Icelandic Commonwealth

Iceland, 930 CE–1262. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. 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. During the 13th century, Iceland came under the control of the Kingdom of Norway.

Seat of power: Thingvellir National Park

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• 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.
• The Alþingi served as a public gathering at which people from all over the country met for two weeks every June.
• In 1117, the Law code of the Icelandic Commonwealth was put into writing, becoming known as the Gray Goose Laws.

Picture

Þingvellir was the site of the Alþing, the annual parliament of Iceland from the year 930 until the last session held at Þingvellir in 1798.

Image: Ivan Sabljak, CC BY-SA 3.0, file

Sources

• Icelandic Commonwealth (Wikipedia)
• Icelandic Commonwealth (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.