![Germaanse volksvergadering (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Germaanse_volksvergadering_%28cropped%29.jpg)
A thing, german: ding, ang, þing, enm, thing. (that is, "assembly" or folkmoot) was a governing assembly in early
Germanic society, made up of the free people of the community presided over by a
lawspeaker
A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', kl, inatsitinuk) is a unique Scandina ...
. Things took place at regular intervals, usually at prominent places that were accessible by travel. They provided legislative functions, as well as being social events and opportunities for trade. In modern usage, the meaning of this word in English and other languages has shifted to mean not just an assemblage of some sort but simply an object of any sort.
Earliest reference and etymology
![Germanische-ratsversammlung 1-1250x715](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Germanische-ratsversammlung_1-1250x715.jpg)
The first detailed description of a thing was made by
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
in AD 98.
Tacitus suggested that the things were annual delegate-based meetings that served legal and military functions.
The oldest written reference of the thing is on a stone pillar found along
Hadrian's Wall at
Housestead in the UK. It is dated AD 43-410 and reads: "DEO MARTI THINCSO ET DUABUS ALAISIAGIS BEDE ET FIMMILENE ET N AUG GERM CIVES TUIHANTI VSLM"; to the god Mars Thincsus and the two Alaisiagae, Beda and Fimmilena, and to the Divinity of the Emperor the Germanics, being tribesmen of Tuihanti, willingly and deservedly fulfilled their vow. The pillar was raised by a Frisian auxiliary unit of the Roman army deployed a Hadrian's Wall. The name Tuihanti refers to the current region Twente in the east of the Netherlands. However, these Tuihanti tribesmen have been interpreted by different historians as Frisians. Deo Mars Thincsus means ‘god Mars of the Thing’. Mars of the Thing must be interpreted as Tiwas of the Thing. The god Tiwas, also named Tíwes or Tiwaz, is the same as the god Tuw. This was, in early Germanic times, a supreme idol. In Scandinavia it was often known as Tyr. The idol names Beda and Fimmilena of the same pillar inscription refer to bodthing and fimelthing, both of which are also recorded in Old Frisian codices from around 1100 onward. These were specific types of assemblies. Perhaps the distinction was: the ‘fixed thing’ protected by the god Thincsus, the ‘extra-ordinary thing’ protected by the god Beda, and the ‘informative or non-decision-making thing’ protected by the god Fimmilena.
The Old Germanic form of the word ‘thing’ is þingsō which derives from the word þengaz, and which means ‘certain time’. In Gothic it is þeihs meaning time. It was therefore a specific time the people gathered, and that is how the word thing received the meaning of folkmoot and assembly, and of justice. In German and Dutch languages the day of the week Tuesday is called after the thing, namely 'Dienstag' and 'dinsdag'. In other words, thing-day. In Dutch speech the expressions 'in geding zijn' (being disputed) or 'een geding aanspannen' (filing a court case) are still being used in daily life. English, Frisian and Scandinavian speeches refer with respectively Tuesday (Old English: Tíwes dæg), 'tiisdei' and 'ti(r)sdag' to the god of the thing being Tiwas or Tyr.
The word appears in
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
,
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
, and modern
Icelandic as ''þing'', in
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
(as in
modern English),
Old Saxon
Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It ...
,
Old Dutch
In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. dialects that evolved from Frankish) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from aroun ...
, and
Old Frisian
Old Frisian was a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries along the North Sea coast, roughly between the mouths of the Rhine and Weser rivers. The Frisian settlers on the coast of South Jutland (today's Northern Fri ...
as ''thing'', in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
as ''Ding'', in
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
as ''ding'', and in modern
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
,
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
,
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
,
Faroese,
Gutnish
Gutnish ( ), or rarely Gutnic ( sv, gutniska or ), refers to the original language spoken on parts of the islands of Gotland and Fårö. The different dialects of Gutnish, while stemming from the Old Gutnish ( sv, Forngutniska) variety of Old ...
