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The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing 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 ...
between the establishment of the
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 "assembly ...
in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the
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 ...
king with the
Old Covenant The Mosaic covenant (named after Moses), also known as the Sinaitic covenant (after the biblical Mount Sinai), refers to a covenant between God and the Israelites, including their proselytes, not limited to the ten commandments, nor the eve ...
in 1262. With the probable exception of hermitic Irish monks known as
Papar The Papar (; from Latin ''papa'', via Old Irish, meaning "father" or "pope") were, according to early Icelandic sagas, Irish monks who took eremitic residence in parts of what is now Iceland before that island's habitation by the Norsemen of S ...
, Iceland was an uninhabited island until around 874. The Icelandic Commonwealth had a unique political system whereby chieftains (''goðar'') established a common legal code and settled judicial disputes at the Althing, a national assembly. However, there was no executive body in Iceland that enforced the legal code. The Icelandic Commonwealth has consequently been characterized as a stateless society. During the 13th century, Iceland came under the control of the Norwegian Kingdom.


Goðorð system

The medieval Icelandic state had a unique judicial structure. The first settlers of Iceland were greatly influenced by their Norwegian roots when creating their own form of government. They wanted to avoid the strong centralized authority of
Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair no, Harald hårfagre Modern Icelandic: ( – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from  872 to 930 and was the first King of Nor ...
from which some of them had fled, but they also wanted to replicate the Norwegian tradition of laws and district legal assemblies (''Þing''). This created a unique structure. The most powerful and elite leaders in Iceland were the chieftains (sing. ''goði'', pl. ''goðar''). The office of the ''goði'' was called the ''goðorð''. The ''goðorð'' was not delimited by strict geographical boundaries. Thus, a free man could choose to support any of the ''goðar'' of his district. The supporters of the ''goðar'' were called ''Þingmenn'' ("assembly people"). In exchange for the ''goði'' protecting his interests, the ''Þingmaðr'' would provide armed support to his ''goði'' during feuds or conflicts. The ''Þingmenn'' were also required to attend regional and national assemblies. On a regional level, the ''goðar'' of the thirteen district assemblies convened meetings every spring to settle local disputes. The ''goðar'' also served as the leaders of the Alþingi, the national assembly of Iceland. Today, the Alþingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in existence. It began with the regional assembly at Kjalarness established by Þorsteinn Ingólfsson, son of the first settler. The leaders of the Kjalarnessþing appointed a man named
Úlfljótr Úlfljótr (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) brought law to Iceland and is regarded by some as Iceland's first ''lawspeaker''. In around 927-930 AD Úlfljótr was sent to Norway by a group of chieftains to study law and culture and bring back to Ic ...
to study the laws in Norway. He spent three years in Norway and returned with the foundation of Úlfljótr's Law, which would form the basis for Iceland's national assembly. Sections of his law code are preserved in the
Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and ove ...
, ("Book of Settlements"). The first Alþingi assembly convened around the year 930 at
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 ...
, ("Assembly Plains"). The Alþingi served as a public gathering at which people from all over the country met for two weeks every June. The Alþingi revolved around the ''Lögrétta'', the legislative council of the assembly, which was responsible for reviewing and amending the nation's laws. The Lögrétta comprised the 39 ''goðar'' and their advisors. They also appointed a
Lawspeaker A lawspeaker or lawman (Swedish language, Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish language, Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic language, Icelandic: , Faroese language, ...
(''lögsögumaður'') once every three years. The Lawspeaker recited and clarified laws at
Lögberg Lögberg (), or Law Rock, was a rocky outcrop in south west Iceland, at the location for the assembly of the country's Althing parliament. The original Althing was gathered at Þingvellir, an area of dramatic landscapes which was easily accessible ...
("Law Rock"), located at the center of Þingvellir. The descendants of
Ingólfr Arnarson Ingólfr Arnarson, in some sources named Bjǫrnólfsson, ( – ) is commonly recognized as the first permanent Norse settler of Iceland, together with his wife and foster brother Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson. According to tradition, they settled ...
, the first settler of Iceland, held the ceremonial position of '' allsherjargoði'' and had the role of sanctifying the Alþingi each year.


