Diarium Vadstenense: A Late Medieval Memorial Book and Political Chronicle Claes Gejrot The National Archives of Sweden, Stockholm This article deals with the Diarium Vadstenense, a Liber memorialis originating in Vadstena, the abbey founded by Saint Birgitta of Sweden. Written by a succession of Birgittine friars, this parchment manuscript is still preserved in its original form. It records internal, monastic events from the founding of the abbey in the second half of the fourteenth century to the time the last brother left the community, after the Reformation. Glimpses from the world outside the abbey are seen here and there throughout the text. However, during a central part of the fifteenth century, some of the entries were extended, and the writing changes character. These texts can be seen as a more or less continuous chronicle, tendentiously describing the complicated political situation in Sweden in the 1460s, a time marked by wars and conflicts. Indeed, parts of the texts were so controversial that they were later (partly) erased by a cautious medieval ‘editor’. The focus in this article will be on the time frame when the text was written, the personal views and opinions of the writers, confidentiality, political bias and censorship. The Diarium Vadstenense1 – and especially the chronicle parts of its text – will be at the centre of our attention, but let us start from the beginning. Vadstena Abbey was founded by Saint Birgitta (1303– 1373) in the Swedish province of Östergötland and intended for sixty sisters and twenty-five brothers. Not long after the activities began in the abbey in the 1370s,2 a series of brothers began reporting on events inside the monastery and sometimes also on events outside. Their writings were collected and 1 For a modern edition of the text and an introductory analysis, see Gejrot 1988. The Latin text was reprinted together with a translation into Swedish and a commentary on the contents in Gejrot 1996. All quotations from the Diarium Vadstenense (DV) are taken from Gejrot’s edition. There are medieval references that suggest that the text was called a ‘memorial book’ (liber memorialis) or (in Old Swedish) a tänkiebok in the abbey. The term now used – diarium – was not used for the volume in medieval times, but was coined by the first editor (Benzelius 1721). For details on the question of the title, see Gejrot 1988, 73–76. In this article, for the sake of variation, both these expressions – Diarium and memorial book – will be used. 2 The abbey’s formal opening was not until 1384 (as mentioned in DV 41). On the planning and building of Vadstena Abbey, see Fritz 2000, 55ff (with further references). On the various activities in the 1370s, see also Gejrot 2013. Mari Isoaho (ed.) Past and Present in Medieval Chronicles Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences 17. Helsinki: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. 131–147. Claes Gejrot took the form of longer and shorter entries in a memorial book. In addition to the factual information found in the narratives, now and then we see a further dimension: a Vadstena brother’s personal views on what was going on in his surroundings. Other documents and written materials preserved from the abbey, such as charters, letters and sermons, do not convey subjective contemporary images in this way to any great extent. Personal opinions and political bias will be discussed later in this article. The Latin text of the Diarium is preserved in its original form, and this medieval source is now kept in the Uppsala University Library. An initial part of an older, medieval volume was separated from the main text at the beginning of the eighteenth century (perhaps in connection with the volume’s acquisition by the Uppsala Library). Consequently, the text is found today in two separate parchment manuscripts in the Uppsala collection – Manuscripts C 92 and C 89 – the latter being the main manuscript (232 pages). The shorter C 92 contains only an introductory text, mostly consisting of a series of years without any narrative.3 Altogether, the Vadstena brothers’ memorial book spans the period 1384–15454 and consists of almost 1,200 entries, some longer, some shorter texts, often starting with the date of an event. The book was an internal document, written by and intended for the brothers in Vadstena. It seems very likely that their memorial book never left the brothers’ part of the abbey until after the medieval period. The time factor is important in studying the Diarium Vadstenense. Is it past or present? During the more than 150 years covered by the book, it seems that the scribes (sometimes the scribe is identical with the author, sometimes not5) narrated the events not too long after they had occurred. It is actually possible to study this somewhat more closely by looking at the inclusion of revealing facts and the use of certain phrases that tell us something of the relative time frame. I have set up a very simple survey (the image is taken from my thesis6) in order to illustrate. The survey is based on a review of the entries that were probably written in the Diarium within a year after the event described (seen in the first column with x’s) and distinguishing them from entries which must have been added later (the next column to the right). 3 MS C 92 also contains older annalistic material that must have been in the volume when it began its function in the male part of the abbey in Vadstena. – On the origin of the manuscript and for further codicological information, see Gejrot 1988, 3ff. 4 The numbering of years actually starts with 1323, but very little information has been inserted in the series of years. As the actual recording seems to have started in the 1380s, these entries concerning earlier events (mostly dealing with Saint Birgitta’s life) are to be regarded as retrospective. 5 See Gejrot 1988, 18ff. 6 Gejrot 1988, 71–72. 132 Past and Present in Medieval Chronicles Fig. 1. Indications of the time of writing in the Diarium Vadstenense. The list refers to conclusions that can be drawn from comparing the contents with a change of scribes, for instance. One of the first scribes to be identified travelled abroad on three separate occasions, and each time he handed over the writing to a fellow brother before leaving. An analysis of these passages shows that the writing down of entries at this time could take place quite close in time to the event, within weeks.7 Furthermore, a certain characteristic wording sometimes indicates that the entry was being written more or less directly in connection with what was being described. In an entry made in the year 1413, which gives a detailed account of the death of one of the brothers, the scribe reveals his exact source as the brother ‘living in the neighbouring cell’ to the deceased friar.8 A close connection with the events described is the normal situation for large parts of the text. However, as it turns out, there are certain periods when the narrating of events seems to have taken place later, and then in a more edited form. This is true for the 1460s and 1470s (see the red box in Fig. 1) – and especially for the section that I will call the chronicle of the mid-1460s. We will return to this later. The source is in its way unique. There is no other Latin monastic chronicle of this size preserved in Sweden. Not counting a few annalistic sources, mainly from monasteries, we know of only one medieval historical work in Latin that was written in Sweden and has been preserved: the Chronica Regni 7 See e.g. DV 143–144. 8 DV 228:1: … prout ille dixit, qui in vicina iacebat camera… 133 Claes Gejrot Gothorum by the Uppsala professor Ericus Olai, composed around the year 1470.9 It covers Swedish history from the oldest times up to the author’s lifetime. As for chronicles written in Swedish, these are rimkrönikor or ‘rhymed chronicles’. This chronicle series, always in verse, begins with the Erik Chronicle. Written in the 1320s, it depicts the period 1230−1319. From the fifteenth century we have the Engelbrekt Chronicle and shortly thereafter the Karl Chronicle, both of which were completed about 1452. The Karl Chronicle covers the years 1389−1452. A continuation of this text followed in the Sture Chronicle, which deals with the rest of the fifteenth century until 1496. These chronicles were summarised in the term Stora rimkrönikan. In the 1450s the Lilla rimkrönikan was composed, describing Swedish history from the dawn of time until its own day. This chronicle was revised several times, and the final version covered the period up to 1520. Furthermore, a number of smaller chronicles have been preserved, for example, the bishop chronicles of Skara (from the fifteenth century) and Linköping (from the 1520s).10 But let us return to the Diarium and look at an entry (DV 658) describing events taking place on 23 February 1455. On this day there were great celebrations in Vadstena, with music played by slide trombones and other instruments, and crowds of people gathering. The reason was that a little girl, only nine years of age, was to enter the women’s convent. We cannot know her thoughts, but it would not be surprising if she felt a little uneasy: she was about to be separated from her familiar environment, her family and friends. She probably knew something about the abbey she was about to join, at least the fact that she would never leave.