In this book Elizabeth Walgenbach argues that outlawry in medieval Iceland was a punishment shaped by the conventions of excommunication as it developed in the medieval Church. Excommunication and outlawry resemble one another, often closely, in a range of Icelandic texts, including lawcodes and narrative sources such as the contemporary sagas. This is not a chance resemblance but a by-product of the way the law was formed and written. Canon law helped to shape the outlines of secular justice.
The book is organized into chapters on excommunication, outlawry, outlawry as secular excommunication, and two case studies—one focused on the conflicts surrounding Bishop Guðmundr Arason and another focused on the outlaw Aron Hjǫrleifsson.
Author(s): Elizabeth Walgenbach
Series: The Northern World: North Europe and the Baltic c.400–1700 AD: Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 92
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: xii+178
Excommunication and Outlawry in the Legal World of Medieval Iceland
Contents
Acknowledgements
Spelling and Other Conventions
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Outlawry, Excommunication, and Icelandic Legal History
2 Methodology and Approaches
1 Excommunication
1 Excommunication
2 Secular Sanctions and Excommunication
3 Rituals of Excommunication in the Period before Canonical Reforms
4 Excommunication and Damnation
5 Consecrated Burial
6 Later Legal Views on Excommunication and Damnation
7 Developments in Canon Law
7.1 Major and Minor Excommunication
8 The Canon Si quis suadente and latae sententiae Excommunication
9 Excommunication for Disobedience to Church Authority
10 Excommunication in the Church Courts
11 Excommunication in Political Conflicts
11.1 Excommunication as a Political Weapon
12 Excommunication in Icelandic Sources
12.1 Early Sources
12.2 Early Law Texts: Grágás
13 Sources after 1275
13.1 Later Bishops Sagas
13.2 Árna Saga
13.3 Bells, Candles, and Ritual
13.4 Lárentíus Saga
14 Conclusions
2 Outlawry
1 Origins of Outlawry?
2 Outlawry in Icelandic Sources before 1275
2.1 Full Outlawry in Grágás
2.2 Consequences of Full Outlawry
2.3 Escaping or Annulling Outlawry
2.4 Helping or Associating with an Outlaw
3 The Problem of Lesser Outlawry (fjǫrbaugsgarðr/fjǫrbaugsmaðr)
3.1 Fjǫrbaugr as a Fine
3.2 Fjǫrbaugsgarðr as Banishment with Limited Protections in Iceland
3.3 Offenses Leading to the Sanction of Fjǫrbaugsgarðr
3.4 Interpreting Fjǫrbaugsgarðr in Grágás
4 Outlawry in the Sagas
5 Outlawry in the Contemporary Sagas
6 Relationship to State Power and Statelessness
7 Norwegian Influence and later Icelandic Law Sources
8 Outlawry’s Afterlife: From Saga to Folklore
9 Conclusions
3 Outlawry as Secular Excommunication
1 Previous Scholarship
2 The Legal Sources, Reading Grágás
3 Similarities between Excommunication and Outlawry
3.1 Legal Formulations
3.2 Lesser Outlawry in Grágás and Minor Excommunication
3.3 Burial in Consecrated Ground
3.4 Outlawry and the Soul
3.5 Outlaws at the Church Door
4 Cooperation between Legal Systems
5 How Independent Were Secular and Church Law?
6 Outlawry for Offenses against Christian Law
7 Conclusions
4 Excommunication and Outlawry in Sturla Þórðarson’s Íslendinga saga
1 Íslendinga saga and Sturla Þórðarson
2 Narration of the Conflict
2.1 First Steps in the Conflict (1203–1207)
2.2 Phase Two of the Conflict, Escalation (1208)
2.3 Phase Three of the Conflict, the Bishop Driven from His See
2.4 Phase Four of the Conflict: Consequences
2.5 Part Five, Miracles and Endings
3 Sturla’s Use of Vernacular and Canon Law
3.1 Engagement with Vernacular Law
3.2 Engagement with Canon Law
4 Thomas Becket
5 Conclusions
5 Stories of Aron Hjǫrleifsson, Outlaw and Pilgrim
1 Aron’s Life in Brief
2 Aron and His Enemies
3 Guðmundr Arason and Aron
4 How to Redeem an Outlaw
5 Outlawry as Hell
6 Outlawry as a Political Consequence
7 Aron the Pilgrim
8 Outlaws and the Kings of Norway
9 Kings and Icelanders
10 Conclusions
Conclusion
Bibliography
Manuscripts
Primary Sources
Secondary Literature
Index
