Medieval Elections?
Not exactly. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Iceland was colonized by Norse settlers, who adopted the Norse practice of holding general assemblies. In 930, the first national parliament in the world was established in Iceland -- a single legislative assembly to govern the entire island, known as the Alțing (Althing, or Alting). Not everyone could participate, but all farmers were legally obliged to. Although there was no central executive power (like our president), the Alțing was still a form of democracy, albeit far removed from what we know today. You can find out more about it in this article at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.
And I'd like to remind my fellow U.S. citizens that the deadline for voter registration is drawing near. If you haven't registered to vote, please do so, and make your opinion count in a way you couldn't have done in the Middle Ages, not even in Iceland.
Comments
Doesn’t our modern day word for “thing” come from the name of this assembly: althing? I’ve also seen it referred to as țing or simply ting.
There were quite a number of elective assemblies in the Medieval period weren’t there? For instance the Holy Roman Emperor was elected as was the Pope. Many of the Italian communes elected their officials until they became dictatorships during the Renaissance. In fact the so called Renaissance was the harbinger of less democracy.
Steven — I think it would be more accurate to say that the Icelandic “althing” and the English “thing” evolved from the same root word of an even earlier Germanic language.
Mark — you’re quite right, the Icelandic althing wasn’t the only form of democratic government in the Middle Ages, although it was the first national parliament.