Konungs skuggsjá is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 educational text from around 1250, an example of speculum literature

Speculum literature

The medieval genre of speculum literature, popular from the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries, was inspired by the urge to encompass encyclopedic knowledge within a single work. The modern equivalent is a summary survey, in the sense of a survey article in a scholarly journal that summarizes...

 that deals with politics and morality. It was originally intended for the education of King Magnus Lagabøte

Magnus VI of Norway

Magnus VI Lagabøte or Magnus Håkonsson , was king of Norway from 1263 until 1280.-Early life:...

, the son of King Håkon Håkonsson, and it has the form of a dialogue between father and son. The son asks, and is advised by his father about practical and moral matters, concerning trade, the hird

Hird

The hird, in Norwegian history, was originally an informal retinue of personal armed companions, hirdmen or housecarls, but came to mean not only the nucleus of the royal army, but also developed into a more formal royal court household....

, chivalric behavior, strategy and tactics. Parts of Konungs skuggsjá deals with the relationship between church and state. It also gives advice on seafaring and trading:
It also tells an encounter which fits the description of a wild man

Wild man

The wild man is a mythical figure that appears in the artwork and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woodlands.The defining characteristic of the figure is its "wildness"; from the 12th century...

 or Woodwose

Woodwose

The wild man is a mythical figure that appears in the artwork and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woodlands.The defining characteristic of the figure is its "wildness"; from the 12th century...

:

Form and contents

The seventy chapters of the text consist of a prologue and two main parts, of which the second may perhaps be subdivided into two sections, one focused on the king's court, the other (more specifically) on the king's justice. In the prologue, the speaker sets out to deal with merchants, kingsmen, the clergy and peasants, but his discussion does not extend much beyond the first two classes. It seems possible that the last two chapters were originally intended for a separate treatment of the clergy.

Prologue 1. The son states the purpose of the work, useful as he considers it to be both as a King's Mirror and as a handbook for a wider audience. First part. The merchant and the natural world 2. The dialogue between father (himself a kingsman) and son begins. 3-4. The business and customs of the merchant 5. The sun and the winds 6-7. The sun's course 8. The marvels of Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...   9. Scepticism about the genuineness of marvels 10-1. Marvels of Ireland Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...   12-5. Marvels of the Icelandic sea (eg. whales) and of Iceland Iceland Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...  (eg. volcanoes, springs) 16-20. Marvels of Greenland Greenland Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for... , its waters, animals, products, climate, etc. 21. Cold and hot zones of the earth 22-3. Navigation, winds and seasons

Second part. (1) The king and his court 24. The king and his court 25. The importance of courtesy in the royal service 26. Advantages from serving in the king's household 27. Classes among the kingsmen (konungsmenn): hirdmenn, gestir, general officials and officials who serve the king abroad 28. Honoured position of kingsmen 29. The hirð Hird The hird, in Norwegian history, was originally an informal retinue of personal armed companions, hirdmen or housecarls, but came to mean not only the nucleus of the royal army, but also developed into a more formal royal court household.... , top layer of kingsmen 30. How to approach the king for a post in the hirð 31. Why not to wear a mantle in the king's presence 32-4. Rules of speech and conversation in the king's hall 35-6. Relation between the quality of crops and the moral standard of government 37. Duties, activities and entertainments of royal guardsmen 38. Weapons of offence and defence 39. Military engines 40-1. Proper manners and customs at the royal court

