Historically,
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 ...
was divided into four farthings (''landsfjórðungar'', singular ''landsfjórðungur'') corresponding to the cardinal directions. These were administrative divisions established in 965 for the purpose of organising regional assemblies called farthing assemblies (''fjórðungsþing'') and regional courts called farthing courts (''fjórðungsdómar'').
Each farthing held three local assemblies (usually in spring and autumn), which were each presided over by three ''
goðar
Gothi or (plural , fem. ; Old Norse: ) was a position of political and social prominence in the Icelandic Commonwealth. The term originally had a religious significance, referring to a pagan leader responsible for a religious structure and com ...
'' or chieftains. The North Farthing alone held four. Farthing courts would judge cases if both plaintiff and defendant belonged to the same assembly; otherwise the case was brought to the general assembly, the ''
Alþingi
The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (' thing fields' or 'assembly fields'), about east of what la ...
''. Little else is known about these farthing courts and they seem to have been much more irregular than the spring and autumn assemblies. Also, in spite of the apparent regularity of three ''goðar'' per assembly and three to four assemblies per farthing, the system of rule by chieftains and assemblies probably followed a much more varied pattern.
The two
dioceses
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
of Iceland were divided along the farthing division in 1106 such that the diocese of
Skálholt
Skálholt (Modern Icelandic: ; ) is a historical site in the south of Iceland, at the river Hvítá, Árnessýsla, Hvítá.
History
Skálholt was, through eight centuries, one of the most important places in Iceland. A bishopric was established ...
extended over three farthings (West, South, and East), and the diocese of
Hólar
Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland.
Location
Hólar is in the valley Hjaltadalur, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is t ...
extended over the North Farthing.
The lawmen
Iceland had come under the King of Norway's sway in 1264, and a change of law came with
Magnus the Lawmender
Magnus the Lawmender (1 or 3 May 1238 – 9 May 1280), also known as Magnus Haakonsson, was King of Norway from 1263 to 1280. One of his greatest achievements was the modernisation and nationalisation of the Norwegian law-code. He was the first N ...
's lawbook of 1271. According to this book (entitled ''
Járnsíða
Járnsíða (, ''ironside'') was a law-code which Magnus VI of Norway had composed for Iceland, which came formally under Norwegian control during 1262–1264. ''Járnsíða'' was introduced over 1271–1273, superseding the previous law-code ''Gr� ...
'' or "Ironside"), a lawman was to be set over each farthing. Usually there were just two lawmen, one for the North and West Farthings and one for the South and East Farthings, but sometimes there were as many as four. At the same time the old assemblies muted into counties (''sýslur'') and the ''goðar'' were replaced by county sheriffs (''
sýslumenn'') an office awarded by the king. The lawmen gradually became very powerful and the institution of a supreme court (''yfirdómur'') in 1593 was an attempt to curb their power instigated by their main competitors, the two bishops.
Medical districts
In 1683 Iceland was made an ''
amt
Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...
'' or province within the kingdom of
Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway (Danish language, Danish and Norwegian language, Norwegian: ) is a term for the 16th-to-19th-century multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (includ ...
. In 1770 the country was divided into two ''amter'', Southeast and Northwest, and the borders of the farthings were changed according to the new division. In effect, ''amter'' replaced the farthings.
In 1651 the king had granted permission for the construction of one hospital in each farthing. These were not hospitals in the modern sense but primarily intended as lazarets or
leper colonies
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy.
'' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...
that later became shelters for vagrants and beggars. In 1766 the office of farthing doctor (''fjórðungslæknir'') was created, one for each farthing. Soon, however, the medical districts were further divided, first with the introduction of another doctor for the West Farthing in 1781 and then another for the eastern part of the South Farthing in 1799. For most of the 19th century these were the six medical districts in Iceland. In 1944 the state agreed to increase their funding of three hospitals outside of
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
which would be designated as farthing hospitals (''fjórðungssjúkrahús''). These were the hospitals of
Ísafjörður
Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland.
The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...
,
Akureyri
Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...
, and
Neskaupstaður
Neskaupstaður () is a town located on the fjord Norðfjörður on the eastern side of Iceland, against the Norwegian Sea. It is part of the municipality of Fjarðabyggð and, as of 2016, it has a population of 1,481. Neskaupstaður is the second ...
.
Contemporary use of the term
Later administrative divisions of Iceland (notably the voting districts established with the
Constitution of Iceland
The Constitution of Iceland (Icelandic language, Icelandic: ''Stjórnarskrá lýðveldisins Íslands'' "Constitution of the republic of Iceland") is the supreme law of Iceland. It is composed of 80 articles in seven sections, and within it the l ...
in 1874) were based on the division of counties and municipalities and the farthings gradually lost any official significance, although they are still used in common parlance to refer to parts of the country.
