Thing (assembly)

A thing[a] (that is, "assembly" or folkmoot) was a

governing assembly in early Germanic society, made
up of the free people of the community presided over
by lawspeakers. They took place at regular intervals,
usually at some prominent place that was accessible
by travel. Things provided legislative functions, as
well as being social events and opportunities for trade.
In modern usage, the meaning of this word in English
and other languages has shifted to mean not just an
assemblage of some sort but simply any sort of thing.
Germanic thing, drawn after the depiction in a relief
of the Column of Marcus Aurelius (193 CE)

Contents
Etymology
Viking and medieval society
Norway
Sweden
Iceland
Greenland
British Isles
Frisia
Place names
Unanswered questions
National legislatures and current
institutions
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

Etymology
The word appears in Old Norse, Old English, and modern Icelandic as þing,[b] in Middle English (as in
modern English), Old Saxon, Old Dutch, and Old Frisian as thing, in German as Ding, in Dutch and
Afrikaans as ding, and in modern Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Faroese, Gutnish, and Norn as ting, all
from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic neuter *þingą; the word is the same as the more common English
word thing, both having at their core the basic meaning of "an assemblage, a coming together of parts"—in
the one case, an "assembly" or "meeting", in the other, an "entity", "object", or "thing". The meeting-place
of a thing was called a "thingstead" (Old English þingstede) or "thingstow" (Old English þingstōw).

The Old Norse, Old Frisian, and Old English þing with the meaning "assembly" is identical in origin to the
English word thing, German Ding, Dutch ding, and modern Scandinavian ting when meaning "object".[1]
All of these terms derive from Proto-Germanic *þingą meaning "appointed time", possibly originating in
Proto-Indo-European *ten-, "stretch", as in a "stretch of time for an assembly".[1] The word shift in the
meaning of the word thing from "assembly" to "object" is mirrored in the evolution of the Latin causa
("judicial lawsuit", "case") to modern French chose, Spanish/Italian/Catalan cosa, and Portuguese coisa (all
meaning "object" or "thing").[1] A word with similar meaning, the cognate to English sake (purpose), sak
in Norwegian and Swedish, sag in Danish, zaak in Dutch, saak in Afrikaans, and Sache in German, still
retains the meaning "affair, matter" alongside "thing, object".

In English the term is attested from 685 to 686 CE in the older meaning "assembly"; later it referred to a
being, entity or matter (sometime before 899), and then also an act, deed, or event (from about 1000). The
early sense of "meeting, assembly" did not survive the shift to Middle English.[2] The meaning of personal
possessions, commonly in the plural, first appears in Middle English around 1300.[3]

The Anglo-Saxon folkmoot (Old English folcgemōt, "folk meeting"; Middle English folkesmōt; modern
Norwegian folkemøte) was analogous, the forerunner to the witenagemōt and a precursor of the modern
Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Today the term lives on in the English term hustings; in the official names of national legislatures and
political and judicial institutions of Nordic countries; and, in the Manx form tyn, as a term for the three
legislative bodies on the Isle of Man.

Viking and medieval society

In the Viking Age, things were the public assemblies of the free
men of a country, province, or a hundred (Swedish: härad,
hundare, Danish: herred). They functioned as both parliaments
and courts at different levels of society—local, regional, and
supra-regional.[5] Their purpose was to solve disputes and make
political decisions, and thing sites were also often the place for
public religious rites. According to Norway's Law of the
Gulathing, only free men of full age could participate in the
assembly.[6] According to written sources, women were clearly
present at some things despite being left out of the decision
making bodies, such as the Icelandic Althing.[7]

In the pre-Christian clan-culture of Scandinavia, the members of a

clan were obliged to avenge injuries against their dead and
mutilated relatives. As a result, feuding is often seen as the most
common form of conflict resolution used in Viking society.
The Icelandic Althing in session, as
However, things are in a more general sense balancing structures
imagined in the 1890s by British artist
used to reduce tribal feuds and avoid social disorder in North-
W. G. Collingwood.[4]
Germanic cultures. They played an important role in Viking
society as forums for conflict resolution, marriage alliances, power
display, honor, and inheritance settlements.[5]
In Sweden and England, assemblies were held both at natural and
man-made mounds, often burial mounds.[8] Specifically in
Scandinavia, unusually large rune-stones and inscriptions
suggesting a local family's attempt to claim supremacy are
common features of thing sites. It is common for assembly sites to
be located close to communication routes, such as navigable water
routes and clear land routes.[9]

