Sacral kingship

In this article, I explore the potential that Magian symbolism offered for Edward III's political purposes in the middle decades of the fourteenth century. Now most familiar as a symbol of devotion, the Three Kings' appeal as a legendary model of kingship has been ignored, and their prominence in Edward's reign should not be seen as merely incidental to his program of building a symbolic vocabulary of sacral kingship. The story of the Magi paired exotic mystical authority with a European currency that complemented his other, more Anglocentric, models of mythic kingship, St. George and Arthur. Edward's image-making program helps explain why the fourteenth century Historia Trium Regum might have attained such great popularity in England, how this text was likely read, and why several other works of fourteenth century art and literature attempt to link Magian symbolism with Plantagenet kingship. Within this context, we should read the Historia Trium Regum as a robustly political text, rather than only a devotional one. Reading the Historia as a work designed to appeal to the political imagination helps us understand a " Magian " model of kingship that was promoted under Edward, but has been glossed over by political historians because it amounted to little in terms of practical politics. It has been ignored by literary scholars as well, because it doesn't fit prevailing new historicist models of how sacral kingship operated ideologically.

This article offers a new perspective on the century-old discussion of sacral rulers in the history of religions generally, and pre-Christian Scandinavian religions specifically, namely the application of a cultural evolutionary theoretical framework based on the work of Robert N. Bellah. In doing this, the article opens the possibility of wider typological comparisons within this paradigm and suggests a nuancing of Bellah’s typology with the addition of the category of ‘chiefdom religion’. This is utilised in the main part of the article, which features a comparison between the figure of the sacral ruler in pre-Christian Scandinavian and pre-Christian Hawaiian religions through an analysis of: 1) the position of the ruler in society, cult, and ideology; 2) the societal structure in which these religions are found; 3) the idea of a ruler sacrifice; 4) incestuous relationships and their ideological implications; and, finally, 5) the idea of a double rulership. Following this comparison, the perspectives in and the usefulness of cultural evolutionary theories in the history of religions are briefly evaluated.

Bauch, Martin, Hegemoniales Königtum jenseits von Politik- und Verfassungsgeschichte. Zur sakralen Herrschaftspraxis Karls IV., in: Reinle, Christine (Hg.), Stand und Perspektiven der Sozial- und Verfassungsgeschichte zum römisch-deutschen Reich. Der Forschungseinfluss Peter Moraws auf die deutsche Mediävistik, Affalterbach 2016 (Studien und Texte zur Geistes- und Sozialgeschichte des Mittelalters, 10), S. 97-110.

Presumably between 1310 and 1313, scribes produced a manuscript for Bolesław II of Mazovia, which contained a prayer for the ruler. The intercession was formulated as "una cum papa, et episcopo, et duce," which suggested that ducal power and ecclesiastical authority, while not explicitly equal, shared a similar importance. In a world dominated by rituals, this had quite an important meaning, especially in light of the fact that the chant was performed during the most solemn liturgy of the year, the Easter Vigil, which is meant to represent the deeds of Redemption. The text itself suggested that those who participated in the solemnities were a part of the history of salvation. The invocation of the political and ecclesiastical elite marked the path from Adam to the heavenly Jerusalem, where bishop John, duke Bolesław and his sons Siemowit and Wańko should be present. The insertion of their names in gold was meant to grant them eternal presence with God. However, the name of the duke was written in gold majuscule script with the use of red ink, suggesting that the prayer was meant to reinforce political majesty of Bolesław II even after the restoration of the Polish kingdom by other rulers. The prayer was also a part of the phenomenon of sacrality of ducal power in Mazovia which had a longer tradition. This phenomenon was modeled on the approaches used by Piast dynasty after the loss of their royal title in the second half of the eleventh century. The sacrality of ducal power in Mazovia, however, is not very different from that of other contemporary European duchies. Mazovia may have been located on the edge of the Christian world, but the course of its history in the Middle Ages – marked by crusades against Baltic pagans, preparations for campaigns against the Mongols, attempts at the unification of the kingdom of Ruthenia with Rome, and diplomatic relations with both the papacy and the most important rulers of Central Europe – demonstrates that it should not be marginalised in scholarship, especially in regard to the phenomenon of sacralised political power.

In medieval England, the life of St. Edward the Confessor functioned as ideological myth; Henry III used it to show that the Plantagenet dynasty had reconciled two ‘nations’ within England after the Norman Conquest. Edward’s post-Conquest hagiography generally supports a sacralized monarchy and its prerogatives. However, a lesser-known, anonymous version of Edward’s life exists in Middle English verse and resists royalist mythmaking from a more populist perspective. In the South English Legendary and in several Middle English chronicles, a counter-tradition of writing about Edward continues to sacralize the saint-king but simultaneously positions him as a symbol of resistance to Plantagenet rule. In this tradition, the rhetoric of sacral kingship works unexpectedly: rather than sanctifying the authority of the ruling house, it reminds readers of a previous, dead monarch, whose claim to sanctity (the fulfillment of Edward’s famous prophecy of the green tree) should act as a check on the abuse of power by the presently-reigning dynasty. From this point of view, resistance to the Crown can be seen, not as discouraged and limited by the idea of sacral monarchy, but instead as partly motivated by it.

