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This series of SCANDINAVIAN MONOGRAPHS is published by the American-Scandinavian Foundation to promote the study of Scandinavian history and culture, in the belief that true knowledge of the North will contrib- ute to the common profit on both sides of the Atlantic
SCANDINAVIAN MONOGRAPHS VOLUME III
• THE KING'S MIRROR
ESTABLISHED BY NIELS POULSON
HE KING'S MIRROR
(SPECULUM REGALE— KONUNGS SKUGGSJA)
TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD NORWEGIAN
BY LAURENCE MARCELLUS LARSON
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
NEW YORK
THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN FOUNDATION
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917 BY THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN FOUNDATION
F
PRINTED AT THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
TO MY FATHER AND TO THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER
FOREWORD
A MONG the many arguments that have recently -L\. been advanced in support of imperialistic am- bitions and statesmanship, there is one that justifies and demands aggression in the interest of human culture. According to this rather plausible political philosophy, it is the destiny of the smaller states to be absorbed into the larger and stronger. The application is not to be limited to the so-called " backward races"; it is also extended to the lesser peoples of Europe. JThese have, it is held, no real right to an independent existence; only the great, the powerful, and jjbf ""flk+y ^an^im th*'? priYlr, lege, for they alone are able to render the higher forms of service to civilization.
To this theory thft hiatniy. of foe SngT^]'na.vJ5i.-n 1fl.TlHs r>TQVid**iSf cl COmpl^t** fl'rc.cl st^kinpf tvyf 1 1 tn/h nr| n
In the drama of European development the North- ern countries have played important and honorable parts; but except for a brilliant period in Swedish history (chiefly during the seventeenth century) they have never weighed heavily in the Continental balance. /Their geographical situation is unfavor- able and their economic resources have never been comparable to those of the more prominent states beyond the Baltic and the North SeaA But when
viii FOREWORD
we come to the kingdom of intellect the story is a totally different one. The literary annals of Europe in the nineteenth century give prominence to a series of (notahle_gcandinavian writersWho not only achieved recognition in their own lands but found a place in the competition for leadership in the world at large. The productivity of the Northern mind is not of recent origin, however; the literatures of Scandinavia have a history that leads back into the days of heathen worship more than a thousand years ago.
Perhaps the most effective illustration of £vhat a fruitful intellect can accomplish even when placed in the most unpromising environment is medieval IcelandLJ Along the western and southwestern coasts of the island lay a straggling settlement of Norwegian immigrants whose lives were spent chiefly in a struggle to force the merest subsistence from a niggardly soil. And yet, in the later middle ages and even earlier, there was a literary activity on these Arctic shores which, in output as well as in quality, compares favorably with that of any part of contemporary Europe. {Evidently intellectual greatness bears but slight relation to economic ad- vantages or political powerj What was true of Ice- land was also true of Norway, though in a lesser degree. In that country, too, life was in great measure a continuous struggle with the soil and the sea. Still, even in that land and age, the spirits
FOREWORD ix
were active, the arts flourished, and the North added her contribution to the treasures of Euro- pean culture.
The poems and tales of those virile days, the eddas and sagas, are too familiar to need more than a mention in this connection. But the fact is not so commonly known that the medieval Northmen were thinkers and students as well as poets and romancers. They, too, were interested in the mysteries of the universe, in the problems of science, and in the intricate questions of social re- lationships. In their thinking on these matters
d more int.plWtiifl.1
less slavisJLregard for venerable authority thap was usually the case among medieval writers. And of all the men who in that agf of faif K tnVH to analyse and set in order their ideas of the world in which they moved* perhaps none drew more largely on his own spiritual J^sourcfis than the unknown author of the King's Mirror.
Unlike the sagas and related writings, the pur- pose of the King's Mirror jg utilitarian and didactic. The author has before him a group of serious and important problems, which he proceeds to discuss for the instruction of his readers. Consequently, certain qualities of style that are often associated with Old Norse literature are not apparent in his work to any marked degree. In his effort to make his language clear, definite, and intelligible, the
X FOREWORD
author sometimes finds it necessary to repeat and restate his ideas, with the result that his literary style is frequently stiff, labored, and pedantic. These defects are, however, not characteristic of the book as a whole. Many of its chapters display rare workmanship and prove that the author of the King's Mirror is one of the great masters of Old Norse prose.
In preparing the translation of this unique work, my aim has been to reproduce the author's thought as faithfully as possible and to state it in such a form as to satisfy the laws of English syntax. But I have also felt that, so far as it can be done, the flavor of the original should be retained and that a translator, in his effort to satisfy certain conven- tional demands of modern composition, should not deviate too far from the path of mental habit that the author has beaten in his roamings through the fields of thought. Peculiarities of style and expres- sion, can, it is true, usually not be reproduced in another language; at the same time it is possible to ignore these considerations to such an extent that the product becomes a paraphrase rather than a translation; and I have believed that such a ren- dition should be avoided, even at the risk of erring on the side of literalness.
The importance of the King's Mirror as a source of information in the^study of medieval though^) was first brought to my attention by Professor
FOREWORD xi
Julius E. Olson of the University of Wisconsin, who has also, since the work of preparing this edition was begun, followed its progress with helpful in- terest. Professors G. T. Flom and A. H. Lybyer of the University of Illinois, and Professor W. H. Schofield of Harvard University, have read the manuscript in whole or part and have contributed many valuable suggestions. My wife, Lillian May Larson, has assisted in a great variety of ways, as in all my work. Dr. H. G. Leach of the Ameri- can-Scandinavian Foundation has read the proof sheets of the entire volume and has suggested many improvements in the text. To all these persons I wish to express my thanks. I am also deeply indebted to the trustees of the American- Scandinavian Foundation whose generosity has made it possible to publish the work at this time.
L. M. L,
University of Illinois, August, 1917.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION PAQ1J
NORTHERN LITERATURE IN THE THIRTEENTH CEN- TURY 1
THE SPECULUM REGALE, OR KING'S MIRROR; SOURCES 6 SCIENTIFIC LORE AND THE BELIEF IN MARVELS 11
COURTESY AND THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD 26
THE THEORY OF THE DIVINE RIGHT OF NORWEGIAN
KINGSHIP 33
ETHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL IDEAS OF THE WORK 49
MODERN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE KING'S MIRROR 53
THE PROBLEM OF AUTHORSHIP 54
DATE AND PLACE OF COMPOSITION 59
EDITIONS OF THE KING*S MIRROR 65
THE KING'S MIRROR
I. INTRODUCTION: NAME AND PURPOSE OF THE WORK 72
II. " THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF WIS- DOM "
III. THE ACTIVITIES AND HABITS OF A MERCHANT 79
IV. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED 81 V. THE SUN AND THE WINDS 86
VI. THE TIDES AND THE CHANGES IN THE COURSE OF THE
SUN 92
VII. THE SUBJECT OF THE SUN*S COURSE CONTINUED 95
VIII. THE MARVELS OF NORWAY 99
IX. POPULAR DOUBT AS TO THE GENUINENESS OF MARVELS 102
X. THE NATURAL WONDERS OF IRELAND 105
XI. IRISH MARVELS WHICH HAVE MIRACULOUS ORIGINS 111
XII. THE MARVELS OF THE ICELANDIC SEAS! WHALES; THE
KRAKEN 119
XIII. THE WONDERS OF ICELAND 126
ziii
xiv CONTENTS
XIV. THE VOLCANIC FIRES OF ICELAND 130
XV. OTHER ICELANDIC WONDERS: ORE AND MINERAL
SPRINGS 133
XVI. THE MARVELS OF THE WATERS ABOUT GREENLAND:
MONSTERS, SEALS, AND WALRUSES 135
XVII. THE ANIMAL LIFE OF GREENLAND AND THE CHARACTER
OF THE LAND IN THOSE REGIONS 141
XVin. THE PRODUCTS OF GREENLAND 144
xix. THE CLIMATE OF GREENLAND; THE NORTHERN LIGHTS 145
XX. THE SUBJECT OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS CONTINUED 151
XXI. THE ZONES OF HEAT AND COLD 153
XXII. THE WINDS WITH RESPECT TO NAVIGATION 156
XXIII. THE PROPER SEASON FOR NAVIGATION, END OF THE
FIRST PART 161
XXIV. INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND PART: THE KING AND
HIS COURT 162
XXV. THE IMPORTANCE OF COURTESY IN THE ROYAL SERVICE 165
XXVI. THE ADVANTAGES DERIVED FROM SERVICE IN THE
KING'S HOUSEHOLD 167
XXVII. THE VARIOUS CLASSES AMONG THE KINGSMEN 170
XXVIII. THE HONORED POSITION OF THE KINGSMEN 173
XXIX. THE SUPERIOR ORDER OF KINGSMEN: THE HIRD 175
XXX. HOW A MAN WHO WISHES TO APPLY FOR ADMISSION TO THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD SERVICE SHOULD APPROACH THE KING 179
XXXI. WHY ONE SHOULD NOT WEAR A MANTLE IN THE ROYAL
PRESENCE 181
XXXH. RULES OF SPEECH AND CONVERSATION IN THE KING'S
HALL 186
XXXIII. THE PROPER USES OF " YOU " AND " THOU " 188
XXXIV. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED 189
( XXXV. CONCERNING FAILURE OF CROPS AND DEARTH IN
MORALS AND GOVERNMENT 193
THE CAUSES OF SUCH PERIODS OF DEARTH AND WHAT
FORMS THE DEARTH MAY TAKE 195
XXXVII. THE DUTIES, ACTIVITIES, AND AMUSEMENTS OF THE
ROYAL GUARDSMEN 20£
XXXVIII. WEAPONS FOR OFFENSE AND DEFENSE 217
CONTENTS xv
XXXIX. MILITARY ENGINES 220
XL. THE PROPER MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF A ROYAL
COURT XLJ. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED
XLII. A DISCUSSION OF HOW GOD REWARDS RIGHTEOUSNESS, HUMILITY, AND FIDELITY, ILLUSTRATED BY EX- AMPLES DRAWN FROM SACRED AND PROFANE HIS- TORY 234
XLIII. THE DUTIES AND THE EXALTED POSITION OF THE KING XLIV. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED
XLV. CONCERNING THE MODERATION WHICH A KING MUST OBSERVE IN HIS JUDICIAL SENTENCES AND PENAL- TIES, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS DRAWN FROM THE STORY OF GOD'S JUDGMENT IN THE CASE OF ADAM AND EVE, IN WHICH CASE TRUTH AND JUSTICE WERE ASSOCI- ATED WITH PEACE AND MERCY 251
XLVI. AN EXAMPLE OF RIGHTEOUS SEVERITY IN JUDGMENT DRAWN FROM THE STORY OF GOD*S CONDEMNATION OF LUCIFER 258
XLVII. A FURTHER DISCUSSION OF VERDICTS AND PENALTIES WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE STORY OF LUCI- FER'S REBELLION AND DOWNFALL AND OF THE SIN AND PUNISHMENT OF THE FIRST MAN AND WOMAN 260
XLVHI. A COMMENTARY ON THE STORY OF LUCIFER 272
XLIX. INSTANCES IN WHICH GOD HAS ALLOWED THE DECISION TO BE FRAMED ACCORDING TO THE STERN DEMANDS OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE 277
L. OTHER INSTANCES IN WHICH THE ARGUMENTS OF
PEACE AND MERCY HAVE HAD GREATER WEIGHT 279
LI. THE REASONS FOR THIS DIVERSITY IN THE VERDICTS
OF GOD 283
LII. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED 284
LIII. INSTANCES IN WHICH GOD HAS MODIFIED HIS SEN- TENCES AND THE REASONS FOR SUCH MODIFICA- TIONS
LIV. THE KING'S PRAYER
LV. A FURTHER DISCUSSION OF THE KING'S BUSINESS PECIALLY HIS JUDICIAL DUTIES
LVI. THE SPEECH OF WISDOM
LVH. DIFFICULT DUTIES OF THE KING'S JUDICIAL WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
xvi CONTENTS
LVIII. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED
LIX. WHEN JUDGMENTS SHOULD BE SEVERE AND WHEN
THEY SHOULD BE MERCIFUL 313
LX. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED 316
LXI. CONCERNING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 318
LXII. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED 320
LXIII. THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD ILLUSTRATED BY THE STORY
OF DAVID AND SAUL 321
LXIV. ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE JUDGMENTS OF SOLOMON 339 LXV. SOLOMON'S DECISION IN THE CASE OF SHIMEI 341
LXVI. SOLOMON'S JUDGMENT IN THE CASE OF ADONIJAH AND
HIS FOLLOWERS 344
LXVII. WHY SOLOMON BROKE HIS PROMISE OF PEACE AND
SECURITY TO JOAB 353
LXVIII. A DISCUSSION OF PROMISES! WHEN THEY MUST BE
KEPT AND WHEN THEY SHOULD BE WITHDRAWN 355
LXIX. CONCERNING THE KINGSHIP AND THE CHURCH AND
KING'S RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD ( 357
LXX. THE AUTHORITY OF KINGS AND BISHOPS. END OF THE SECOND PART
BIBLIOGRAPHY 367
INDEX 373
THE KING'S MIRROR
INTRODUCTION
THE place of the thirteenth century in the history of human achievement is a subject upon which scholars have not yet come to a general agreement. There can be no doubt that it was, on the whole, an age of progress in many fields; but there is much in its his- tory that points to stagnation, if not to actual decline. From a superficial study of its annals one might be led to class it with the lesser centuries ; most writers are in- clined to rank it lower than the fourteenth century, and perhaps not even so high as the twelfth. It was in this period that the crusad^P rnnvpmpnt. finally flicfcerfifj ft1 it and the Christian world was compelled to leave the cradle of the holy faith in the hands of the infidel. In the thirteenth century, too, the medieval empire sank into hopeless inefficiency and all but expired. Hue. papacy, which more than any other power was responsible for the ruin of the imperial ambitions, also went into de- cline. Whether the loss in authority and prestige on the part of the holy sec^ was compensated by a renewed spiritual energy in the church at large may well be doubted: what evidence we have would indicate that the religion of the masses was gross and materialisticA that ethical standards were low, and that the improve- ) ment in clerical morals, which the church had hoped \ would follow the enforcement of celibacy, had failed to \ appear. J
2 THE KING'S MIRROR
Yet the thirteenth century also had its attractive fig- ures and its important movements. The old social order
bnt in its p1a.ce Appeared two
fnrpps wliiVh wpre to inherit tjip power a.nd nppor-
gnpjfl.1 ]jfp' these were
wide sovereign powers, and
the new national consciousness, which was able to think in larger units. In England the century saw the develop- ment of a new representative institution, which has be- come the mother of modern legislative assemblies. The Italian cities were growing rich from the profits of Ori- ental trade; in the Flemish towns the weaver's industry was building up new forms of municipal life; the great German Hansa was laying hold on the commerce of the northern seas. In the realms of higher intellect, in science, philosophy, and theology, the age was a notable one, with Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas as the leaders, each in his field. The century also meant much for the progress of geographical knowl- edge, for it was in this period that Marco Polo pene- trated the mysterious lands of the Far East.
As the historian looks back into this age, he is, there- fore, able to find broad traces of much that is regarded as fundamental to modern life. Of first importance in this regard i^the employment of popular idioms in liter- ary productions^French literature saw its beginnings in the eleventh century with the chansons de geste, songs of valorous deeds from the heroic age of the Frankish kingdom. In the next century the poets began to use the themes of the Arthurian legends and sang the exploits of the famous British king and the knights of his Round
THE KING'S MIRROR 3
Table. A little later came another cycle of poems based on the heroic tales of classical antiquity. The twelfth century witnessed a parallel movement in Germany, which at first was largely an imitation of contemporary French poetry. The poets, however, soon discovered literary treasures in the dim world of the Teutonic past, in the tales of the Nibelungs, in the heroic deeds of Theodoric, and in the exploits of other heroes.
Thus in the first half of the thirteenth century there was a large body of French and German verse in circu- lation. The verses were borne from region to region and from land to land by professional entertainers, who chanted the poems, and by pilgrims and other travelers, who secured manuscript copies. In the course of time the new tales reached the Northern countries, and it was not long before/the Northmen were eagerly listening to the stories of chivalrous warfare, militant religion, and tragic love, that they had learned in the southlands^
The Northern peoples thus had a share in the fruitage of the later middle ages; but they also had a share in their achievements. Politically as wpll a the thirt-mith fpntnry wn* Q £"Ta,t
rmvifm fmiintrimi The Danish kingdom rose to the high- est point of its power under Valdemar the Victorious, whose troubled reign began in 1202. Valdemar succeeded in extending the territories of Denmark along the entire southern coast of the Baltic Sea; but the greatness was short-lived : after the defeat of the Danes by the North Germans at Bornhoved in 1227, the decline of Danish imperialism began. In Sweden, too, men dreamed of conquest beyond the sea. Under the leadership of Earl
4 THE KING'S MIRROR
Birger, the most eminent statesman of medieval Sweden, Swedish power was steadily extended into Finnish ter- ritory, and the foundations of Sweden as a great Euro- pean power was being laid.
During the days of Valdemar and the great Birger Norway also reached its greatest territorial extent. After a century of factional warfare, the nation settled down to comparative peace. All the Norwegian colonies except those in Ireland, were definitely made subject to the Norwegian crown : these were the Isle of Man, the Heb- rides, the Orkneys, the Shetlands, the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland. In every field of national life there was vigor and enterprise. And on the throne sat a strong, wise, and learned monarch, Hakon IV, the ruler with the " great king-thought."
The real greatness of the thirteenth century in the North lies, however, in the literary achievements of the age. It is not known when the Old Norse poets first be- gan to exercise their craft, but the earliest poems that have come down to us date from the ninth century. For two hundred years the literary production was in the form of alliterative verse; but after 1050 there came a time when scaldic poetry did not seem to thrive. This does not mean that the interest in literature died out; it merely took a new form: the age of poetry was fol- lowed by an age of prose. With the Christian faith came the Latin alphabet and writing materials, and there was no longer any need to memorize verse. The new form was the saga, which began to appear in the twelfth century and received many notable additions in the thirteenth. The literary movement on the continent,
THE KING'S MIRROR 5
therefore, had its counterpart in the North; only here the writings took the form of prose, while there liter- ature was chiefly in verse.
These two currents came into contact in the first half of the thirteenth century, when the men and women of the North began to take an interest in the Arthurian romances and other tales that had found their way into Norway. In this new form of Norwegian literature there could not be much originality; still its appearance testifies to a widening of the intellectual horizon. In ad- dition to sagas and romances the period was also pro- ductive of written laws, homilies, legends, Biblical narratives, histories, and various other forms of litera- ture. It is to be noted that virtually everything was written in the idiom of the common people. Latin was used to some extent in the North in the later middle ages, but it never came into such general use there as in other parts of Europe. In the thirteenth century it had almost passed out of use as a literary language.
In our interest in tales and romances we must not overlook the fact that the thirteenth century also pro- duced an important literature of the didactic type. For centuries the Christian world had studied the encyclo- pedic works of Capella, Cassiodorus, and Isidore, or had read the writings of Bede and his many followers who had composed treatises " on the nature of things," in which they had striven to set in order the known or supposed facts of the physical world. The thirteenth century had an encyclopedist of its own in Vincent of Beauvais, who produced a vast compendium made up of several Specula, which were supposed to contain all
6 THE KING'S MIRROR
the knowledge that the world possessed in science, his- tory, theology, and other fields of learning. The age also produced various other Latin works of the didactic sort, of which the Historia Scholastica of Petrus Comestor was perhaps the most significant for the intellectual history of the North.
Norway had no encyclopedist, but the thirteenth century produced a Norwegian writer who undertook a task which was somewhat of the encyclopedic type. Some time during the reign of Hakon IV, perhaps while Vincent was composing his great Speculum Majus, a learned Norseman wrote the Speculum Regale, or King's Mirror, a work which a competent critic has character- ized as " one of the chief ornaments of Old Norse litera- ture." * Unlike the sagas and the romances, which have in view chiefly the entertainment of the reader, the King's Mirror is didactic throughout; in a few chapters only does the author depart from his serious purpose, and all but two of these are of distinct value. The pur-
pffift of the work jfi +n prnvj/4*v o rwtmri VJTirl
edge whickwilLLe of use to young men who are looking for ward Jam, carper Jn the higher pjofegsions.
As outlined in the introductory chapter, the work was to deal with the four great orders of men in the Nor- wegian kingdom: the merchants and their interests; the king and his retainers; the church and the clergy; and the peasantry or husbandmen. In the form in which the King's Mirror has come down to modern times, how- ever, the first two divisions only are included; not the least fragment of any separate discussion of the clerical
* B. Keyset in the introduction to the Christiania edition (p. xi).
