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KIRKIU BOLKÆR.
Church Code.
Here begins the lawbook of the Westgoths. 1)
Christ is first in our law, 2| then is our Christian doctrine — church —
and all christians, kings, freeholders, and all having a settled home, bishops
and all booklearned men.
A child iB brought to church and baptism is asked, then shall father and
mother provide godfather and godmother, and salt and water. It shall
be brought to the church. Then they shall call on the priest. He shall live at
the parsonage of the parish. The child shall be primsigned 8) before it can
be brought into the church — firi utæn kirkiu dyr —. Then the baptismal font
shall be consecrated, the priest baptize the child, the godfather hold it and the
godmother name it. The priest shall say how long the father and mother
ßhall care for it. Is the child taken sick, can not be brought to church, then
the godmother shall hold it and the godfather baptize it in water, if that can
1) The lawbook of those Westgoths living in Västergötland. The other
states inhabited by them had their own laws.
2) This code is, no doubt, comparatively old, as Christianity was
introduced quite early in Västergötland (see intr.), but the fact that it has been
placed first in the manuscript, which we possess, does not indicate that it is
the oldest or the first written and adopted; it shows only, that in the opinion
of the copyist this code was the most important at this time; and he may also
by this arrangement have wished to place the law under the grace and
protection of Christ. Besides that the copyist may himself have been one of the
clergy.
8) Brymsighna: Priraum signum facere: primsigne. Before the child was
brought into the church to be baptized, the priest made the sign of the cross
on the child’s forehead and over its heart, and gave to it during prayers and
exorcisms the sanctifying salt. This custom was very common in the church
at that time, and a primsigned person enjoyed certain rights and privileges
on account of it. These rights and privileges were, however, different in
different countries. The church of Sweden was Boman Catholic until the
convention of Västerås 1527.
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