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Ellisiv was the daughter of Grand Prince Jaroslav of Kyiv and his Swedish-born wife Ingegerd. European princes wanted alliances with Kyiv, so Ellisiv’s many siblings married kings and princesses. Ellisiv’s and Harald’s marriage in Kyiv's Sophia Cathedral testifies to the close contacts between Kyiv and Norway around the end of the Viking Age. But very little is known about Ellisiv as the queen of Norway.
Program
12.00–12.30: Registration and coffee
12.30: Welcome by His Excellency Oleksiy Gavrysh, Ambassador of Ukraine to Norway
Greetings from the organizers Yuliya Pidlisna, Ukrainian Culture Association, Kristine Ødeby Haugan, Museum of Cultural History and Collegium Medievale, and Anders Winroth, University of Oslo.
12.45–14.15: From Kyiv to Norway: Contexts
Chair: Anders Winroth, University of Oslo
- From Kyiv to Oslo, 1050–1060: A Comparative Perspective by David Hill, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research
- Norway and Rus: Material Evidence of Contacts in the Early Medieval Period by Fedir Androshchuk, Uppsala Research Centre for the World in the Viking Age
- Harald, Ellisiv and Eleventh-Century High Politics by Sverrir Jakobsson, University of Iceland
- Questions and discussion
- 14.15–15.00: Coffee break
15.00–16.30: Ukraine from Norway: Connections
Chair: Svitlana Arabadzhy, University of Oslo
- The Mysterious Varangian Warrior on the Wall in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv by Bjørn Bandlien, University of South-Eastern Norway,
- Daughter, Wife and Queen: Ellisiv in Norse Poetry and Sagas by Caitlin Ellis, University of Oslo
- Between Kyiv and the Fjords: Networks Linking Rus’ and Scandinavia in the 11th–12th Century by Natalia Khamaiko, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and The Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO)
- Questions and discussions
16.30–17.30: Panel discussion: Ukraine and Norway in the Middle Ages: Where do we go from here?
Registration and practical information
The conference registration is full. If you would like to be registered on a waiting list, please contact Kristine Ødeby Haugan. The conference will be held in English.
This mini-conference is part of Ukrainian Cultural Days in Oslo and is supported by The Fritt Ord Foundation and The Bergesen Foundation. The Ukrainian Cultural Days, held from 30 August to 29 November, feature a variety of events, including the unveiling of a monument to Queen Ellisiv to be erected at Harald Hardrådes Plass.
The mini-conference is organized by the Embassy of Ukraine in Norway, Ukrainian Cultural Association, Institute of Archaeology, Conservation and History and Museum of Cultural History, both at the University of Oslo, Collegium Medievale: The Association of Researchers In Medieval Studies, and the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU).