legal compilation in early modern denmark and norway Another product of compilation is Edvard Edvardsen’s account on the city of Bergen.47 Edvardsen (1630–1695) rather than a lawyer was a schoolteacher and historian. The book contains a compilation of various documents about the history of the city and the relationship between the local population and the Hanseatic League. Edvardsen is open about his book being a compilation: he acknowledges on the title page that it contains excerpts from various books and manuscripts that he had collected and transcribed with the ‘utmost diligence’.48 At the end of the second volume is a collection of legislative texts and legal provisions, which he obviously compiled from several ordinances, regulations, and codes. In the printed version from 1952 the lack of headings and explanation of the choice of material compiled and their origin is striking. Why add these legal materials, and why did Edvardsen not reveal their origin? The original manuscript has the answer to the first question: Edvardsen had literally piled up extracts from the legislation: individual sheets had transcriptions or copies of provisions taken from older legislative documents such as privileges, royal and local decrees, ordinances etc. He copied some statutes in extenso; from others he extracted scattered provisions. The original numbering in the manuscript was often obscured.49 Edvardsen did not reveal why he had compiled the legal norms included in his work, but it is apparent that all the norms included were relevant for the dayto-day business of the people living and working in Bergen. Thus there are regulations on marriage, the poor, housing, the sale of goods and securities related to those transactions, shipping of goods, shipwrecks, the ancient rules of jettison traceable back toLex Rhodia de iactu, and provisions concerning mortgages and loans.50 This indicates he had produced a handbook for those who needed an overview of the legal regulations, 46 See also Veilje’s own account of the purpose of the book, Veile [Weile], Glossarium Juridicum Danico-Norvegicum, ‘Dedicatio’ [c] iii. 47 Edvard Edvardsen, Bergen udi Norrige, ed. Olav Brattegard, 2 vols (Bergen: J. D. Beyer, 1952). 48 Ibid. ii. title page: ‘Aff adskillige Bøger oc manuscripter med allerstørste Flid sammensancket, oc skreffuet aff.’ 49 Ibid. ii. 161 ff. The original manuscript is held in the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen. 50 Ibid. ii. 363. 211
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