THE KING'S MIRROR 7
profession or of the agricultural classes has been found. It is, therefore, generally believed that the work was not completed beyond the point where the extant manu- scripts close. Why the book was left unfinished cannot be known; but it is a plausible conjecture that illness or perhaps death prevented the author, who was appar- ently an aged man, from completing the task that he had set before him. It is also possiblejthat the ideas ex- pressed in the closing chapters of the work, especially in the last chapter, which deals with the subject of clerical subordination to the secular powers, weze so repugnant to the ecclesiastical thought of the time that the au- thorities of the church discouraged or perhaps found means to prevent the continuation of the work into the third division, where the author had planned to deal with the church and the clergy.
In form the Speculum is a dialog between a wise and learned father and his son, in which the larger part of the discussion naturally falls to the former. The son asks questions and suggests problems, which the father promptly answers or solves. In the choice of form there is nothing original: the dialog was frequently used by didactic writers in the middle ages, and it was the natural form to adopt. The title, Speculum Regale, is also of a kind that was common in those days.* Specula of many sorts were being produced : Speculum Ecclesiae, Speculum Stultorum, Speculum Naturale, and Speculum Perfectionis are some of the titles used for writings of a
* It is believed that the title came into use in Europe in imitation of Hindu writers who wrote " Mirrors of Princes." Nansen, In Northern Mists, II, 242.
8 THE KING'S MIRROR
didactic type. The German Sachsenspiegel is an instance of the title employed for a work in a vulgar idiom. There was also a Speculum Regum, or Mirror of Kings, and a century later an English ecclesiastic wrote a Speculum Regis, but the writer knows of no other work called the Speculum Regale.
It is an interesting question whether the King's Mir- ror was inspired by any earlier work written along simi- lar lines. Originality was a rare virtue in the middle ages, and the good churchmen who wrote books in those days cannot have regarded plagiarism as a mortal sin. The great writers were freely copied by the lesser men, thoughts, titles, statements, and even the wording being often taken outright. It is, therefore, difficult to deter- mine the sources of statements found in the later works, as they may have been drawn from any one of a whole series of writings on the subject under discussion. The writer has not been able to make an exhaustive examina- tion of all the didactic and devotional literature of the centuries preceding the thirteenth, but the search that has been made has not proved fruitful. There is every reason to believe that the author of the King's Mirror was an independent thinker and writer. He was doubtless acquainted with a large number of books and had drawn information from a great variety of sources; but when the writing was actually done he had apparently a few volumes only at his disposal. In the region where the work seems to have been composed, on the northern edge of European civilization, there was neither cathe- dral nor monastery nor any other important ecclesias- tical foundation where a collection of books might be
THE KING'S MIRROR 9
found.* It is likely, therefore, that the author had access to such books only as were in his own posses- sion. But he came to his task with a well-stocked mind, with a vast fund of information gathered by travel and from the experiences of an active life; and thus he drew largely from materials that had become the permanent possession of his memory. This fact, if it be a fact, will also help to explain why so many inaccuracies have crept into his quoted passages ; in but very few instances does he give the correct wording of a citation.
There can be no doubt that the author had a copy of the Vulgate before him; at least one Biblical passage is correctly given, and it is quoted in its Latin form.f It has also been discovered that he had access to an Old Norse paraphrase of a part of the Old Testament, the books of Samuel and of the Kings, t It is likely that he was also acquainted with some of the works of Saint Augustine, and perhaps with the writings of certain other medieval authorities. Among these it seems safe to include the Disciplina Clericalis, a collection of tales and ethical observations by Petrus Alf onsus, a converted Jew who wrote in the first half of the twelfth century. The Disciplina is a somewhat fantastic production wholly unlike the sober pages of the Speculum Regale; nevertheless, the two works appear to show certain
* There must have been important collections of manuscripts at Nidaros (Trondhjern), where there was a cathedral and several monastic institu- tions. The King's Mirror was probably composed in Namdalen, about one hundred miles northeast of Nidaros. See below, pp. 50-60. f See below, p. 237.
J Storm, " Om Tidsforholdet mellem Kongespeilet og Stjorn saint Barlaams Saga " : Arkivfar nordisk Filologi, III, 83-88.
10 THE KING'S MIRROR
points of resemblance which can hardly have been acci- dental. The Disciplina is a dialog and the part of the son is much the same as in the King's Mirror. In both works the young man expresses a desire to become ac- quainted with the customs of the royal court, inasmuch as he may some day decide to apply for admission to the king's household service.* The description of courtly manners and customs in the earlier dialog, though much briefer than the corresponding discussion in the Norwegian treatise, has some resemblance to the latter which suggests a possible relationship between the two works.
The Norwegian author may also have used some of the many commentaries on the books of Holy Writ, in the production of which the medieval cloisters were so prolific. Of the influence of Petrus Comestor's Historia Scholastica the writer has found no distinct trace in the King's Mirror; but one can be quite sure that he knew and had used the Elucidarium of Honorius of Autun. The Elucidarium is a manual of medieval theology which was widely read in the later middle ages and was translated into Old Norse, probably before the King's Mirror was written.f But our Norwegian author was not a slavish follower of earlier authorities: in his use and treatment of materials drawn from the Scriptures he shows remarkable independence. Remarkable at least is his ability to make Biblical narratives serve to
* See Disciplina Clericalis, fabula xxiv: Migne, Patrologia Latina, CLVII, 698-700.
t A fragment of the Elucidarium, comprising, however, the greater part of the work, is published in Annalerfor nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1852 and 1853; in the former volume a Danish translation is given; the latter contains the Ice- landic text.
THE KING'S MIRROR 11
illustrate his/owj theories of Norwegian kingship. He was acquainted with some of the legends that circulated through the church and made effective use of them. He must also have known a work on the marvels of Ireland * and the letter of Prester John to the Byzan- tine emperor, f in which that mythical priest-king re- counts the wonders of India. But the chief source of his work is a long life full of action, conflict, thought, and experience.
The importRTirp of thp King's Mirror lies in the in- sight that, it givps into the ...state of culture and civiliqa- jJ2!L_flf ft1** N^rtk in thft late** midf^ flgfts- The interest
follows seven different lines i^^^sjcaTsc^n^) espe- cially such matters as are of importance to navigators; geography/ particularly the geography of the Arctic lands and waters; the organization of the king's house- hold and the privileges and duties of the king's hench- men; military engines, weapons, and armour used in offensive and defensive warfare; ethical ideas, especially rules of conduct for courtiers and merchants; the royal office, the duties of the king and the divine origin of kingship; and the place of the church in the Norwegian state.
In one of his earlier chapters the author enumerates the chief subjects of a scientific character that ought to be studied by every one who wishes to Won™ a suc- cessful merchant. These are the great luminaries of the sky, the motions and the paths of the heavenly bodies, the divisions of time and the changes that bring the seasons, the cardinal points of the compass, and the
* See below, pp. 22-25. f See below, p. 101 (c. viii).
12 THE KING'S MIRROR
tides and currents of the ocean.*J[n discussing these matters he is naturally led to a statement as to the shape of the earth. All through the middle ages there were thinkers who accepted the teachings of the classical astronomers who had taught that the earth is round like a sphere; but this belief was by no means general. Bede for one appears to have been convinced that the earth is of a spherical shape, though he explains that, because of mountains which rise high above the surface, it cannot be perfectly round.f Alexander Neckam, an English scientist who wrote two generations before the King's Mirror was composed, states in his Praise of Divine Wisdom that " the ancients have ventured to believe that the earth is round, though mountains rise high above its surface." { Neckam Js own ideas on this point are quite confused and he remains discreetly non- committal.
But if the earth is a globe, there is every reason to be- lieve in the existence of antipodes; and _if ^ere_are an- tipodes, all cannot behold Christ coming in the clouds on the final day. To the medieval theologians, at least to the larger number of them, this argument disposed effectually of the Ptolemaic theory. Job does indeed say that God " hangeth the earth upon nothing," § and this passage might point to a spherical form; but then the Psalmist affirms that He " stretched out the earth above the waters," || and this statement would indicate
* C. iv. See also Larson, " Scientific Knowledge in the North in the Thir- teenth Century ": Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandi- navian Study, 1, 139-146.
t De Natura Rerum, c. xlvi: Migne, Patrologia Latina, XC, 264-265. j De Naturis Rerum, 441. § Job, xxvi, 7. 1 1 Psalms, cxxxvi, 6.
THE KING'S MIRROR 13
that the inhabited part of the earth is an island floating upon the waters of the great Ocean, by which it is also surrounded. This belief was generally maintained in the earlier centuries of the classical world, and it had wide acceptance in the middle ages.' There were also those who held that beyond and around the outer Ocean is a great girdle of fire. It is likely, however, that many believed with Isidore of Seville that it is useless to spec- ulate on subjects of this sort. ' Whether it [the earth] is supported by the density of the air, or whether it is spread out upon the waters ... or how the yielding air can support such a vast mass as the earth, whether such an immense weight can be upheld by the waters without being submerged, or how the earth maintains its balance . . . these matters it is not permitted any mortal to know and they are not for us to discuss." *
There can be no doubt that the author of tl\e KinQ9§ Mirror believed in the Ptolemaic theory of a spherical n speaking of our planet he uses the term jar- J( earth-sphere. In an effort to explain why some countries are hotter than others, he suggests an experi- ment with an apple. It is not clear how this can shed much light on the problem, but the author boldly states the point to be illustrated: " From this you may infer that the earth-circle is round like a ball." J
Toward the close of the medieval period there were certain thinkers who attempted to reconcile the spheri- cal theory with the belief that the inhabited part of the earth is an island. These appear to have believed that
* De Natura Rerum Liber, c. xlv: Migne, Palrologia Latina, LXXXIII, 1015. t See c. xix. J See c. vii.
14 THE KING'S MIRROR
the earth is a globe partly submerged in a larger sphere composed of water.* The visible parts of the earth would rise above the surrounding ocean like a huge island, and the Biblical passages which had caused so much diffi- culty could thus be interpreted in accord with apparent facts. It is quite clear that the author of the King's Mirror held no such theory. In a poetic description of how the eight winds form their covenants of friendship at the approach of spring, he tells us that " at midnight the north wind goes forth to meet the coursing sun and leads him through rocky deserts toward the sparse-built shores." f The author, therefore, seems to believe that the earth is a sphere, that there are lands on the opposite side of the earth, and that these lands are in- habited. He also understands that the regions that lie beneath the midnight course of the sun in spring and summer must be thinly populated, as the sun's path on the opposite side of the earth during the season of lengthening days is constantly approaching nearer the pole.
But while the author seems to accept the Ptolemaic theory of the universe, he is not able to divest his mind entirely of current geographical notions. There can be no doubt that he believed in the encircling outer ocean, and it is barely possible that he also looked with favor on the belief that the whole was encompassed by a girdle of fire. On this point, however, we cannot be sure: he mentions the belief merely as one that is current, not as one accepted by himself. {
* Ruge, Geschichle des Zeitalters der Enldeckungen, 97. t C. v. J C. xix.
THE KING'S MIRROR 15
It was commonly held in the middle ages that the earth is divided into five zones, only two of which may be inhabited. This was a theory advanced by a Greek scientist in the fifth century before our era,* and was given currency in medieval times chiefly, perhaps, through the works of Macrobius.f At first these zones were conceived as belts drawn across the heavens; later they came to be considered as divisions of the earth's surface. It will be noted that our author uses the older terminology and speaks of the zones as belts on the heaven; { it may be inferred, therefore, that he derived his information from one of the earlier Latin treatises on the nature of the universe. § For two thousand years it was believed that human life could not exist in the polar and torrid zones. Even as late as the fifteenth century European navigators had great fear of travel into the torrid zone, where the heat was thought to grow more intense as one traveled south, until a point might be reached where water in the sea would boil. Tfrp p.i]ffhm* of t.hf> King's Mirrnr sppms t.n rfpnbt all this. He regards the polar zones as generally uninhabitable; still, he is sure that Greenland lies within the arctic zone; and yet, Greenland " has beautiful sunshine and is said to have a rather pleasant climate." || He sees Henrly th.it the phyairn.1 nnture of n. rountry mny
TTin^h to do V*k Himptir nrm Hit inns— Thfi cold of
Iceland he ascribes in great part to its position near
* Parmenides of Ela (ca. 480 B.C.). Nansen, In Northern Mists, I, 12.
t See below, p. 147 (c. xix). Cf. Ibid., 123.
J C. xix.
§ Probably from the writings of Isidore, who speaks of the zones as belts on
the heavens. Etymologiae, iii, c. xliv; xiii, c. vi; De Natura Rentm, c. x.
II C.xix.
16 THE KING'S MIRROR
Greenland: "for it is to be expected that severe cold would come thence, since Greenland is ice-clad beyond all other lands." * He conceives the possibility that the south temperate zone is inhabited. "And if people live as near the cold belt on the southern side as the Green- landers do on the northern, I firmly believe that the north wind blows as warm to them as the south wind to us. For they must look north to see the midday and the sun's whole course, just as we, who dwell north of the sun, must look to the south." f
On the questions of time and its divisions the author of the King's Mirror seems to have had nearly all the information that the age possessed. He divides the period of day and night into two " days " (dcegr) of twelve hours each. Each hour is again divided into smaller hours called ostenta in Latin.} Any division below the minute he apparently does not know. The length of the year he fixes at 365 days and six hours, every fourth year these additional hours make twenty- four and we have leap year.§ The waxing and waning of the moon and the tidal changes in the ocean are also reckoned with fair accuracy. ||
Medieval scientists found these movements in the ocean a great mystery. Some ascribed the tides to the influence of the moon; If others believed that they were caused by the collision of the waters of two arms of the ocean, an eastern arm and a western; still others
* C. xiii. f C. xxi. J C. vi.
%lUd. \\Ibid.
IT The Venerable Bede held that the moon is in some way responsible for the
tides. De Natura Rerum, c. xxxix: Migne, Patrologia Latina, XC, 258-259;
see also iW., XC, 422-426 (De Tempore Ratione, c. xxix).
THE KING'S MIRROR 17
imagined that somewhere there were " certain cavern- like abysses, which now swallow up the water, and now spew it forth again."* The author of the Speculum has no doubts on the subject: he believes that the tides are due to the waxing and waning of the moon.f
In his discussion of the volcanic fires of Iceland he shows that on this subject he was completely under the influence of medieval conceptions. He has heard that Gregory the Great believed that the volcanic eruptions in Sicily have their origins in the infernal regions. Our author is inclined to question, however, that there is anything supernatural about the eruptions of Mount Etna; but he is quite sure that the volcanic fires of Ice- land rise from the places of pain. The fires of Sicily are living fires, inasmuch as they devour living materials, such as wood and earth; those of Iceland, on the other hand, consume nothing living but only dead matter like rock. And he therefore concludes that these fires must have their origin in the realms of death. {
The author has a suspicion that earthquakes may be due to volcanic action, but he offers another explana- tion, though he does not give it as his own belief. Down in the bowels of the earth there is probably a large num- ber of caverns and empty passages. " At times it may happen that these passages and cavities will be so com- pletely packed with air either by the winds or by the power of the roaring breakers, that the pressure of the blast cannot be confined, and this may be the origin of those great earthquakes that occur in that country." §
* Alexander Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, 138. f C. vi.
J C. xiii. § Ibid.
18 THE KING'S MIRROR
In this theory there is nothing new or original : the be- lief that the earth is of a spongy constitution and that earthquakes are caused by air currents is a very old one, which can be followed back through the writings of Alexander Neckam,* the Venerable Bede,f and others, at least as far as to Isidore.! The elder Pliny, who wrote his Natural History in the first century of the Christian era, seems to have held similar views: " I believe there can be no doubt that the winds are the cause -of earth- quakes." §
The chapters that deal with the northern lights are interesting because they seem to imply that these lights were not visible in those parts of Norway where the King's Mirror was written. The editors of the Christi- ania edition of this work call attention to the fact that there have been periods when these phenomena were less prominent, and suggest that there may have been such a period in the thirteenth century. || The author discusses these lights as one of the wonders of Green- land, and the natural inference is that they were not known in Norway. But it is also true that he speaks of whales as if they were limited to the seas about Iceland and Greenland, which is manifestly incorrect. It is likely that the author merely wishes to emphasize the fact that the northern lights appear with greater fre- quency and in greater brilliance in Greenland than any-
* De Naturis Rerum, 158.
t De Natura Rerum, c. xlix: Migne, Patrologia Latina, XC, 275-276.
t De Natura Rerum, c. xlvi: Migne, Patrologia Latina, LXXXIII, 1015. See
also The Christian Topography of Cosmas (written about 547), 17-18; Cosmas
scoffs at the theory.
§ Naturalis Historiae, I, 201 (ii, c. Ixxix).
|| P. ix, note.
THE KING'S MIRROR 19
where in Norway. He gives three theories to account for these phenomena: some ascribe them to a girdle of fire which encircles the earth beyond the outer ocean; others hold that the lights are merely rays of the sun which find their way past the edges of the earth while the sun is coursing underneath; but his own belief is that frost and cold have attained to such a power in the Arctic that they are able to put forth light.* In his opinion cold is a positive force as much as heat or any other form of energy. To the men of the author's time there was nothing strange in this belief: it seems to have been held by many even before the thirteenth century that ice could under certain conditions produce heat and even burn.f
Among the author's scientific notions very little that is really original can be found. It is Riant's belief that he drew to some extent from Oriental sources, the lore of the East having come into the North as the spoil of crusaders or as the acquisitions of Norwegian pilgrims .{ It may be doubted, however, whether the Saracenic contribution is a real one: almost everything that the author of the Speculum Regale presents as his belief can be found in the Latin scientific manuals of the middle ages. He alludes to the writings of Isidore of Seville, and * C. xix.
t Thus Solinus (pp. xxxiv, xxxvii, 236) says " the sea-ice on this island ig- nites itself on collision, and when it is ignited it burns like wood." See Nan- sen, In Northern Mists, I, 193. Adam von Bremen (Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, iv, 34) writes: " they report this remarkable thing about it that this ice appears so black and dry that, on account of its age, it burns when it is kindled." Ibid. The same belief appears in a German poem Meregarto: " Thereby the ice there becomes so hard as crystal, that they make a fire above it till the crystal glows." Ibid., I, 181. t Riant, Expeditions el Pelerinages des Scandinavcs en Terre Sainte, 440-441.
20 THE KING'S MIRROR
there can be little doubt that he was acquainted with the ideas of the great Spaniard, though he does not ac- cept them all. His ideas as to the shape of the earth and the probable causes of earthquakes may have been de- rived from the writings of the Venerable Bede, or from one of his numerous followers. The divisions of time are discussed in many of the scientific treatises of the middle ages, but the division of the hour into sixtieths called ostenta is probably not found in any manual written be- fore the ninth century; so far as the writer has been able to determine, ostenta, meaning minutes, first appears in the works -of Rabanus Maurus.*
The discussion of these scientific notions has its chief value in showing to what extent the Norwegians of the thirteenth century were acquainted with the best theo- ries of the age as to the great facts of the universe. The author's own contribution to the scientific learning of his time lies almost exclusively in the field of geography. " Beyond comparison the most important geographical writer of the medieval North," says Dr. Nansen, " and at the same time one of the first in the whole of medieval Europe, was the unknown author who wrote the King's Mirror. ... If one turns from contemporary or earlier European geographical literature, with all its supersti- tion and obscurity, to this masterly work, the difference is very striking." f This is doubtless due to the fact that pur author wfl^ riot. «. Roistered mon^ who was content to copy the ideas and expressions of his predecessors with such changes as would satisfy a theological mind, but a
* Rabanus Maurus died in 856.
t Nansen, In Northern Mists, II, 242.
THE KING'S MIRROR 21
man who had been active in the secular world and was anxious to get at real facts.
Among the chapters devoted to scientific lore the author has introduced several which are ostensibly in- tended to serve the purpose of entertainment; the author seems to fear that the interest of his readers is likely to flag, if the dry recital of physical facts is continued unbroken. It is in these chapters, which profess to deal with the marvels of Norway, Ireland, Iceland, Green- land, and the Arctic seas, that he introduces his geo- graphical data. In the description of Greenland are included such important and practical subjects as the general character of the land, the great ice fields, the products of the country, wild animals, and a few facts from the economic life of the people. In the chapters on Iceland the author limits himself to certain physical features, such as glaciers, geysers, mineral springs, vol- canoes, and earthquakes. He also gives a " description of the animal world of the northern seas to which there is no parallel in the earlier literature of the world." * He enumerates twenty-one different species of whales f and describes several of them with some fulness. He men- tions and describes six varieties of seals J and also gives a description of the walrus. The marvelous element is represented by detailed accounts of the " sea-hedges " (probably sea quakes) on the coasts of Greenland, the
* Nansen, In Northern Mists, II, 243.
t Ibid. " If we make allowance for three of them being probably sharks and for two being perhaps alternative names for the same whale, the total corre- sponds to the number of species that are known in northern waters." % Ibid. This " corresponds to the number of species living on the coasts of Norway and Greenland."
