Sunday, 27 January 2013
My latest article: Carl XIV Johan as King of Norway
To mark the 250th anniversary yesterday of the birth of King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden and of Norway I have written an article about him which appears in Aftenposten today. The article deals with his role as King of Norway from 1818, which has been accorded comparatively little attention by his many biographers. His political goals were so increase the King’s powers and to achieve an amalgamation between Sweden and Norway, neither of which he achieved. To the contrary, his long power struggle against Parliament led to the monarch’s power diminishing. However, he succeeded in his role as city planner and builder, leaving an indelible mark on Oslo, which means that his name and memory are ever-present in the Norwegian capital to this day.
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I have sent Aftenposten a comment to your article, and allowed myself to give somewhat different perspectives about his importance for Norway's path to complete independence.
ReplyDeleteIf printed it will be interesting to see what "different perspectives" you give to a topic I did not address in my article...
DeleteCorrect that you did not address his importance in the 1814-uprising. You wrote in the start of your article that most biographers was interested in his time in France, and in the 1814 - and, taht you wanted to focus on his time as Norwegian king, and his importance for the development of the Norwegian capital. The latter I found more interesting than the first.
ReplyDeleteIf not printed, maybe I'll put it out on my Facebook-profile, and I could send it to you.
Yes, my article deals entirely with his reign, which began in 1818. Thus I am at loss at seeing how your "somewhat different perspectives about his importance for Norway's path to complete independence" can differ from my views, which I did not state, on a topic I did not address.
DeleteNo surprise: Aftenposten didn't want to print my comment. To many letters to the editor (about this topic?). Published on Liberaleren instead.
ReplyDeleteI hardly think such an uncontroversial essay has lead to an avalanche of letters to the editors, as you imply. But Aftenposten does get a lot of letters in general.
DeleteI know they get a lot of letters in general, and that they hardly ever differ their reason for refusal.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry if i gave the impression that i was going to argue with you on the subject you chose.
My hope was/is that the 200th anniversary for the constitution could spark a debate that concludes differently about the role of Carl Johan than what has been the general wiew in Norwegian historiy until now.
I see, so your letter is not actually directly related to what I wrote - thanks for clearing up that confusion.
DeleteI wrote that you as a historian by profession an as a biographer of royals could have used the occation (250th birthday of Carl JOhan) to give an alternative perspective on the events in 1814, as well as Carl Johans contribution to the fact that Norway had a very good start to the years we shared the king with Sweden.
ReplyDeleteObviously, by your answers to my comments, you don't share these wiews.
Again: The topic for my article was not and was not intended to be 1814, but the much lesser-known story of his reign (which began in 1818).
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