A Study On Norwegian Kingship In The King’s Mirror

Written by an anonymous Norwegian around the mid-13 th century,The King’s Mirror is one of the few treatises on royal power in Scandinavia.It is one of the few monographs on the theory of kingship in Scandinavia.The genre of the text is typical of medieval didactic writings and,as a result,the content of the text is highly relevant.This paper takes the text of The King’s Mirror as the research object and the Norwegian Civil War as the starting point to try to reveal the concept of kingship expressed in the text.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the text of this article is divided into four chapters:Chapter 2 reads The King’s Mirror and sorts out its context.The background in which the text was created is mainly divided into a political background and a literary background,namely the Norwegian Civil War and Chivalric literature.From the perspective of chapter structure,the whole text consists of three parts: the preface,the table of contents and the main text.The main text consists of 70 chapters,and from the perspective of the main content,the text is divided into two parts: nature and society.Both deal with the theme of Norway kingship,while the social component is more concentrated.By analyzing text,the author lays the foundation for exploring the concept of kingship contained in the text.Chapter 3 examines the reasons why The King’s Mirror text honors strong royal power.The main reason for the outbreak of the Norwegian Civil War was that the principle of succession to the throne was not clear,so the phenomenon of joint rule of multiple kings in one country was one after another,which greatly weakened the authority of the kingship.The author elaborates on the disadvantages of joint rule in the form of an allegory,arguing that a strong and unified kingship can ensure the orderly operation of the kingdom.From the content of the text,it is mainly two forces that affect the size of royal power: nobility and bishop.Chapter 4 begins with an exploration of the relationship between the Norwegian king and the nobility,and analyzes the ways in which kingship is strengthened in The King’s Mirror.During the Civil War,the nobility encroached on a large amount of land and had a strong independence.But King Sverre weakened the nobility through military strikes and cultivated court nobles who were dependent on the royal family.The court became a new place for the king to communicate power with the nobility.Therefore,the author takes the king’s behavior as a model of etiquette,and clearly stipulates that the words and deeds of nobles should highlight the distinction between dignity and inferiority.The text used court etiquette to domesticate the aristocratic body and highlight the centrality of kingship.Chapter 5 begins by exploring the relationship between kings and bishops,and analyzes the ways in which kingship is strengthened in The King’s Mirror.During the Civil War,due to the weakening of kingship,the power of bishops expanded rapidly,and even interfered with the succession to the throne.However,King Sverre adopted a policy of limiting the privileges of bishops after coming to power.The king and bishop refused to budge on each other,and the two sides engaged in a protracted and fierce struggle.As Haakon ended the Civil War,the two sides moved toward compromise.Pope Innocent IV sent Cardinal William to crown the king,making up for the legal shortcomings of Haakon’s succession to the throne as an illegitimate son.Therefore,the author introduces the concept of divine right of kingship,ostensibly proving the legitimacy of Haakon’s rule,but in fact exploring the relationship between king and bishop.The text argues that royal power is given by God to give the king supreme dominance,and that piety,just qualities are important conditions for the source of the king’s ruling power.The author seems to support the maintenance of the balance between royal and ecclesiastical power,but in fact advocates limiting the power of bishop and expanding kingship.The concept of kingship strengthening in The King’s Mirror is actually a microcosm of the development of kingship in Norway in the mid-12 th and 13 th centuries.By studying the idea of strong kingship conveyed in the text,it is possible to gain a clearer understanding of how Norwegian kingship was strengthened and to what extent it was centralized.