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have been a pre-Christian law containing at least some of the material in
that manuscript. Despite the largely non-poetic language, there are many
alliterative phrases and some residual rhythmic passages. If there were
no single lawman reciting the law, then perhaps the duty rotated among
the elders, and GL originated as a result of a group of them agreeing
upon a text to be recited. This might explain some slight inconsistencies
and apparent repetitions, to be found within each of the manuscripts.
The opening words of GL, invoking Christianity and revoking
heathendom, provide us with a clue to the origin of the text. There are
remarkable similarities between these words and those of the older law
of Gulaing (GulL), the oldest manuscript of which dates from about the
middle of the thirteenth century. The latter states:
at er upphaf laga varra at ver scolom luta austr oc biia til hins helga Crist ars
oc friar. Oc ess at vr halldem lande varo bygu. Oc lnar drotne varom
heilum. Se hann vinr varr, en ver hans. En Gu se allra varra vinr. at er nu vi
nest . . . (NGL 1, 3)
This is the beginning of our laws: that we should bow to the east and pray to
the holy Christ for good harvest and peace; and that we retain our settled land.
And keep our liege lord in health. Let him be a friend to us and we to him. And
let God be a friend to all. The next thing is . . .
INTRODUCTION xxxv
It has been suggested that this similarity can be explained by assuming
that the Christian section of the Gotlandic law was composed during a
visit to Gotland by St Olaf in 1030 or thereabouts and his conversion of
the Gotlanders to Christianity. Schlyter, however, who considers GL to
date from the last quarter of the thirteenth or first quarter of the four-
teenth centuries, suggests a later influence from Norway and this view is
supported by Pernler (see CIG, vi vii; Beckman 1920, 12 13; Wessn
1945a, 160; Schck 1945, 182; SL IV, lxxiii lxxiv; Pernler 1977, 16 19).
A later borrowing of certain selected passages seems to be a possible
explanation for the similarities, since the church laws in the older law of
Gulaing differ quite fundamentally from those (such as they are) in GL.
Had St Olaf been involved in the initial development of the law in
Gotland, the relevant provisions would surely have been more exten-
sive. It is noticeable also that penalties for infringing church laws are
much more severe in the older law of Gulaing than they are in equiva-
lent passages in GL. In particular, total forfeiture of property and
banishment are frequently imposed as punishments in the former, whereas
GL only implies banishment (but not outlawry) for a woman who cannot
pay the fine for infanticide, i.e. as a punishment of last resort. The sec-
tions relating to the exposure of children in a number of Norwegian law
texts begin in a similar manner to that in GL (Chapter 2, lines 2 3:
at er nu vinest. At barn huert scal ala a lande varo er boret verr (GulL 21;
NGL 1, 12).
The next thing is that every child born in our land should be nurtured.
Ala skal barn hurt, er boret urr en ngu spilla. Sina sng for skal hur
kona uita, oc lata barn til kirkiu bera (EidsL I (B-text), 1; NGL 1, 375).
Every child born shall be nurtured and none killed. Every woman must
acknowledge her childbed and allow the child to be taken to church.
Ala skal barn huart, er boret er ok ngo spilla. Sin sngfor skal huar kona
vita, ok lata barn til kirkiu bera (EidsL II (C-text), 1; NGL 1, 394).
Every child born shall be nurtured and none killed. Every woman must
acknowledge her childbed and allow the child to be taken to church.
The older law of Gulaing, however, contains the proviso that severely
deformed children might be exempt, and detailed laws concerning bap-
tism, completely absent from GL. On the other hand, the B-text of the
older Christian law of Eisivaing (EidsL) is particularly close to the
text in GL (Beckman 1920, 11 12).
One of the greatest differences between Norwegian and Gotlandic
society was the hierarchy that seems to have existed in the former. Below
xxxvi
THE LAW OF THE GOTLANDERS
the king and two levels of aristocracy were three levels of free, landown-
ing farmers. There is no indication in GL of any inequality between
people apart from that between the free, slaves and non-Gotlanders.
Admittedly, tenant farmers had different obligations from landowning
ones, but there are no provisions that appear to have affected their status
in any other regard. The conclusion would seem to be that, while the law
makers might have borrowed phrases from other laws with which they
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