Death to the Tyrant! Speculations on over the Images of Rulers in Two Medieval Manuscripts

Authors:

Pages: 52-64

Abstract:

The present article focuses on two illuminated manuscripts from the 13th–15th cc. period, which depict rulers traditionally represented as tyrants. Generalizing the observations on the image of the ruler in “Vitae Aeduardi rei” the author points out that those who are represented as tyrants are the kings Swein, Harold Harefoot and, strange as it may seem at first sight, King Harold II, who is characterized as an illegitimate ruler, i.e. a tyrannus in titula. In contrast to them, King Hartacnutt, albeit belonging to the Danish dynasty, is not represented as a tyrant – despite the existence of historical sources depicting his violent acts against the English. The image of the pretender to the throne after the death of Edward the Confessor – the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada – is also similar to the one of Hartacnutt. Another significant example of an image of a tyrannical ruler is presented in the “Metrical Lives of the Saints Edmund and Fremund”. Here the analysis leads to an interesting parallel with the “Vitae Aeduardi rei”, and mostly with the legend of the divine punishment of Swein the Tyrant through the hand of St. Edmund. The author accentuates on some specific features of the image of the tyrannical ruler as depicted in the discussed manuscripts and comes to the conclusion that the notions and image of a tyrant in South-Eastern and Western Europe in the High Middle Ages were formed on the basis of similar criteria.

Keywords:

tyrants, tyrannicide, illuminated manuscripts, tyrannus in titula, tyrannus in regimine, dynastic ideology

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