Bridget of Sweden digitally. Making St Birgitta’s revelations in Old Swedish accessible
St Birgitta's revelations and other writings form the basis for much research on medieval Sweden. Her texts were translated into Latin for international use and the originals were lost almost entirely. But in Scandinavia vulgate versions were needed and the Latin version was therefore retranslated back into, for the most part, Old Swedish. Studies on language and theology, as well as the history of agriculture, ideas, gender, mentalities and social conditions etc, have been based upon these texts.
The research infrastructure to date consists of G. E. Klemming s edition (1857-1884). It is impressive but now obsolete and insufficient:
1. Klemming's edition is not complete: he was not aware of all the textual witnesses and used the ones he did know in an inconsistent and partly inadequate manner. His edition should therefore not be used as the basis for scholarly studies; a modern, critical edition is needed in both printed and digital form.
2. Klemming was a traditional editor and in principle he valued manuscripts only as sources of the most original text version. Modern philology has also drawn attention to the great importance of individual manuscripts as sources for understanding the contemporary reception and use of the texts' contents. Close transcriptions are therefore needed of all the manuscript witnesses as well as high-resolution digital pictures. These must be published and made accessible on a permanent internet site which allows fast and flexible searches.
The research infrastructure to date consists of G. E. Klemming s edition (1857-1884). It is impressive but now obsolete and insufficient:
1. Klemming's edition is not complete: he was not aware of all the textual witnesses and used the ones he did know in an inconsistent and partly inadequate manner. His edition should therefore not be used as the basis for scholarly studies; a modern, critical edition is needed in both printed and digital form.
2. Klemming was a traditional editor and in principle he valued manuscripts only as sources of the most original text version. Modern philology has also drawn attention to the great importance of individual manuscripts as sources for understanding the contemporary reception and use of the texts' contents. Close transcriptions are therefore needed of all the manuscript witnesses as well as high-resolution digital pictures. These must be published and made accessible on a permanent internet site which allows fast and flexible searches.
Final report
Purpose of the project and how it has developed during the project period.
The project is part of an overall effort devoted to editing and publishing all of St. Birgitta’s writings in Old Swedish. The purpose of the infrastructural project Bridget of Sweden digitally has been to make these texts available in digital form. This is offered in three formats: through high-definition color photographs of all manuscripts when this is technically feasible and through diplomatic transcriptions of all manuscript witnesses, as well as through a digital version of the published edition. The first two versions will at the completion of the overall project be available at Menota (https://www.menota.org/forside.xhtml). The later version is continuously accessible through
Litteraturbanken (https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/AnderssonR/titlar). The transcriptions and the digital edition are searchable.
The project results and a discussion about them.
In the four years of the project the main result has been the publication of Books 2 through 5, but also a number of scholarly studies related to the project. The qualitative goals have been filled (see further below) and what has been achieved fills strict demands on faithful transcriptions of manuscripts and digital texts, as well as on critical editions. The full summaries in Modern Swedish of each chapter in the critical editions have shown themselves to be highly appreciated by both lay readers and philologists.
The cooperation within the project has been fertile with the main editors acting as senior scholar and coordinator of transcriptional and editorial work, in constant agreement and collaboration with the two leaders of the overall project, Olle Ferm and Henrik Williams.
New research questions generated through the project.
The infrastructure of the project consists in part by the transcribed texts with offer insight into the witness of the manuscripts themselves, and in part by the critical edition that forms the basis for research on St. Birgitta’s writings in Swedish, now and in the future. The scholarly study will give results decades ahead, but the first fruits are evidenced by the publications (see those) that Roger Andersson has already put out or will do so.
Unforeseen technical and methodological problems.
The original intention was to make the digital transcriptions continuously accessible though Menota. In order to guarantee the uniformity of these versions we have decided to await the completion of the overall project. This has the disadvantage of making the transcriptions publically unavailable until such a time.
Marco Bianchi is responsible for this part of the work and in principle proceeds in a linear mode, manuscript by manuscript, and “chronologically” within each manuscript. He has reached the transcriptions of manuscripts A5a and A5b for Book 4. Most of his effort has been spent on creating a system which tags the word files automatically. Hence, only minor adjustments are needed subsequently, mainly the transferal of footnotes to xml-format files for Menota.
