“Primo tempore” – almost lost chronicle by bishop Eskil? The attempt of a new reading of the origins of Danish historiography
“Primo tempore” – almost lost chronicle by bishop Eskil? The attempt of a new reading of the origins of Danish historiography

Summary/Abstract: The author of the article expresses the view that two Danish chronicles from the 12th c., Chronicon Roskildense and Chronicen Lethrense, were originally one chronicle, written around 1138 at the bishop’s court in Roskilde. The paper shows that it is extremely likely that the bishop of Roskilde, Eskil, commissioned to write this chronicle to use it in the conflict on independence of the Scandinavian church province. The chronicle presents Denmark as an internationally important, civilised and long-established Christian state, with a strong connection with universal history, while at the same time presenting it as the centre of Scandinavia, and Roskilde itself as the centre of Denmark, a magnificent royal and episcopal centre with a long tradition going back to the earliest times. All of this was possibly an argument for Eskil to gain permission to fund an archbishopric in Roskilde. This thesis is supported by both linguistic and narratological arguments and develops of the claims of Helge Søgaard and Michael H. Gelting

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