in session, as imagined in the 1890s by British artist
W. G. Collingwood In the Viking Age, things were the public assemblies of the free men of a country, province, or a
hundred (, ). They functioned as parliaments and courts at different levels of society—local, regional, and supra-regional. Their purpose was to solve disputes and make political decisions, and thingsteads were often places for public religious rites. According to Norway's Law of the
Gulating, only free men of full age could participate in the assembly. According to written sources, women were present at some things despite being left out of decision-making bodies, such as the Icelandic
Althing. For prechristian
Norse clans, the members of a clan were obliged to avenge injuries against their dead and mutilated relatives. As a result, feuding is often seen as the most common form of conflict resolution used in Viking society. However, things are in a more general sense, balancing structures used to reduce tribal feuds and avoid social disorder in North Germanic cultures. They played an essential role in Viking society as forums for conflict resolution, marriage alliances, power display, honor, and inheritance settlements. In Sweden, assemblies were held at natural and man-made mounds, often
burial mounds. Specifically in Scandinavia, unusually large runestones and inscriptions suggesting a local family's attempt to claim supremacy are standard features of thingsteads. It is common for assembly sites close to communication routes, such as navigable water routes and clear land routes. The thing met at regular intervals, legislated, elected
chieftains and kings and judged according to the law, which was memorised and recited by the
lawspeaker (judge). The thing's negotiations were presided over by the lawspeaker and the chieftain or the king. Current scholarly discussions centre around the things being forerunners to democratic institutions that are known today. The Icelandic Althing is considered to be the oldest surviving parliament in the world, the Norwegian Gulating also dating back to 900–1300. While the things were not democratic assemblies in the modern sense of an elected body, they were built around ideas of neutrality and representation, Though some scholars say that the things were dominated by the most influential members of the community, the heads of clans and wealthy families, other scholars describe how every free man could put forward his case for deliberation and share his opinions. History professor Torgrim Titlestad describes how Norway, with the thing sites, displayed an advanced political system over a thousand years ago, one that was characterized by high participation and democratic ideologies. These things also served as courts of law, Ultimately, this neutrality was important for thing participants' cooperation; royal officials required cooperation to look after the king's interests in local areas. In this regard, Norwegian things became an arena for cooperation between the royal representatives and the farmers. Based on what is known from later medieval documents, one deep-rooted custom of Norwegian law areas was the bearing of arms coming from the old tradition of the
wapentake "weapon-take", which refers to the rattling of weapons at meetings to agree. The Law of the Gulating provides that the handling of these weapons should be controlled and regulated. This is seen at
Haugating, the thing for
Vestfold in Norway, which was located in
Tønsberg at Haugar (from the
Old Norse haugr meaning hill or mound). This site was one of Norway's most important places for the proclamation of kings. In 1130,
Harald Gille called together a meeting at the Haugating, where he was declared
King of Norway.
Sigurd Magnusson was proclaimed king in 1193 at the Haugating.
Magnus VII was acclaimed hereditary King of Norway and Sweden at the Haugating in August 1319.
Sweden showing the power of his office to the King of Sweden at
Gamla Uppsala, 1018. The lawspeaker forced King
Olof Skötkonung not only to accept peace with his enemy, King
Olaf the Stout of Norway, but also to give his daughter to him in marriage. Illustration by C. Krogh. Thing sites in
Sweden experienced changes in administrative organization beginning in the late tenth and eleventh century. This resulted from the power struggle between the rising Christian royal power establishing itself and the old, local magnate families attempting to maintain control. The battle for power between the king and local magnates is most visible through runic inscriptions at thing sites used to make power statements. Swedish assembly sites could be characterized by several typical features: large mounds, rune-stones, and crossings between roads by land or water to allow for greater accessibility. A famous incident took place when
Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker told the Swedish king
Olof Skötkonung (c. 980–1022) that the people, not the king, held power in Sweden; the king realized that he was powerless against the thing and gave in. The main things in Sweden were the
Thing of all Swedes, the
Thing of all Geats, and the
Lionga thing. The island of
Gotland had twenty things in late medieval times, each represented at the island-thing called
landsting by its elected judge. New laws were decided at the
landsting, which also took other decisions regarding the island. The
landstings authority was successively eroded after the island was occupied by the
Teutonic Order in 1398. In late medieval times, the thing comprised twelve representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants.
Iceland As a representative legislative body, the things in
Iceland were similar to those in greater Scandinavia but had a clear organizational structure. Iceland was divided into four administrative quarters during the Viking Age with a fixed number of thirty-nine
goðis "lawmakers": twelve
goðis in the northern quarter and nine each in the eastern, southern, and western quarters. The main distinction between Iceland and greater Scandinavia lies in the organization of the Icelandic Althing (
Alþingi), the main assembly during the Viking period and the Middle Ages. Unlike other European societies in the Middle Ages, Iceland was unique for relying on the Althing's legislative and judicial institutions at the national level rather than an executive branch of government.
