The Norwegian Domination and the Norse World c. 1100-c. 1400 (review)

This book is the result of a conference held in Røros, Norway, in 2008, entitled Norgesveldet og den norrøne verden 1100-1400. While the title suggests that the papers were presented in the Scandinavian languages, many readers will appreciate that the twelve articles published here are rendered in English.

The title may make Norwegians uncomfortable, since during the quest for political independence in the nineteenth century, the theme of a Norwegian "domination," or Norgesveldet, was more the product of contemporary nationalism than medieval reality. It is true that during the Middle Ages Norway continued to exert influence over islands and provinces in the West Atlantic, where Vikings had settled and where their descendants were still living, but the term "domination" in the title is well chosen since the influence never amounted to an empire.

The initiative for the project belongs to Steinar Imsen. Ten of the twelve articles treat the entire Norgesvelde or individual parts. Imsen himself is the author of the first article, which he modestly calls "Introduction." He frames his essay with two citations, by Adam of Bremen and Matthew Paris, who—two centuries apart—identified Norwegian characteristics not only at home but also on the islands in the West Atlantic, thus establishing a combined entity that Imsen calls Norgesveldet. He further explains the differences between Norway and Norse and provides a description of Norgesveldet throughout the Middle Ages, as territories entered it, becoming incipient Norwegian provinces, but later exited and joined other national monarchies or became independent, as in the case of Iceland, whereas Norway itself embarked on the path toward a geographic and more limited monarchial state.

Randi Bjørshol Wærdahl provides a historiographic approach to the Norwegian realm and the Norse world since the Middle Ages. Norway entered its first union with Sweden in 1319 and did not gain independence until 1905, a goal that was obtained largely by promoting the idea of Norgesveldet. During the emergence of Nationalism, the existence of a medieval state became an important prerequisite for promoting the modern nation state. P. A. Munch was the leading spokesman for the argument that until 1319, Norgesveldet had been at least as important as Denmark and Sweden, the two powers that had dominated Norway in the past, and thereby justified its claim to become a state again. Since this rhetoric has become obsolete, Wærdahl concludes by suggesting new approaches to Norgesveldet, including the transnational theme employed by British historians in treating the British Isles.

Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, an Icelandic historian active at the University of Oslo, offers a stimulating essay on "The Norse Community," which he sees as flourishing in the period ca. 880 to 1320. During this time the Norwegian king claimed authority also over the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, the Orkneys, Shetland, the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. This large sea-born realm was held together by the Norse language and religion, later replaced by Christianity; by the chronological framework of the Norwegian kings; by Norwegian law; by the tribute these provinces, or skattlands, paid to Norway; and by a settlement pattern that favored individual isolated farms while allowing few villages and no towns. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, this Norse domination might have been ready to become an empire, but at the same time the decline started.

Barbara Crawford, a specialist on the Orkneys, deals with "The Joint Earldoms of Orkney and Caithness." Combining archeological evidence and narrative sources—chief among them Orkneyinga saga—she demonstrates that Viking invaders not only occupied both the Shetland and the Orkney islands but from the earliest times also acquired a foothold in Caithness, the northwestern tip of Scotland. The justification was the need to control the Pentland Firth, the turbulent waters between the mainland and the two archipelagos, which provided access to the islands farther along the west coast of Scotland that...