Narrating Law and Laws of Narration in Medieval Scandinavia

310 Pages·2020·3.437 MB·English

by  Roland Scheel (ed.)

NarratingLawandLawsofNarrationinMedievalScandinavia
Ergänzungsbände zum
Reallexikon der
Germanischen Altertumskunde
Herausgegeben von
Sebastian Brather, Wilhelm Heizmann
und Steffen Patzold
Band 117
Narrating Law and
Laws of Narration
in Medieval Scandinavia
Edited by
Roland Scheel
ISBN978-3-11-065421-9
e-ISBN(PDF)978-3-11-066181-1
e-ISBN(EPUB)978-3-11-066232-0
ISSN1866-7678
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2019952561
BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek
TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutscheNationalbibliografie;
detailedbibliographicdataareavailableontheInternetathttp://dnb.dnb.de.
©2020WalterdeGruyterGmbH,Berlin/Boston
Typesetting:IntegraSoftwareServicesPvt.Ltd.
Printingandbinding:CPIbooksGmbH,Leck
www.degruyter.com
Foreword
Thisvolumepresentstheresultsfromtheinternationalworkshop‘NarratingLawand
Laws of Narration in Medieval Scandinavia’ which was held at the Georg-August-
Universität in Göttingen in March 2017. The meetings took place at the Historical
University Library adjacent to the Paulinerkirche, thereby connecting to the noble
history of the institution, as Jacob Grimm was professor and law librarian at
Göttingenbetween1830and1837.Notonlydidtheworkshopcoincidewiththe180th
anniversaryoftheconstitutionalistprotestationbytheGöttingenSevenandthesub-
sequent end of Grimm’s career in the Kingdom of Hanover, but it also tied in with
Grimm’s interests and the beginnings of Scandinavian Studies at Göttingen. Jacob
Grimmwasoneofthefirstscholarswhosystematicallycombinedlegalandnarrative
texts, including sagas, in order to reconstruct ‘Germanic’ law in his ‘Deutsche
Rechtsalterthümer’.Whilehisconceptofa‘Germanic’continuumprovedtobeprob-
lematic indeed and does not provide a frame of reference for this book, his idea of
analysingbothlawbooksandnarrationsofdisputesandlegalitiesmakeshisworka
distantforerunneroflegalanthropologyandtheway‘law’isconceptualisedanddis-
cussedinthefollowingcontributions.
I would like to thank the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung für Wissenschaftsförderung for
the financial support of the workshop and the copyediting process and to person-
ally thank StellaLammers and Michael Rauser for theirwork in the preparation of
thisvolume.
RolandScheel,May2019
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110661811-202

Contents
Foreword V
ListofContributors IX
RolandScheel
NarratingLawandLawsofNarration:Introduction 1
Part ANarratingLaw:LegalTexts–NarrativeTexts–Contexts
JónViðarSigurðsson
ChieftainsandtheLegalCultureinIcelandc.1100–1260 39
HansJacobOrning
MakingKingHákonGreatAgain:Law,God,MoralityandPower
inBjörgvin,1223 57
ÁrmannJakobsson
LawPersonified.TheIgnoredClimacticSpeechesofBrennu-Njálssaga 77
Part BLaws ofNarration: NarratologicalApproaches
HannahBurrows
CourtPoetry:AssembliesandSkaldicVerse 91
KyleHughes
Whatis‘GoodLaw’?LawasCommunalPerformance
intheÍslendingasögur 117
RolandScheel
RevengeorSettlement?LawandFeudinEarlySagasofIcelanders 135
Part CNarrating Law: DiscoursesonSocial Norms
KeithRuiter
BerserksBehavingBadly:ManipulatingNormativeExpectations
inEyrbyggjasaga 171
VIII Contents
DanielaHahn
SocialandDiegeticHierarchiesinCasesofThievery.
AStudyofMǫðruvallabók 185
Part DNarratingLaw: Mythological Traditions
HeikeSahm
FeudalLawandArchaicOrder:TheDiscussionofDifferentSocialSystems
intheQueens’DisputeintheNibelungenlied 205
JiříStarý
HistoryorIdea?TheLegendaryLawsofOldNorsemen 225
AnneIreneRiisøy
Vǫlundr–aGatewayintotheLegalWorldoftheVikings 255
MatthiasTeichert
Týr,FenrirandtheBrísingamen.TalesofLaw,CrimeandViolenceinEddic
MythologyandtheirIndo-EuropeanSubcontexts 275
NameIndex 289
PlaceIndex 295