The university:not only a place for groundbreaking research, but also a true training factory. Who are the kneaders and molders of the new generation of academics? Where do students hang on to their teacher's lips, and where do they fall asleep? Kennislink puts it to the test and goes back to the lecture halls. This time we sit down with Rolf Bremmer, medievalist at Leiden University. “Cultural history teaches you to look at your own culture differently. You wonder how weird we really are.”
Although Bremmer is originally a linguist – he lectures in Old Frisian and Old English, among other things – it is not the language that fascinates him most about this subject. Bremmer finds the cultural history of the Old Frisians the most beautiful. “Little has been left of the culture, but there is still so much more to squeeze out than has been done so far!”
Cramped, warm room
I'm curious, so off to the Old Frisian class. The course is taught in a small room in the Huizinga building of the History Department. With hanging and strangling 18 people fit in it and it is therefore well full. “I have never had so many students for this course! And to think that it is not a compulsory subject, but a free choice. In Old Frisian it is a challenge to make the lecture interesting for everyone, because the backgrounds of the students are very different. Linguists, historians, classicists, but also science students or law students with an interest in language and culture are in my class.”
The windows open, because it quickly gets warm in the room. Yet the noise from outside does not disturb. Bremmer keeps everyone on their toes. “I generally start the lecture with the culture part, about which the students have placed questions on Blackboard in advance. Lecture is more than just giving a monologue, it's a two-way street. If you, as a teacher, show that you like the subject itself, you motivate. And I like to get students to think about the material. The questions they ask make me think again. Sometimes about things I haven't thought about before. That keeps it exciting.” This week celibacy is discussed:Frisian priests did not practice it in the Middle Ages. Also typical Frisian was the right to the secular appointment of church leaders. Until De Opstand in the 16th century, when the Protestant ministers replaced the priests, each mound could appoint its own priest. As long as the residents could afford it. As a result, Friesland is still the most densely converted area of the Netherlands.
Fine for fetus
After the history part comes the language part. The linguists have been waiting impatiently for this part for over half an hour. Bremmer explains the grammar in a clear way and with striking examples. In this way non-linguists (such as this historian) can follow it just fine. The last part of the lecture is devoted to practice. That means getting started with Old Frisian texts. Not many texts have survived and what there is are mainly legal texts. Yet it is anything but dry.
This time it is about compensation for the loss of an unborn child to an abused woman. This subject appears in many Frisian texts, as it turns out. Frisian culture from the (early) Middle Ages knew no custodial or corporal punishment. Criminals were allowed to compensate for their actions with a fine and pay it to the victim and his or her family. If that didn't happen, a feud broke out. Such a feud could last for generations and cost a lot of innocent blood.
Back to the original lyrics. Different phases of the unborn fetus come along, with the corresponding monetary compensation. Each student reads a sentence and translates it. It is funny that the words often look strange, but when Bremmer presents the correct pronunciation, it suddenly no longer sounds so unfamiliar. It often resembles English. Examples are the words like dei, toth and chaik meaning day, tooth and jaw/cheek. When you pronounce it it almost sounds like the English day, tooth and cheek. “That's right,” says Bremmer. “Old Frisian and (especially Old) English have many similarities. Although you can no longer make yourself understood in Great Britain with Old English, you can still recognize different words or their origin.” This is a great advantage for the students, who all speak English.
The teacher separately
After the lecture it is time for a small interrogation. I am very curious what this non-Frisian finds so beautiful about this special profession.
Why did you choose to study and teach Old Frisian? “During my English studies I also came into contact with the subject of Old English, and my teacher, himself a Frisian, often pointed out similarities with Old Frisian. It made me curious that these two ancient languages have so much in common. I found the unknown world that surfaced before me very intriguing. And few scientists were concerned with Old Frisian. While you could do so many fun things with it. I wanted to make sure that this beautiful language would get more international exposure.” For example, in 1990 Bremmer, in collaboration with colleagues from the field, published a first memorial book on the occasion of 150 years of Old Frisian science. It became a bestseller and a sequel has been released every six years since then. The nice thing about the collections is that scientists from home and abroad, old hands and young dogs can make their contributions.
What do you like best about the profession? “The cultural history. When I started working with old texts, it was unclear where they came from. No one before me had done that job, so it was really uncharted territory. I have made many new discoveries, but not everyone always agrees with my theories. That's a good thing, because it keeps the discussion alive." There was also no book with a story about the rise of the writing culture in Friesland. With his book Hir is eskriven about reading and writing in medieval Friesland a good start has now been made. Such a book has yet to be written for the Netherlands.
“I have a huge click with the language. Why? Well. Not necessarily because of the content, but also because of the beauty of the Old Frisian legal language itself. Jacob Grimm, who is not only a fairy tale writer but also a linguist, saw this already in the 19th century. In this age of nationalism, the study of Germanic languages and cultures emerged and the ancient sages with their heroes were rediscovered. Grimm was lyrical about this, just like about the Old Frisian legal texts.
Why should students take a small language like Old Frisian? “Knowledge of languages in itself is an enrichment. It is beautiful and you get to know and appreciate another culture. And I also see Old Frisian as a special piece of Dutch culture.
It was a world where justice was enforced with the threat of the blood feud in the background. The old texts provide a special view of a society that probably also existed in Holland in the time of Charlemagne. In addition, by studying another language and culture, you learn to look (differently) at your own culture:what we have, is that actually weird?”
Who would like to send you (back) to the lecture halls? “I would like to give Geert Wilders a cultural history course. In the Middle Ages, the land of the Frisians stretched out widely and they lived far beyond the borders of today. Cultures are open and do not stop at our national borders:they are incredibly young if you place them in historical perspective.”
Is there another world besides teaching? “I write columns in newspapers and magazines in which I try to popularize science. This also worked out nicely with an exam film about Boniface for the Amsterdam film academy. I translated the script of this film into Old English and Old Frisian and the actors came to Leiden for a day to practice pronunciation. In this way, Old Frisian literally came back to life and, a bonus, brought it to the attention of a large audience.”
Bremmer at the university Professor Bremmer is one of the few teachers of Old Frisian in the Netherlands and an international authority in this field. He has already written several books, about cultural history but also about the grammar of the Old Frisians.
Bremmer himself studied English at the University of Groningen and subsequently obtained his doctorate at Radboud University in Nijmegen on an edifying Middle English text (around 1400) about the five senses. This text had never been published before.
Since 1986 he has worked at Leiden University in the English course. In 2001 a vacancy became available for Frisian for 0.1 FT. That is exactly 1 course per academic year.
This year, in addition to Old Frisian, Bremmer will give lectures on Old English language and culture (700-1100), Middle English language and culture (1100-1500) and Anglo-Saxon myths, rites and runes.
More information can be found on Rolf Bremmer's personal University page
Also on Kennislink: - Jan Decleir learns Old English from Leiden professor (Boniface film)- When Frisian still resembled English- Learn Frisian as far as Croatia
More lectures from the series: - In the lecture halls at Freek Colombijn, Anthropology, VU University Amsterdam- In the lecture halls at Menno Fenger, public administration, Erasmus University Rotterdam