Although the The Danish Chronicle, commonly called ”The Rhymed Chronicle”, from the second half of the fifteenth century, is among the first historical works written in Danish and presumably the first printed book in the Danish language, neither historians nor literary scholars have evidenced much interest in it. The present article discusses why this is so and points out two reasons. Firstly, from a modern perspective the work lies on the border between historical and literary research; secondly, it is considered unoriginal in the sense that it adds nothing substantial to earlier texts. None the less, closer scrutiny of both its political and aesthetic aspects indicates that the Chronicle deserves rehabilitation as an appropriate object of study in both fields of research. Its traditional relegation to a limbo at the interstices of history and literature is due to a post-Medieval boundary drawn between literary and non-literary texts, whereas today, under the impact of new theories and methods (e.g., the Linguistic Turn), that borderline has become fluid. It is shown how elements of the Chronicle which have been difficult to fit into modern categories become meaningful, once they are examined in the light of the Medieval practice of fusing history and aesthetics.

The article points out how the Chronicle’s political bias and background pose relevant research questions, when the text is understood in the context of its times, where past deeds were envisaged and related in aesthetic forms that included fictional devices and a wealth of tropisms. In this respect the study emphasizes two striking instances of fictionalized content. The one is its monologist form: the history of Denmark is narrated in a series of monologues, in which 115 monarchs, one after the other like successive voices beyond the grave, tell the story of their life and death, each prefixing the tale with moralizing aphorisms against which their deeds and misdeeds can be mirrored. The monarchs alone are allowed to speak; there is no intervening third-person narration or commentary. The other interesting trait is the structural form of the Chronicle: although the single monologues are presented in strictly chrono-

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logical order and apparently could in principle continue indefinitely with the addition of every subsequent king, a superimposed, implicit tripartite periodization emphasizes the paramount importance of the last figure in the series, (the presumably still reigning) King Christian I, at the apex of Danish history. At a time when historical writers vied with one another in promoting the interests of competing powers it can be argued that the Rhymed Chronicle, with the deft use of these and other current aesthetic forms, was intended to enhance the superior power and authority of the Danish Monarchy in the face of threats not only from its neighbouring lands (Schleswig and Holstein as well as its partners in the Kalmar Union, particularly the rebellious Swedes), but also from the restless Danish nobility.

Translated by Michael Wolfe