The scholarly understanding of the role of the king in Israel has fluctuated over the past 100 years in Old Testament theology.  In the early 1900’s, Israel’s kingship was thought to have a sacral function and theologians such as Sigmund Mowinckel,  Artur Weiser,  Aubrey Johnson,  and others  argued for an enthronement festival in which the king participates in sacred rites. A sacral king performs a spiritual duty in addition to his secular duties.  The basis of the enthronement festival revolves around Ancient Near East material, which later would be discounted by scholars and the theory of an enthronement festival would fade from importance.  So, understanding the role of the king vis a vis in any sacred rites has been neglected within Old Testament studies in the last 50 years. A reassessment of the sacred function of Israel’s kings would benefit Old Testament studies.  However, the reassessment would require a larger examination of the constituent parts than could be gained in order to lay a foundational groundwork.  This paper shall examine the existence and nature of so-called Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7 with a brief view to establishing the manner in which this event would impact the larger question of the existence of a sacral kingship in Ancient Israel.  First, a rationale shall be given for focusing upon 2 Samuel 7 and the Old Testament passages which support a so-called Davidic covenant.  Second, a textual analysis of 2 Samuel 7 will be given based upon the supporting narrative that focuses upon God and David.  Third, a summary of the findings followed by lastly the implications for sacral kingship in Ancient Israel.

The tendency among many cultures to ascribe “religious functions” to the kings has been a topic much debated by historians and anthropologists since the first edition of the Golden Bough. During the XX century, these universalistic approaches have been criticized because they overlook the different ways kingship can be perceived in different cultures. In the last decades, Ancient Near East Studies have wondered about the correct use of traditional categories, such as “divine kingship” and “sacral kinship”, to refer to the evidence given by the ancient civilizations. Classical scholars have been often indifferent to similar matters to investigate the representations of power in early and classical Greece. However, it was noted that Homeric kings are, often, involved in a special relationship to the gods and that in some poleis sacral functions are ascribed to officials called “βασιλεύς”. Heroic legends, especially, give a suitable evidence to study this topic: heroes are βασιλεῖς and are halfway between mortals and gods. For this reason, it is possible to find, also in ancient Greece, some mythical images related to the kingship that was widespread in the Mediterranean cultures. For example, in the legend of Pelops, the image of the enthronement of the hero alludes to the daily path of the Sun, in accord to a symbolism widespread in Ancient Near East and in the Egypt. However, in a historical context where the sun does not have a cosmological function, this image conveys, rather, the idea of a royal power whose purpose is to ensure the prosperity and the wellness of the land.

This is my Master's Thesis from Aarhus University, 2014 in Danish. In it I stress the need for typologisation of religion in the field of history of religions in general and pre-Christian Scandinavian religions specifically, suggesting the use of scholars such as Jan Assmann and Robert N. Bellah. I apply Bellah's cultural evolutionary typology of religion to pre-Christian Scandinavian religions and suggest an expansion of this typology with the category of Chiefdom Religion. This is done through analyses of rulers in pre-Christian Scandinavia and a comparison with rulers in pre-Christian Hawaii, which I propose should be viewed within the same category of Chiefdom Religion.
A small report has been published on this (Nygaard 2015, can be found on my academia-page).

The PSALM-Network conference was organized in memory of Ernst H. Kantorowicz and took place in Poznań, where Kantorowicz was born and raised. The year 2017 was marked by the 60th anniversary of  "The King’s Two Bodies" and by the 90th anniversary of "Kaiser Friedrich der Zweite". The topic of the meeting was devoted to political theology in the Middle Ages, and was focused on the medieval liturgical sources which were studied by Kantorowicz for the purpose of writing political history of the Middle Ages. These two areas of research - study on liturgy and politics - remain widely separated in contemporary academia, although Kantorowicz paved the way for the finest inclusion of the liturgical material into the study on medieval political ideology. This conference is meant to trigger the research on this overlooked legacy of Kantorowicz.

Proverbs 16:1-15 is a diptychon. It consists of two parts, V.1ff and V.10ff corresponding to each other formally and concerning its contents: This relationship between Yahweh and the king,  which is comparable with Ps 132, reflects the Judaean sacral kingship of the pre-exilic time.

Although Ernst Kantorowicz formulated for the Ottonian and early Salian ruling system a characteristic of „liturgical kingship”, there are not many works about the influence of the mass (main liturgy of Christianity) on a political culture of the aforementioned period. It appears, however, that celebrations of the mass in which rulers participated, had the immense impact not only on the religiosity of kings but also on the politics in kingdom... More about the project: http://pawelfigurskiuw.wix.com/sacra-potestas-en

The project was funded by the decision DEC2011/03/N/HS3/00907 of the National Science Center, Poland.