The Commonwealth Period

How the Commonwealth was governed

During the Commonwealth, power lay with the goðar, chieftains who held a goðorð. A goðorð was both secular and religious authority, and farmers chose which chieftain to follow. Chieftaincies were inherited but could also be sold or given away. The country was divided into four quarters, each with three spring assemblies, except the Northern Quarter, which had four. Each spring assembly had three chieftains.

The Althing met at Þingvellir every summer. The Law Council (Lögrétta) made laws and settled legal disputes. The lawspeaker was elected for three years and had to recite the law from the Law Rock (Lögberg), a third of it at each assembly. Around 1005 the Fifth Court was established as a kind of supreme court.

Grágás – the law of the Commonwealth

The laws were first written down in the winter of 1117–1118 at the farm of Hafliði Másson. The Commonwealth law code is known as Grágás ("Grey Goose") and survives in two main manuscripts from the 13th century. It is one of the most detailed law codes of the Middle Ages and covers inheritance, support for the poor, killings, boundaries and communes. The communes (hreppar), a mutual aid system among farmers, are one of the oldest social institutions in the country.

Voyages to the west

During the Commonwealth, Icelanders sailed further west than any other Europeans. Erik the Red, who had been outlawed from Iceland, found Greenland and founded a settlement there around 985. His son, Leif Erikson (Leifur heppni), sailed to North America around the year 1000 and called the land Vinland. This is told in the Saga of the Greenlanders and Erik the Red's Saga. Archaeological remains at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland confirm that Norsemen stayed there. Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir, who gave birth to her son Snorri in Vinland, is sometimes called the most widely travelled woman of the Middle Ages.

The Church and learning

After the conversion the Church grew stronger. A bishop's seat was established at Skálholt in 1056 and at Hólar in 1106. Schools were attached to the bishoprics and monasteries were founded, the first at Þingeyrar in 1133. The tithe law of 1096–1097 was the first tax in Iceland. In the 12th century people began to write in Icelandic, and Ari the Learned wrote the Book of Icelanders around 1122–1133.

The Age of the Sturlungs and the end of the Commonwealth

In the 13th century the chieftaincies became concentrated in the hands of a few powerful families, such as the Sturlungs, Haukdælir, Oddaverjar, Ásbirningar and Svínfellingar. The period from about 1220 to 1264 is named after the Sturlungs and was marked by fierce conflict. About 50 men fell in the Battle of Örlygsstaðir in 1238, and the burning at Flugumýri in 1253 is one of the most notorious acts of the period. King Haakon the Old of Norway exploited the situation, and with the Old Covenant of 1262–1264 Icelanders accepted the Norwegian king as their ruler. This marked the end of the Commonwealth.