SannaSupponen

ResearcherResearch Department

Areas of expertise

Research field: history

  • Birgittines, Vadstena Abbey
  • late-medieval theological literature, sermon literature
  • reception history and use of texts
  • paratexts, textual composition, mise-en-page
  • manuscript fragments
  • research databases

I am a historian specialising in late medieval Swedish literary culture. I am currently studying the influence of the St. Victor’s School of Paris in the late medieval Sweden. My aim is to find out what texts were read, when and in what context as well as what new interpretations were given to the texts and how the texts were used in a new a context. The project is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Kalevi Kuitunen Foundation.

In my dissertation (2023), I studied the alphabetical reference work, Alphabetum dictinccionum, by Master Mathias of Linköping (ca. 1350). Only about a quarter of the work survives and my main aim was to reconstruct the content of the work as comprehensively as possible. I also investigated origin, use and doctrinal context of the work.

I am particularly interested in the use of texts, which I examine through the layout of the texts and the paratextual elements surrounding them (e.g. titles and indexes). These elements influence how the text was interpreted and navigated. In the manuscripts, paratextual elements could be added at different stages and by different people. Thus, the author, copyist and reader influenced the form that the texts took. It is fascinating that no two manuscripts are the same.

Another area of my interest is digital humanism, particularly the use of databases in research. Research databases help us to structure and manage even large amounts of data, and with the help of search tools, we can identify phenomena in the data that we would not otherwise be able to identify.

In addition to my research work, I am writing a non-fiction book in Finnish on bestiaries, moralised compendium of animals. I am a member of the editorial boards of the Finnish Literary Society of Viborg and the Mirator journal published by Glossa, the Society of Medieval Studies in Finland. I am a member of the Medieval Materialities and Intellectualities research network at the University of Helsinki.

Selected publications:

Sanna Supponen, Alphabetum distinccionum of Master Mathias of Sweden: its composition, use and literary context. PhD thesis, University of Helsinki 2023.

Olli-Pekka Kasurinen, Lauri Leinonen & Sanna Supponen, “Modernien tutkimustietokantojen ja tiedonjalostusmenetelmien mahdollisuudet historiantutkimukselle: tapaus Diplomatarium Fennicum.” Historiallinen Aikakauskirja 117:3 (2019).

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