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>