Løgting og gildi

Abstract

In the 17th century the Faroese Lawting (High Court) was held on July 29th (St. Olav's Day) and during the following week. Each day in the morning the members of the Lawthing attended divine service, and the proceedings of the Lawthíng were held in the afternoon. 

This article deals with the fact that according to the lawbook then in force in the Faroe Islands the lawthings were to begin on June 16th (the day before St. Botulph's Day), and the proceedings were to last from 6 a. m. to 3 p. m. These provisions are found in the lawbook, or code, of the Norwegian king Magnus the Lawmender, the Gulathing edition (A. D. 1274), which was clearly the lawbook of the Faroe Islands.

In a new edition of this code, given in Danish A. D. 1604 by Christian IV, king of Denmark and Norway, the sessions were ordered to be held from 6 a. m. to noon.

To explain why the Faroese Lawthing custom did not conform with the general law, it is necessary to consider the evidence of an old religious guild in the Faroe Islands. The sessions of the Lawthing were held in the open air or, weather not permitting, in a house called The Guild Hall, until this house was destroyed by fire in 1672. When the Lawthing had ended its proceedings, a feast was held in this hall, conducted by a person called the Alderman (not by the president of the Lawthing). The alderman greeted those present as guild brethren and guild sisters, following ancient guild rites.

It is suggested that there must have been a mediaeval guild in the Faroe Islands dedicated to St. Olav and meeting during the week from July 29th (Olavsvaka, Olavi regis) to August 5th (Octava Olavi). The minor Olav's mass (Translatio Olavi) was on August 3rd. Reference is made to the mediaeval rules of an Olav's Guild in Hordaland, Norway.

The Olav's Guild in the Faroe Islands must have been older than the lawbook of 1274. It must have been found expedient to convene the Lawthing in the same week as the Guild. The divine service every morning must originally have been part of the Guild's proceedings.