Scanian Law in the context of Anders Sunesen

The three lands of Denmark historically formed the Danish kingdom from its unification and consolidation in the 10th century until the 17th century:

• Zealand (Sjælland) and the islands south of it, with Roskilde as a centre
• Jutland (Jylland), the western peninsula, with Viborg as a centre and the island of Fyn.
• Scania (Skåneland) (until 1658) on the Scandinavian Peninsula, with Lund as a centre

Each of the lands retained their own thing (ting) and statute laws until late medieval time (Jutlandic Law, Zealandic Law and Scanian Law). Although Denmark was a unified kingdom, the custom of rendering homage to the King at the three individual assemblies remained. A remnant is the current division of Denmark into two High Court districts, the Eastern and Western High Court.

Anders Sunesen (also Andreas, Suneson, Sunesøn, Latin: Andreas Sunonis) (c. 1167 – 1228) was a Danish archbishop of Lund, Scania, from 21 March 1201, at the death of Absalon, to his own death in 1228.

He is the author of the Latin translation of the Scanian Law and was throughout his life engaged in integrating a Christian worldview into the old legislature. He managed to introduce tithe (taxation benefiting the church) despite the resistance this measure had met from the population of Scania during Absalon's time, but his efforts to convince the priests of his day about the merits of celibacy was based mostly on his own example and relied on oratory rather than legal maneuvering. To educate the priests and to forward his ideas, especially about the integration between church and state, he wrote a didactic poem, Hexaëmon, consisting of 8,040 verses of Latin hexameter.