60 THE KING'S MIRROR 



shire of Namdalen.* As the author can scarcely have 

 been much more than a layman in the fields of mathe- 

 matics and astronomy, the agreement as to results ob- 

 tained is quite remarkable. 



The problem of place is relatively unimportant, but 

 the question of the date of composition has more than 

 mere literary interest. There is nothing in the work it- 

 self which gives any clue to the year when it was begun 

 or completed. It seems evident, however, that it was 

 written after the period of the civil wars, though while 

 the terrors of that century of conflicts were yet fresh in 

 the memories of men. For various other reasons, too, 

 it is clear that the King's Mirror was composed in the 

 thirteenth century and more specifically during the 

 reign of Hakon IV. 



The allusion to the Byzantine emperor Manuel Com- 

 nenus,f whose reign began in 1143, gives a definite date 

 from which any discussion of this problem must begin. 

 It is also clear that the work was written after the church 

 had begun to lay claim to power in the government of 

 the state, which was in 11634 The a.uthor looks back to 

 an evil time when minorities were frequent and joint 

 kingships were the rule; but the period of joint rule 

 virtually came to a close in 1184 when Sverre became 

 sole king; and the last boy king whom the author can 

 have taken into account was Hakon IV, who was thir- 

 teen years old when he was given the royal title. It 

 therefore seems evident that the King's Mirror was 

 written after 1217, the year of Hakon's accession. 



* " Om Stedet for KongespeUets Forfattelse ": Arkiv for nordisk Filologi, L 



205-208. 



t C. viii. J See above, p. 36. See above, pp. 33-35. 



