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Scandinavian History in the Viking Age [B682] P. Norseng, ‘Law codes as a source for Nordic history in the early middle ages’, SJH 16 (1991), 137-66 Language and transmission Many scholars have tried to identify linguistic criteria which might reveal the age of the various components making up mediaeval law; however, they tend to rely on stylistic divisions that are awkward to justify or on notions of ‘orality’ against ‘literacy’ which now seem outdated. [B685] C.I. Ståhle, Syntaktiska och stilistiska studier i fornnordiskt lagspråk, Stockholm studies in Scandinavian philology n.s. 2 (1958) [UL 779.c.171.21] (E.s.) [B686] P.G. Foote, ‘Oral and literary tradition in early Scandinavian law: aspects of a problem’, Oral tradition, literary tradition: a symposium, edd. H. Bekker-Nielsen et al. (1977), 47-55 [UL 701:15.c.95.901] [B687] H. Ehrhardt, Der Stabreim in altnordischen Rechtstexten, Skandinavistische Arbeiten 2 (1977) [UL 752:01.c.10.2] [B688] H.-P. Naumann, Sprachstil und Textkonstitution: Untersuchungen zur altwestnordischen Rechtssprache, Beiträge zur nordischen Philologie 7 (1979) [UL 752:01.c.7.7] [B689] N. Jörgensen, Studier över syntax och textstruktur i nordiska medeltidslagar, SSF 256 (1987) [UL 755:1.c.1.126] Foreign influences Other research has tended to focus more heavily on the possibility that Scandinavian mediaeval lawcodes were founded firmly on contemporary European material and cannot be held to be representative of earlier practices: [B692] E. Sjöholm, Gesetze als Quellen mittelalterlicher Geschichte des Nordens, Acta universitatis Stockholmiensis: Stockholm studies in history 21 (1977) [UL 595:01.c.12.19] Provincial codes The mainland Scandinavian countries had no national secular lawcodes until towards the end of the thirteenth century; instead, our earliest bodies of material reflect the codification of provincial practices, which may in turn well be understood as reflecting the generalisation of earlier divergent bodies of more local custom. Specifically Christian lawcodes can largely be found in the same editions as the secular ones. Iceland The laws of Iceland during the Commonwealth period go (misleadingly) under the name Grágás ‘grey goose’, but do not reflect a single lawcode. Although some fragments survive from the late twelfth century, the major manuscripts date from the middle of the thirteenth or later, and seem to reflect private compilations of material, much of which is already likely to have been redundant by that date. [B695] According to Íslendingabók (B255), the first (at least partial) codification of Icelandic law took place in 1118, the so-called Hafliðaskrá; from that point onwards, references are continually made to the employment of manuscripts rather than oral recitation. For the earlier pagan law of Ulfljot, who is said to have brought the Icelandic law from Norway around 930, see (K71) [B696] For the basic edition: V. Finsen, Grágás: Islændernes lovbog i fristatens tid, I-III, Nordiske Oldskrifter udgivne af det nordiske Literatur-Samfund 11, 17 (1852-83) [UL 752:01.d.1.6-7]; V. Finsen, Grágás efter det Arnamagnæanske Haandskrift Nr. 334 fol., Staðarhólsbók (1879) [UL 599:2.c.85.3]; V. Finsen, Grágás: Stykker, som findes i det Arnamagnæanske Haandskrift Nr. 351 fol., Skálholtsbók og en Række andre Haandskrifter (1883) [UL 599:2.c.85.4] [B697] A transl. with useful notes is: A. Dennis et al., The laws of early Iceland: Grágás; the Codex Regius of Grágás with material from other manuscripts, vol. I, University of Manitoba Icelandic studies 3 (1980) [UL 599:01.c.5.3] [B698] Ó. Lárusson, ‘On Grágás: the oldest Icelandic code of law’, (A42):77-89; A. Dennis, Grágás: an examination of the content and technique of the Old Icelandic law books, focused on Þingskapaþáttr (the ‘Assembly section’), Ph.D. dissertation, Cambridge University (1971); M. Stein-Wilkeshuis, ‘Laws in medieval Iceland’, JMH 12 (1986), 37-53 49
