ABSTRACT
In the texts on the lives of the Scandinavian rulers from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, the theme of their effect on “prosperity and peace” is often used to depict their rule as positive or negative and, consequently, has a strong ideological connotation for authors. Most of the time, authors also provide a religious interpretation of these phenomena and present them as God’s reaction to the earthly situation or a manifestation of the ruler’s sanctity. In this chapter, we propose to examine the function of this theme in the representation of the Scandinavian rulers: what are the characteristics of this motif? What does it reveal about the ideological orientation of authors and the strategies to glorify and legitimize kings or, on the contrary, to weaken their position? Moreover, these representations are often inserted in a religious discourse formulated and supported by clergymen, so that we must wonder how they used them as an instrument to form and reform kingship in ways that served the interests of the Church. After a general presentation of the motif in European and Scandinavian sources, we will focus on several examples and examine how it was inserted in political and ideological discourses.
