BOOK: Nils HYBEL, The Nature of Kingship c. 800-1300. The Danish Incident (Leiden: Brill, 2017). ISBN: 978-90-04-35834-8, pp. 400, € 159.00

(Source: Brill)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Series: The Northern World, Volume: 83.

In The Nature of Kingship c. 800-1300. The Danish Incident Nils Hybel presents the first comprehensive history of the changeable nature of monarchial power in Danish territories from the Viking Age to the Central Middle Ages. The work offers a pioneering methodological approach entirely based on medieval conceptions on sovereign power. This innovative approach involves contemporary ideas, not modern notions of power and kingship, being used to undertake the analysis. The Danish “Incident” is therefore integrated within the European context. Kingship experienced a profound transformation during the half millennium investigated. A royal genealogy and strong bonds with Christian institutions were established in the late eleventh century. In the middle of the twelfth century the Danish realm was united, followed by the final liberation from German hegemony and the expansion of the realm with German and Slavic fiefs in the late twelfth century. At the same time, with the first signs of taxation, legislation, law enforcement and the notion of a national, military force, kings began the transition from warlords to medieval kingship. With stirrings of constitutionalism from 1241 onwards, this development of a national, medieval, kingdom intensified, though by c. 1300 the kingdom had not yet reached the point of total sovereign power.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nils Hybel, Ph.D. (1989), is Professor at the Saxo Institute, the University of Copenhagen. He has published extensively on many aspects of European medieval history and historiography.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures, Charts and Maps 

Abbreviations 

Introduction 

1. Historiography 

  Kings and Clans 

  The Birth of the Viking Age 

  Regnum and Sacerdotium 

  A Tenth-Century Central Power 

  The Historical Turning Point 

  A Medieval Kingdom of the Viking Age 

  The Janus-Faced King 

  The Birth of Medieval Kingship 

  Conclusion 

2. A Speculum Regale 

  The European Context 

  Rex Gratia Dei 

  Popular Legitimation of Kingship 

  The Lawmaker 

  The Ideal Leader 

  Conclusion 

3. Genealogy 

  Historical Kings until c. 1140 

  Legendary Kings 

  Historic Kings in Sources from c. 1140 

  Conclusion 

4. Marca, Feudum, and Sovereignty 

  The Danish Marca 

  Feudum 

  Sovereignty 

  Sovereignty—An Anachronism? 

  Conclusion 

5. Law, Justice, and Constitution 

  Sources of Medieval Law 

  Narratives of the Earliest Danish Laws 

  Extant Laws and Ordinances before 1241 

  Monarchical Legislation and Jurisdiction before 1241 

  Extant Laws and Ordinances from 1241 

  Monarchical Legislation and Jurisdiction from 1241 

  Constitution 

  Conclusion 

6. Landownership 

  Ownership in Roman Law 

  Ownership in Medieval Jurisprudence 

  Family Ownership 

  Private Property 

  Ways of Acquiring Land 

  Common Rights and Dominium Utile 

  Conclusion 

7. Tax 

  Tribute, Plunder, and Gifts 

  Mint Taxes 

  Town and Market Taxes 

  Customs Duties 

  Urban and Commercial Duties 

  Rural Taxes 

  Conclusion 

8. War and Peace 

  Viking Kings and/or Warlords 

  Medieval Kings and/or Warlords 

  Towards a Public Army? 

  Military Law 

  Conclusion 

9. The Realm 

  Dane 

  Denmark 

  The Geopolitical Area of Denmark before the Mid-Eleventh Century 

  Towards the Formation of a Realm 

  The Danish Realm 

  Conclusion 

10. Overall Assessment 

Bibliography/ Index of Persons and Places/ Subject Index 

More information with the publisher.

BOOK: Atle L. WOLD, Privateering and Diplomacy, 1793–1807 Great Britain, Denmark-Norway and the Question of Neutral Ports (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). ISBN 978-3-030-45185-1, 79,49 EUR

(Source: Palgrave)

Palgrave is publishing a new book on the British-Danish diplomatic debate on privateering and neutral ports in the period 1793-1807.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This book addresses the British-Danish diplomatic debate on privateering and neutral ports in the period 1793-1807, when Denmark-Norway remained neutral in the war between Britain and France. The British government protested against the use French privateers made of Norwegian ports as bases for their attacks on the British Baltic Sea and Archangel Trades, but the Danish government insisted on keeping the ports open. This led to a running dispute on the relative rights and duties of belligerents and neutrals, but also on violations of the tentative agreement that the two governments reached in 1793. The three main chapters in the book address the principled debate on privateering and neutral ports; the central role played in the debate by the British diplomatic and consular representatives in Denmark-Norway; and privateering in practice. The final two chapters look at the impact of the Dutch change of sides in the war in 1795, and the development from the official closure of the Norwegian ports to privateers in 1799 until Denmark-Norway’s entry into the war on the side of France in 1807.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Atle L. Wold is Associate Professor of British Studies at the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages at the University of Oslo, Norway. He is the author of Scotland and the French Revolutionary War, 1792-1802 (2015).

More info here