The thing met at regular intervals, legislated, elected chieftains

and kings, and judged according to the law, which was
memorized and recited by the "lawspeaker" (the judge). The
thing's negotiations were presided over by the lawspeaker and the
chieftain or the king. More and more scholarly discussions center
around the things being forerunners to democratic institutions as
we know them today. The Icelandic Althing is considered to be
the oldest surviving parliament in the world, the Norwegian
Gulathing also dating back to 900-1300 AD.[10] While the things Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker showing the
were not democratic assemblies in the modern sense of an elected power of his office to the King of
body, they were built around ideas of neutrality and Sweden at Gamla Uppsala, 1018. The
[10] lawspeaker forced King Olof
representation, effectively representing the interests of larger
Skötkonung not only to accept peace
numbers of people. In Norway, the thing was a space where free
with his enemy, King Olaf the Stout of
men and elected officials met and discussed matters of collective
Norway, but also to give his daughter
interest, such as taxation.[11] Though some scholars say that the to him in marriage. Illustration by C.
things were dominated by the most influential members of the Krogh.
community, the heads of clans and wealthy families, other
scholars describe how every free man could put forward his case
for deliberation and share his opinions.[12] History professor Torgrim Titlestad describes how Norway, with
the thing sites, displayed an advanced political system over a thousand years ago, one that was
characterized by high participation and democratic ideologies.[13] These things also served as courts of
law,[14] and if one of the smaller things could not reach agreement, the matter at hand would be brought to
one of the bigger things, which encompassed larger areas.[11] The legislature of Norway is still known as
the Storting (Big Thing) today.

Towards the end of the Viking age, royal power became centralized and the kings began to consolidate
power and control over the assemblies. As a result, things lost most of their political role and began to
function largely as courts in the later Middle Ages.[5]

Norway

In the period between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, Norway went through a state-formation
process that elevated the control and power of the king. On the regional level, it has been assumed that the
king would have taken control of the organization of assemblies via local representatives. Today, few thing
sites from Norway are known for certain, and as new assembly sites are found, scholars question whether
these are old jurisdiction districts which the king used as a foundation for his organization or whether he
created new administrative units.[15] In southeast Norway in particular, one hypothesis for why the king
would have established new thing sites might be that they were a "strategic geopolitical response to the
threat from the Danish king in the beginning of the 11th century."[16] Since the record of Norwegian thing
sites is not comprehensive, it is not favorable to rely on archeological and topographical characteristics to
determine whether they were established prior to the state-formation period.
In northern and southwestern Norway, there appears to have been a close association between chieftains'
farms and sites interpreted to be assemblies or court sites. These areas were considered neutral ground
where the landowning elite could meet for political and religious activities. This view is based partly on
Saga narratives of Viking chieftains as well as the distribution of large grave mounds.[17] Ultimately, this
neutrality was important for thing participants' cooperation; royal officials required cooperation in order to
look after the king's interests in local areas. In this regard, Norwegian things became an arena for
cooperation between the royal representatives and the farmers.[18]

Based on what is known from later medieval documents, one deep-rooted custom of Norwegian law areas
was the bearing of arms coming from the old Germanic tradition of the "weapon-take", which refers to the
rattling of weapons at meetings to express agreement.[19] The Law of the Gulathing provides that the
handling of these weapons should be controlled and regulated.[6]

This is seen at Haugating, the thing for Vestfold in Norway, which was located in Tønsberg at Haugar
(from the Old Norse haugr meaning hill or mound). This site was one of Norway's most important places
for the proclamation of kings. In 1130, Harald Gille called together a meeting at the Haugating at which he
was declared to be King of Norway. Sigurd Magnusson was proclaimed king in 1193 at Haugating.
Magnus VII was acclaimed hereditary King of Norway and Sweden at the Haugating in August 1319.[20]

Sweden

Similar to Norway, thing sites in Sweden experienced changes in administrative organization beginning in
the late tenth and eleventh century. This was a result of the power struggle between the rising Christian
royal power in the process of establishing itself and the old, local magnate families attempting to maintain
power. The battle for power between the king and local magnates is most visible through runic inscriptions
at thing sites, which were used to make important power statements.[21] Swedish assembly sites could be
characterized by a number of typical features: large mounds, rune-stones, and crossings between roads by
land or water to allow for greater accessibility.[22]

A famous incident took place when Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker told the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung (c.
980–1022) that the people, not the king, held power in Sweden; the king realized that he was powerless
against the thing and gave in. Main things in Sweden were the Thing of all Swedes, the Thing of all Geats
and the Lionga thing.