22 THE KING'S MIRROR
merman, the mermaid, and the kraken.* But on the whole these chapters give evidence of careful, discrimi- nating observation and a desire to give accurate knowl- edge.
For all but the two chapters on Ireland the sources of the author's geographical information are evidently the tales of travelers and his own personal experiences; of literary sources there is no trace. The account of the marvels of Ireland, however, gives rise to certain prob- lems. It may be that the Norwegian geographer based these chapters on literary sources that are still extant, or he may have had access to writings which have since disappeared. It is also possible that some of the infor- mation was contributed by travelers who sailed the western seas and had sojourned on the " western isles ; " for it must be remembered that Norway still had colo- nies as far south as the Isle of Man, and that Norsemen were still living in Ireland, though under English rule. When Hakon IV made his expedition into these regions in 1263, some of these Norwegian colonists in Ireland sought his aid in the hope that English rule might be overthrown.!
It has long been known that many of the tales of Irish wonders and miracles that are recounted in the Speculum Regale are also told in the Topographia Hiber- nica by Giraldus Cambrensis. The famous Welshman wrote his work several decades before the King's Mirror was composed; and it is not impossible that the author of the latter had access to the " Irish Topography." Moreover, the Speculum Regale and the Topographia
* Cc. xii, xvi. f Hdkonar Saga, c. 322.
THE KING'S MIRROR 23
Hibernica have certain common features which corre- spond so closely that literary kinship seems quite prob- able. The resemblances, however, are not so much in the details as in the plan and the viewpoint. In the second book of his " Topography," Giraldus recounts " first those things that nature has planted in the land itself; " and next " those things that have been miraculously performed through the merits of the saints." * The au- thor of the King's Mirror has adopted a similar group- ing. After having discussed some of the wonders of the island he continues: " There still remain certain things that may be thought marvelous; these, however, are not native to the land but have originated in the miracu- lous powers of holy men."f This correspondence in the general plan is too remarkable to be wholly accidental; at least it should lead us to look for other resemblances elsewhere.
In his general description of Ireland the author of the Norwegian work calls attention to the excellence of the land and its temperate climate: " for all through the winter the cattle find their feed in the open." J Giraldus informs us that grass grows in winter as well as in sum- mer, and he adds: " therefore they are accustomed nei- ther to cut hay for fodder nor to provide stables for the cattle." § Both writers emphasize the fact that grapes do not grow on the island. In both writings attention is called to the sacred character of the Irish soil, which makes it impossible for reptiles and venomous animals to live on the land, though Giraldus has his doubts as to the supernatural phase of the matter. Both writers
* Topographia Hibernica, ii, introd.: Opera, V, 74. f C. xi.
t c. x. § Topographia Hibernica, i, c. xxxiii: Opera, V, 67.
24 THE KING'S MIRROR
add that if sand or dust is brought from Ireland to another country and scattered about a reptile, it will perish.* Both characterize the Irish people as savage and murderous, but they also call attention to their kind treatment of holy men, of whom the island has always had many.f In fact, every statement in the King's Mirror as to the nature of the land and the character of the inhabitants can be duplicated in Giral- dus' description of Ireland, except, perhaps, the single observation that the Irish people, because of the mild- ness of the climate, often wear no clothes.
But even if Giraldus' work is to be regarded as one of the sources which the Norwegian author may have used in writing his chapters on the Irish mirabilia, it cannot have been the only or even the principal source. The account of these marvels in the King's Mirror does not wholly agree with that of the Welshman's work. In some instances the wonders are told with details that are wanting in the earlier narrative. Frequently, too, the Norwegian version is more explicit as to localities and gives proper names where Giraldus has none. It also records marvels and miracles which are not found in the Topographia Hibernica.
In an edition of the Irish Nennius the editor has added as an appendix a brief account of the " Wonders of Ireland," many of the tales of which have interesting parallels in the King's Mirror. There is also a medieval poem on the same theme t which contains allusions to much that the Norwegian author has recorded with
* Giraldus, Opera, V, 62-64; King's Mirror, c. x.
t Topographia Hibernica, Hi, c. 28; King's Mirror, c. x.
t See Wright-Halliwell, Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 103-107.
THE KING'S MIRROR 25
greater fulness. Neither of these works, however, can have been the source from which the chapters on Ireland in the Speculum Regale have been derived.
The learned editors of the Christiania edition of the King's Mirror reached the conclusion that the author did not draw from any literary source but derived his information from current tales and other oral accounts.* This is also the opinion of Dr. Kuno Meyer, the emi- nent student of Celtic philology.f Dr. Meyer bases his belief on the form of the Irish proper names. As written in the Speculum Regale they can not have been copied, as the spelling is not normally Irish; he believes, there- fore, that they show an effort on the author's part to reproduce phonetically these names as he heard them spoken. But this theory ignores the fact that in writing them the author employs combinations of consonants which are unusual to say the least. Combinations of ch and gh are used in writing nearly all the Irish proper names that occur in the King's Mirror and the ^-com- bination is found nowhere else in the work. J It was probably coming into the language in the century to which the work is credited, but the author uses it only as indicated above. It seems likely, therefore, that he had access to a written source, though it is also likely that he did not have this account before him when the writing was actually done. As has already been stated,
* P. x. f Erin, IV., 14-16.
J In a letter to the writer Professor Meyer expresses the belief that the use of gh in the Irish proper names is an invention by the author. The combina- tion of c and h is also used in certain other proper names, the system varying in the different manuscripts. For a discussion of the writing of proper names in the chief manuscript, see the American Facsimile Edition of the Konungs Skuggsjd (edited by G. T. Flom), xxxvii-xxxix.
26 THE KING'S MIRROR
the author seems to have written largely from memory, and his memory is not always accurate.
Having discussed the subjects which he considers of chief importance for the education of a merchant, the learned father proceeds to describe jj}£- king's
hold anH jt.s nrgfl.nigfl.t.i'on, the
at n.mirtfc1 and fa* business thai, is
before a king. For the part which deals with the royal court, it is probable that no literary sources were used. The author evidently wrote from long experience in the
king's rvitirmg- frg is rmt rh'gr»ngging an irl^ft] organisation
hr>"«**holr| as it was in J^ergpTi
n his own ^fly If he drew from any written de- scription of courtly manners, it may have been from some book like Petrus Alfonsus' Disciplina Clericalis, which has already been mentioned * and which seems to have had a wide circulation throughout western Europe in the later middle ages.
The chapters that are devoted to the discussion 0f the duties and activities ^4-4h^ king*f guaHsm^n^ to the manners and fiuptoT^0 whirh sh^iiM -nil0 ir t"h° kf^g'0 jgaxiJb, and to the ethical ideas on which these were largely based are of great interest to the student of me- •^ dieval culture. They reveal a, progress in the direction ^\ j)f rf>-finp^| ]f"ff> find .po^gn^>.irl Ty>ATinpr.^ which one should scarcely expect to find in the Northern lands. JThe de= velopment of courtes}^ and refined manners may have been accelerated by the new literature which was com- ing into Scandinavia from France and Germany, a literature that dealt so largely with the doings of
* See above, pp. 9-10.
THE KING'S MIRROR 27
Jgniffhts and kings:* but it was probably not so much a matter of bookish instruction as of direct imitation. The Northmen, though they lived far from the great centers of culture, were always in close touch with the rest of the world. In the earlier centuries the viking sailed his dreaded craft wherever there was wealth and plunder and civilized life. After him and often as his companion came the merchant who brought away new ideas along with other desirable wares. After a time Christianity was introduced from the southlands, and the pilgrim and the crusader took the place of the heathen pirate. And all these classes helped to reshape the life of cour- tesy in the Northern countries.
It is difficult to overestimate the influence of the crusader as a pioneer of Christian culture in Scandina- via, but it seems possible that the pilgrim was even more important in this respect. It was no doubt largely through his journeys that German influences began to be felt in the Scandinavian lands, though it is possible that the wide activities of the Hanseatic merchants should also be credited with some importance for the spread of Teutonic culture. It is told in the King's Mirror that a new mode of dressing the hair and the beard had been introduced from Germany since the author had retired from the royal court. f It is signifi- cant that the routes usually followed by Norwegian pilgrims who sought the Eternal City and the holy places in the Orient ran through German lands. As a rule the pilgrims traveled through Jutland, Holstein, and the Old Saxon territories and reached the Rhine at
* See above, pp. 2-3. f C. rxx.
28 THE KING'S MIRROR
Mainz. It was also possible to take a more easterly route, and sometimes the travelers would go by sea to the Low Countries and thence southward past Utrecht and Cologne; but all these three routes converged at Mainz, whence the journey led up the Rhine and across the Alps. It will be noted that a long stretch of the jour- ney from Norway to Rome would lead through the German kingdom. Concerning the people of the Old Saxon or German lands an Icelandic scribe makes the following significant remark: " In that country the people are more polished and courteous than in most places and the Northmen imitate their customs quite generally." *
The cultural influences which followed in the wake of the returning crusaders were no doubt largely of Frank- ish origin. As a rule the crusading expeditions followed the sea route along the coasts of France and the Spanish peninsula; thus the Northern warriors came in contact with French ideas and customs in the Frankish home- land as well as in the Christian armies, which were largely made up of enthusiastic and venturesome knights from Frankland. The author of the King's Mirror urges his son to learn Latin and French, " for these idioms are most widely used." f
One of the reasons why the~son wishes to master the mercantile profession! is that he desires to travel and
* Nikolas Ssemundarson, abbot of Thingeyrar, who made a journey to the Holy Land about 1151, wrote an itinerary for the use of pilgrims from which the above quotation is taken. The itinerary is summarized in Riant, Exp6- ditions et Pelerinages des Scandinaves en Terre Sainte, 80-87. t C. iii. It is likely that English culture found its way into the North along with the French. When King Sigurd sailed to the Orient in 1107, he spent the winter of 1107-1108 at the English court.
THE KING'S MIRROR 29
learn the customs of other lands.* In the thirteenth century the Norwegian trade still seems to have been largely with England and the other parts of the British Isles. It is also important to remember that the Nor- wegian church was a daughter of the church of England, and that occasionally English churchmen were elevated to high office in the Norwegian establishment. It is likely that Master William, who was Hakon IV's chap- lain, was an Englishman; at least he bore an English name.f
Information as to foreign civilization and the rules of courteous behavior could also pass from land to land and from court to court with the diplomatic missions of the time. The wise father states that envoys who I come and go are careful to observe the manners that \ obtain at the courts to which they are sent.f Frequent \ embassies must have passed between the capitals of England and Norway in the thirteenth century. It is recorded that both King John and his son Henry III re- ceived envoys from the king of Norway, and that they brought very acceptable gifts, such as hawks and elks,§ especially the former: in twelve different years Hakon IV sent hawks to the English king.||
Embassies also came quite frequently from the im- perial court in Germany. It was during the reign of Hakon IV that the Hohenstaufens were waging their last fight with the papacy, and both sides in the conflict seemed anxious to secure the friendship of the great
* C. iii. t Bdkonar Saga, c. 228. J C. xxix.
§ Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum, I, 382, 506, 509.
1 1 Olafsen, " Falkefangsten i Norge " : Histarisk Tidsskrift, Femte Rsekke, III,
351.
30 THE KING'S MIRROR
Norwegian king. The Saga of Hakon relates that early in the king's reign " missions began between the em- peror and King Hakon." * In 1241, " when King Hakon came to the King's Crag, that man came to him whose name was Matthew, sent from the emperor Frederick with many noble gifts. Along with him came from abroad five Bluemen (negroes)." f Just how acceptable such a gift would be in medieval Norway the chronicler does not state. There can be no doubt, however, that Hakon returned the courtesy. The saga mentions several men who were sent on flipl nm aj-.j c erra.n fa to the imperial court. One of these(eniissarl^ had to go as far as Sicily, " and the emperor received him well."! The
*"
The King's Mirror states that
kings fin^ i* ripppggpry f,o
Q£ pnmmr>Ti
thf> mpm^pi of thp variou
nrrrfully thfr tniitQintii mH mnnnrn of th^ other groups^ These meetings were usually held at some point near the mouth of the Gota River, where the boundaries of the three kingdoms touched a common point. In 1254 such a meeting was held at which Hakon of Norway, Christopher of Denmark, and the great Earl Birger of Sweden were in attendance with their respective retinues. 1 1
j^The kings of the North were not limited, however, in their diplomatic intercourse to the neighboring monarch- ies; their ambassadors went out to the remotest parts
* Hdkonar Saga, c. 191. f Und-, c. 243. J Ibid., c. 191.
§ C. xxix. 1 1 Hdkonar Saga, c. 281.
THE KING'S MIRROR 31
of Europe and even to Af ricaJ Valdemar the Victorious, in his day one of the greatest rulers in Christendom, married as his first wife Dragomir, a Bohemian princess who brought the Dagmar name into Denmark, and took as his second consort Berengaria of Portugal, Queen Bengjerd, whose lofty pride is enshrined in the Danish ballads of the age. Hakon IV married the daugh- ter of his restless rival, Duke Skule; but his daughter Christina was sought in marriage by a prince in far- away Spain. The luckless princess was sent to Castile and was married at Valladolid to a son of Alfonso the Wise.* Louis IX of France was anxious to enlist the support of the Norwegian king for his crusading ven- tures and sent the noted English historian Matthew Paris to present the matter to King Hakon. f The mis- sion, however, was without results. Norwegian diplo- macy was concerned even with the courts of the infidel : in 1262 an embassy was sent to the Mohammedan sultan of Tunis " with many falcons and those other things which were there hard to get. And when they got out the Soldan received them well, and they stayed there long that winter."!
An important event of the diplomatic type was the coming of Cardinal William of Sabina as papal legate to crown King Hakon. The coronation ceremony was performed in Bergen, July 29, 1247. At the coronation banquet the cardinal made a speech in which, as the Saga of Hakon reports his remarks, he called particular attention to the polished manners of the Northmen.
* Hdkonar Saga, c. 294. f Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora, IV, 651-652. t Hdkonar Saga, c. 313.
32 THE KING'S MIRROR
" It was told me that I would here see few men; but even though I saw some, they would be liker to beasts in their behaviour than to men; but now I see here a countless multitude of the folk of this land, and, as it seems to me, with good behaviour." * Tf the King's g""»« * ™rrpnt statement of what was ronntM nnH prnpff finnf1"** nt t}lp
lY, the ^iHrr1'0 i"""0** 1<c TinTin +nn ntiTinTlg-
As a part of his discussion of the duties and activities of the king's henchmen, the author describes the mili- tary methods of the age, arms and armour, military engines and devices used in offensive and defensive warfare, and other necessary equipment.! He also dis- cusses the ethics of the military profession to some ex- tent. This part of the work has been made the subject of a detailed study by Captain Otto Blom of the Danish artillery, who has tried to fix a date for the composition of the King's Mirror on the basis of these materials.! It is not likely, however, that the work describes the mili- tary art of the North; such an elaborate system of equip- ment and such a variety of military engines and devices the Norwegians probably never knew at any time in the middle ages. It is the military art of Europe which the author describes, especially the war machinery of the crusades. One should not be surprised to find that he had knowledge of the devices which were employed by the Christian hosts in their warfare against the infidel in the Orient. The crusades attracted the Norwegian warriors and they took a part in them almost from the
* Hdkonar Saga, c. 255. (Dasent's translation.)
t Cc. xxxviii-xxxix. J See below, pp. 62-63.
THE KING'S MIRROR 33
beginning. The fifth crusade began in 1217, the year of Hakon IV's accession to the kingship. Several Nor- wegian chiefs with their followers joined this movement, some marching by land through Germany and Hungary, while others took the sea route. One is tempted to be- lieve that the author was himself a crusader, but it is also possible that he got his information as to the mili- tary art of the south and east from warriors who re- turned from those lands.
From the subject of proper behavior and good breed- ing the author passes to a discussion of_pvil conduct and its pflfc^t on thtt wHfnre ^ *k*> kingdom, Many causes, he tells us, may combine to bring calamities upon a land, and if the evils continue any length of time, the realm will be ruined.* There may come dearth upon the fields and the fishing grounds near the shores; plagues may carry away cattle, and the huntsman may find a scarcity of game; but worst of all is the dearth which sometimes comes upon the intellects and the moral nature of men. As a prolific source of calamities of the last sort, the author mentions the jnst-itllt-1'™1 "f joint
kingship, *V>^ wila nf whinh h^ rlisniigggg a.f cnm^ Ipngth
His chapter on this subject is an epitome of Norwegian history in the twelfth century when joint kingship was the rule.
to the laws of medieval Norway before-
allo.dial possession and was inherited by his sons, at his death. All his sons were legaLheir&y-tko&e.ol illegitimate birth as well as .those j^JxajKereuho
*C.xxxv.
34 THE KING'S MIRROR
there was mo££jJia,n one hJejr3_theJkingsHp was helc all the *»i«"'nr»mt« rpr»pivinff th^ .
permissioaJaunaintain e«^ *"'* »wn household Usually a part of the realm was assigned to each; but it was the not th*> imgHnm itself, which
seen that^nch a system would
rights were at-Jbest of a, doubtful the Norwegian throne. It is an interesting fact that two of these, the strenuous Sverre and the wise Hakon IV, must be counted among the strongest, ablest, and most attractive kings in the history of Norway.
Though there had been instances of joint rule before the twelfth century, the history of that unfortunate form of administration properly begins with the death of Magnus Bareleg on an Irish battlefield in 1103. Three illegitimate sons, the oldest being only fourteen years of age, succeeded to the royal title. One of these was the famous Sigurd Jerusalemfarer, who took part in the later stages of the first crusade. About twenty years after King Magnus' death, a young Irishman, Harold Gilchrist by name, appeared at the Norwegian court and claimed royal rights as a son of the fallen king. King Sigurd forced him to prove his birthright by an appeal to the ordeal, but the Irishman walked un- hurt over the hot plowshares. Harold became king in 1130 as joint ruler with Sigurd's son Magnus, later called " the Blind." * Three of his sons succeeded to the
* The strife that followed the accession of Harold Gille and Magnus the Blind is the subject of Bjornson's great historical drama, Sigurd Slembe (English translation by William Morton Payne).
THE KING'S MIRROR 35
kingship in 1136. During the next century several pre- tenders appeared and civil war became almost the nor- mal state of the country. Between 1103 and 1217 fifteen princes were honored with the royal title; eleven of these were minors. The period closed with the defeat and death of King Hakon's father-in-law, the pretender Skule, in 1240.
It was thp history of these hundred years and mnrp nf loirit kin fif S rp *"* of pretenders, of minorities Q^>H r>f fivil ™hiVh thf* author of thf* King'ft Mirror hod in rnjp.fl '« gloomy r>Viflpf Pr nn t^e calamities
Perhaps ne was thinking more es- pecially of the unnatural conflict between King Hakon and Duke Skule,* which was fought out in 1240, and the memory of which was still fresh at the time when the King's Mirror was being written.
Of the king and his duties as ruler and judge the Speculum Regale has much to say; but as these matters offer no problems that call for discussion, it will not be necessary to examine them in detail. Wholly different is the case of the Ring's rpfafjpn t.p thfi r,hurrh3 of the position, of the church in the state, of the divine origin .ol .Jkingfthifi, of the fuhe^oLthe rpyaj authority jQr these questions the author's opinions and arguments are of great importance :(in the history of the theory of king- ship by the grace of God and divine right and of abso- lute monarchy, the Speculum Regale is an important landmarkA
In the discussion of the origin and powers of the royal office, the King's Mirror again shows unmistakably the
* See below, p. 48.