Scandinavian History in the Viking Age Norway As elsewhere in mainland Scandinavia, the first lawcodes from Norway are provincial rather than national in scope. The traditions recorded in the kings’ sagas (B290 ff.) credit various kings with setting up some of these legal provinces, and the references to Hakon the good’s lawmaking in the Bers²glisvísur (B546g) may confirm a royal interest in legislation by the tenth century. The first Christian law is said to have been introduced by Olaf Haraldsson around the 1020s (E70 ff., L172). However, the manuscripts remaining date from no earlier than the late twelfth century, and secular codes are only fully preserved for two of the Norwegian provinces. [B700] The basic edition remains: R. Keyser et al., Norges gamle Love indtil 1387 udgivne ifölge offentlig Foranstaltning, 5 vols (1846-95) [UL 593:01.b.3.1-5]. Attempts to re-edit some of the codes have begun to bear fruit; see B. Eithun et al., Den eldre Gulatingslova, Norrøne tekster 6 (1994) [UL 280.c.95.88] [B701] For the two major secular codes in translation, see L.M. Larson, The earliest Norwegian laws, being the Gulathing law and the Frostathing law, Records of civilization: sources and studies 20 (1935) [UL 280.c.90.14]. [B702] H. Refsum, ‘The Gulating’, (A41):68-72; E. Gunnes, ‘Erkebiskop Øystein og Frostatingsloven’, NHT 53 (1974), 109-21 (E.s.); I. Kleiva, Gulatinget: tingstader og lovverk (1980) [UL 280.c.95.68]; M. Rindal, ‘Dei eldste fragmenta av dei norske landskapslovene’, (O48):130-36 Denmark The three Danish provincial codes are similarly only preserved in thirteenth-century manuscripts, and show the slow growth of royal authority over legislation. [B705] The series Danmarks gamle landskabslove [UL 597:2.b.90.1 ff.] consists of numerous volumes prepared by a variety of editors, broken down into provinces: first Skåne, I:1 Skånske lov: text I-III (1933) and I:2 Skånske lov: Anders Sunesøns parafrase, Skånske kirkelov m.m. (1933); then Jutland, II Jyske lov: text I, NkS 295 8o (1933), III Jyske lov: text II-IV (1951), IV Jyske lov: text V-VI (1945); and finally Zealand, V Eriks sjællandske lov: text I-II (1936), VI Eriks sjællandske lov: text III-V (1937), VII Valdemars sjællandske lov: arvebog og orbodemål (1942), VIII Valdemars sjællandske lov: ældre og yngre redaktion samt sjællandske kirkelov (1941) [B706] P.J. Jørgensen, Dansk retshistorie: retskildernes og forfatningsrettens historie indtil sidste halvdel af det 17. aarhundrede, 5th edn (1971) [UL 280.c.95.10]; O. Fenger, Gammeldansk ret: dansk rets historie i oldtid og middelalder (1983) [UL 280.d.95.5] [B707] Of some interest is the Danish ‘court law’ from the late twelfth century, which exists in both Latin and vernacular versions; it claims to reflect the code drawn up by Knut after his conquest of England (D100 ff.) for his household or hirð, although this is now thought a bit optimistic. The Latin text comes from the hand of Sven Aggesen (B656) and is known as the Lex Castrensis; text: (B635): I,64-93. For the vernacular Vederloven, see E. Kroman, Den danske rigslovgivning indtil 1400 (1971), 1-5 [UL 280.b.95.10]. A full text, translation, and commentary can be found in (B656) Sweden The Swedish provincial codes have come under particular scrutiny in the past due to the assumption that their language betrays a distinctively ancient body of material; this view is now largely out of fashion, cf. (B692) (a key study, with heavy emphasis on the Gutalagen) and (B682). [B710] The basic corpus can be found in C.J. Schlyter et al., Samling af Sweriges gamla lagar, 13 vols (1827-77) [UL 595:2.b.80.1 ff.]. This rather antiquated edition can be supplemented by more recent editions of individual codes, of which only a selection is given here: [a] H. Pipping, Guta lag och Guta saga, jämte ordbok, SUGNL 33 (1905-07) [UL 752:01.d.2.31]; [b] E. Wessén, Äldre Västgötalagen, Nordisk filologi: texter och läroböcker för universitetsstudier A:9 (1954) [UL 752:01.d.4.9]; [c] S. Henning, Upplandslagen enligt codex Esplunda, SSF 169-70 (1934) [UL 755:1.c.1.63] and Upplandslagen enligt cod. Holm. B 199 och 1607 års utgåva, SSF 240, 242 (1967-69) [UL 755:1.c.1.112] [B711] A very useful Swedish transl. of all the provincial codes packed with useful introductions and notes is: Å. Holmbäck and E. Wessén, Svenska landskapslagar, 5 vols (1933-46) [UL 280.c.90.17-21] 50
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