Jónsbók and the Monarchical Project for Iceland
On September 9th, 2021, a group of international scholars will gather in Bergen to discuss the role of the Icelandic lawcode Jónsbók in the Monarchical Project of the Norwegian Kings during the Middle Ages.
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Iceland was integrated into the Norwegian kingdom between 1262 and 1264, becoming a skattland [‘tributary land’], accepting to pay taxes and be ruled by the Norwegian kings. The legal compilation issued for Iceland by King Magnus VI Lagabøte [‘law-mender’] in 1280 and approved by the Icelandic General Assembly a year later, represents the ambition of the Norwegian king of unifying the legal space in his kingdom and becoming a legislator, in the fashion of other contemporary rulers in Western Europe in the thirteenth century.
The present conference invites some of the leading scholars to discuss how historical and legal changes influenced each other and shaped Norwegian and Icelandic societies. The conference will cover four themes:
1. Historical context of the introduction of Jónsbók;
2. Landslov and Jónsbók;
3. Royal and Ecclesiastical jurisdictions;
4. Manuscripts of Jónsbók: transmission and translation.
The aim of the conference is to facilitate the exchange of ideas concerning legal developments, innovations in legal codes, possible external influences on Norwegian and Icelandic legal cultures, focused on, but not limited to Jónsbók.
This conference is organized by the “Transformations of Medieval Law: Innovation and Application in Early Modern Norwegian Law Books”, funded by the Trond Mohn Foundation. It will take place in Bergen, Norway, at the Grand Hotel Terminus.
