Administrative, Judicial and Fiscal Subdivisions
This appendix outlines the administrative, judicial and fiscal subdivisions, according to Danish laws, Swedish provincial laws, Guta law, Norwegian laws before the Norwegian law of the realm (1274) and Icelandic laws. This is an attempt to show the relevant hierarchies within each law as expressed in that particular law, and supplemented by old and recent research as noted in the encyclopedic articles.
This type of presentation might lead to the conclusion that the medieval borders as well as the administrative, judicial and fiscal divisions are well known and well researched.
However, the degree to which the medieval borders and the administrative, judicial and fiscal divisions are known and researched varies substantially, from established facts to mere assumptions on behalf of an individual researcher. It must also be remembered that any law may reflect different chronological layers of divisions, and that the divisions may have various origins and have been made for different purposes. You may, therefore, also find two different terms in the same 'box', thus indicating that their relationship is not fully investigated or that there were parallel systems. The ecclesiastical divisions are not included here as they do not appear in the translated versions of the laws used for the lexicon.
Headwords in the lexicon: ar (1), attunger, bol, broafiol, fiarþunger, folkland, fylki, hamna, har, hundari, hæraþ, land, leþunger, leþungslami, manngerð, roþin (see roþarætter in the lexicon) siettungr skipen, skiplagh, skipreiða, sysel, þriþiunger.
- JyL. The Law of Jutland (Jyske lov).
- VSjL. Valdemar's Law for Zealand (Valdemars sjællandske lov).
- ESjL. Erik's Law for Zealand (Eriks sjællandske lov).
- SkL. The Law of Scania (Skånske Lov, Skånelagen).
- SkKL. The Church Law of Scania (Skånske kirkelov).
| JyL | VSjL, ESjL | SkL |
|---|---|---|
| land | land | land |
| sysel | ||
| hæreth | hæreth | hæreth |
| fiarthing | ||
| bol / skipen | bol / atting | bol / atting |
| havne | havne | havne |
Fiarthing used as an administrative unit is found only in JyL.
The use and meaning of the low-level divisions (atting, bol, havne and skipen) may vary depending on time and geographical area. By the 1250s the ecclesiastical divisions into sokn were gradually gaining importance and so was landsby. This, however, is not reflected in the translated versions of the laws, and therefore not shown here.
