Common Lands in Norway during the Middle Ages

Abstract

"The paper discusses the occurance, the origins, and the contents of the (reciprocal) rights to resource exploitation in the commons in northern Fennoscandia, primarily on the basis of evidence from the Norwegian side. After a short deliberation on the institution of the commons ('almenning'), as it had been developed in Southern Scandinavia, the relevant written evidence from the middle ages is cited. The primary actors in older times are also identified: The collectivity of holders of certain exploitative rights in the local Norwegian communities -- the Sami communities -- local and regional elites, like the North-Norwegian chieftains of the early middle ages -- and eventually the central state authorities. The question about how far the institutionalization of the 'commons' had come during the middle ages, is then addressed on the basis of new evidence, throwing light upon the use of the landscape from different cultural positions, and consisting of place-names, archaeological evidence and land ownership structures from later times. Finally, the institutionalization of 'commons' is discussed in relation to other possible, and culturally prescribed ways of regulating the exploitation of resources in 'outlying fields,' forests and mountains. This is illustrated by historical examples of coexistence, differences and contradictions in the exploitation of resources, from the point of view of the Norwegian and Sami population, respectively."