, and
Norn
Norn may refer to:
*Norn language, an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in Northern Isles of Scotland
*Norns, beings from Norse mythology
*Norn Iron, the local pronunciation of Northern Ireland
* Norn iron works, an old industrial c ...
as ''ting'', all from a reconstructed
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...
neuter ''*þingą''; the word is the same as the more common English word ''
thing
Thing or The Thing may refer to:
Philosophy
* An object
* Broadly, an entity
* Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant
* Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuse ...
'', both having at their core the basic meaning of "an assemblage, a coming together of parts"—in the one case, an "assembly" or "meeting", in the other, an "entity" or "object". The meeting-place of a thing was called a "thingstead" (Old English ''þingstede'') or "thingstow" (Old English ''þingstōw'').
The Old Norse, Old Frisian, and Old English ''þing'' with the meaning "assembly" is identical in origin to the English word ''thing'', German ''Ding'', Dutch ''ding'', and modern Scandinavian ''ting'' when meaning "object".
[Harper ''Online'', s.v. "thing"] All of these terms derive from
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...
*''þingą'' meaning "appointed time", possibly originating in
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
*''ten-'', "stretch", as in a "stretch of time for an assembly".
The word shift in the meaning of the word ''thing'' from "assembly" to "object" is mirrored in the evolution of the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''causa'' ("judicial lawsuit", "case") to modern
French ''chose'',
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
/
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
/
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
''cosa'', and
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
''coisa'' (all meaning "object" or "thing").
A word with similar meaning, the cognate to English ''sake'' (purpose), ''sak'' in Norwegian and Swedish, ''sag'' in Danish, ''zaak'' in Dutch, ''saak'' in Afrikaans, and ''Sache'' in German, still retains the meaning "affair, matter" alongside "thing, object".
In English, the term is attested from 685 to 686
CE in the older meaning "assembly"; later it referred to a being, entity or matter (sometime before 899), and then also an act, deed, or event (from about 1000). The early sense of "meeting, assembly" did not survive the shift to Middle English.
[Chantrell (ed.) ''Oxford'', s.v. "thing".] The meaning of personal possessions, commonly in the plural, first appears in
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
around 1300.
The
Anglo-Saxon ''folkmoot'' (
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
''folcgemōt'', "folk meeting";
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
''folkesmōt''; modern Norwegian ''folkemøte'') was analogous, the forerunner to the ''
witenagemōt'' and a precursor of the modern
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
.
Today the term lives on in the English term ''
hustings
A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present.
Devel ...
'' and in the names of
national legislatures
This is a list of legislatures by country. A "legislature" is the generic name for the national parliaments and congresses that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives and that have the power to legislate. All entities included in ...
and political and judicial institutions of Nordic countries and of the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
.
Viking and medieval society
![Law speaker](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Law_speaker.jpg)
In the Viking Age, things were the public assemblies of the free men of a country, province, or a
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...
( sv, härad, hundare, da, herred). They functioned as both parliaments and courts at different levels of society—local, regional, and supra-regional. Their purpose was to solve disputes and make political decisions, and thing sites were also often the place for public religious rites. According to Norway's Law of the
Gulathing
Gulating ( non, Gulaþing) was one of the first Norwegian legislative assemblies, or '' things,'' and also the name of a present-day law court of western Norway. The practice of periodic regional assemblies predates recorded history, and was fi ...
, only free men of full age could participate in the assembly. According to written sources, women were clearly present at some things despite being left out of the decision making bodies, such as the Icelandic
Althing
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...
.
In the pre-Christian
clan-culture of Scandinavia, 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 important role in Viking society as forums for conflict resolution, marriage alliances, power display, honor, and inheritance settlements.
In Sweden and England, assemblies were held both at natural and man-made mounds, often burial mounds. Specifically in Scandinavia, unusually large rune-stones and inscriptions suggesting a local family's attempt to claim supremacy are common features of thing sites. It is common for assembly sites to be located 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 memorized and recited by the "
lawspeaker
A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', kl, inatsitinuk) is a unique Scandina ...
