The King's Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá) — John Shaqi
The King's Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá)
Philosophy
The King's Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá)
Education of princes; Encyclopedias and dictionaries -- Early works to 1600; Scandinavia -- Civilization
Nikolas Sæmundarson, abbot of Thingeyrar, who made a journey to the
Holy Land about 1151, wrote an itinerary for the use of pilgrims from
which the above quotation is taken. The itinerary is summarized in
Riant, _Expéditions et Pèlerinages des Scandinaves en Terre Sainte_,
80-87.
The cultural influences which followed in the wake of the returning
crusaders were no doubt largely of Frankish origin. As a rule the
crusading expeditions followed the sea route along the coasts of France
and the Spanish peninsula; thus the Northern warriors came in contact
with French ideas and customs in the Frankish homeland as well as in the
Christian armies, which were largely made up of enthusiastic and
venturesome knights from Frankland. The author of the _King’s Mirror_
urges his son to learn Latin and French, “for these idioms are most
widely used.”[65]
Footnote 65:
C. iii. It is likely that English culture found its way into the North
along with the French. When King Sigurd sailed to the Orient in 1107,
he spent the winter of 1107-1108 at the English court.
One of the reasons why the son wishes to master the mercantile
profession is that he desires to travel and learn the customs of other
lands.[66] In the thirteenth century the Norwegian trade still seems to
have been largely with England and the other parts of the British Isles.
It is also important to remember that the Norwegian church was a
daughter of the church of England, and that occasionally English
churchmen were elevated to high office in the Norwegian establishment.
It is likely that Master William, who was Hakon IV’s chaplain, was an
Englishman; at least he bore an English name.[67]
Footnote 66:
C. iii.
Footnote 67:
_Hákonar Saga_, c. 228.
Information as to foreign civilization and the rules of courteous
behavior could also pass from land to land and from court to court with
the diplomatic missions of the time. The wise father states that envoys
who come and go are careful to observe the manners that obtain at the
courts to which they are sent.[68] Frequent embassies must have passed
between the capitals of England and Norway in the thirteenth century. It
is recorded that both King John and his son Henry III received envoys
from the king of Norway, and that they brought very acceptable gifts,
such as hawks and elks,[69] especially the former: in twelve different
years Hakon IV sent hawks to the English king.[70]
Footnote 68:
C. xxix.
Footnote 69:
_Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum_, I, 382, 506, 509.
Footnote 70:
Olafsen, “Falkefangsten i Norge”: _Historisk Tidsskrift_, Femte Række,
III, 351.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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