Jan. 31.2025: Honoring the Danish King Frederick III (1609—1670)

This was the speech Saga Heritage Foundation chairman, professor Torgrim Titlestad gave at the Roskilde Cathedral 27. January 2025, in connection with the Foundation’s visit to the King’s sarcophagus during our recent COSCAN meeting.

King Frederick III of Denmark. Portrait by Karel van Mander III. Source: Wikipedia

As we gather today around the sarcophagus of the Danish King Frederick III in Roskilde Cathedral on January 27, 2025, we do not aim to recall his general reign, but rather the cultural characteristics that distinguish him in Nordic history. He unexpectedly became King of Denmark in 1648 when his older brother, the reigning king, passed away. Unprepared, he had to take on the responsibilities of kingship despite his passion for studying history and the refined arts of culture. He ruled until his death in 1670.

At this abrupt crossroads in his life, Denmark gained a king who would have an unexpectedly significant impact on the preservation and importance of the Old Norse sagas. The king surrounded himself with advisors and competent individuals who could assess the history of the Nordic region. While he naturally desired a strong Danish historical narrative, he also took an interest in Norway, which was under his rule. However, in 1662, he lacked a scholar to undertake the task of writing Norway’s history. The King sought the assistance of Henrik Bielke (1615-1683), who governed Iceland and was of Norwegian descent. Bielke advised the king to appoint the young Icelander Tormod Torfæus (1636–1719) as his historian with a focus on Norway. It is possible that Bielke was aware of Torfæus' strong engagement with Norwegian saga history, though the documents do not specify this. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the king had found an exceptionally gifted writer.

King Frederick III and Torfæus developed an unusually strong rapport, and sources indicate that the king frequently visited Torfæus in his office at the Palace. There, Torfæus was tasked with writing a grand work on Norway’s history in Latin. The king was keen to stay informed about Torfæus’ ongoing historical discoveries. Torfæus' charismatic demeanor and intense work ethic fostered a close relationship between the two, to the extent that the king even requested him to teach his son Danish, as German and French were the primary court languages.

One of the fascinating aspects of the king was his curiosity about Norwegian history. Another was his open-mindedness when an intense conflict arose among Danish historians due to Torfæus' research. Torfæus challenged the prevailing belief that the first Danish king was named Dan — a notion deemed unshakable by Danish academics. Outraged, they opposed Torfæus’ reference to Icelandic saga sources, which identified the first Danish king as Skjold. Powerful figures in Denmark urged the king to dismiss Torfæus from his position as historian and pressured him to intervene against what they saw as heresy against the established Danish belief.

To their astonishment, King Frederick III invited the young Torfæus for a discussion on the matter, giving him the opportunity to present his sources and arguments. Even more to the horror of the academic elite, the king was convinced by Torfæus’ findings and asked him to compile a written account of the issue: Series Dynastarum et Regum Daniæ (The Dynasty and Kings of Denmark). As stated in Illustreret Dansk Litteraturhistorie from Gyldendal: “The manuscript was presented to the King, who read it with great interest and gave it his approval.”

Many leading Danes were in shock that the king had yielded to a young Icelander from the distant and "insignificant" Iceland. Through his personal intervention in favor of Torfæus, King Frederick III ensured that Torfæus could complete his work on Norway’s history (Historia rerum Norvegicarum). The king’s decision also had an immense impact on spreading interest in Flateyjarbók among Latin-reading scholars worldwide. He also deserves praise for carefully preserving the only manuscript of Flateyjarbók from Iceland, a unique document he received from the Icelandic bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson in 1662—through Tormod Torfæus.

As I stand here at the grave of King Frederick III, I wish to express my gratitude that here rests a king and statesman who did not allow rumors and dogma from high-ranking individuals to dictate his understanding of historical truth. He should also be honored for his efforts in preserving manuscripts that might otherwise have been lost forever. In matters of intellectual integrity and preservation, he remains an enduring role model for those of us working with complex historical questions.

Professor Titlestad and the COSCAN group gathered at the King’s final resting place in the magnificent Roskilde Cathedral.

King Frederick III’s sarcophagus, Roskilde Cathedral.

Introducing Collegium Scholare Antiquitatis (COSCAN)

Illlustration of humanists, intellectuals and poets discussing, among them the Italian Renaissance humanist Pietro Candido Decembrio who had over 120 publications to his name, among them a Latin translation of Plato’s Republic.

