The paper discusses Archbishop Eskil as catalyst/agent provocateur in the (often fierce) debates about political structures and political conflict in twelfth-century Denmark. In profound ways, the evaluation of Eskil in the Danish academic historical tradition has reflected contemporary politics and subtly set the tone of how High Medieval Danish history has been studied and debated. Is it possible to create a new portrait of Eskil without such historiographical biases? And what happens to the view of twelfthcentury Denmark (and Scandinavia) if we do? The speaker is currently finishing the first scholarly biography of Archbishop Eskil and would also welcome a more general discussion on the genre of historical biographies in the present historiographical context.

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