Ynglingeætten, Vestfold, Harald Hårfagre og Hårfagreætten – dette har vært hjørnestener i generasjoners bilde av den norske rikssamlingen, særlig basert på Snorres Heimskringla. Først i senere år har modifiserende oppfatninger kommet til et visst gjennombrudd. Når det gjelder «ynglingeætten», har man likevel i stor grad holdt fast ved Snorres bilde. Hovedgrunnen er kvadet Ynglingatal, angivelig fra før 900, gjengitt av Snorre. Her tas spørsmålet om kvadets alder opp til vurdering enda en gang i forlengelse av de siste årenes diskusjon. Det pekes på at kvadet ikke bare tilhører et sent trinn i utviklingen av ynglingetradisjonen, men også på at hele denne tradisjonen er langt svakere forankret i overleveringen som helhet enn man har gått ut fra. Dette gjelder også Snorres forfatterskap om man ser det under ett, og det er en hovedgrunn til at det i Snorres opplysninger om ynglingetradisjonen ikke kan ligge en slik ekthetsgaranti som enkelte har ment.
The Norwegian kingdom and the Ynglingar
For generations of Norwegians, the Yngling dynasty, Vestfold and Harald Fairhair marked the beginning of the rikssamling (the political unification process) during the Viking period and early medieval centuries. All later kings were seen as descendants of Harald. Even if the saga criticism of the early 20th century brought forward impulses for creating a different picture, such alternatives have only recently broken through. The result is that the notion of a coherent Fairhair dynasty from the 9th to the 14th century has now been substantially weakened, and Vestfold no longer plays its traditional role as the original nucleus of the realm. This change of view is mostly due to the systematic examination -- by several 20th century historians -- of saga writing, and the development within it during the 11th and 12th centuries, until the saga tradition found its fullest form in the Heimskringla of Snorri Sturluson. When it comes to the Yngling dynasty, however, there has been greater reluctance to modify Snorris picture. The main reason is evidently the poem Ynglingatal, cited by Snorri (and only by him), assumed to be the work of the poet Thjodolfr of Hvin c. 900. The question of the poems dating is re-examined here in view of the discussion in recent years. An argument is made for the poem belonging to a late stage in the development of the Yngling tradition, which is much less present than is usually assumed both in the genre of kings sagas generally and, above all, in the writings of Snorri Sturluson as a whole.
Artikkelen behandler Madame de Staëls innsats i striden om Norge i årene 1812–1814. Kildemateriale er bl.a. hennes korrespondanse med Frederikke Brun og Bruns korrespondanse med Caroline von Humboldt, samt arbeider av Madame de Staël og August Wilhelm Schlegel. Fokus er på konfrontasjonen mellom en politisk og en kulturell forståelse av nasjon og nasjonalitet, og på forholdet mellom politisk aktivisme, kjønn og salongkultur. Det hevdes at Madame de Staël bidro til å justere Carl Johans holdning til Norge, ikke bare sommeren 1814, men også våren 1813, da Norgesspørsmålet utløste en konflikt mellom henne og Frederikke Brun.
Remapping the North: Madame de Stäel, Frederikke Brun, and the Norway debate 1812–1814
The French writer and salonière Germaine de Staël-Holstein and her friend the Danish writer and salonière Frederikke Brun were both involved in the political processes that were to determine Norways fate in 1814. This article explores and contextualizes their correspondence in 1812–1813 and their lobbyism in 1814. Written at a time when the word nationality was introduced into the Scandinavian languages, the Staël-Brun correspondence offers an example of discussions on nation and nationality in Scandinavia, and even of how nationalism made a cosmopolitan European salon culture vulnerable. Furthermore, their debate in the spring of 1813 affected Madame de Staëls standpoint on Norway in her dealings with Bernadotte and even his willingness to grant Norway «independence». Especially noteworthy in 1814 are Madame de Staëls efforts. She was lobbying for Sweden and Bernadotte in London during the spring, but later, when back in Paris, she strongly advised him to accept the new Norwegian constitution, which he eventually did. One reason was probably their shared vision about him taking over the throne of France, another her new engagement for the USA during the summer of 1814. The political writings of August Wilhelm Schlegel in 1813–1814 are also interesting as part of these discourses about Scandinavia, which seems to have engaged several outstanding European intellectuals.
