The transnational print history of the Norwegian constitution is a history of Norwegian public diplomacy on the one hand and of the utilisation of this constitution as an argument, an example and a model in constitutional discourses in several European countries on the other. Translations published in Norway, provided by the Norwegian authorities, played an important role in the political conflicts with Sweden in 1814 and 1905, closely connected to the establishment and dissolution of the union on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Around the turn of the century, as part of the conflict leading to the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905, new translations of the constitution were published in order to promote the Norwegian case.
The Eidsvold constitution was – and still is – of extraordinary symbolic importance in Norway. Less known is its international dimension, both as a declaration of the independence of the re-established state in 1814 and in making Norwegian policy known internationally as regards the dissolution of the Norwegian-Swedish union in 1905, but also as a vital part of the transnational circuits of constitutions in the nineteenth century. The mapping of the transnational print history of the Norwegian 1814 constitution illuminates a circulation of prints not only within but also outside Norway, despite the peripheral geographical, political and cultural position of the country. Numerous translations in a variety of different publication formats helped to disseminate political knowledge and Norwegian experiences to broader European reading communities. The liberal Norwegian constitution thus served as an argument, an example and a model in the transnational constitutional discourse that flourished in post-Napoleonic Europe, with the German-speaking sphere as a pertinent example. Transnational and transmedial print history of different kinds of publications – even short constitutional texts originated in the periphery of Europe – may open new perspectives on the role of translations and circulation in expanding political literacy and empowering citizens by promoting a politically engaged literary citizenship.