Världsrymden anfaller

 

Är 2025 det värsta året någonsin? Jag kunde ha svurit på att det var 2020!

Mardrömsbeskedet: kannibalmasken har överlevt vintern i Skåne

Well, actually

 

An usurper flashing three crowns!

So I decided to look into the origins and meaning of the three crowns shown in the Swedish coat of arms. Or coats of arms (in the plural). The reason? Denmark recently dropped the three crowns from *its* royal coat of arms. See an earlier blog post!

Finding out the symbolism of the three crowns turned out to be more difficult than I expected. In middle school, I heard a "folk interpretation" of the three crowns: they supposedly stand for Svealand, Götaland and Norrland. That is, the three geographical regions of Sweden. However, this can´t be the original meaning, since Sweden had a different territorial extension before 1809. Nor is is the official meaning even today. Indeed, the three crowns doesn´t seem to have any particular legal meaning. They are simply the traditional symbol of the Swedish kingdom, period.

Diving into the matter, it turns out that the 13th century king Erik Eriksson (later mockingly known as Erik the Lisping and Limping) used a royal coat of arms showing three crowned lions. This was obviously inspired by the Danish coat of arms. Of course, it doesn´t explain why there are exactly three lions (and hence crowns) rather than two or just one. I mean, only one man can be king! Erik Eriksson (king 1234-1250) was succeeded by Valdemar Birgersson (king 1250-1275) whose royal coat of arms shows three crowned leopards. Don´t even ask about the distinction between "lion" and "leopard" in heraldry!

Next in line is Magnus Ladulås (king 1275-1290), who used a crowned lion surrounded by three crowns on his seal. Then, it becomes more interesting. During the long reign of king Magnus Eriksson (1319-1364), the three crowns themselves became an emblem for...something. Apparently, there is a fresco in France (!) showing the coats of arms of various rulers and kingdoms represented at a 1336 summit in the papal enclave of Avignon to discuss the calling of a new crusade. The Swedish coat of arms is evidently a shield with three crowns. This could be the earliest evidence for its usage as a "national" symbol. 

We also have coins minted by Magnus Eriksson´s government from 1350, showing a ring with three crowns. However, there is *some* confusion over the exact meaning of the crowns. At the height of his power, Magnus Eriksson was king of three kingdoms (Sweden, Norway and Scania). Is it possible that *this* is the meaning of the three crowns? By all accounts, there was nothing wrong with Magnus Eriksson´s self-confidence. He un-ironically believed himself to be born under a lucky star, claimed to be "God´s favorite", compared himself to king Solomon, etc. Together, his three kingdoms comprised the largest territory in Europe (nominally even including Greenland). Sounds like just the kind of person who would want to flash his success on coinage! 

The first definitive evidence of the three crowns being used as a "national" symbol for Sweden (rather than as a personal symbol) comes from the reign of Albrekt of Mecklenburg (1364-1389). This is somewhat ironic, since Albrekt is universally seen as perhaps the worst monarch in Swedish history, an usurper whose German mercenaries plundered the country in the aftermath of the Great Plague. Albrekt was also supported by a brotherhood of Baltic pirates! However, it may have been precisely due to his somewhat shaky legal status that Albrekt wanted to become associated with the three crowns. It was royal propaganda to prop up his "legitimate" claim to the Swedish crown.

During the 15th century Kalmar Union, both Margareta and Erik of Pomerania used three crowns on their seals. However, I´m not sure if this is supposed to be a seal only used in Sweden or whether it was an informal symbol for the entire union, which did indeed comprise three realms: Sweden, Norway and Denmark (with the latter being strongest). In Sweden, the three crowns were certainly seen as a symbol for Sweden only. They were used that way by notorious on-off king and regent Karl Knutsson Bonde.

After the dissolution of the Kalmar Union in 1523, Denmark kept the three crowns in its greater coat of arms. The usual interpretation is that the three crowns in this context do symbolize the halcyon days of the Union. But that sounds unlikely, since both Denmark and Norway had their own fields in the coat of arms. So it probably does symbolize Sweden specifically and could therefore be interpreted as a veiled Danish claim on the Swedish throne!

Meanwhile, Sweden continued using the three crowns as a symbol for the Swedish kingdom. But - once again - why on earth are there *three* crowns in the coat of arms? There have been all kinds of weird speculations about this, my "favorite" being a 17th century claim that they stand for the Norse gods Odin, Thor and Frey, whose idols in the Uppsala pagan temple were supposedly crowned...yeah, whatever! 

The most likely explanation I´ve come across is that the crowns stand for the three Magi, who were seen as three holy kings during the Middle Ages. The German town of Cologne (Köln) was an important place of pilgrimage during the High Middle Ages and supposedly housed the relics of the Magi. This could explain the obsession with *three* royal symbols: three lions, three leopards, three crowns. King Richard Lionheart had three lions in his coat of arms, and the mythological king Arthur was said to have had a blue shield adorned with three golden crowns.