In the first half of the 1660s, correspondence flowed between Danish physician, antiquarian and polymath Ole Worm in Copenhagen and several of his colleagues, some of Northern Europe's most learned scholars, about preserving Scandinavia’s cultural heritage from the Norse world. At the time, runes were a great mystery, and Worm was working on a massive tome about runic inscriptions that were still extant in Scandinavia. Coincidentally, the Swedish scholar Johan Bureus had recently published the book Runa ABC, based on his self-studies among farmers in northern Sweden. This was also a period when some of the first saga publications were seen in print, such as Snorre’s Heimskringla, translated by the Norwegian Peder Claussøn Friis. We may call this era the dawn of nordic studies and saga research in Europe.  
 
This Inter-European collaborative effort is documented in a published collection of Worm’s correspondence, and is profoundly inspirational reading for someone working in a similar field in the 21st Century. In fact, it ignited the spark which inspired the creation of a new scholarly forum that we in the Saga Heritage Foundation decided to call the Collegium Scholare Antiquitatis, the College of the Schools of Antiquity, or COSCAN. The forum will seek to bring together some of our foremost intellectuals and leading scholars of the literary, cultural and historical heritage coming out of the Norse and surrounding world, stretching back into antiquity.  

Ole Worm (1588-1654) and his Magnus Opus, Danicorum Monumentorum from 1643.

The founding of COSCAN coincides with the 10th anniversary of The Saga Heritage Foundation, the only private foundation in the world that has worked continuously to promote awareness of Norse cultural heritage. To commemorate both, we will travel to Copenhagen to gather in the spirit of our predecessors: Ole Worm, Brynjólfur Sveinsson, Henry Spelmann, Peder Claussøn Friis, and their peers throughout the Nordic and European region.

We will visit The Black Diamond (the Royal Library), where we will study Tormod Torfæus’ 1669 translation of Flateyjarbok, a work carried out under royal mandate. We will also pay an honorary visit to King Frederick III's sarcophagus in Roskilde Cathedral to highlight the king’s significant role in bringing about the saga renaissance of the 16th and 17th centuries.

This will take place on January 27th and will mark a historic turning point, as the "cornerstone" is laid for a new, dynamic, and forward-looking organization, Collegium Scholare Antiquitatis, aiming to become a strong link between the past, present, and future. 

The trip is made possible by generous support from Dan Odfjell.

- Baard Titlestad, co-founder and vice-chair of The Saga Heritage Foundation and President of COSCAN.

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Torgrim Titlestad: A vision for the importance of History and the Sagas

Image 1: With Professor Karen Skovgaard-Petersen at the Royal Library, Copenhagen, holding Torfæus' 1669 translation of Flateyjarbók. Image 2: Magnum Opus: Flatøybok in 6 volumes and Tormod Torfæus’ History of Norway in 7 volumes. Below: Image 3: At the church in Vididalstunga, North Iceland, on the site where Flateyjarbók creator Jón Hákonarsson had his farm. Image 4: From the launch of Flatøybok Volume 1, Literature House, Oslo, 2014.

In my childhood days, stories of the Viking Age captivated me, especially the journey to Vinland in North America around the year 1000. One day in the late 1950s, the municipality of Bergen placed an old aluminum lifeboat in Nygårdsparken near Møhlenpris. It became a playground for us children. I was immediately inspired: now we could row to Vinland—a place “everyone” had heard about. I rallied the kids from the street to embark on a voyage to this mythical saga land. Everyone joined enthusiastically, both boys and girls.

I took my place at the bow of the boat and shouted back to the "crew," who only had imaginary oars. I called out repeatedly: Row! Row! But Vinland did not appear on the horizon, and some began to complain that the journey was taking too long. I tried to reassure them, saying there was still a long way to go: Row, row! But the journey dragged on, and our Vinland expedition dissolved—that time.

I never lost my interest in the sagas. It grew stronger when, in 1966, Bergen Cathedral School appointed me Order Chancellor to present Helge Ingstad with the honorary award “The Golden Raven.” This took place in the city’s packed grand hall at Engen Cinema, attended by many of the city's notables. A lasting relationship between us began at that event. Ingstad was at the time Norway's great hero for proving that the Vikings discovered America 500 years before Columbus.

