english summary 465 The law texts from Denmark and Norway generally give an impression of the king and the church as two parallel and equal forces in society with a direct mandate from God for their respective spheres of office, while the laws in Sweden instead, to avarying extent, bear the stamp of aview that the king is superior to the church. Fully independent ecclesiastical jurisdiction in cases of ecclesiastical law were acknowledged as early as the twelfth century in Denmark, gained recognition during the thirteenth century in Norway, but never seem to have won full recognition in Sweden. As for Denmark, there appear to be no traces whatever in the law material of any royal jurisdiction over ecclesiastical affairs, unlike Norway and Sweden. In the Norwegian and Swedish laws, breaches of ecclesiastical law were regulated in special sections of the provincial laws. Although they were heavily influenced by canon law, they were adopted, just like other parts of the law, by the assembly of freemen at the thing, which was also the institution that passed judgement on breaches of ecclesiastical law. Ecclesiastical institutions and office holders were mainly exempted from royal taxation in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In all three Scandinavian countries, however, the law-regulated tax exemption had certain limitations. What they all had in common was that the church’s tenants were liable to pay tax unless the king had granted them exemption through a special charter. Unlike Danish and Norwegian law, the size of the bishops’ armed retinues was restricted in Swedish law, first in statutes and then in the law of the realm. The differences between the Scandinavian countries are also noticeable in the way the archbishop and king are on an equal footing as regards the right to collect honour fines in Danish law, but in Norwegian and Swedish law the archbishop is instead equal to a duke and a bishop to an earl. In Norwegian law the king’s and bishops’ offices involve more clearly different tasks than in Danish and Swedish law. The overlap, however, differs in character in Denmark and Sweden: Danish law gives the bishops certain royal powers while Swedish law gives the king certain ecclesiastical powers. Ecclesiastical exemption from royal taxation is found, with certain restrictions, as a more or less acknowledged principle in all the Scandinavian countries, although it seems weakest in Sweden. The tax exemption is, however, more comprehensive, and it was implemented earlier, in Denmark and Norway than in Sweden. Another common feature in all the Scandinavian countries is that the church’s tenants were not automatically exempted from taxation even though they could be given this status through special charters.
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