Konungsåren was a medieval envoy (Swedish: fogde) of the Swedish king to Hälsingland. He was authorised to act in the king's stead and was responsible for tax collection in the area. As an agent of the king he would also oversee the thing and safeguard the king's interests during deliberations.[1] He would travel between the kongsgårds of Norrland to perform his duties.[2] The locals were required by law to ensure the safety of the konungsår, and to provide hospitality and horses as needed during his journeys.[1]

The morpheme åre in Old Swedish appears only in Hälsingelagen, Hälsingland's oldest code of laws.[2] In the same document it is stated that the konungsår shall receive wæzla, which seems to be a reference to the Old West Norse hospitality tradition viezla. By the same logic åre could mirror the årmann, who was a royal ombudsman in Norway.[3]

Referenser

  1. 1 2 "Förvaltningshistorisk ordbok - konungsåren". fho.sls.fi (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 Brink, Stefan (1994). "Hälsinglands äldre bebyggelsehistoria". Bebyggelsehistorisk tidskrift: Hälsinglands bebyggelse före 1600 (in Swedish) (27): 169. ISSN 0349-2834.
  3. ↑ Brink, Stefan (2010). "Hälsingelagens ställning mellan väst och syd, och mellan kung, kyrka och lokala traditioner". Årsbok 2010 (PDF) (in Swedish). Kungliga Vitterhetsakademien. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-91-7402-398-5. OCLC 939052097.
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