þjóðveldi

Þjóðveldi, literally meaning “commonwealth” or “people’s power,” refers to the Icelandic Commonwealth period in Icelandic history, roughly from the settlement of Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries until the middle of the 13th century. It denotes a political system in which there was no central monarchy; governance rested with a national assembly and regional leaders rather than a single sovereign.

The key institution was the Alþingi, the national parliament established at Þingvellir around the year 930. The Althing organized laws, resolved disputes, and provided a forum for free men from across Iceland to participate in legal and political processes. Local power was exercised by goðar, chieftains who led regional goðorð (chieftaincies) and presided over legal matters within their districts. The period relied on customary law, later codified in written form as Grágás, and law-speakers (lögsögumenn) who recited the laws and guided proceedings at the Althing.

There was no centralized executive authority akin to a king. Government functioned through the collaboration of the Althing, the goðar, and customary practices. Enforcement of laws depended on the community and legal mechanisms, including assemblies, fines, and social pressure, rather than a standing national bureaucracy. The church and ecclesiastical institutions existed but did not replace secular governance.

The end of þjóðveldi came with the Old Covenant (Gamli sáttmáli) in 1262–1264, under which Icelandic affairs came under the Norwegian crown, and later entered into unions that shaped its political status for centuries. The term remains used in Icelandic historiography to describe this era as a distinctive early example of constitutional and participatory governance, before full royal control.