Christianity and European-style monarchy--the cross and the scepter--were introduced to Scandinavia in the tenth century, a development that was to have profound implications for all of Europe. Cross and Scepter is a concise history of the Scandinavian kingdoms from the age of the Vikings to the Reformation, written by Scandinavia's leading medieva

Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 CHAPTER ONE 9 The Origins of the Scandinavian Kingdoms Early Scandinavian Society 9 Scandinavian Expansion: The Viking Expeditions 21 The Division of Scandinavia into Three Kingdoms 27 The Continued Division of Scandinavia: Foreign Policy until around 1300 38 CHAPTER TWO 50 The Consolidation of the Scandinavian Kingdoms, c. 1050-1350 The Dynasty and the Royal Office 50 Religion: The Introduction of Christianity 60 The Development of the Ecclesiastical Organization 70 Justice: Royal and Ecclesiastical Legislation and Courts of Law 86 War and the Preparation for War: From Leding to Professional Forces 107 CHAPTER THREE 119 State Formation, Social Change, and the Division of Power Social Structure in the High Middle Ages 120 Royal and Ecclesiastical Revenues 124 Towns and Trade 131 Bureaucracy or Feudalism? 139 The Court 152 The Division of Power: Monarchy, Aristocracy, and the Church 157 The State and the People: Nationalism and Loyalty 169 CHAPTER FOUR 174 Royal, Aristocratic, and Ecclesiastical Culture Scandinavians and European Learning 176 The Rules and the Hearts: Scandinavian Christianity 187 A Scandinavian Saint 196 The Writing of History 203 Political Thought 218 The Courtly Culture 222 CHAPTER FIVE 232 The Later Middle Ages: Agrarian Crisis, Constitutional Conflicts, and Scandinavian Unions Towards Renewed Scandinavian Integration, 1261-1397 236 The Kalmar Union 248 The Struggle over the Kalmar Union, 1434-1523 250 Why Was the Union Dissolved? 260 State Formation in the Later Middle Ages 268 The Reformation and Its Consequences, 1523-1537 283 CONCLUSION 290 Scandinavian State Formation, 900-1537: Break and Continuity Literature 293 The Historiography of the Scandinavian Countries 293 The Sources for Scandinavian History 297 References and Guide to Further Reading 301 Index 315

"This book demonstrates the mastery Sverre Bagge has acquired through his immense and innovative work on state formation in Scandinavia. It will have enduring effects on future discussions because it is as peerless at describing and analyzing micro-processes as at integrating and comparing macro-processes from other parts of Europe."—Gerhard Althoff, University of Münster

"A tour de force. Cross and Scepter is a short, readable, and deeply learned introduction to the political and constitutional history of Scandinavia, written by Scandinavia's foremost medieval historian. No one else but Bagge could have achieved this with such apparent ease."—Patrick Geary, author of The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe

"A masterful survey of Scandinavian history in the Middle Ages. Bagge's writing has focus and drive without unduly skating over important details. The scholarship is superb, as one would expect from the leading Scandinavian medieval historian of his generation."—Anders Winroth, author of The Conversion of Scandinavia: Vikings, Merchants, and Missionaries in the Remaking of Northern Europe