Kings and aristocratic elites: communicating power and status in medieval Norway

• Published in: Scandinavian Journal of History
• Main Author: Bregaint, David
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Historical Associations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. 2020
• Subjects: Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2726782; https://doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2020.1784267

The article investigates the decisive developments of interactions between the Norwegian crown and the aristocratic elites in twelfth and thirteenth century Norway. It reflects on how the issues of social dignity, pre-eminence and legitimacy were negotiated in a constantly changing communicative environment of the time: from direct interpersonal performance based on charisma, gestures and speeches executed in public rituals, to indirect communication using the written word in the context of the royal court. The study highlights how the tenets of power distinction and corporate identity within the Norwegian aristocratic elite reproduced and adapted to new communication vectors. publishedVersion © 2020 The Authors. Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Historical Associations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. More Share Options Further reading People also read Recommended articles Cited by What happened to ‘race’ in race biology? The Swedish State Institute for Race Biology, 1936−1960 Martin Ericsson Scandinavian Journal of History Published online: 30 Jun 2020 A societal history of potato knowledge in Sweden c. 1650–1800 Erik Bodensten Scandinavian Journal of History Published online: 28 May 2020 Bishop’s, war, and canon law: The Military Activities of Prelates in High Medieval Norway Louisa Taylor Scandinavian Journal of History Published online: 4 Dec 2019 View more