Gripla - 20.12.2009, Blaðsíða 51

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ety and in accordance with laws or agreements with his subjects. The con­
stitutionalism that emerged in most european countries, particularly from
the 13th century onwards, can be regarded partly as a continuation and
partly as a modification of the “big man­like” or clientelistic aspects of the
relationship between the king and individual aristocrats in the Early
Middle Ages. Assemblies or other institutions emerged in order to force
the king to share his power with his most prominent subjects and to
respect their rights. There is clearly an ideological connection between this
medieval constitutionalism and the rise of democracy from the late 18th
century onwards,4 possibly also a practical one, although constitutionalism
was replaced with absolutism in most countries of Europe in the Early
Modern Period and largely for the same reason as big men succumbed to
chiefs: absolute monarchies were more efficient in the fierce military com­
petition between the European states.5 Only a few wealthy and sheltered
states managed to combine efficiency and constitutionalism, the Dutch
Republic, England and to some extent Sweden.
Scandinavia did play a part in the formation of the european state sys­
tem. Although geography and ecology may, to a great extent, serve as the
explanation behind this particular feature of european civilisation – the
contrast to China is particularly striking – we are also dealing with a his­
torical development. the formation of separate kingdoms on the northern
and eastern border of Germany served to prevent a revival of the
Carolingian empire and to establish the multiple state system. the compe­
tition between the Scandinavian kingdoms in the Middle Ages and the
early Modern Period also serves as a good illustration of the effects of
such a system. With some exceptions, Denmark was the leading country
of Scandinavia until the 17th century. undergoing a revival after a period of
decline in the early 14th century, Denmark became the centre of a dynastic
union of all three countries which lasted (albeit with intermissions) from
1397 until 1523, by which time Norway had lost its independence, whereas
Sweden had broken out of the union. During the 17th century, Sweden
4 Ideologically, the clearest link is Montesquieu’s theory of the division of power, which
partly has its background in his own experience as a member of the French aristocracy.
5 See e.g. Charles tilly, ed., The Formation of National States in Western Europe (Princeton:
Princeton university Press, 1975) and idem, Coercion and Capital, and European States, A.D.
990–1990 (Cambridge, Mass.: Basil Blackwell, 1990); William H. Mcneill, The Pursuit of
Power: Technology, Armed Force and Society since A.D. 1000 (Oxford: Blackwell 1983).
noRDIC unIQueneSS In tHe MIDDLe AGeS?