| dc.description.abstract | Norwegian historians of the Middle Ages have shown great interest in the Norwegian civil war of the 12th and 13th century. The political actors of this period were crucial for initiating a new stage in Norwegian history that would see a shift in social norms and a realignment of royal legitimacy. Erling Skakke was one of the engines of this breakthrough, however, perhaps due to his ultimate defeat, Erling has been largely overshadowed by his counterpart, Sverre Sigurdsson, in the historiography. In this thesis I wish to right this wrong and explore his depiction in the saga literature. I will accomplish this by examining three sagas, Orkneyinga saga, Heimskringla and Sverris saga. To discover how he is depicted, I have chosen to first focus on his political and military power in the sagas. These will reveal the kind of resources the different sagas attribute to his character. Secondly, I will examine how the different sagas depict how he exercises his power. Here, I will mainly analyze his actions, as they can indicate whether he used his resources in a way that weakened, maintained, or even aggrandized his position. Thirdly, I will examine a third category of his portrayal in the sagas. However, in contrast to the groupings above, this category varies wildly, and ultimately produces three distinct renditions of Erling. I will finally attempt to answer why Erling’s portrayal is so different in the individual sagas. | eng |