Suffering

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Leidang (Old Norse " leiðangr ") is the name for the sea ​​armor based on early conscription , according to which certain regional units had to build, equip and man a warship.

etymology

The word is derived from a reconstructed expression * leið-gagn . The word component leið (path, direction, entourage) can be found in leiðing (direction, leadership) and leiðingi (leader). The word component gagn means “device, tool, means”. When contracting, the "g" is omitted. * leið-gagn is said to have been a fully equipped warrior division in the basic meaning.

Emergence

The order of suffering is known from the laws of all Scandinavian countries from the period between the end of the 12th century to the 14th century. It is also passed down in the Skaldend , in the king and family sagas. Further sources are diplomas and other documents, such as King Waldemar's land register . From this it can be deduced that the organization of suffering was related to other administrative territorial divisions. How this order was introduced in the Scandinavian countries and whether it developed in each country independently of the other countries is controversial among historians. Norwegian historians assume that the ordinance of suffering in the east of the Oslofjord (Viken) was introduced after the Danish model under Danish sovereignty before the unification of the Norwegian Empire. But the sources do not provide any reliable information on this. Most of the sources date from the time when the transition to dispensing was already under way. Since in these cases the amount of the tax and the district that had to collect the tax had to be delimited by law, it cannot be concluded from these sources that it was already sharp in the earlier period when the obligation to suffer was still a real defense obligation was defined.

Duty to suffer in the regions

Norway

Original scheme

After the Heimskringla , Håkon the Good introduced the obligation to suffer. Today it is assumed that there is a real core to Snorri's tradition insofar as it is an agreement between the king and the organized peasant society at the thing assemblies . But Snorri's description of fixed districts and defined duties was a back projection of the contemporary conditions known to him to the 10th century. According to the historian Ebbe Hertzberg , the obligation to suffer is said to have originated in the Danish sovereignty over the southeastern parts of Viken (Oslofjord), and this view is still prevalent today.

The Leidang is already mentioned in his poems by the skald Þjóðolfr Arnórsson († 1066). How the Leidang was organized is not apparent from his poems. The will of King Magnus lagabætir from 1277 shows that the entire country, with the exception of the Ostlandstäler and Uppland , was divided into 279 ship districts, but does not provide any information about the original conditions. The division of Trøndelag into 5–10 shipping districts must primarily have had a fiscal background. The term "ship district" (Skipreiða) is apparently not very old and was only formed in connection with the replacement by a tax. Because he doesn't appear in Frostathingslov yet. Rather, the Fylke , i.e. the general state administrative division, was decisive there. Under Håkon the good , the country was divided into regional quarters ( fjorðungr ), these into shipping roads ( skipreiða ) and these in turn into farm communities, which together had to equip a fighter ( manngerð ). In later sources, the total number of ships no longer corresponds to the number of ships in the roadsteads, which may be due to the change from the twenty-seaters to twenty-five-seaters under King Sverre in the second half of the 12th century. The starting point seems to have been the manngerð , a district of three farms, which had to provide and equip a warrior. This regulation is namely the oldest in the laws, and this suggests that the shipping roads were a secondary loose association that was only fixed later. Bull assumes that the regulations on the manning of the ships, the selection of the skipper by the king and the selection of the men by the skipper were only made when one switched from the twenty-seater to the twenty-five-seater.

In the Landslov of King Magnus lagabætir it is then regulated that in the event of a defense, the full contingent must be made, while in a war of aggression and conquest, without the consent of the peasants, only half the contingent needs to be made.

Some sources describe the compulsory suffering, but the figures are not very reliable: The first great suffering voyage outside the country was that of Olav Tryggvason to Vendland, which ended in the sea ​​battle of Svolder . He had 11 large ships, some 20-seater and smaller, with him when he set off from Nidaros in the year 1000. All in all, he started with 60 ships. Olav the Saint moved to Sjælland in 1025 or 1026 with a fleet of 60 ships and invaded the North Sea kingdom of Canute the Great while he was in England. Here the saga mentions that a number of ships turned back on the Norwegian border, as they could only be called up for defense due to their duty to suffer, but did not have to follow a war of aggression abroad. Harald Hardråde started his invasion of England in 1066, in which he fell at the Battle of Stamford Bridge , using a total of 200 ships. In view of this undertaking and the fact that he also took boats and supply ships with him, this is not considered to be ruled out. If the sources report that Sigurdur jórsalafari set out for Denmark with a fleet of 360 ships - and there are several reports of suffering with such fleets - this is contradicted by the fact that the full fleet, which was never reached, was only 310 ships.

