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How to Legitimate Rebellion and Condemn Usurpation of the Crown: Discourses of Fidelity and Treason in the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus

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How to Legitimate Rebellion and Condemn Usurpation of the Crown: Discourses of Fidelity and Treason in the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus HOW TO LEGITIMATE REBELLION AND CONDEMN USURPATION OF THE CROWN: DISCOURSES OF FIDELITY AND TREASON IN THE GESTA DANORUM OF SAXO GRAMMATICUS Lars Hermanson The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus’s voluminous work Gesta Dano- rum, composed c. 1190–1210, tells the story of the Danish people from pre- historic times until Knud VI’s conquest of Pomerania in 1185. Here I will deal with the period c. 1146–1178, in which Saxo tells how Duke Valdemar gained the throne and how he later had to defend his position against his kinsmen who tried to usurp the crown. Saxo Grammaticus and the Historical Background Ever since the assassination of Valdemar’s father Knud Lavard in 1131, Denmark had been a country torn by civil wars, as different branches of the royal family vied for the kingship. The Scandinavian bilateral system of kinship implied that the combatants’ hereditary claims were more or less equal. They were all descendants of King Svend Estridsen, who dur- ing the later part of the eleventh century had restored and enlarged the royal patrimony (see Figure 1: Descendants of Svend Estridsen). In order to gain the upper hand over their opponents, the contenders each cre- ated action groups composed of hand-picked kinsmen and allies from among the leading magnates of the realm.1 During the 1140s and 1150s the most powerful aristocratic network was the Trund clan, first and foremost represented by the renowned Archbishop Eskil. The “Trunds” possessed large estates and occupied high offices within the church and the royal administration. Between 1146 and 1157 a fierce war was fought between kings Svend Grathe (Erik Svendsen’s lineage) and Knud Magnussen (Niels Svendsen’s lineage). For a long time Svend Grathe was the stronger, partly due to his support from the Trund and Hvide clans. The descendants of Skjalm 1 On “kin-based action groups,” see Heather J. Tanner, Families, Friends, and Allies. Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England, c. 879–1160 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 9. 108 lars hermanson Svend Estridsen Erik I Knud IV Svend Svendsen Niels Svendsen Erik II Ragnhild Knud Lavard Cecilia Henrik Svendsen Magnus Nielsen Svend Erik III Valdemar I Karl Eriksen Buris Knud Knud V Grathe Henriksen Henriksen Magnussen Magnus Knud VI Valdemar II Knud Karl Eriksen Karlsen Karlsen Fig. 1: Descendants of Svend Estridsen Hvide were a group of aspiring magnates who had made their careers as military leaders.2 Svend also had a close ally in the young duke Valde- mar, who had been fostered by a family belonging to the Hvide clan. Suc- cess, however, did not depend only on the ability to mobilise social and military resources. The crucial point was to maintain one’s allies’ fidelity. During the civil wars, constant loyalty was not always the most lucrative strategy, and side-switching therefore became a part of the political game. It was a hazardous move, implying that one put one’s honour at stake, but if the new lord was successful the reward was often generous. In 1152 Duke Valdemar, together with the most prominent members of the Hvide clan, decided to join Svend’s enemy Knud Magnussen. This turned Svend’s fortunes. Knud Magnussen was later assassinated at a banquet in 1157, but soon afterwards Valdemar and his allies took vengeance when they man- aged to defeat Svend’s forces at the Battle of Grathe Moor. After that great victory Valdemar became sole king of Denmark. Nev- ertheless, his position was precarious, and during his reign he constantly had to face the problem of disloyalty. The major threat was from royal kinsmen such as the duke Buris Henriksen, the princes Karl and Knud Karlsen, and Magnus Eriksen, the son of the former king Erik III (see Figure 1). Valdemar used three basic strategies to strengthen the Valde- marine kingship. 1) He tried to create a stirps regia by having his father canonized. 2) He strove to establish hereditary monarchy by securing the succession for his son Knud VI, who in accordance with contemporary 2 Danish historians used to call them Hviderne, after their ancestor Skjalm Hvide (Skjalm the White). Here I use the concept “clan” not in the strict anthropological sense of the word (i.e. agnatic family) but rather as designating a wide (mainly horizontal) social network constituted of cognates, affines, and friends..
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