Abstract
Gwyn Jones famously posited the notion of a cogent Norse identity as manifested by common language, culture, and mythology; further, as he clarified in his landmark work A History of the Vikings, law and its practice in local and national assemblies was a fundamental component of such a unifying cultural characteristic:
For the Scandinavian peoples in general, their respect for law, their insistence upon its public and democratic exercise at the Thing, and its validity for all free men, together with their evolution of a primitive and exportable jury system, is one of the distinctive features of their culture throughout the Viking Age … 1
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 348.
Per Sveaas Andersen, “The Norwegian Background,” in Scandinavian Settlement in Northern Britain: Thirteen Studies of Place-Names in Their Historical Context, ed. B. Crawford (London: Leicester University Press, 1995), p. 23 [16–25].
Jesse L. Byock, Viking Age Iceland (London: Penguin Books, 2001), p. 171.
William Ian Miller, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), p. 17.
Benjamin Hudson, Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in the North Atlantic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 6.
David M. Wilson, The Vikings in the Isle of Man (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2008), p. 23.
Benjamin Hudson, Irish Sea Studies: 900–1200 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2006), p. 33.
R. Andrew McDonald, The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland’s Western Seaboard in the Central Middle Ages, ca. 1000-ca. 1336 (East Lothian, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 1997), pp. 85–86.
Victor Watts, “Northumberland and Durham: The Place-name Evidence,” in Scandinavian Settlement in Northern Britain: Thirteen Studies of Place-Names in Their Historical Context, ed. B. Crawford (London: Leicester University Press, 1995), p. 209 [206–213].
Theodore M. Andersson and William Ian Miller, Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland: Ljosvetninga Saga and Valla-Ljots Saga (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989), p. 4.
Christopher D. Morris, “Raiders, Traders and Settlers: the Early Viking Age in Scotland,” in Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age, ed. H. B. Clarke (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1998), pp. 82–83.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2012 Benjamin Hudson
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fee, C.R. (2012). MeÐ Lögum Skal Land Vort Byggja (With Law Shall the Land be Built): Law as a Defining Characteristic of Norse Society in Saga Conflicts and Assembly Sites Throughout the Scandinavian North Atlantic. In: Hudson, B. (eds) Studies in the Medieval Atlantic. The New Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137062390_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137062390_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-29892-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-06239-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)