Les ressources en compétition dans des territoires scandinaves disputés (première moitié du XIe siècle : le roi Óláfr Haraldsson et l’‘‘arme économique’’ )
Résumé
An episode related by Snorri Sturluson, about King Óláfr II (1015-1028) enforcing an embargo on corn, allows us to consider the role of politics in mobilization and control of resources, and to understand the power relationships in the context of the gradual establishment of a Norwegian kingdom and of growing tensions with the Anglo-Danish king, Knut. The use of an economic weapon betrays the weakness of King Olaf II, in the face of both his aristocracy and Knut. In this matter, stakes go far beyond a mere competition between the Norwegian king and local leaders: local and supra-regional, internal and external competitions are intertwined, and the ability to mobilize resources could create some hierarchy between actors, especially through the organization of sumptuous banquets. Owning lands also helped to give social status: both the king and the aristocrats were major landowners. This created tensions between them, but also shared interests. In this way, relationships between the king and other Norwegian leaders were made up of both cooperation and competition, that is to say they offer examples of ‘coopetition’. The king’s power rested largely on networks of personal relationships: this power was, thus, more personal than territorial and the difference between the king and other leaders was more a matter of degree than of kind.