The script of the letter is Carolingian Miniscule, which was used from 800 throughout the Middle Ages. Carolingian Miniscule, and the roman capitals, are quite similar to the Latin handwriting we use today, more legible for us than the Gothic handwriting used in Norway from the sixteenth century until 1875.3 Today, more than 600 years later, we can read the letter without much difficulty. The letter is written on a small piece of parchment with a goose quill and iron gall ink.4 There is a hole in the parchment, which is common due to irregularities in the animal skin. Parchment was a scarce resource5 which might explain the densely written sheet, the brevity of language, and precise tone of the letter.6 Historians argue that these qualities instead reflect Margrete's character as the strong and effective monarch that she became. Paper was introduced into Europe in the twelfth century, and found its way to Norway via German tradesmen. Nine fourteenth-century paper documents are preserved in archives throughout Norway, and many more have probably existed, but are now lost. Paper is described as a well-known ma- terial in a 1365 document written on parchment. There is a letter on paper from the Royalty from 1371.7 Why then did the Queen choose to send her 1370 letter to her husband on parchment and not on paper? Perhaps she did not trust the durability of paper for such an urgent and dire message to the King. By law, paper was restricted from being used for official documents.8 In the Middle Ages, heavy seals, in the place of signatures, were hung from the document. Paper was not strong enough for the weight of the seals. In 1397, Queen Margrete united Denmark, Sweden, and Norway as the Kalmar Union. The Treaty of Kalmar, called the Letter of Union, was surprisingly written on paper.9 The document dictates that the treaty be copied six times on parchment, two copies for each country, with seals attached, so that the agreement would be secure and unbreakable for all time.10 The treaty was never copied onto parchment. It is possible that this oversight was intentional; Queen Margrete might not have wanted to be limited by the treaty's conditions. The Letter of Union is in bad condition today. It is nearly a fragment, with only traces left of the seals. However, it is digitized so it does not have to be touched by many people's hands in the future. Digitalization is an excellent way to preserve archival material. On the other hand, in order to read electronic documents we need a program to dechipher the language of the machine, which only consists of 0s and 1s. If digital documents are not moved every fifth year, they can become illegible and the information gets lost. Along with digitization, we must also conserve and protect original documents. We learn a great deal of historical information from close examination of the documents themselves, information we cannot trace on a screen image. ___________ notes 1. Hege Brit Randsborg, archivist at the National Archives of Norway, interview by the author, December 5, 2013. 2. Vivian Etting, "Margrete—Mistress and Master of the North" in Margrete I Regent of the North: The Kalmar Union 600 Years (Copenhagen: Danmarks Nationalmuseum, 1997), 19. 3. Knut Johannesen, Den glemte skriften, gotisk håndskrift i Norge (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2007), 28. 4. Randsborg, interview by the author, December 5, 2013. 5. Helene Forde, Preserving Archives (London: Facet Publishing, London, 2007), 12–13. 6. Randsborg, interview by the author, December 5, 2013 7. H. Fiskaa, Papiret og papirhandelen i Norge i eldre tid (Oslo: Carl E. Petersen & Søn a/s, 1940), 19–38. 8. Halvdan Koht, Kriseår i norsk historie, Dronning Margareta og Kalmarunionen (Oslo: H Aschehoug & Co, 1956), 88. 9. Erik Lönnroth, "The Kalmar Assembly in 1397" in Margrete I Regent of the North: The Kalmar Union 600 Years (Copenhagen: Danmarks Nationalmuseum, 1997), 36–37. 10. "Unionsbrevet 1397 om regeringsudøvelsen i Kalmarunionen" from the website Danmarkshistorien, http://danmarkshistorien.dk/leksikon-og-kilder/vis/ materiale/unionsbrevet-1397-om-regeringsudoevelsen-i-kalmarunionen/ (accessed December 29, 2013).