So there you (probably) have it. It´s actually a symbol for Mesopotamian astrologers mentioned in a holy scripture of some obscure Jewish sect 2000 years ago. You know, the Gospel of Luke...

Everything is well in the world.  

För kännedom

 

Diverse turer i Malmö.  

Nej till att avveckla "kriminella Romska rådet"

There are no Palestinians

 

The real flag of Småland...
but quite similar to the one seen in the TV series!
Credit: FlaggorOnline.se

“Det finns inga smålänningar” is a four-part Swedish TV series first aired in 1981 (and probably never aired since). It´s easily the most controversial production ever shown on SVT (Swedish public service television). A total of 164 complaints were registered with Radionämnden, the government agency tasked with overseeing public service TV and radio in Sweden. In the end, Radionämnden decided not to take any action. Critics in the media accused the series of being absurd, partisan, anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic, but many also called it “pretentious twaddle” and considered it an embarrassment for SVT. Absurd and confusing were other judgments. And yes, it´s about the Israel-Palestine conflict!

The series retells the conflict between Jews/Israelis and Arabs/Palestinians in allegoric form, placing it on an alternate timeline in which a broadly similar conflict takes place in Sweden. The point of the exercise is presumably to make it easier for the average Swedish TV viewer to identify with the Palestinians, since they are recast as Swedish-speaking peasants living in refugee camps, but if that was the intention, it probably failed. Instead, “Det finns inga smålänningar” gives a chaotic and surrealistic impression, and frequently comes across as a real turkey. Pro-Palestinian activists could probably decode the various esoteric references in the series, but I doubt anybody else came even close. I actually watched the first episode as a kid, didn´t get half of it, and never watched the rest – until now (it´s available on SVT Play, but can only be seen in Sweden). Interestingly, I remember it being even more surreal than it actually was!

The title “Det finns inga smålänningar” means ”There are no Smålanders”, Småland being a historical province of Sweden. It´s a reference to Golda Meir´s notorious statement “There are no Palestinians”. In the series, Småland symbolizes Palestine, the town of Jönköping being Jerusalem. That´s actually quite apt, since Jönköping is often jokingly called “Småland´s Jerusalem” due to its large evangelical Christian community. The area of Värend in Småland symbolizes Israel, and its inhabitants (known as “virdar”) are a stand-in for the Jews. Zionism is called “viridism” in the series, a wholly fictitious concept! The forces of Värend expel the other Smålanders (= the Palestinians) in a bloody war of conquest. Östergötland is Lebanon, Västergötland is Syria and Skåne (Scania) is Egypt. Öresund is the Suez Canal. Somewhat confusingly, the rest of Sweden symbolizes the real Sweden, while no equivalent of Jordan has been included. 

The PLO is called the Småland Liberation Organization (SBO) and its leader does look like a convincing cross between Arafat and Castro. The Smålandian militant Lisa Jonsson is clearly based on the PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled. Like her real counterpart, Lisa hijacks an airplane and blows it up. The Smålanders are depicted as simple rural folk who suffer in refugee camps without ever really “getting it”, expect for the younger generation who goes on to form the militant SBO. It struck me that this could be an allegory for young people during the 1970´s becoming leftist radicals, while their parents and grandparents are apolitical and aloof. 

Indeed, the entire series could be taken as a fantasy of a revolution in 1970´s Sweden, with the Smålander-Palestinians being "the working class" or "the common people", the treacherous Arab leaders really being the Social Democrats, and so on. At one point, the displaced Smålanders clearly symbolize 1970´s immigrants in Sweden looking for gainful employment, not Palestinians in the Middle East. Maybe it´s a double allegory? Even the use of folk music – which looks rural and traditional – is really a 1970´s Swedish leftist thing in context, since “progressive” music was sometimes “folksy”.

It was (of course) the series´ sympathetic portrayal of the Palestinians, including the PLO, that made it intensely controversial. Today, a pro-Israeli series would probably be seen as far worse, which may tell us how (purported) public opinion has shifted since 1981. But, as already indicated, “Det finns inga smålänningar” is so absurdistic that it´s difficult to believe that *it* moved the needle!  

On one point, I actually found the series quite funny: the reporter Valter Ersson is depicted as vain, careerist, uncomprehending towards the plight of the refugees, and even something of a fake. While this may be an unfair caricature of an actual foreign news correspondent, it does capture a certain breed of “intellectuals” almost to a tee. The series is also hilariously precocious: in one episode, one of Ersson´s colleagues says that anything pro-Småland (i.e. pro-Palestinian) will surely be reported to Radionämnden! Go figure.

I think it´s pretty obvious why I decided to watch “There are no Smålanders” now. Let´s face it, the fact that SVT could show an anti-Zionist/pro-hijacker propaganda production in 1981 and get away with it, probably does tell us something of our Woke predicament. But, to repeat myself again, “Det finns inga smålänningar” in itself is so peculiar that I suspect it had very little effect on public opinion either way. Even today, it comes across more like a monument to the stranger strands of the 1970´s left-intellectual mindset...