When is the Icelandic Commonwealth shown on the map?

The border data draws the Icelandic Commonwealth AD 936–1271. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.

How large was the Icelandic Commonwealth?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Icelandic Commonwealth covered about 111,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Europe · The early medieval west

Icelandic Commonwealth

drawn on the map AD 936–1271

See it on the map → Wikipedia ↗

Shown on the map: AD 936–1271
Peak area: 111k km²
Region: Europe

Names and structure

The Icelandic Commonwealth (Icelandic Þjóðveldið, "Free State") existed from the establishment of the Althing (Alþingi) at Þingvellir (Thingvellir) in 930 until the pledge of fealty to Norway in 1262. It was a unique stateless commonwealth without a king or executive: power lay with the goðar (chieftains), each holding a goðorð (chieftaincy); the country was divided into four "quarters" (farthings), each with nine goðorð (39 in total). The Althing, meeting annually, combined legislative and judicial functions through the Lögrétta (law council) and a lawspeaker (lögsögumaðr) who recited the law from memory. The law was preserved as Grágás.

Origins, religion and the sagas

The settlement (Landnámsöld, c. 874–930) was driven largely by emigrants from Norway fleeing the centralising rule of Harald Fairhair. Around the year 1000, Iceland converted to Christianity — famously by a decision of the Althing, brokered by the lawspeaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði, to keep the peace between Christians and pagans. The Commonwealth produced the great sagas — the Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders) — and the works of Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241; Prose Edda, Heimskringla).

Decline and the Old Covenant

In the early 13th century the Age of the Sturlungs (Sturlungaöld, dated 1220–1262 and described as "a 42-44 year period of internal strife… [that] may also have been the bloodiest and most violent period in Icelandic history," with historians "generally regard[ing] the year 1220 as the first year") tore the Commonwealth apart, as the Norwegian king exploited the strife to recruit Icelandic vassals. Finally the chieftains submitted to Haakon IV of Norway by the Old Covenant (Gamli sáttmáli / Gissurarsáttmáli) of 1262–1264, ending the Commonwealth. (There is a scholarly note that the name "Old Covenant" properly belongs to a 1302 treaty, the 1262 agreement being strictly the Gissurarsáttmáli.) Norway then introduced new law codes (Járnsíða c. 1271–73, then Jónsbók 1281). Iceland passed with Norway to Denmark via the Kalmar Union (1397) after the Norwegian royal line failed in 1380.

Common questions

What was the Icelandic Commonwealth?: The Icelandic Commonwealth (Icelandic Þjóðveldið, "Free State") existed from the establishment of the Althing (Alþingi) at Þingvellir (Thingvellir) in 930 until the pledge of fealty to Norway in 1262. It was a unique stateless commonwealth without a king or executive: power lay with the goðar (chieftains), each holding a goðorð (chieftaincy); the country was divided into four "quarters" (farthings), each with nine goðorð (39 in total).
When is the Icelandic Commonwealth shown on the map?: The border data draws the Icelandic Commonwealth AD 936–1271. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
How large was the Icelandic Commonwealth?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Icelandic Commonwealth covered about 111,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
How did the Icelandic Commonwealth end?: In the early 13th century the Age of the Sturlungs (Sturlungaöld, dated 1220–1262 and described as "a 42-44 year period of internal strife… [that] may also have been the bloodiest and most violent period in Icelandic history," with historians "generally regard[ing] the year 1220 as the first year") tore the Commonwealth apart, as the Norwegian king exploited the strife to recruit Icelandic vassals.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each kingdom as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, national heritage bodies (Historic Environment Wales and Scotland, the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust), museum sources and the Dictionary of Irish Biography, read against the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Bede and the Irish annals with their own biases. The article this entry is anchored on:

Wikipedia — Icelandic Commonwealth en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Commonwealth

This entry was last updated 27 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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