Includes bibliographical references (pages 28-36) and indexes.
Contents:
Place Index. List of Contributors -- Týr, Fenrir and the Brísingamen : Tales of Law, Crime and Violence in Eddic Mythology and their Indo-European Subcontexts / Matthias Teichert -- Narrating Law : Legal Texts : Narrative Texts : Contexts -- Chieftains and the Legal Culture in Iceland c. 1100-1260 / Jón Viðar Sigurðsson -- Making King Hakon Great Again : Law, God, Morality and Power in Björgvin, 1223 / Hans Jacob Orning -- Law Personified : The Ignored Climactic Speeches of Brennu-Njáls saga / Ármann Jakobsson -- Laws of Narration : Narratological Approaches -- Court Poetry; Assemblies and Skaldic Verse / Hannah Burrows -- What is 'Good Law'? : Law as Communal Performance in the Íslendingasögur / Kyle Hughes -- Revenge or Settlement? : Law and Feud in Early Sagas of Icelanders / Roland Scheel -- Narrating Law : Discourses on Social Norms -- Berserks Behaving Badly : Manipulating Normative Expectations in Eyrbyggja saga / Keith Ruiter -- Social and Diegetic Hierarchies in Cases of Thievery : A Study of Mo̧ðruvallabók / Daniela Hahn -- Narrating Law : Mythological Traditions -- Feudal Law and Archaic Order : The Discussion of Different Social Systems in the Queens' Dispute in the Nibelungenlied / Heike Sahm -- History or Idea? : The Legendary Laws of Old Norsemen / Jiří Starý -- Vo̧lundr : a Gateway into the Legal World of the Vikings / Anne Irene Riisøy -- Týr, Fenrir and the Brísingamen : Tales of Law, Crime and Violence in Eddic Mythology and their Indo-European Subcontexts / Matthias Teichert -- Name Index -- Place Index.
Summary:
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.
Series:
Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde ; Band 117
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.