Priests, their wives and servants were exempt from the contingent. This is due to the church's growing opposition to clergymen carrying arms. The Setesvein were also exempted. German merchants were also exempt from certain obligations to suffer. The councilors were also exempt from the obligation to suffer.

development

The obligation to suffer soon changed into an annual fee. In some areas this development began as early as the end of the 12th century and was completed in the 13th century. The amount was levied on property and land holdings and was thus converted from a poll tax to a property tax. This property tax was linked to the lease of land to the king and rose or fell with it. This tax regularly referred to half of the reporting obligation in peacetime, when the fight could only be a war of aggression. It was the only statutory tax in the country. It was called borðleiðang . In the case of defense, the full tax, the útfaraleiðang , had to be paid. From the tax lists of the 16th and 17th centuries it can be seen that not only the coastal districts had to pay suffering tax, but also the districts inland. Uppland had to pay the tax every third year. This was usually the full amount of the útfaraleiðang , sometimes an extra tax.

Iceland

In Iceland, the Leidang was first used in 1286 to defend the Oslofjord (Vik). All but 40 royal men ( håndgangene mend ) were ordered to go to Norway in each district. According to another source, it should be 240 peasants and most of the kingsmen. The vast majority of Icelanders viewed this requirement as a new tax tender and no one was sent. The requirement contradicted the Union Treaty ("gamli sáttmáli"). But with the recess of July 2, 1294, the Jónsbók , which essentially contained the Landslov, was introduced, in which the obligation to suffer as a property tax was arranged. There are several Icelandic sources expressing the need to pay the suffering tax, but none about the fact that it was paid at some point.

Denmark

To defend the empire, a law of 1299 divided the country into districts ( skiben ), a group of havne . Ein havne was one of the levy districts ( lægde ) into which the inhabited land was divided for the purpose of distributing the defensive loads . Usually a skibe corresponded to a commune. A skibe was required to provide a warship with equipment and crew. The cost was borne by the farmers and the havne that made up the skiben . The number of skiben is given in the Knýtlinga saga of 1260 as 850, or based on the larger hundred of 120 as 940. Since there were almost 200 municipalities around 1200, this figure, which comes to 4–5 skiben per municipality, is doubtful. According to the Hallands list in the Waldemar- Erdbuch from 1231, there were 18 skiben à 16–42 havne in Halland's eight municipalities. The extensive exemptions from the obligation to suffer for the church and other privileged circles and the associated disengagement from their lands from the skibe must have led to a rapid decline in the number of skibe and havne . King Abel sought to counteract this situation by decreing in 1250 that every skibe should have 42 havne . This had to lead to a reorganization of the defense organization and should have been combined with a complete ban on exemption from the obligation to suffer. But the development went in the opposite direction and dissolved the skibe division from within. In 1295 the church of Roskilde received back some confiscated skibe , so that their contribution to the suffering was accounted for by about seven self-builders.

But for the 12th century, when the exemption from the obligation to suffer, the information in the Knýtlinga saga is entirely credible. According to Saxo Grammaticus , Bishop Absalon von Lund took part in a campaign against Rügen in 1159 under King Waldemar . His suffering fleet was 260 ships, which were provided by Skåne, Sjælland, Falster and Lolland, which consisted of 56 municipalities, so in the early days an average of 4–5 skibe per municipality.

