Thing
The Thing (Old norrois and Icelandic Þing , other modern Scandinavian languages ting ) was the name of the governmental assemblies in the old Germanic companies of Northern Europe, made up of the free men of the community and chaired by Lögsögumad . Today, the term still exists in official names of political institutions and legal of country of Northern Europe.
Medieval company
In the clannish culture of Scandinavia Pagan (pre-Christian woman), the members of a Clan were obliged to avenge the insults made with their dead or wounded parents. A regulating institution was thus necessary to reduce the number of tribal quarrels and to avoid social anarchy. This institution, in the countries of Northern Europe, is the thing. It is known that similar assemblies existed in other Germanic people.The thing was the assembly of free people of a country, a province or a herred (administrative subdivision). There was thus a hierarchy of the things, so that each thing local is represented with the thing province, and so on. The place of the thing was often that of the religious rites and that of the trade. The arguments were regulated on this occasion, and the political decisions were made there.
The thing met with regular intervals, legislated, elected chiefs and kings, judged according to the established laws, which were memorized and recited by the Lögsögumad. The discussions were chaired by Lögsögumad and the local leader (or the king). If all the free men had access to the thing well, its operation was not therefore democratic, since some powerful families generally shared the real capacity. A real incident took place when Lögsögumad reminded the king de Suède Olof Skötkonung that it was the people which had the capacity, and not the king. The king realized that it was impotent vis-a-vis the thing and had to yield.
The island of Gotland, for example, had a score of things at the end of the Moyen-âge, and each one of these regional assemblies were represented with the thing island (landsting) by its Lögsögumad. The laws and the decisions concerning the whole of the island were made in Landsting. The capacity of this authority eroded gradually when the Chevaliers Teutoniques occupied the island in 1398. It constituted soon nothing any more but one room of twelve members representing the free farmers.
The assembly was held in a specific place, often fields Community, with the image to þingvellir, the old site of the Icelandic assembly. Many places still bear names of this type in the North of Europe, in particular many Tingvalla of Sweden.
National parliaments and current institutions
-
Alþing, Icelandic Parliament.
- Folketing, Danish Parliament.
- Storting, Norwegian Parliament, divided into Lagting, the Lower House and Odelsting, the Upper House.
- Lagting, Parliament of the Aaland islands.
- Løgting, Parliament of the Faroe Islands.
- Landsting, Parliament of the Greenland.
- Tynwald, Parliament of the island of Man.
- Sameting, Parliament of the minorities sami in Sweden and Norway.
In Sweden, the provincial Parliaments name Landsting and in Finland, the Folkting is the institution representing Suédophones of this country. Many Norwegian courts of justice also bear a name including/understanding the thing root.
References