" (the judge). The thing's negotiations were presided over by the lawspeaker and the chieftain or the king. More and more scholarly discussions center around the things being forerunners to democratic institutions as we know them today. The Icelandic
Althing
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...
is considered to be the oldest surviving parliament in the world, the Norwegian Gulathing also dating back to 900-1300 AD.
While the things were not democratic assemblies in the modern sense of an elected body, they were built around ideas of neutrality and representation,
effectively representing the interests of larger numbers of people. In Norway, the thing was a space where free men and elected officials met and discussed matters of collective interest, such as taxation.
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, and if one of the smaller things could not reach agreement, the matter at hand would be brought to one of the bigger things, which encompassed larger areas.
The legislature of Norway is still known as the Storting (Big Thing) today.
Towards the end of the Viking age, royal power became centralized and the kings began to consolidate power and control over the assemblies. As a result, things lost most of their political role and began to function largely as courts in the later Middle Ages.
Norway
In the period between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
went through a state-formation process that elevated the control and power of the king. On the regional level, it has been assumed that the king would have taken control of the organization of assemblies via local representatives. Today, few thing sites from Norway are known for certain, and as new assembly sites are found, scholars question whether these are old jurisdiction districts which the king used as a foundation for his organization or whether he created new administrative units. In southeast Norway in particular, one hypothesis for why the king would have established new thing sites might be that they were a "strategic geopolitical response to the threat from the Danish king in the beginning of the 11th century." Since the record of Norwegian thing sites is not comprehensive, it is not favorable to rely on archeological and topographical characteristics to determine whether they were established prior to the state-formation period.
In northern and southwestern Norway, there appears to have been a close association between chieftains' farms and sites interpreted to be assemblies or court sites. These areas were considered neutral ground where the landowning elite could meet for political and
religious activities. This view is based partly on
Saga narratives of Viking chieftains as well as the distribution of large grave mounds. Ultimately, this neutrality was important for thing participants' cooperation; royal officials required cooperation in order 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 Germanic tradition of the
"weapon-take", which refers to the rattling of weapons at meetings to express agreement. The Law of the Gulathing provides that the handling of these weapons should be controlled and regulated.
This is seen at
Haugating
Haugating was a Thing in medieval Norway. Haugating served as an assembly for the regions around Vestfold and the area west of Oslofjord. It was located at Tønsberg in Vestfold, Norway.
Background
Although it was not as recognized national ...
, the thing for
Vestfold
Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered t ...
in Norway, which was located in
Tønsberg
Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...
at Haugar (from the
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
''haugr'' meaning hill or mound). This site was one of Norway's most important places for the proclamation of kings. In 1130,
Harald Gille
Harald Gille (Old Norse: ''Haraldr Gilli'' or ''Haraldr Gillikristr'', c. 1102 − 14 December 1136), also known as Harald IV, was king of Norway from 1130 until his death. His byname Gille is probably from Middle Irish ''Gilla Críst'' "servant o ...
called together a meeting at the Haugating at which he was declared to be King of Norway.
Sigurd Magnusson
:''Sigurd Magnusson was also the name of Sigurd I of Norway.''
Sigurd Magnusson (ca. 1180 – 3 April 1194) was a Norwegian nobleman who campaigned against King Sverre of Norway during the Civil war era in Norway.
Background
Sigurd Magnusson was ...
was proclaimed king in 1193 at Haugating.
Magnus VII
Magnus IV (April or May 1316 – 1 December 1374; Swedish ''Magnus Eriksson'') was King of Sweden from 1319 to 1364, King of Norway as Magnus VII (including Iceland and Greenland) from 1319 to 1355, and ruler of Scania from 1332 to 1360. By ...
was acclaimed hereditary King of Norway and Sweden at the Haugating in August 1319.
[Gansum & Oestigaard ''Ritual'']
Sweden
Similar to Norway, thing sites in
Sweden experienced changes in administrative organization beginning in the late tenth and eleventh century. This was a result of the power struggle between the rising Christian royal power in the process of establishing itself and the old, local magnate families attempting to maintain power. The battle for power between the king and local magnates is most visible through runic inscriptions at thing sites, which were used to make important power statements. Swedish assembly sites could be characterized by a number of 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
Torgny the Lawspeaker ( Old Icelandic: ''Þorgnýr lögmaðr'' , Swedish: ''Torgny Lagman'') is the name of one of at least three generations of lawspeakers by the name ''Þorgnýr'', who appear in the ''Heimskringla'' by the Icelandic scholar and ...
