Birk (market place)
Encyclopedia
Birk was during the Scandinavian Middle Ages
the name for a demarcated area, especially a town or a market place, with its own laws and privileges, the Bjarkey laws
.
In Denmark
, the name was to be used also for other areas than towns and markets. These areas were exempted from the ordinary jurisdictions of the hundreds
and the towns. There were royal, ecclesiastical and aristocratic birks with their own law courts and birk assemblies
. After the Protestant reformation
, the ecclesiastical birks passed to the king.
The royal birks were after some time abolished, but more and more aristocratic ones were established, where the aristocratic landlord (the patronus) appointed "birk judges", "birk bailiffs" and "birk notaries". The aristocratic birk privilege (known by the same name as Bjarkey laws
, birkerett) was reduced in 1809 and it was completely abolished in 1849. The term birk was to endure for some time, however.
In Norway, some counties, baronies and noble estates also had birk privileges, but they were abolished in 1821.
Some scholars have proposed that the place name Birka
would have origins in birk, but this theory has not been generally accepted.
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
the name for a demarcated area, especially a town or a market place, with its own laws and privileges, the Bjarkey laws
Bjarkey laws
The Bjarkey laws were the laws and privileges of medieval Scandinavian merchant towns ....
.
In Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, the name was to be used also for other areas than towns and markets. These areas were exempted from the ordinary jurisdictions of the hundreds
Hundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
and the towns. There were royal, ecclesiastical and aristocratic birks with their own law courts and birk assemblies
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
. After the Protestant reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, the ecclesiastical birks passed to the king.
The royal birks were after some time abolished, but more and more aristocratic ones were established, where the aristocratic landlord (the patronus) appointed "birk judges", "birk bailiffs" and "birk notaries". The aristocratic birk privilege (known by the same name as Bjarkey laws
Bjarkey laws
The Bjarkey laws were the laws and privileges of medieval Scandinavian merchant towns ....
, birkerett) was reduced in 1809 and it was completely abolished in 1849. The term birk was to endure for some time, however.
In Norway, some counties, baronies and noble estates also had birk privileges, but they were abolished in 1821.
Some scholars have proposed that the place name Birka
Birka
During the Viking Age, Birka , on the island of Björkö in Sweden, was an important trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö...
would have origins in birk, but this theory has not been generally accepted.