Profile picture of Professor Dr. Roland Scheel

Professor Dr. Roland Scheel

Current affiliations

  • Professorship of Scandinavian studies (Prof. Scheel)
  • Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics"

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

  • Scandinavian historiography and hagiography in the Middle Ages
  • Saga literature
  • Legal history
  • Historical semantics
  • Romanesque art in Scandinavia
  • Byzantium at the time of the Crusades
  • Cultural transfer in medieval Europe
  • The notion of the “Viking” and Norse mythology in European modernity

Academic Education

12/2008 - 05/2014Doctorate: “Scandinavia and Byzantium: Conditions and consequences of medieval cultural relations”
04/2003 - 11/2008Studies in medieval and modern history and in Scandinavian studies, University of Frankfurt am Main; MA: “Scandinavia and Western Europe in the 12th century: Cultural contacts and historical consciousness in Denmark, Iceland and Norway”
08/2007 - 12/2007Studies, University of Copenhagen

Work Experience

since 10/2022Professorship in Scandinavian studies, University of Münster
04/2020 - 09/2022Acting professorship in Scandinavian studies, University of Göttingen
01/2015 - 03/2020Junior professorship in Scandinavian medieval studies, University of Göttingen
03/2014 - 12/2014Research assistant in the project “Computational historical semantics” (http://comphistsem.org/home.html), Department of History, University of Frankfurt am Main, led by Prof. Dr. Bernhard Jussen
10/2011 - 07/2013Scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation
10/2010 - 10/2011Research assistant in older Scandinavian studies, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, University of Frankfurt am Main
12/2008 - 10/2010Research assistant in the project “‘Grikkland’ and ‘Varangia’: Byzantine-Scandinavian cultural contacts in the High Middle Ages”; part of the German Research Foundation project “Integration and disintegration of cultures in the European Middle Ages”, led by Prof. Dr. Wolfram Brandes

Functions and Memberships

since 03/2017Member, Advisory board, Medievalists’ Society (Mediävistenverband)
since 11/2016Member, Brackweder Working Group for Medieval Research (Arbeitskreis für Mittelalterforschung)
since 01/2015Member, Association of German-speaking Scandinavian Studies (Fachverband Skandinavistik)

Appointments

10/2022Offer to a Professorship for Skandinavistik, University of Münster (accepted)

Publications

Scheel, Roland
In: Heizmann, Wilhelm (eds.), The Virgin Mary. Utzverlag.
Type of Publication: Research article (book contribution)
Scheel, Roland
In: Shepard, Jonathan; Frankopan, Peter; Cameron, Averil (eds.), Byzantine Spheres: The Byzantine Commonwealth Re-evaluated. Oxford: (no publisher available).
Type of Publication: Research article (book contribution)
Sahm, Heike; Langeslag, Paul; Scheel, Roland; Schwarzbach-Dobson; Michael (eds.) (2025)
Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Verlag.
Type of Publication: Text book (edited collection)
Langeslag, Paul; Sahm, Heike; Scheel, Roland (2025)
In: Sahm, Heike; Langeslag, Paul; Scheel, Roland; Schwarzbach-Dobson, Michael (eds.), Die Anfänge germanischsprachiger Literaturen. Ein interdisziplinäres Studienbuch. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Verlag.
Type of Publication: Review article (book contribution)
Scheel, Roland (2025)
In: Sahm, Heike; Langeslag, Paul; Scheel, Roland; Schwarzbach-Dobson, Michael (eds.), Die Anfänge germanischsprachiger Literaturen. Ein interdisziplinäres Studienbuch. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Verlag.
Type of Publication: Review article (book contribution)
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Projects

Duration: 01/05/2023 - 31/12/2025 | 1st Funding period
Funded by: DFG - Cluster of Excellence
Type of project: Subproject in DFG-joint project hosted at University of Münster

Talks

What Does the Saga Version Imply? Normative Thought in Tristan and Jomsviking Narrative
Scheel, Roland (03/04/2025)
Reading Cross-Culturally: Transfer, Adaptation and Reciprocity across Medieval European Narrative Cultures, LMU München
Type of talk: scientific talk
Moments of Disintegration: Descriptions of Damage to Bodies in Heroic and Historical Saga Settings
Scheel, Roland (01/02/2025)
Law and the Body in the Norse World, University of Leicester
Type of talk: scientific talk
Ostrom, Skandinavien und der 'Westen': Wie rekonstruiert man eine ephemere Kulturbeziehung?
Scheel, Roland (09/12/2024)
Gastvortrag, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Type of talk: scientific talk
Isländisch statt Latein: ein literarischer Sonderweg und seine Folgen
Scheel, Roland (11/11/2024)
Ringvorlesung "Das skandinavische Mittelalter und seine Medien", Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Type of talk: scientific talk
Heroic Deaths in Saga Settings: A Case of Paganisation?
Scheel, Roland (25/05/2024)
Politics of Religion in Medieval Scandinavia. (Non-)Christian Perspectives on the Past, Münster
Type of talk: scientific talk
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Prizes

Dissertationspreis des Stiftungsfonds Kopper der Stiftung pro universitate 2015
Awarded by: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Award given to: Scheel, Roland
Announced at: 16/07/2015 | Date of awarding: 16/07/2015
Type of distinction: Research award or other distinction
Barbara und Piergiuseppe Scardigli-Preis für die kleinen geisteswissenschaftlichen Fächer 2015
Awarded by: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Award given to: Scheel, Roland
Announced at: 02/07/2015 | Date of awarding: 02/07/2015
Type of distinction: Research award or other distinction
Examenspreis des Stiftungsfonds Kopper der Stiftung pro universitate 2009
Awarded by: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Award given to: Scheel, R.
Announced at: 16/07/2009 | Date of awarding: 16/07/2009
Type of distinction: Research award or other distinction

Doctorates

[Working title] Paganisierungen: Erinnertes Heidentum als Element skandinavischer und europäischer Identitäten
Candidate: Hauke, Simon | Supervisors: Scheel, Roland
Period of time: 01/05/2023 - today
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at University of Münster
[Working title] „Mér þótti á Íslandi til tínt smátt ok stórt, satt ok logit.“´Geschichtsverständnis und literarische Bedeutungsgewebe in Sturla Þórðarsons Íslendinga saga
Candidate: Peter, Malina | Supervisors: Scheel, Roland
Period of time: 01/03/2023 - today
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at University of Münster
[Working title] Von Indien bis Island. Quellen importierten Erzählguts in der mittelalterlichen Literatur Skandinaviens
Candidate: Herting, David | Supervisors: Oberlies, Thomas; Scheel, Roland
Period of time: 01/12/2022 - today
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at another university (NOT University of Münster)
[Working title] Mythos ‚Wikinger‘ – Konzeption und Rückwirkung auf die museale Ausstellungspraxis
Candidate: Lichtenstein, Franziska | Supervisors: Scheel, Roland; Hoff, Karin
Period of time: 01/10/2018 - today
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at another university (NOT University of Münster)
Zur Darstellung von Macht in der Vatnsdœla saga und anderen ausgewählten isländischen Familiensagas
Candidate: Tellmann, Stephan | Supervisors: Scheel, Roland; Kramarz-Bein, Susanne | Reviewers: Scheel, Roland, Kramarz-Bein, Susanne
Period of time: 01/10/2016 - today
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at University of Münster
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