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. Main things in Sweden were the
Thing of all Swedes
The Thing of all Swedes (''allra Svía þing'', ''Þing allra Svía'', ''Disaþing'',The article ''Distingen'', in the encyclopedia ''Nationalencyklopedin''. or ''Kyndilþing'' , the
Thing of all Geats The Thing of all Geats (Swedish: ''Alla götars ting'') was the thing (general assembly) which was held from pre-historic times to the Middle Ages in Skara, Västergötland.[Lionga thing Lionga thing was the general assembly of the people of Östergötland in medieval Sweden. Lionga thing is mentioned in Östgötalagen and was held in Linköping in the Middle Ages. Its original location is unknown. The first known mention of Lionga ...]
.
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 as a whole. The ''landsting''s authority was successively eroded after the island was occupied by the
Teutonic Order
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...
in 1398. In late medieval times the thing was made up of twelve representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants.
Iceland
As a representative legislative body, the things in
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
were similar to those in greater Scandinavia, but they had a very clear organizational structure. Iceland was divided into four administrative quarters during the Viking Age with a fixed number of thirty-nine lawmakers (''
goðis''): 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
Þingvellir (, anglicised as ThingvellirThe spelling ''Pingvellir'' is sometimes seen, although the letter "p" is unrelated to the letter "þ" (thorn), which is pronounced as "th".) was the site of the Alþing, the annual parliament of Iceland ...
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
The Court of Legislature ( , "law-right") was a legislature and high court established in Iceland in the year 930 during the period of the Icelandic Commonwealth.
930 – c. 965
It was an institution of Althing, the nation's legislative and jud ...
), 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 that were passed by the courts in local spring assemblies.
Besides the Althing, there were local assembly districts in each of the four quarters of Iceland, and each year a Spring Assembly (''vorþing'') was brought together by three ''goðis'' who lived in each local assembly district (''samþingsgoðar''). The four quarters also had courts (''fjórðungsdómar'') that met at the Althing after a constitutional reform around 965. The ''goðis'' appointed the judges for these courts from the farmers in their districts.
Greenland
In the early twentieth century, scholars identified two potential
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
ic thing sites at
Brattahlíð
Brattahlíð (), often anglicised as Brattahlid, was Erik the Red's estate in the Eastern Settlement Viking colony he established in south-western Greenland toward the end of the 10th century. The present settlement of Qassiarsuk, approximately ...
in Eiríksfjörður and
Garðar in Einarsfjörður; both are located in the
Eastern Settlement of Greenland. These two sites were located through a combination of written sources and archeological evidence. Between these two Greenlandic sites, there are a number of overlapping characteristics that support the hypothesis that these booth sites are assemblies. However, not all "assembly features" previously seen in Scandinavia appear at every assembly site, and there are also characteristics that have either not been recorded in Greenland or are unique to Greenland.
The temporary turf structures of the Greenlandic booths have only been recorded in Iceland and would not have been seen at the assembly sites of Viking Age Sweden. Further, the booth sites at Brattahlíð and Garðar were located close to high-status farms. Taken together, it indicates that trade would have taken place at these sites, and given the sparse nature of the Greenlandic settlement, it is reasonable that the participants of the thing would have taken the opportunity for social interaction or trade when gathered with others.
British Isles
As a part of the Germanic world, thing sites were also found in the British Isles. In England, there is
Thingwall
Thingwall is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. The village is situated approximately to the south west of Birkenhead and north east of Heswall. Historically part of Cheshire, the area is within the Pensby and Thingwal ...
on the
Wirral. In the
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
and former
Danelaw
The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian ...
areas of England,
wapentakes
A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek ...
—another name for the same institution—were used in public records. Several places ending in the ''-by'' ('village') place name suffix originally possessed their own laws,
by-laws
A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...
