburg): Becoming Visible: Female Friends in Old Norse Society

Carina Damm (University of Silesia in Katowice): (Dis)empowered women? Viking-Age Slavery in Harald Hardradi’s world

Mabi Angar (Fern Universitat in Hagen) – Anja Blode (University of Cologne): Cherchez la Femme. The Role and Place of Viking Women in Haithabu (770-1066)

18.00-19.00: Reception at the Swedish Consulate General in Istanbul and Performance by James Cave (University of York)

Tuesday 10 September

9:00-10:30: Entangled Worlds: Chaired by Bergur Thorgeirsson