Well, it's actually not too implausible a title for a book about the history of the Scandinavian countries. The three crowns that are found on both the Swedish and Danish coat of arms certainly are not something they invented, and can be found in many other places, mainly in Germany, but Oxford university has it too on their coat of arms.
It is generally believed that the symbol of three crowns actually has its origins in the Biblical Magi. The Magi of course only appear in the Gospel of Matthew, where they are unnumbered, and it is to be noted that as for their profession, the Greek text only state that they are μάγος, which is a term that originally comes from the Avestan Iranian language where it simply is the name for the priestly caste in the Zoroastrian religion.
During the Middle Ages, folklore pretty much established that there Magi were kings, and that there were three of them, and that their names were Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. It is believed that the motif of three crown refer to the crowns of these three Wise Men.
However, since the motif of three crowns really became popular in Scandinavia during the Kalmar Union, the motif was repurposed and appropriated to refer to the three kingdoms that made up the union - Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Thus, if you were to write a book on these three countries struggling for power against one another, A Contest of Crowns would not be a bad title to go for at all.
Also, I read this from wikipedia:
Well, at least it's good Sweden never declared war on Oxford University... Although, on the other hand, a shame we never got to see the Swedish-Oxonian War...
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