Current and Recent Research Students
Mr Tommaso Marani
Biography
My thesis examines Leiðarvísir, a medieval itinerary from Iceland to the Holy Land. Leiðarvísir, written in Old Norse and attributed to the twelfth-century Abbot Nikulás of the Benedictine abbey in Munkaþverá, Iceland, indicates stops and distances, but is also rich in significant information on the places along the route, journey times, and cultures. I am interested in identifying its literary sources and in demonstrating that Leiðarvísir is an erudite text, not simply a diary containing information from first-hand experience. I will analyse and compare medieval itineraries and descriptions of cities (particularly of Rome), but also hagiographic and literary texts, in order to set Leiðarvísir in a broader textual tradition. My supervisor is Doctor David Ashurst. My other interests include medieval art and topography, Middle High German literature and contemporary Danish literature. In particular, I have focused on Engelhard, a thirteenth-century poem by Konrad von Würzburg, examining its structure and the way Konrad elaborates certain courtly values already expressed in Tristan by Gottfried von Strassburg.
Publications:
- 'Tra agiografia e storiografia: la rappresentazione della Roma cristiana nelLeiðarvísirdi Nikulás di Munkaþverá', inLa letteratura cristiana in Islanda, C. Del Zotto, S. Cosimini and T. Marani (Rome: Carocci, 2010), pp. 87-129.
- 'ContextualizingLeiðarvísir: Sant'Agnese, The Catacombs, The Pantheon, and The Tiber',Saga Book33 (2009), pp. 44-66.
- The Kauphús of Peter the Peter the Apostle inLeiðarvísir: A Market or a Scribal Error?', inÁ austrvega. Saga and East Scandinavia(Preprint papers of The 14th International Saga Conference), ed. by A. Ney and others (Gävle, 2009), pp. 649-656.
- Nordic Light. Antologia di giovani narratori scandinavi, ed. by S. Rota Sperti, [Translation from Danish into Italian of short stories by Helle Helle, Jan Sonnergaard, Jakob Ejersbo and Christina Hesselholdt] (Milan: Mondadori, 2006), pp. 17-122
- 'The Roman itinerary of Nikulás af Munkaþverá: between reality and imagination', inThe Fantastic in Old Norse/Icelandic Literature, Sagas and the British Isles(Preprints papers of The 13th International Saga Conference), ed. by D. Ashurst and others (Durham 2006), pp. 638-648.
- 'Latriuwenell'Engelhard di Konrad von Würzburg e nelTristandi Gottfried von Straßburg',Annali. Sezione Germanica, Università degli studi di Napoli 'L'Orientale', N.S. 15 (2005), pp. 99-129.
- 'La struttura dell'Engelharddi Konrad von Würzburg',Rivista di Cultura Classica e Medievale, 46/1 (2004), pp. 51-64.
