The article aims at elucidating the ambiguous role of the monarchic state in re-solving and provoking conflicts in Norway and the royal Norwegian depend-encies at the end of the high middle ages. The author has singled out five cases:one conflict among farmers, two disputes between individuals and a royal offi-cer, and two cases of resistance against royal taxation, impositions and misrule.The examples illustrate how the monarchic state at the turn of the thirteenthcentury prescribed the grounds for how conflicts were to be resolved at all levelsof society, and in all cases, public and private. However, in most matters conflictresolution was dependent upon communal co-operation. And, in conflicts be-tween communities – local, regional or provincial – and authorities, both partieswere obliged to act due to the law, at least in principle. Conflict resolution be-came judicial, so to speak, in all matters that needed publicity
