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Early Print and Northern Exploration in the Service of the Church: On Archbishop Erik Valkendorf’s Activities as Writer and Editor
Karen Skovgaard-Petersen
In 1519 two large liturgical books,
Missale Nidrosiense and
Breviarium Nidrosiense, were published in Copenhagen and in Paris respectively. The driving force behind their publication was the archbishop in Nidaros (modern-day Trondheim), Erik Valkendorf, making them the earliest printed books commissioned from Norway, if not printed there.
1 The Breviarium and the Missale formed the occasion for the celebration of the Norwegian printed book’s 500 years’ jubilee in 2019. Erik Valkendorf has also left other marks on Dano-Norwegian literary history. From his hand we have a brief description also in Latin of Finnmark, the northernmost part of Norway, which he sent to Pope Leo X, probably in 1519. Here he informs the pope about the strange nature and tough living conditions at the northern edge of Christendom – and about his own efforts to convert the local inhabitants. Greenland fell within his horizon as well. From his hand we have preserved a number of notes that tell us that he was about to engage in an expedition to this distant island that was part of his diocese.
Very different as these books and writings are, they all demonstrate Valkendorf’s energetic efforts to strengthen the archsee of Nidaros as part of the international Church. As we shall see, the Breviarium and the Missale form part of a common European pattern. Across the continent, high-ranking clerics like Valkendorf strove to consolidate, and control, local liturgies through the medium of print. Thus, the two Norwegian books not only bear witness to Valkendorf’s awareness of the stabilising potential of the still relatively young printing press, they also form a remarkable instance of local adaptation of transnational, European book culture. Valkendorf’s strong engagement in Greenland and his report to the pope about Finnmark likewise illustrate his dynamic agency as promotor of local interests, commercial as well as missionary, within the international papal Church. This is the context in which his pioneering activities as writer and editor must be seen.