Professor Judith Jesch
Visiting Professor
Biography
Judith was educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania (USA), Durham (UK, BA in English Language and Medieval Literature), Oslo (Norway, Leverhulme Study Abroad Studentship) and London (PhD in Scandinavian Studies, UCL). Before coming to Nottingham in 1985, Judith worked as a Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main (Germany). During her time at Nottingham she has been Head of the School of English Studies (2001-4), and was promoted to Professor of Viking Studies in 2002. In 2020 Judith was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
Research Interests
Judith has extensive research experience in the general and cultural history of the Viking Age in Scandinavia and in areas settled by Scandinavians, with a broad knowledge of interdisciplinary approaches and an interest in questions of orality and literacy, and of migration, diaspora and cultural memory. She also has research experience in the broader history, literature, and culture of Norway and Scandinavian Scotland.
Judith's research has always focused on the relationships of language, texts and contexts in the Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia, with a particular focus on runic inscriptions, skaldic verse and historical sagas. Judith also writes on questions of orality and literacy, geography, migration and diaspora, and Scandinavian contacts with the British Isles.
Her most recent project is an annotated translation of the Saga of the Earls of Orkney, published by Birlinn in November 2025. In connection with this, she was PI on the AHRC-funded Research Development and Engagement Fellowship Ragna's Islands: A New Saga Narrative for the Twenty-first Century (February 2024 - June 2025). Also on the team for this project were Dr Matthew Blake and Corinna Rayner.
You can still see the project blog here https://uonenglish.substack.com/s/ragnas-islands and some follow-on work on place-names here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/csva/research/place-names-of-northern-scotland.aspx'.
Areas of expertise - Old Norse language and literature, runology, and interdisciplinary Viking Studies.
Judith is currently:
- A Fellow of the British Academy
- An international fellow (''utländsk arbetande ledamot') of Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien in Uppsala, Sweden.;
- An Editorial Board member of Nottingham Medieval Studies, Viking and Medieval Scandinavia and Acta Scandinavica
Judith is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries, and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.