The commonwealth: other chieftains

Who rules

Name

Gissur Hallsson of Haukadalur, lawspeaker

Title

No king and no prince. The commonwealth is governed by the Althing (alþingi) and its Law Council (lögrétta) of chieftains; its one elected officer is the lawspeaker (lögsögumaður)

Since

Lawspeaker since 1181; he holds the office until 1202 and his son Hallur follows him (1203-1209)

Born

About 1125 (not pinned to the year); he dies in 1206

Family

Head of the Haukdælir (see Haukdælir). Son of Hallur Teitsson; married to Álfheiður Þorvarðsdóttir. Sons: Þorvaldur (the active chieftain, at Hruni), Hallur, Magnús (a priest, at Tunga below Skálholt); daughters Þuríður (Þórdís in one passage), widow of Tumi Kolbeinsson and mother of Kolbeinn Tumason, now married to Sigurður Ormsson of Svínafell; Kolfinna, once wife of Ari the Strong.

Confidence

high

The lawspeaker recites the law at the Law Rock (Lögberg), one third each summer, presides over the Law Council and gives rulings on the law when asked. He commands nothing: there is no executive, no army, no treasury and no royal officer anywhere in the land. The genealogies of Sturlunga saga say Gissur served as stallari (marshal) to King Sigurd Munn, Sverre's claimed father, travelled often abroad, was honoured at Rome and wrote a book, Flos peregrinationis.

Overlord

None. Iceland pays no tribute and owes no homage to any king. The Icelandic Church lies in the archbishopric of Nidaros, whose archbishop, Eirik Ivarsson, is in exile at Lund; the two Icelandic bishops are Church map records.

What the realm holds

• The Althing at Þingvellir, which meets for two weeks in late June: the Law Rock (Lögberg), the Law Council (lögrétta) with 48 voting seats held by the chieftains and their nominees (each with two advisers) plus the two bishops, the four quarter courts (fjórðungsdómar) and the Fifth Court (fimmtardómur) of appeal
• The four quarters (fjórðungar), each a set of assembly districts: the South Quarter (Kjalarnesþing, Árnesþing, Rangárþing), the West Quarter (Þverárþing in Borgarfjörður, Þórsnesþing on Snæfellsnes and in the Dalir, Þorskafjarðarþing in the Westfjords), the North Quarter (Húnavatnsþing, Hegranesþing in Skagafjörður, Vaðlaþing in Eyjafjörður, Þingeyjarþing) and the East Quarter (Múlaþing, Sunnudalsþing and Skaftafellsþing). Each district holds a spring assembly (vorþing) in May and an autumn meeting (leið) where the Althing's news and decisions are announced
• The chieftaincies (goðorð), held as property: they can be inherited, sold, given, shared and lent; see the lord records for who holds which that winter
• The Church's land: the bishoprics of Skálholt (1056) and Hólar (1106), the monasteries of Þingeyrar (1133), Munkaþverá (1155), Þykkvabær (1168), Helgafell (moved there from Flatey in 1184) and the nunnery at Kirkjubær (1186), and many church estates (staðir); all are Church map records
• The tithe law of 1096-97 (the first in the North), the written law (Hafliðaskrá, 1117-18, and the law books later called Grágás), the Christian laws of Bishops Þorlákur and Ketill (1122-33)
• The harbours where ships from Norway land in summer: Eyrar (Eyrarbakki) in the south, Hvítárvellir on the Hvítá in Borgarfjörður, Gásir in Eyjafjörður, Kolbeinsárós in Skagafjörður, Gautavík in Berufjörður and others (see the minor points)

How it was acquired

Settled from Norway and the British Isles about 870-930; the Althing was founded about 930, the quarters and quarter courts about 965, the Fifth Court about 1005; Christianity was accepted at the Althing in 999 or 1000.

Allies and rivals

Who stands with whom this winter (Íslendinga saga). At the Althing fight of 1196 Kolbeinn Tumason of the Ásbirningar led the Haukdælir, the Svínfellingar and Guðmundur dýri against the Oddaverjar and the Sturlungar. The sides have since shifted. In the Glæðir dispute that is open on 1 January 1200, SÆMUNDUR JÓNSSON of Oddi has with him his brothers Bishop Páll and Ormur, Þorvaldur Gissurarson of the Haukdælir (married to Sæmundur's niece) and Snorri Sturluson (living in his house); SIGURÐUR ORMSSON of the Svínfellingar has with him his stepsons Kolbeinn and Arnór Tumason and Sighvatur Sturluson, who are sworn to back him to the full. Þórður Sturluson is friendly to Sæmundur and is not named on either side. Þorvaldur Snorrason of Vatnsfjörður is at odds with Sighvatur and lodges with Þorvaldur Gissurarson at the Althing.

