The Older Gulathing Law

Erik Simensen, Erik Simensen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000372977
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

The Gulathing Law regulates relations between the social classes, the king and his officers, the clergy, and the peasantry. Parts of the law appear to be a social contract between two parties: on the one hand the people, on the other hand the church and the king.

This new edition, in modern English, contains many references to research that has been carried out since the appearance of previous editions in 1935 and 1981. In the Gulathing Law, differing interests are being balanced, and procedures described for solving conflicts. Personal rights are defined, and scales of fines and compensation are set up, graded according to the gravity of the insult, offence, and the social status of the persons involved. Large parts of the law text mirror the internal conditions in the farming community of Western Norway in the High Middle Ages; economic transactions, disputes, damage to life and property, and theft.

Accompanied by a translator's introduction and a commentary essay which place the Gulathing Law in a theological and church history perspective, this volume will be useful for both students and specialists of medieval Norwegian legal history and medieval Scandinavian law.

Part One

Translator’s introduction

Translator’s introduction

1 Norway in the 13th century

1.1 Population, livelihood, geography

During the 13th century Norway was an agricultural society with an estimated population of approximately 300,000.¹ In general, each household lived on a self-sufficient farm, where the farmer was either the actual owner or (usually) a tenant (cf. Section 1.2). In Western, Southern, and Northern Norway most people lived in the coastal areas, along the fjords and in the fertile inland valleys, where fishing was almost as important as farming. Much of Eastern and Mid-Norway was covered by large forests, making farming more demanding. Here new farmland was cleared by the so-called slash-and-burn method. The forests provided ample grounds for hunting, whereas lakes and rivers were valued as fishing grounds. In the mountain areas shielings were built and grazing grounds utilized for summer pasture, giving rise to many disputes over rights and duties.

1In the decades around 1300. Estimates vary between 350,000 and 440,000. Moseng et al. 1999, 223.

Villages were non-existent. Nevertheless there were rural communities called heruð (pl. of herað, cf. Section 1.5), in many cases centred on a church or a þing site. In some areas, especially in Southern and Western Norway, families lived in settlement clusters,² where farms were combined by having their houses, barns, and other buildings grouped together − often in one or more rows − in one yard. A famous example is the Havråtunet in Western Norway,³ where eight farms have about sixty buildings in one yard. Towns were few and small, the most important ones being the capital, Bergen (approximately 7,000 inhabitants), and the religious centre, Nidaros (now Trondheim, approximately 3,000 inhabitants). Men living in towns were mainly craftsmen and merchants, subject to laws of their own, the so-called town laws.

2In Norwegian: klyngetun.

3On the island Osterøy, north of Bergen. See Store norske leksikon s.v. Osterøy.

1.2 Social structure

In terms of social organization there was a strict hierarchy, with the king and the earl at the top, below them the bishops, then the landed men. These were rich and powerful farmers who had been endowed with land by the king, serving in return as his advisers and officers in the naval levy.

The rank and file, and the vast majority, were farmers and their families. The farmers were either free men (freeholders, householders, and tenants) or freedmen (ON leysingjar). The freeholder was a farmer who owned odal-land, which the householder did not, although he might be a landowner. Most farmers, however, were tenants. Due to their education and status, clerics originally belonged to the upper classes, but parish priests gradually became integrated into the peasant society (e.g. by marriage). In some respects there were differences with regard to gender: women were not allowed to engage in as big economic transactions as men did, and they inherited less than men, sons more than daughters.

At the bottom of the social pyramid were the slaves (thralls), who had no personal rights and were generally regarded as articles of trade. Nevertheless, during the High Middle Ages slavery was gradually and systematically reduced. At the end of the 13th century slaves had almost disappeared as a distinct social group.⁴

4Moseng et al. 1999, 91.

1.3 Economic structure

Much land was owned by the king, acquired through inheritance, taxes, fines, and confiscations from adversaries. The biggest landowner, however, was the church, which had become rich through donations (often under wills), tithes, fines for violations of the Christian Law, and land-rent. It has been estimated that the church owned 40 percent of all landed property,⁵ distributing it between local priests and churches, bishops, monasteries, etc.

5Ibid., 230.

The size and quality of farmlands were expressed in the land-rent, that is the rent paid by the tenant to his landlord. This was usually estimated at approximately one-sixth of the crop and was to be paid in natural products, mainly meal and butter, hides and fish; sometimes also in other goods, for example salt and iron. An important unit of measurement was the ‘month’s food’ (mánaðarmatr), the amount of food which one man was supposed to need when serving one month in the naval levy. It was usually provided as butter (7.7 kg) and meal (24.7 kg). The counting by mánaðarmatir (pl.) was connected to the system of weights and measures through the ratio three mánaðarmatir: one mǫrk. In this way it was possible to formulate the land-rent, and hence the value of a farm, in two sets of terms. The value of these terms varied regionally. In Western Norway the average size of a farm has been estimated at 4.5 mánaðarmataból,⁶ about 10−12 decares or 2.5−3.0 acres. In Eastern and Mid-Norway the average size was 1.5 markaból, about 40−50 decares or 10−12.5 acres.

6Ibid. Ból means ‘dwelling place, farm’.

1.4 The church

With the introduction of Christianity a large number of churches were built. As the law shows, the first churches were built of timber, hence the term ‘stave churches’. Stone churches were built later, mainly from the beginning of the 12th century onwards.⁷ The most prestigious churches were the cathedrals (the bishops’ churches) and the royal chapels. On a lower level were the fifty−sixty primary churches, one for each fylki. In addition, each quarter and eighth of a fylki, in Eastern and Mid-Norway also each third (riding, þriðjungr), had its own church. These local churches gradually became regular parish churches. Some individuals (well-to-do farmers) built their own private churches (hǿgendiskirkjur), which eventually became integrated into the parochial system.

7Moseng et al. 1999, 253.

In the 13th century there were well over 1,000 churches in Norway; around 1300 the number had increased to about 1,200. It is very difficult, however, to estimate the average distance from a farm to the nearest parish church or assembly, because the topography and the settlement patterns varied greatly. The number of priests may have been one per 175−225 inhabitants (in 1970: one per 3,800).⁸ This means that the priests lived fairly close to the people they served. They were often recruited from the farming society, to which they were connected by strong ties of loyalty. Nevertheless, due to their position they exercised extensive control − at least in theory − over people in their parishes, not only morally, but also over working life, by the rules prohibiting work on holy days, of which there were approximately 110 per year, Sundays included.⁹

8Ibid., 214.

9Jón Viðar Sigurðsson 1999, 104.

The clerics enjoyed privileges: they were exempted from paying taxes and doing service in the naval levy. In addition to providing religious services they worked as diplomats and secretaries in the royal administration. Members of the higher clergy might also function as the king’s advisers. As representatives of an international organization, however, they were bound by a double loyalty: on the one hand to the laws of the country, on the other hand to the church. This gave them an externa...