The original time plan for the project has been revised in part, due to unforeseen circumstances. The transcriptional work, which was being done mainly by Zeth Alvered, was affected by his unfortunate contraction of irreversible retinal detachment. Since 2017 he has been unable to do any more work. Nevertheless, due to his productivity only a smaller part of the transcriptions remained undone, and part of those could be completed by Dr. Helena Wistrand who previously was attached to the project. The remaining part falls to the editors themselves which has an effect on how fast the editions may be finalized.
Ingela Hedström was forced to return to her job at Swedish National Archives because no more leave of absence was permitted. Her edition of St. Birgitta’s minor writings (Sermo angelicus, Birgitta’s prayers, the Nunnery Rule) is a bit delayed but will be published this year. The Revelationes Extravagantes which was also her responsibility had to be taken over by Dr. Oliver Blomqvist who will complete this task, financed from other sources and employed by Stockholm University.
Roger Anderson, finally, assumed during the end of the project a position as professor of Scandinavian Languages at Stockholm University. He has been able to complete part of his project work within his research time there, although not at the rate originally planned. When we first applied for the project he would have worked full-time which ended up being half-time and now less. Combined with the unforeseen responsibility for transcription this leads to a revised production plan. We now count on the completion of the project in 2024 (Andersson then turns 67) instead of 2022 as originally stated. The financing of the end phase is largely covered by yet another contribution from the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and through co-financing from Stockholm University.
The work’s integration into the agency/organization and how the work will be communicated.
All work has been done by project members employed at the Department of Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University, where also the project leader is active. The format of the infrastructure guarantees automatic maintenance through Menota and Litteraturbanken, respectively. These resources offer open and free access.
Any publications and links to own websites.
September 30, 2016, the project organized a seminar in Vadstena with participants from abroad and in the same town Ingela Hedström is planning an international conference in August 2020 with the theme "Birgittine Circles – People and Saints in the Medieval World".
The project members are active internationally through active participation in a number of conferences and by cooperating with colleagues abroad. Roger Andersson has participated in the following, directly relevant events:
February 19, 2019. ”Old Swedish and Latin. Language Contact in Unedited Medieval Manuscripts”. Medieval Studies Colloquium. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
February 22, 2019. ”St. Birgitta, Women’s Literacy, and Literary Production in Medieval Sweden. Medieval Studies Workshop. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
2019 25/4. ”Birgittautgåvan halvvägs. Reflektioner och nya rön.” Föredrag på Runica et Mediaevalia’s årsmöte på Medeltidsmuseet.
He and Ingela Hedström have participated in a total of five other conferences of more indirect relevance.
Links to the project’s websites:
Project website: https://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskning/projekt/digitala-birgitta/
Henrik Williams’ website: https://katalog.uu.se/empinfo?id=XX3298
Roger Andersson’s website: https://www.su.se/profiles/roan4357-1.188340
Ingela Hedström’s websites: https://riksarkivet.se/redaktion-ds, https://riksarkivet.academia.edu/IngelaHedstr%C3%B6m
Marco Bianchi’s website: https://katalog.uu.se/empinfo/?id=N4-588
The project is part of an overall effort devoted to editing and publishing all of St. Birgitta’s writings in Old Swedish. The purpose of the infrastructural project Bridget of Sweden digitally has been to make these texts available in digital form. This is offered in three formats: through high-definition color photographs of all manuscripts when this is technically feasible and through diplomatic transcriptions of all manuscript witnesses, as well as through a digital version of the published edition. The first two versions will at the completion of the overall project be available at Menota (https://www.menota.org/forside.xhtml). The later version is continuously accessible through
Litteraturbanken (https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/AnderssonR/titlar). The transcriptions and the digital edition are searchable.
The project results and a discussion about them.
In the four years of the project the main result has been the publication of Books 2 through 5, but also a number of scholarly studies related to the project. The qualitative goals have been filled (see further below) and what has been achieved fills strict demands on faithful transcriptions of manuscripts and digital texts, as well as on critical editions. The full summaries in Modern Swedish of each chapter in the critical editions have shown themselves to be highly appreciated by both lay readers and philologists.
