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60
THE LAW OF" THE WE8TGOTH8. 60
1>ÆTTÆ ÆR RÆTLÖSU BOLKÆR.
This is the code on lawlessness.
The Svear i) have a right to accept and to reject a king. 2) He shall come
with safeconduct from the upper country and into Östergötland. Then he
shall send messengers over here to the thing of all Goths. There the lawmanS)
shall appoint as hostages two men from the southern and two men from the
northern part of the land. Then four other men from the state shall be sent
with them. They shall go to meet him at Junabäck.4) The hostages from
Östergötland shall follow thither and testify, that he has been accepted as
king by them according to their law.
Then shall the thing of all Goths provide for his entertainment. When he
arrives at the thing, he shall swear faithfully to all the Goths, that he shall
not transgress the right law of our land. Then shall the lawman first declare
him king, and then others, whomsoever he may ask so to do.
1. The king shall then grant liberty to three men, who have not
committed felony.
2.
A bishop is to be appointed, then the king shall ask all the inhabitants of
the land, whom they want. He shall be the son of a freeholder. Then the
king shall put into his hand staff and gold ring. Then he shall be conducted
into church and placed in the episcopal chair. Then he has full power except
consecration, b)
1) Svear (Icelandic Sviar) was the name of the people inhabiting
Svealand. (Seeintr.).
2) That this paragraph is found under the heading "Lawlessness" may
perhaps be accounted for by the fact, that the Gautar never liked to have the
king of Upsala as their king. The supremacy of the Svear in political matters
was very distasteful to the Gautar. The paragraphs relating to the chosing
of bishop and lawman, being closely connected with the one governing the
choice of king, were then put in the same place, although they otherwise
evidently do not belong there.
3) Laghmapær: Lawman. Chief justice and governor of the state, the most
powerful man within its borders.
4) Junæbækkær: Juna creek. A creek on the border between
Västergötland and Småland near Jönköping, where the hostages from
Västergötland should meet the king.
6) The meaning evidently is, that he had received all the power of a bishop
as an officer of the government, but as long as he lacked consecration himself,
he could not consecrate others.
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