, and jurisdiction subject to the wapentake in which they served, which often extended over a surrounding ground called a thorpe ("hamlet"). If there was a riding surrounding the wapentake, the wapentake would merely be a local assembly coordinating the power of the riding. In Scandinavian York's case, it would be under the king's command at what is now
King's Square in York.
The
Kingdom of East Anglia
la, Regnum Orientalium Anglorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Angles
, common_name = East Anglia
, era =
, status = Great Kingdom
, status_text = Independent (6th centu ...
was in control of the Danelaw which had been organised as the Five Boroughs. The Five were
fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...
s defending land against
Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
, or against the
Vikings
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...
, depending on who ruled there; together with
Lindsey, Lincolnshire
The Parts of Lindsey are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county. The Isle of Axholme, which is on the west side of the River Trent, has normally formed part of it. The district's name origina ...
, which was divided into three ridings like Yorkshire. Again, the naming of the two roads named Inner and Outer Ting Tong on a hill-top in Devon between Budleigh Salterton, Woodbury and Exmouth is widely derided as fanciful, but may be derived from Thing-Tun, a ''
dun
A dun is an ancient or medieval fort. In Ireland and Britain it is mainly a kind of hillfort and also a kind of Atlantic roundhouse.
Etymology
The term comes from Irish ''dún'' or Scottish Gaelic ''dùn'' (meaning "fort"), and is cognat ...
'' (hill fort) or ''tun'' (settlement) around the place where the Thing used to meet.
Thynghowe
Thynghowe was an important Viking Era open-air assembly place or , located at Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, England. It was lost to history until its rediscovery in 2005 by the husband and wife team of Stuart Reddish and Lynda Mallett, loc ...
was an important Danelaw meeting place, or thing, located in Sherwood Forest,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...
, England. It was lost to history until its rediscovery in 2005–06 by local history enthusiasts Lynda Mallett and Stuart Reddish. The site lies amidst the old oaks of an area known as the Birklands in Sherwood Forest. Experts believe it may also yield clues as to the boundary of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. English Heritage has recently inspected the site, and has confirmed it was known as "Thynghowe" in 1334 and 1609. It functioned as a place where people came to resolve disputes and settle issues. Thynghowe is an Old Norse name, although the site may be older than the Danelaw, perhaps even Bronze Age. The word "howe" is derived from the Old Norse word ''haugr'' meaning 'mound'. This often indicates the presence of a prehistoric burial mound.
Frisia
Early-medieval
Frisia knew three levels thing assemblies: the highest level of the civitas, the middle level of the
pagus
In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...
, and the lowest level of the centena. The pagi are being considered the oldest building block, and probably took place three times a year and attended by all freemen. Early-medieval Frisia consisted of about 16 pagi. Only in the course of the Middle Ages became the other thing levels relevant.
The thing was led by law-speakers called asega, with the component ''-a'' meaning 'law' and the component ''-sega'' meaning 'to say/speak'. Every pagus had its own thing but due to lack of written sources it is difficult to establish where the thing sites 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 River 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
Eastergoa (also Ostergau, Ostergo, or Oostergo) was one of the seven areas and one of the three '' Gaue'' within what is today the province of Friesland in the Netherlands.
Area
On its west side Eastergoa was bordered by the Middelsee with ...
.
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.
Place names
The assembly of things were typically held at a specially designated place, often a field or common, like
Þingvellir
Þingvellir (, anglicised as ThingvellirThe spelling ''Pingvellir'' is sometimes seen, although the letter "p" is unrelated to the letter "þ" (thorn), which is pronounced as "th".) was the site of the Alþing, the annual parliament of Iceland ...
, the old location of the Icelandic thing (
Alþingi). The parliament of the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
is still named after the meeting place of the thing,
Tynwald
Tynwald ( gv, Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald ( gv, Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House of ...
, 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
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, there is
Dingwall
Dingwall ( sco, Dingwal, gd, Inbhir Pheofharain ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest cas ...
in the
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland S ...
and Tingwall, occurring both in
Orkney and
Shetland, and further south there is
Tinwald, in
Dumfries and Galloway and – in England –
Thingwall
Thingwall is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. The village is situated approximately to the south west of Birkenhead and north east of Heswall. Historically part of Cheshire, the area is within the Pensby and Thingwal ...