Currently there is only one form of local government in Iceland, the municipalities, the counties themselves having lost any official significance in the 1990s. Several times during the 20th century there have been regional organisations, societies, cooperation venues at the municipal level etc. based on the farthings. In 1980 one Jóhannes Árnason suggested reinstating the farthing assemblies as means of distributing power from the state to the regions, but this was not seriously considered. A more common way of dividing Iceland nowadays is the eight
regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
(''landshlutar'').
Farthing divisions
* Vestfirðingafjórðungur or Breiðfirðingafjórðungur (the farthing of the
Westfjorders or
Breiðafjorders) originally stretched from
Hrútafjörður
Hrútafjörður () is a fjord in the north-west of Iceland. It is around 36 km long and lies to the south of Húnaflói
(, ) is a bay of the Iceland Sea in Northwestern Region (Iceland), Northwestern Region and Westfjords, Iceland. It is ...
in the north to the river
Hvítá at
Borgarfjörður
Borgarfjörður () is a fjord in the west of Iceland near the town of Borgarnes. Although the waters of Borgarfjörður appear calm, the fjord has significant undercurrents and shallows. The many flat islands lying in the fjord are for the most ...
, but in the 13th century was extended southward to the
Botnsá at
Hvalfjörður
Hvalfjörður (, "whale fjord") is situated in the west of Iceland between Mosfellsbær and Akranes. The fjord is approximately long and wide.
The origin of the name Hvalfjörður is uncertain. Certainly today there is no presence of whales i ...
* Norðlendingafjórðungur or Eyfirðingafjórðungur (the farthing of the Northerners or
Eyjafjorders) stretched from Hrútafjörður in the west to
Langanes
Langanes () is a peninsula in northeast Iceland. The name literally means "long peninsula". It is long from southwest to northeast, ending in a thin strip of land called Fontur (regionally also ) where there is also a suggestive lighthouse calle ...
in the east.
* Austfirðingafjórðungur (the farthing of the Eastfjorders) extended from Langanes to the river
Jökulsá at
Sólheimasandur in the south. However in 1783, when the Southern and Eastern ''amter'' were created,
Skaftafellssýsla
Iceland was historically divided into 23 counties known as ''sýslur'' (), and 23 independent towns known as ''kaupstaðir'' (). Iceland is now split up between 24 sýslumenn (magistrates) that are the highest authority over the local police ( ...
in the south was placed within the Southern ''amt'' and the border of the farthing thus moved northward to
Lónsheiði. In 1893
East Skaftafellssýsla was made part of the Eastern ''amt'', and the border thus moved southward again to the
Skeiðará
Skeiðará () is a relatively short glacier river (about 30 km long). It has its source on the glacier Skeiðarárjökull, one of the southern arms of the Vatnajökull in the south of Iceland.
In spite of its short length, this river has a ...
.
* Sunnlendingafjórðungur or Rangæingafjórðungur (the farthing of the Southerners or
Rangæings) was really only the southwestern corner of the country, including the capital at Reykjavík.
See also
*
Landvættir
Landvættir ("land spirits" or "land wights") are spirits of the land in Old Nordic religion, later Scandinavian folklore, folk belief and modern Heathenry. They are closely associated with specific locations and their wellbeing is presented as be ...
*
Regions of Iceland
The regions of Iceland are eight areas of Iceland that roughly follow the arrangement of parliamentary constituencies as they were between 1959 and 2003. These regions are not incorporated polities but rather recognized groupings of municipaliti ...
*
Counties of Iceland
Iceland was historically divided into 23 counties known as ''sýslur'' (), and 23 independent towns known as ''kaupstaðir'' (). Iceland is now split up between 24 sýslumenn (magistrates) that are the highest authority over the local police ( ...
*
Municipalities of Iceland
The municipalities of Iceland ( ; Grammatical number#Overview, sing. ) are local administrative areas in Iceland that provide a number of services to their inhabitants such as kindergartens, elementary schools, waste management, social serv ...
*
Constituencies of Iceland
Iceland is divided into six Constituency, constituencies for the purpose of selecting Legislator, representatives to Althing, parliament.National Electoral Commission of Iceland 2013, p. 4
History
The current division was established by a 1999 ...
*
Subdivisions of the Nordic countries
Denmark
*Denmark proper
**5 regions ()
**98 municipalities ()
*2 autonomous insular overseas dependencies
**Faroe Islands
***6 regions
***30 municipalities
**Greenland
***5 municipalities
***1 unincorporated national park
Finland
*Finland
* ...
References
{{Iceland topics
Iceland 00
Subdivisions of Iceland