Vikings Is in the heart in every American Courtrooms
Find out How and Why below

Vikings Accepted No Insults

The Vikings did not tolerate insults You had to take care of your mouth in Viking times. If you wronged someone, you could be killed where you stood.

Science.no has taken a look at law and order in the Viking Age 

Lasse Biørnstad JOURNALIST 
Thursday, July 21, 2016 

It is easy to imagine the Vikings as a gang of ruthless barbarians who killed, raped and robbed without a conscience. But they had a complicated system of honor and justice that was probably developed over many hundreds of years, long before the Viking Age began.

Most of us have heard of these things. These were gathering places that made political decisions, made laws and convicted in murder cases, a common problem in the Viking Age. 

The word thing is still used, for example about the Storting. It could go hard. People were sentenced to death or outlawed following a verdict in parliament.

 Lawlessness meant that anyone could kill you, with no consequences. People settled among themselves by paying fines, or through the famous islet corridor - a duel where two men fought, often over women or property. 

But what was considered criminal in Viking times? 

How was it decided what kind of punishment they should receive? 

forskning.no has taken a closer look at a selection of law and justice in the Viking Age. The Vikings' sense of justice was quite different from the one we have today - and it could be bloody. 

Good to be open about crimes 

First we must try to think like a Viking from Scandinavia

What they thought was most degrading was not to take responsibility for their own actions

Therefore, theft was a particularly terrible crime

 If you had done something wrong, you had to report it

Then you had to defend yourself on the thing, and that was the honorable way to do it

But the point of stealing something is to hide one's own action

- Theft is by definition a crime where you hide your personal responsibility, says Keith Ruiter to forskningno

He is a doctoral fellow at the University of Aberdeen, and has, among other things, researched punishment in the Viking Age. 

For example, a theft is described in one of the Icelandic sagas, which is called Gretti's saga.

Gretti is a poet who is convicted outlaw in Iceland, and has to fend for himself for 20 years in the wilderness. 

He ends up stealing sheep from the farmers, Ruiter explains, but is discovered. 

- Then they pull out the gutter loop and are ready to hang him on the spot, Ruiter explains. Fortunately for Gretti, he is rescued by a noblewoman, but he would have been hanged right away if it had not been for the woman. 

- References to hanging are rare, but it seems that it was a particularly shameful way to be executed, Ruiter says. Otherwise, beheading was a frequently used execution method.

Many Viking slaves may have ended their days this way

You could get away with murder, but only as long as you were honest about it 

- Today we distinguish between premeditated, intentional and negligent murder, but the Vikings did not have the same distinction, says Anne Irene Riisøy to forskningno. 

She is an associate professor at the University College of Southeast Norway. Riisøy has previously worked with legislation and case law in the Middle Ages and early modern times in Norway, and now she researches law and justice in the Viking Age. 

- For example, arson or killing someone at night was seen as extremely contemptible, and therefore classified as murder. Then you did not give people the opportunity to defend themselves. But they distinguished between murder and murder. Murder was more acceptable, although it was not entirely okay.

You could kill someone in full public without it having serious consequences, because then you show what you do and give other people the opportunity to react to it, says Riisøy. 

You had to take responsibility for the murder that was committed, not run away, and pay compensation that was imposed on you. The same was true of murder in a fight or similar situations. 

- As long as you were honest and open, and announced what had happened, it was not considered murder, says Keith Ruiter.

Read also: Solves the Vikings' rune codes Vengeance It was also expected that a Viking would take revenge. 

It is even described in the old Gulating Act, which was probably written down in the 11th century and is Norway's oldest collection of laws. If someone did you an injustice, such as violence or insults, you could ask for financial compensation. 

But not more than three times, as long as you did not stand up for yourself

- If you had not taken revenge in the meantime, you could not ask for compensation in more than three cases, Riisøy explains. 

It was expected that you would take matters into your own hands if someone had done you an injustice. 

If you were unable to take revenge, you lost the opportunity to receive more financial compensation. 

Do not say ugly things 
And revenge could come immediately. Some types of insults were particularly life-threatening. Riisøy tells of a famous example from Iceland in the 980s, which is described in, among other things, the Icelandic Landnåma book. 

The German missionary Friederich traveled to Iceland with Thorvald Konradsson, an early Icelandic Christian. On the journey, they met the two men who gave Thorvald a bloody insult: 

The bishop (Friederich) has had nine children, Thorvald was the father of them all. 

Thorvald kills both men at once

He is not executed for this, but he is banished from Iceland. Insults, such as cowardice, could also trigger islets. 


Honesty lasts the longest 
Since it was so important to declare what you had done, great emphasis was placed on honesty,The judicial system depended on people being honest when claiming their innocence in court or in other contexts. 

Here it looks as if the Vikings had a fairly fixed, legal procedure, which we can still recognize today. 

- It was very important to swear to show that you were telling the truth or that you wanted to honor an agreement. 

These oaths were often sworn on objects, such as boats, swords or special rings, Riisøy says. 

- It was also used to seal peace agreements or just come to an agreement on one thing or another. 

In American courtrooms, the Bible is still sworn in, as we have seen in countless movies and TV series. 

Riisøy says that it was you who invoked the gods, for example "If I judge now, I will be afraid of Odin and Tor". 

They could also swear by the sword, and if they lied, the sword would turn against themselves.

 - There were probably some who thought that the oaths could make the sword cut down the culprit. 

The oath may have been a way of showing people and gods that they have given their word. It was a kind of security in the oath, says Riisøy. If people broke the oath, they were considered dishonest.

 - You had big problems if you were to enter into new agreements

- No one would trust you if you became known as a breaker

Also Tink: What kind of secrets are hidden in these runes? 

Poems, gods and laws 
But where do we get the knowledge about the Viking laws from? 

Most of it comes from early medieval laws that were written down after the Viking Age, such as the Gulating Act. 

The Vikings did not write down their own laws, but it is believed that parts of several of these laws are far older than the manuscripts themselves, which date from the 13th and 14th centuries. 

But there are also many laws and rules that shine through in the Edda poems. 

This is a collection of poems that was probably written down at the end of the 13th century. 

The poems are about the gods in Norse mythology, and have probably been told from person to person for several centuries before they were written down. 

One of these Edda stories is, for example, the famous story of when the jotnen Trym stole Thor's hammer to push through his own marriage to Frøya.

Anne Irene Riisøy is working on a research project that examines the legal references in the Edda poems. 

- The poems are full of legal episodes. The Norse gods swear by you and call to gatherings. 

- These poems were probably something that the whole population knew about, and it was stories that were known and loved. 

They have probably had an educational function on how to live and relate to society.