, a village on the
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to ...
. In Sweden, there are several places named
Tingvalla, which is the modern Swedish form of "Þingvellir", and the Norwegian equivalent is found in the place name
Tingvoll
Tingvoll is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Tingvollvågen. Other villages include Meisingset, Kvisvik, and Torjulvågen. The municipality co ...
. In
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, the ''Thingmote'' was a raised mound, 40 foot high and 240 foot in circumference, where the Norsemen assembled and made their laws. It stood on the 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 as well as 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 of time, thus it was inevitable that entertainment, food, tools, and other goods would have played a role in the gatherings. The main question lies in 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
The national
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
s of
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
and
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
all have names that incorporate ''thing'':
*
Alþingi The Icelandic "General Thing"
*
Folketing
The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...
– The Danish "People's Thing"
*
Storting – The Norwegian "Great Thing"
The legislatures of the self-governing territories of
Åland
Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...
,
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
,
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
and
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
also have names that refer to ''thing'':
*
Lagting – The Ålandic "Law Thing"
*
Løgting – The Faeroese "Law Thing"; also, the Faeroes are divided into six ''várting'' (administrative districts)
*
Landsting – The Greenlandic "Land Thing"
[''Greenland Home Rule Act'' (Translation)]
Danish Act No. 557 of 29 November 1978, c. 1, s. 1(2). Statsministeriet (Denmark). Retrieved 16 August 2015.
*
Tynwald
Tynwald ( gv, Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald ( gv, Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House of ...
– The Manx "Thing Meadow" on the Isle of Man,
formerly called "Ting"
In addition, ''thing'' can be found in the name of the
Swedish Assembly of Finland
The Swedish Assembly of Finland ( sv, Svenska Finlands Folkting, fi, Suomenruotsalaiset kansankäräjät, although often referred to as ''Folktinget'' even in Finnish) is an official consultative parliament representing the Swedish-speaking mi ...
(''Svenska Finlands folkting''), a semi-official body representing the
Finland Swedish, and those of the three distinct
elected Sámi assemblies which are all called ''Sameting'' in Norwegian and Swedish (
Northern Sami
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ...
''Sámediggi'').
The
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
national legislature,
since medieval times, has borne a different style,
Riksdag, which is cognate to the old name of the German national assembly,
Reichstag. In Sweden, however, ''ting'' is used to name the subnational county councils, which are called
Landsting. That name was also used in medieval times for the tings that governed the historical
Landskap provinces, that were superseded by the
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in the 17th century. The name ''ting'' is also found in the names of the first level instances of the Swedish and Finnish
court
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...
system, which are called ''
tingsrätt'' ( fi, käräjäoikeus), the 'court of the thing'.
Similarly, prior to 1953, the
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
legislature was known as
Rigsdagen
Rigsdagen () was the name of the national legislature of Denmark from 1849 to 1953.
''Rigsdagen'' was Denmark's first parliament, and it was incorporated in the Constitution of 1849. It was a bicameral legislature, consisting of two houses, th ...
, which comprised the two houses of the
Folketing
The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...
"People's Thing" and
Landsting "Land Thing". The latter, which was reserved for people of means, was abolished by the constitution of 1953.
The Norwegian parliament, the ''Storting'', has historically been divided into
two chambers named the ''Lagting'' and the ''Odelsting'', which translates loosely into the "Thing of the Law" and the "Thing of the
Allodial rights". However, for much of the Storting's recent history, the division into Lagting and Odelsting has been mostly ceremonial, and the Storting has generally operated as a
unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one.
Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...
parliament. A constitutional amendment passed in February 2007 abolished the Lagting and Odelsting, making this ''de facto'' unicameralism official following the
2009 election.
