State Formation and Political Culture

In addition, we shall deal more systematically with the high- and later Middle Ages, taking the forthcoming study by Sverre Bagge as a point of departure (From Viking Stronghold to Christian Kingdom) and this study’s discussion of the various factors that contribute to the rise of a central power and beginning bureaucratisation: demography, social and economic change, the introduction of contemporary western military technology with castles and heavy cavalry, and the introduction of writing and the ecclesiastical hierarchy as the result of Christianisation. Scandinavian scholarship on these subjects has been strongly influenced by national ideas as well as by the notion of the Later Middle Ages as a period of decline. This view has in turn been questioned in recent years, partly by greater emphasis on factions based on personal links, partly by the distinction between conflicts between monarchy and aristocracy within each country and across the borders. Thus, the field is now open for new empirical studies and new challenges to these interpretations. More specifically, the following aspects will be dealt with, partly as a direct continuation of our research during the CMS’s first period, partly as new elements:
- The formation of states in Northern and East Central Europe in the Early Middle Ages.
- The competition between various princes and power-holders as a factor in state formation and the importance of the European system of a multiplicity of political units within a common cultural and religious framework.
- The importance of Christianity for state formation. A wider comparison will allow us assess the specific importance of Christianity, not only compared to the earlier religions of Europe but also to Islam, another religion of the Book which deeply influenced states and political culture in the neighbouring civilisation. A comparison with Eastern Christendom, as developed in Byzantium and parts of the Slavonic world, will also be interesting.
- The cultural and ideological aspect of state formation, as expressed e.g. in propaganda, religious ideology and courtly culture.
- Research on the Nordic laws and their connection to Roman and canon law. The Nordic laws have recently become the focus of new attention, and it is now possible to gather a team of Nordic scholars to do comparative research on this topic. This research should be carried out in close connection with the study of canon law which also has received a great revival internationally in recent decades, since expertise is still lacking in the Nordic countries.
- Urban history, focusing on the bishop towns’ role as centres of royal and ecclesiastical power.