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Scandinavian Kingship Transformed Succession, Acquisition and Consolidation in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

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Scandinavian Kingship Transformed Succession, Acquisition and Consolidation in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries Scandinavian Kingship Transformed Succession, Acquisition and Consolidation in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries Thomas Glærum Malo Tollefsen Submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff University – School of History, Archaeology, and Religion March 2020 0 Abstract This is a comparative study of Scandinavian kingship in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, based on the themes of succession, acquisition, and consolidation of power. These themes con- stitute the study’s overarching questions: How did a king become a king? How did he keep his kingdom? And finally, how did he pass it on? In order to provide answers to these question this study will consider first the Scandina- vian rules of succession, what they were, to whom they gave succession rights, as well as the order of succession. Second, the study will look at different ways in which kings acquired the kingship, such as through trial by combat and designation succession. Third, the study will look at what happens when succession rules were completely disregarded and children were being made kings, by looking at the processes involved in achieving this as well as asking who the real kingmakers of twelfth century Denmark were. Finally, the study will determine how kings consolidated their power. This study shows, that despite some Scandinavian peculiarities, kingship in Scandinavia was not fundamentally different from European kingship in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It also shows that the practice of kingship was dependent on political circumstances making it impossible to draw general conclusions spanning centuries and vast geographical regions. We can look at principles that gave us a general framework, but individual cases were determined by circumstance. i Acknowledgement They say it takes a village to raise a child – I would argue it also takes a village to write a PhD. I would like start by thanking the village elders, otherwise known as my supervisors, and especially the village leader, Jenny Benham, for encouraging me to persevere when things got though, for picking me up and putting me back together when frustration and irritation got the better of me, and for fostering a dialogue between us that allowed for the level of trust I needed to find my way towards this, the final product. Our conversations have ranged from the serious to the humorous, from which way to stack wood (bark side up) to “you put milk in that?!” (apparently, yes) to the phrase “Yes ma’am!” becoming shorthand answer to any joke. Who knew the Swedes were capable of such range?! I’m proud to say that I belong to the small (but very proud) minority of PhD-students who’ve had a supervisory meeting in an amusement park and discussed kingship whilst sat in a rollercoaster going 88 mph. Oh, and for being mar- ried to a man who doubles as the greatest Greek choir in the history of supervisions and has the most AMAZING birds! I also owe my family a great deal of gratitude for their support and assistance, both those who are present and those who have gone the way of the Norwegian parrot. Though at times they haven’t got a clue of what I was talking about, they nevertheless bragged about me to friends and colleagues (“He’s doing king stuff”, my mum once told a colleague), and nodded encouragingly whenever I started talking about my research. Mum, dad, K – thank you! To my friends, and especially housemates in Cardiff, thank you for keeping me sane and showing me that saving lives (aka medicine) was more important than dead people (history). To my Norwegian friends, thank you for your patience, understanding, and support as I skipped back and forth between Norway and Cardiff, never staying long enough up north for a proper catch-up. To all the PhD-students, early career researchers, staff and academics I’ve had the pleas- ure of meeting as part of this journey – whether you ruined conferences for me forever or kept filling my beer glass because you wanted to hear more about my research – thank you for mak- ing this experience more pleasurable. To the rest of the musketeers – good luck. An extra thank you goes out to those who graciously shared their research with me, in particular Helle Vogt of the University of Copenhagen, who provided me with a copy of The Danish Medieval Laws; Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist of Stockholm University, who provided me with a copy of his book Lagfäst Kungamakt under Högmedeltiden; Mia Münster-Swendsen of Roskilde University, who kindly provided me with two of her articles on archbishop Eskil ii of Lund; and my supervisor, Jenny Benham, who provided me with excerpts from her forth- coming book (which you should all pre-order now so she’d be incentivised to finish it – whilst I do an extra victory laps since I finished first). What happened to that village metaphor I hear you ask? I haven’t got the foggiest. Just turn the page and move on. iii Table of contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................ I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................................................................... II TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................................... IV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ...................................................................................................................................... V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................................... VI A NOTE ON NAMES AND SPELLING ...................................................................................................................... IX A TIMELINE OF RELEVANT EVENTS OF THE TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH CENTURIES ............................................ X Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 I. Scandinavian rules of succession in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ................................................................................................................... 35 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 35 THE RULES OF SUCCESSION ............................................................................................................................... 36 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................................... 56 II: Succession in practice in twelfth and thirteenth century Scandinavia ...................................................................................................................................... 58 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 58 TWO INSTANCES OF SUCCESSION TO THE KINGSHIP BY TRIAL OF COMBAT......................................................... 59 THE DESIGNATED SUCCESSOR: ASSOCIATIVE KINGSHIP AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION .................................... 77 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................................... 85 III: Kingmaking in Scandinavia ......................................................................... 87 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 87 THE NORWEGIAN CASE ..................................................................................................................................... 89 THE SWEDISH CASE ........................................................................................................................................... 98 WHO WAS THE REAL KINGMAKER IN TWELFTH-CENTURY DENMARK? ............................................................ 108 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................... 115 IV. Consolidation of power ............................................................................... 117 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 117 THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE KINGSHIP OF KING MAGNUS V ERLINGSSON OF NORWAY ................................ 117 THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE KINGSHIP OF VALDEMAR BIRGERSSON OF SWEDEN .......................................... 126 THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE KINGSHIP OF KING VALDEMAR I OF DENMARK ................................................. 138 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................... 154 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 155 Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 166 PRIMARY SOURCES .........................................................................................................................................
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