The island of Gotland had twenty things in late medieval times, each represented at the island-thing called
landsting by its elected judge. New laws were decided at the landsting, which also took other decisions
regarding the island as a whole. The landsting's authority was successively eroded after the island was
occupied by the Teutonic Order in 1398. In late medieval times the thing was made up of twelve
representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants.

Iceland

As a representative legislative body, the things in Iceland were similar to those in greater Scandinavia, but
they had a very clear organizational structure. Iceland was divided into four administrative quarters during
the Viking Age with a fixed number of thirty-nine lawmakers (goðis): twelve goðis in the northern quarter
and nine each in the eastern, southern, and western quarters.

The main distinction between Iceland and greater Scandinavia lies in the organization of the Icelandic
Althing (Alþingi), the main assembly during the Viking period and the Middle Ages. Unlike other
European societies in the Middle Ages, Iceland was unique for relying on the Althing's legislative and
judicial institutions at the national level rather than an executive branch of government.[23] Þingvellir was
the site of the Althing, and it was a place where people came together once a year to bring cases to court,
render judgments, and discuss laws and politics.”[24] At the annual Althing, the thirty-nine goðis along with
nine others served as voting members of the Law Council (Lögrétta), a legislative assembly. The Lögrétta
reviewed the laws which the lawspeaker recited, made new laws, set fines and punishments and were
informed of sentences of outlawry and banishment that were passed by the courts in local spring
assemblies.[23]

Besides the Althing, there were local assembly districts in each of the four quarters of Iceland, and each
year a Spring Assembly (vorþing) was brought together by three goðis who lived in each local assembly
district (samþingsgoðar). The four quarters also had courts (fjórðungsdómar) that met at the Althing after a
constitutional reform around 965. The goðis appointed the judges for these courts from the farmers in their
districts.[23]

Greenland

In the early twentieth century, scholars identified two potential Greenlandic thing sites at Brattahlíð in
Eiríksfjörður and Garðar in Einarsfjörður; both are located in the Eastern Settlement of Greenland. These
two sites were located through a combination of written sources and archeological evidence. Between these
two Greenlandic sites, there are a number of overlapping characteristics that support the hypothesis that
these booth sites are assemblies. However, not all "assembly features" previously seen in Scandinavia
appear at every assembly site, and there are also characteristics that have either not been recorded in
Greenland or are unique to Greenland.

The temporary turf structures of the Greenlandic booths have only been recorded in Iceland and would not
have been seen at the assembly sites of Viking Age Sweden. Further, the booth sites at Brattahlíð and
Garðar were located close to high-status farms. Taken together, it indicates that trade would have taken
place at these sites, and given the sparse nature of the Greenlandic settlement, it is reasonable that the
participants of the thing would have taken the opportunity for social interaction or trade when gathered with
others.[25]

British Isles

As a part of the Germanic world, thing sites were also found in the British Isles. In England, there is
Thingwall on the Wirral. In the Yorkshire and former Danelaw areas of England, wapentakes—another
name for the same institution—were used in public records. Several places ending in the -by ('village') place
name suffix originally possessed their own laws, by-laws, and jurisdiction subject to the wapentake in
which they served, which often extended over a surrounding ground called a thorpe ("hamlet"). If there
was a riding surrounding the wapentake, the wapentake would merely be a local assembly coordinating the
power of the riding. In Scandinavian York's case, it would be under the king's command at what is now
King's Square in York.

The Kingdom of East Anglia was in control of the Danelaw which had been organised as the Five
Boroughs. The Five were fortifications defending land against Wessex, or against the Vikings, depending
on who ruled there; together with Lindsey, Lincolnshire, which was divided into three ridings like
Yorkshire. Again, the naming of the two roads named Inner and Outer Ting Tong on a hill-top in Devon
between Budleigh Salterton, Woodbury and Exmouth is widely derided as fanciful, but may be derived
from Thing-Tun, a dun (hill fort) or tun (settlement) around the place where the Thing used to meet.