36 THE KING'S MIRROR
influence of events in the preceding century of Nor- wegian history. So long as thfijehurch-of Norway was umfcr th*> gnpftrincinn ^LJarpigT] firchbishops. first the metropolitan of distant Hamburg and later the arch- bishop of the Danish (now Swedish) see of Lund, there. of anv serious-dash betwe«a-*he.
rival powers of f^11T>rh and ctqt^ But when, in 1152, an <Jrchiepisco£aj>see was established at Nidaros (Trond- hjem) trouble broke out at once. Thejvave of enthusi- ^sjfl for a powerful and indepgHpPf phnrffr, which Jlgl Developed «iir»>i vijofor in the Havs oLfiregorv VII. was gftfl) rising high. Able men were appointed to the new metropolitan office and the Norwegian church very soon put forth the usual demands of the time: separate eccle- siastical courts and immunity from anything that looked like taxation or forced contribution to the state. At first these claims had no reality in fact, as the kings would not allow them; but in 1163 * an opportunity came for the church to make its demands effective. In that year a victorious faction asked for the coronation of a new king whose claims to the throne came through Jbis mother only* The pretender was a mere child and tjie actual power was in the hands of his capable and am- bitious father^ Erling Skakke. The imperious archbishog Eystein agreed to consecrate the boy king if he would consent to become the vassal of Saint Olaf, or, in other words, of the archbishop of Nidaros. Erling acquiesced and young Magnus was duly crowned. It was further . Stipulated that j
* The date usually given is 1164; but Ebbe Hertzberg argues quite conclu- sively for the earlier year. " Den f orste norske Kongekroning " : Historisk Tidsskrift, Fjerde Rtekke, III, 30-37.
THE KING'S MIRROR 37
final decision should- rest, with the bishopsJ4 The_jita±e £
Wfl.s formally ma HP gnhjWf; f|O ftfo r»lmrr»li It must be rioted, however, that it. wa.s not. tjhf* hparl r)f Cat.hnHn
marl** t.Tip|gfi glfliTingj V»nf the chief
prft1a.t.p Of thp naiinrml Norwegian churchy The theory was doubtless this, that if the pope is superioy tp
^Tppprnr thp arpTiVnghnp jfi fillpfrJW to the king.
The new arrangement did not long remain lenged. In 1177 the opposition to the ecclesiastical faction found a leader in Sverre, called Sigurdsson, an adventurer from the Faroe Islands, who pretended to be a grandson of Harold Gilchrist, though the proba- bilities are that his father was one Unas, a native of the Faroes. f Sverre's followers were known as Birchshanks, because they had been reduced to such straits that they had to bind birch bark around their legs. The faction in control of the government was called the Croziermen and was composed of the higher clergy with an impor- tant following among the aristocracy. Sverre's fight was, therefore, not against King Magnus alone but against the Guelph party of Norway. For half a century there was intermittent civil warfare between the supporters of an independent and vigorous kingship on the one side and the partisans of clerical control on the other. King Sverre's great service to Norway was that he broke the
* According to the new rules of succession the oldest legitimate son, if quali-N fied for the office, should inherit the throne. The oldest might be passed over, i however, in favor of a younger legitimate son, or even in favor of an illegiti- mate descendant, if the bishops should find such a procedure expedient. Gjerset, History of the Norwegian People, I, 364.
t While it seems probable that Sverre was not of royal blood he was not necessarily an impostor; he may have believed his mother's assertions. For a discussion of the problem see ibid., 376-377.
38 THE KING'S MIRROR
chain of ecclesiastical domination. The conflict was long and bitter and the great king died while it was still on; but when it ended the cause of the Croziermen was lost. The church attained to greatjiower in
state, but it never gained complete domination.
Sverre was a man of great intellectual strength; he was a born leader of men, a capable warrior, and a re- sourceful captain. When it began to look as if victory would crown his efforts, the archbishop fled to England and from his refuge in Saint Edmundsbury excommuni- cated the king. But exile is irksome to an ambitious man, and after a time the fiery prelate retuned to Norway and was reconciled to the strenuous ruler. System's successor, however, took up the fight once more; and when Sverre made Norway too uncomfortable for him, he fled to Denmark and excommunicated his royal op- ponent. A few years later, Innocent III, who had just ascended the papal throne, also excommunicated Sverre, and threatened the kingdom with an interdict.* But the papal weapons had little effect in the far North; the king forced priests and prelates to remain loyal and to continue in their duties. No doubt they obeyed the ex- communicated ruler with great reluctance and much misgiving; but no other course was possible, jor thew nation was with the king.
The militant Faroese was a man with strong literary interests; he was educated for the priesthood and it is believed that he had actually taken orders. He was elo-
* It is usually stated that Innocent III actually did lay an interdict on the land, but this appears to be an error. He authorized the bishops to do so, but they seem not to have made use of the authorization. See Bull, " Inter- diktet mot Sverre": Historisk Tidsskrift, Femte Rsekke, III, 321-324.
THE KING'S MIRROR 39
quent in speech, but he realized the power of the written as well as of the spoken word. It is a fact worth noting that among the Northmen of the thirteenth century learning was not confined to the clergy. While the author nf tVio gVafiji'o Mt'rrnr urges the prospective flierchant to ]egrj| T^fl.tin and Preriph., he fljpo warns him
hisjmather tongue., King Sverre replied to the ecclesi-/ astical decrees with a manifesto in the Norwegian Ian- - guage in which he stated his position and his claims for f^ the royal office. This pamphlet, which is commonly ^ known as " 4B-Address against the Bishops," was issued about 1199 and was sent to all the shire courts to be read to the freemen. It was a cleverly written document and seems to have been very effective. In spite of the fact that the king was under the ban, ^he^mas.sfi& re- mained loyal.
Between the political theory of the Address and the ideas of kingship expressed in the King's Mirror there is an agreement which can hardly be accidental. It is more likely that we have in this case literary kinship of tfre first degree. It has been thought that King Sverre may have prepared his manifesto himself, but this is scarcely probable. Some one of his court, however, must have composed it, perhaps some clerk in the royal scrip- torium, for the ideas developed in the document are clearly those of the king. It has also been suggested that the Address and the Speculum Regale may have been written by the same hand; * but the only evidence in support of such a conclusion is this agreement of political
* This appears to be Heffermehl's opinion. See Historiske Skrifter tilegnede Ludvig Daae, 87.
40 THE KING'S MIRROR
ideas, which may have originated in a careful study of the earlier document by the author of the later work.
King Sverre's Address begins with a violent attack on the higher clergy: the bishops have brought sorrow upon the land and confusion into holy church. This deplorable condition is ascribed chiefly to a reckless use of the power of excommunication. In this connection the king is careful to absolve the pope from all guilt: his unfortu- nate deeds were due to ignorance and to false represen- tations on the part of the bishops. It is next argued that excommunication is valid only when the sentence of anathema is just; an unjust sentence is not only invalid but it recoils upon the head of him who is the author of the anathema. In support of this contention the author of the manifesto quotes the opinions of such eminent fathers as Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, Pope Gregory the Great, and other authorities on canon law. It will be remembered that the king himself was under the ban at the time. The author argues further that his view is supported by reason as well as by the law of the church. Bishops have been appointed shepherds of the flocks of God; they are to watch over them, not drive them away into the jaws of the wolves. But if a bishop excommuni- cates one who is without guilt, he consigns him to hell; and if his decree is effective, he destroys one of God's sheep.
From this subject the Address passes to the nature of the royal office. " So great a number of examples show clearly that the salvation of a man's soul is at stake if he does not observe complete loyalty, kingly worship, and a right obedience; for kingly rule is created by God's
THE KING'S MIRROR 41
command and not by the ordinance of man, and no man can obtain royal authority except by divine dispensa- tion." The king is not a secular ruler only, he also has holy church in his power and keeping. It is his right and duty to appoint church officials, and the churchmen owe him absolute loyalty the same as his other subjects. Christ pointed out the duty of church officials quite clearly when he paid tribute to his earthly ruler, one who was, moreover, a heathen.*
It will be seen that the Address puts forth four claims of far-reaching importance: kingship is of Hi vino ™»igJQ flFld thp king T2]lfg_hy t^Q grn™» fif froH; the royalty extends, t.o fop r»hiirr*h «« WP]| a,<^ t.n t-b*VtStat** includes the power fo aj>pnint. the, r^ferf} o/f flip disloyalty to the king is a mortal sin; an unjust sentence of excommunication is invalid and iniures him onlv who publishes the anathema*. On all these points the King's Mirror is in complete agreement with Sverre's mani- festo.
In the course of the dialog in the Speculum Regale the son requests his father to take up and discuss the office and business of the king; for, says he, " he is so highly honored and exalted upon earth that all must bend and bow before him as before God." f Th^ father ac- r>mmt« fnr tn*> p<pwfr and dignity ^f kingship in thin
Way: men bow hpfnrp flip Icing as hpfnrp OnH
he represents the exalted authority of God; he God's own name and occupies the highest Judgment
* The Address is published as an appendix to the Christiania edition of the King's Mirror. It has also been issued in separate form under the title En Tale mod Biskopperne; this edition is by Gustav Storm, t C. xliii.
42 THE KING'S MIRROR
«psi.t. npnn earth: consequently, whejLOjnLehpJlPls^Lking, it is as if he honors God himself, because .oltheJitle-that. he has from God.*
The author evidently realizes that statements of this sort will not be accepted without further argument, and he naturally proceeds to gn've his doctrine a basis in history. The reverence due kingship is fully
(
illustrated with episodes in the career of David. So long as God permitted King Saul to live, David would do nothing to deprive him of his office; for Saul was also
\ the Lord's anointed. He took swift revenge upon the
) man who came to his camp pretending that he had slain Saul; for he had sinned against God in bearing arms against His anointed. He also calls attention to Saint Peter's injunction: " Fear God and honor your king;" and adds that it is " almost as if he had literally said
\ that he who does not show perfect honor to the king
\ioesnotfear God." |
To emphasize his contention that kingship is of divine origin, the author cites the^example of Christ. The mir- acle of the fish in whose mouth the tribute money was found is referred to in the Address as well as in the King's Mirror. Peter was to examine the first fish, not the second or the third. In the same way, and here the argu- ment is characteristically medievall"^ every man should in all things first honor the king and the royal dignity; for God Himself calls the king His anointed. "%\ [But, objects the son,yhoa^cQuld Christ who is him- self the lard nf he^Vfin and fiaTth bf willing tr> gnV>rnit t^. An....fifl.rt.h1y_.AiitIinrit^Lp To this the father replies that
* C. xliii. f C. xliv. J Ibid.
e
THE KING'S MIRROR 43
.s a. fmpst. /f no is
Yft thft divine j^yt^iitinTi nf lrJngcnip pf any bonftr Of
'••dignity i* The author evidently deems it important, to t*"> retention: for if Christ.
Caesar a,,i to n rigfr**"1 on+K/M-jf.Y, tli^ f»h]|rf>h in
Secular r"lfTg ^"1^ g^Qrrp]y p]pim tr> V>o fnllnaring in
footsteps of the faster.
It seems to be a safe conclusion that the doctrine of the divine character of kingship as developed in the King's Mirror is derived from King Sverre's Address, unless it should be that the two have drawn from a com- mon source. There is nothing novel about Sverre's ideas except the form in which they are stated; fundamentally they are a return to the original Norwegian theory of kingship. The Norwegian kings of heathen times were descendants of divine ancestors. Thpy recognized ft"* will
Qgg^mKli^g Qg Q T^Q] lirm'tQ + iryn on tJ1fjr
Dow^ers but fif) TP! 10*1 one fl.iitnoTit.v f^oiilri dflim su~ pprinrit,y +^ +1h^ Tnl^r The j^ing was inH^f^ himseh6 a priest.r ft. media/tor between the gods and men. The
Christian Irincrs
in a very real manner; they had
bishops and ha.H also on nrrasinn remnvpH thprn
claini of the archbishop to overlordshii) was therefore distinctly an innovation. The king makes use of argu- ments from the Bible to support his theory, not because it was based on Scriptural truths, but because to a Christian people these would prove the most convincing. In his statement of the filings and majesty ^ *^g xnynl pow^r, the author of the Speculum Regale goes,
* C. xliv.
44 THE KING'S MIRROR
however, far beyond the author of the Address. So com- plete is the king's power, " that he may dispose as he likes of the lives of all who live in his kingdom." * He " owns the entire kingdom as well as all the people in it, so that all the men who are in his kingdom owe him service whenever his needs demand it."f These sen- tences would indicate that the author's position lies close to the verge of absolutism. But Norwegian king- was anything bi]f PibH11*^ f>1F ^'"ff
in tJiegovexiimeni. Professor Ludvig Daae has put forth the hypothesis that the author of the King's Mirror was acquainted with the governmental system of Frederick II in his Italian kingdom, which he governed as an abso- lute monarch, t There may be some truth in this for there is no doubt that the character of Frederick's government was known to the Northmen; but it is also possible that the theory of absolute monarchy had a separate Norse origin, that the insistence on divine right in the long fight with the church had driven the parti- sans of monarchy far forward along the highway that led to practical absolutism. Less than a generation after the King's Mirror was composed, the newer ideas of kingship appear in the legislation of Magnus Lawmen- der. Kings have received their authority from God, for " God Himself deigns to call Himself by their name; " and the preamble continues: "he is, indeed, in great danger before God, who does not with perfect love and reverence uphold them in the authority to which God
* C. xliii. f C. xxviii.
f'Studier angaaende Kongespeilet " : Aarboger for nordisk Oldkyndighed,
1896, 189.
THE KING'S MIRROR
has appointed them."* This is the doctrine of the Ad- dress as well as of the Speculum; the significant fact is that the principle has now been introduced into the constitution of the monarchy. It is possible that author of the King's Mirror states an alien principle; but it is more probable that he merely gives form to a belief that had been growing among Northmen for some time. On the question of thervalidity of excommunication] the teachings of the Speculum Regale are in perfect ac- cord with those of the Address. The uncompromising position and methods of Innocent III had given point to an exceedingly practical question: was a Christian permitted to nbpy a king wl^n was under thp fran of church ? Of Jif rally thp nhiirnli liplH thflt-oborlionofv
thfi rirninastaTKWfr- would -ho ninful. The author of the
Speculum Hi'gt.inginalipg pl^ly. however, between just
and • unj ust sentences- of excommunication
established two houses ypon fftrth, f
altar and the house of the judgment seat.f There Js^
therefore, a legitimatp sphere ^f f^^ti^^ ^r *he bishop fl.fi_
well as for frhft Icinpr, JRn-t a.n apt, is not npoessarily rjghi:-
eous henausfiJt-emanates ffmn lijgh authority fit^pr in o /VA>^
the .chiirrJi ,or JLa~the stater If ihg^i^g pronnnnnps ^n
iinjiist jiiHgmpntj his apt is mnrHpr.} if a.hishnp ax^nm-
municates a Christian without proper reasons, the ban is-oLao .effect, except that it reacts upon the offending prelate himself .J
After the author has thus denied the right of the church to use the sword of excommunication in certain
* Norgesgamle Love, II, 23; Gjerset, History of the Norwegian People, 1, 463. fC.lxix. JC.lxx.
46 THE KING'S MIRROR
cases, there remains the question : Jias the .king., any, su- perior authority over the church ? The answer is that king has such authority;) and the author fortifies his position by recalling the story bow Solomon punished Ahinthnr the high p™^ or bishop as he is called in the King's Mirror. l^^^U^^h^ whether SolamfflLd^^ Abiathar
of the high-pxiestly office, the father, affirms ..thatJiie acted properly and according to law. The king-is for th ft reason that he must
not jpnly -bis-own house .ol judgment, -but a] so the pf the ^JtajywhiVh is ordinarily in the, bishnp^
keeping. Abiathar had sinned in becoming a party to the treasonable intrigues of Adonijah, who was plotting to seize the throne of Israel while his father David was still living, [inasmuch as the high priest had attempted to deprive the Lord's anointed of his royal rights, Solo- mon would have been guiltless even if he had taken Abiathar's lifeTJThe author also calls attention to the fact that Abiathar was elevated to the high-priestly office by David himself .*
On the qimst^" of the king's right tn pprHrol ppi's^n- pal appointments the Kin (fa Mirror is also in agreement with the earlier Address. On the death of Archbishop John, the Address tells us, " Inge appointed Eystein, his own chaplain, to the archiepiscopal office f . . • with- out consulting any cleric in Trondhjem, either the canons or any one else; and he drove Bishop Paul from the episcopal throne in Bergen and chose Nicholas Petersson to be his successor." Doubtless the philosopher
* C. Ixx. f Archbishop Eystein was consecrated in 1161.
THE KING'S MIRROR 47
of the King's Mirror, when he wrote of the fall of Abiathar, was also thinking of the many Abiathars of Norwegian history in the twelfth century, especially, perhaps, of the bishops of Sverre's reign, who had striven so valiantly to rid the nation of its energetic king. There can be no doubt, however, that he regarded t.fip frrr^y as jnfpri'nr to thp secular government. who iinright.pni]fi1.y excommunicates a Norwegian king and ai.t.emptsjjnjjbis way to render hi™ iTnpftfiSj^1p as a rnWr fojfci'tff pnt nnly his nffW hut Lie lifp
There was another problem in the middle ages which. also involved the question of jecclesiastical authority] as opposed to[secular jurisdictionj the rjght of There can be no doubt that "
it. wa,s,wp11 that tbflfi
an accused might find security for a time at least; but the right of sanctuary was much abused, too frequently it served to shield the guilty.. The King's Mirror teaches unequivocally that the right of sanctuary cannot be in- yoked against the orders of the king. As usual the author finds support for his position in the Scriptures. Joab fled to God's tabernacle and laid hold on the horns of the altar ; nevertheless, King Solomon ordered him to be slain, and the command was carried out.* Solomon appears to have reasoned in this wise: "It is my duty to carry out the provisions of the sacred law, no matter where the man happens to be whose case is to be determined." It was not his duty to remove Joab by force, for all just decisions are God's decisions and not the king's; and " God's holy altar will not be defiled or desecrated by *C.kvi.
48 THE KING'S MIRROR
Joab's blood, for it will be shed in righteous punish- ment." * And the author is careful to emphasize the fact that God's tabernacle was the only house in all the world that was dedicated to Him, and must consequently have had an even greater claim tosacredness than the churches of the author's own day, of which there was a vast number, f
There was a Norwegian Joab in the first half of the thirteenth century, who, like the chieftain of old, plotted against his rightful monarch and was finally slain within the sacred precincts of an Augustinian convent. Skule, King Hakon's father-in-law, was a man of restless am- bition, who could not find complete satisfaction in the titles of earl and duke, but stretched forth his hand to seize the crown itself. In 1239 he assumed the royal title, but a few months later (1240) his forces were sur- prised in Nidaros by the king's army, and the rebellion came to a sudden end. Skule's men fled to the churches; his son Peter found refuge in one of the buildings be- longing to the monastery of Elgesseter, but was dis- covered and slain. After a few days Duke Skule himself sought security in the same monastery; but the angry Birchshanks, in spite of the solemn warnings and threatenings of the offended monks, slew the pretender and burned the monastery.! This was an act of violence which must have caused much trouble for the king's partisans, and it is most likely the act which the author of the King's Mirror had in his thoughts when he wrote of the fate of Joab.
*C.lxix. fC.lxvii.
J Hdkonar Saga, cc. 239-241; Munch, Del norske Folks Historic, III, 977-978.
THE KING'S MIRROR 49
Writers on political philosophy usually begin their specific discussion of the theory of divine right of king- ship when they come to the great political theorists of the fourteenth century.* The most famous of these is Mar- siglio of Padua, who wrote his Defensor Pacis in 1324. In this work he ^<i!prtlfd *h?-t t^** ^*iipfTor derived his title and sovereignty from God and that his authority was superior to that of the pope. Some years earlier William Occam, an English scholar and philosopher, made similar claims for the rights of the king of France. Earlier still, perhaps in 1310, Dante had claimed divine right for princes generally in his famous work De Mo- narchia. Somewhat similar, though less precise, ideas had been expressed by John of Paris in 1305. But nearly two generations earlier the doctrine had been stated in all its baldness and with all its implications by the au- thor of the King's Mirror; and more than a century be- fore Dante wrote his work on " Monarchy " Sverre had published his Address to the Norwegian people. So far as the writer has been able to determine there is no treatise on general medieval politics, at least no such treatise written in English, which contains even an allu- sion to these two significant works.
The ethical ideas that are outlined in the Speculum Regale are also of more than common interest. On most points the learned father preaches the conventional principles of the church with respect to right and wrong conduct, and as a rule his precepts are such as have stood the test of ages of experience. He emphasizes hoftest^afc^pR]ingj careful attendee upon worship^
* On this subject, see Figgis, Divine Right of Kings, c. iii.
