Page:A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law (OBP.0188, 2020).pdf/528

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Appendix A: Administrative, Judicial and Fiscal Subdivisions
521


SmL ÄVgL, YVgL ÖgL
land land land
hæraþ hæraþ hæraþ
fiarþunger fiarþunger
hamna*
attunger, har*

The military naval defence organization, leþunger, is mentioned in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish laws. Originally, men, equipment and ships were to be provided, but already at the time when the Swedish laws were written down in the form we know them today these obligations had been transformed into yearly taxes in times of peace.

Whether hamna* and har* existed in Östergötland has been debated (Ericsson 2007, 113 and passim). Ericsson suggests that a hamna might have consisted of eight attungar, but its very existence in Östergötland has also been questioned (Söderlind 1989, 16–17).

bo (OSw) n.

In ÖgL a bo could denote a farm with an administrative function under the control of a king, bishop or jarl, or their bryti. In the Swedish province of Västergötland, albeit not mentioned in the versions of the law translated into English but present in a recent edition of the law (Wiktorsson 2011:II, 160–65), a bo was an administrative district of an unknown function comprising one or several hæraþ, that was probably named after, and associated with, the local royal estates of upsala öþer.

Svea laws
  • DL. The Law of Dalarna (Dalalagen).
  • HL. The Law of the Hälsingar (Hälsingelagen).
  • SdmL. The Law of the Södermän (Södermannalagen).
  • UL. The Law of Uppland (Upplandslagen).
  • VmL. The Law of Västmanland (Västmannalagen).
  • The Law of Närke and the Law of Värmland are mentioned in other sources, but no manuscripts of these laws have been found.
UL VmL DL SdmL HL
folkland (3) / roþin (1)*** land land land land
hundari (25) / skiplagh hundari (8) þriþiunger hundari (12) þriþiunger
broafiol broafiol- skiplagh skiplagh
fiarþunger / ar* fiarþunger / skiplagh fiarþunger fiarþunger
hamna / attunger** hamna hamna / attunger har

Key to the table:

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of districts known of the particular kind. / between two terms indicate parallel systems in different areas.

In UL a division into þriþiunger was limited to very few districts (Hafström 1949a, 142–43, Lundberg 1972, 92) and might not have existed in VmL, as Schlyter indicates that the manuscript might have been corrupt in the actual passage (Schlyter s.v. þriþiunger).

* Whether an administrative division into ar did exist or not is debated. Andersson 2014, 15; Hjärne 1980, I: 96–102; Schlyter s.v. ar; SL UL 61 not 52.

** Hamna and attunger seem to be parallel systems in UL never occurring in the same areas (Lindkvist 1995, 20–21). According to Lundberg (1972, 76–77) hamna was an administrative unit connected to leþunger, taxation and buþkafli butnot necessarily a subdivision of the hundari.

*** The coastal area along the Baltic was called Roden and it was divided into skiplagh. The size of Roden has been debated. Refs: Hafström 1949, 19–20; KLNM s.v. roden; Lundberg 1972, 82–83.

The relationships between fiarþunger and skiplagh (VmL), hamna and attunger (SdmL) or fiarþunger and har (HL) have not been fully investigated.