This is 89 of our ongoing series about Viking Age Iceland. For centuries, this island country, unique in Medieval Europe, operated with no king, no great lords, no foreign policy, and no defense forces but which developed legal and judicial systems to limit the violence of bloodfeud and protect the rights of freemen. Far out in the North Atlantic, Iceland was where the famous sagas developed. To explore Iceland’s place in the medieval world, we present selections from Jesse Byock’s Viking Age Iceland that investigate the history, archaeology, culture, systems of feud, and sagas of this magical place.
From the ninth century to the twelfth the concerns of free farmers dominated the spectrum of governmental activity. Legal and administrative decisions were fashioned within the context of a widespread belief in the inviolability of the rights of freemen. These rights were contained in a system of law which served less to protect privileges than to allow the individual to exercise specific rights. The goðar, in their capacity as advocates, enjoyed no legal authority to act in defence of their supporters; conversely, they were under no obligation to do so. This situation left a goði open to prosecution by other freemen, a factor that apparently discouraged rashness on the part of leaders.
Being a goði was a professional vocation with entrepreneurial overtones. In an island society with limited economic opportunity, goðar were individuals poised to intervene, upon request and when remuneration was likely, in the disputes of others. They, along with influential farmers who chose to play the role of advocates, were experts in conducting feuds, whether arbitrated, adjudicated or fought. A goði was willing to help others for reasons of self-interest, kinship, political obligations or payment. Although the law in Iceland held out the promise of equal rights, the political reality was that only consensus among leaders, representing their followers, could make the complex legal system work satisfactorily. As a result of the advocacy process, violence was reduced to an acceptable level; rash acts and overbearing conduct became marginal.
From early on a major threat to Iceland’s internal cohesion was the possibility of regional fragmentation. The lie of the land, with its uninhabitable interior, isolated fjords and remote valleys, made communications difficult and might easily have fostered the growth of regionalism. The Althing system of government, however, successfully countered this danger. When situations started to get out of hand, regional antagonisms or serious feuds triggered the safety mechanisms of the island-wide legal community. In particular, brokerage and arbitration came into play. In extreme instances, as in the major feud between Thord Gellir and Tungu-Odd in the mid-960s, legislated constitutional change was deemed necessary: the quarter courts were instituted to lessen the likelihood of future escalations of regional confrontations.
— Jesse Byock, Viking Age Iceland
