11/08/2026
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Everyone thinks democracy came from Greece and Rome.
The Vikings were holding open-air parliaments while much of Europe knelt to kings.
They called it the Thing.
Free men gathered on a plain.
A law-speaker stood on a rock and recited the law from memory.
Disputes were settled.
Chieftains were held to account.
Even a jarl could be shouted down by ordinary farmers.
Iceland's Althing began meeting in the year 930.
It still exists today.
The oldest running parliament on earth.
Your idea of the loud, lawless Viking?
They may have had more say in their laws than you have in yours.
Would you trust a hundred armed farmers to settle your disputes fairly?
