Assembly of the Sagas
Þingvellir (Alþingi)
Þingvellir — the 'assembly plains' — is the beating heart of the whole saga world: the place where, for two weeks each summer, all free Iceland gathered. Here, in a dramatic rift valley where the earth itself is splitting apart, the Alþingi met from around 930 — the oldest parliament in the world. Chieftains pitched their booths, the Law-Speaker recited the law aloud from the Law Rock, suits were pleaded and settled or broke down into feud, marriages were arranged, and news passed across the whole island. Nearly every saga climbs to Þingvellir for its great legal set-pieces — Hrafnkell outlawed, Njáll's desperate suits, the Conversion itself voted through here in the year 1000. It is where Iceland's two faces meet: the rule of law the settlers built against kingship, and the blood-feud always straining beneath it. To stand at Þingvellir is to stand at the centre of the kingless republic.
Where
Go deeper
2 key events
the saga’s own words
Walks through
Hrafnkell, Priest of Freyunlock The Burning of Njállunlock Gísli the Outlawunlock Gunnarr of Hlíðarendiunlock The Vengeanceunlock Guðrún and the Men of Laxárdalrunlock Gunnlaug Worm-Tongueunlock The Coming of the Faith — How Iceland Became ChristianunlockFind Þingvellir (Alþingi) on the map
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