On the lower administrative level the governing bodies on the county level in Norway are called Fylkesting, the Thing of the County. The names of the judicial courts of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
contain for the most part the affix ''ting''. The primary level of courts is called the ''Tingrett'', with the same meaning as the Swedish ''Tingsrätt'', and four of the six
Norwegian Courts of Appeal are named after historical Norwegian regional Things (''
Frostating
The Frostating was an early Norwegian court. It was one of the four major Thing (assembly), Things in medieval Norway. The Frostating had its seat at Tinghaugen in what is now the municipality of Frosta in Trøndelag county, Norway. The name ...
'', ''
Gulating
Gulating ( non, Gulaþing) was one of the first Norwegian legislative assemblies, or '' things,'' and also the name of a present-day law court of western Norway. The practice of periodic regional assemblies predates recorded history, and was ...
'', ''
Borgarting
The Borgarting was one of the major popular assemblies or things (''lagting'') of medieval Norway. Historically, it was the site of the court and assembly for the southern coastal region of Norway from the south-eastern border with Sweden, westw ...
'' and ''
Eidsivating
Eidsivating was the name of one of the original Norwegian popular assemblies or '' Things''. Historically, it was the site of court and assembly for the eastern parts of Norway.
Summary
Traditionally, Eidsivating was the court for the populatio ...
'').
In
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, the word ''geding'' refers to a
lawsuit or
trial
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal ...
, most noticeably with the term ''kort geding'' (literally: ''short thing'') which refers to an
injunction.
See also
*
Diet (assembly)
*
Ecclesia (ancient Athens)
*
Ecumenical council
An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote ar ...
*
The Estates
*
Gairethinx
*
Gerichtslinde
In the Holy Roman Empire, a (, "court linden"; plural ) was a linden tree where assemblies and judicial courts were held. Rooted in Germanic tribal law, the custom has left traces through the Germanic language-speaking areas.
Court lindens ...
*
Jamtamót Jamtamót was the parliamentary assembly of Jämtland, a historical province (''landskap'') in the center of modern-day Sweden in northern Europe. Founded in the first half of the 10th century, it was one of the oldest elected assemblies in the wo ...
*
Landsgemeinde
The ''Landsgemeinde'' ("cantonal assembly"; , plural ''Landsgemeinden'') is a public, non-secret ballot voting system operating by majority rule, which constitutes one of the oldest forms of direct democracy. Still at use – in a few places ...
*
Legal history
Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilisations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and histo ...
*
Medieval Scandinavian law
Medieval Scandinavian law, also called North Germanic law, was a subset of Germanic law practiced by North Germanic peoples. It was originally memorized by lawspeakers, but after the end of the Viking Age they were committed to writing, mostly by ...
*
Moot hill
A moot hill or ''mons placiti'' (statute hill) is a hill or mound historically used as an assembly or meeting place, as a moot hall is a meeting or assembly building, also traditionally to decide local issues. In early medieval Britain, such h ...
*
Parliamentary system
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...
*
Synod
*
Thingspiele
A ''Thingspiel'' (plural ''Thingspiele'') was a kind of multi-disciplinary outdoor theatre performance which enjoyed brief popularity in pre-war Nazi Germany during the 1930s. A Thingplatz or Thingstätte was a specially-constructed outdoor am ...
, Nazi multi-disciplinary dramas for which open-air ''Thingplatz'' amphitheatres were built
Upstalsboom*
Veche
Veche ( rus, вече, véče, ˈvʲet͡ɕe; pl, wiec; uk, ві́че, víče, ; be, ве́ча, viéča, ; cu, вѣще, věšte) was a popular assembly in medieval Slavic countries.
In Novgorod and in Pskov, where the veche acquired gr ...
*
Witenagemot
The Witan () was the king's council in Anglo-Saxon England from before the seventh century until the 11th century. It was composed of the leading magnates, both ecclesiastic and secular, and meetings of the council were sometimes called the Wi ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Primitive Folk-Moots: Open-Air Assemblies in Britain - by George Laurence GommeRetrieved 2009-08-02
Thingsites.com - Official website for the Northern European Thing sites The Thing Is... Frisia Coast Trail blog
{{Authority control
Early Germanic law
Historical legislatures
Direct democracy
Popular assemblies