50 THE KING'S MIRROR
£vnti™ tn t>iP nlmrfh; he warnsJhis son to shun f every sort; -fr*» rmigf a|gQ aypiH gambling, ajirl r[jjpTriTig to excess.* In some respects the author's jnora,L code is Scandinavian rather than Christian: in the, em- phasis that he places upon reputation and the regardjn which one is held by one's neighbors he seems to echojjie sentiment that runs through the earlier Eddie poetry, especially the " Song of the High One." " One thing I know that always remains," says Woden, " judgment passed on the dead." f And the Christian scribe more than three centuries later writes thus of one who has departed this life: " But if he lived uprightly while on earth and made proper provision for his soul before he died, then you may take comfort in the good repute that lives after him, and even more in the blissful happiness which you believe he will enjoy with God in the other world." t And again he says: " Now you will appreciate what I told you earlier in our conversation, namely that much depends on the example that a man leaves after him."§
The author is also Norse in his emphasis on modera- tion in every form of indulgence, on the control of one's passion, and in permitting private revenge. His attitude toward this present world isjSot medievajQ we may enjfi$L. the good things of creation, though not to excess«X)n the matter of revenge, however, his ideas are character- istically medievaJL Private warfare was allowed almost everywhere in the middle ages, and it appears to have a place in the political system of the Speculum Regale*
* Cc. iii-iv, xxxvii. % C. xli.
t Hdvamdl, 40: Corpus Poeticum Boreale, I, 8. § C. xlii.
THE KING'S MIRROR 51
HM
But on this point too the author urges moderation. "When \ you hear things in the speech of other men which offend \ you much, be sure to investigate with reasonable care \ whether the tales be true or false; but if they prove to be true and it is proper for you to seek revenge, take / it with reason and moderation and never when heated / or irritated." *
The theology of the King's Mirror, as far as it can be discerned, is also medieval, though it is remarkable that the Virgin and the saints find only incidental mention in the work. No doubt if the author had been able to com- plete his treatise as outlined in his introduction, he would have discussed the forms and institutions of the church at greater length and we should be able to know to what extent his theological notions were in agreement with the religious thought of the age.
In this connection his t.hfnry
a^ crime . is of peculiar interest. He makes con- siderable use of Biblical narratives to illustrate his teachings and refers at length to some of the less worthy characters of Holy Writ, including certain men who suffered death for criminal offenses. Almost invariably he justifies the punishment by arguing that it was betten. for the criminal to suffer a swift punishment in death. than to suffer eternally in hell. Apparently his theory is that a criminal can cleanse himself in his own blood, that a temporal death can save him from eternal punish- ment^ The idolaters who were slain by Moses and the Levites f " were cleansed in their penance and in the pangs which they suffered when they died; and it was
* C. xli. t Exodus, xxxii.
52 THE KING'S MIRROR
much better for them to suffer a brief pain in death than a long torture in hell." The sacramental efficiency of the death penalty seems also to extend to the one who exe- cutes punishment: for those who assisted Moses in the slaughter sanctified their hands in the blood of those who were slain. In the same way "a king cleanses himself in the blood of the unjust, if he slays them as a rightful punishment to fulfil the sacred laws."*
There can be little doubt that this doctrine of the death penalty also shows the influence of the great civil conflict which ended with the death of Duke Skule in 1240. During a century of factional warfare there had been much violence, much slaughter, much " swift punishment." Applied to Norwegian history the au- thor's argument amounts to a justification of the slaugh- ter at Elgesseter; for Skule and his partisans had re- belled against the Lord's anointed. The hands of the Birchshanks were cleansed and sanctified in the blood of the rebels; but the author also has this comforting assurance for the kinsmen of the fallen, that their souls were not lost: Skule and his companions were cleansed from their sins in the last great penance of death.
It may also be that this same long record of violence^, treason, and rebellion was responsible for the prom^ nence that the King's Mirror gives to the duty of obedi- ence. In the political ethics of the work obedience is the chief virtue and the central principle. Conversely diso- bedience is the greatest of all sins. When Saul spared the Amalekites, whom the Lord had ordered him to destroy, he sinned far more grievously than did David when he * C. Ixi.
THE KING'S MIRROR 53
dishonored Uriah's wife and afterward brought about Uriah's death; for Saul neglected to carry out the com- mands of God, and " no offense is graver than to be disobedient toward one's superiors." *
The King's Mirror is a medieval document; it was in large part inspired by the course of events in Norway during the century of the civil wars; it records the scien- tific and political thought of a certain definite period in Norwegian history. But even though the author of the work must be classed among the thinkers of his own time, his place is far in advance of most of his fellows. His outlook on the world is broader than that of most medieval writers. In matters of science he is less credu- lous and IgssJKpupH hy thpftJ^giVal tli™igV than others who wrote on these subjects in his own century or earlier. On such questions as the cause of earthquakes and the source of the northern lights he shows an ppen- mindedness, which is rarely met with in the middle ages.| For the author's view of life was not wholly me- dieval; on many subjects we find him giving utterance to thoughts which have a distinctly modern appearance.
His theory of tViP staip anH itc fiinntinng ic Hi<atinr»tl.y
But it is probably in the field of education
where the great Northman is farthest in advance of his time. In his day the work of instruction was still in the hands of the church; and the churchmen showed no great anxiety to educate men except for the clerical profession. The King's Mirror, however, teaches that
t See Larson, " Scientific Knowledge in the North in the Thirteenth Cen- tury ": Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, I, 141-146.
\
54 THE KING'S MIRROR
mcrchanti mint rf™ ^ pHii^ipd: they must learn the art of reckoning and those facts of science that are of interest to navigators; they must study languages, Latin, French, and Norwegian; and they must become thoroughly acquainted with the laws of the land. But the author does not stop here: a merchant should also educate his children. " If children be given to you, let them not grow up without learning a trade; for we may expect a man to keep closer to knowledge and business when he comes of age, if he is trained in youth while under control."
The identity of the author of the Speculum Regale has never been disclosed. Anonymous authorship was not uncommon in medieval Norse literature: many of the sagas were written by men whose names are not known. In the thirteenth century, however, it had become cus- tomary for writers to claim the honors of authorship. Our philosopher of the King's Mirror clearly understood that his readers would be curious to know his name: if the book, he tells us in his introductory chapter, has any merit, that should satisfy the reader, and there is no reason why any one should wish to search out the name of the one who wrote it.f Evidently he had a pur- pose in concealing his identity, and the motive is not far to seek.
After the death of King Sverre (1202) the conflict be- tween the king and the hierarchy ceased for a time. The church made peace with the monarchy; the exiled bishops returned; and the faction of the Croziermen disintegrated. After a few years, however, the old *C.iv. C.i.
THE KING'S MIRROR 55
quarrels broke out anew. On the accession of Hakon IV the church yielded once more, though the prelates did not renounce their earlier claims. In 1245, when plans were being made for King Hakon's coronation, the bishops put forth the suggestion that the king should, on that occasion, renew the agreement of 1163, which gave the bishops control of the succession. But the great king refused. "If we swear such an oath as King Magnus swore, then it seems to us as though our honor would be lessened by it rather than increased." * He flatly asserted that he would be crowned without any conditions attached to the act, or the crown " shall never come upon our head."
After the arrival of Cardinal William of Sabina, who had been sent by the pope to officiate at the coronation, and while preparations for that joyous event were going forward, the subject was brought up once more. On the suggestion of the Norwegian bishops the cardinal asked the king to take Magnus Erlingsson's oath; but the king again refused, and the cardinal decided that " there is no need to speak of it oftener." f The king was crowned and there was peace between the two great forces of church and monarchy, at least so long as Hakon lived. Sometime not long before or after the coronation of the great king (1247) the King's Mirror seems to have been written. It is clear that such ideas as are enunciated in this work with respect to the snb- mission..o£ the church to the authorities of the state can not have, been xelished by the hierarchy, and perhaps they were just then somewhat unwelcome to the secular
* Hdkonar Saga, c. 247. f /&«*•» c. 251.
&
56 THE KING'S MIRROR
rulers as well, since a discussion of this sort might tend to renew ill feeling and stir up strife. Consequently the author may have thought it wiser to remain anony- mous.
Earlier students of the Speculum Regale have believed that the author was some local chieftain, who had spent his more active days at the royal court, but who had later retired to his estates and was spending his declin- ing years in literary pursuits. Various efforts have been made to find this chieftain,* but with no success; there is no evidence that the lords or crusaders who have been suggested as probable authors had any literary interests or abilities. There can be no doubt that the author was at one time a prominent member of the royal retinue; he asserts in several places that such was the case.f He is, furthermore, tori thorough Jy famiJmr
rvf f
3ional -g*«i ytifr .."merely. At the same time it is not likely that he was a secular lord ; it SPPT^IS impnssihlp that h^ could have been anything but a churchman. He knows
/the Latin language; he is well acquainted with sacred history; he has read a considerable number of medieval
^ books. It is quite unlikely that the various types of learning that are reflected in the chapters of the King's Mirror could be found in the thirteenth century in any scholar outside the clerical profession. He could not have been one of the higher ecclesiastics, as the prelates belonged to the faction of the Croziermen. The Specu- lum Regale was evidently written by a member of the
* See the Soro edition, xxiii;|Munch, Del norske Folks Historic, III, 399, note. t Cc. ii, iii, xxx.
THE KING'S MIRROR 57
Norwegian priesthood, though it is possible that he be- longed to one of the minor orders. But at all events he was a professional churchman.*
There was an old belief in Norway that the work was written at King Sverre's court, perhaps by the priest- king himself ;f but this theory is wholly without foun- dation. Professor Ludvig Daae, believing that only a few Northmen possessed the necessary qualifications for the authorship of such a work as the King's Mirror, con- cluded that it must have been written by Master William, one of the chaplains at the court of Hakon IV.J Master William was evidently a man of some erudition; he held a degree (magister) from a European university; he must have traveled abroad and was no doubt a man of experience; he lived and flourished in the period when the work must have been composed. But there is no shred of evidence that Master William actually wrote the King's Mirror or that he was interested in the prob- lems that are discussed in this work.
More recently A. V. Heffermehl has made an attempt to prove that the author so long sought for was Ivar Bodde, a Norwegian priest, who seems to have played an important part in the history of Norway in the first half of the thirteenth century as an influential member of the anti-clerical party. § Much is not known of Ivar
* Cf. Daae, "Studier angaaende Kongespeilet ": Aarbogerfor nordisk Oldkyn-
dighed, 1896, 180-181. Daae holds that the author was a clergyman.
t Ibid., 1896, 173.
j Ibid., 1896, 192-196; see also pp. 179 ff. Daae believes that Master William
must have held a position at court corresponding to the office of chancellor;
he also conjectures that he was the tutor of the king's sons. Master William
is mentioned in the Hdkonar Saga, cc. 210, 228.
§ Historiske Skrifter tilegnede Ludvig Daae, 79-104 (" Presten Ivar Bodde ").
Ivar is one of the characters in Ibsen's Pretenders.
58 THE KING'S MIRROR
Bodde, and nearly all that we do know comes from a speech which he is reported to have delivered in his own defence in 1217.* He entered King Sverre's service " be- fore the fight was at Strindsea," which was fought in the summer of 1199. This was also the year in which King Sverre seems to have issued his famous Address. " I had good cheer from the king while he lived, and I served him so that at last I knew almost all his secret matters." In King Inge's reign (1204-1217) he served in the ca- pacity of chancellor: " and that besides, which was much against my wish, they relied on me for writing letters." During the same reign he also served as Prince Hakon's foster father, and was consequently responsible for the education of the great king.f Ivar was also skilled in military arts: he was a warrior as well as a priest .J He was apparently twice sent to England on diplomatic errands, first to the court of King John, later to that of Henry III.§ He withdrew from the court in 1217. In 1223 he reappears as one of the king's chief counsellors. After this year nothing is known of Ivar Bodde.
The author of the King's Mirror was a professional churchman who belonged to the ^nti-cleric^)f action ; he was a master of the literary art. Ivar Bodde was a man of this type; nothing is known of his literary abil- ities, but it is clear that a man who was entrusted with the king's correspondence can not have been without
* Hdkonar Saga, c. 21.
t Historiske Skrifter tilegnede Ludvig Daae, 88-89 (Heffermehl) ; Hdkonar
Saga, c. 20.
I Historiske Skrifter tilegnede Ludvig Daae, 80.
§ Ibid., 81, 85.
THE KING'S MIRROR 59
literary skill. There seems to be no reason why Ivar Bodde could not have written the King's Mirror, and he may also have had a hand in the preparation of Sverre's Address; but that he actually did write either or both of these important works has not yet been proved ; there may have been other priests in Norway in the thirteenth century who stood for the divine right of Norwegian kingship.
From certain geographical allusions it is quite clear that the work was written in Norway and in some part of the country that would be counted far to the north. The author mentions two localities in the Lofoten region and he shows considerable knowledge of conditions else- where in Halogaland; * but it is evident that he did not reside in that part of the kingdom when he was at work on his great treatise. It is generally agreed that the home of the Speculum Regale is Namdalen, a region which lies northeast of the city of Trondhjem and which touches the border of Halogaland on the north. f This conclusion is based on certain astronomical obser- vations on the part of the author, namely the length of the shortest day, the daily increase in the length of the day, and the relationship between the length of the sun's path and the sun's altitude at noon of the longest and the shortest day.J The Norwegian astronomer Hans Geelmuyden has determined that if the author's state- ments on these points are to be regarded as scientific computations, they indicate a latitude of 65°, 64° 42', and 64° 52' respectively. All these points lie within the
•C.vii.
f See the Sorb" edition, pp. lix-lx; the Christiaua edition, p. v.
J Cc. vi, vii.
60 THE KING'S MIRROR
shire of Namdalen.* As the author can scarcely have been much more than a layman in the fields of mathe- matics and astronomy, the agreement as to results ob- tained is quite remarkable.
The problem of place is relatively unimportant, but the question of the date of composition has more than mere literary interest. There is nothing in the work it- self which gives any clue to the year when it was begun or completed. It seems evident, however, that it was written after the period of the civil wars, though while the terrors of that century of conflicts were yet fresh in the memories of men. For various other reasons, too, it is clear that the King's Mirror was composed in the thirteenth century and more specifically during the reign of Hakon IV.
The allusion to the Byzantine emperor Manuel Com- nenus,f whose reign began in 1143, gives a definite date from which any discussion of this problem must begin. It is also clear that the work was written after the church had begun to lay claim to power in the government of the state, which was in 11634 The a.uthor looks back to an evil time when minorities were frequent and joint kingships were the rule; § but the period of joint rule virtually came to a close in 1184 when Sverre became sole king; and the last boy king whom the author can have taken into account was Hakon IV, who was thir- teen years old when he was given the royal title. It therefore seems evident that the King's Mirror was written after 1217, the year of Hakon's accession.
* " Om Stedet for KongespeUets Forfattelse ": Arkiv for nordisk Filologi, L
205-208.
t C. viii. J See above, p. 36. § See above, pp. 33-35.
THE KING'S MIRROR 61
On the other hand, it is also quite evident that the treatise can not have been written after the great re- vision of the Norwegian laws which was carried out during the reign of Magnus Lawmender. The new court- law, which was promulgated about 1275, is clearly later than the Speculum Regale: the fine exacted for the death of a king's thegn, which is given as forty marks in the King's Mirror, is fixed at a little more than thirteen marks in Magnus' legislation. In 1273 the law regu- lating the succession to the throne made impossible the recurrence of joint kingships; but the principle of this arrangement appears to have been accepted as early as 1260, when the king's son Magnus was given the royal title. Another decree, apparently also from Hakon's reign, which abolished the responsibility of kinsmen in cases of manslaughter and deprived the relatives of the one who was slain of their share in the blood fine, also runs counter to methods described in the King's Mirror, which states distinctly that kinsmen share in the pay- ment.* It is therefore safe to conclude thatthe work was written some time between QQ17 and 1260J)
The earliest attempt to date the King's Mirror was made by the learned Icelander, Hans Finsen. In an essay included in the Soro edition (1768) he fixes the time at about 1164.f J. Erichsen, who wrote the intro- duction to this edition, doubts that it was composed at so early a date; impressed with the fact that the work reflects the political views of the Birchshank faction, he is inclined to place the date of composition some time in Sverre's reign or in the last decade of the twelfth
* C. xxxvi (p. 201) . f See page xx of the Soro edition.
62 THE KING'S MIRROR
century.* The striking resemblance between the ideas expressed in the treatise and the guiding principles of Sverre's regime led the editors of the Christiania edition to the same conclusion: 1196 or soon after, f And so it was held that the work is a twelfth century document until a Danish artillery officer, Captain Otto Blom, be- gan to make a careful study of the various types of weapons, armor, and siege engines mentioned in the work. His conclusion, published in 1867, was that the King's Mirror reflects the military art of the thirteenth century and that the manuscript was composed in the latter half of the century, at any rate not long before 1260.J This conclusion has been accepted by Gustav Storm, § Ludvig Daae,|| and virtually all who have written on the subject since Blom's study appeared, except Heffermehl, whose belief that Ivar Bodde was the author could not permit so late a date, as Ivar, who was a man of prominence at Sverre's court about 1200, must have been an exceedingly aged man, if he were still living in 1260. Heffermehl is, therefore, compelled to force the date of composition back to the decade 1230-1240.
The weakness of Captain Blom's argument is that he supposes the military art described in the Speculum Regale to be the military art of the North at the time when the work was written. If all the engines and ac- coutrements that the author describes ever came into use in the North, it was long after 1260* Nearly all the
* See pages Ixv-lxvi of the Sorb" edition. | Christiania edition, p. viii.
I Aarbogerfor nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1867, 65-109. See above, p. 32. § Arkivfor nordisk Filologi, III, 83-88. || Aarbogerfor nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1896, 176-177.
THE KING'S MIRROR 63
weapons and devices mentioned were in use in southern Europe and in the Orient in earlier decades of the thir- teenth century; some of them belong to much earlier times. If certain engines and devices which Captain Blom is disposed to regard as mythical are left out of account, it will be found that only three items fail to appear in illustrations from the earlier part of the thir- teenth century; and it would not be safe to assume that these were not in use because no drawing of them has been found.
Viewed against the background of Norwegian history, those chapters of the King's Mirror which deal with the nature and the rights of monarchy and with the place of the church in the state take on the appearance of a po- litical pamphlet written to defend and justify the doings of the Birchshank party. The motives for composing an apology of this sort may be found at almost any time in the thirteenth century but especially during the decade that closed with the coronation of Hakon IV. It will be remembered that the author of the King's Mirror dis- cusses the calamities that may befall a kingdom as a result of joint rule.* But in 1235, after one of Earl Skule's periodic attempts at rebellion, his royal son-in- law granted him the administration of one-third of the realm. The grant was ratified the next year with certain changes : instead of a definite, compact fief the earl now received territories everywhere in the kingdom. In 1237 Skule was given the ducal title and to many men it seemed as if the curse of joint kingship was about to afflict the land once more. Two years later the partisans
* C. xxxvi.
64 THE KING'S MIRROR
of the duke proclaimed him king: like Adonijah of old he tried to displace the Lord's anointed.* But after a few months came the surprise of Skule's forces in Trondhjem and the duke's own tragic end in Elgesseter convent.f It will be recalled that the author defends King Solomon's dealings with Joab and lays down the principle that the right of sanctuary will not hold against a king.f The rebellion of the Norwegian Ado- nijah was in 1239; he died the death of Joab in 1240. Three years later the believers in a strong monarchy were disturbed by the news that the bishops had revived the old claim to supremacy in the state. Soon after this series of events the political chapters of the King's Mir- ror must have been composed.
In 1247, the year of Hakon's coronation, the hierarchy was once more reconciled to the monarchy, and nothing more is heard of ecclesiastical pretensions during the re- mainder of the reign. It would seem that after this recon- ciliation, no churchman, at least not one of the younger generation, would care to send such a challenge as the King's Mirror out into the world. One of the older men, one who had suffered with Sverre and his impoverished Birchshanks, might have wished to write such a work even after 1247; but after that date the surviving fol- lowers of the eloquent king must have been very few indeed, seeing that Sverre had now lain forty-five years in the grave. It is therefore the writer's opinion, though it cannot be regarded as a demonstrated fact, that the clos- ing chapters of the King's Mirror were written after 1240, the year when Duke Skule was slain, perhaps after
* C. Ixvi. f See above, p. 48. } C. Ixix.
THE KING'S MIRROR 65
1243, in which year Norwegian clericalism reasserted it- self, but some time before 1247, the year of Hakon's cor- onation and final reconciliation with the church.
In the centuries following its composition the King's Mirror appears to have had wide currency in the North. When the editors of the Sorb* edition began to search for manuscripts, they found a considerable number, though chiefly fragments, in Norway and Iceland; and traces of the work were also found in Sweden.* Thus far twenty- five manuscripts have come to light; " some of them are extensive, but many are fragments of only a few leaves. "f Copies of the work were made as late as the reformation period and even later.
