One ox and two aura [in fine] [to ?] staf [or] aura staf [in fine] for the restoration
of a cult site (vi) in a valid state for the first time; two oxen and four aura for the
second time; but for the third time four oxen and eight aura; and all property in
suspension, if he doesn’t make right. That, the people are entitled to demand,
according to the law of the people that was decreed and ratified before.
But they made [the ring, the statement or?], Anund from Tåsta and Ofeg from
Hjortsta. But Vibjörn carved.Today it seems more obvious to date the Forsa rune ring to the ninth century, which
makes its previous title of ‘the oldest law-rule in Scandinavia’ of course even more
accurate (Brink 1996 ; Källström 2007 : 145 , 201 – 2 ; Williams, ch. 21 , below). We here
have a legal text, a kind of law-rule, from the early Viking Age. It has been proposed
that it regulates the maintenance of a vi, a cult and assembly site (Ruthström 1990 ). For
the failure of restoring the vi in a legal way, you should pay fines, one ox and two aura
(ørar) for the first time, two oxen and four ørar for the second time and four oxen and
eight ørar the third time, and failing this, all your property was to be suspended.
Perhaps the most important part of the inscription is the phrase svað liuðir æigu at
liuðrétti ‘that, which the people are entitled to demand according to the people’s right’
(hence, the law of the land). Thus, we have here evidence of a special kind of law of the
people or the land (most certainly Hälsingland), a liuðréttr, cf. ON lýðréttr (see von See
1964 : 57 ff.). This statement is unique for Viking Age Scandinavia, to my knowledge,
and it actually supports the statement by Snorri Sturluson, that different people had
different laws in early Scandinavia. The Forsa rune ring must be looked upon as one of
the most important artefacts of the early Viking Age, and for shedding light on early
Scandinavian society.
BIBLIOGRAPHYFor runic inscriptions, se Samnordisk runtextdatabas: http://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskning/samnord.htm.
Bagge, S. ( 1989 ) [Review of Elsa Sjöholm 1988 ], (Norsk) historisk tidsskrift, 69 : 500 – 7.
——( 2001 ) ‘Law and justice in Norway in the Middle Ages: a case study’, in L. Bisgaard et al.
(eds) Medieval Spirituality in Scandinavia and Europe. A Collection of Essays in Honour of Tore
Nyberg, Odense: Odense University Press.
Barlau, S.B. ( 1981 ) ‘Old Icelandic kinship terminology: an anomaly’, Ethnology. An international
journal of cultural and social anthropology, 20 : 191 – 202.
Barnes, M. ( 1974 ) ‘Tingsted’, KL, 18 : 382 – 7.
Brink, S. ( 1996 ) ‘Forsaringen. Nordens äldsta lagbud’, in E. Roesdahl and P. Meulengracht
Sørensen (eds) Beretning fra femtende tværfaglige vikingesymposium (Beretning fra Det
Tværfaglige Vikingesymposium 15 ), Højbjerg: Hikuin.
——( 2003 a) ‘Law and legal customs in Viking Age Scandinavia’, in J. Jesch (ed.) Scandinavians
from the Vendel Period to the Tenth Century, San Marino: CIRSS.
——( 2003 b) ‘Legal assemblies and judicial structure in early Scandinavia’, in P. Barnwell and
M. Mostert (eds) Political Assemblies in the Earlier Middle Ages (Studies in the Early Middle
Ages), Brepols: Turnhout.
——( 2004 ) ‘Legal assembly sites in early Scandinavia’, in A. Pantos and S. Semple (eds) Assembly
Places and Practices in Medieval Europe, Dublin: Four Courts Press.
Bugge, S. ( 1877 ) ‘Runeskriften paa Ringen i Forsa Kirke i nordre Helsingland’, Festskrift til Det
Kgl. Universitet i Upsala ... 1 , Kristiania: no publ.
–– chapter 2 : Law and society––