Coercion, vengeance, feud and accommodation: homicide in medieval Iceland.

Quantitative methods were employed to situate medieval Icelandic homicide in comparative context. Estimates of homicide rates were derived from samtíðarsögur, and found comparable with European rural medieval homicide estimates: late twelfth-century Iceland was probably not as violent as a qualitati...

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Publicado en:Early Medieval Europe Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 139 - 176
Autor principal: FIRTH, HUGH
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell May2012
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        10.1111/j.1468-0254.2012.00339.x
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        atl: Coercion, vengeance, feud and accommodation: homicide in medieval Iceland.
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        au: FIRTH, HUGH
        affil: University of Newcastle
      su:
        Homicide
        Duress (Law)
        Revenge
        Quantitative research
        Farmers
        Middle Ages
        Iceland
      sug:
        subj:
          Iceland
          Homicide
          Duress (Law)
          Revenge
          Quantitative research
          Farmers
          Middle Ages
      ab: Quantitative methods were employed to situate medieval Icelandic homicide in comparative context. Estimates of homicide rates were derived from samtíðarsögur, and found comparable with European rural medieval homicide estimates: late twelfth-century Iceland was probably not as violent as a qualitative reading of the sagas might suggest. There were significant differences in patterns of vengeance between íslendingasögur and samtíðarsögur. In íslendingasögur, farmers committing homicide faced flight, outlawry or death; chieftains who initiated homicide might escape justice, although most became embroiled in feud. In samtíðarsögur, lethal vengeance following ordinary homicide was less common, and not a source of feud. These results generate a critique of previous notions of reciprocity in Icelandic vengeance, and support more recent interpretations of early medieval Icelandic society as a highly unequal, divided society. Both sources suggest that, although vengeance may have been legitimated in the language of 'repayment', vengeance is best understood within a cross-cultural context as competitive behaviour designed to achieve superiority rather than parity.
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