The lawspeaker Gissur Hallsson is father-in-law to Sigurður and father of Þorvaldur, and stands between.

The realm that morning

No feud is open in arms on 1 January 1200, but one is about to be. The Althing fight of 1196, the killing of Markús Þórðarson at Rauðasandur (autumn 1196) and the burning of Önundur Þorkelsson at Langahlíð (spring 1197) were settled at the Althing of 1197 under Jón Loftsson's arbitration. Since Jón's death (1 November 1197) Sæmundur Jónsson and Sigurður Ormsson have quarrelled over the Glæðir inheritance in Síða; the Althing of 1199 failed to settle it, Sigurður's man Kári sits on the land, and "late that winter" (1199-1200) Sæmundur will have him killed (see likely course).

The great men in place: lawspeaker Gissur Hallsson at Haukadalur; Sæmundur Jónsson at Oddi, counted the foremost man in Iceland; Bishop Páll at Skálholt; Bishop Brandur at Hólar (he dies on 6 August 1201); Kolbeinn Tumason at Víðimýri, the strongest man in the north, with the priest Guðmundur Arason in his household; Guðmundur dýri at Bakki in Öxnadalur; Sighvatur Sturluson at Hjarðarholt; Þórður Sturluson at Staðarstaður; Snorri Sturluson at Oddi. The bishops are at peace with the chieftains: the quarrel over church estates (staðamál) died down after Bishop Þorlákur's death in 1193, and the fight over clerical rights will begin only with Guðmundur Arason's episcopate (1203). No king governs any of it, and no Norwegian officer is present anywhere in Iceland.

Wealth

Cattle, sheep and the wool that makes homespun cloth (vaðmál), which is also the money of account (ells and "hundreds" of cloth, and the legal ounce, lögeyrir); stranded whales and driftwood, which are valuable property rights along the coasts; fishing for home use; hay and grazing. Exports to Norway: homespun cloth, hides and sheepskins, gyrfalcons (prized by kings), and Greenland goods passing through (walrus ivory and hide rope, polar bear skins), with sulphur from the north-east attested as an export in the thirteenth century (how much went out in 1200 is not pinned). Imports: timber, grain, flour and malt, iron and weapons, linen and fine cloth, wax and wine for the churches.

No coin is struck; silver is weighed. Prices for the foreign merchants' wares are set by the district chieftains when the ships come in.

Military

No army, no levy, no castles and no fleet. Each chieftain raises his thingmen, kinsmen and household (his flokkur) when he rides to the Althing or to a feud; the sagas speak of bands of tens and a few hundreds (saga numbers). Fortification is a turf-walled farm (virki) at most. Iceland has no ships of war; the Icelanders own few seagoing ships and depend on Norwegian merchants for the crossing.

Threats

• The great kindreds' rivalry for goðorð and thingmen, which will turn into the open wars of the Sturlung age within a generation
• The coming clash between the chieftains and the reforming clergy (it breaks out after Guðmundur Arason becomes bishop of Hólar in 1203)
• Dependence on Norwegian shipping for timber, grain and iron, and on the goodwill of the merchants and the Norwegian king
• Hard winters and cattle death (a winter of cattle-death, Nautfellisvetr, falls in these years: its year is not pinned)