The first mention of the Speculum Regale in any printed work is in Peder Claussb'n's " Description of Nor way, "J the manuscript of which dates from the earlier years of the seventeenth century. But more than one hundred years were still to pass before this impor- tant work was brought to the attention of the literary world. Early in the eighteenth century, however, great interest began to be shown in the records of the Old Northern past. The great Icelandic scholar and antiqua- rian, Arne Magnussen, had begun to collect manuscripts and was laying the foundation of the Arnamagnean col- lection, which is one of the treasures of the Danish cap-
* See the Soro edition, pp. xxix-xxxvii.
f Konungs Skuggsjd (ed. G. T. Fiona), p. i. Among the fragments is a part of a Latin paraphrase made in Sweden in the first hah* of the fourteenth cen- tury. The translator was a cleric in the service of the Duchess Ingeborg, a daughter of the Norwegian King Hakon V. Ingeborg was married to the Swedish Duke Erik. Arkivfor nordisk Fttologi, I, 110-112. t Norrigis Bescriffuelse. See Aarboger for nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1896, 172 (Daae).
66 THE KING'S MIRROR
ital. Among other things he found several copies and fragments of manuscripts of the Speculum Regale. No effort was made to publish any of these before the mid- dle of the century was past; but about 1760 three young scholars began to plan editions of this famous work. The first to undertake this task was Professor Gerhard Schoning,* a Norwegian by birth, who was at the time rector of the Latin school in Trondhjem but later held a professorship in the Danish academy at Soro. Scho- ning began the preparation of a Latin translation of the work, which he planned to publish along with the origi- nal version; but his work was never completed. About the same time an Icelandic student at the University of Copenhagen, Hans Finsen,f later bishop in his native island, projected an edition, but was unable to carry out his plans for want of a publisher, and turned his ma- terials over to others. The third and only successful attempt at publication was made on the suggestion of a recently organized association of Icelandic scholars known as " the Invisible " society. This association re- quested Halfdan Einersen,J rector of the Latin school at Holar, one of the members and founders of the " in- visible " body, to prepare an edition. An Icelandic mer- chant, Soren Pens, generously offered to bear all the expense of publication.!
Rector Einersen prepared the text from the best avail- able Icelandic manuscripts. He also made a Danish
* Schoning's dates are 1722-1780. He was professor of Latin literature and history at Soro, but his real achievements lie in the field of Norwegian history, f 1739-1796. t 1732-1785.
§ See the introduction to the Soro edition, xxv-xxviii, from which the above facts have been culled.
THE KING'S MIRROR 67
translation and a Latin paraphrase of the same and for- warded the whole to Denmark to be published. The materials were given into the editorial charge of another learned Icelander, Jon Erichsen, teacher of jurispru- dence at Soro Academy. Although Jon Erichsen's name does not appear on the title page, it is quite clear that the general excellence of the work is in large measure due to his careful collation of Einersen's text with man- uscripts to which the Icelandic rector had not had ac- cess. Professor Erichsen discarded Einersen's Danish translation and prepared one of his own. He also found place in the volume for a dissertation by Hans Finsen, which was first published in 1766, and in which the learned theologian discusses various literary problems, such as the authorship of the work, the date of compo- sition, and the like. All these materials were brought to- gether and published at Soro in 1768. On the whole the Soro edition is an excellent piece of work. The Icelandic text was made with great care and reveals the fact that the editors were possessed of a critical insight which for the time was remarkable. The Danish translation is somewhat stiff and literal and does not always follow the laws of Danish syntax; but it is generally accurate and retains an unmistakable flavor of the Old Norse original.
Except for some assistance rendered by Professor Scheming, the first edition of the King's Mirror was the work of Icelanders. The Norwegians were also be- ginning to show some interest in their medieval past; but Norway was still a part of the Danish monarchy, the political and intellectual center of which was Co-
68 THE KING'S MIRROR
penhagen, and for half a century longer the Norwegians were unable to do anything to promote the publication of historical materials. However, four years after the Soro edition had come from the press, a society of Norse- men at the University of Copenhagen was organized, the purpose of which was to further the cause of Norwegian autonomy. After Norway in 1814 resumed her place among the nations of Europe, it was only natural that Norwegian scholars should be attracted to the Old Norse treasures of the middle ages. So far as the means of the impoverished state would allow, publication of the sources of Norwegian history was undertaken. The first Norwegian historian of distinction was Rudolf Key- ser, professor in the University of Christiania. In his efforts to draw the attention of his countrymen to the glories of earlier centuries, he was soon reenforced by his younger contemporary, the fiery and industrious scholar and investigator Peter Andreas Munch, who, though his work is somewhat marred by the fervor of his patriotism, has not yet found a superior among the historians of the North. Soon a third was added to these two: Carl R. Unger, a man of remarkable abilities as a linguist. These three now undertook to edit a series of Old Norse texts, among which was the King's Mirror, which was published under the auspices of the Univer- sity of Christiania in 1848.
The Christiania edition is based on the main manu- script of the Speculum Regale, the manuscript 243 B of the Arnamagnean collection. This was produced in Nor- way some time during the last quarter of the thirteenth
THE KING'S MIRROR 69
century, perhaps not long after 1275.* As the manu- script was incomplete in part, the editors also made use of the copies which had been made the basis of the ear- lier edition. Inasmuch as the materials to be used had been copied at different times and consequently reflected various stages of linguistic development, it was thought desirable to normalize the orthography: and in this part of their task the editors made use of a fragment which was thought to belong to a somewhat earlier date than the main manuscript. f If this belief is correct, the Chris- tiania edition must, in respect to orthography, be a com- paratively close approximation of the original manu- script.
In 1881 a third edition prepared by the German phi- lologist Otto Brenner was published under the title Speculum Regale, ein altnorwegischer Dialog. Brenner based his text on the Norwegian manuscript 243 B, but he also made use of the Icelandic copy (243 A) and of some of the older fragments. His edition consequently includes all the materials that had been used in the ear- lier editions. It was Brenner's purpose to prepare a text which should give the Norwegian version in its original form, so far as such a restoration is possible. Though scholars are not agreed that Brenner achieved his pur- pose, all have acknowledged the value of his work, and since its publication his version has been regarded as the standard edition.
Two years ago (1915) the University of Illinois pub- lished, under the editorial direction of Professor George
* See Flom's edition of Konungs Skuggsjd, introduction, t See the Christiania edition, pp. xiii-xvi.
70 THE KING'S MIRROR
T. Flom, a photographic reproduction of this same man- uscript, 243 B. This important linguistic monument has thus been made accessible to scholars in its original form. Professor Flom has also prepared the Old Norse text of the manuscript, which makes a part of the pub- lication, and has prefaced the whole with an extended introduction in which he discusses the history of the manuscript, marginal addenda, abbreviations, and other paleographic and linguistic problems.
Until very recently the Danish version prepared by Jon Erichsen for the Soro edition was the only transla- tion of the Speculum Regale into a modern language.* But a few years ago the first part of the work was pub- lished under the title Kongespegelen in the form of a translation into New Norse, a language of recent origin based on the spoken dialects of Norway. As these dia- lects are closely related to the original idiom of the North, such a translation can be made with comparative ease. The work has recently been completed, and in most respects the New Norse version proves to be a very satisfactory translation.
Some years ago a number of American scholars who have interests in the fields of Scandinavian history, lan- guage, and literature united to form a Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study. The founders be- lieved that the purpose of the organization might be in part achieved by encouraging the publication of some of the great Scandinavian classics in English transla- tion. It was on the suggestion of this Society that the
* In 1892 a small volume of extracts from the King's Mirror translated by Chr. Dorph was published in Copenhagen.
THE KING'S MIRROR 71
writer undertook to prepare the present version of the King's M'irror. The translation is based on the text of the Christiania edition, the readings of which have been consistently followed, except in a few instances where the scribe does not seem to have copied his manuscript correctly; in such cases the most satisfactory variant readings have been followed.
INTRODUCTION: NAME AND PURPOSE OF THE WORK
1 PASSED all the crafts before my mind's eye and studied intently all the practices belonging to each craft; and I saw a vast multitude walking wearily along the paths that slope downward from the highways of virtue into error and vice. Some of these were very steep, and those who followed them perished in desolate ra- vines; for the long, wearisome road had fatigued them, and they had not enough strength left to climb up the hillside, nor were they able to find the by-paths that led back to the highways of virtue.
[The destruction of this multitude was due, it seemed to me, to various causes: some perished through igno- rance, for the ways of error were trodden so generally that they appeared to be the most convenient to follow, and ignorant men mistook them for highways, since the majority seemed to walk in them; some perished be- cause of laziness and carelessness; others feared that they would suffer derision and contumely, if they walked the highroad alone; while still others were led astray by perversity, wickedness, and the various passions.]
But when I had observed how good morals were scorned and how the scorners perished, I began to won- der how to find a road where I should not be traveling entirely alone and yet would not have to choose one of those paths where the crowd were exhausting their
THE KING'S MIRROR
73
strength, lest the steep climb should weary me, if I were to make an effort to get back up again. £ Inasmuch as my father was still living and loved me ) well, I thought it would be better to seek his counsel / than after a slight consideration to reach a decision C which might displease him.JSo I hastened to my father and laid the whole problem before him. He was a wise and kind man, and I found that he was pleased when he heard that my errand was to learn right conduct. He permitted me to ask whatever I wished about the prac- tices of the various crafts, and how they differed. He also promised to make known to me all the usages that are most properly observed by each craft that I might ask about. He further promised to point out, as a warn- ing, the paths of error which most men enter upon when they leave the highways of virtue. Finally he promised to show me the by-paths that those may take who wish to return from wrong roads to the highway.
*~v
Thereupon I began my inquiry by asking about the activities of merchants and their methods. At the close of the first discussion, when my questions had all been answered, I became bolder in speech and mounted to a higher point in our review of the conditions of men; for next I began to inquire into the customs of kings and other princes and of the men who follow and serve them. Nor did I wholly omit to ask about the doings of the clergy and their mode of life. And I closed by inquiring
into the activities of the peasants and husbandmen, w}10 till the soil, and into their habits and occupation.
But when my father had given wise and sufficient re- plies to all the questions that I had asked, certain wise
74 THE KING'S MIRROR
and worthy men, who, being present, had heard my questions and his wise and truthful answers, requested me to note down all our conversations and set them in a book, so that our discussions should not perish as soon as we ceased speaking, but prove useful and enjoyable to many who could derive no pastime from us who were present at these conversations.
So I did as they advised and requested. I searched my memory and pondered deeply upon the speeches and set them all in a book, not only for the amusement or the fleeting pastime of those who may hear them, but for the help which the book will offer in many ways to all who read it with proper attention and observe care- fully everything that it prescribes. It is written in such a way as to furnish information and entertainment, as well as much practical knowledge, if the contents are carefully learned and remembere.d. But whoever has clear and proper insight will realize that, if a book is to develop these subjects fully, it will have to be a much larger work than this one.
The book has been given a handsome title : it is called Speculum Regale, not because of pride in him who wrote it, but because the title ought to make those who hear it more eager to know the work itself; and for this rea- son, too, that if any one wishes to be informed as to proper conduct, courtesy, or comely and precise forms of speech, he will find and see these therein along with many illustrations and all manner of patterns, as in a bright mirror. And it is called King's Mirror, because in it one may read of the manners of kings as well as of other men._A king, moreover, holds the highest title and
THE KING'S MIRROR 75
ought, with his court and all his servants, to observe the most proper customs, so that in them his subjects may see good examples of proper conduct, uprightness, and all other courtly virtues. Besides, every king should look frequently into this mirror and observe first his own con- duct and next that of the men who are subject to him.
~" -•— *. (?o\-< — ^>\
He should reward all whose conduct is good, but should
discipline and compel those to observe good morals who => r\v
cannot learn without threats. Although the book is first and foremost a king's mirror, yet it is intended for every one as a common possession; since whoever wishes is free to look into it and to seek information, as he may desire, about his own conduct, or any other type of manners which he may find discussed in the book. And I believe that no man will be considered unwise or un- mannerly who carefully observes everything that he finds in this work which is suited to his mode of living, no matter what his rank or title may be.
If any one desires or is curious to hear or study this book, he need not inquire about the name or the stand- ing of the man who composed and wrote it, lest per- chance he should reject what may be found useful in it because of contempt, envy, or hostile feeling of some sort for the author.*
* It seems probable that the form in which the author of the Speculum ex- presses his desire to remain anonymous shows the influence of the Old Norse version of the Elucidarium, a theological discussion in dialog form, which dates from the twelfth century and is ascribed to Honor ius of Autun. The author of the Elucidarium writes as follows in his preface: " My name, how- ever, I have purposely withheld, lest wicked men should be prompted by a feeling of envy to cast aside a useful work." For the original Latin preface to the Elucidarium see Migne, Patrohgia Latina, CLXXII, 1110; the Old Norse version is given in Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1857, p. 240, 1858, p. 24.
76 THE KING'S MIRROR
This request, however, which surely may be granted to any man, we should like to make: we ask all good men who hear this book to give it careful thought and study; and if there should be aught which seems neces- sary to the work but has not been included, whether concerning morals and conduct or discreet and proper forms of speech, let them insert it in proper form and connection. And if they find any matters which seem to impair the work or to have been discussed at too great length, let them discreetly remove all such and thus, amending our ignorance in kindness, help our work to be appreciated in proper spirit. For it was not pride that impelled us to labor but good- will toward all who seemed to need and desire knowledge of this sort.
When I went to my father with these inquiries that I have now mentioned, I learned in the very first words £//*' ^thatfr addressed to him, how every one ought to salute C or address one's father /]
II
"THE FEAR OF THE LORD is THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM"
Son. Good day,* sire ! I have come to see you as it be- hooves a humble and obedient son to approach a loving and renowned father; and I pray you to listen with pa- tience to the questions that I have in mind to ask and kindly to vouchsafe an answer to each one.
Father. Inasmuch as you are my only son, I am pleased to have you come often to see me, for there are many subjects which we ought to discuss. I shall be glad to
* Good day (God dag) is still the common form of greeting among Norwegians and other Scandinavians.
THE KING'S MIRROR 77
hear what you wish to inquire about and to answer such questions as are (Hiscreetly asked/] „/.,
Son. I have heard the common report (which I be- lieve is true) as to your wisdom, that in all the land it would be difficult to find a man who has greater insight into every form of knowledge than you have; for all those who have difficult matters to settle are eager to get your decision. I have also been told that the same was true (when you were at the royal court, and thaO c »
the entire government, lawmaking, treaty making, and every other sort of business, seemed to be guided fcy your opinion] Now as I am the [lawful heir to y*ur worldly possessionsj I should also like to share some- what in the heritage of your wisdom. Wherefore I wish to have you point out to me the beginnings and the al- phabet of wisdom, as far as I am able to learn them from you, so that I may later be able to read all your learned writings, and thus follow in your footsteps. [F*r I am 7 sure that after your decease many will rely on your hav- ^ ing trained me after your own ways. ~]
Father. It pleases me to hear you speak in this wise, and I shall be glad to answer; for it is algreat comfort to me that I shall leave much wealth for my own true son to enjoy after my daysj but 5 should scarcely regard him as a son, though I had begotten him, if he were a fool.] Now if you seek understanding, I will show you the basis and the beginning of all wisdom, as a great and wise man once expressed it:[j:o fear Almighty God, this is the be- 2 ginning of wisdom. *JBut He is not to be feared as an^
* Proverbs, ix, 10. In the use of Scriptural quotations the author is seldom accurate.
78 THE KING'S MIRROR
enemy, but rather with the fear of love, as the Son of God taught the man who asked him what the substance of the law was. For the Son of God referred him to the Scripture that reads as follows: Thou shalt love God with all thy heart and with all thy strength and with all thy might.* Now one should love God above everything else and fear Him at all times when evil desires arise; he should banish evil longings for God's sake, though he were bold enough to cherish them for men's sake. Now if you wish to know what are the beginnings and the first steps in the pursuit of wisdom, this is the true be- ""' C ginning, and there is none other. Cfnd whoever learns ~/T~* **•*#/ this and observes it shall not be wanting in true knowl-
/, „ kr*/ V ->
edge or in any form of goodness, j
Son. This is indeed loving counsel, such as one might expect from you; besides, it is good and easily learned
f
by every one whom fortune follows. Stilljjf one is to be reputed a wise man, it will surely be necessary to take up many things that pertain to the various crafts .J
Father. This is the beginning and the alphabet of every good thing. But through the alphabet one learns to read books, and in the same way it is always better the more crafts are added to this art. For through the crafts a man gains wisdom whatever the calling that he intends to follow, whether that ofCkingsman,t yeo- man, or merchant//
* St. Luke, x, 27.
t A " kingsman " (konungsma&r) was any one who had formally entered into the king's personal service, whether he was actually employed at court or not. See below, cc. xxiv S.
c
THE KING'S MIRROR 79
III
THE ACTIVITIES AND HABITS OF A MERCHANT
Son. I am now in my most vigorous years and have a desire to travel abroad; for[I would not venture to seek*) employment at court before I had observed the customs T of other menJSuch is my intention at present, unless you should give me other advice.
Father. Although I have been a kingsman rather than a merchant, I have no fault to find with that calling, for often the best of men are chosen for it. But(much de- pends on whether the man is more like those who are true merchants, or those who take the merchant's name but are mere frauds and foisterers, buying and selling
c-
Son. [It would be more seemly for me to be like the ~) $^j rightful ones; for it would be worse than one might L think likely, if your son were to imitate those who are \ not as they ought.] But whatever my fate is to be, I de-s sire to have you inform me as to the practices of such men as seem to be capable in that business.
Father. The man who is to be a trader will have to brave many perils, sometimes at sea and sometimes in heathen lands,* but nearly always among alien peoples; and it must be his constant purpose to act discreetly wherever he happens to be. On the sea he must be alert and fearless.
* These " heathen lands " were probably the regions along the Arctic in- habited by the Finns; it is also possible that the author alludes to trading voyages to lands occupied by Esquimaux, though he makes no mention of these people anywhere in his work.
80 THE KING'S MIRROR
/<L yWhen you are in a market town, or wherever you are, £/ /be polite and agreeable; then you will secure the friend- £ \ship of all good men. Make it a habit to rise early in the
\ morning, and go first and immediately to church wher- \ ever 'it seems most convenient to hear the canonical \ hours, and hear all the hours and mass from matins on. J Join in the worship, repeating such psalms and prayers as you have learned. When the services are over, go out \ to look after your business affairs. If you are unac- quainted with the traffic of the town, observe carefully how those who are reputed the best and most prominent ' I merchants conduct their business. [You must also be careful to examine the wares that you buy before the purchase is finally made to make sure that they are sound and flawless. And whenever you make a purchase, \ call in a few trusty men to serve as witnesses as to how \ the bargain was made.J Arv«n should keep occupied with your business till
breakfast or, if necessity demands it, till midday;] after that you should eat your meal. [Keep your table well provided and set with a white cloth, clean victuals, and good drinks. Serve enjoyable meals, if you -can afford it.] After the meal you may either take a nap or stroll about a little while for pastime and to see what other good merchants are employed with, or whether any new wares have come to the borough which you ought to buy. On returning to your lodgings examine your wares, lest they suffer damage after coming into your hands. If they are found to be injured and you are about to dispose of themjjdo not conceal the flaws from the purchaser: show him what the defects are and make such a bargain as you
THE KING'S MIRROR ^
can; then you cannot be called a deceiver.^Also put a / good price on your wares, though not too high, and yet I very near what you see can be obtained; then you can- not be called a foister. ~]
Finally, remember this, that whenever you have an p . hour to spare you should [give thought to your studies,? especially to the law books ;]f or it is clear that those who?* gain knowledge from books have keeiier__wii& than ) £& others, since those who are the most learned have the best proofs for their knowledge. Make a study of all the laws, but while you remain a merchant there is no law that you will need to know more thoroughly than the /JBjarkey code.?J]lf you are acquainted with the law, you will not be annoyed by quibbles when you have suits to bring against men of your own class, but will be able to plead according to law in every case.
But although I have most to say about laws, I regard no man perfect in knowledge unless he has thoroughly .learned and mastered the customs of the place where he , A,
is sojourning. [And if you wish to become perfect in knowledge, you must learn all the languages, first of all Latin and French, for these idioms are most widely usedJJ and yet, do not neglect your native tongue or speech.^,
IV
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED
Son. May God reward you, sire, for the love of kin- ship that you show in pointing out so many things that I may find needful, — if I have the good fortune to learn
* The " Birch-isle " code was originally a set of rules governing commercial intercourse. After a time it became a more elaborate law governing the munici-
82 THE KING'S MIRROR
them and to remember them after they are learned. And if you think there are any other important matters that ought to be taken up in this discussion, I shall be glad to listen attentively.