Court system

Iceland was divided into four administrative regions called ''fjörðungar'' (farthings). Each of these was ruled by nine ''goðar''. The Alþingi was made up of the four Quarter Courts (''fjórðungsdómur''). This judicial body of Iceland consisted of 36 judges, each appointed by one of the ''goðar''. These courts tried individual cases and served as a higher judicial authority to the regional courts. The rulings of the quarter judges had to be agreed upon by a strong majority: if only six of the judges disagreed, then the case was deadlocked and dismissed. In 1005, this problem was solved by the creation of a Fifth Court, an appeals court based on a simple majority. Once a court decided a party was guilty, however, it had no executive authority to carry out a sentence. Instead, enforcement of a verdict became the responsibility of the injured party or his family. Penalties often included financial compensation or
outlawry An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...
. However, these were considered by some to be insufficient penalties and the Alþingi was only moderately successful at stopping feuds. According to Magnus Magnusson, the courts were "an uneasy substitute for vengeance." The most severe punishments were outlawry and three years' exile. Outlaws lost all property rights and could be killed without any punishment for the killers. Exiles who failed to leave Iceland became outlaws. Historian Birgir Solvason states that Icelandic society was "more peaceful and cooperative than its contemporaries". In England and Norway, by contrast, "the period from about 800 to 1200 is a period of continuous struggle; high in both violence and killings". Historian Jón Viðar Sigurðsson argues that the introduction of Christianity to Iceland illustrates how effective and significant arbitration was in Iceland. At the
Christianisation of Iceland Iceland was Christianized in the year 1000 CE, when Christianity became the religion by law. In Icelandic, this event is known as the ''kristnitaka'' (literally, "the taking of Christianity"). The vast majority of the initial settlers of Icel ...
in 1000, the Alþingi outlawed public celebration of pagan rituals and decreed that in order to prevent an invasion, all Icelanders must be baptized. In 1117, the law code of the Icelandic Commonwealth was put into writing, becoming known as the
Gray Goose Laws The Gray (Grey) Goose Laws ( is, Grágás {{IPA-is, ˈkrauːˌkauːs}) are a collection of laws from the Icelandic Commonwealth period. The term ''Grágás'' was originally used in a medieval source to refer to a collection of Norwegian laws an ...
.


Life within the system

Knowledge of the system of government in medieval Iceland stems mainly from two main primary sources: the written law code, and Íslendingabók, or the Book of the Icelanders by Ari the Learned. The impact of the legislative and judicial systems on Icelandic settlers is a common theme in many of the other
Icelandic sagas The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...
. Works such as ''
Njáls saga ''Njáls saga'' ( ), also ''Njála'' ( ), ''Brennu-Njáls saga'' ( ) or ''"The Story of Burnt Njáll"'', is a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 and 1020. The saga deals with a process of blood feuds in the I ...
'' and the '' Laxdæla saga'' give many details, but their accuracy has been disputed. '' Eyrbyggja saga'' details the transition from paganism to Christianity within Icelandic settlement under the direction of
Snorri Goði Snorri Þorgrímsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) or Snorri Goði (O.N.: ; M.I.: ; 963–1031) was a prominent chieftain in Western Iceland, who featured in a number of Icelandic sagas. The main source of his life is the '' Eyrbyggja saga ...
, or "Snorri the Priest." The emphasis on justice and the conviction in their system of governance is reflected within the saga: "They say we shall suffer setbacks in court; we must plead for support from powerful chieftains: but Arnkel will argue an eloquent case, he will sway judge and jury - I have faith in justice." Chieftains were highly reliant on the support of farmers in their domain in the 11th and 12th centuries, and did thus not have princely powers or subjects in the districts that they represented. Around 1190, the number of chieftaincies declined and power started to centralize in individual chieftains controlling larger regions of the country. By ca 1220, the country was a loose federation of 10-12 regional powers. According to historian Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, "a chieftain based his power on his personal qualities, his wealth, friends, assembly men, kinsmen and in-laws. The cleverest, the most helpful, the wealthiest and the most generous became the most powerful ones." Historian Árni Daniel Júliusson further notes that the food production of the peasantry was the "basis of political and military power". Peasant rebellions, traditionally defined, never occurred in Iceland, even though peasant unrest was fairly common. Slavery was practiced in Iceland from settlement to the early 12th century. Icelandic law allowed individuals guilty of theft or failure to pay debts to be enslaved. Slaves were allowed to marry and have children, which meant that a class of slaves could self-perpetuate. Slavery likely declined in the second half of the 12th century and was extremely rare by the 15th century.


