Valkendorf was not the first high-ranking cleric to make use of the new medium of print to publish the liturgical books of his diocese. On the contrary, he followed a widespread practice.
1 See Nowakowska, ‘From Strassburg to Trent: Bishops, Printing and Liturgical Reform’. Nowakowska’s study forms the basis for this section. On Swedish and Danish prints, see G. E. Klemming, Sveriges Äldre liturgiska literatur (Stockholm, 1879) and L. Nielsen, Dansk bibliografi (4 vols, Copenhagen, 1996; 1st edn, 1919–33). Before the invention of print, these large liturgical books had been both expensive and very time-consuming to produce, and errors of many sorts were unavoidable. With the introduction of print, bishops around Europe saw the potential offered by the new medium to secure a hitherto unachievable standardisation of the local liturgy. In the years around 1500 a large number of liturgical books were published in print on the initiative of high-ranking clericals. While it has often been emphasised how Luther and the reformators were able to exploit the printing press in the service of their cause, it should not be forgotten that the established Catholic Church was no less aware of the potential of the new medium for ensuring standardisation and control. Valkendorf, in other words, followed a pattern.
It is characteristic of these episcopal liturgical publications around Europe that the editors, the bishops, play a prominent role in the books – and so does Valkendorf. The title page of the Breviarium is illustrated with his coat of arms, and above it is proclaimed that this book is now printed for the first time and at his expense. Opening the book, one finds on the verso a depiction of the patron saint of Nidaros and Norway, Saint Olaf, under which is proclaimed E.W.A.N.A.S.L. that is Ericus Walkendorf, Archiepiscopus Nidrosiensis, Apostolicæ sedis Legatus, with Valkendorf’s coat of arms (rose, swan wings). This visual connection between the local saint and the bishop is another recurrent feature of the liturgical printed books.
Throughout the Breviarium Valkendorf’s person is present in illustrations, e.g. wood cut initials with his coat of arms, the archbishopric’s arms and Norway’s coat of arms. The same is true for the Missale Nidrosiense but on a much lesser scale. Here we find Valkendorf’s coat of arms already on the title page and again in a large woodcut letter A, in which his initials and his insignia are also found (fol. A1r).
The prefaces of the liturgical books published on episcopal initiative around 1500 strike a number of common themes: the bishops express their concern that the church will be damaged because of a lack of reliable liturgical books. The existing books are few, and those that do exist are full of errors. For that reason, the bishop has appointed qualified men of learning to cleanse the texts and see to the publication of new and reliable versions. These and other topoi are found in the introductory texts of both the Breviarium and the Missale.
In short, Valkendorf’s efforts to consolidate, control and standardise the local liturgy by means of these two books form part of a common European endeavour to ensure uniformity and control of the liturgy through the new medium of print. The same pattern can be seen in Denmark and Sweden. Here the first printed books were produced at the initiative of the Church in 1482–3, and several liturgical books came out in the following decades. However, their use in liturgical practice did not last long. Around 20 years later, in the 1520s and 1530s, the Lutheran Reformation was carried through in both Scandinavian monarchies (Sweden and Denmark–Norway), and the liturgical books of the Catholic Church fell out of use.
But their short-lived fate does not, of course, diminish the achievement of the clergymen behind their production. Indeed, seen from the perspective of a later age it is due to their efforts that medieval liturgical traditions, which would otherwise have only been fragmentarily known, have been preserved. This is very much the case with Erik Valkendorf and the Nidaros tradition, which centred around the cult of Saint Olaf – or in the words of Lilli Gjerløw: ‘Erik Valkendorf’s title to perennial glory will always be his rescuing of the Nidaros liturgy, in the nick of time’.
2 Gjerløw, ‘The Breviarium and the Missale Nidrosiense (1519)’, p. 77.