The first time we hear of Valkendorf’s activities on the literary stage it is as trusted advisor to Christian II. It concerned the publication of a work of particular significance to the newly elected monarch, namely Saxo Grammaticus’s ambitious Latin history of Denmark written c. 1200. It was published in Paris in 1514 by one of the renowned printers of the day, Jodocus Badius (1462–1535), and the editor was a Danish humanist and canon, Christiern Pedersen (c. 1480–1554). From the three prefaces – written by Lage Urne, bishop of Roskilde, Christiern Pedersen and Jodocus Badius respectively – it is clear that the edition was closely connected to the king himself. The edition as a whole is a manifestation of Denmark as an old and powerful monarchy, and the king himself is depicted on the title page in front of his army with the Danish coat of arms. The first letter in Saxo’s own text, C, is a similar woodcut of the king with his coat of arms and the accompanying explanation: Rex Dacie, Svecie, Norvegie, S Gothorum [King of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Slavs and the Goths].
The king had demanded, Christiern Pedersen explains in his preface, that the task of printing Saxo’s history should be entrusted to a knowledgeable and accomplished printer since sloppiness and errors would be unworthy of such a great author. Moreover, Pedersen goes on, ‘this point was strongly supported by the reverend lord, Erik Valkendorf, Archbishop of Nidaros and legate of the Apostolic See, and the royal chancellor, the most noble magister Ove Bille, provost of the Churches of Lund and Viborg’.
1 ‘Norat etenim indignum fore tantum virum ineptis aut minus fidelibus characteribus impressum iri. Pręsertim id affirmantibus consultissime Reuerendissimo in Christo patre domino Erico Walkendorff Archiepiscopo Nidrosiensi et apostolicæ sedis legato dignissimo: necnon Regio Cancellario viro nobilissimo magistro Auone bille Ecclesiarum Lundensis et Vibergensis pręposito’. (Saxo Grammaticus, Danorum regum heroumque historia, ed. Chr. Pedersen (Paris, 1514), Chr. Pedersen’s preface). Here and in the following quotations, their orthography has been retained but abbreviations spelled out. Translations from Latin into English are my own. Here, then, we meet Valkendorf as one of the driving forces behind the first edition of Saxo’s history of Denmark, whose goal was to make Denmark’s long and glorious history known throughout Europe. Or as Christiern Pedersen proudly puts it: ‘Thereby I ensured that the text which hitherto could only be read by Danes alone – and of them only few – can now easily be brought to Italians, Spaniards, Frenchmen, Germans, in short all Christians.’
2 ‘Quapropter effeci vt qui ab vnis et iis paucis Danis hactenus legi potuit: ad Italos Hispanos Gallos Germanos: omnes denique christianos facile possit perferri’. (Saxo Grammaticus, Danorum regum heroumque historia, Chr. Pedersen’s preface). Interestingly, already in 1515 we see a hint of the political use of the edition of Saxo, and here Valkendorf was involved. In the summer of 1514, the Habsburg princess Elizabeth had married Christian II by proxy in Brussels, and the following year Valkendorf headed the delegation to Brussels sent by the king to bring his bride to Denmark. A speech given to the young queen in The Hague by one of the members of the delegation, Ditlev Smither, has been preserved. Here Smither has quite ingenuously inserted a long passage from Saxo as part of his panegyric to her husband, Christian II. It would be reasonable to connect this use of Saxo with Valkendorf and indeed to assume that a copy of the new edition was among the presents brought by the delegation he was heading.
3 K. Friis-Jensen, ‘Humanism and Politics. The Paris Edition of Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum 1514’, Analecta Romana Instituti Danici, 17–18 (Rome, 1988–9), pp. 149–62; (on the wedding, pp. 150–3).The Saxo edition thus gives us a glimpse of Valkendorf’s awareness of the potential of the printing press – a potential he would exploit further with the publication of the liturgical books of his diocese a few years later.