Vox Regis: Royal Communication in High Medieval Norway

419 Pages·2015·2.055 MB·English

by  David Brégaint

Vox regis
<UN>
The Northern World
North Europe and the Baltic c. 400–1700 ad.
Peoples, Economics and Cultures
Editors
Jón Viđar Sigurđsson (Oslo)
Ingvild Øye (Bergen)
Piotr Gorecki (University of California at Riverside)
Steve Murdoch (St. Andrews)
Cordelia Heß (Gothenburg)
VOLUME 74
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nw
<UN>
Vox regis
Royal Communication in High Medieval Norway
By
David Brégaint
LEIDEN | BOSTON
<UN>
Cover illustration: Kong Sigurd og hans menn rir inn i Miklagard from Snorre Sturlaśon – Heimskringla,
J.M. Stenersen & Co, 1899. Drawing by Gerhard Munthe.
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more
information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 1569–1462
isbn 978-90-04-30508-3 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-30643-1 (e-book)
Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and
Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive,
Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa.
Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
<UN>
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 Historiography: State-making, Communication and Consent 7
Manufacturing Consent: The Norwegian Historiographic
Tradition 10
2 Perspectives on Communication and Power 14
Power, Communication and State Building 15
Communication, Propaganda and Communication System 18
3 Method and Sources 21
1 The Actors of Communication 22
2 The Vectors of Communication 24
1 A Genesis under Church Control 31
1 Introduction 31
2 Rituals of Succession 33
Tradition: Konungstekja 35
Innovation: The Crowning of Magnus Erlingsson 37
Redealing the Cards 41
Appropriating Public Acclamation 45
Jernbyrð: Trial by Ordeal 59
3 The Written Word and Royal Communication 69
Royal Charters and Chanceries 70
Royal Genealogies 74
‘Crowned Ass’ and Learned Bishops 86
4 Nidaros: A Kings’ “Factory” 88
Promoting Nidaros a Center of Rituals of Royal Succession 91
…and it came to Nothing 99
5 Conclusion 100
2 King Sverre and the Making of Independent Royal Communication 103
1 Introduction 103
2 Tala Sverris konungſ: The King’s Speeches 105
Eloquence and Charisma: Portraits of Kings 106
Royal Speeches and War Propaganda 109
King Sverre, a Vulture Perched on High 115
vi Contents
Great Opportunities: King Sverre’s Own Death and Burial 118
Taking Matters in Hand: The Crowning of King Sverre 123
3 Grýla, Political Propaganda in Religious Clothing 130
The Use of History 132
Grýla 133
A Model Suited to Broad Reception…and Propaganda 146
Conclusion 147
4 Fighting Fire with Fire: Anticlerical Propaganda 148
A Campaign of Propaganda 149
A Speech against the Bishops 153
5 Evidence of a Royal Intellectual Milieu 167
6 Conclusion 171
3 Monarchic Communication 174
1 Introduction 174
2 Communication at Court: Royal Court and Courtly Culture 175
The Stakes 176
3 The Court 181
Sources and Terminology 183
The Court, a Royal Monopoly? 184
4 Monarchic Program and Aristocratic Demand 186
Courtliness, the Church and the Aristocracy 187
Royal Mediation and Connection to Foreign Courts 190
Cultural Monopoly and Economic Power 192
5 Domesticating the Body 194
Securing Presence at Court 195
Ritualizing Court Life 197
Dress Code 200
Table Code 202
Control over Oral Communication at Court 203
Courtiers as Means of Communication 206
6 Domesticating the Mind: Kings, Courtiers and Courtly Literature 213
Kings and Courtiers 214
The Structures of Production of Court Literature 231
Royal Ideology and Court Literature 241
Diffusion and Reception 254
7 The Axes of Political Rituality 262
Using Rituals: Ceremonial Politics 263
Controlling Rituals. Ceremonial Location 307
The Means of Ritual Control 334
Contents vii
8 The Chancery and Administrative Literacy 344
9 Conclusion 360
Conclusions 363
Bibliography 373
Index 401
Acknowledgements
This book is a revised edition of my doctoral dissertation from 2014 which I
wrote at the Department for Historical Studies, ntnu.
My first thank will naturally go to my supervisor, Steinar Imsen, who has
always been a kind, generous and inspiring advisor. I would like to thank my
opponents, Sverre Bagge and Jean-Philippe Genet for their useful comments,
and Martin Aurell for his constant support and encouragements. Thanks also
to all my colleagues from the department for their unceasing and valuable sup-
port and inspiration. I would especially mention Espen Storli, Ian Grohse,
Randi B. Wærdahl, Erik Opsahl, Roman Hankeln, Audun Dybdal, Heidi A.
Beistad, Øystein Ekroll, Sebastian Salvádo, Audrey Baudouin, Pierre-Alexandre
Lorjoux, Leif Inge R. Pedersen and Jan R. Hagland. I am also grateful to the
C.E.S.C.M. in Poitiers who welcomed me and my family, spring 2010.
For this edition I want to express my gratitude to the anonymous reader and
to Marcella Mulder for her kind guidance and support.
Trondheim, 24. June 2015
David Brégaint
<UN>
Abbreviations
Ágrip Ágrip af Nóregskonungasqgum
Anecdoton Anecdoton Sverreri
Asb Árna saga biskups
Bs Böglunga sögur
cc Corpus codicum Norvegicorum medii aevi
Cc Corpus juris canonici
cl Chronicon de Lanercost
cm Chronica Majora
cr Chronica magistri Rogeri de Houedene
dc De vita Caesarum
dd Diplomatarium Danicum
dk Diplomata karolinorum
dn Diplomatarium Norvegicum i–xx
F Frostatinglova
Gks Gottskalsk Annaler
hg The Saga of Håkon the Good
hi Herr Ivan
Historia Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium
hn Historia Norwegie
ho H oltsmark (En tale mot biskopene, “A speech against the
bishops”)
Hra Historia rerum anglicarum
HsH Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar
Hsk Hirðskrá
ia Islandske Annaler
Ísl Íslendinga saga
Kgs Konungs Skuggsía
klnm Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder i–xxi
Ks Karlamagnus saga
ld Latinske dokumenter (ed. E. Vandvik)
Lsb Laurentius saga biskups
Lsp Las Siete Partidas
me Magnus Erlingssons saga
mg The saga of Magnus the Good
MLs Magnúss saga Lagabætiss
nbl Norsk Biografisk Leksikon
NCh Norske Kongers Chronica
<UN>