article

Law and literature in medieval Iceland

Ethnos57 • Published In 1992 • Pages: 31-49

By: Durrenberger, E. Paul.

Abstract
Medieval Iceland was a stratified society without a state to enforce differential access to resources. Like other stateless societies its law defined private rather than public delicts. It did so in terms of the concepts of individual holiness, inviolateness, and ways one could lose holiness by violating other people's holiness. This concept was central to notions of honor. As the institutional structure collapsed, so did concepts of honor. Icelanders recorded their law and sagas about their past and the 13th century as a response to these changes (p. 31).
Subjects
Theoretical orientation in research and its results
Vocabulary
Real property
Verbal arts
Ethics
Districts
Legal norms
culture
Early Icelanders
HRAF PubDate
2004
Region
Europe
Sub Region
Scandinavia
Document Type
article
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
Analyst
John Beierle ; 2002
Field Date
no date
Coverage Date
tenth-thirteenth centuries AD
Coverage Place
general Iceland
Notes
E. Paul Durrenberger
Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-49)
LCCN
45053696
LCSH
Icelanders