Goðakirkja. Islandzki Kościół w okresie Wolnej Wspólnoty

Włodzimierz Gogłoza

doi:10.21697/pk.2020.63.3.08

Published: 2020-09-20

Vol. 63 No. 3 (2020)

Goðakirkja - the Icelandic Church During the Commonwealth Era

Włodzimierz Gogłoza

Prawo Kanoniczne

Section: Rozprawy i Artykuły

https://doi.org/10.21697/pk.2020.63.3.08

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

The Christianization of Iceland, Icelandic Church, the chieftains church, the Icelandic Commonwealth

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Gogłoza, W. (2020). Goðakirkja - the Icelandic Church During the Commonwealth Era. Prawo Kanoniczne, 63(3), 155–190. https://doi.org/10.21697/pk.2020.63.3.08

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Włodzimierz Gogłoza

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0931-7413

Affiliation:

Wydział Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie Poland

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Dr Włodzimierz Gogłoza - PhD in law, assistant professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration at UMCS, post-doc at the Faculty of Law of the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, scholarship holder of the Foundation for the Development of the Education System, Culture and Animals Foundation and the Animals and Society Institute.