The cooperation within the project has been fertile with the main editors acting as senior scholar and coordinator of transcriptional and editorial work, in constant agreement and collaboration with the two leaders of the overall project, Olle Ferm and Henrik Williams.
New research questions generated through the project.
The infrastructure of the project consists in part by the transcribed texts with offer insight into the witness of the manuscripts themselves, and in part by the critical edition that forms the basis for research on St. Birgitta’s writings in Swedish, now and in the future. The scholarly study will give results decades ahead, but the first fruits are evidenced by the publications (see those) that Roger Andersson has already put out or will do so.
Unforeseen technical and methodological problems.
The original intention was to make the digital transcriptions continuously accessible though Menota. In order to guarantee the uniformity of these versions we have decided to await the completion of the overall project. This has the disadvantage of making the transcriptions publically unavailable until such a time.
Marco Bianchi is responsible for this part of the work and in principle proceeds in a linear mode, manuscript by manuscript, and “chronologically” within each manuscript. He has reached the transcriptions of manuscripts A5a and A5b for Book 4. Most of his effort has been spent on creating a system which tags the word files automatically. Hence, only minor adjustments are needed subsequently, mainly the transferal of footnotes to xml-format files for Menota.
The original time plan for the project has been revised in part, due to unforeseen circumstances. The transcriptional work, which was being done mainly by Zeth Alvered, was affected by his unfortunate contraction of irreversible retinal detachment. Since 2017 he has been unable to do any more work. Nevertheless, due to his productivity only a smaller part of the transcriptions remained undone, and part of those could be completed by Dr. Helena Wistrand who previously was attached to the project. The remaining part falls to the editors themselves which has an effect on how fast the editions may be finalized.
Ingela Hedström was forced to return to her job at Swedish National Archives because no more leave of absence was permitted. Her edition of St. Birgitta’s minor writings (Sermo angelicus, Birgitta’s prayers, the Nunnery Rule) is a bit delayed but will be published this year. The Revelationes Extravagantes which was also her responsibility had to be taken over by Dr. Oliver Blomqvist who will complete this task, financed from other sources and employed by Stockholm University.
Roger Anderson, finally, assumed during the end of the project a position as professor of Scandinavian Languages at Stockholm University. He has been able to complete part of his project work within his research time there, although not at the rate originally planned. When we first applied for the project he would have worked full-time which ended up being half-time and now less. Combined with the unforeseen responsibility for transcription this leads to a revised production plan. We now count on the completion of the project in 2024 (Andersson then turns 67) instead of 2022 as originally stated. The financing of the end phase is largely covered by yet another contribution from the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and through co-financing from Stockholm University.
The work’s integration into the agency/organization and how the work will be communicated.
All work has been done by project members employed at the Department of Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University, where also the project leader is active. The format of the infrastructure guarantees automatic maintenance through Menota and Litteraturbanken, respectively. These resources offer open and free access.
Any publications and links to own websites.
September 30, 2016, the project organized a seminar in Vadstena with participants from abroad and in the same town Ingela Hedström is planning an international conference in August 2020 with the theme "Birgittine Circles – People and Saints in the Medieval World".
The project members are active internationally through active participation in a number of conferences and by cooperating with colleagues abroad. Roger Andersson has participated in the following, directly relevant events:
February 19, 2019. ”Old Swedish and Latin. Language Contact in Unedited Medieval Manuscripts”. Medieval Studies Colloquium. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
February 22, 2019. ”St. Birgitta, Women’s Literacy, and Literary Production in Medieval Sweden. Medieval Studies Workshop. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
2019 25/4. ”Birgittautgåvan halvvägs. Reflektioner och nya rön.” Föredrag på Runica et Mediaevalia’s årsmöte på Medeltidsmuseet.
He and Ingela Hedström have participated in a total of five other conferences of more indirect relevance.
Links to the project’s websites:
Project website: https://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskning/projekt/digitala-birgitta/
Henrik Williams’ website: https://katalog.uu.se/empinfo?id=XX3298
Roger Andersson’s website: https://www.su.se/profiles/roan4357-1.188340
Ingela Hedström’s websites: https://riksarkivet.se/redaktion-ds, https://riksarkivet.academia.edu/IngelaHedstr%C3%B6m
Marco Bianchi’s website: https://katalog.uu.se/empinfo/?id=N4-588