Titlestad (standing) with Helge Ingstad in 1966.

Although many other themes crossed my path, I revived my interest in the sagas in 1992 when Sola Municipality invited me to prepare materials for the 1000th anniversary of the marriage between King Olav Tryggvason’s sister, Astrid, and Erling Skjalgsson of Sola. This event was believed to have taken place around 996. In this connection, the Erling Skjalgsson Society was established (later Saga Bok AS).

From there, things progressed rapidly: we discovered that a surprising amount of Old Norse saga material was not available in modern Norwegian. This material was effectively inaccessible to contemporary Norwegians. It remained a "privilege" for a small group of academic interpreters like myself. Believing that every people should know their nation's history and identity—a democratic imperative—I saw it as my mission to contribute to these translations. Along the way, I had a good feeling: these were stories that interested both young and old, not just a handful of graying academics.

Tormod Torfæus.

In 2003, I had an extraordinary opportunity for an in-depth study of Old Norse literature. I became the editor and project leader for the translation of the 4000-page Latin work Historia Rerum Norvegicarum (History of Norway) from 1711. Written over 30 years by the Icelander Tormod Torfæus, this monumental work required extensive teamwork across Norway and abroad to make it accessible to a modern Norwegian audience.

The work with Torfæus spurred a series of saga translations undertaken by the newly established Saga Bok AS in 2007. The publishing house gradually became a recognized brand in Norway. We were somewhat shocked by the authorities' neglect of our own history, but we reached out to individuals in the private sector—people with whom Saga Bok AS had fortunately made positive connections, often at well-attended public saga events. Saga Bok AS published around ten previously untranslated sagas, with Fagerskinna being one success, selling over 5,000 copies.

From that point on, I was convinced that promoting saga knowledge was a crucial mission in Norway. The 10-year endeavor with Torfæus' "obscured" monumental work was an extraordinary experience. Recognition of the Norwegian edition, highlighted by the participation of HM King Harald V at the fully packed launch event for the seven-volume work at the National Library in Oslo in the fall of 2014, was inspiring. This positive reception inspired the founding of the internationally oriented Saga Heritage Foundation (SHF) at the end of 2014, with the hope of bringing saga literature to an international audience.

His Majesty King Harald V arrives at the Torfæus book launch at the National Library in 2014.

Initially, we agreed that Torfæus' great interest in Flateyjarbók was of such significance that this unique work, after over 600 years of incomprehensible "silence," had to be made available in Norwegian. This led the SHF to approach Saga Bok AS for a collaboration. The result was Saga Bok AS’ largest production: Flateyjarbók from 1387, published in six volumes and distributed as 30,000 individual copies. The work was primarily funded by private sponsors. We priced the work so that it would be affordable for the general public, and it received glowing reviews from the media and readers across the country. The fundamental idea remains: a free democratic nation has an obligation to provide its citizens with access to their own history—a tradition that each generation must renew, especially elected politicians.

Gradually, we delved into the political and philosophical ideas expressed in the sagas. Central to this was the understanding of the unique, non-feudal, decentralized governance through assemblies (thing) that balanced the power of kings. This democratic tradition in Northern Europe was distinct in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Norse settlements—around the Irish Sea, in England, Scotland, Greenland, and North America (Vinland). Beyond their modernist form, the sagas contain content that suggests the foundational structures for genuine democratic societies.

This insight gave rise to the vision that Flateyjarbók is not only a work for a narrow Nordic audience but also one of great significance for the development of democracy and individual freedom worldwide. This decision by the Saga Heritage Foundation resulted in the initiative to translate the 2100-page Flateyjarbók into English. This cornerstone of world civilization would thereby become accessible globally. The translation is now complete, with forewords by HM King Harald V, the President of Iceland, and HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. We now face the challenge of bringing this work to a global audience that has never before had access to this rich and masterfully told core piece of world literature. When this happens, my vision—that our history here in the North can help promote democracy and freedom on Earth—will be realized. This vision reaffirms the old adage: "Those who do not know their past are doomed to repeat its dreadful mistakes."

The journey to Vinland is not over. We still need more "rowers."

– Torgrim Titlestad, Professor, Dr. Philos., Chairman of The Saga Heritage Foundation