Thing (assembly)

A thing or ting (Old Norse and Icelandic: þing; other modern Scandinavian languages: ting) was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers. Today the term lives on in the official names of national legislatures, political and judicial institutions in the North-Germanic countries. The English word 'thing', meaning "object" is also derived from this; the evolution having been roughly "assembly" → "court" → "case" → "business" → "purpose" → "object". The German Tag (day, as in Bundestag the German parliament or Tagung) is called so because things were held at daylight and often lasted all day. The Scandinavian equivalent is "Dag" (day) and "Riksdag" (Parliament).

Viking and medieval society

In the pre-Christian clan-culture of Scandinavia the members of a clan were obliged to avenge injuries against their dead and mutilated relatives. A balancing structure was necessary to reduce tribal feuds and avoid social anarchy. We know from the North-Germanic cultures the balancing institution was the thing although similar assemblies are reported also from other Germanic peoples and others.

The thing was the assembly of the free people of a country, province or a hundred (hundare/härad/herred). There were consequently hierarchies of things, so that the local things were represented at the thing for a larger area, for a province or land. At the thing, disputes were solved and political decisions were made. The place for the thing was often also the place for public religious rites and for commerce.

The thing met at regular intervals, legislated, elected chieftains and kings, and judged according to the law, which was memorized and recited by the "law speaker" (the judge). The thing's negotiations were presided over by the law speaker and the chieftain or the king. In reality the thing was of course dominated by the most influential members of the community, the heads of clans and wealthy families, but in theory one-man one-vote was the rule. A famous incident took place when Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker told the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung that it was the people that held power in Sweden and not the king. The king realized that he was powerless against the thing and gave in.

The island of Gotland, as an example, had in late medieval time twenty things, 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 in 1398. In late medieval times the thing-court consisted of twelve representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants.

The assembly of the thing was typically held at a specially designated place, often a field or common, like þingvellir, the old location of the Icelandic Thing. The parliament of the Isle of Man is still named after the meeting place of the thing, Tynwald, which etymologically is the same word as "þingvellir". Other equivalent placenames can be found across northern Europe; in the United Kingdom, there is Dingwall in Ross-shire; Tingwall, occurring both in Orkney and Shetland; and Thingwall on the Wirral. Similarly in Sweden, there are several places named Tingvalla, which is the modern Swedish form of "þingvellir".

In the Yorkshire and former Danelaw areas of England, which were subject to much Norse invasion and settlement, wapentakes (another name for the same institution) were, until recently, still used in public records. Several places ending in the "by"(village) placename suffix originally possessed their own law (bylaw) 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, which in Jorvik's case, would be under the king's command at what is now King's Square in York. The Kingdom of East Anglia was in control of the Danelaw which had been organised as the Five Boroughs. Those Five were martial law fortresses defending land against Wessex, or against the Vikings, depending on who ruled there; together with Lindsey, which was divided into three ridings like Yorkshire.

National parliaments and current institutions

The national parliaments of Iceland, Norway and Denmark all have names that incorporate thing:

Althing - The Icelandic "General Thing"
Folketing - The Danish "People's Thing"
Storting - The Norwegian "Great Thing"

The parliaments of the self-governing territories of Åland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Isle of Man also have names that refer to thing.

Lagting - The Ålandic "Law Thing"
Løgting - The Faroese "Law Thing"
Landsting - The Greenlandic "Land Thing"
Tynwald - The Manx "Thing Meadow"

The Swedish national parliament, since medieval times, has borne a different style, Riksdag, which is cognate to the old name of the German national assembly, Reichstag. In Sweden ting is however 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 in the 17th century. The name ting is also found in the names of the first level instances of the Swedish and Finnish court system, which are called Tingsrätt (Finnish: käräjäoikeus), the Court of the Thing.

Folkting is also the name of the Swedish Assembly of Finland, a semi-official body representing the Swedish-speaking population.

The Norwegian parliament, Storting, is divided into two chambers named the Lagting and the Odelsting, which translates loosely into the Thing of the Law and the Thing of the Lords. On the lower administrative level the governing bodies on the county level in Norway are called Fylkesting, the Thing of the County, The judicial courts of Norway contains for the most part the suffix or prefix 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, Gulating, Borgarting and Eidsivating).

In Norway and Sweden there exist own administrative bodies with limited autonomity for the Sami minorities. It is called the Sameting, the Thing of the Sami, in both countries.

References

Nordic FAQ of soc.culture.nordic (with permission)

Viking and medieval society

National parliaments and current institutions

See also

References