A Matter of Honour : Conflicts Between Royal Servants in Danish-Norwegian Colonial Greenland 1728-1731

Abstract: This thesis is a micro-historical study of the role of honour in interpersonal conflicts in the Danish-Norwegian crown colony of Greenland between 1728 and 1731. In the two settlements that constituted the colony, the highest-ranking officials, including the governor, were all oath-sworn royal servants; they were also almost constantly embroiled in personal quarrels. The thesis asks why and how this strife arose, how it developed over time, and what its consequence was for the short- lived crown colony. The argument is that the strife was due to a volatile combination of cramped living quarters in an inhospitable milieu, an ambiguously defined leadership structure, the remoteness of the colony, and, above all, the royal servants’ tendency to view their charge as being closely linked to their personal honour. Furthermore, there was not a sufficiently developed legal system in the colony to handle the strife and attempts by the colonial council to do so made the conflicts worse instead of settling them. The ongoing strife divided the colonists between those loyal to the governor and those loyal to his enemies, but over time the governor became increasingly politically isolated in the face of a united colony council. Ultimately, the thesis argues that, as a final consequence of the antagonism, a sort of silent coup was carried out against the governor. This, in turn, contributed to the termination of the Greenland crown colony. Honour was not the main cause of conflict, but it helped the conflict to grow from technical disagreements into bitter grudges and anxieties, and finally into an attack on the integrity of the colonial leadership structure itself.