Susanna Niiranen

I am a scholar of the Middle Ages and the early modern period (the 16th c.), focusing on social, cultural, and intellectual history in the spirit of the “new social history.” My research has explored the secular culture of the medieval and Renaissance periods, including (female) troubadours, medicine, manuscripts, books and libraries, as well as dynastic practices. Geographically, my work spans France, Italy, and the Baltic region, often comparing Northern and Southern Europe. The latest research project I am involved in examines Renaissance dyers and the regulation of colour use.

Previously, I have worked at the Department of History and Ethnology and the Department of Language and Communication Studies at the University of Jyväskylä, as well as at the University of Oxford (Faculty of History). I am also a Romance philologist, and I am particularly interested in linguistic phenomena such as the rise of vernacularisation in the Middle Ages and the status of minority languages in Europe. My special expertise is the language of the troubadours, Old Occitan. My background also includes studies in journalism, and I hold teaching qualifications in history, social studies, and French. I completed the international medieval studies course (FIDEM) in Rome, defended my doctoral dissertation on female Occitan troubadours in 2009, and was awarded the title of Docent in General History, with a specialisation in Cultural History, in 2014.

I am serving as a University Lecturer in International History (Medieval History) from 1 January 2025 to 31 July 2027. I lead bachelor’s seminars open to all thematic areas and am responsible for the medieval components of long-term history courses. In addition, I teach both joint and independent courses together with other teachers, and I supervise theses at various levels. My duties also include conducting research.

Medieval studies, early modern studies. Book history. Troubadour Culture. Old Occitan. (Medical) recipe collections. Jagiellonian dynasty (esp. Catherine Jagiellon, Bona Sforza).  Renaissance Dyers and dyeing manuals. Medievalism.

1.     Niiranen, S. (2024).“A Hanged Man’s Clothes. Leonardo da Vinci’s Fascination with Dressing.” Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies 22, 191-205. https://www.njrs.dk/22_2024/11_Niiranen.pdf

2.     Niiranen, S. (2023). “Cultural Perspectives on Printed Works in Sigismund II Augustus’ Library”. Late Medieval and Early Modern Libraries. Knowledge Repositories, Guardians of Tradition and Catalysts of Change. Ed. by Outi Merisalo, Nataša Golob & Leonardo Magionami. Turnhout: Brepols, 35-50.

3.     Niiranen, S. (2022). “Sigismund II Augustus’ volumes in the Åbo Akademi Library, Finland. Renaissance books in a transnational, national and regional context”. Scando-Slavica 68/2, 224-238. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00806765.2022.2139752

4.     Niiranen, S. (2022). “‘Optime educatus’. Book historical perspectives on Prince Sigismund's education in sixteenth-century Sweden”. Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies, 18, 321-336. https://www.njrs.dk/18_2022/17_Niiranen.pdf

5.     Niiranen, S. (2020). “Viipurilainen musiikkielämä Savonlinnassa”. Diasporan Viipuri – Muistojen kaupunki sotien jälkeen. VSKS:n Toimitteita 23. Toim. Satu Grünthal ja Kristiina Korjonen-Kuusipuro. Viipurin Suomalainen Kirjallisuusseura: Helsinki, 79-83.

6.     Niiranen, S. (2020). “Continuing Family Bonds after Death: Catherine and Isabella”, Isabella Jagiellon, Queen of Hungary (1539-1559). Studies. Ed. by Ágnes Máté and Teréz Oborni, Research Center for the Humanities: Budapest, (Mohács 1526-2026 Reconstruction and Remembrance), 21s.

7.    Niiranen, S. (2019). “Remembering a past princess: Catherine Jagiellon and the construction of national narratives in Sweden and Finland”. Remembering the Jagiellonians. Ed. N. Nowakowska. Routledge, 141-161.

8.     Niiranen, S. (2018). “Catherine Jagiellon, Queen Consort of Sweden: Counselling Between the Catholic Jagiellons and the Lutheran Vasas”. In H. Matheson-Pollock, J. Paul, & C. Fletcher (Eds.), Queenship and Counsel in Early Modern Europe (pp. 83-110). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.  

9.     Niiranen, S. (2018). “Medical Knowledge of Mental Disorders and Their Cure in Latin and Vernacular Culture in Later Medieval Europe”. In T. Laine-Frigren, J. Eilola, & M. Hokkanen (Eds.), Encountering Crises of the Mind: Madness, Culture and Society, 1200s-1900s (pp. 39-68). History of Science and Medicine Library, 57. Brill.

10.    Niiranen, S. (2014). “Mental Disorders in Remedy Collections: A Comparison of Occitan and Swedish Material”. In S. Katajala-Peltomaa, & S. Niiranen (Eds.) Mental (Dis)Order in Later Medieval Europe (pp. 151-176). Later Medieval Europe 12. Leiden: Brill.