Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I THE GEOGRAPHY AND PREHISTORY OF SCANDINAVIA
- PART II FROM VIKINGS TO KINGS
- PART III MATERIAL GROWTH (to c. 1350)
- PART IV THE HIGH MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS
- PART V HIGH AND LATE MEDIEVAL CULTURE
- PART VI LATE MEDIEVAL SOCIETY (c. 1350–1520)
- PART VII SCANDINAVIAN UNIONS (1319–1520)
- 23 The political system
- 24 Inter-Scandinavian relations
- Conclusion
- Select bibliography: primary sources, general surveys and secondary works arranged by part
- Index
- Plate Section"
- References
23 - The political system
from PART VII - SCANDINAVIAN UNIONS (1319–1520)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I THE GEOGRAPHY AND PREHISTORY OF SCANDINAVIA
- PART II FROM VIKINGS TO KINGS
- PART III MATERIAL GROWTH (to c. 1350)
- PART IV THE HIGH MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS
- PART V HIGH AND LATE MEDIEVAL CULTURE
- PART VI LATE MEDIEVAL SOCIETY (c. 1350–1520)
- PART VII SCANDINAVIAN UNIONS (1319–1520)
- 23 The political system
- 24 Inter-Scandinavian relations
- Conclusion
- Select bibliography: primary sources, general surveys and secondary works arranged by part
- Index
- Plate Section"
- References
Summary
By the end of the thirteenth century more advanced legal systems had been established in all three Scandinavian kingdoms (see Part IV). With the new Law of Jylland Denmark received a law code in 1241, confirmed by the king, which underlined his role as keeper of the law with whom the legislative initiative rested. In 1274 the Norwegian kingdom received its Landlaw, including a new law of succession to the throne, which was complemented by the Hirðskrá (‘book of the hirð’) regulating the rights and duties of the royal liegemen. In these laws the king appeared as legislator and the highest judge in the land, predestined by birth to his hereditary office and surrounded by sworn men who owed him special service throughout the entire kingdom. In 1296 the Law of Uppland brought the Swedish realm its first royally confirmed law code. In its ‘King’s Section’ the time-honoured forms of elective kingship were set out and the royal legislation of the past half century inserted.
Years of transition (1319–1380s)
In Norway this phase only involved marginal adjustments of the political and constitutional system. The accession of King Magnus Eriksson in 1319 was in accordance with the current law of succession and the ensuing personal union with Sweden had no formal consequences. The large national assemblies (riksmøter) which had formed the setting for the great legal reforms of the high Middle Ages were not summoned after 1302. Their place was taken by the royal council of bishops, magnates and royal officials, which from 1319, in the absence of a regent of legal age, acted as the ‘council of the realm’ (cf. Chapter 12(c)).
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- The Cambridge History of Scandinavia , pp. 677 - 709Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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