UNIVERSITY OF OSLO INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY, CONSERVATION AND HISTORY Dissertation for the degree of Master of Arts: Norwegian Kingship Transformed: the Succession and Coronation of Magnus Erlingsson (Depiction of Magnus Erlingsson, by Gerhard Munthe, 1899) Thomas Malo Tollefsen Spring 2015 1 2 Abstract This dissertation is an exploration of the succession and coronation of Magnus Erlingsson based upon three themes: Norwegian kingship in theory, Norwegian kingship in practise, and Norwegian kingship in context, and a search for points of similarity and contrast with European trends. In the first theme the focus of the analysis will be the coronation of Magnus Erlingsson, exploring this in two parts: the rules of kingmaking and the narration of Snorre in the Saga of Magnus Erlingsson, and motivations behind the coronation. In the second theme the focus will again be on the coronation of Magnus Erlingsson. First, this dissertation attempts to put together a workable timeline from when Magnus is acclaimed king in 1161 to his coronation in either 1163 or 1164. Then the analysis shifts to the coronation itself, before it falls on the coronation oath and the Letter of Privileges to see what they can tell us about Magnus’s kingship, and the Law of Succession and what it meant for the future. In the third theme this dissertation attempts to contextualise Magnus’s kingship and this chapter will focus on two things: acquisition, and by extension how to legitimise your rule once it has been acquired, and succession to kingship. This will be achieved by looking for similarities in two kingdoms of great importance to Norway in this period, namely England and France. Finally, this dissertation concludes that Magnus’s succession and coronation, in a Norwegian context, is exceptional. In a European context Magnus’s kingship appears to fit into the trends of the times. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 3 Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 7 Background and Historiography ......................................................................................... 7 What I am going to do .............................................................................................................. 8 Primary Sources ......................................................................................................................... 9 Theme One: Norwegian Kingship in theory ........................................................ 11 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 11 The rules of kingmaking ...................................................................................................... 11 Possible motivations for the coronation of Magnus Erlingsson ......................... 28 Theme Two: Norwegian Kingship in practice .................................................... 34 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 34 Timeline and dating the coronation ................................................................................ 34 The Coronation of King Magnus ....................................................................................... 43 Theme Three: Norwegian Kingship in context .................................................. 62 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 62 Acquisition of kingship in England and France 1059 to 1189 .............................. 63 Legitimising kingship ............................................................................................................ 67 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 75 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 81 Primary sources ...................................................................................................................... 81 Secondary sources ................................................................................................................ 82 Online sources ......................................................................................................................... 91 4 Abbreviations DRHH Saxo Grammaticus Danorum Regum Heromque Historia, ed. Frederik Winkel Horn (København, 1898) http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Valdemar_den_store Fsk. Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sögum: Fagrskinna – Nóregs konunga tal, ed., Bjarni Einarsson (Reykjavik: Hi∂ Íslenzka Fornritafélag, 1985) Hkr. Sturluson, Snorri, Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, tr. Lee M. Hollander (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001) HkrHH Heimskringla, Saga of Harald Fairhair, ibid. HkrHHard Heimskringla, Saga of Harald Sigurdsson Hardrada, ibid. HkrHHerd Heimskringla, Saga of Håkon the Broadshouldered, ibid. HkrInge Heimskringla, Saga of the Sons of Harald, ibid. HkrME Heimskringla, Saga of Magnus Erlingsson, ibid. HkrOT Heimskringla, Saga of Olav Tryggvason, ibid. Howden, Gesta Roger of Howden, Gesta Regis Henrici secondi et Gesta Regis Ricardi primi, ed. William Stubbs, (London: Longman, 1867) Msk. Morkinskinna: The earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157), tr., Theodore M. Anderson and Kari Ellen Gade (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2000) NMD Norske Middelalderdokumenter, ed, Sverre Bagge, Knut Helle, and Synnøve Holstad Smedsdal (Bergen: Universitetsforlaget, 1973) NMD, Oath ‘Kong Magnus Erlingssons kroningsed’, ibid. NMD, Priv. ‘Privilegiebrev fra kong Magnus Erlingsson for Den norske kirke’, ibid. NMD, Succ. ‘Kong Magnus Erlingssons tronfølgelov’, ibid. 5 Ork The Orkneyinga saga, ed., A. B. Taylor (London: Oliver & Boyd, 1938) OrkERK Orkneyinga saga, Saga of Earl Ragnvald Kali, ibid. Sv.s. Sverrissaga: The Saga of King Sverri of Norway, ed. J. Sephton (London: David Nutt, 1899) 6 Introduction Background and Historiography Traditionally the unification of Norway into one kingdom is believed to have happened when Harald the Fairhair won the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872. Harald is of interest to us in this context because he instituted a new law: “[…] he bestowed the title of “king” on all his sons and put this into the laws that each of his descendants was to inherit a kingdom after his father […]”1 Legitimacy was not an issue and this would have dire consequence for the kingdom. The law by Harald the Fairhair caused an issue because it meant that all male descendants had a legitimate claim on the throne. Up until 1130 it was not uncommon for several rulers to share the kingship but for the next 110 years, from 1130 to 1240, twenty-four people would name themselves king. A change came in 1157, however, when upon the death of one king the remaining followers elected a ten-year-old boy named Håkon as their new leader and figurehead. This election represents a clear change. No longer did the warring parties simply spring up around a king or a pretender, but now they stayed together even after the fall of their leader and they elected a new figurehead for what was a ready-made and organised faction. Good examples of these warring factions that emerged in the late 12th Century are the Birkebeiner (so called because they wrapped the bark of the birch tree around their legs) and the Bagler (named after the Norse bagall from Latin baculum meaning crosier in English). In 1161 Håkon and his followers succeeded in killing his rival King Inge in battle. After his death Inge’s followers gathered and elected as their new figurehead, Magnus son of Erling. Erling Skakke was one of the most prominent leaders of Inge’s faction. Now with the title of Earl, he became the real leader of the faction and the kingdom. The following year they killed Håkon and the year after that another rival to the throne was captured and killed. The actions of Erling and the rest of his party upon the election of Magnus as their leader was a radical one; it broke with one, if not the, traditional principle of who might become king. Magnus was not the son of a king, and as the law of Harald the Fairhair stated that only sons of kings could become a king, Magnus had no legitimate claim on the throne. To compensate for Magnus’s 1 HkrHH, Ch. 33 p. 87 7 short coming the faction, led by his father Erling, entered into an alliance with the Church and the newly erected archdiocese. Together they introduced a new criterion: the king should henceforth be of legitimate birth. Inge had, Magnus was, but every other pretender was born out of wedlock. The alliance with the Church proved to be one other the most important assets to the faction. In 1163 Magnus was anointed and crowned king of Norway, the first king to be so in all of Scandinavia. It is the succession and coronation of Magnus and their implications for the kingship that is the focus of this dissertation. This topic has, in the past, been discussed almost exclusively by Norwegian historians, in Norwegian, which is not a world language. For instance, Professor