Infopanel 35

Democracy

During the Viking Age, Scandinavia had significantly more democratic structures than elsewhere in Europe, even if it cannot yet be described as a democracy in the modern sense. The institution of the Thing, which originated in ancient Germanic times and was a popular assembly where important community matters such as legal judgments and political decisions were settled, survived in the north well into the Middle Ages. This “assembly of free men” thus already represented two of the three pillars of a constitutional state that are common today: legislation, jurisdiction, and law enforcement. The men of the Thing passed laws, adapted them, and constantly sought to optimize them. Justice was already being administered in civil proceedings, with a “law speaker” knowledgeable in the law even pronouncing judgments in Viking-era Iceland. What the Thing lacked was executive power: those who won their cases had to enforce the law themselves. So if someone was accused of fratricide and won their case, and the murderer was consequently ostracized or banished from society, the plaintiff had to ensure that this outlawed man actually left the country. The plaintiff was also allowed to carry out blood revenge.

The Thing assemblies were held at specific, fixed times and in specific locations. However, there is no evidence to suggest—as is sometimes assumed today—that ancient stone circles from the Neolithic period were used for this purpose. But the Thing had little to do with democracy in the modern sense, as only free (and later also tax-paying) men were allowed to participate. The majority of the population, consisting of women, children, servants, and slaves, had no access.

Other aspects of Viking society point to a largely democratic mindset, such as in the organization of trading voyages. Although the helmsman had a clear (command) function, the crew consisted of félagar (literally: food or property companions), who not only shared their meals, but also contributed economically to the enterprise and divided the profits accordingly. There is also evidence that on raiding expeditions, all plundered goods were to be “brought to the pole” in order to be divided equally under the supervision of the captain or a leader.

Rune stones from Denmark and Sweden show that the crew erected a memorial stone in memory of a fallen comrade if there were no heirs. Such social solidarity and democratic structures are still characteristic of the Scandinavian countries today – even though they have retained the monarchy as their form of government.