Specialism

Frisian Philology

Biography

Rolf Bremmer (Zwolle, 1950) studied English Language and Literature and Germanic Studies in Groningen and Oxford from 1970-1977. From 1977-1979 he was a teacher of English in Groningen, afterwards, until 1986, lecturer Old and Middle English and History of the English Language at the Catholic University Nijmegen (Now Radboud University). In 1987 he obtained his doctorate from this university. From 1986 until his retirement in 2015 he was, respectively, assistent, associate, and full professor of English Philology. In 1994 he held the Erasmus Chair of Dutch History and Culture at Harvard University. In 2001 he was appointed to the special chair of Frisian Language and Literature at Leiden University on behalf of the Frisan Academy. Since 2017 he ahs been an honorary researcher at the Frisian Academy, Leeuwarden. He has published widely both in the field of medieval Englsih and medievel Frisian language and culture.

Recent publications

Bremmer Jr, R.H. (2023). “Reading Old Frisian laws as literature”. In S. Cöllen & B. Andersson (Eds.), Aspects of philology: Medieval manuscript studies. Special issue Studia Neophilologica 95.2: 281-306.

Bremmer Jr, R.H. (2023). “In an overfurious mood”: emotion in medieval Frisian law and life. In E. Sebo, M. Firth & D. Anlezark (Eds.), Emotional Alterity in the Medieval North Sea World. PalgraveMacmillan, 95-124.

Bremmer R.H. & Mulder-Bakker A.B. (2022), Een christelijk venster op de middeleeuwse Friese landen. In D. Spiekhout (Ed.), Vrijheid, vetes, vagevuur: de middeleeuwen in het Noorden. Leeuwarden: Fries Museum / HL Books, 110-121, 150.

Bremmer Jr, R.H. (2021). Bilan des études sur le vieux-frison (1992-2021). In A. Mathys & D. Petit (Eds.), Les langues germaniques anciennes et leurs philologie. Revue germanique internationale 34, 93-118.

Bremmer Jr, R.H. (2021), Taking stock of Old Frisian studies 1992-2021. Us Wurk. Tydskrift foar Frisistyk 70(1-2): 1-28.

Bremmer R.H. (2021), More than language: law and textual communities in medieval Frisia. In T. Gobbitt (Ed.), Law | Book | Culture in the Middle Age, Explorations in Medieval Culture no. 14. Leiden: Brill, 98-125.

Bremmer Jr, R.H & A.B. Mulder-Bakker (Eds.).(2021). Geleefd geloof. Het geloofsleven van boeren en burgers in Friesland en de Ommelanden van Groningen. Zutphen: WalburgPers. (3e druk 2022).

Bremmer Jr, R.H. (2020). “Thi Wilde Witsing": Vikings and Otherness in the Old Frisian Laws. Journal of English and Germanic Philology 119(1), 1-26.

Bremmer Jr, R.H (2019), The mysterious dog in two Old Frisian eternity formulas. Us Wurk. Tydskrift foar Frisistyk 68(1-2): 1-12.

Bremmer Jr, R.H. (2018), Codifying the law: Frisian manuscripts around 1300. In E. Kwakkel (Ed.), Vernacular manuscript culture 1000-1500. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 143-186.

Bremmer Jr, R.H. (2017). Bremmer R.H. (2017), Language contact in medieval Frisia: Middle Low German spelling interferences in Old East Frisian manuscripts. Le lingue del mare del Nord / The North Sea Languages, Filologia Germanica / Germanic Philology 9: 1-18.

Bremmer Jr, R.H. (2017). Old English būtan / Old Frisian būta: From adverb to conjunction. Another Anglo-Frisian parallel? Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 77(3-4), 601-615.