The gairethinx ("spear assembly") was a Lombards, Lombard ceremony in which edicts and laws were affirmed by the army. It may have involved the entire army banging their spears on their shields; or it may have been a much quieter event.
In 643, the Edict of Rothari was approved by the ''exercitus Langobardorum'' gathered in Pavia (the Lombard capital), and by a typical act: ''per gairethinx'', meaning "in the assembly of the lances", or, more precisely, "by striking shields with lances".
[Theuws, Frans. Laughland Nelson, Janet: ''Rituals of Power: From Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages'', BRILL, 2000, p. 98.]
It is etymologically related to the ''Thing (assembly), Thing'' of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons and the ''Althing'' of Iceland.
See also
* Kingdom of the Lombards
References
External links
* Pier Silverio Leicht
"Gairethinx" ''Enciclopedia Italiana'' (1932). ''Treccani.it''.
Legal history of Italy
Lombards
{{Italy-hist-stub