This week is a brief, uncomplicated overview of Viking Age Law. Most of this material, however, has been gathered from sources that pertain to later medieval Iceland. Still, the roots of Icelandic law run back to Viking Age Norwegian law. Keeping that in mind however, our understanding can never be without some level of doubt. Regardless, I think many will be surprised as to the level of sophistication within Viking Law.

Contents:

1. Introduction and Early Law
2. Icelandic Law: The Gragas
3. The “Thing” and an Overview of the System
4. Legal Procedure from Njal’s Saga

Introduction and Early Law

The earliest legal texts that we have come from the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, so we must ask ourselves: do they really reflect the Viking Age? the answer likely lies somewhere in between yes and no, for they were likely orally transmitted, cultural customs, and later refined into a written codex.

One interesting artifact that we do have from the Viking Age, however, is called the Forsa Rune Ring (ca. 800).

This ring, which is about 30 centimeters in diameter (1 foot), actually possesses a legal inscription in runes. It was likely hung about an entrance or near a gathering area. The inscription regulates the maintenance of a cult/assembly site. This artifact allows us to gather better insight for how much later law texts reflect the actual Viking Age.

The earliest Norwegian law texts are Gulaþing and Frostaþing, ca. 935-961. these law texts survive into the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, but are fragmentary. These laws would later be used to develop Icelandic law.

Icelandic Law: The Gragas

The Grágás consist of two manuscripts: Konungsbók (ca. 1260) and Staðarhólsbók (ca. 1280). 

They are as impressive as they may seem mysterious, consisting of ca. 700 pages of legal text. There is no executive law, since Iceland had no king between the years 930 – 1232 (something to ponder is why these manuscripts reflect such laws after the commonwealth fell apart). Though, this aspect would also have been the case during the Viking Age, since kings did not rise until Christianity began setting in near the end of the Viking Age.

Law was a very significant aspect of Icelandic society. Ari Þorgilsson (1067–1148) was writing laws in 1117, is one of the first notable Icelanders to record law and even history. This is perhaps a result of attempting to hold onto older values and legal traditions as power began centralizing back in Scandinavia. It is for this reason that Iceland is a vital point of study for many aspects of the Viking Age, since it attempted to retain more traditional means.

The “Thing” and an Overview of the System

The most significant aspect of Viking Age law is the þing (Thing). These were assemblies of free men and all decisions took place through these without any executive power. They essentially functioned as courts, allowing legal action to take place. It was a purely democratic system of governance, although not everyone had an official voice. There was no police force to maintain order, and so these assemblies and families had to maintain order and justice on their own. This is what lead to feuds, which we will be discussing next week. I will attempt to give a clean overview of how the system worked (from a paper I am currently working on):

In general, formal governance was done through a system of annual meetings of free men, called Things (þing). They were exercised by authority of goðar (chieftains, sg. goði) and each bóndi (householder, pl. bœndr) had to become a þingmaðr (thingmen) with a goði, who would then represent their household. A goði held a goðorð (chieftaincy), which is what gave them power as a goði. Each quarter ideally had three local or district Things (North, South, East, and West) that met every spring and was presided over by three goðar. There was a court for each quarter that would met at the Althing (national assembly) and had a panel of thirty-six judges, where each of the three goðar appointed twelve judges. Those forty-eight goðar sat as the Lǫgrétta (court of legislation). The Lögrétta decided what the law was in the case of disagreement, granted exemptions (marriage laws), and appointed the Lǫgsogumaðr (lawspeaker). The lawspeaker was elected for a three-year term and was expected to be able to tell anyone who asked what the law was through memorization and oral presentation.

Legal Procedure from Njal’s Saga

Now that you have a decent understanding of the legal system, I will provide a segment from Njal’s saga that demonstrates the procedure being used. Njal’s saga holds a great deal of passages that provide detailed legal procedure in action. However, these do not necessarily mean an accurate representation. Still, they give valuable insight to the possibilities that existed within society.

How a woman may divorce her husband:

“When you’re ready, go to your bed with the men who are to travel with you, and at your husband’s bedside name witnesses and declare yourself legally divorced from him, as is allowable according to the rules of the Althing and the law of the land. You must repeat the naming of witnesses at the men’s door. …He then went to Law Rock and declared them legally divorced.” (Njal, 16-17)

How to give a legal notice:

“I give notice of this homicide suit to the Quarter Court in which this case should be heard according to law. I give this lawful notice; I give notice in hearing of all at the Law Rock. I give notice of the prosecution of Flosi Thordarson for full outlawry, to take place at this session. I give notice that the suit was turned over to me by Thorgeir Thorisson.” (Njal, 252)

On panel eligibility:

“Any man who owns three hundreds or more in land has the right to sit on a panel of neighbors, even though he does not live off milch animals; and any many who lives off milch animals has the right to sit on a panel of neighbors, even though he owns no land.” (Njal, 260)

Key Terms

1. Forsa Rune Ring – ninth century ring with runic inscription of regulations for cultic and assembly sites.
2. Gulaþing and Frostaþing – early Norwegian law texts from the tenth century.
3. The Grágás – later Icelandic law texts from the thirteenth century, based off of earlier Norwegian law. Consists of two separate manuscripts:
   1. Konungsbók 
   2. Staðarhólsbók
4. Ari Þorgilsson – recorded law and history in the twelfth century.
5. þing – assembly of free men.
6. goðar – chieftains, could be judges.
7. bóndi – householders, or landowners.
8. Althing – national assembly.
9. Lǫgrétta – thirty-six judges that sit as a legislative body.
10. Lǫgsogumaðr – lawspeaker, expected to be well-versed in law.

Wrap-up

I do hope that you survived this lesson. I personally find it to be a very fascinating aspect about Viking Age society and especially of medieval Icelandic society. I could have actually gone into more detail. If you are interested in learning more, though, I HIGHLY recommend Miller’s book, cited below. I am sure many of you have seen me citing this book quite a bit. Anyway, this lesson is a very important one to keep in mind when we discuss feuds next week.

Next week’s lesson: Lesson 12 – Blood, Feud, and Honor.

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Sources

1. Jennifer Dukes-Knight, “Society and Law” Lecture, Viking History, University of South Florida, 2015.
2. (Image) The ring from Forsa in the landscape of Hälsingland, northern Sweden. (link)
3. (Image) Staðarhólsbók Grágásar og Járnsíða. (link)
4. William Ian Miller, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 17-24. (honestly, this entire book.)
5. Robert Cook trans., Njal’s Saga. (London: Penguin Classics, 2001), 16-17, 252, 260.