Gothi or (plural , fem. ;
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
: ) was a position of political and social prominence in the
Icelandic Commonwealth
The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing () in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. W ...
. The term originally had a religious significance, referring to a
pagan
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
leader responsible for a religious structure and communal feasts, but the title is primarily known as a secular political title from medieval
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
.
Etymology
The word derives from , meaning "god".
[Byock, Jesse L. (1993). "Goði". Entry in ''Medieval Scandinavia, an Encyclopedia'' (Phillip Pulsiano, ed.), 230–231. Garland: NY and London, .] It possibly appears in
Ulfilas
Ulfilas (; – 383), known also as Wulfila(s) or Urphilas, was a 4th-century Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent. He was the apostle to the Gothic people.
Ulfila served as a bishop and missionary, participated in the Arian controv ...
'
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct language, extinct East Germanic languages, East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the ''Codex Argenteus'', a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only Ea ...
translation of the Bible
The Christian Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. the whole Bible has been translated into 756 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,726 lan ...
as for "priest", although the corresponding form of this in
Icelandic would have been an unattested .
In
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
, there is one surviving attestation in the
Proto-Norse form from the Norwegian Nordhuglo
runestone
A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...
(N KJ65),
[The article ''gotiska'' in '']Nationalencyklopedin
(; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version.
History
The project was ...
'' (1992) and in the later Old Norse form from three Danish runestones: DR 190 Helnæs, DR 192 Flemløse 1 and
DR 209 Glavendrup.
[Klaus Düwel (2008).]
Runen als Phänomen der oberen Schichten
. ''Studien zu Literatur, Sprache und Geschichte in Europa''. p. 69. There are a few placenames, such as in
Södermanland
Södermanland ( ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latinisation of names, Latinized form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a Provinces of Sweden, historical province (or ) on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Österg� ...
, Sweden, that probably retain the name. Otherwise, there are no further surviving attestations except from Iceland where the would be of historical significance.
History
Mainland Scandinavia
From the pagan era in mainland Scandinavia, the only sources for the title are runestones. The Norwegian Nordhuglo stone from around AD 400 seems to place the title in opposition to magic, using a word related to the Old Norse . The inscription's means "I, " followed by "he who is immune to sorcery" or "he who does not engage in sorcery". The three Danish stones are all from
Funen
Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...
. The early
Viking Age
The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...
Helnæs and Flemløse 1 stones provide no details about the function of a , but mention a named Roulv whose name also appears on two other runestones, the lost Avnslev stone and the Flemløse 2 stone. The early 10th-century
Glavendrup stone
The Glavendrup stone, designated as DR 209 by Rundata, is a runestone on the island of Funen in Denmark and dates from the early 10th century. It contains Denmark's longest runic inscription and ends in a curse.
Description
The runestone forms ...
uses the term for a local dignitary who was associated with a , which is a religious structure. It thus attaches the title to a simultaneously
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
and
religious upper strata.
Iceland
The most reliable sources about the in Iceland are the
Gray Goose Laws
The Gray Goose Laws ( {{IPA, is, ˈkrauːˌkauːs}) are a collection of laws from the Icelandic Commonwealth period. The term ''Grágás'' was originally used in a medieval source to refer to a collection of Norwegian laws and was probably mi ...
, the and the . After the
settlement of Iceland
The settlement of Iceland ( ) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norsemen, Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle Ages Icel ...
, a was usually a wealthy and respected man in his district, for he had to maintain the communal hall or in which community religious observances and feasts were held. The office over which a had leadership was termed a , a word that only appears in Icelandic sources.
Initially many independent were established, until they united under the
Althing
The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...
around 930. In 964, the system was fixed under a constitution that recognized 39 . The role of the as secular leaders is shown in how the word was used synonymously with , meaning ''chieftain''. Over time, and especially after 1000, when the
Christian conversion occurred in Iceland, the term lost all religious connotations and came to mean
liege-lord or chieftain of the Icelandic Commonwealth.
