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IMC 2012: Sessions

Session 623: Laws and Practice in the Medieval Far North

Tuesday 10 July 2012, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Creating the New North Research Programme, Universitetet i Tromsø
Organiser:Richard Holt, Institutt for historie og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitetet
Moderator/Chair:Richard Holt, Institutt for historie og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitetet
Paper 623-aImposing the Law on Northern Scandinavia and Finland, 1100-1400
(Language: English)
Stefan Figenschow, Department of Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology, The Arctic University of Tromsø
Index terms: Administration, Law
Paper 623-bAttempting to Regulate Medieval Norway's Towns and Trade
(Language: English)
Richard Holt, Institutt for historie og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitetet
Index terms: Economics - Urban, Law, Social History
Paper 623-cTension in the Boundary between Medieval Norwegian Inheritance Law and the Reality of Marriage Contracts
(Language: English)
Lars Ivar Hansen, Institutt for historie og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitetet
Index terms: Gender Studies, Law, Social History
Paper 623-dSorcery and Witchcraft Legislation in Scandinavia, 1200-1600
(Language: English)
Rune Blix Hagen, Institutt for historie og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitetet
Index terms: Law, Mentalities, Religious Life
Abstract

The emerging central authority in Norway and the other northern lands developed legislation to meet existing needs and to control existing situations. At the same time, new situations arose that demanded regulation: colonization of new areas; the economic and social developments associated with a growing commercial economy and urbanization; a new Christian viewpoint on traditional practices such as sorcery. There was social resistance to legislation in all these areas, and not least in the discrepancy between laws of inheritance and prevailing social practices and family strategies of land ownership.