Father. There are, indeed, certain matters which should not be omitted from this discourse, but they can be stated in a few words, if that seems best. Train your- self to be as active as possible, though not so as to injure your health. Strive never to be downcast, for a downcast mind is always morbid; try rather to be friendly and genial at all times, nf_g.n_pyen temper and neverjmoody. Be upright and teach the right to every man who wishes to learn from you; and always associate with the best men. Guard your tongue carefullv_i_this_is good counsel, for your tongue may honor ^oj^JbutuLLjxiay. also con- jpjrm ymi. .Though you_be^agry speak few words and jiever in passion rfor^ unless one is ^^^^jJ^J^y utter JKQjds jnwrath that he would later give gold tphay_£. unspoken^Dn the whole, I know of no revenge, though many employ it, that profits a man less than to bandy heated words with another, even though he has a quarrel to settle with him. You shall know of a truth that no virtue is higher or stronger than the power to keep one's tongue from foul or profane speech, tattling, or slander- ^fous talk in any form .[if children be given to you, let 4» 1 VjJbem not grow up without learning a trade]] for we may
." t< ijl expect a man to keep closer to knowledge and business
pality as well as the traders who were more or less permanently located there. It is believed that the name is derived from Birka, a trading center in eastern Sweden not far from the site of modern Stockholm. The " Birch-Isle " code is published in Norges Gamle Love, I, part iii, 303-336.
THE KING'S MIRROR
83
when he comes of age, if he is trained in youth while under control.
And further, there are certain things which you must beware of and shun like the devil himself : (Jhese are 7 drinking, chess, harlots, quarreling, and throwing dice J fp£- stakesj For upon such foundations the greatest \ calamities are built; and unless they strive to avoid these things, few only are able to live long without blame or sin.
LObserve carefully how the sky is lighted, the course of the heavenly bodies, the grouping of the hours, and the points of the horizonjLearn also how to mark the ^ movements of the ocean and to discern how its turmoil ebbs and swells; for that is knowledge which all must possess who wish to trade abroad. ULearn arithmetic thoroughly, for merchants have great need of that.J^^^
Clf you come to a place where the king or some other "^ chief who is in authority has his officials, seek to win / their friendship; and if they demand any necessary fees / on the ruler's behalf, be prompt to render all such pay- I ments, lest by holding too tightly to little things you \ lose the greater. Also beware lest the king's belongings / find their way into your purse; for you cannot know but \ that he may be covetous who has those things in charge, / and it is easier to be cautious beforehand than to crave / pardon afterwards. Jlf you can dispose of your wares at suitable prices, do not hold them long; for it is the wont of merchants to buy constantly and to sell rapidly.
If you are preparing to carry on trade beyond the seas and you sail your own ship, have it thoroughly coated with tar in the autumn and, if possible, keep it
A,**..
'ffce
Uuf'
84 THE KING'S MIRROR
tarred all winter. But if the ship is placed on timbers too late to be coated in the fall, tar it when spring opens and let it dry thoroughly afterwards. Always buy shares in good vessels or in none at all. Keep your ship attractive, for then capable men will join you and it will be well manned. Be sure to have your ship ready when summer begins and do your traveling while the season is best. Keep reliable tackle on shipboard at all times, and never remain out at sea in late autumn, if you can avoid it. If you attend carefully to all these things, with God's mercy you may hope for success. This, too, you must keep constantly in mind, if you wish to be counted a wise man.J^aj^vou oughtjieyerjbojej: , a, day pass with- . out learning something that will profil^oiuJBe not like those who think it bejQejELth»their~~4ignity-to hear or learn from others such thin^^3Z£B-a^--imritfr-ava41r4hem much i if the,y_Jbie:ffi.Jiiem^ as great
A an honor to leariL.a& to. teachr if he wishes to be con-
\\ ^ — — — : ~"
sidefed thoroughly informed.
There remain a few minor matters that ought to be mentioned. Whenever you travel at sea, keep on board two or three hundred ells of wadmal of a sort suitable for mending sails, if that should be necessary, a large number of needles, and a supply of thread and cord. It may seem trivial to mention these things, but it is often necessary to have them on hand. You will always need to carry a supply of nails, both spikes and rivets, of such sizes as your ship demands; also good boat hooks and broadaxes, gouges and augers, and all such other tools as ship carpenters make use of. All these things that I have now named you must remember to carry with you
THE KING'S MIRROR 85
on shipboard, whenever you sail on a trading voyage and the ship is your own. (When you come to a market town where you expect to tarry, seek lodgings from the< innkeeper who is reputed the most discreet and the most popular among both kingsmen and boroughmen^ Al- ways buy good clothes and eat good fare if your means permit; and never keep unruly or quarrelsome men as attendants or messmates. Keep your temper calm \ V though notto the point of suffering^ abuse or bringing upon yourself the reproach of cowardice. Though
sity may_force_ypu into strife, be not in a hurry to take revenge; first make sure that your effort will succeed and strike where it ought. Never display a heated tem- per when you see that you are likely to fail, but be sure to maintain your honor at some later time, unless your opponent should offer a satisfactory atonement. [If your wealth takes on rapid growth, divide it and / invest it in a partnership trade in fields where you do V not yourself travel ;Jbut be cautious in selecting partners. 4 CAlways let Almighty God, the holy Virgin Mary, and 9 the saint whom you have most frequently called upon I to intercede for you be counted among your partners. j? Watch with care over the property which the saints are \ to share with you and always bring it faithfully to the ) ^ place to which it was originally promised. 7
If you have much capital invested in trade, divide it °\ into three parts: put one-third into partnerships with \ £^ men who are permanently located in market boroughs, are trustworthy, and are experienced in business. Place the other two parts in various business ventures; for if your capital is invested in different places, it is not likely
86 THE KING'S MIRROR
that you will suffer losses in all your wealth at one time: more likely it will be secure in some localities, though frequent losses be suffered. But if you find that the profits of trade bring a decided increase to your funds, draw out the two-thirds and invest them in good farm land, for such property is generally thought the most secure, whether the enjoyment of it falls to one's self or to one's kinsmen^With the remaining third you may do as seems best, — continue to keep it in business or place it all in lanoQjlowever, though you decide to keep your funds invested in trade, discontinue your own journeys at sea or as a trader in foreign fields, as soon as your means have attained sufficient growth and you have studied foreign customs as much as you likej Keep all that you see in careful memory, the evil with the good; remember evil practices as a warning, and the good customs as useful to yourself and to others who may wish to learn from you.
V
THE SVN AND THE WINDS
Son. It is evident that whoever wishes to become in- formed on such matters as those which you have now discussed must first try to determine what is most worth learning and afterwards to keep in mind all that he has heard. But in your discussion just recently you men- tioned several things the nature of which I do not under- stand, though I have reflected upon your statements, namely, the lights of the sky and the movements of the ocean. Moreover, you urged me to learn these things and stated that there is knowledge in learning them. But
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87
I cannot comprehend them unless I shall hear them ex- plained; and I know of no other wise master with so kind a will to teach me these matters as yourself. There- fore, with your permission, I will ask you to continue this discussion, so that I may become somewhat better informed on these subjects: how the lights of the sky and the course of the heavenly bodies wax and wane; how the time of the day is told and the hours are grouped; but especially how the ocean moves and what causes its restlessness. For sometimes the ocean appears so blithe and cheerful that one would like to sport with it through an entire season; but soon it displays such fierce wrath and ill-nature that the life and property of those who have anything to do with it are endangered. Now I have thought that, althoughfthe sun completes its course ac- 7 cording to an established lawjthat fact cannot produce 5 the unquiet of the sea. If you are disposed to explain these things further, I shall listen gladly and attentively. Father, fl can indeed give such an explanation, just as I have heard it from the lips of well-informed men, and as seems most reasonable according to the insight that God has given me. The sun has received divers offices: for it brings light and warmth to all the earth, and the various parts of the world rejoice in its approaching; but its course is planned in such a way that it sometimes withdraws from those regions that it approaches at other times. When it first comes to visit the east with warmth and bright beams, the day begins to lift up silvery brows and a pleasant face to the east wind. Soon the east wind is crowned with a golden glory and robed in all his rai- ments of joy. He eases griefs and regretful sighs and
88 THE KING'S MIRROR
turns a bright countenance toward his neighbors on either side, bidding them rejoice with him in his delight and cast away their winterlike sorrows. He also sends blazing rays into the face of the west wind to inform him of his joy and happiness. He advises the west wind, too, that in the evening he shall be clad in garments similar to those which the east wind wore in the morn- ing. Later in the day and at the proper hour the south- east wind displays the glory of his newly-gotten robes and sends warming rays with friendly messages into the face of the northwest wind. But at midday the south wind reveals how he has been endowed with riches of heat, sends warm gifts of friendship across to the north wind, warms his cool face, and invites all the neighbor- ing winds to share in the abundance of his wealth. As the day declines the southwest wind with glad face re- ceives the gentle sheen and genial beams. Having put away wrath, he reveals his desire for peace and concord ; he commands the mighty billows and steep wave-crests to subside with waning power and calls forth quickening dews in a wish to be fully reconciled with all his neigh- bors. Gently he blows a refreshing breath into the face of the northeast wind, warms his wind-chilled lips, and thaws his frosty brow and frozen cheeks. But when even- ing begins, the west wind, clad in splendor and sunset beauty as if robed for a festal eve, lifts a gleaming brow above a blithe countenance, and sends a message on darting beams across to the east wind telling him to prepare for the festive morrow to come.
At sunset the northwest wind begins to raise his fair brows and with lifted eyelids betokens to all his neigh-
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89
bors that the dazzling radiance is now in his keeping. Thereupon he sends forth a shadow over the face of the earth proclaiming to all that now come the hours of rest after the toil of day. But at midnight the north wind goes forth to meet the coursing sun and leads him through rocky deserts toward the sparse-built shores. He calls forth heavy shadows, covers his face with a broad-brimmed helmet, and informs all that he is ar- rayed for the night watch to keep guard over his neigh- bors that they may have comfort and untroubled rest after the heat of day. With cool lips he gently blows upon the face of the south wind, that he may be better able to resist the violent heat of the coming day. He also scatters the dark clouds and clears up the face of heaven in order that the sun, when light appears, may be easily able to send forth his warm and radiant beams in all directions. But on the coming of morn the north- / east wind begins to open his closed eyelids and blinks ' to both sides as if to determine whether it is time to rise. Then he opens quickly his clear eyes as if sated with sleep after ended rest. Soon he leads forth the gleaming I day into all the homesteads like a fair youth and fitting herald, to give sure knowledge that the radiant sphere and shining sun follows close behind and to command all to be arrayed for his coming. Soon the sun rises and shoots forth his beams in all directions to watch over the covenant made by the winds; and after that he goes on through his ordained course as we have already told. J When peace has been established among (these chief s) that we have just named, it is safe to travel wherever you may wish through the realms of any one of them.
<f»l'<
14
••
:
90 THE KING'S MIRROR
Then the sea begins to bar out all violent storms and make smooth highways where earlier the route was im- passable because of broad billows and mighty waves; and the shores offer harbors in many places which for- merly gave no shelter. Now, while this covenant holds, there will be fair sailing for you or any others who wish to travel to foreign shores or steer their ships over the perils of the ocean. It is, therefore, the duty of every man, indeed it is a necessary one, to learn thoroughly when one may look for dangerous seasons and bad routes, or when times come when one may risk everything. For even unwitting beasts observe the seasons, though by instinct, since they have no intellect. Even the fishes, though lacking human insight, know how to find secu- rity in the deep seas, while the winter storms are most violent; but when winter wanes, they move nearer the shores and find enjoyment as after a sorrow suffered and past. Later in the spring after the roe has come, they lay the spawn and bring forth a vast multitude of young fishes and in this way increase their race, each after its kind and class. It does, indeed, show great forethought for unintelligent creatures to provide so carefully against the coming winter storms, and to bring forth their off- spring at the opening of spring, so that they may enjoy the calm weather of summer and search for food in peace and quiet along the wide shores; for thus they gather strength enough in summer against the ensuing winter to sustain themselves among other fishes in the chilly deep.
The covenant brings joy to the sky as well as to the sea; for as spring advances the birds soaring high into
THE KING'S MIRROR 91
the air rejoice with beautiful songs in the newly made treaty of (these lords] as in a coming festival. Their joy is as great as if they have escaped great and terrible dangers which might arise from the strife of these chief- tains. Soon they build nests upon the earth and lead birdlings forth from them, each after its kind. Thus they increase their species and care for their young in the summer that these may be able to find their own sus- tenance in the winter following. Even the earth rejoices in this peace-making, for as soon as the sun begins to pour out its warming rays over the face of the earth, the ice begins to thaw around the frozen grass roots; soon fragrant and fair-hued herbs sprout forth, and the earth shows that she finds gladness and festive joy in the fresh beauty of her emerald robes. She gladly offers to all her offspring the sustenance which she had to re- fuse them earlier because of the dearth in winter. The trees that stood with dripping branches and frozen roots put forth green leaves, thus showing their joy that the sorrow and distress of winter are past.
Unclean and repulsive beasts display insight and un- derstanding in their ability to determine the proper time to increase their kind and to come out of their dens. They also observe the season when it is necessary to flee the cold and stormy distress of winter and seek shelter under rocks, in large crags, or in the deep scar of the landslide till the time to come forth is at hand. Wild beasts that seek their food in woods or on the mountains know well how to discern the seasons; for they bear the begotten offspring while winter is most severe, so that they may bring forth their young when the grass is
92 THE KING'S MIRROR
fresh and the summer is warm. There is a little creeping thing called the ant, which can teach thoughtful men much practical wisdom, whether they be merchants or husbandmen, kings or lesser men. It teaches kings how to build castles and fortresses; in the same way it teaches the merchants and the husbandmen with what industry and at what seasons they ought to pursue their callings; for he who has proper insight and observes carefully the activities of the ant will note many things and derive much profit from them. All other creatures, too, whether clean or unclean, rejoice in this season, and with vigilant eyes seek their food in the warm summer time so as to be able to endure more confidently the perils of a desti- f tute winter season. fNow it is this covenant between \ these eight winds that calls forth all the delights of I earth and sky and the calm stirring of the sea accord- ** ing to the commandjand mysterious skill of Him Who ordained in the beginning that thus should all nature remain until He should change the order of things. Now if you feel that some of these matters have not yet been fully cleared up, you may continue your inquiries and ask what questions you like.
VI
THE TIDES AND THE CHANGES IN THE COURSE OF THE SUN
Son. It was a wise thought, it seems to me, to ask those questions to which I have just received such fair replies; and I am encouraged to inquire into certain other matters, namely the waxing of thefsun, the moon, 1 and the streams or tides of the ocean, — how much and / how rapidly these things wax and wane. Now these \
THE KING'S MIRROR 93
things that I have brought up for discussion are subjects f „.*..; which especially touch the welfare of (seafaring menjand/ j it looks to me as if they would profit much from a knowl- f edge of these matters, since it gives insight into the / right conduct of their profession. And since I intend to ) ' labor diligently in the trader's callingJI should like very/ much, if it can be done, to have you explain further some of those things that I have just mentioned.
Father. Those things that you have now asked about do not all wax or wane with equal rapidity; for the tide, when it rises, completes its course in_ seven days plus half an hour of the eighth day; and every seventh day there is flood tide in place of ebb. For the tide rises one seventh part daily from the time when the rise begins; and after it turns and begins to fall, it ebbs in the same way during the next seven days but is retarded as much as half an hour of the eighth day,* which must be added to the seven days. As to how long an hour should be I can give you definite information; for [there should be 7 twenty-four hours in two days, that is, a night and a V day, while the sun courses through the eight chief points [ ^y of the sky: and according to right reckoning the sun will j pass through each division in three hours of the dayJOn / the other hand, the moon, while it waxes, completes its course in fifteen days less six hours; f and in a like period it wanes until the course is complete and another comes. And it is always true that at this time the flood tide is highest and the ebb strongest. But when the moon has waxed to half, the flood tide is lowest and the ebb, too,
* The mean retardation is forty-eight minutes.
f This is within twenty-two minutes of the length of the lunar half -month.
94
THE KING'S MIRROR
is quite low. At full moon the flood tide is again very high and the ebb is strong. But when it has waned to half, both ebb and flood are quite low. Merchants are, however, scarcely able to note these changes, as the course is too swift; for the moon takes such long strides both in waxing and waning that men, on that account, find it difficult to determine the divisions of its course. The sun, on the other hand, completes its course more slowly both in ascending and declining, so that one 'may easily mark all the stages of its course. [The sun I moves upward one hundred and eighty-two and one- half days and three hours and for a like period it recedes again; it has then completed its entire course, both as- cent and decline, in three hundred days, by the twelve- count * [360], plus five days and six hours. Every fourth year this becomes three hundred by the twelve-count and six days more[366]; this is called leap year, for it has one day more than the preceding twelvemonth, the additional hours being gathered into twenty-four, a night and a day Jin Latin all hundreds are counted by tens, and there are, therefore, properly computed three hundred by the ten-count plus sixty-six days whenever leap year occurs, while the intervening years have only five days and six hours with as many additional days by the other reckoning as I have just stated.
But to your question concerning the growth of the sun's path, how one can most clearly discern it, I can scarcely give an answer so precise as not to be wrong in part; for the sun's path does not wax at the same
* The Northmen in medieval times had two hundreds, the great hundred, or duodecimal hundred, which counted 120 (12 X 10) and the ordinary hundred (10 X 10).
THE KING'S MIRROR 95
rate in all parts of the earth. I can, of course, answer according to what I have found in the writings of men who have treated the subject thoroughly, and it is generally believed that their words come very near the truth. I have already told you how many hours there are in a night and day and gave the number as twenty- four. * I have indicated the length of each hour in stat- ing that three hours pass while the sun moves across one division of the sky. Now there are some other little hours called ostensa^ sixty of which make one of those that I mentioned earlier. It seems to me quite likely that, as far north as we are, the sun's path waxes five of these little hours in a day and as much less than six as a twelfth part of a little hour. And as to the growth of the sun's path it seems most reasonable to me that it waxes three-fourths of these hours toward the east and the west and the remaining fourth in height toward the zenith. South of us, however, this reckoning will fail; for north of us the increase is greater and to the south less than we have just stated; and the farther south, the greater is the difference, and the sun more nearly overhead.
VII
THE SUBJECT OF THE SUN's COURSE CONTINUED
Son. With your permission I wish to inquire some- what more fully into this subject, for I do not quite un- derstand it. You have said that the sun's ascent is more rapid to the north of us, where summer is almost want-
* See Brenner's edition, 20.
t Error for oslenta; the ostenium, computed at one-sixtieth of an hour, seems
to appear first in the writings of Rabanus Maurus (ninth century).
96 THE KING'S MIRROR
ing, while the strength of winter is so overpowering that summer seems like a mere shadow, and where in many places both snow and ice lie all through summer just as in winter, as is true of Iceland and particularly of Green- land. But I have heard that in the southlands there are no severe winters, the sun being as hot in winter as it is with us in summer; and that in winter, when the sun has less power, both grain and other crops grow, while in summer the earth cannot endure the fervent heat of the sun and consequently yields neither grass nor grain; so that in regions like Apulia and even more so in the land of Jerusalem the heat of summer causes as great distress as the cold of winter with us. Now when you tell me that the sun's path waxes faster here in the north than yonder in the south, I cannot see the reason why; for there the sun's heat is as great in winter as it is with us in summer; and it is so much greater in summer that all vegetation on the earth is scorched by it. Therefore it seems to me more likely that the sun's path waxes most rapidly where the heat is most intense. Now if you can and will clear this up for me so that I can grasp it, I shall listen gladly and attentively.
Father. I shall begin my talk on the subject that I am now to take up with a little illustration, which may help you to a clearer insight, since you find it so difficult to believe the facts as stated. If you take a lighted candle and set it in a room, you may expect it to light up the entire interior, unless something should hinder, though the room be quite large. But if you take an apple and hang it close to the flame, so near that it is heated, the apple will darken nearly half the room or even more.
THE KING'S MIRROR 97
However, if you hang the apple near the wall, it will not get hot; the candle will light up the whole house; and the shadow on the wall where the apple hangs will be scarcely half as large as the apple itself. FrpnaJjiis you 7 may inferjjiat rthe earth-circlejs_round like-_a-Jball and V not equajlyjaear the sun ^ every point. But where the^ curved surface lies nearest the sun's path, there will the greatest heat be; and some of the lands that lie contin- uously under the unbroken rays cannot be inhabited. On the other hand, those lands which the sun approaches with slanting rays may readily be occupied; and yet, some of these are hotter than others according as they lie nearer the sun's path. But when the curved and steep slope of the sphere-shaped wheel moves up before the light and the beams of the sun, it will cast the deepest shadow where its curved surface lies nearest the sun; and yet, the lands nearest the sun are always hottest.* Now I agree with you that Apulia and Jerusalem are hotter than our own country; but you must know that there are places where the heat is greater than in either of those just mentioned, for some countries are unin- habitable on account of the heat. And I have heard it stated as a fact, that even when the sun mounts highest, the night in those regions is very dark and quite long. From this you must conclude that where the strength and power of the sun are greater, since it is nearer, it must ascend and decline more slowly; for the night is long in summer when the sun mounts highest, and the day is long in winter when it sinks lowest. Now I
* It is evident from this discussion that the author believes in a spherical earth; elsewhere, too, he speaks of the sphere of earth (jarftarbollr); see c. Ivi.
