Cross and Scepter

CROSS AND SCEPTER

CROSS & SCEPTER

The Rise of the Scandinavian Kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation

SVERRE BAGGE

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD

Copyright © 2014 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW

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Jacket Art: Berndt Notke,
Saint George and the Dragon
(detail), 1489, sculpture group in the Great Cathedral of Stockholm, Sweden.
Photo: © Anders Qwarnström

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bagge, Sverre, 1942–
Cross and scepter : the rise of the Scandinavian kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation / Sverre Bagge.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-16150-1 (hardcover : acid-free paper) 1. Scandinavia—History. 2. Middle Ages. 3. Scandinavia—Kings and rulers—History. 4. Scandinavia—Politics and government. 5. Christianity—Scandinavia—History—To 1500. 6. Monarchy—Scandinavia—History—To 1500. 7. Aristocracy (Political science)—Scandinavia—History—To 1500. 8. Scandinavia—Social conditions. 9. Social change—Europe—Case studies. I. Title.
DL49.B34 2014
948'.023—dc23        2013040063

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book has been composed in Garamond Premier Pro

Printed on acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America

1  3  5  7  9  10  8  6  4  2

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

CHAPTER ONE 9

The Origins of the Scandinavian Kingdoms

Early Scandinavian Society 9

Scandinavian Expansion: The Viking Expeditions 21

The Division of Scandinavia into Three Kingdoms 27

The Continued Division of Scandinavia: Foreign Policy until around 1300 38

CHAPTER TWO 50

The Consolidation of the Scandinavian Kingdoms, c. 1050–1350

The Dynasty and the Royal Office 50

Religion: The Introduction of Christianity 60

The Development of the Ecclesiastical Organization 70

Justice: Royal and Ecclesiastical Legislation and Courts of Law 86

War and the Preparation for War: From
Leding
to Professional Forces 107

CHAPTER THREE 119

State Formation, Social Change, and the Division of Power

Social Structure in the High Middle Ages 120

Royal and Ecclesiastical Revenues 124

Towns and Trade 131

Bureaucracy or Feudalism? 139

The Court 152

The Division of Power: Monarchy, Aristocracy, and the Church 157

The State and the People: Nationalism and Loyalty 169

CHAPTER FOUR 174

Royal, Aristocratic, and Ecclesiastical Culture

Scandinavians and European Learning 176

The Rules and the Hearts: Scandinavian Christianity 187

A Scandinavian Saint 196

The Writing of History 203

Political Thought 218

The Courtly Culture 222

CHAPTER FIVE 232

The Later Middle Ages: Agrarian Crisis, Constitutional Conflicts, and Scandinavian Unions

Towards Renewed Scandinavian Integration, 1261–1397 236

The Kalmar Union 248

The Struggle over the Kalmar Union, 1434–1523 250

Why Was the Union Dissolved? 260

State Formation in the Later Middle Ages 268

The Reformation and Its Consequences, 1523–1537 283

CONCLUSION 290

Scandinavian State Formation, 900–1537: Break and Continuity

Literature 293

The Historiography of the Scandinavian Countries 293

The Sources for Scandinavian History 297

References and Guide to Further Reading 301

Index 315

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T
HIS BOOK HAS ITS BACKGROUND
in my period as the director of two research centers, the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Bergen (2002–12) and the Nordic Centre for Medieval Studies at the Universities of Bergen, Gothenburg, Odense, and Helsinki (2005–10), funded by grants respectively from the Norwegian Research Council and the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences. I thank my many colleagues in these milieus for pleasant company and a stimulating exchange of ideas. I am particularly grateful to Thomas Lindkvist, Bjørn Poulsen, and Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde, and to two anonymous readers who have read the manuscript and given useful suggestions, and to Ola Søndenå for his work with the illustrations. I also want to thank Patrick Geary for his interest in the book while acting as a board member of the Nordic Centre and for bringing me in touch with Princeton University Press. Once that contact was established, it was a pleasure to work with Brigitta van Rheinberg and her colleagues, who have combined enthusiasm, speed, and thoroughness in a most impressive way. I also thank the Oxford University Press for permission to use extracts from the
Oxford History of Historical Writing,
volume 2: 400–1400, edited by Sarah Foot and Chase F. Robinson (2012), Stanford University Press for permission to use the translation from Ljósvetninga Saga on p. 1, and the Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, for permission to use material published in my book
From Viking Stronghold to Christian Kingdom: State Formation in Norway, c. 900–1350
(Copenhagen, 2010).

Sverre Bagge
Bergen, September 2013

CROSS AND SCEPTER

INTRODUCTION

And when the tables were set, Ofeig put his fist on the table and said, “How big does that fist seem to you, Gudmund?”

“Big enough,” he said.

“Do you suppose there is any strength in it?” asked Ofeig.

“I certainly do,” said Gudmund.