Septentrionalia is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to the study of the medieval north.
Septentrionalia is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to the study of the medieval north.
The current focus of the initiative is on the digitisation of public-domain scholarship. While a number of other venues are already offering texts and translations within our field, these are typically text or hypertext digitisations of mostly uncritical print editions. As such, they lack page numbers and hence cannot be cited. Moreover, the danger of transition errors renders these texts unreliable in academic contexts. Pdf reproductions have thus far favoured uncritical translations and popular scholarship over text editions and leading early criticism. General digitisation projects have left out most scholarship in our field since these initiatives lack a specific focus; and the largest of these programmes, Google Books, at times delivers deplorable quality. The one exception to these objections is Sagnanet, a project with an admirable quantity of relevant content. Unfortunately, the site has two major shortcomings in terms of accessibility on which its 2001-2003 usability study has, curiously, not picked up: the print materials (and the manuscripts to a lesser degree) are neither easily browsable online, since one cannot go straight to the required page (even in very long works, one can browse only twelve pages at a time), nor are they easily used offline, since printing and downloading are only possible one page at a time. Sagnanet furthermore does not offer works published after 1900, and it does not provide literature outside the Old Icelandic sphere of interest. Septentrionalia aims to fill these gaps in the interest of scholars and students. Our resources are primarily intended to facilitate research and language training, as well as to provide teachers and reading group leaders with free (in every sense), easy-access material. We hold no rights over the files we offer. Local law permitting, any user is free to download the material to any device, print, modify, and redistribute it in any way he or she deems fit without source attribution. Septentrionalia is dedicated to the preservation of early scholarship without compromising accessibility.
The septentrionalia framework was conceived and realised by P.S. Langeslag. The lexica poetica project was conceived by Andy Lemons and P.S. Langeslag and realised by Stefan Langeslag, Andy Lemons, and P.S. Langeslag. The library project was conceived and realised by P.S. Langeslag and Andy Lemons, who also bear the cost of the septentrionalia initiative.
Septentrionalia is in need of resources and is looking for sponsors. Educational institutions in particular are called upon to provide support, since such help would be an improvement relative to the private funding on which the initiative currently depends. Individuals may support us in three different ways, the first being the most effective:
Paul may be reached at ps[ät]langeslag.org or via www.langeslag.org.
Andy may be reached at lemons.lexicon[ät]gmail.com.
Disclaimer: the materials here published are distributed between servers in such a way that they are in the public domain according to local copyright law.
Users are responsible for checking the status of these files in their own jurisdiction before accessing them.
