Disputes lie at the heart of the sagas. Consequently, literary texts have been treated as sources of legal practice – narrations of law – while the sagas themselves and the handling of legal matters by the figures adhere to "laws of narration". The volume addresses this intricate relationship between literature and social practice from the perspective of historians as well as philologists. The contributions focus not only on disputes and their solution in saga literature, but also on the representation of law and its history in sagas and Latin historiography from Scandinavia as well as the representation of laws and norms in mythological texts. They demonstrate that narrations of law provide an indispensable insight into legal culture and its connection to a wider framework of social norms, adjusting the impression given by the laws. The philological approaches underline that the narrative texts also have an agenda of their own when it comes to their representation of law, providing a mirror of conduct, criticising inequity, reinforcing the political and juridical position of kings or negotiating norms in mythological texts. Altogether, the volume underlines the unifying force exerted by a common fiction of law beyond its letter.
Author(s): Roland Scheel (ed.)
Series: Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, 117
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 306
City: Berlin
Roland Scheel, Foreword v
List of Contributors ix
Roland Scheel, Narrating Law and Laws of Narration: Introduction 1
Part A. Narrating Law: Legal Texts – Narrative Texts – Contexts
Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Chieftains and the Legal Culture in Iceland c. 1100–1260 39
Hans Jacob Orning, Making King Hákon Great Again: Law, God, Morality and Power in Björgvin, 1223 57
Ármann Jakobsson, Law Personified. The Ignored Climactic Speeches of "Brennu-Njáls saga" 77
Part B. Laws of Narration: Narratological Approaches
Hannah Burrows, Court Poetry: Assemblies and Skaldic Verse 91
Kyle Hughes, What is "Good Law"? Law as Communal Performance in the "Íslendingasögur" 117
Roland Scheel, Revenge or Settlement? Law and Feud in Early Sagas of Icelanders 135
Part C. Narrating Law: Discourses on Social Norms
Keith Ruiter, Berserks Behaving Badly: Manipulating Normative Expectations in "Eyrbyggja saga" 171
Daniela Hahn, Social and Diegetic Hierarchies in Cases of Thievery. A Study of "Mǫðruvallabók" 185
Part D. Narrating Law: Mythological Traditions
Heike Sahm, Feudal Law and Archaic Order: The Discussion of Different Social Systems in the Queens’ Dispute in the "Nibelungenlied" 205
Jiří Starý, History or Idea? The Legendary Laws of Old Norsemen 225
Anne Irene Riisøy, Vǫlundr – a Gateway into the Legal World of the Vikings 255
Matthias Teichert, Týr, Fenrir and the Brísingamen. Tales of Law, Crime and Violence in Eddic Mythology and their Indo-European Subcontexts 275
Name Index 289
Places Index 295