Mens den svenske politikken overfor Norge under Gustav III og Carl Johan er nøye studert, har det vært skrevet mindre om Gustav IV Adolf. Denne artikkelen undersøker politikken overfor Norge i hans regjeringstid fra 1796 til 1809. Hovedargumentene er at den var opportunistisk og pragmatisk, men ikke konstant, og at den kan deles inn i to faser: først diplomatiske intriger i 1797–1801, og deretter forsøk på å skape en folkelig stemning i Norge for en forening. Dette siste var målet også i 1808 og derfor var ikke invasjonen dette året ment som et regelrett erobringsforsøk. På mange måter peker således Gustav IV Adolfs norgespolitikk frem mot den Carl Johan førte frem mot 1814, og viser med det at Carl Johan var mindre nyskapende enn han ofte blir fremstilt som.
Gustavus IV Adolph and Norway
While policies towards Norway during the regimes of King Gustavus III (1772–92) and Crown Prince Regent Charles John (1810-14/18) have been thoroughly examined by Scandinavian historians, less focus has been devoted to policies during the reign of King Gustavus IV Adolph (1796–09). Yet historians have tended to hold him as having been more preoccupied with Norway than were his predecessor and even Charles John. He also gained a reputation, especially internationally, for being mentally unbalanced. This article offers an account of the aims and strategies towards Norway throughout Gustavus IV Adolphs reign, arguing that his policies were characterised by opportunism and pragmatism, and usually conceived and advanced by his closest circles. The policies towards Norway can be divided into two distinct phases. The first, stretching from 1797 to 1801, comprised a number of failed attempts at diplomatic plots. A favoured scheme was to exchange Swedish Pomerania for Norway, preferably by way of Prussia, while France and Russia were also approached. Nonetheless, Norway was a secondary concern compared with Swedens quest for subsidies, which were vital to her exhausted finances. The years 1801–03 marked a shift in the strategies towards Norway as diplomatic plots were abandoned in favour of attempts to drum up popular pro-Swedish sentiments within Norway. Gustav Lagerbjelke, one of the Kings closest advisors, was a key figure in this second phase, which also failed. The King then lost interest in Norway and turned his attention to Germany instead. Not until 1808 were his eyes again set on Norway, but only after Sweden had most reluctantly been drawn into a war against Denmark-Norway, France and Russia. Again key figures in the Kings closest circles, particularly Gustav Mauritz Armfelt, were prime movers, and talked the reluctant King into launching an invasion of Norway. Yet the invasion was not one bent on military conquest, but was rather intended to show the Norwegians how much they would actually benefit from Swedish rule. Perhaps unsurprisingly, military occupation turned out to be a futile way of winning their devotion, however. The war of 1808-09 turned out to be a vast failure for which the King was blamed and consequently deposed.
Kan det å innlemme materialitet som fortolkningskategori bidra til at for-
tidens barn og barndom kan forstås på nye måter? I denne artikkelen – og med bakgrunn i nordisk barndomshistories historiografi – åpnes det for en tredje vending i barndomshistorien, nemlig den materielle. Perspektivet prøves ut på et utvalg arbeiderminner, og målet er å fange inn hvordan barnet som subjekt og substans og kropp er formet av og selv erfarer og former de materielle omgivelsene. Artikkelen viser hvordan barn som vokste opp på Kristianias østkant rundt 1900 erfarte tilværelsens materialitet slik den manifesterte seg i boligen, i forhold til mat og klær og sykdom og død, og hvordan barn gjennom disse erfaringene ble et arbeiderklassebarn.
A Third Turn in Childhood History? Structure, Culture and Materiality
Since childhood history became established as an academic discipline in the Nordic countries in the 1970s two main perspectives have had an impact on historiography. First, in the 1970s and 1980s, and influenced by social history, phenomena in childhood history were explained as determined by economic and social structures. Second, and according to the cultural turn of the 1990s, the perspective was «de-centred» and directed towards the child, the family and the local community. The child was then interpreted as a historical agent who participated and made decisions that influenced his/her and the familys life. Phenomena in childhood history were interpreted as expressions of culture. In this article, a third turn in childhood history is suggested, namely the material turn. Introducing materiality as a category of interpretation, the author understands the child as a physical being shaped by physical circumstances in the environment, but also as a subject who experienced and influenced the environment. The aim of the material turn is to broaden the perspective to see how the child was a complex historical phenomenon. Old workers recollections are used as empirical sources to test the suggested material perspective. How did children living in the working-class part of Kristiania (Oslo) around 1900 experience the material environment as manifested in the homes, in clothes and food and in relation to sickness and death in the families? The answers in this article indicate that the child experienced and sensed the environment with his/her body and that gender and physical constitution and age were decisive for how the child shaped his/her world. The environment imposed certain demands on the child, and through responding to these demands the child shaped and was himself/herself shaped by the surroundings and thus became a member of the working class.