Vita Sancti, Vita Regis: The Saintly King in Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar

Abstract

In this paper I present evidence for the pervasive influence of hagiographic themes, including the miraculous, shrines and relics, and unrelenting mercy, on the biography of Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. These elements are extant to a greater degree in Hákon's biography than in any saga of the Heimskringla save that of St Olaf. Furthermore, I argue that the saga's portrayal of the king as a saintly figure serves to compare him to the greatest Christian kings of the preceding centuries, even if only within the memorialization of the text itself and not in later memory. Studies of the saga remain largely historical, providing a (sometimes contested) backdrop of factual information over which studies of other literary and historical texts are made. With the current contribution I offer a different view, namely that of a richly textured royal biography that draws on the dominant literary forms of its day.