Icelandic Commonwealth
the Icelandic Parliament, Reykjavík building built. The founding of the Althing (Parliament) marked the beginning of the Commonwealth. The Icelandic Commonwealth or the Icelandic Free State (Icelandic: Þjóðveldið) was the state existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing (parliament) in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king in 1262. It was initially established by a public consisting largely of recent immigrants from Norway who had fled the unification of that country under King Harald Fairhair.
==Goðorð system==[1]
The medieval Icelandic state had an unusual structure. At the national level, the Althing was both court and legislature; there was no king or other central executive power. Iceland was divided into numerous goðorð (plural same as singular), which were essentially clans or alliances run by chieftains called goðar (singular goði). The chieftains provided for defense and appointed judges to resolve disputes between goðorð members. The goðorð were not strictly geographical districts. Instead, membership in a goðorð was an individual's decision, and one could, at least theoretically, change goðorð at will. However, no group of lesser men could elect or declare someone a goði. The position was the property of the goði; and could be bought, sold, borrowed, and inherited.
Court system
If a person wanted to appeal a decision made by his goðorð court or if a dispute arose between members of different goðorð, the case would be referred to a system of higher-level courts, leading up to the four regional courts which made up the Althing, which consisted of the goðar of the Four Quarters of Iceland. The Althing eventually created a national "fifth court", as the highest court of all, and more goðar to be its members.
At the Christian Conversion of Iceland in 1000, the Althing decreed that all Icelanders must be baptized, and forbade the public celebration of pagan rituals. Private celebration was forbidden a few years later.
In 1117 the laws were put into writing, and this written code was later referred to as the Gray Goose Laws.
Life within the system
The actual operation of this system is a common subject matter in some of the Icelandic sagas. Works like Njáll’s Saga and the Laxdaela Saga give many details, but their accuracy has been disputed. These and other sagas are available in modern English translations.<ref> The tale of Grettir the Strong is an excellent adventure story based on true events, but tells us little about the workings of the society.
Njáll’s Saga includes the Christianization of Iceland within the framework of the story.
Warfare
The follower of the goðar owed them military service. They were organized into platoons or companies based on their social status and equipment, which formed expeditionary armies or leiðangrs. Icelandic military tradition of the time followed closely developments in Norway. No organized cavalry formations or formations of projectile weapon equipped troops are recorded, instead bulk of the forces were formed in units of light, medium and heavy infantry, with bow and arrow equipped or rock throwing troops distributed among them operating as light support skirmishers.
Before the end of the Commonwealth at least 21 fortresses and castles had been built in Iceland.
During the Civil War the average battle consisted of little less than 1000 men with the average casualty rate of only 15%. This low casualty rate has been attributed to the blood-feud mentality that permeated Icelandic society which meant that the defeated army could not be slaughtered honorably to a man.
Decline and fall
In the early 13th century, the Sturlung era, the Commonwealth began to suffer from serious internal strife. The King of Norway began to exert pressure on his Icelandic vassals that they bring the country under his rule. A combination of discontent with domestic hostilities and pressure from the King of Norway led the Icelandic chieftains to accept Norway's Haakon IV as king by the signing of the Gamli sáttmáli ("Old Covenant") in 1262. This effectively brought the Commonwealth to an end.
See also
Notes
- ↑ The Icelandic ð represents the voiced dental fricative, English 'th' as in the word there.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Derry, T. K. 1979. A history of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.9780816608355
- Gunnar Karlsson. 2000. The history of Iceland. Minneapolis, Minn: University of Minnesota Press.ISBN 9780816635887
- Jóhannesson, Jón, and Haraldur Bessason. 2006. A history of the old Icelandic Commonwealth = Islendinga saga. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press.ISBN 9780887556968.
- Jón Viðar Sigurðsson. 1999. Chieftains and power in the Icelandic commonwealth. The Viking collection, v. 12. [Odense]: Odense University Press. ISBN 9788778380562
External links
- An article by David Friedman describing the goðorð system in more detail.
- An article by Roderick Long presenting a theory of the causes of the commonwealth's end
- Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power by Jesse L. Byock
- Medieval Iceland and the Absence of Government
