Alexandra Simpson

The Norwegian Bjarkøyretten of Nidaros, Oslo and Bergen, translated from Old Norse into English.

The Bjarkøyretten were bye-laws that governed day to day life in a limited number of market towns, ports and cities throughout the Nordic countries during the early Middle Ages; not all towns benefited from their own bye-laws, as the privilege was granted by the king, making it possible for those places to function as separate jurisdictions, known as ‘birke’. These birke are similar to towns with ‘royal charter’ or ‘royal burgh’ status in the middle ages (e.g. Aberdeen, Bristol, Chester, Coventry, Dublin, Edinburgh, Perth and York).

Because of their obscurity, the Bjarkøyretten are often unfamiliar even to those interested in legal history and seem to have been rarely studied outside Scandinavia. Moreover, as almost all of the literature mentioning bjarkøyretten is written in one of the Nordic languages, it has not been generally accessible to students. I believe that once finished, this project will provide the first comprehensive English translation of these Norwegian laws. In addition to translating the material I will also discuss the social, religious, and legal contexts in which the Bjarkøyretten were written. Moreover, I will analyse any developments or alterations in these laws, penalties etc. over time.

Alexandra is a part time researcher and retired judge based in Lancashire. She completed her M.Litt. in Viking Studies in 2021.

She is supervised by Professor Stefan Brink.