The Centre for Nordic and Old English Studies of the University of Silesia in Katowice, The Andrzej Kaube Museum in Wolin and The Slavs and Vikings’ Center JOMSBORG – VINETA – WOLIN
kindly invite everyone interested to
The 4th Jómsborg Conference
Modes of Entertainment in the Medieval North
Wolin, 10–11 April 2026
As in other parts of contemporary Europe, broadly understood entertainment was an immanent part of everyday life in the Viking Age and the medieval North. It included various forms of activities depending on the time, place, as well as the social and material status of people who were both organizers and recipients of entertainment activities.
Various written, material and iconographic sources provide us with knowledge about entertainment in medieval North. It included both physical (e.g. horse fighting, wrestling, ball and swimming competitions) and mental (e.g. storytelling, poetry competitions) activities. The available source data shows that organizing entertainment was not only about spending free time in a pleasant way. Broadly defined entertainment played various social, cultural, ideological and political roles.
The aim of the conference is to look at this phenomenon, with particular emphasis on:
- sources that provide us with knowledge in this area, especially the mutual relations between them;
- various spaces of entertainment;
- social and ideological aspects of entertainment;
- changes in the definition of entertainment and its forms influenced by Christianization, court culture, crusading ideology and others.
Viðar Pálsson (University of Iceland) will be the keynote speaker of the conference.
Proposals should be submitted to the organizing committee by 30 November 2025 via email sent to:
Y2JucyB8IHVzICEgZWR1ICEgcGw=. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 31 December 2025. Details concerning registration, the fee payment as well as logistics of the conference will be provided together with the notification of acceptance. The conference fee, 350 PLN, will cover accommodation and all meals during the conference.
The Organising committee:
Grzegorz Bartusik
Carina Damm
Annett Krakow
Jakub Morawiec
You can download the call for papers from here:
https://uniwersytetslaski-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/grzegorz_bartusik_o365_us_edu_pl/Ebu8FcT8bw1Bpog1q5ow_MsB7wgLOjbrriMBymuLW2IU3Q?e=vJdrnl
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