The False King Olaf and his Necklace of Letters

TY - JOUR

T1 - The False King Olaf and his Necklace of Letters

AU - Cole, Richard

PY - 2023/3

Y1 - 2023/3

N2 - In 1402 a Prussian peasant was burnt to death in a grisly public execution, during the Scanian Market at Falsterbo-Skanör, Denmark. He had pretended to be King Olaf of Denmark and Norway, who had died fifteen years earlier. The peasant was consigned to the flames, garlanded with the documents that had been issued in his name during his imposture. This article considers the meaning of this macabre gesture. What was intended by it? How did it integrate into late medieval paperwork practices in the Baltic region? And what can it tell us about the relationship between bureaucracy and belief?

AB - In 1402 a Prussian peasant was burnt to death in a grisly public execution, during the Scanian Market at Falsterbo-Skanör, Denmark. He had pretended to be King Olaf of Denmark and Norway, who had died fifteen years earlier. The peasant was consigned to the flames, garlanded with the documents that had been issued in his name during his imposture. This article considers the meaning of this macabre gesture. What was intended by it? How did it integrate into late medieval paperwork practices in the Baltic region? And what can it tell us about the relationship between bureaucracy and belief?

U2 - 10.5406/21638195.95.1.01

DO - 10.5406/21638195.95.1.01

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0036-5637

VL - 95

SP - 1

EP - 34

JO - Scandinavian Studies

JF - Scandinavian Studies

IS - 1

ER -