Medieval Sourcebook:
King Harald Harfager of Norway (r. 860-930):
Laws for Land Property
King Harald made this law over all the lands he conquered, that all the udal (allodial)
property should belong to him; and that the bondes, both great and small, should pay him
land dues for their possessions. Over every district he set an earl to judge according to
the law of the land and to justice, and also to collect the land dues and the fines; and
for this each earl received a third part of the dues, and services, and fines, for the
support of his table and other expenses. Each earl had under him four or more herses, each
of whom had an estate of twenty marks yearly income bestowed on him and was bound to
support twenty men-at-arms, and the earl slxty men, at their own expenses. The king had
increased the land dues and burden so much, that each of his earls had greater power and
income than the kings had before; and when that became known at Throndhjem, many great men
joined the king and took his service.
Source.
From: The Heimskringla, A History of the Kings of Norway, trans. Samuel Laing,
Esq., in Anglo-Saxon Classics, Vol. 1, ed. Rasmus B. Anderson, (New York: The
Norroena Society, 1911), pp. 20-21, reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A
Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (New York: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936;
reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), pp. 28-29
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by
Prof. Arkenberg.
This text is part of the Internet
Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and
copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.
Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational
purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No
permission is granted for commercial use.
© Paul Halsall, September 1998
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet
Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
the Fordham University Center
for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not
the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 15 November 2024 [CV]
|
