A Different Power: Mapping the Thing in the North Frode Iversen University of Oslo

Viking Congress 2013. Session: Viking Homelands Shetland, Lerwick. 7th August 2013, 10.40-11.00

To investigate the role of assemblies in the creation of collective identities and emergent kingdoms in medieval Northern Europe June 2010 – des 2013

Northern Europe - area of study

Overall aim of the project

IP 1: Aim: to examine how royal power established solid administrative systems in new subordinated provinces and conquered kingdoms. Scandinavian homelands and European background IP 2 Aim: to investigate past and current scholarship on assemblies, and the hybrid thing institution in the Danelaw IP 3 Aim: to examine the economic activities of thing sites and their effects, focusing on economic activities, such as trade at or near thing sites IP 4 Aim: to explore the establishment of the Norse thing organisation and assembly sites in the areas of Norse settlement and colonisation, compared to the situation in the Viking homelands

Dr. Frode Iversen, Marie Ødegaard, Halldis Hobæk, Oslo and Bergen universities, Prof. Ingvild Øye, supervisor

Dr. Sarah Semple, Tudor Skinner Durham University

Dr. Natascha Mehler,, Vienna University

Dr. Alexandra Sanmark, Centre for Nordic Studies in Orkney.

Task CPR – start date

1/6-10

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Milestones 1-3, papers 1 2 3

Milestone 4, (IP1-4)

contribution to synthesis

4

Milestone 5, synthesis 5

Milestone 6 monographs 6

Fieldwork (PI 3 and 4) 1 1 1

2 2 3 3

Conferences (PI 1-4)

presenting papers

1 2 3

Dissemination (milestones)

Webpage and exhibition

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Administration

CRP work-shops, Oslo,

Vienna, Durham, Orkney

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PhD supervising

June 2010 – December 2013

Major scientific outputs:

• 3 PhD-monographs (Marie, Halldis, Tudor)

• 1 monograph (Alex)

• 1 synthesis (all project members)

• C. 20 articles (all project members)

• 7 fieldwork reports (Natascha, main editor)

• 2 special thing-volumes in Journal of the North Atlantic (JONA), with invited guests (20 articles) (Alex main editor, all PI co-eds)

Workshop Theme Name Title

NR. 1

Durham

Valoration and rhetoric:

Situating Assembly Studies (previous work and current

approaches). Research history. Different traditions and

common ground: England/ Ireland/Scotland/ Wales/

Scandinavia/ Continental Europe

Dr Sarah Semple Dept. of Archaeology, Durham

University

Assembly in Britain past and current points of

view

Tudor Skinner Dept. of Archaeology, Durham

University

English assembly studies and new perspectives

on the North

Prof Andrew Reynolds Institute of Archaeology, University College London

Situating Landscapes of Governance

Dr Alexandra Sanmark Centre for Nordic Studies,

University of the Highlands and Islands,Orkney

Approaches in Scandinavia

Marie Ødegaard Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural studies and Religion, University

of Bergen

The history of Assembly Studies in Norway

Halldis Hobæk Department of Archaeology, Museum of Cultural history, University of Oslo

Assemblies, administrative areas and older territorial units. A short overview of Norwegian

research

Dr Frode Iversen Department of Archaeology,

Museum of Cultural history, University of Oslo

The geography of Tings, Scandinavia 400-1623

AD - New discoveries on Norwegian Court Sites

Current thinking on morphology and location

(Location: borders versus centrality / elements:

houses/hearth/standing

stones/activities/cemeteries etc)

Prof Stephen Driscoll Dept. of Archaeology, University of Glasgow

Perspectives on assembly from across the English border.

Dr Alexandra Sanmark Centre for Nordic Studies,

University of the Highlands and Islands,Orkney

The Islands and Sweden

Dr Natascha Mehler Dep. of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology, Vienna University

The Þing in the North and its mercantile aspects (AD 800-1500)

Dr Stewart Brookes Institute of Archaeology,

University College London Dr John Baker Institute for Name Studies, School

for English Studies, University of Nottingham

New thinking on the UK and English sites

Dean Paton Dept. of History and Archaeology, University of Chester

Thingwall: a new case study and methodology

Keynote speakers: hierarchies and models

Prof. Ingvild Øye, Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural studies and Religion, University

of Bergen

Regional things - law things - assemblies initiated by the King?

Dr. Anne Irene Riisøy Independent researcher, University of Oslo

The Ting and central places in Edic poems

Nr. 2

Utstein

The concept of

Territorialisation

Prof. Orri Vésteinsson Department of

Archaeology, University of Iceland

(Keynote speaker)

The concept of Territorialisation

Dr Frode Iversen Department of Archaeology, Museum of Cultural history, University of Oslo

The European background

Dr Sarah Semple Dept. of Archaeology, Durham

University

Assembly practices and sites in Ireland

Dr Natascha Mehler Dep. of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology, Vienna University

The Thing in the town: the pictorial evidence of

the Volkach Salbuch

Dr. Nanna Løkka, Høgskolen i Telemark /

University of Oslo

Myth as ideology. The thing in edic poems

Endre Elvestad, Stavanger Sjøfartsmuseum Royal power and Hanseatic resistance - the short

story of the "lagting" at Avaldsnes, Rogaland

Migration of administrative

frameworks

Dr. Ulf Jansson, Stockholm University Department

of Human Geography (Keynotespeaker)

