Social and Government Structure

Social Structure

Government Structure. 

The Vikings had a different government system to most other societies. The majority of arguments where settled quickly outside of the courts if possible. If the disputes were to extreme to be handled, the cases went in front of the “thing”(Althing in Iceland and tynwald in the isles) which means “assembly” in old Norse (The “thing” is like the modern day court). Anyone could bring a matter of discussion or a complaint against someone else at the “Thing”. In Iceland, at the end of the settlement period, the island was divided into quarters and each quarter had 9 "gothi" (chiefs).