Thynghowe was an important Danelaw meeting place, or thing, located in Sherwood Forest,
Nottinghamshire, England. It was lost to history until its rediscovery in 2005–06 by local history enthusiasts
Lynda Mallett and Stuart Reddish. The site lies amidst the old oaks of an area known as the Birklands in
Sherwood Forest. Experts believe it may also yield clues as to the boundary of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms
of Mercia and Northumbria. English Heritage has recently inspected the site, and has confirmed it was
known as "Thynghowe" in 1334 and 1609. It functioned as a place where people came to resolve disputes
and settle issues. Thynghowe is an Old Norse name, although the site may be older than the Danelaw,
perhaps even Bronze Age. The word "howe" is derived from the Old Norse word haugr meaning 'mound'.
This often indicates the presence of a prehistoric burial mound.

Frisia

Early -medieval Frisia knew three levels thing assemblies: the highest level of the civitas, the middle level
of the pagus, and the lowest level of the centena. The pagi are being considered the oldest building block,
and probably took place three times a year and attended by all freemen. Early-medieval Frisia consited of
about 16 pagi. Only in the course of the Middle Ages became the other thing levels relevant.[26] The thing
was led by law-speakers called asega, with the component -a meaning 'law' and the component -sega
meaning 'to say/speak'. Every pagus had its own thing but due to lack of written sources it is difficult to
establish where the thing sites were. Thing sites are being presumed by historians at Naaldwijk in the pagus
Maasland (Land of the River Meuse), at Katwijk in the pagus Rijnland (Land of the River Rhine), at
Heemskerk in the pagus Kennemerland, at De Waal in the pagus Texel,[27] at Franeker in the pagus
Westergo and at Dokkum in the pagus Oostergo.[26] From the 12th century the thing called Upstalsboom
took place on the level of the civitas. At Upstalsboom, near the current town of Aurich in region
Ostfriesland, Germany, once a year all seven Frisian Sealands gathered.

Place names

The assembly of things were typically held at a specially designated place, often a field or common, like
Þingvellir, the old location of the Icelandic thing (Alþingi). The parliament of the Isle of Man is still named
after the meeting place of the thing, Tynwald, which etymologically is the same word as "þingvellir" (there
is still an annual public assembly at Tynwald Hill each July 5, where the new Manx laws are read out and
petitions delivered). Other equivalent place names can be found across northern Europe: in Scotland, there
is Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands and Tingwall, occurring both in Orkney and Shetland, and further
south there is Tinwald, in Dumfries and Galloway and – in England – Thingwall, a village on the Wirral
Peninsula. In Sweden, there are several places named Tingvalla, which is the modern Swedish form of
"Þingvellir", and the Norwegian equivalent is found in the place name Tingvoll. In Dublin, Ireland, the
Thingmote was a raised mound, 40 foot high and 240 foot in circumference, where the Norsemen
assembled and made their laws. It stood on the south of the river, adjacent to Dublin Castle, until 1685.[28]

Unanswered questions

It is contested between scholars to what extent things were sites of economic transactions and commerce as
well as arenas for political and legal decisions. In Norway, it is clear that the assemblies functioned as an
administrative level for economic transactions and taxes to the king.[29] The role of commerce at the thing
is more undetermined in Iceland in particular because of the role of saga literature in influencing
conclusions about things. Þingvellir was thought of as a trading place as a result of saga passages and law
texts that refer to trade:

Intended to keep the peace in the region, the excursion was made every third summer, according to
the law. An assembly of chieftains was called to choose the cases in which the kings were to pass
judgment. Attending the assembly was regarded as an entertainment, as men attended from all the
lands of which we have reports…
 The assembly attracted a gathering of traders. People attended in large numbers, and there was
plenty of entertainment, drinking and games, and festivities of all sorts. Nothing especially
newsworthy occurred.[30]

As shown in the Laxdæla saga, meetings at Þingvellir required people to travel from long distances and
gather together for an extended period of time, thus it was inevitable that entertainment, food, tools, and
other goods would have played a role in the gatherings. The main question lies in whether trade was
conducted in the assembly or on the margins of the gathering. Similarly, there are unanswered questions
about the connection between trade and assembly in Greenland. Research on Scandinavian trade and
assembly is burgeoning, and thus far evidence has mostly been found in written sources, such as the sagas,
and place names, "such as the 'Disting' market that is said to have been held during the thing meetings at
Gamla Uppsala in Sweden."[31]

National legislatures and current institutions

The national legislatures of Iceland, Norway and Denmark all have names that incorporate thing:

Alþingi – The Icelandic "General Thing"[32]

Folketing – The Danish "People's Thing"
Storting – The Norwegian "Great Thing"[32]

The legislatures of the self-governing territories of the Åland Islands, Faroe Islands, Greenland and Isle of
Man also have names that refer to thing:

Lagting – The Ålandic "Law Thing"

Løgting – The Faeroese "Law Thing"; also, the Faeroes are divided into six várting
(administrative districts)[33]
Landsting – The Greenlandic "Land Thing"[34]
Tynwald – The Manx "Thing Meadow" on the Isle of Man,[35] formerly called "Ting"[32]

In addition, thing can be found in the name of the Swedish Assembly of Finland (Svenska Finlands
folkting), a semi-official body representing the Finland Swedish, and those of the three distinct elected Sámi
assemblies which are all called Sameting in Norwegian and Swedish (Northern Sami Sámediggi).

The Swedish national legislature, since medieval times, has borne a different style, Riksdag, which is
cognate to the old name of the German national assembly, Reichstag. In Sweden, however, ting is used to
name the subnational county councils, which are called Landsting. That name was also used in medieval
times for the tings that governed the historical Landskap provinces, that were superseded by the counties in
the 17th century. The name ting is also found in the names of the first level instances of the Swedish and
Finnish court system, which are called tingsrätt (Finnish: käräjäoikeus), the 'court of the thing'.

Similarly, prior to 1953, the Danish legislature was known as Rigsdagen, which comprised the two houses
of the Folketing "People's Thing" and Landsting "Land Thing". The latter, which was reserved for people
of means, was abolished by the constitution of 1953.

The Norwegian parliament, the Storting, has historically been divided into two chambers named the
Lagting and the Odelsting, which translates loosely into the "Thing of the Law" and the "Thing of the
Allodial rights". However, for much of the Storting's recent history, the division into Lagting and Odelsting
has been mostly ceremonial, and the Storting has generally operated as a unicameral parliament. A
constitutional amendment passed in February 2007 abolished the Lagting and Odelsting, making this de
facto unicameralism official following the 2009 election.
On the lower administrative level the governing bodies on the county level in Norway are called
Fylkesting, the Thing of the County. The names of the judicial courts of Norway contain for the most part
the affix ting. The primary level of courts is called the Tingrett, with the same meaning as the Swedish
Tingsrätt, and four of the six Norwegian Courts of Appeal are named after historical Norwegian regional
Things (Frostating, Gulating, Borgarting and Eidsivating).

See also
Diet (assembly)
Ecclesia (ancient Athens)
Ecumenical council
The Estates
Gairethinx
Gerichtslinde
Jamtamót
Landsgemeinde
Legal history
Medieval Scandinavian law
Moot hill
Parliamentary system
Synod
Thingspiele, Nazi multi-disciplinary dramas for which open-air Thingplatz amphitheatres
were built
Veche
Witenagemot

Notes
a. Icelandic: þing, German: ding, Old English: þing, Middle English: thing.
b. In þing, þ is pronounced as unvoiced "th" /θ/.