Þingvellir was the site of the Althing, and it was a place where people came together once a year to bring cases to court, render judgments, and discuss laws and politics. At the annual Althing, the thirty-nine
goðis along with nine others served as voting members of the Law Council (
Lögrétta), a legislative assembly. The Lögrétta reviewed the laws which the lawspeaker recited, made new laws, set fines and punishments and were informed of sentences of outlawry and banishment passed by the courts in local spring assemblies. The thing was led by law-speakers called
asega "lawspeaker". Every pagus had its own thing, but due to a lack of written sources, it isn't easy to establish where the thingsteads were. Thing sites are being presumed by historians at Naaldwijk in the pagus Maasland (Land of the River Meuse), at Katwijk in the pagus Rijnland "land of the Rhine", at Heemskerk in the pagus Kennemerland, at De Waal in the pagus Texel, at Franeker in the pagus Westergo and at Dokkum in the pagus
Oostergo. From the 12th century the thing called
Upstalsboom took place on the level of the civitas. At Upstalsboom, near the current town of Aurich in the
East Frisia region, Germany, delegates and judges from
all seven Frisian sealands used to gather once a year.
Ireland Annaly-Teffia (
Anghaile) was an ancient sovereign meeting place, or
Mórdháil, located in the territory of Teffia,
County Longford, Ireland. Historically centered at the massive earthwork of
Moatfarrell (
Móta Uí Fhearghail), the site served for over a millennium as the supreme legislative and judicial assembly for the O'Farrell Princes of Annaly. Its jurisdictional significance was so great that it was formally recognized in royal patents from
King Philip and
Queen Mary, specifically the grant of
Granard, which sought to incorporate these ancient assembly rights into the feudal system. Experts believe the site indicates the boundary of the ancient sub-kingdoms of
Teffia and the broader Kingdom of
Meath. Later patents from
Elizabeth I and
James I further transitioned the assembly's authority into a
Feudal Honour and
Seignory. It functioned as a place where the
Brehon Law was recited, disputes were resolved, and the nation’s leaders were inaugurated. The name
Moatfarrell is derived from the Irish
Móta Uí Fhearghail, indicating a "mound" or "moat" of assembly. Like many similar sites in Northern Europe, the assembly mound may be older than the written record, and it continues to exist in modern legal parlance as an
Incorporeal Hereditament vested in the
Lord of the Honour of Annaly.
Place names The assembly of things were typically held at a specially designated place, often a field or common, like Þingvellir, the old location of the Icelandic Alþing. The parliament of the
Isle of Man is still named after the meeting place of the thing,
Tynwald, which etymologically is the same word as
þingvellir; there is still an annual public assembly at Tynwald Hill each July 5, where the new Manx laws are read out and petitions delivered. Other equivalent place names can be found across northern Europe: in
Scotland, there is
Dingwall in the
Scottish Highlands and Tingwall, occurring both in
Orkney and
Shetland, and further south there is
Tinwald, in
Dumfries and Galloway and – in England –
Thingwall, a village on the
Wirral Peninsula. In Sweden, there are several places named Tingvalla, the modern Swedish form of Þingvellir, and the Norwegian equivalent is found in the place name
Tingvoll. In
Dublin,
Ireland, the
Thingmote was a raised mound, 40 foot high and 240 foot in circumference, where the Norsemen assembled and made their laws. It stood south of the river, where
Saint Andrew's Church now stands, until 1685.
Unanswered questions It is contested between scholars to what extent things were sites of economic transactions and commerce and arenas for political and legal decisions. In Norway, it is clear that the assemblies functioned as an administrative level for economic transactions and taxes to the king. The role of commerce at the thing is more undetermined in Iceland in particular because of the role of saga literature in influencing conclusions about things. Þingvellir was thought of as a trading place as a result of saga passages and law texts that refer to trade: As shown in the
Laxdæla saga, meetings at Þingvellir required people to travel from long distances and gather together for an extended period, thus it was inevitable that entertainment, food, tools, and other goods would have played a role in the gatherings. The main question is whether trade was conducted in the assembly or on the margins of the gathering. Similarly, there are unanswered questions about the connection between trade and assembly in Greenland. Research on Scandinavian trade and assembly is burgeoning, and thus far evidence has mostly been found in written sources, such as the sagas, and place names, "such as the 'Disting' market that is said to have been held during the thing meetings at Gamla Uppsala in Sweden." ==National legislatures, current institutions and legal terms==