einhverfr's Journal: If I were a Libertarian, I'd be a Viking one

When people extol the values of a political philosophy, I like to look to history for empirical data. Obviously republican forms of government with general police powers to enforce the common will are much more common than successful libertarian states. We can look to Athens, the Roman Republic before Sulla or Caesar.

There is one prominent exception: Iceland between the period of Norse settlement (probably 8-9th Century) and Norwegian domination (12th century). Iceland was a remarkable place during these years but due to a number of problems eventually was subsumed into Norway. The country sported a national legislature and a national court system supported through a combination of private enterprise and taxes, but it had absolutely no executive power. People suggest it was the first democracy to rule a country. Well, it wasn't (it's hard not to consider Athens a country), but it was quite remarkable nonetheless.

Icelandic society had basically three social classes based on offices, obligations, and conditions of servitude. The top class was occupied by the "godhar" who possessed property rights to a "godhord" which was a public office which contained legislative, attorney, and priestly roles. The godhord could be sold, loaned out, inherited, etc. In other words it was treated just like real property. The godhar collected taxes on the maintenance of temples, received income from arbitration and attorney services, and had certain rights regarding international commerce, such as first pick of goods from an overseas merchant. While "godhi" is usually translated as "chieftain," they didn't "rule" areas, and only were responsible for people who entered into contracts with them.

The second class were the bondar or thingmen, who were freeman farmers who entered into a relationship with a godhi. The bondi was responsible to represent the godhi's interests when serving on a jury at the thing ("thing" being legal assembly), were expected to serve as guards or soldiers for the godhi if necessary, and so forth. Bondir were allowed under Icelandic law to change allegiances more or less at will, so this relationship had to be mutually beneficial if it was to last.

The third class were thralls, or slaves, who were usually either people captured in raids or prisoners of war. If a thrall was freed, the freed man or woman would have certain legal obligations to the former owner, and the former owner would have paternal duties to the freed individual, but the children of freed thralls would be fully free citizens with no such obligations. Thralldom provided a sort of POW status for those captured during warfare or raiding operations, and provided a limited set of legal rights to those so held. Thralls weren't "slaves" in the way we think of them from American history in terms of simple human chattel, but rather individuals who were captured at war and afforded some legal protections provided that they'd work. Thralls could own property and were afforded the right to purchase their own freedom if such wasn't given by their "owner."

Now, for the Icelanders, life was surprisingly good compared to Continental Europe. While life expectancy from birth in France was about 20 years during the 10th century, assuming the child wasn't exposed to death in Iceland (infanticide was legal), the child could expect to live 45 years. Moreover the rate of dental caries in France over that shorter lifespan was 10% (meaning 10% of teeth were lost on average, or were decayed). Despite the longer lifespan, the rate in Iceland was 2%. The typical theory is that this would indicate a general lack of carbohydrates in the Icelanders' diet (they ate mostly dairy products, meat, and dried fish smeared with butter).

The longer lifespan is all the more incredible due to the way the Icelandic justice system worked: if the sagas are any indication blood feuds were quite common and may have actually had a stabilizing impact on Icelandic society due to how they were structured. These were generally resolved in court via lawsuits where the side which lost most would be compensated by the side which lost less. Often these were arbitrated with the support of extended families, but sometimes they were actually full law suits.

This system worked remarkably well for a remarkably long time (about three to four centuries). However, eventually Iceland was essentially annexed into Norway. The major causes for the Icelandic decline were:

1) Environmental degradation and erosion (a surprisingly common problem in the pre-modern world, but one which was particularly problematic to people on an island with limited land)
2) Climate change (the little ice age) which cut off Iceland from the Greenland colonies and made the island politically and economically dependant on Norway, and
3) The conversion to Christianity and the political struggles over the church in Iceland eventually allowed Norway to annex the island without a fight (though more than 100 years after the conversion)

After losing independence, Iceland would not regain it until WWII. However the system worked surprisingly well for a surprisingly long time period, and was (relative to the time) not a very bad place to live by any measure.

However, of course, this worked fine for an insular area like Iceland. It would not have worked in a place more easily subject to invasion.

Further reading:
"Medieval Iceland" by Jesse Byock
"Viking-Age Iceland" by Jesse Byock
"The Vikings" by Else Roesdahl
"Everyday Life in the Viking Age" by Jacqueline Simpson