Icelanders and the Kings of Norway

Mediaeval Sagas and Legal Texts
Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-90-04-14516-0
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 17, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 248 mm, Gewicht: 381 g

Reihe: The Northern World

The book uses sagas and legal texts to re-examine the relations between mediaeval Icelanders and the Norwegian kings. It demonstrates that the Icelanders - partly subjects of the king, and partly beyond his power - were ready to negotiate with him for their own benefit, and presents a methodological re-evaluation of authorial attributions of the sagas and their use as historical sources. Key to the book is a revisionary analysis of two laws made between the Icelanders and the kings of Norway: a law probably issued by King Óláfr inn helgi of Norway (1015-1028), and the purported submission agreements with King Hákon Hákonarson (1217-1263), known as Gizurarsáttmáli or Gamli sáttmáli. It also analyses the sagas of the fourteenth-century manuscript Möðruvallabók against the historical context extracted from this legal re-evaluation.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Boulhosa, Patricia Pires

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Skandinavische Literaturen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsgeschichte, Recht der Antike

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents
Preface
Conventions
Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1 Mediaeval Icelandic Sagas: Methodological Considerations
1. Introduction
2. The Attribution of the Authorship of Heimskringla to Snorri Sturluson
3. Textual Criticism and Manuscript Culture
4. Sagas as Historical Sources

Chapter 2 The Law of Óláfr inn helgi
1. Introduction
2. Grágás in Historical and Literary Studies
3. The Ólafslög within the Grágás (Konungsbók)
4. The Norwegian King’s Power over Icelanders
5. Icelanders and Norwegians
6. Hauldr – hôldr
7. Conclusion

Chapter 3 Documents of the Icelandic Submission
1. Introduction
2. The sagas and the Icelandic submission
3. The Icelandic annals and the Icelandic submission
4. The evidence of sagas and annals: conclusion
5. Gizurarsáttmáli and Gamli sáttmáli: Terminology
6. Documents from 1400 to 1500
6.1. Invocatory clause and oath
6.2. Introductory clause
6.3. Skattr and þingfararkaup
6.4. Summons to go abroad
6.5. Lôgmenn and sýslumenn
6.6. Sea-going ships
6.6.1 Icelandic trade in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
6.7. Other clauses
6.8. Documents from 1400 to 1500: conclusion
7. Documents from 1500 to 1600
8. Conclusion

Chapter 4 Relations between Icelanders and the early rulers of Norway as depicted in Möðruvallabók
1. Introduction
2. The Möðruvallabók manuscript
3. Haraldr inn hárfagri and the settlement of Iceland in Egils saga
4. Haraldr inn hárfagri and the settlement of Iceland in the other texts of the Möðruvallabók manuscript
5. Finnboga saga and the settlement of Iceland
6. Icelanders and the Norwegian court
6.1. Chieftains in Iceland and Norway
6.2. Challenging royal power
6.3. The Icelandic free-men
6.4. The guardians of the law
7. Presentations of the settlement of Iceland: Haralds saga ins hárfagra (Fríssbók) and other sagas
8. Conclusion

Conclusion

Appendix 1. Ólafslög
Appendix 2. Documents of the Submission
Appendix 3. Haraldr inn hárfagri in the Íslendingasögur
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Patricia Pires Boulhosa has a Ph.D. (2003) in Mediaeval Icelandic Literature and History from the University of Cambridge, and degrees in Law and History from the Pontifical University, Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is her first book.