Across The North Sea

The scattered research history of the Old Frisian runic inscriptions dating to the early Medieval period (ca. AD 400–1000) calls for a comprehensive and systematic reprocessing of these objects within their socio-cultural context and against the backdrop of the Old English Runic tradition. This book presents an annotated edition of 24 inscriptions found in the modern-day Netherlands, England and Germany. It provides the reader with an introduction to runological methodology, a linguistic commentary on the features attested in the inscriptions, and a detailed catalogue which outlines the find history of each object and summarizes previous and new interpretations supplemented by pictures and drawings. This book additionally explores the question of Frisian identity and an independent Frisian runic writing tradition and its relation to the contemporary Anglo-Saxon runic culture. In its entirety, this work provides a rich basis for future research in the field of runic writing around the North Sea and may therefore be of interest to scholars of historical linguistics and early Medieval history and archaeology.

This book offers an up-to-date review of our current understanding of climate change in the North Sea and adjacent areas, as well as its impact on ecosystems and socio-economic sectors. It provides a detailed assessment of climate change based on published scientific work compiled by independent international experts from climate-related disciplines such as oceanography, atmospheric sciences, marine and terrestrial ecology, using a regional evaluation and review process similar to that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of our changing climate, discussing a wide range of topics including past, current and future climate change, and climate-related changes in marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. It also explores the impact of climate change on socio-economic sectors such as fisheries, agriculture, coastal zone management, coastal protection, urban climate, recreation/tourism, offshore activities/energy, and air pollution.

Saturnine and quick-tempered, the formidable North Sea is often overlooked – even by those living within a stone's throw of its steel-grey waters. But as playground, theatre of war and cultural crossing-point, it has shaped the world in myriad ways, forged villains and heroes, and determined the fates of nations. It's not all grim, though: the seaside holiday was born on North Sea beaches, and artists, poets and writers have been as equally inspired by glinting sun on the wave-tops as they have the drama of a winter storm. With a wry eye and a warm coat, Tom Blass travels the edges of the North Sea meeting fishermen, artists, bomb disposal experts, burgermeisters – and those who have found themselves flung to the sea's perimeters quite by chance. In doing so he attempts to piece together its manifold histories and to reveal truths, half-truths and fictions otherwise submerged...

This is a historical study of great wind storms over the last 500-600 years, with meteorological maps and wind measurements.

Originally published in 1980, this book presents a comparative analysis of British and Norwegian oil policies, focusing on the interdependence and bargaining relationship between governments and oil companies, as well as the policy choices, concerns and constraints for the two governments. The perspective is largely that of a government planner, whose main concerns are the long-term and complex interests of the state, orderly development as well as social and political stability.

This volume describes the outlines of the 'state of the art' in the field of rural history for countries such as England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Northern France. The contributing authors, all outstanding specialists in the field, present an overview of the most important publications regarding the areas covered. They also point to the most important research topics as well as indicating the most important lacunae in the field of rural history during the last decades. The original texts of this book formed the basis of the international research group CORN, which studies the economic development of the Northern European countryside in a comparative way. The regional monographs are preceded by a short methodological introduction concerning the comparative methods used by this network as well as the possible pitfalls and problems.

East Anglia was a distinctive English region during the Middle Ages, but it was one that owed much of its character and identity to its place in a much wider "North Sea World" that stretched from the English Channel to Iceland, the Baltic and beyond. Relations between East Anglia and its maritime neighbours have for the most part been peaceful, involving migration and commercial, artistic, architectural and religious exchanges, but have also at times been characterised by violence and contestation. This interdisciplinary collection of essays discusses East Anglia in the context of this maritime framework and explores the extent to which there was a distinctive community bound together by the shared frontier of the North Sea during the Middle Ages.

This volume brings together eleven studies on the history of language and writing in the North Sea area, with focus on contacts and interchanges through time. Its range spans from the investigation of pre-Germanic place-names to present-day Shetland; the materials studied include glosses, legal and trade documents as well as place names and modern dialects. The volume is unique in its combination of linguistics and place-name studies with literacy studies, which allows for a very dynamic picture of the history of language contact and texts in the North Sea area. Different approaches come together to illuminate a major insight: the omnipresence of multilingualism as a context for language development and a formative characteristic of literacy. Among the contributors are experts on English, Nordic and German language history. The book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students working on the history of Northern European languages, literacy studies and language contact