The False King Olaf and His Necklace of Letters.

The False Olaf claimed to be King Olaf II of Denmark and Norway, who had died at the age of seventeen in 1387. I provide (1) background on the real identity of the False Olaf (insofar as anything can be known); (2) a study of the beginnings of the imposture, including to what extent the impostor was...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Scandinavian Studies Vol. 95; no. 1; pp. 1 - 36
Autor principal: Cole, Richard
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: University of Wisconsin Press Spring2023
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The False Olaf claimed to be King Olaf II of Denmark and Norway, who had died at the age of seventeen in 1387. I provide (1) background on the real identity of the False Olaf (insofar as anything can be known); (2) a study of the beginnings of the imposture, including to what extent the impostor was coached; (3) some deductions on what letters the False Olaf had with him; (4) a theory on how he came to be given those letters; (5) the symbolism of the making and burning of the crown and the necklace; and (6) hypotheses on the meaning of the letters to the False Olaf's supporters. Our main purpose in Huitfeldt's expansion of the tale is the unlikely suggestion that the False Olaf and the real Olaf were milk-brothers. Huitfeldt acknowledges that pseudo-Olaf was Prussian, so for his account to hold on its own terms, the impostor's mother has to be either (1) a Danish wet nurse who migrated to Prussia and bore a son, or (2) a Prussian who migrated to Denmark, served as wet nurse, and then came home to give birth to pseudo-Olaf. Still, Posilge claims that pseudo-Olaf was a good resemblance: "Her were koning Olff gar enlichin" ([24]) [He looked very much like King Olaf].