Warfare

The followers of the ''goðar'' owed them military service. They were organized into platoons or companies based on their social status and equipment, and these formed expeditionary armies or
leiðangr The institution known as ''leiðangr'' (Old Norse), ''leidang'' (Norwegian), ''leding'' ( Danish), ''ledung'' ( Swedish), ''expeditio'' (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a form of conscription ( mass levy) to organize coastal fleets for se ...
s. Icelandic military tradition of the time closely followed developments in Norway. No organized cavalry formations or formations of troops equipped with projectile weapons are recorded: instead the bulk of the forces were formed in units of light, medium and heavy
infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...
, with bowmen or slingers distributed among the infantry units, operating as light support skirmishers. Before the end of the Commonwealth, at least 21
fortress 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'' ...
es and castles had been built in Iceland. During the
Age of the Sturlungs The Age of the Sturlungs or the Sturlung Era ( is, Sturlungaöld ) was a 42–44 year period of violent internal strife in mid-13th century Iceland. It is documented in the Sturlunga saga. This period is marked by the conflicts of local chieftai ...
, the average battle involved fewer than 1000 men, with an average casualty rate of only 15%. This relatively low casualty rate might be attributed to the blood-feud mentality which permeated Icelandic society, which meant that the defeated army could not honourably be slaughtered to a man.


Religion

The first Bishop of Skalholt was Ísleifur Gissurarson, who was elected by the Althing in 1056. After his son Gissur was installed as bishop, the power and wealth of the church quickly grew due to the introduction of
tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...
, the first tax introduced in Iceland. The church became the second unifying institution in the country after the Althing. Continuing similar patterns from the pre-Christian era, church estates could be owned by ''goðar'' who would then get a portion of the tithe.


Decline and fall

In the early 13th century, the
Age of the Sturlungs The Age of the Sturlungs or the Sturlung Era ( is, Sturlungaöld ) was a 42–44 year period of violent internal strife in mid-13th century Iceland. It is documented in the Sturlunga saga. This period is marked by the conflicts of local chieftai ...
, the Commonwealth began to suffer from chaos and division resulting from internal disputes. Originally, the ''goðar'' (chieftains) functioned more as a contractual relationship than a fixed geographic chieftaincy. However, by 1220 this form of communal leadership was replaced by dominant regional individuals who battled with one another for more control. One historian argues the chaos and violence of this period stem from an imbalance of power and changes in the nature of Icelandic warfare. Whereas the number of ''goðar'' had been at least 39 early in the Icelandic Commonwealth, a few powerful families had consolidated control over most of the ''goðorð'' in the late 12th century. There are several factors that may have resulted in the consolidation of ''goðorð''. The separation of secular and ecclesiastical power led some families and regional networks to become stronger at the expense of others, leading to an imbalance of power. The introduction of
tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...
may have increased the wealth of chieftains that controlled the churches. The introduction of pitched battles and harassment of farmers on a regional basis raised the stakes and dangers, which may have incentivized consolidation. An increase in population along with a resource shortage may have made commoners more dependent on chieftains. The King of Norway began to exert pressure on his Icelandic
vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
s to bring the country under his rule. He commissioned Icelandic chieftains to become part of his body of retainers and to pursue his interests in Iceland. The King's role in Icelandic affairs started in 1220, and had become strong by 1240 (Icelanders were starting to accept the King's choice of chieftains). Over the period 1240-1260, the King consolidated power in Iceland. A combination of discontent with domestic hostilities and pressure from the King of Norway led the Icelandic chieftains to accept Norway's
Haakon IV Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 y ...
as king by the signing of the '' Gamli sáttmáli'' ("Old Covenant") in 1262. According to historian Sverrir Jakobsson, three Icelanders played a central role in bringing Iceland under the King of Norway: Gissur Þorvaldsson (for getting farmers to agree to pay taxes to the King), Hrafn Oddsson (for pressuring Gissur into supporting the King, and getting farmers in the Westfjords to submit to the King) and bishop Brandur Jónsson (for getting his relatives in the East Fjords to submit to the King). By 1264, all Icelandic chieftains had sworn allegiance to the King of Norway. The end of the Icelandic Commonwealth is typically dated to the Old Covenant (1262–1264) or to the adoption of Jónsbók in 1281.


