Scanian Law

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The oldest known vernacular manuscript (B74) of the Scanian Law and the Scanian Ecclesiastical Law, dated to c. 1250,^[1]presently stored at the Royal Library of Sweden, Stockholm.

Codex Runicus, a vellum manuscript from c. 1300 written entirely in runes, containing one of the oldest and best preserved texts of the Scanian Law and the oldest musical notation found in Scandinavia.

AM 37 4to, Anders Sunesøn's version of the Scanian Law and Scanian Ecclesiastical Law, with "Skaaningestrofenen" in the bottom margin.^[2]

Scanian law (Danish: Skånske Lov, Swedish: Skånelagen) is the oldest Danish and also the oldest Nordic provincial law, covering the geographic region of then Danish Skåneland (at the time including Halland, Blekinge and the island of Bornholm) as well as, for a short period, the island of Zealand. Denmark acceded Skåneland to Sweden by the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, and the Swedish government enforced Swedish customs and laws in the former Danish provinces from 1683 forward.

Scanian law was recorded in several medieval manuscripts, among others the Codex Runicus dated to around 1300, written entirely in runic lettering on parchment.^[3] The text of Codex Runicus consists of the Scanian Law and the Scanian Ecclesiastical Law (Skånske Kirkelov), a settlement detailing the administration of justice agreed upon by the Scanians and the archbishop in the late 12th century, as well as a section not related to law, also written in runes, but in another hand.

The Scanian Law was originally set down between 1202 and 1216. It was also translated into Latin in the early 13th century by the Danish Archbishop Anders Sunesøn.

[edit] Manuscripts containing the Scanian Law

Codex Runicus (AM 28 8vo) is the most famous of several manuscripts from the 13th to 15th centuries containing handwritten copies of the Scanian Law.^[4][5] The second part of the Codex Runicus manuscript consists of two short historical texts: a fragment of a list of Danish kings and a chronicle beginning with the legendary Danish king Hadding's son Frode and ending with Eric VI of Denmark. Following the historical texts is a description of the oldest border between Denmark and Sweden and at the last leaf, the notes and words of the oldest preserved piece of music known in Denmark,^[6] a verse with accompanying musical notation on a four-line staff - the first musical notations written in Scandinavia.

Another well-known manuscript is Anders Sunesøn's 13th century Latin paraphrase of the Scanian Law (AM 37 4to), created for an international readership. According to linguist Einar Haugen, the Latin paraphrase was a difficult task for the 13th century scribes: "In his desperate efforts to find Latin equivalents for Danish legal terms, the archbishop is driven to insert expressions in Danish, describing them as being so called in materna lingua vulgariter, or natale ydioma, or vulgari nostro, or most often lingua patria."^[7] AM 37 4to also contains a vernacular version of the Scanian Ecclesiastical Law, to which it owes much of its claim to fame. In a footnote in the margin of the epilogue to the Scanian Ecclesiastical Law, a second 13th-14th century hand has added a note in the margin known as the Skaaningestrofen (the "Scanian Stanza"). The younger Scanian scribe's comment reads:

Hauí that skanunga ærliki mææn toco vithar oræt aldrigh æn.

(Let it be known that Scanians are honorable men who have never tolerated injustice.)^[8]

Another version of the Scanian Law is recorded in the composite volume Ledreborg 12 12mo (dated to the 14th century), which contains an adaptation of the Scanian Law for use within the area of Zealandic judicature. Apart from the Scanian Law and the Scanian Ecclesiastical Law, the Ledreborg manuscript has other Scanian legal material: the Scanian version of Eric V of Denmark’s Vordenborg Decree of March 19, 1282 and his Nyborg Decree for Scania of May 26, 1284.

[edit] Oldest known manuscript

The oldest known version of the Scanian Law and the Scanian Ecclesiastical Law can be found in a manuscript from around 1225-1275 (SKB B74 or Cod Holm B74), held at the Swedish Royal Library in Stockholm. Another early version exists in SKB B76 4to, estimated to have been written in 1325. Both contain parts of early versions of the Scanian Law and the Scanian Ecclesiastical Law, thought to be close to the first recorded versions from the late 12th century or early 13th century which have not been preserved. However, they were edited continuously during late medieval times and contain pages with writings from different periods. SKB B76 4to is locally referred to as the "Hadorphian manuscript", after the 17th century Swedish scholar Johan Hadorph (1630-93), a colleague of Olof Rudbeck's at Uppsala University, who edited the manuscript in 1676.^[9] Johan Hadorph, along with Olaus Verelius (1618-82), the leaders of the Swedish Hyperborean movement,^[10] were in charge of the Swedish Academy of Antiquities at Uppsala University, instituted by Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie. Some of the manuscripts edited there were bought from the widow of late Danish professor Stephanius in 1652 and others were war booty from the war of 1658.^[11] A third manuscript in Stockholm from around 1325, SKB B69 4to, was likely written by a scribe from Malmö, according to Danish linguist Britta Olrik Frederiksen; the manuscript's Malmö connection has been postulated "to explain a number of linguistically eccentric passages".^[9]

