Dr Katarzyna Anna Kapitan
About
With a background in history, archaeology, and Icelandic studies, Dr Katarzyna Anna Kapitan specialises in Old Norse-Icelandic literature and culture and holds a PhD degree in Nordic Studies from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Dr Kapitan's research spans various aspects of Nordic culture (medieval and early modern), including manuscript studies, digital scholarly editing, textual criticism, transmission and reception history. Currently, she is a Junior Research Fellow at Linacre College, University of Oxford, where she is working on her project entitled Virtual Library of Torfæus, funded by the Carlsberg Foundation.
Previously, Dr Kapitan held a position of H.M. Queen Margrethe II Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Iceland, the National Museum of Iceland, and the Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle. Her research project was dealing with the reception of Old Norse literature in Denmark and Iceland.
Expertise
- Old Norse culture, literature and language, Old Norse sagas, lost literature, Vikings
- Scandinavian studies, medieval and early modern Iceland and Denmark
- Manuscript studies, materiality of artefacts, book history
- Reception and adaptations of medieval stories in early modern and modern culture
- Digital humanities, application of digital tools and methods to study culture
Selected publications
- “When a King of Norway Became a King of Russia: Danish Historiography and Early Transmission and Reception of Hrómundar saga Greipssonar.” Scandinavian Studies (scheduled 2022)
- “Forgotten books: the application of unseen species models to the survival of culture” Kestemont, Mike, Karsdorp, Folgert, de Bruijn, Elisabeth, Driscoll, Matthew, Kapitan, Katarzyna Anna, et al. Science 375:6582 (2022), pp. 765-769
- “From Oral Prosimetrum to Viking Metal.” ARV - Nordic Yearbook of Folklore 77 (2021), pp. 33-56.
- “Afterlife of a lost saga: A hitherto unknown adaptation of the lost saga of Hrómundur Gripsson.” Saga-Book 45 (2021), pp. 59-90.
- “Perspectives on Digital Catalogs and Textual Networks of Old Norse literature.” Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies 6:1 (2021), pp. 74-97.
- “Dating paper manuscripts based on watermarks: A case study of selected nineteenth-century Icelandic manuscripts.” Care and conservation 17 (2021), pp. 15-26.
- “Hrómundur in prose and verse: On the relationships between four versions of the story of Hrómundur Greipsson.” Gripla 32 (2021), pp. 257–288.
- “Manuscripts derived from printed editions in the transmission history of Hrómundar saga Greipssonar.” Hidden Harmonies: Manuscript and print on the North Atlantic fringe, 1500-1900, edited by M. J. Driscoll and Nioclás Mac Cathmh
Media experience
Dr Katarzyna Anna Kapitan has experience working with print and broadcast media including being interviewed for The Times, the BBC and Scientific American.
Recent media work
Languages
English, Polish, Danish, Icelandic