Contemporary libertarian perspectives

According to the
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
theorist
David D. Friedman David Director Friedman (born February 12, 1945) is an American economist, physicist, legal scholar, and anarcho-capitalist theorist. Although he studied chemistry and physics and not law or economics, he is known for his textbook writings on m ...
, "Medieval Icelandic institutions have several peculiar and interesting characteristics; they might almost have been invented by a mad economist to test the lengths to which market systems could supplant government in its most fundamental functions."Friedman, David D. (1979
Private Creation and Enforcement of Law: A Historical Case
Retrieved 12 August 2005.
While not directly labeling it
anarcho-capitalist Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enfo ...
, he argues that the legal system came close to being a real-world anarcho-capitalist legal system. Although noting that there was a single legal system, Friedman argues that enforcement of the law was entirely private and highly capitalist, providing some evidence of how such a society would function. "Even where the Icelandic legal system recognized an essentially "public" offense, it dealt with it by giving some individual (in some cases chosen by lot from those affected) the right to pursue the case and collect the resulting fine, thus fitting it into an essentially private system." Commenting on its political structure, libertarian scholar Roderick Long remarks:
The legal system's administration, insofar as it had one, lay in the hands of a parliament of about 40 officers whom historians call, however inadequately, "chieftains." This parliament had no budget and no employees; it met only two weeks per year. In addition to their parliamentary role, chieftains were empowered in their own local districts to appoint judges and to keep the peace; this latter job was handled on an essentially fee-for-service basis. The enforcement of judicial decisions was largely a matter of self-help (hence Iceland's reputation as a land of constant private feuding), but those who lacked the might to enforce their rights could sell their court-decreed claims for compensation to someone more powerful, usually a chieftain; hence even the poor and friendless could not be victimized with impunity. The basis of a chieftain's power within the political order was the power he already possessed outside it, in civil society. The office of chieftaincy was private property, and could be bought or sold; hence chieftaincies tended to track private wealth. But wealth alone was not enough. As economic historian Birgir Solvason notes in his masterful study of the period, "just buying the chieftainship was no guarantee of power"; the mere office by itself was "almost worthless" unless the chieftain could "convince some free-farmers to follow him." Chieftains did not hold authority over territorially-defined districts, but competed for clients with other chieftains from the same geographical area.
Summarizing his research, Friedman concludes in part:
It is difficult to draw any conclusion from the Icelandic experience concerning the viability of systems of private enforcement in the twentieth century. Even if Icelandic institutions worked well then, they might not work in a larger and more interdependent society. And whether the Icelandic institutions did work well is a matter of controversy; the sagas are perceived by many as portraying an essentially violent and unjust society, tormented by constant feuding. It is difficult to tell whether such judgments are correct.
Friedman and Bruce L. Benson argued that the Icelandic Commonwealth saw significant economic and social progress in the absence of systems of criminal law, an executive, or bureaucracy.


See also

*
History of Iceland The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from the east, particularly Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest ...
*
History of Icelandic nationality Iceland is an island country between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. Icelandic nationality is concerned with the conditions by which an individual is a national of Iceland. Icelandi ...
* Icelandic nobility * Settlement of Iceland *
Sagas of Icelanders The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...


Citations


Notes


References


External links


Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power by Jesse L. Byock
{{Coord, 65, N, 18, W, scale:5000000_source:GNS, display=title Former countries in Europe Medieval Iceland States and territories disestablished in 1262 States and territories established in the 930s