394 continental state of things which led to the great conflict of the investiture, may be dangerous. In many cases the participation of the king in the appointment of bishops can be explained by the fact that kings often may have been the founders of the bishop cathedrals, and that they took an active part at the establishment of the episcopal see. However, the connection between the dioceses and the province, and the close connection of the bishopric and the province presuppose that the province ting was of a great importance at the appointment of a bishop. The question about the earliest appointments of bishops in Sweden and the canon law is complicated. The appointment at the ting can actually be considered as an actualizing of the old appointment of bishops by clerus and populus, clergy and people. In the attempts to separate the Church from the community this t/ng-appointment of bishops was, howev^er, understood from the Church as a secular appointment (e seculo) as opposed to the canonical election at the chapter. After the establishment of the chapter there was an obvious difference between the appointment at the ting and the canon law, even if this must not necessarily have been the case from the beginning. The appointment regulation in the first law of Västergötland gives an account of the appointment and investiture of the bishop by the ting and the independent Swedish country-province. The regulation as such is originally a rhythmic and alliterative stanza which could stand for any official appointment or investment. All the main moments existing in other sources and in other kinds of official appointments are to be found in the compressed regulations in the old lawof Västergötland: The taking (the determination of a candidate), the investiture (the ritual ceremony with the handing over of insignia), the leading and the placing to the throne. The bishop was, in a similar manner as the king, determined by the people at the ting. Thus he became in the same way a contemplated bishop, corresponding to electus. The legal effects and the bishop’s position are directly concomitant with the investiture and with the words pronounced on that occasion. As to this ritual ceremony there are parallels in Icelandic sagas with the old law of Västergötland. Even though the king is mentioned, the importance of the independent province and of the ting at the appointment of bishops is the decisive thing in the old law of Västergötland. To the extent that the regulation is to be seen as the result of a special program, it protects the interests of the province against the influence of the Church and the central government of Sweden. All the topical moments of the appointment of bishops at the ting
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