References
1. Harper Online, s.v. "thing"
2. Chantrell (ed.) Oxford, s.v. "thing".
3. Barnhart (1995).
4. Oil version. There is a related watercolour The Icelandic Thing (https://www.britishmuseum.o
rg/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=43511&partId=1&sea
rchText=william+collingwood&page=1) in the British Museum.
5. Sanmark (2009a), p. 205.
6. Ødegaard (2013), p. 44.
7. Mehler (2015), p. 69.
8. Ødegaard (2013), p. 51.
9. Sanmark (2009a), pp. 209–10.
10. The Thing Project (2011–2019). "What is a Thing? | THING Sites" (https://www.thingsites.co
m/what-is-a-thing). Thingsites.com. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
11. Øyrehagen Sunde, J. (2017). "ting – forsamling" (https://snl.no/ting_-_forsamling). Store
norske leksikon. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
12. Saga Bok (2017). "Demokrati i vikingtid?" (https://sagabok.no/no/nyheter/blogitem/105_dem
okrati_i_vikingtid). Sagabok.no. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
13. Landro, J. (2012). "Vikingene som demokratibyggere" (http://blogg.bt.no/preik/2012/02/08/vik
ingene-som-demokratibyggere/). Blogg.bt.no. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
14. Gisle, J. (2018). "lagting" (https://snl.no/lagting). Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 24 March
2019.
15. Ødegaard (2013), pp. 42–43.
16. Ødegaard (2013), pp. 42–63.
17. Storli, Inger (2010). “Court Sites of Arctic Norway: Remains of Thing Sites and
Representations of Political Consolidation Processes in the Northern Germanic World
during the First Millennium ad?” Norwegian Archaeological Review 43, no. 2: pp. 128–144.
18. Ødegaard (2013), p. 58.
19. Mehler (2015), p. 72.
20. Gansum & Oestigaard Ritual
21. Sanmark (2009a), p. 235.
22. Sanmark (2009a), p. 207.
23. Thorsson 2010, p. xlvi
24. Mehler (2015), p. 77.
25. Sanmark (2009b), pp. 178–92.
26. Hines, John (2021). Frisians of the Early Middle Ages; Nijdam, H., Law and Political
Organization of the Early Medieval Frisians (c. AD 600-800). Cornwall: TJ Books Limited.
pp. 151–154. ISBN 9781783275618.
27. Dijkstra, M.F.P. (2011). Rondom de mondingen van Rijn & Maas: landschap en bewoning
tussen de 3e en 9e eeuw in Zuid-Holland, in het bijzonder de Oude Rijnstreek. Leiden:
Sidestone Press. pp. 298–301. ISBN 9789088900785.
28. Collin (1913).
29. Ødegaard (2013), p. 52.
30. Thorsson 2010, pp. 286–287.
31. Sanmark (2009b), p. 183.
32. Latour (2005), p. 13.
33. Thorsteinsson (2008), pp. 86–87.
34. Greenland Home Rule Act (Translation) (http://www.stm.dk/_p_12712.html), Danish Act No.
557 of 29 November 1978, c. 1, s. 1(2). Statsministeriet (Denmark). Retrieved 16 August
2015.
35. Broderick, George (2003). "Tynwald: A Manx Cult-Site and Institution of pre-Scandinavian
Origin?" (http://manxstudies.liv.ac.uk/sm/articles/gbtp.htm). Manx Studies. Retrieved
16 August 2015.

Further reading
Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995). The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology. ISBN 0-06-
270084-7.
Chantrell, Glynnis, ed. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories (Second ed.). Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Collin, James (1913). "Chapter 6" (http://www.chaptersofdublin.com/books/OldDub/chapter6.
htm). Life in Old Dublin (Second ed.). Dublin: James Duffy & Co.
 Gansum, Terje; Oestigaard, Terje (2004). "The Ritual Stratigraphy of Monuments that Matter"
(http://kulturarv.aipublish.no/ai_files/the_ritual_stratigraphy_of%20monuments_that_matter_
315405.pdf) (PDF). European Journal of Archaeology. 7 (1): 61–79.
doi:10.1177/1461957104047994 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461957104047994).
S2CID 55013924 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:55013924).
Harper, Douglas, ed. (2014). "Online Etymology Dictionary" (http://www.etymonline.com/inde
x.php?term=thing). Retrieved 10 March 2015.
Latour, Bruno (2005). "From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik: or How to Make Things Public" (http://
www.bruno-latour.fr/sites/default/files/downloads/96-MTP-DING.pdf) (PDF). In Bruno Latour;
Peter Weibel (eds.). Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp. 4–44.
Mehler, Natascha (2015). "Þingvellir: A Place of Assembly and a Market?". Journal of the
North Atlantic. 801: 69–81. doi:10.3721/037.002.sp806 (https://doi.org/10.3721%2F037.002.
sp806). S2CID 146417817 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:146417817).
Sanmark, Alexandra (2009a). "Administrative Organisation and State Formation: A Case
Study of Assembly Sites in Södermanland, Sweden". Medieval Archaeology. 53 (1): 205–
241. doi:10.1179/007660909X12457506806289 (https://doi.org/10.1179%2F007660909X12
457506806289). S2CID 161317676 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:161317676).
Sanmark, Alexandra (2009b). "The Case of the Greenlandic Assembly Sites". Journal of the
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External links
Primitive Folk-Moots: Open-Air Assemblies in Britain - by George Laurence Gomme (http://s
ocserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/gomme/PrimitiveFolkMoots.pdf) Retrieved 2009-08-02
Thingsites.com - Official website for the Northern European Thing sites (in English) (http://w
ww.thingsites.com)

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