The king was in command of the suffering fleet. Every passion ship was under the command of the helmsman. The office soon became hereditary to the sons. While the peasants had the normal equipment with sword, helmet and spear as well as the shield belonging to the ship, the helmsman was heavily armed in a knightly manner. He must have a horse, a well, and a crossbow with arrows. If he couldn't handle the crossbow himself, he had to have a marksman with him. In return he had the right to collect a levy from the havne for these expenses . In addition to these heavily armed helmsmen, there were also heavily armed nobles. They made up the real fighting strength of the army, while the peasants descended to rowers and junior fighters. This knight army was the reason for the Danish supremacy in the Baltic Sea in the 12th and 13th centuries. This also had a social impact, as the knights gradually developed into their own class.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the fleet was modernized to meet the demands of the war against Norway and the expansion into northern Germany. One went from the previous ships of passion to cogs with a carrying capacity of approx. 100 t. The economic basis was achieved through the abolition of the tax exemption and the exemption of the farmers who were previously not subject to suffering. All income was assessed, and for every 1000 loads of grain there was the obligation to equip a cog. According to the old assessment data, Sjælland had to equip around 5 at most 10 cogs compared to the previous 120 ships of passion.

After 1304, the farmers were able to replace the obligation to suffer with a fixed fee. A distinction was also made in Denmark between the levy in peacetime and in the event of war.

Sweden

The oldest source for the Swedish passion are the old Swedish laws, especially the Östgötalag . There the topics “útrór” (rowing out, so the war trip), “wardhald” (coastal defense) and “leiðangskatt” (Leidang tax) are dealt with.

The oldest rural districts in Sweden were called " hund ". It was from them composed the areas Tiunderland (from ten dog consisting) Attundaland (8 dog made) and Fjerdrundaland (4 dog made). These areas together formed " Swethiud " (Sweden, today Uppland). The dog itself was divided into halftar , fjärdingar and åttingar (halves, quarters and eighths). Four dog were a hundari .

Each dog had to provide a ship, which was manned by a helmsman and 24 rowers. Since four hund had to muster 100 men, this unit was called hundari . Each ship was divided into hamnar ( oar seats ) and årtullar ( oarlocks ). The land was equally divided, and every farm was in such a hamna . This had the duty to contribute his part to the maintenance, equipment and manning. The farms of a hamna had two fighters who sat on a rowing bench with sword, spear, shield, iron hat, well and bow with three dozen arrows. Then there was the food that had to be provided.

In the areas on the Gulf of Bothnia, the Leidang district was called skiplagh and coincided with the local thing districts. In Östergötland the municipality ( herrað ) was the Leidang district .

development

The suffering fleet lost its importance towards the end of the 13th century. New types of vehicles emerged that were more effective in naval warfare. In addition, the Gutasaga reports in Chap. 6 that the obligation to suffer soon only applied to campaigns against pagans, but not against Christians. The real obligation to suffer was replaced by a tax on suffering in the form of a property tax. In addition, the importance of the cavalry grew. The fact that King Albrecht of Mecklenburg introduced exemptions from the obligation to suffer also speaks for the ongoing decline . Over time, the real obligation to suffer was reduced to the provision of ship's food. It is believed that Birger Jarl initiated this development after his campaign in Finland.

