Gripla - 20.12.2009, Blaðsíða 71

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chieftains in the 13th century seems to indicate that the former considera­
tion outweighed the latter, or perhaps more correctly, that the chieftains
tried to retain as much independence as possible without losing the king’s
favour.51
If we move to the middle of the 13th century, we also find Norwegian
courtliness and authoritarian monarchy described in a highly rhetorical
style, the very opposite of that of the sagas, in Konungs skuggsiá (the kings
Mirror, c. 1255). In many ways, however, this work forms the best evidence
for the similarity rather than the difference between Norwegian and
Icelandic norms and manners, through its violent polemics against the bad
manners of the courtiers, the lack of respect for the king, the courts of law
and the royal officials and its condemnation of feuds and competition. the
strength and amount of detail in these attacks, plus the Son’s evident sur­
prise at many of the father’s lessons in this dialogue, form clear evidence
of the distance between doctrine and practice. At least ideologically, to
some extent also in practice, great changes took place with the firm estab­
lishment of the royal power in Norway after the end of the so-called civil
wars in 1240. These changes are also expressed in the last of the kings’
sagas, that of Hákon Hákonarson, but we cannot use the ideals of the
1250s and ­60s as evidence for practice in the 1220s and ­30s.52
The connection between narrative and society would also seem to be
confirmed by the parallel between north and south, “republican Iceland”
and the Italian city republics. In one sense, these two parts of Europe are
the most different of all, the wealthy, densely populated and urbanised
Northern and Central Italy, with proto-capitalism, extensive trade routes
and highly developed political institutions, versus the poor island in the
north, with no towns at all, depending on foreign merchants for import
and export and with no real government until the submission under the
Norwegian king in 1262–64. There are, however, similarities. Both socie­
ties were less hierarchical and more competitive than the kingdoms and
principalities in the zone between them, such as England, France and the
Empire, and secular values were stronger in both. Politically, the Church
had a weak position in Italy, and the main focus of learning in Italian uni­
51 jón viðar Sigurðsson, Chieftains and Power in the Icelandic Commonwealth (odense: odense
university Press, 1999), 71–83.
52 Bagge, From Gang Leader, 147–60.
noRDIC unIQueneSS In tHe MIDDLe AGeS?