This book explores the practical and symbolic resources of legitimacy which the elites of medieva... more This book explores the practical and symbolic resources of legitimacy which the elites of medieval Scandinavia employed to establish, justify, and reproduce their social and political standing between the end of the Viking Age and the rise of kingdoms in the thirteenth century. Geographically the chapters cover the Scandinavian realms and Free State Iceland. Thematically the authors cover a wide palette of cultural practices and historical sources: hagiography, historiography, spaces and palaces, literature, and international connections, which rulers, magnates, or ecclesiastics used to compete for status and to reserve haloing glory for themselves. The volume is divided in three sections. The first looks at the sacral, legal, and acclamatory means through which privilege was conferred onto kings and ruling families. Section II explores the spaces such as aristocratic halls, palaces, churches in which the social elevation of elites took place. Section III explores the traditional and novel means of domestic distinction and international cultural capital which different orders of elites-knights, powerful clerics, ruling families, etc.-wrought to assure their dominance and set themselves apart vis-à-vis their peers and subjects. A concluding chapter discusses how the use of symbolic capital in the North compared to wider European contexts.
Elites and social bonds – how Nordic were the Nordic medieval elites? by Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld, ... more Elites and social bonds – how Nordic were the Nordic medieval elites? by Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld, Kim Esmark, and Hans Jacob Orning The afterword has a twofold aim: to sum up some main results of the studies in the volume, and to expand the scope of the endeavor by drawing on a wider European context, partly by discussing interaction between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, and partly through comparison of similarities and differences between Scandinavia and wider Europe, including intra-Scandinavian variations. It does so by discussing the key themes of elite networks and social resources, the “Nordicness” of the Nordic elites, and, finally, the issue of historical transformation. Under the title ‘Fuzzy families, flexible friendships: the strength of social networks’, it discusses and compares kinship and horizontal and vertical bonds both in the Nordic world and Western Europe. Next, it deals with the questions how interconnected Nordic elites were with one another, and to what degree we can draw a division between the Nordic elites and elites outside Scandinavia. Lastly, the Afterword assesses and compares transformation in Scandinavia and Western Europe in the high Middle Ages, here defined as a gradual development towards more institutionalized (impersonal, routinized) forms of lordship on the one hand, and Verrechtlichung of social relations on the other.
This book explores the practical and symbolic resources of legitimacy which the elites of medieva... more This book explores the practical and symbolic resources of legitimacy which the elites of medieval Scandinavia employed to establish, justify, and reproduce their social and political standing between the end of the Viking Age and the rise of kingdoms in the thirteenth century. Geographically the chapters cover the Scandinavian realms and Free State Iceland. Thematically the authors cover a wide palette of cultural practices and historical sources: hagiography, historiography, spaces and palaces, literature, and international connections, which rulers, magnates, or ecclesiastics used to compete for status and to reserve haloing glory for themselves. The volume is divided in three sections. The first looks at the sacral, legal, and acclamatory means through which privilege was conferred onto kings and ruling families. Section II explores the spaces such as aristocratic halls, palaces, churches in which the social elevation of elites took place. Section III explores the traditional and novel means of domestic distinction and international cultural capital which different orders of elites-knights, powerful clerics, ruling families, etc.-wrought to assure their dominance and set themselves apart vis-à-vis their peers and subjects. A concluding chapter discusses how the use of symbolic capital in the North compared to wider European contexts.
Elites and social bonds – how Nordic were the Nordic medieval elites? by Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld, ... more Elites and social bonds – how Nordic were the Nordic medieval elites? by Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld, Kim Esmark, and Hans Jacob Orning The afterword has a twofold aim: to sum up some main results of the studies in the volume, and to expand the scope of the endeavor by drawing on a wider European context, partly by discussing interaction between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, and partly through comparison of similarities and differences between Scandinavia and wider Europe, including intra-Scandinavian variations. It does so by discussing the key themes of elite networks and social resources, the “Nordicness” of the Nordic elites, and, finally, the issue of historical transformation. Under the title ‘Fuzzy families, flexible friendships: the strength of social networks’, it discusses and compares kinship and horizontal and vertical bonds both in the Nordic world and Western Europe. Next, it deals with the questions how interconnected Nordic elites were with one another, and to what degree we can draw a division between the Nordic elites and elites outside Scandinavia. Lastly, the Afterword assesses and compares transformation in Scandinavia and Western Europe in the high Middle Ages, here defined as a gradual development towards more institutionalized (impersonal, routinized) forms of lordship on the one hand, and Verrechtlichung of social relations on the other.
Uploads