Else Roesdahl

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Else Roesdahl, 2012

Else Roesdahl (born February 26, 1942 in Sønderborg ) is a Danish historian , archaeologist , university professor and writer who received the Søren Gyldendal Prize in 1988 and is best known for her research and books on the Viking Age .

Life

The daughter of a couple of doctors grew up in Sønderjylland and, after graduating from Sønderborg Statsskole in 1960, began studying history as a major and Nordic archeology as a minor at the University of Copenhagen , which she completed in 1969 with a master's degree. Subsequently, with the support of a scholarship, she worked for several years at the University of Aarhus and, in 1977, took part in a comprehensive study of the Viking castle Fyrkat in Hobro as an assistant to Professor Olaf Olsen . She then worked on the literary presentation of this study, which appeared in 1977 under the title Fyrkat . While Olsen presented the military aspect of the Viking castle in the first part of the treatise, she wrote the other part Oldsagerne og gravpladsen , which presented the importance of Fyrkat and other Viking castles as royal administrative centers and underlined their prestige for the power of kings through the large amount of material used.

In 1980 Roesdahl's first bestseller Danmarks vikingetid appeared , which replaced the leading standard work by Johannes Brøndsted Vikingerne (1960) in terms of importance, especially because of the excavations and material finds that followed. The book was published in six editions and has been translated into English , Polish , Italian and Finnish .

In 1981 she was first a lecturer and later a lecturer in medieval archeology at Aarhus University. Between 1981 and 1985 she was the first full-time teacher at Aarhus University in medieval archeology. In addition, she wrote numerous articles about the Viking Age and the Middle Ages in specialist journals and other specialist books. In it she dealt with people and issues such as the Viking king Hemming , the Danelag area , the resting place Valhalla , the tablets made from whale bones and the settlers of the Grænlendingar .

She also organized national and international exhibitions on the Viking Age, for example in York with the title Vikingerne i England og hjemme i Danmark (1981-82). In addition, she took on numerous academic honorary positions and was not only a member of the Monument Council from 1984 to 1992, but also of the Archaeological Committee from 1988 to 1990. For her research and publications during this time, she received the Søren Gyldendal Prize in 1988 and also received the Knight's Cross of the Dannebrog Order in 1992 .

She received a lot of attention through the traveling exhibition Viking og Hvidekrist , which began in the Grand Palais in Paris and was shown after the Altes Museum in Berlin and most recently from 1992 to 1993 in the Danish National Museum . The 617 objects on display from over 80 collections and 15 countries illuminated almost all aspects of medieval culture in the period from 800 to 1200 . She was not only the manager of the traveling exhibition, but also played a key role in creating the more than 400-page exhibition catalog , which was supplemented by articles from leading experts. After the exhibition was over, she and the Danish literary scholar Preben Meulengracht Sørensen organized a scientific conference on the topic of Den nordiske fortid i europæisk culture , which dealt with Nordic history and its significance for European culture .

In 1995 the small but thought-provoking book Hvalrostand, elfenben og nordboere i Grønland was published , which dealt with the economic aspects of the Viking Age and the disappearance of the Normans . In 1995, Trinity College in Dublin awarded her an honorary doctorate .

In 1996 she finally accepted a professorship for Medieval and Renaissance Archeology at Aarhus University. In the same year she published The Waking of Angantyr , which included the lectures from the symposium Den nordiske fortid i europæisk culture . In 1999 Dagligliv i Danmarks middelalder was published .

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personal data
SURNAME Roesdahl, Else
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish historian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Sønderborg