The view of civil society and the International Catholic Church on social policy and poverty in medieval Norway

This comparative survey between two Norwegian landscape laws, Gulatingsloven and Frostatingsloven, shows that the laws on poverty were built on different sets of values and principles. They were rooted in two different systems for help reflecting two different societies. I was able to identify the social principles of the International Catholic Church laws, Gratian Decretum from 1140, which made dating of Gulatingsloven and Frostatingsloven possible. Archbishop Oystein revised Frostatingsloven around 1170, which is a newer law than Gulatingsloven, written before 1140. Gulatingsloven, unlike Gratian Decretum, focused on integration, how poverty could be avoided and society regulated for the security of all members in time of need. In the context of Gulatingsloven the beggar did not exist on the periphery of the community. Frostatingsloven follows the principles of Gratian Decretum, and is thus closely linked to international church laws and propaganda. In Frostatingsloven, like Gratian Decretum, rules were made to ensure that only the proper poor would receive alms. Frostatingsloven focused on expulsion from civil society. Poor people who were able to work were not to receive alms, but rather were to be punished if they tried to receive alms. Frostatingsloven reflected the hierarchic view of the church. The church handed over the task of punishing the wicked beggar to the secular authority. In spite of laws and propaganda, the church had to compromise with civil society, and the community systems for help largely continued.