Migration of administrative frameworks

Tudor Skinner Dept. of Archaeology, Durham

University

The thing in the Danelaw

Ola Svensson, Linnéuniversitetet in Växjö Jurisdiction, landscape and placenames in Skåne

Halldis Hobæk Department of Archaeology, Museum of Cultural history, University of Oslo

Administrative structures in Western Norway. A

preliminary outline

Marie Ødegaard Department of Archaeology, History,Cultural studies and Religion, University

of Bergen

Royal power, local resistance? Regional things in

Eastern Norway(Marie)

Prof. Orri Vésteinsson Department of

Archaeology, University of Iceland

New territories: the emergence of Icelandic thing

Eight keywords Four workshops 1.Valorisation 2.Rhetoric

3.Territorialisation 4.Migration of administrative frameworks

5.Societal norms 6.Gender studies

7.Economic activity 8.Collective identities

Archaeological fieldwork

• Haugar

• Anundshögen

• Iceland

• Law Ting Holm

• Lunde

• Frosta

• Sockburn

Major findings:

• A three “level” system (local – mid-level – regional)

• Increasingly royal impact during the Viking-Age and middle ages. Major changes 1300-1600 AD

– Many outdoor assemblies moves indoor (written records from 1590)

– The mid-level units disappear/dissolves (around 1623)

– Fewer representatives at regional things. Not a fixed number after 1604

• A better understanding of:

– The placement of medieval and Viking-age assembly sites in the landscape

– Archaeological features connected to the sites

– The thing organisation as a fully integrated part of the Norse Diaspora

– The historiography of assemblies

– The origin and age of the administrative landscape

The geographical organisation of the thing system No appeal system → local matters

treated locally, regional matters regionally etc.

A contemporary drawing of Thingvellir 1782 – one of the longest surviving assembly-site in Northern Europe, operating until 1799 After: Matthías Þórðarson, Fornleifar á Þingvelli. Árbók hins íslenzka fornleifafélags 1921-22

Tinghaug, Dysjane. ”Thingkredsen” at the farm Hauge in Haug skipreide, Rogaland. Roman and Migration period (?) Photo: Ragne Jonsrud, Achaeological Museum, Stavanger

Skei, Sparbu, LiDAR, c. 5 pts pr m2 : Lars Forseth, Nord-Trøndelag fylkeskommune

100 m

The largest cemetery in North-Trøndelag, more than 100 burials (550-1000 AD), among them a rich female grave with a triangular hanging bowl/sieve Skei, Sparbu, Nord-Trøndelag. Vitenskapsmuseet, NTNU / Lars Stenvik, NTNU

Værem; Grong, Namdalen, north of Trondheim. LiDAR data at 5 pts pr m2 on the ground: Lars Forseth, Nord-Trøndelag fylkeskommune

Still in use in the early 11th century (Ingvild Onsøien Strøm 2007)

Reconstruction of Steigen, Nordland by A. Reinert, printed in H. E.

Lund 1959

Two examples

• Bjarkøy

• Øygarden

Bjarkøy, Troms county, 500–900 AD. Excavated by Harald Egenæs Lund 1950-53 Øygarden, Rogaland county, 300-700 AD. Excavated by Jan Petersen 1939-40

Court-yard sites in Hålogaland, North Norway Bjarkøy 500-900 AD

The three main Viking Age court-yard sites • Bjarkøy • Steigen • Tjøtta

1

2

3

(1)”Omd” ? (Troms, Senja, Andenes and Vesterålen) • 1 ”land” • 6 mid-level units (skipreider • 16 local units

(2) Lofoten and Salten • 1 ”land” • 4 mid-level units (skipreider) • 16 local units

(3) Helgeland • 1 ”land” • 3 mid-level units (skipreider) • 12 local units

The court-yard site at Bjarkøy (6th to 10th centuries) and the surrounding

local thing areas (fjerdinger and tingsted) in Troms, Senja, Andenes and

Vesterålen, recorded 1567. Drawing right, after Inger Storli (2006, 49)

Court-yard sites, South Norway

Øygarden AD 300-700?

After Knut Helle 2006

Core area prior to 930 AD

The expansion of the Gulating law-area 900-1300 AD

The court yard Øygarden, Hegraberg, Rogaland. Fjerdingsting? 300/400 – 700/800 AD

Middle ages Viking Age / Merovingian Roman and Migration period

Proposed model of the development of the thing AD 400-1200. The three main functions (cultic, military and legal) become separated

The Assembly Project is financially supported by the HERA Joint Research Programme (www.heranet.info) which is co-funded by AHRC, AKA, DASTI, ETF, FNR, FWF, HAZU, IRCHSS, MHEST, NWO, RANNIS, RCN, VR and The European Community FP7 2007-2013, under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities programme. • Dr. Alexandra Sanmark

• Dr. Sarah Semple, • Marie Ødegaard • Dr. Natascha Mehler • Halldis Hobæk • Tudor Skinner

• Dr. Frode Iversen