[''An Icelandic-English dictionary''](_blank)
by Richard Cleasby
Richard Cleasby (1797–1847) was an English philologist, author with Guðbrandur Vigfússon of the first Icelandic-English dictionary.
Life
He was born on 30 November 1797, the eldest son of Stephen Cleasby, and the brother of Anthony Cleasby. ...
and Gudbrand Vigfusson (1874) p. 208. A could be bought, shared, traded or inherited. If a woman inherited a she had to leave the leadership to a man.
The office was in many respects treated as private property but was not counted as taxable, and is defined in the Gray Goose Laws as "power and not wealth" (); nevertheless the are frequently portrayed in the
sagas
Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia.
The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...
as concerned with money and expected to be paid for their services.
During the Icelandic Commonwealth, the responsibilities of a or (" man") included the annual organization of the local assemblies in the spring and in the autumn. At the national Althing, they were voting members of the , the legislative section of the assembly. When quarter courts were introduced in the 960s, the became responsible for nominating judges for the Althing courts. When a court of appeals was established in the early 11th century, they also nominated judges for this court. Further, they had a few formal and informal executive roles, such as confiscating the property of outlaws. They also had a central role in the
redistribution of wealth
Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, con ...
, by holding feasts, giving gifts, making loans, extending hospitality, as well as pricing and helping to distribute imported goods.
The holder of the of the descendants of
Ingólfr Arnarson, the first Scandinavian to settle permanently in Iceland, had the ceremonial role of sanctifying the Althing each year, and was called the ("all-people ").
[Gunnar Karlsson, Goðamenning. Investigation of the role of the goðar (chieftains) in the Old Commonwealth period. . ISK 4990. (2004)] The followers of a were called . Every
free landowner in possession of a certain amount of property was required to be associated with a , although he was free to choose which one—a was not a geographical unit. The would help his to bring cases before the court and to enforce their rights, and the would in return provide the with armed manpower for his feuds and carry out legal sentences.
By the 13th century, all the were controlled by five or six families and often united under office holders who in modern studies are known as ("great ") or ("great chieftains"). These struggled for regional and sometimes national power, and occasionally sought to become retainers for the
Norwegian king. The institution came to an end when the major pledged
fealty
An oath of fealty, from the Latin (faithfulness), is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another.
Definition
In medieval Europe, the swearing of fealty took the form of an oath made by a vassal, or subordinate, to his lord. "Fealty" also r ...
to king
Haakon IV of Norway
Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; ; ), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 years, longer than any Norwegian king since Harald Fairhair. Haak ...
in 1262–1264, signing the
Old Covenant
Abrahamic religions believe in the Mosaic covenant (named after Moses), also known as the Sinaitic covenant (after the biblical Mount Sinai), which refers to a covenant between the Israelite tribes and God, including their proselytes, not lim ...
, and the Norwegian crown abolished the system.
Neopaganism
In the early 1970s, the words , and were adopted by the Icelandic
neopagan organization . Following this, , or is often used as a priestly title by modern adherents of various denominations of
Germanic neopaganism
Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th century ...
.
See also
*
Feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
*
Hestavíg
*
Sacred king
In many historical societies, the position of kingship carried a sacral meaning and was identical with that of a high priest and judge. Divine kingship is related to the concept of theocracy, although a sacred king need not necessarily rul ...
*
Divine right of kings
*
Thingmen
*
Volkhv
*
Vitki
References
Further reading
* Aðalsteinsson, Jón Hnefill (1998). "''Blót'' and ''Þing'': The Function of the Tenth-Century ''Goði'', in ''A Piece of Horse Liver: Myth, Ritual and Folklore in Old Icelandic Sources'', 35–56. Reykjavik. .
{{Germanic pagan practices
Norse paganism
Medieval titles
Political titles
Medieval history of Iceland
Viking Age in Iceland
Political history of Iceland