Saga - 2022, Page 145

á landsvísu. Það var sennilega ekki fyrr en á elleftu og tólftu öld sem
yfirstétt efldist á Íslandi og þegar það gerðist sló hún eign sinni á
goðorðin á sama tíma og miðstjórnin missti vægi. Afleiðingin varð
sú að Ísland sundraðist í stríðandi héraðsríki.

Abstract
axel kristinsson
WERE GODORDS HERITABLE BEFORE 100?

Godords (goðorð, chieftaincies) have usually been assumed hereditary from the
very beginning of the Icelandic Commonwealth (traditionally dated AD 930–
1262). Godords were certainly heritable in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
but what of the tenth and eleventh centuries? It turns out the only sources that
claim early heritability of godords are the sagas of Icelanders (family Sagas),
which were written from the thirteenth century onwards and have been widely
discredited as reliable sources for the earliest period of Icelandic history. The
hereditary elite of late Commonwealth godordsmen (holders of godords) had an
interest in appearing to be of noble descent. Therefore, the sagas they may have
sponsored cannot be trusted in this matter, especially as heritability of offices is
rarely established when they are first constituted but rather develops as the social
elite gradually establishes claims to them. As early Iceland seems to have been
rather egalitarian at first, it is reasonable to assume that heritability of godords
only emerged as social stratification increased, and there is little evidence of this
until the mid-eleventh century.
A survey of the dynasties holding godords in the twelfth and thirteenth cen-
turies indicates that most of them seem to have originated in the early twelfth cen-
tury. While a limited number may be somewhat older, this does not contradict the
hypothesis that heritability was only firmly established in the early twelfth cen-
tury, as heritability usually begins as a custom before it becomes a legal right. The
surviving code of law (Grágás) has surprisingly little to say about the heritability
of godords; the best interpretation of these laws is that they sometimes assume
heritability but do not demand it. The laws also contain many stipulations that
appear to make it surprisingly easy to remove a godordsman from office for rel-
atively minor infractions. This makes little sense if heritability had been firmly
established, and it is hard to imagine the elite would have allowed it. These stip-
ulations seem to be relics from a period in which godords were not heritable.
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, there are also many irregularities
in the actual inheritance of godords where the general laws of inheritance were
eschewed or ignored. The godords were presumably developing their own cus-
toms of inheritance, and these were often incompatible with the general laws,
especially in their increased emphasis on the male line. All of this may indicate
that heritability was a new custom and not yet firmly established. The conclusion
voru goðorð arfgeng fyrir 1100? 143