LAw
Each free man of a Viking community would gather in their communities to make law and to decide cases in a meeting called a Thing. Each community had its own Thing.
Rather than having all disputes settled by duelling or interfamily brawls, the Thing was made to both create and write laws and to judge cases within the law. The Thing met at specific, weekly times. Each Thing had a law speaker who would recite the law on command. The law speaker and the local chieftain would judge and decide the verdict of cases out of dispute they heard, although all free men of the community had a say. Things were most likely dominated by a local, powerful family or families.
At the lowest level were the local, community Things. The community Thing was then represented at the next higher level Thing.
Malefactors who gave testimony at the Thing and were found guilty were either fined, made into a semi-outlaw or fully outlawed from the town/area/village. To be an outlaw was an awful fate for a Viking making them alienated from all society, all his goods and property taken and was made to live in the middle of nowhere. Besides the fact that they became terribly lonely, anyone could kill them! Most vikings, when outlawed, fled the country to live in a different region.
Other ways to settle crimes included arbitration and holmgangs.
Arbitration, is when both sides agree on a 'third party' objective to be judged between them, and a holmgang is when there is a duel which is either fought by first blood or to the death.
Rather than having all disputes settled by duelling or interfamily brawls, the Thing was made to both create and write laws and to judge cases within the law. The Thing met at specific, weekly times. Each Thing had a law speaker who would recite the law on command. The law speaker and the local chieftain would judge and decide the verdict of cases out of dispute they heard, although all free men of the community had a say. Things were most likely dominated by a local, powerful family or families.
At the lowest level were the local, community Things. The community Thing was then represented at the next higher level Thing.
Malefactors who gave testimony at the Thing and were found guilty were either fined, made into a semi-outlaw or fully outlawed from the town/area/village. To be an outlaw was an awful fate for a Viking making them alienated from all society, all his goods and property taken and was made to live in the middle of nowhere. Besides the fact that they became terribly lonely, anyone could kill them! Most vikings, when outlawed, fled the country to live in a different region.
Other ways to settle crimes included arbitration and holmgangs.
Arbitration, is when both sides agree on a 'third party' objective to be judged between them, and a holmgang is when there is a duel which is either fought by first blood or to the death.
governing and leaders
At first the vikings were pagans meaning that they believed in natural and animal gods. But soon they developed a system of family government, then regional and finally a form of democracy. Within families which extended to grandparents and cousins. There were also 'Jarls' and even Kings in some areas.
The title Konungr, meaning King, was given to a chief of a community. There were many Kings. One would rule over a small section or portion of land. Some of the chiefs were war chiefs who didn't own any land. As mentioned above, there were Things which were like courts but they also decided if Kings could stay in power. Next in the government structure were Jarls. Jarls were nobles and often had as much power and land as Kings and both them had to rule the people according to the law. After some time had passed, Sweden and Denmark crowned one King and by the year 1872 Norway had only one King whose name was Harald Fairhair. Harald made a bad mistake by giving each of his sons the title of King as well as him therefore dividing Norway. Some people who didn't like Harald's government moved to Iceland and made their own colony there. They formed a national assembly called the Althing, instead of having a King. It is today the oldest assembly in the world. |