98 THE KING'S MIRROR
shall explain this so clearly that you will understand it fully.
You know that here with us in winter the day and the course of the sun are brief; for so short is the sun's path that it passes through but a single region of the sky, and then only where the sun has considerable strength. But in many places the sun is not to be seen during a large part of winter, for example in Halogaland,* as we have not only heard tell but have often and constantly learned and observed with our own eyes. For we know definitely that from about November 10 to January 10 there never comes a day so bright up north in Vaag or at Andenes | in Halogaland but that the stars in the sky are visible at midday as at midnight. And although the days have so much light that the stars cannot be seen, nevertheless, in most of the places that we have mentioned the sun remains invisible till January 23. But after that date the days lengthen and the sun mounts so rapidly, that beginning with April 6 day- light does not disappear before September 17, all the in- tervening time being one continuous day, for daylight never fails in all that while. From this you may safely conclude that, though the sun is hotter in the southern lands that we spoke of earlier, its course waxes and mounts more slowly where the night, even at mid-sum- mer, is deep and long and dark, and where tnere is never a time in the whole twelvemonth when day does not fail. But in Halogaland, as I have just said, there is no day
* Halogaland, the modern Nordland, is that part of Norway lying north of the sixty-fifth parallel.
t Vaag and Andenes are points in the Lofoten Islands; their latitudes are 68° 12' 35" and 69° 18' 50" respectively.
THE KING'S MIRROR 99
in winter and stars are visible at midday when the day should be brightest; later, however, when the days be- gin to lengthen, they grow so rapidly that early in spring daylight begins to tarry all the night and continues till much of the autumn is past.
There remains one more proof which will seem very clear to you. You know that in those localities in Haloga- land that we have just mentioned the sun about May 15 begins to shine with the same brightness by night as by day, never setting either at night or during the day but shining continuously in this manner and with this brightness, except when its light is obscured by clouds, even to July 25. Now you know that the sun is only moderately warm in Halogaland, and that there is but a little time in summer when it gives sufficient warmth. Still, there it is with its blazing disk about as long as we have just stated, and it maintains the daylight about as long as we have just computed. But neither fact is true of the southlands, though the sun is hotter there. Now these facts give evidence that the sun is more distant here, for it gives less heat. They also testify to the wax- ing of its course, for, since its light is as bright by night as by day, its path must lengthen more rapidly here. But yonder it waxes less and more slowly, for there the night has its prescribed period both for length and dark- ness in summer as well as in winter.
VIII
THE MARVELS OF NORWAY
Son. I see this so clearly now that I can no longer gainsay that the sun mounts higher and more rapidly up the sky where there is almost no day in winter and
100 THE KING'S MIRROR
the sunlight is so abundant in summer that it shines by night as well as by day throughout almost the entire season. I also see that its course changes much less yon- der where it rises high in winter and gives long days with inuch heat and sunshine, though the night in summer is long and dark. (Seafaring traders ought to note the dif- ferences precisely so as to be able to determine what seas they are upon, whether they lie to the north or to the southjAnd it seems unnecessary to inquire any fur- ther into these matters, for I believe that I have had correct and sufficient answers. Now since we are wearied with profound questions and thoughtful discourse, let us rest from these for a while and turn our conversation to matters of a lighter sort. And even though I should in- quire about things that are not so useful as those others, which are of the highest utility, I pray you for the sake of our intimacy to vouchsafe replies to such questions as I may ask; for my mind is often as eager for amuse- ment as for things of useful intent. And it may seem restful in a long talk, if a few questions come up that can stir the mind to gentle mirth. I do not wish, how- ever, to bring such themes into our talk unless you give me permission.
Father. I take it that you will ask no stupid questions, seeing that you have thus far inquired into such matters only as seem very pertinent; and you are therefore free to ask whatever you wish; for if the questions do not seem appropriate, we are at liberty to drop them as soon as we like.
Son. Now that I am permitted to choose a topic for entertainment, it occurs to me that I have asked too
THE KING'S MIRROR 101
little abou\ Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland Jand all the > wonders of those lands, such as fire and strange bodies of water, or the various kinds of fish and the monsters that dash about in the ocean, or the boundless ice both in the sea and on the land, or what the Greenlanders call the " northern lights," or the " sea-hedges " that are found in the waters of Greenland.
Father. I am not much disposed to discuss the won- ders that exist among us here in the North, though my reason may be rather trivial : many a man is inclined to be suspicious and think everything fiction that he has not seen with his own eyes; and therefore I do not like to discuss such topics, if my statements are to be called fabrications later on, even though I know them to be true beyond doubt, inasmuch as I have seen some of these things with mine own eyes and have had daily opportunity to inquire about the others from men whom we know to be trustworthy and who have actually seen and examined them, and therefore know them to be genuine beyond question. My reason for bringing up this objection is that a little book has recently come into our country, which is said to have been written in India and recounts the wonders of that country. The book states that it was sent to Emmanuel, emperor of the Greeks.* Now it is the belief of most men who have
* Manuel I, Comnenus, 1143-1180. The " little book " is thought to have been one of the many forms of the legend of Prester John, a fabulous Chris- tian ruler of India of whom much was heard in the middle ages. About 1165 a letter from the " Presbyter Johannes " addressed to the emperor Manuel Comnenus was circulated through Europe and later found its way into the North. In the extant copies of this letter many marvels are told, though the wonder mentioned in the Speculum Regale does not appear. See Zarncke, Der Priester Johannes, 83-98.
102 THE KING'S MIRROR
heard the book read, that such wonders are impossible, and that what is told in the book is mere falsehood. But if our own country were carefully searched, there would be found no fewer things here than are numbered in that book which would seem as wonderful, or even more so, to men of other lands who have not seen or heard anything like them. Now we call those things fiction because we had not seen them here or heard of them before the coming of that book which I have just men- tioned. That little book has, however, been widely circu- lated, though it has always been questioned and charged with falsehood; and it seems to me that no one has de- rived honor from it, neither those who have doubted it nor the one who wrote it, even though his work has been widely distributed and has served to amuse and tickle the ear, seeing that what is written in it has always been called fiction.
IX
POPULAR DOUBT AS TO THE GENUINENESS OF MARVELS
Son. Of course I cannot know how widely our talks will travel either in our days or later; and yet, with your permission, I will again ask the pleasure of hearing fur- ther speech concerning those matters that we might think strange in other lands, but which we know are surely genuine. And we need not be so very skeptical of this book which is said to have been written in India, though many marvels are told in it; for there are many things in our own country, which, though not strange to us, would seem wonderful to other people, if our words should fly so far as to come thither where such things
THE KING'S MIRROR 103
are unheard of. But if I should express surprise at any of those tales that are told in that book, it seems to me not least wonderful that manikins are able to subdue those great winged dragons which infest the mountains and desert places there, as the book tells us, and tame them so completely that men are able to ride them just as they please like horses, fierce and venomous beasts though they are said to be and not inclined to allow men in their neighborhood, still less to be tamed and to do service.
Father. Both such and many other tales are told in that book which seem so marvelous that many express their doubts about them; but it seems to me that there is no need to compare the wonders that are described there with those that we have in our own country, which would seem as strange to men yonder as those that you have just mentioned seem to us. For it must be possible to tame wild beasts and other animals, though they be fierce and difficult to manage. But it would seem a greater marvel to hear about men who are able to tame trees and boards, so that by fastening boards seven or eight ells long under his feet, a man, who is no fleeter than other men when he is barefooted or shod merely with shoes, is made able to pass the bird on the wing, or the fleetest greyhound that runs in the race, or the reindeer which leaps twice as fast as the hart. For there is a large number of men who run so well on skis that they can strike down nine reindeer with a spear, or even more, in a single run. Now such things must seem incred- ible, unlikely, and marvelous in all those lands where men do not know with what skill and cleverness it is possible to train the board to such great fleetness that
104 THE KING'S MIRROR
on the mountain side nothing of all that walks the earth can escape the swift movements of the man who is shod with such boards. But as soon as he removes the boards from his feet, he is no more agile than any other man. In other places, where men are not trained to such arts, it would be difficult to find a man, no matter how swift, who would not lose all his fleetness if such pieces of wood as we have talked about were bound to his feet. We, however, have sure information and, when snow lies in winter, have opportunity to see men in plenty who are expert in this art.
Not long since, we mentioned a certain fact which must be thought exceedingly strange elsewhere, as it runs wholly counter to the order which holds good in most places with respect to the change from night to day, namely, that here the sun shines as bright and fair and with as much warmth by night as by day through a large part of the summer.
In our own country, in More, there is a bog called the Bjarkudal bog, which must also seem wonderful: for every sort of wood that is thrown into it and left there three winters loses its nature as wood and turns into stone.* If it is thrown upon the fire, it will glow like stone, though before it would have burned like wood. I have seen and handled many such stones of which the half that rose above the mire was wooden, while the part submerged in the bog was wholly petrified. Now we must call that a marvel, for the bog is located in a
* The " Birchdale " bog seems to be a myth; but that stories of such a marvel were current is evident from a statement by Giraldus Cambrensis, who has heard that there was such a bog in Norway. Opera, V, 86. More is an old Norwegian shire lying to the west of Trondhjem along the coast.
THE KING'S MIRROR 105
forest which is heavily wooded with young trees of all sorts; and these are not injured so long as they are green and growing, but as soon as one is hewn down and, hav- ing begun to decay, is thrown into the bog, it turns into stone. ^ ^i a f^/Lj A^vwfc^W
X
THE NATURAL WONDERS OF IRELAND
Son. I am familiar with all these things since they are found in our own country, and I have seen them all. But I have no knowledge of all those other marvels which are to be found in Iceland, Greenland, and Ire- land, and in the seas about those lands, for of those things I have heard rumors only.
Father. Those lands, if we are to speak more fully about them, differ much in character and are not all of the same appearance. For the wonders of Iceland and Greenland consist in great frost and boundless ice, or in unusual display of flame and fire, or in large fishes and other sea monsters. And these countries are every- where barren and unfruitful and consequently almost unfit for habitation /But Ireland comes near being the > best land that is known to man, though the grape vine V f
~i \ '*«-X^^
does not grow there.'lyAnd there are many marvels in^
r
(Jreland, some of which are of such a character that this
country may be called holier than all others. 7
The country lies on that side of the world where heat and cold are so well tempered that the weather is never very hot or very cold. For all through the winter the cattle find their feed in the open, and the inhabitants
* Cf. Giraldus Cambrensis, Opera, V, 26-28. Giraldus quotes Bede (Historia Ecclesiastica, i, c. 1). See also Isidore, Etymologiae, xiv, 6.
106 THE KING'S MIRROR
wear almost no clothes there either in winter or in sum- mer. And so holy is this land beyond all others that no venomous animal can exist there, either snake or toad.* When such animals are brought in from other countries, they die as soon as they touch the bare earth or rock.f And if wood, earth, or sand is taken from that country and brought to a land where venomous beasts are found, and the sand or earth is strewn around them where they lie, they will never be able to cross the circle but must remain within it and perish. In the same way, if you take a stick of wood which has come from the country of which we now speak and trace a circle around them with it by scratching the soil with the stick, they will soon all lie dead within the circle. It is told of Ireland that men scarcely know of another island of equal size where there are so many holy men. We are also told that
/the inhabitants of the country are by nature fierce and murderous and very immoral. But bloodthirsty though
'they be, they have never slain any of the saints who are so numerous in the land; the holy men who have dwelt there have all died in sick bed. For the Irish have been kindly disposed toward all good and holy men, though they have dealt savagely with each other. J
There is a lake in that country concerning the nature of which strange tales are told; it is called Logechag §
* Cf. Giraldus, Opera, V, 62; see also Bede, Hist. Eccles., i, c. 1. f "Wonders of Ireland" (Irish Nennius, 219); this writer states that the ex- periment has been made.
t Giraldus tells us that the Irish are faithless and treacherous (Opera, V, 165) but that the island has no martyrs (ibid., 174). Cf. firiu, IV, 4 (Meyer, "Irish Memorabilia in the Speculum Regale ").
§ The editor of the Irish Nennius gives this name as Loch n-Echach (Lough Neagh). P. 195, note.
THE KING'S MIRROR 107
in the native speech. It is quite an extensive lake and has this property, that if you take a stick of the wood that some call holm and others holly but is called acri- folium * in Latin and fix it in the lake so that part of it is in the earth, a part in the water, and a part rising above, the part in the earth will turn into iron, the part in the water into stone, while that which stands out above will remain as before. But if you set any other sort of wood in the lake, its nature will not change.f
Again, there are two springs on a mountain called Blandina,{ which is almost a desert mountain; these have a peculiar nature. One of them has this property that if you take either a white sheep, cow, or horse, or a man with white hair, and wash any one of these with the water, the white will immediately turn to coal black. And such is the nature of the other spring in that place that if a man washes himself in its water, his hair will turn to a snowy white as if he were an aged man, no matter what its color be before, whether red or white or black. §
There is also a lake in that country which the natives call Loycha. In that lake there is what appears to be a little floating island; for it floats about in the lake, here
* Error for aquifolium.
f See the " Wonders of Ireland " (Irish Nennius, 195) where a similar ac- count is given; but according to this " the part of it that sinks into the earth will be stone, the part that remains in the water will be iron." Giraldus writes of a petrifying well (fons) in the north of Ulster, but gives no place name. Opera, V, 86. See also Wright-Halliwell, Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 103. (Latin poem on the wonders of Ireland.)
J Blandina (Bladina, Bladma) is the Slieve-Bloom range in central Ireland. § Giraldus has heard of such springs, but he locates the one in Ulster and the other in Munster. Opera, V, 84. A spring that whitens hair is mentioned in Wright-Halliwell, Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 104, and in the Irish Nennius, 195.
108 THE KING'S MIRROR
and there approaching the shore sometimes so near that one may step out upon it; and this occurs most fre- quently on Sundays. And such is the property of this islet that if one who is ill steps out upon it and partakes of the herbs that grow there, he is healed at once, no matter what his ailment may be. Another singular fact is this, that never more than one can come upon it at one time, though many may wish to do so; for as soon as one has landed, the island immediately floats away. It also has this peculiarity that it floats constantly about in the lake for seven winters; but as soon as the seventh winter is past, it floats to the shore somewhere and unites with the other land, as if it had always been joined to it. But when that moment has come, a crash like a peal of thunder is heard, and, when the din is past, another island can be seen in the lake of the same size and character as the earlier one. Thus it happens regu- larly every seventh year that, as soon as the one island has joined the mainland, another appears, though no one knows whence it comes.*
There is another little island in that country, which the natives call Inhisgluer.f There is a large village on this island and also a church; for the population is about large enough for a parish. But when people die there, they are not buried in the earth but are set up around the church along the churchyard fence, and there they
* See £riu, IV, 6. Kuno Meyer knows of no such story in Irish folklore, but refers to similar tales told of floating islands in Wales and Scotland, f Inhisgluair, now Inishglory, is on the west coast of Ireland in county Mayo. Giraldus mentions the legend but assigns it to a different locality; see Opera, V, 83 and note. The Irish Nennius (193) adds that the nails and hair grow and that unsalted meat does not decay on the island. The island is also re- ferred to in the Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 103.
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stand like living men with their limbs all shriveled but their hair and nails unmarred. They never decay and birds never light on them. And every one who is living is able to recognize his father or grandfather and all the successive ancestors from whom he has descended.
There is still another quite extensive lake that is called Logri.* In that lake is an islet inhabited by men who live a celibate life and may be called, as one likes, either monks or hermits; they live there in such num- bers that they fill the island, though at times they are fewer. It is said concerning this isle that it is healthful and quite free from diseases, so that people grow aged more slowly there than elsewhere in the land. But when one does grow very old and sickly and can see the end of the days allotted by the Lord, he has to be carried to some place on the mainland to die; for no one can die of disease on the island. One may sicken and suffer there, but his spirit cannot depart from the body before he has been removed from the island.
There is another large lake which the natives call Log- herne.f In this lake there is a great abundance of fish of the sort that we call salmon; and the fish is sent into all the country about in such quantities that all have plenty for table use. In this lake there are also many islands, one of which is called Kertinagh by the natives. This
* Giraldus refers briefly to this legend. Opera, V, 81. The editor of Giraldus' writings adds in a note (ibid.): " the isle of the living was three miles from Roscrea, parish of Cobally, in a lake called Loch Cre, now dried up." Roscrea is near the north edge of Munster not far from the Slieve Bloom mountains. See also the Irish Nennius, 217. Meyer identifies Logri with Loch Ree in west central Ireland. £riu, IV, 7.
t Probably Lough Erne, though Loch Uair, now Lough Owel, in Westmeath has also been suggested.
110 THE KING'S MIRROR
island might very well be inhabited, as far as size is concerned, if men dared occupy it. But it is reported about this island that the powers of evil have as great authority over one-half of it as they have in hell itself. Venturesome men who have tried to settle there have said that they suffered as great trouble and torment as souls are believed to suffer in hell. But on the other half of the island there is a church with a churchyard about it. Both halves are now deserted, however, though we are told that over the half where the church is the demons have no power.*
It once happened in that country (and this seems in- deed strange) that a living creature was caught in the forest as to which no one could say definitely whether it was a man or some other animal; for no one could get a word from it or be sure that it understood human speech. It had the human shape, however, in every de- tail, both as to hands and face and feet; but the entire body was covered with hair as the beasts are, and down the back it had a long coarse mane like that of a horse, which fell to both sides and trailed along the ground when the creature stooped in walking. I believe I have now recounted most of the marvels that have their ori- gin in the nature of the land itself, so far as we seem to have sure knowledge concerning them.
* Giraldus calls this island the Purgatory of Saint Patrick; but this famous place was " on an island in Lough Derg, in county Donegal." Opera, V, 82-83 and note. It seems likely, however, that two different legends have been con- fused in the Welshman's account.
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XI
IRISH MARVELS WHICH HAVE MIRACULOUS ORIGINS .
Son. I consider it fortunate that I had some curiosity^ » \^
to know about these matters, for there are no doubt J AJ(P many so ill-informed that they have never heard about j such things. Most men who may hear these accounts / are likely to find them marvelous, though also somewhat / informing. But since I gather from your remarks that there may be certain other things that are wonderful and seem worth discussing, either native to the land or having some other origin, I wish to request that nothing be omitted which you consider worth men- / tioning, now that we have taken up these subjects. 1 1 /
Father. There still remain certain things that may be thought marvelous; these, however, are not native to the land but have originated in the miraculous powers of holy men, and we know of a truth that these do exist Certain things are told, too, of which we cannot be sure whether they are credible or merely the talk of men, though they are common rumor in that country; but what follows we know to be true beyond a doubt.
In that same lake that I mentioned earlier which is called Logri, lies a little island named Inisclodran. Once there was a holy man named Diermicius who had a church on the isle near which he lived. Injto_jthjs_church
he is JliejDatron no Jemale dJto enjter. All beasts are aware of this,
for both birds and other animals which are without human reason avoid it as carefully as humans do. And
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no creature of the female sex ever ventures into that churchyard, nor could it enter if it tried.*
Once there was a holy man in that country named Kevinus, who lived in a place called Glumelaga.f At the time he lived almost as a hermit, and the event which we shall now relate occurred in his day. It so befell that a young man was living with him, a kinsman of his who was his servant, and the saint loved the youth very much. But the lad fell ill before his eyes, and the malady grew so heavy and severe that death seemed imminent. It was in the spring time, in the month of March, when the man's illness was at the worst. Then it happened that the youth asked his kinsman Kevinus to give him an apple, saying that he would find relief from his illness if he got what he asked for. It seemed unlikely, however, that apples could be gotten in that season, as the buds had only just begun to swell and sprout forth leaves on the fruit trees. But because the holy Kevinus grieved sorely over the illness of his kinsman, and also because he was unable to procure what he had requested, he knelt down in prayer and implored God to send him somewhat of those things, so that his kinsman might find the relief that he yearned for. Having risen from prayer, he stepped outside and looked around. Near the house
* The holy island which is shunned by all females is mentioned by Giraldus (Opera, V, 80-81), but he fails to give the name of either the lake or the island. In the "Wonders of Ireland" (Irish Nennius, 217) this island is also the one on which no one is permitted to