Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae
Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae ( Latin for Eternal King of Norway ; in Norwegian Norges Evige Konge ) is a name for Olav the saint from the second half of the 12th century.
variant
Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae , also spelled “Norvegiæ”, is the common variant of this name today. In the Historia Norvegiae the variant Perpetuus rex Norvegiæ is used.
origin
The term “Perpetuus rex Norvegiæ” appears in the written sources only in the anonymous Historia Norwegiæ from the second half of the 12th century.
The idea that Olav is the Holy Eternal King of Norway appears in a privilege letter from King Magnus Erlingsson of Norway, the date of which is unknown, to Archbishop Øystein of Trondheim, the other bishops of the empire and to the people, without the expression itself is used as a title. It says in the introduction that he received the rule and the crown from God through the hand of the archbishop, and he is now consecrating the kingdom to St. Olav next to the Lord himself. He wants to protect the kingdom as his Odal and the law and Defend the law on the model of Olav and administer the empire as his deputy and vassal. As a testimony to this, his crown should be sacrificed to the cathedral church after his and later kings' deaths, which it already has in custody.
The dating of the letter of privilege is not unimportant for political development in the period between 1261 and 1270. In the Act of Succession to the Throne, which is dated to 1263/1264, it says:
"After the king's death, the crown is to be sacrificed for his soul and to hang there forever, in honor of God and the holy King Olav, just as it was praised by King Magnus, the first crowned king of Norway." King Olav is out of the question.
In the Regesta Norvegica it is noted that it is doubtful that the still underage king could have written such a far-reaching letter of privilege. There is an indication that the king was crowned again on Easter 1270 after he came of age and that he wrote the letter on the occasion of this coronation. In any case, the privilege cannot be issued after 1172, since the archbishop was no longer called Archbishop of Trondheim, but Archbishop of Nidaros. The following possibilities are shown: It could be a later insertion in the text, or King Magnus made this promise at his coronation in 1263/1264, or the dating of the law of succession to the throne is incorrect. In the case of the wrong dating of the Law of Succession, a new coronation could have taken place in 1170. This law of succession to the throne was replaced by a new law of succession by King Håkon Håkonsson in 1260 . The passage about the sacrifice of the crown no longer appeared in it.
ideology
In the letter of privilege, a Norwegian king describes himself for the first time as a “king by the grace of God”. Christianization had not yet taken deep roots among the people. Archbishop Øystein, he was only the second Archbishop in Norway, vigorously promoted the Olavs ideology, as can be seen in this letter of privilege, which was obviously written in his favor. After that it was Saint Olav who gave the Norwegians the "good old right". The changes in the law in the reign of King Magnus were also interpreted as the elaboration and writing of the principles of the ideal King Olav. So Øystein contributed to the fact that King Olav was stylized as a great, mystical lawgiver.
The idea of the kingdom as St. Olavs Odal and of the king as his liege-taker strengthened the prestige of the church in Nidaros and the authority of the archbishop. On the other hand, this feudal relationship with the Holy King Magnus and his kingship gave a special religious consecration, which was suitable to strengthen his position in the defense against his opponents. This was absolutely necessary, since the centralization under a king still met resistance and especially Sverre made the kingship contested. In the end, however, she did not help him, because he was beaten and killed by Sverre.
King Magnus consistently adapted his ruling ideology to the continental models. His goal was to achieve a monotony personified in him. Up to now, all sons of a king had been equal heirs and thus kings. A Norwegian imperial church under the leadership of the archbishop in Nidaros was to exercise its influence over this kingdom. While at the beginning of the civil war king and kingship were largely identical, a generation later the kingship became ideologically and organizationally an institution of its own, to which the respective king had to submit and serve. This reinterpretation was apparently due to Archbishop Øystein.
reception
Even if the term "Perpetuus rex Norvegiae" is nowhere used in the written sources except for the Historia Norvegiæ , this thought remained virulent in the background. In 1280, King Magnus Lagabætir chose the golden lion on a red background with an ax in its paws as the imperial coat of arms. This ax is the sacred attribute of St. Olav and thus takes up the ideology of the "Perpetuus rex Norvegiae". When searching for a new flag for Norway in 1814, many of the proposals submitted carried the lion with an ax. It was also included in the Norwegian national flag of the time, in accordance with the ordinance of February 27, 1814. On August 21, 1847, the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav or just the Olav Order was founded by King Oskar I of Sweden and Norway. In 1889 the "Nordmøre Landwehr Battalion" had already adopted the lion with ax in its flag, and in 1913 the "Infantry Regiment Nord-Trøndelag" followed suit.
Proposal from 1821 for a Norwegian flag
Proposal from 1821 for a Norwegian flag
Anniversary flag 1905
Flag of the Nordmøre Landwehr Battalion from 1889
Flag of the Nord-Trøndelag Infantry Regiment from 1913.
Individual evidence
- ^ Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no.145 .
- ↑ In a letter from Pope Alexander III. , dated December 18, 1169, he allows Archbishop Øystein to wear the pallium during the anointing.
- ↑ For this and the following Helle, p. 40.
- ↑ Helle p. 40.
Literature and sources used
- Knut Helle: Under kirke og kongemakt 1130–1350. Oslo 1995. Aschehougs Norges historie Vol. 3,