UC Berkeley

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.