Margareta of Denmark and the Voice of Identity

Abstract

The previous chapters have shown how medieval queens marshaled the acoustic reach of the poetic voice to reach new audiences andrealign the dynamics of power in their kingdoms. Here we will again focus on the voice as a political instrument. The inquiry begins a review of events that took place in the year 1388, just before Queen Margareta of Denmark invaded Sweden, captured Albrecht III, and was granted rulership by the Swedish barons over the entire kingdom. In the pages to follow I will suggest that sound played a significant role in her conquest of Sweden, and in particular I want to highlight the way in which vernacularity was seen as an asset to be exploited, as well as a liability to be guarded against. Among the texts subjected to close analysis are some royal charters drafted by Queen Margareta and her Swedish allies; a number of revelations by the prominent fourteenth-century Swedish mystic St. Birgitta that have a sharply political focus; and lastly, an Old Swedish allegorical poem critical of the Swedish King Albrecht III, that, I argue, can be linked to Margareta’s conquest of Sweden. Above all, I hope to demonstrate how these texts helped to bring the voices of prominent women like Queen Margareta and St. Birgitta into this contested political landscape, and to determine what influence, what kind of resonance these voices had in late-medieval Sweden.