(k-hastrup1985) # Medieval Icelandic Society # NEED TO FINISH TAKING NOTES, SEE PDF OF (k-hastrup1985) ***veröld*** = *verr* 'man' + ***öld*** 'age' (related to *ala* 'to bear or rear') ***innangarðs*** & ***útangarðs*** (*innihús* & *útihús*) inner and outter garden and house ***landnámsmenn*** ***þrælar*** (they were 'blackish' and had 'hooked noses' *hörfi svartan, niðrbjúgt nef*) Icelanders called their society ***vár lög*** 'our law', or, that which was ***hér í landi*** 'here in this land'. The wild equalled that which was outside the law and away from the centre. If one was ***sekt*** 'sentanced' (to outlawry) they would either be ***fjörbaugsgarðr*** 'banished' (for 3 years) or worse become ***skóggangr*** 'forest-going' permanently. Either way they lost their rights and property. ##### Fjörbaugsgarðr - The first term, ***fjörbaugsgarðr***, literally meant 'life-ring--fence'. This meant that the man had to pay a 'life-ring' to his ***goði*** for his life to be spared. Originally this was a silver ring, but later became equal to one *mörk*. If he could not pay this fine, he would be permanently outlawed. The *-garðr* part refered to the obligation of the sentanced man to stay within the confines of three *heimili* 'homes', that were to be not more than a day's journey from one another, while he was preparing to leave the country. The man was sacrosanct, ***heilagr***, at these places and on the roads between them, as well as within bowshot distance of the farmsteads (i.e. of their fences) and the roads. The sentanced man was not allowed to travel on the roads more than once a month, and if he happened to encounter anyone on the road he had to give way, so that he could not be reached by another man's spear. - The number ***3*** reoccurs in the legal process of banishment: the man had to leave for 3 summers, he had to be accompanied by two other people when leaving, if he asked 3 ship owners in vain for passage he had to return home and try again next summer. The shipowner could refuse to take the man on board if had had earlier accepted 3 outlaws. - If the man succeded in gaining passage he became ***heilagr*** 'sacred' while on board and when he returned later he would be treated like if he had never comitted the crimes. ##### Skóggangr - If the sentanced man failed to escape to a foreign country in the alotted time, he became ***skóggangr*** (permanently) outlawed. He was an ***skógarmaðr*** 'forest-man'. He was ***óæll*** 'not to be sustained', ***óferjandi*** 'not to be ferried', ***óráðandi öll bjargráð*** 'excluded from all kinds of help'. He could be killed by his countrymen with impunity. If he managed to leave the country in defiance of these rules, he was not allowed to return. Children born to be after his sentancing had no rights of inheritance. After Christianization, the man was excommunicated and could not be given a Christian burial. In Norway they were called *útlagi* outlaw', hence no sense of being in the wild forest like in Iceland, this was perhaps a result of the icelandic environment, but Iceland never literally had many trees besides some sparse birtches. - The **sentancing** had to happen outside the man's fence (i.e. outside the inviolable *innangarðs* home and in the public no mans land of útangarðs). Meanwhile the sentancing of the *fjörbaugsgarðr* was to take place INSIDE the fence, since that person was less of an outlaw and considered sacred inside certain boundaries. Outlaws were absored into the wild, actually and conceptually. The ***útilegumenn*** 'outlying men' was a category including humans as well as non-human beings (***landvættir***, ***huldufólk***, ***jötnar***, ***tröll***, ***álfar***). Hence outlaws were associated with these beings. Society, characterized by peace, had to put up a fence (*garðr*) between themselves and the wild. See (r-cleasby 1975p671) & (m-jorgensen 1924). It required an outlaw to defeat a supernatur being, they had to inhabit the same fighting ground (i.e. the wild). See *Grettir's Saga*. outcasts were often called *vargr* 'wolf', a child fathered by an outlaw was called *vargdropi* 'wolf's dropping' The centre of the icelandic 'wild' was the ***ódáðahraun*** 'the lava field of misdeeds' and physical place at the center of iceland on the boarder of the four quadrants, it belonged to none of them, it was apart of the ***óbyggðir*** 'the uninhabited space'. The lava field formed a kind of anti-center in conceptual opposition to the Althing. Ancient scandinavian proverb: ***með lögum skal land byggja*** 'with laws the country shall be built.' (law = society). The longer version is: ***Með lögum skal land byggja, en eigi með ólögum eyða*** 'With law the country shall be made inhabitable, and not with unlaw laid waste'. Hence build = make inhabitable. They construct society. Laws: **970AD** A law was passed decreeing that in some circumstances conversion to Christianity was to be regarded as a defilement of the *ætt* (*frændaskömm*). **1000AD** Christiany became the official state religion of Iceland by decision of the Althing. Certain heathen practices were still allowed, such as infanticide, the eating of horsemeat, and secret sacrifices to the heathen gods. **1006AD** Trial by combat *Hólmganga* was abolished. It took place at a small *hólmr* (islet) between land and Sea, just as the practice is between normal legal practices and normal ideas of Fate. *Útgarðr* was likewise reflected in the opposition between land and water.