THE KING'S MIRROR 63 



weapons and devices mentioned were in use in southern 

 Europe and in the Orient in earlier decades of the thir- 

 teenth century; some of them belong to much earlier 

 times. If certain engines and devices which Captain 

 Blom is disposed to regard as mythical are left out of 

 account, it will be found that only three items fail to 

 appear in illustrations from the earlier part of the thir- 

 teenth century; and it would not be safe to assume that 

 these were not in use because no drawing of them has 

 been found. 



Viewed against the background of Norwegian history, 

 those chapters of the King's Mirror which deal with the 

 nature and the rights of monarchy and with the place of 

 the church in the state take on the appearance of a po- 

 litical pamphlet written to defend and justify the doings 

 of the Birchshank party. The motives for composing an 

 apology of this sort may be found at almost any time in 

 the thirteenth century but especially during the decade 

 that closed with the coronation of Hakon IV. It will be 

 remembered that the author of the King's Mirror dis- 

 cusses the calamities that may befall a kingdom as a 

 result of joint rule.* But in 1235, after one of Earl 

 Skule's periodic attempts at rebellion, his royal son-in- 

 law granted him the administration of one-third of the 

 realm. The grant was ratified the next year with certain 

 changes : instead of a definite, compact fief the earl now 

 received territories everywhere in the kingdom. In 1237 

 Skule was given the ducal title and to many men it 

 seemed as if the curse of joint kingship was about to 

 afflict the land once more. Two years later the partisans 



* C. xxxvi. 



