(
or ) or the Westrogothic law is the oldest
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
text written in
Latin script and the oldest of all
Swedish provincial laws.
[The Scanian law is older, but Scania was not incorporated into Sweden until late 17th century, and it is thus counted as a Danish law.] It was compiled in the early 13th century, probably at least partly at the instigation of
Eskil Magnusson and was the
code of law used in the provinces of
Västergötland and
Dalsland and in
Mo härad during the latter half of that century. The earliest complete text is dated 1281. Small fragments of an older text have been dated 1250.
This legal code exists in two versions, and (the Elder and Younger Westrogothic law, respectively). A first printing in modern times was published by and
Carl Johan Schlyter in 1827 (which made the text the subject of the earliest known
stemma
Stemma (plural stemmata) may refer to:
* In stemmatics, an approach to textual criticism, a stemma or stemma codicum is a diagram showing the relationships of the various versions of a text to earlier versions or manuscripts
* Tree-like diagrams ...
), and a new edition by in 1976.
The oldest manuscript of contains other material added by a priest called Laurentius in
Vedum
Vedum is a locality situated in Vara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 926 inhabitants in 2010.
The company ''Vedum Kök och Bad AB'', a manufacturer of kitchen and bathroom appliances, is located in Vedum.
The locality grew up ...
around 1325. This material is of varying nature, including notes on the border between Sweden and Denmark and lists of bishops in Skara,
lawspeakers in Västergötland and Swedish kings. The latter begins with
Olof Skötkonung
Olof Skötkonung, (Old Norse: ''Óláfr skautkonungr'') sometimes stylized as ''Olaf the Swede'' (c. 980–1022), was King of Sweden, son of Eric the Victorious and, according to Icelandic sources, Sigrid the Haughty. He succeeded his father in ...
and ends with
Johan Sverkersson
John I ( sv, Johan Sverkersson; c. 1201 – 10 March 1222) was the king of Sweden from 1216 until his death.
Background
John was the son of King Sverker II of Sweden of the House of Sverker and Queen Ingegerd of the Bjälbo dynasty. When he was o ...
.
In these years,
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that declared no one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for the
Byzantine Empire—to stop the emigration,
[Jansson 1980:22] especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians:
[Pritsak 1981:386] Kievan Rus' c. 980–1060 and
London 1018–1066 (the
Þingalið
The Thingmen was a unit in the service of the Kings of England during the period 1013–1051, financed by direct taxation which had its origins in the tribute known as Danegeld. It consisted mostly of men of Scandinavian descent and it had an i ...
).
See also
*
Geats
The Geats ( ; ang, gēatas ; non, gautar ; sv, götar ), sometimes called ''Goths'', were a large North Germanic tribe who inhabited ("land of the Geats") in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the late Middle Ages. They are one of th ...
*
Stones of Mora
The Stones of Mora () is a historic location in Knivsta, Sweden. Several Medieval kings of Sweden were proclaimed at
the assembly of Mora near modern Uppsala. It was moved in the 15th century and was considered to have been lost. However, ther ...
*
Varangians
*
Varangian Guard
References
Notes
Citations
External links
The Old Västergötland Lawfrom the
World Digital LibraryÄldre Västgötalagenfrom the
Swedish Literature Bank The Swedish Literature Bank is a non-profit organisation whose objective is making classic Swedish literature and literary criticism freely available in digital editions. It is a collaboration between the Swedish Academy, the National Library of Swe ...
Old Swedish and old Icelandic manuscriptsfrom the
National Library of Sweden
* Collin, H. S. and C. J. Schlyter (eds), ''Corpus iuris Sueo-Gotorum antiqui: Samling af Sweriges gamla lagar, på Kongl. Maj:ts. nådigste befallning'', 13 vols (Stockholm: Haeggström, 1827--77), vol. 1 a
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vastgotalagen
Germanic legal codes
Swedish non-fiction literature
Earliest known manuscripts by language
12th-century books
Legal history of Sweden
13th century in law
