Goðakirkja - the Icelandic Church During the Commonwealth Era

Goðakirkja (the chieftains church) is the name given by the modern Icelandic historians to the early Catholic Church of Iceland. The name signifies the unusually large amount of control which the prominent members of the laity used to have over the Icelandic church and its properties. All the church...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Prawo Kanoniczne
Main Author: Gogłoza, Włodzimierz
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:Polish
Published: Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.21697/pk.2020.63.3.08
https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/2085929.pdf
https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/2085929
Description
Summary:Goðakirkja (the chieftains church) is the name given by the modern Icelandic historians to the early Catholic Church of Iceland. The name signifies the unusually large amount of control which the prominent members of the laity used to have over the Icelandic church and its properties. All the churches in Iceland except the one built next to the General Assembly (Alþingi) were privately owned and managed. Most of the tithe was collected by laymen. The secular elites took part in electing the local bishops, and all the commands of the foreign archbishops were treated as “new laws” (nýmæli), temporary resolutions which were to be in force only for three years, after which they were to be considered anew by the members of the Law Council (Lögrétta). The aim of present article is to retrace the early development of the institutional Church in medieval Iceland. Special consideration is given to the conversion of Icelanders, the functions of the early church buildings, the differences between various classes of priest, and the unusual nature of the tithe collected in Iceland. Finally, I outline the so called staðamál that is the conflict over the control of the privately built churches. Średniowieczna Islandia z okresu funkcjonowania tzw. Wolnej Wspólnoty (Þjóðveldið), jest relatywnie dobrze udokumentowanym źródłowo przykładem społeczności przedpaństwowej, której ustrój polityczno-prawny oparty był o prywatne mechanizmy tworzenia, stosowania i egzekwowania prawa. Z tego też względu jest ona przedmiotem wielu badań podejmowanych przez przedstawicieli licznych dyscyplin naukowych, w tym historii, archeologii, antropologii politycznej, jak również ekonomii instytucjonalnej i ekonomicznej analizy praw. Powinna ona również wydać się interesującą badaczom dziejów Kościoła, z uwagi na zakres kontroli jaką przedstawiciele islandzkiego laikatu sprawowali nad majątkiem kościelnym, unikalny status duchownych oraz odbiegający od standardów prawa kanonicznego kształt lokalnej dziesięciny. Celem ...