Kong Magnus 6. Lagabøte, det norske høy­middelalderkongedømmet og den politisk- institusjonelle betydningen til Landsloven av 1274

Sammendrag

The National Code of the Realm jubilee in 2024 highlighted King Magnus Lawmender as one of the most innovative kings in Norwegian history and the Code of Realm as one of the most important documents. As a basis for assessing historical anniversaries, the topic of such anniversaries should be placed in a larger historical context. The article asses King Magnus’ reign and the importance of the Code of the Realm in the light of the Norwegian high medieval kingdom’s structures. The article denies that Magnus should have been unprepared to become king. On the contrary, he must have been schooled for a leading role in the government of the realm after his father’s death, Håkon Håkonsson, either as king or in another role. The medieval mortality regime meant one could not count on the certainty that the legitimate eldest-born king’s son survived his father. Given the itinerant character of the Norwegian kingdom, like all other European medieval kingdoms, one cannot assume that King Magnus grew up in Bergen and reigned the kingdom from there. Although Bergen was the foremost royal residence and administrative town in the latter half of the 1200s, the sources show that the Norwegian kings moved regularly between Bergen, Tønsberg and Oslo, and with less frequent visits to Trondheim. His connection to the Franciscans is undoubted, but when and how it was established, we do not know. Magnus’ kingship was significant, and the Code of the Realm appeared more ambitious for building the Norwegian kingdom further than just confirming the Sverre dynasty’s position on top of the government.