Karlskrönikan och utvecklingen av det senmedeltida svenska litterära systemet

The Swedish rhyme chronicle known as Karlskrönikan has generally been considered as a product of decadence and barbarization of the Swedish aristocracy’s literary taste during the 15th century. In particular, Karlskönikan has often been compared with the older Erikskrönikan in order to demonstrate its weakness from an artistic point of view. Moreover, Karlskrönikan has always been considered as a work of propaganda. The paper aims at discussing both the current literary judgement on the chronicle and its function in Swedish society at the time of its composition. By questioning the notions of ‘courtly literature’ and of ‘propaganda’, the paper comes to the conclusion that the author of Karlskrönikan shared the courtly vision of Erikskrönikan and, as did his predecessor, addressed a courtly audience. The changed political conditions and the influence of other genres (the political songs, above all) explain the main stylistic differences between the two chronicles, in particular the stronger realism and the verbal violence in the narrator’s comments that characterize Karlskrönikan.