The title of this dissertation Peace in their time? A study of the Norwegian medieval peace-period: 1046-1157 , implies two problems. The first one is to find out if there was peace within the given timeframe and then find out exactly when it was. The second problem will be to give various potential reasons for why peace could have been a lasting condition in Norway. The investigation that takes place in the first chapter establishes the potential meaning the word peace could have had for the medieval Norwegian, and the definition of peace is primarily seen as absence from war with an additional material/economical connotation. The latter comes to light in the discussion of ár ok friðr, this phrase meaning good harvest and peace. Based on this definition and with research into the sagas of Ágrip, Morkinskinna and Heimskringla the real peace-period was fixed to have occurred between 1066-1133.
The second chapter sees the beginning of the real discussion; finding potential reasons why there was peace. The first topic of scrutiny is the king. Based on royal ideological concepts found in Speech against the bishops and Konungs Skuggsjá and the ideological material found in the sagas mentioned above, the conclusion was that the king, with his extremely powerful position, must have been a major reason for why peace could have been achieved. In addition to the king other forces were brought into the discussion. The third chapter was an investigation of the system of joint rule as a possible additional cause for peace. Though not the most important factor in peacemaking, the king obviously being the prime instigator, it was argued that the arrangement could have helped the peace-process as long as the system was an accepted form of solving problems linked to successions to the throne. In the time in question, the arrangement seems to have been completely natural. In the same chapter it was also argued that the cause for the Civil war was rather a fight for single rule and not joint rule, as has traditionally been believed.
The fourth, and last chapter, looked to external causes. The peace-movements in medieval Europe were examined, the Peace and Truce of God being most important. These movements were Church initiatives and the legislative clauses that came out of these meetings also became part of the general Canon law. The same trend could also be seen with the State initiated movements. Secular law was influenced by the canon law and it is in this respect that the link between Europe and Norway can be noticed. Several of the decrees from European peace-movements have similarities in the laws of Gulathing and Frostathing.