(2) Truth and justice 42. God's justice 43-4. Responsibilities and position of the king 45. The importance of leniency in the king's judgment 46-9. The importance of severity in the king's judgment, and the Fall of Lucifer 50-3. Further discussion of the relation between justice, peace and mercy. 54. The king's prayer 55. The king's judicial business (again) 56. Speech of wisdom 57-8. The king's judicial business (again) 59-60. Mercy and severity of judgment 61-2. capital punishment 63. God's judgment in the story of David and Saul Saul -People:Saul is a given/first name in English, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew name Shaul from the Hebrew Bible:* Saul , including people with this given namein the Bible:* Saul , a king of Edom... 64-6. Judgments of Solomon (eg. with reference Shimei Shimei Shimei is the name of a number of persons referenced in the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinical literature.*The second son of Gershon and grandson of Levi...  and Adonijah Adonijah Adonijah was the fourth son of King David according to the book of Samuel , which is contained in the Bible.-Life:After the death of his elder brothers Amnon and Absalom, he became heir-apparent to the throne, but Solomon, a younger brother, was preferred to him. Adonijah, however, when his father... ) 67. Solomon's broken promise to Joab Joab Joab the son of Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army, according to the Hebrew Bible.- Name :... 68. When to keep or break promises 69. Kingship, church and God 70. The authority of kings and bishops

Editions and translations

• Holm-Olsen, Ludvig (ed.). Konungs Skuggsjá. 2nd ed. Oslo: Norsk Historisk Kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1983.
• Holm-Olsen, Ludvig (ed.). The King's Mirror: AM 243 a fol. Early Icelandic Manuscripts in Facsimile, XVII. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1987. Facsimile
• Meissner, Rudolf (ed. and tr.). Der Königsspiegel. Konungsskuggsjá. Halle/Saale, 1944.
• Jónsson, Finnur
  Finnur Jónsson
  Finnur Jónsson was an Icelandic philologist who made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature.Finnur graduated from Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík in 1878 and went to Denmark for further studies at the University of Copenhagen. He received a doctorate in philology in 1884 with a...
  
  (ed.). Konungs Skuggsjá: Speculum Regale. Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab. Copenhagen, 1920.
• Brenner, Oscar (ed.). Speculum Regale: ein Altnorwegischer Dialog. Munich, 1881. PDF available from septentrionalia.net
• Keyser, Rudolf et al. Speculum regale. Konungs-skuggsjá. Konge-speilet. Christiania, 1848.
• Larson, L.M. (tr.). The King’s Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá). Scandinavian Monographs 3. New York, 1917. PDF available from Internet Archive and a transcript of the English translation here
• Meissner, Rudolf (tr.). Der Königsspiegel. Fahrten und Leben der alten Norweger aufgezeichnet im 13. Jahrhundert. Leipzig und Weimar: Gustav Kiepenheuer, 1978.

Secondary literature

• Bagge, Sverre. The Political Thought of the King's Mirror. Odense, 1987.
• Bagge, Sverre. "Forholdet mellom Kongespeilet og Stjórn." Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi 89 (1974): 163-202.
• Grabes, Herbert. Speculum, Mirror and Looking-Glass. Tübingen, 1973.
• Holm-Olsen, Ludvig. "The Prologue to The King's Mirror. Did the author of the work write it?" In Speculum Norrœnum. Norse studies in memory of Gabriel Turville-Petre, ed. Ursula Dronke, et al. Odense, 1981. 223-41.
• Holm-Olsen, Ludvig (ed.). Handskriftene av Konungs Skuggsja. Bibliotheca Arnamagnaeana 13. Munksgaard, 1952.
• Schnall, Jens Eike and Rudolf Simek (eds.). Speculum regale. Der altnorwegische Königsspiegel (Konungs skuggsjá) in der europäischen Tradition. Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia 5. Vienna: Fassbinder, 2000. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000.
• Schall, Jens Eike. Didaktische Absichten und Vermittlungsstrategien im altnorwegischen Königsspiegel (Konungs skuggsja). Palaestra. Untersuchungen aus der deutschen und skandinavischen Philologie 307. [Based on the author's 1997 dissertation]
• Simek, Rudolf. "The Political Thought in the King's Mirror. A Supplement." In Festschrift für Jónas Kristjánsson. Reykjavik, 1994. 723-34.
• Tveitane, Mathias (ed.). Studier over Konungs skuggsjá. Bergen, 1971. Includes a bibliography at pages 188-92.

External links

• 1848 edition (Google Books)
• PDF of Larson's English translation (Internet Archive)
• Transcript of Larson's translation)