This dissertation explores the development of the concept of the royal court in medieval Norway through an analysis of thirteenth-century literary portrayals of courts. The thirteenth century was a period of great change in Norway, characterized by centralization and increasing royal authority. There has been a great deal of discussion as to how shifting ideas of kingship factored into social change during this period, but less about how new royal ideologies were spread to and adopted by the populace. I contend that the royal court was a crucial vector for the spread of new ideas, and that an examination of literature produced for and consumed at the Norwegian royal court will help explain how new ideologies were internalized. My argument consists of case studies of three of the most important literary genres at the court of Hákon IV Hákonarson (r. 1217-1263): skaldic poetry, the translated romance, and didactic literature. Chapter One examines skaldic poetry composed for Hákon, comparing the strategies used by Snorri Sturluson and his nephews, Óláfr and Sturla Þórðarsynir, to maintain the relevance of their craft for thirteenth-century audiences, whose world was quite different from the masculine, martial culture depicted in skaldic verse. Chapter Two examines the translated romances whose origins can be most firmly located at Hákon's court. It links romance themes with many important issues of Hákon's day, including the nature of kingship, the place of women at court, and the increasing importance of education for the courtier. Chapter Three looks at Konungs skuggsjá as an example of didactic literature and a witness of original Norwegian thinking about kingship and the royal court. Not only does it serve as a corrective to the dysfunctional kingship portrayed in the romances, it links the king's authority to God, and thus the court to heaven. Finally, I examine the impact of these ideas through a brief discussion of a late thirteenth-century courtier's manual, Hirðskrá.

The Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis were the first gay and lesbian organizations in the United States, respectively. Both were founded in the wake of the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s, as hundreds of homosexuals were being purged form the State Department and concern was growing over changing gender roles perceived as deviant. The Mattachine Society was founded in 1950 when no similar organizations existed. As the group expanded, so did infighting, which led to its dissolution in 1953. The Daughters of Bilitis, in contrast, began in 1955. Over time, members drew from experiences in other groups and the organization survived until 1971. These two organizations were central to the development of the Homophile Movement, a precursor to Gay Liberation. As individuals sought to develop organizational identities, I argue they were simultaneously building coalitions to mobilize the burgeoning movement.

This dissertation uses these organizations and the emergence of the Homophile movement to address two questions. First, it asks how external contingencies—specifically other movements and fields—shape internal conflict and organizational outcomes. It argues that when fields provide organizations a limited repertoire from which to draw, infighting leads to organizational dissolution. In particular, this occurs when the organizations debate components of the organization that are not malleable and are linked to individual members’ ideologies. Alternatively, when a movement organization has multiple repertoires from which to draw, other fields can influence either adaptation or failure. When repertoires from proximate fields are compatible with those of the field in which the organization is embedded, infighting leads to adaptation. When repertoires from proximate fields conflict with those in the organization’s field, on the other hand, infighting encourages organizational dissolution.

The second question this dissertation is addresses is how does infighting encourage social movement emergence. In particular, as much of the work on movements argues that they emerge from existing networks or other movements, via spillover or spinoff, this project shows that infighting can lead to the diversification of organizations and thus creates a base of activists necessary for a movement to emerge.

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