Finland

There are few sources about the passion for Finland. But they do show that the Leidang was also organized in the south-west of Finland. In Åland you only come across his trail in the 16th century in the form of certain taxes (“ledungslama”). Certain place names in western Finland that begin with “Led–” are associated with suffering . For the mainland there are some documents from which the suffering can be seen by describing the districts concerned. There is a letter from the Swedish King Karl Knudsson dated May 6, 1450, in which he stipulates the number of ships to be presented per herad for the southern and northern Finns . After that, each herad had to provide two ships , a Snekkja with 16 loads and a boat for riflemen with 6 or 7 loads.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Falk and Torp; Alexander Johannesson, Icelandic Etymological Lexicon . Bern 1956. pp. 296 and 736; Jan de Vries: Old Norse etymological dictionary. Leiden 1977. p. 350.
  2. ↑ Bjørkvik Sp. 434 with references from Norwegian literature.
  3. ↑ Hertzberg p. 247 ff.
  4. ↑ Þjóðolfr Arnórsson was an Icelandic skald. He wrote about King Magnus the Good and was court poet to King Harald Hardråde .
  5. ↑ Example: Eigu skjól and skógi / skafnir snekkju stafnar, / læsir leiðangr vísa / lönd herskipa bröndum; / almenningr liggr innan, / eið láta sér skeiðar / hábrynjaðar hlýja, / hverja vík í skerjum.
  6. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. IV No. 3 (Latin).
  7. ↑ Bjørkvik Sp. 435.
  8. ↑ Frostathingslov VII, 1: But if a ship has not been equipped by the "fylke" ...
  9. ↑ Bjørkvin Sp. 435.
  10. ^ Edvard Bull: Leding . Kristiania 1920. p. 38.
  11. ↑ Landslov III, 1.
  12. ↑ a b c d Brøgger p. 276.
  13. ^ Gulathingslov § 298; Frostathingslov VII, 17th
  14. ^ A bull of Pope Celestine III. of November 15, 1194 to Archbishop Erik von Nidaros explicitly forbade clergymen to carry arms.
  15. ↑ Lars Hamre: "Setesvein" in: Kulturhistisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder . Vol. 15. Copenhagen 1970. Col. 162.
  16. ↑ Bjørkvik Sp. 438 with references.
  17. ↑ Bjørkvik Sp. 433.
  18. ↑ Landslov III, 6.
  19. ↑ Landslov VII, 7.
  20. ↑ Bjørkvik Sp. 439.
  21. ↑ a b Lárusson Sp. 442.
  22. ^ Diplomatarium Islandicum. Íslenzkt fornbréfasafn II. Copenhagen 1893. P. 282 ff.
  23. ↑ Christensen Sp. 443; Poul Rasmussen: "Skiben". In: Kulturhistorisk Leksikon for nordisk middelalder. Copenhagen 1970. Vol. 15 Col. 477 and "Hamna". In: Kulturhistorisk Leksikon for nordisk middelalder . Copenhagen 1961. Sp. 97.
  24. ↑ Christensen Sp. 443.
  25. ↑ Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum 14, 23, 4.
  26. ↑ Jyske Lov III, 3-4.
  27. ↑ Christiansen Sp. 446.
  28. ↑ Hafström Sp. 74
  29. ↑ Hafström Sp. 451.
  30. ↑ Hafström Sp. 455.
  31. ↑ Hafström Sp. 455.
  32. ↑ The following is taken from Niitemaa.
  33. ↑ Quoted in Niitemaa Sp. 459.
  34. ↑ The load was a measure of the carrying capacity of a ship and fluctuated extremely strongly from region to region; the order of magnitude is between 1.5 and 2 tons.

literature

  • Halvard Bjørkvik: “Leidang”. In: Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder . Copenhagen 1965. Vol. 10 Col. 432-442.
  • AW Brøgger , Haakon Shetelig: Vikingeskipene. Their forgjengere and etterfølgere. (Viking ships. Their predecessors and their successors) Oslo 1950.
  • CA Christensen: “Leidang - Danmark”. In: Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder . Copenhagen 1965. Vol. 10 Col. 443-450.
  • Hjalmar Falk : Norwegian-Danish etymological dictionary . Based on the translation by H. Davidsen, revised German edition with references to controversial etymologies as well as German a. Old Norse vocabulary by Hjalmar Falk and Alf Torp . German library 1, collection of Germanic elementary and handbooks, series 4, dictionaries 1. Heidelberg vol. 1 1910, vol. 2 1911.
  • Gerhard Hafström: "Leidang - Sverige." In Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder . Copenhagen 1965. Vol. 10 Col. 450–458.
  • Ebbe Hertzberg: "Ledingsmandskabets størrelse i Norges Middelalder." In: Norsk historisk tidsskrift 5 R II (1924) pp. 243-276.
  • Magnus Már Lárusson: Leidang - Iceland . In: Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder . Copenhagen 1965. Vol. 10 Col. 442.
  • Vilbo Niitemaa: "Leidang - Finland". In Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder . Copenhagen 1965. Vol. 10 Col. 458-459.