The medieval Scanian manuscripts held at the Royal Library of Sweden are not offered for public view in digitized versions, but similar medieval provincial laws for other regions (such as Västgötalagen) can be accessed through the library's website.^[12] The project Medieval Manuscripts at Lund University Library - Preservation and Access at the St. Laurentius Digital Manuscript Library, Lund University, Scania, does however offer digital files online of a 15th century version of the Scanian Law.^[13]

[edit] Context

A number of medieval Scandinavian provincial and national law collections have been preserved. The dates cited below are the dates of the oldest verifiable extant copy; various laws have been asserted to be older and thing-derived provincial laws^[14] clearly predate these recorded laws.^[15] . In the timeline below, blue bars denote provincial laws while pink bars denote national laws.

[edit] References and notes

1. ^ Jørgensen. Merete K. (1999). "Det danske sprog i den middelalderlige bog". In Levende Ord & Lysende Billeder - Den middelalderlige bogkultur i Danmark. Det Kongelige Bibliotek, 1999, pp. 185-192. In Danish. Online version retrieved 23 February 2007.
2. ^ AM 37 4to: Anders Sunesøns parafrase af Skånske lov på latin (bl. 7r-58v) og Skånske kirkelov på dansk (bl. 59r-62r). Scanned version from The Arnamagnæan Institute at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen. In Danish. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
3. ^ The Codex Runicus can be found at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
4. ^ Some other manuscripts are AM37 4, AM41 4, B74, B76, B79, B69, C54 (Sth C54). See source list at Kildeartikler. Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab (DSL). In Danish. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
5. ^ Manuscript Department. Skaansk Lovhaanskrift. The Royal Library of Denmark. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
6. ^ Krabbe, Niels (2007). "The Earliest Evidences of Musical Activities". In Gyldendal Leksikon, published online by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark at Cultural Denmark: Music. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
7. ^ Haugen, Einar. "The mother tongue". In The Influence of Language on Culture and Thought. Eds. Cooper, Robert L. and Bernard Spolsky. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991. ISBN 3110128063, p. 77.
8. ^ AM 37 4to: Anders Sunesøns parafrase af Skånske lov på latin (bl. 7r-58v) og Skånske kirkelov på dansk (bl. 59r-62r). Scanned version from The Arnamagnæan Institute at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen. In Danish. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
9. ^ ^{a b} Frederiksen, Britta Olrik (2003). "The history of Old Nordic manuscripts IV: Old Danish". In The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages. Volume 1, Eds. Oskar Bandle et. al. Walter De Gruyter: 2003. ISBN 3110148765, p. 819-823.
10. ^ Flemming Lundgreen-Nielsen. "Nordic language history and the history of ideas I: Humanism". In The Nordic Languages: an international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages. Eds. Oskar Bandle et al., Vol I. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2002. ISBN 3110148765, p. 358:"The term 'hyperborean' has been taken from odes by Pindar and Horace, literally meaning 'people living north of the north wind (Boreas). [Olaus Verelius, the founder] perpetuated Johannes Magnus' viewpoint that human culture began in Sweden with the Goths; [...] The height of the nationalistic theory of Gothic origins can be found in the work of Olof Rudbeck".
11. ^ Flemming Lundgreen-Nielsen. "Nordic language history and the history of ideas I: Humanism". In The Nordic Languages: an international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages. Eds. Oskar Bandle et al., Vol I. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2002. ISBN 3110148765, p. 358: "King Gustav Adolph appointed two antiquarians in 1630 to gather Swedish runic texts. In 1652, Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie bought the library and collections to of the late Danish professor Stephanius from his poverty-stricken widow, in 1658 he acquired the famous library of Danish nobleman Jørgen Seefeld as war booty, and in 1667 he instituted a Swedish Academy of Antiquities at Uppsala, stimulating some fruitful activity."
12. ^ Manuscript collection and archives. National Library of Sweden, 26 January 2004. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
13. ^ Provincial law of Scania (1450-1500). Lund University Library, Medeltidshandskrift 41.
14. ^ The thing met at regular intervals, legislated, elected chieftains and petty kings, and judged according to oral law, memorized and recited by the "law speaker" (the judge).
15. ^ Sawyer, Birgit; Peter Sawyer (1993). Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation, circa 800-1500. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. ISBN 0-8166-1739-2.