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Historisk tidskrift 123:4 • 2003

Innehåll (Contents) 2003:4

Uppsatser (Articles)

Vänskap som politisk ideologi i Saxo Grammaticus Gesta Danorum

Lars Hermanson

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Summary

Friendship as Political Ideology in Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum

This article investigates the role of friendship in the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus’ extensive work Gesta Danorum (GD) composed around 1200. Previous research has mainly interpreted this source as royal propaganda. According to this view its purpose was to legitimate royal hierarchical rule based on vertical bonds with the aristocracy. In this article this interpretation is reconsidered by analysing how Saxo describes the interaction between the kings and the aristocracy during the period 1047–1182. This interaction is illuminated by analysing two aspects of friendship, the spiritual and the political. The conclusion is that Saxo presents an ideal image of royal political action based on bonds of friendship with one specific group of magnates – the Skjalm group.

Saxo’s description of the intimate friendship between the Danish King Svend Estridsen (c.1047–1074/76) and Bishop William of Roskilde (c. 1057–1073) serves to illustrate that spiritual friendship was the most powerful bond that tied human beings together. This tale constitutes a prototype for Saxo’s depiction of the relation between Valdemar I (reign: 1157–1182) and the most prominent representative of the Skjalm group, Bishop Absalon (bishop: 1158–1201). The difference between Absalon and William is that Absalon represented a wide group of magnates distinguished by certain qualities such as efficiency, energy and fidelity. In order to demonstrate their excellence Saxo extends the portrayal of spiritual friendship into an account of the utilitarian nature of friendship. Here the Skjalm group incarnates the true practical benefits of political friendship.

Saxo thereby presents an ideology of consensus, which bound nobility and royalty together in their exercise of power. The crucial element was friendship. The political success of Valdemar I was a result of a fruitful co-operation with his friends in the Skjalm group. Just like Cicero, Saxo states that friendship creates strong and reliable alliances, which are stronger than coalitions formed by ties of kinship. GD should be seen in the light of the strong tensions that existed at the court of the successors of Valdemar I. The position of the Skjalm group as part of the royal inner-circle was by no means clear. Royal kinsmen, magnates from Jutland, Scania, and foreign counsellors held important positions at the courts of Knud VI’s and Valdemar II. Saxo’s depiction could be interpreted as a kind of ‘ennobling project’, with its main aim to legitimate and defend the positions of the Skjalm group in the intense political competition taking place. The prominent role of friendship in GD could thus be explained as a form of aristocratic selfrepresentation.