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. Late winter 1200 (February to April)Sæmundur Jónsson has Kári, Sigurður Ormsson's man on the disputed Glæðir land in Síða, killed by a party of about thirty (saga number).Depends on: The Glæðir dispute still unsettled. Stopped by: A settlement or Sigurður giving up the land before the killing.
2. 3 March 1200Bishop Brandur translates the relics of Jón Ögmundarson, the first bishop of Hólar, into the cathedral at Hólar: the north gets its own saint, two years after the south's Þorlákur (translated at Skálholt on 20 July 1198).Depends on: Brandur alive and willing. Stopped by: Brandur's death or illness.
3. May 1200The spring assemblies meet. At Þingskálar in Rangárþing Snorri Sturluson, for Sæmundur, has Sigurður Ormsson outlawed; Sigurður's stepson Arnór Tumason cannot bring Kolbeinn and Sighvatur south in time. Both sides then muster (the saga: Sigurður 200 men, Sæmundur 700) and Sigurður agrees, at a meeting at Forsá by Skógar, to put the case to Bishop Páll.Depends on: The killing of Kári and the suit brought in spring. Stopped by: Kolbeinn and Sighvatur arriving in force, which would turn the case into open war.
4. Late June 1200 (the Althing opens on the Thursday of the tenth week of summer, about 18-24 June)The Althing meets at Þingvellir with Gissur Hallsson as lawspeaker. Bishop Páll, on the advice of the best men, awards the Glæðir property to Sæmundur on terms both sides accept; Kolbeinn and still more Sighvatur resent it. The Althing also makes Jón Ögmundarson's feast (23 April) a holy day for all Iceland.Depends on: The spring arbitration agreement; Gissur stays in office until 1202. Stopped by: A breach of the truce; Gissur's death (he lives to 1206).
5. Summer 1200Merchant ships from Norway (mostly Bergen and Nidaros) reach Eyrar, Hvítárvellir, Gásir and the other harbours, bringing news of Sverre's war with the Bagler; Icelanders sail with them to Norway.Depends on: The sailing season and the state of the war in Norway. Stopped by: A Norwegian ban on sailing, or war at sea round Bergen.
6. 6 August 1201 (beyond 1200)Bishop Brandur of Hólar dies; Kolbeinn Tumason has the priest Guðmundur Arason chosen as his successor, expecting a pliant bishop; Guðmundur is consecrated in 1203 and the fight over the clergy's rights follows.Depends on: Brandur's natural death; Kolbeinn's dominance in the north. Stopped by: A different election, or Kolbeinn's fall.
7. 1201 (beyond 1200)Bersi the Wealthy of Borg dies in the same year as Bishop Brandur; Snorri Sturluson takes his wife's inheritance, the farm of Borg on Mýrar and Bersi's chieftaincy, and moves there from Oddi.Depends on: Bersi's natural death. Stopped by: Bersi living on, or a quarrel over the inheritance.

Places of note

• Lögberg, the Law Rock at Þingvellir: Where the lawspeaker recites the law and the Althing hears proclamations and suits.
• Skálholt: The see of the bishop of Skálholt (Páll Jónsson), the richest farm in the land; a Church map record.
• Hólar: The see of the bishop of Hólar (Brandur Sæmundsson); a Church map record.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign notes give Brandur Sæmundsson as bishop of Hólar since 1163 and Páll Jónsson at Skálholt since 1195: these agree with the sources here. Brandur dies on 6 August 1201, so he is alive on 1 January 1200.

Evidence: Iceland around 1200 is one of the best-documented places in the North: Íslendinga saga (by Sturla Þórðarson, written in the 1270s-80s), Guðmundar saga dýra, Prestssaga Guðmundar góða, Hrafns saga, the bishops' sagas, the annals and the law books. But all of it was written decades later by men of the kindreds concerned, and the sagas date by winters and by sequence rather than by years; dates here come from the saga sequence and the annals.

On the map: The commonwealth had no borders inside the island, and a chieftain's power was over thingmen, not ground: in principle a farmer could change his chieftain each year. By 1200 the great kindreds had made their regions into domains, and the lord records draw those regions; where the sources do not say who held a district that winter it is left as plain commonwealth ground.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Icelandic annals to 1578 (compiled from the late 13th century onward from older notes). Year-by-year notices that fix Icelandic chronology. Read online
• The saga of the Sturlungs: the compilation of contemporary Icelandic sagas, Sturla Þórðarson and other authors, compiled by Þórðr Narfason (the component sagas between about 1200 and 1280; compiled about 1300). The only contemporary narrative of Iceland. Read online
• The sagas of the Icelandic bishops: Páll of Skálholt, Guðmundr of Hólar and Þorlákr (Páls saga about 1211 to 1216; Þorláks saga about 1200 to 1210; the oldest Guðmundar saga in the 13th century). Páls saga is the life of Bishop Páll Jónsson of Skálholt (1195 to 1211), of the Oddaverjar, and tells how he had the churches and priests of his diocese counted, about 220 churches and 290 priests, how he furthered the cult of his uncle Þorlákr, whose relics were raised in 1198 and whose feast the Althing adopted in 1199, and how he dealt with the chieftains. Read online
• The Grey Goose laws: the law of the Icelandic Commonwealth (law first written down in 1117 to 1118; the surviving manuscripts Konungsbók (about 1250) and Staðarhólsbók (about 1270)). The law under which Iceland was run in 1200: the goðar and their thingmen, the local and quarter things and the Althing, the Fifth Court, the lawspeaker, outlawry, compensation and the Christian law section with the tithe. Read online