Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/133

 Sarpsborg Thing and that of the Gule Thing. A special Thing, called the Ore Thing, from being held on the Ore, Aar, or isthmus of the river Nid, on which the city of Drontheim stands, was considered the only Thing which could confer the sovereignty of the whole of Norway, the other Things having no right to powers beyond their own circles. It was only convened for this special purpose of examining and proclaiming the right to the whole kingdom; and it appears to have been only the kingship de jure that the Ore Thing considered and confirmed: the king had still to repair to each Law Thing and small Thing, to obtain their acknowledgment of his right, and the power of a sovereign within their jurisdictions. The scatt or land-tax,—the right of guest-quarters or subsistence on royal progresses,—the levy of men, ships, provisions, arms, for defence at home, or war expeditions abroad, had to be adjudged to the kings by the Things; and amidst the perpetual contests between udal-born claimants, the principle of referring to the Things for the right and power of a sovereign, and for the title of king, was never set aside. No class but the bonders appeared at Things with any power. The kings themselves appear to have been but Thingmen at a Thing.

Two circumstances, which may be called accidental, concurred with the physical circumstances of the country, soil, and clime, to prevent the rise of a feudal nobility in Norway at the period, the 9th century, when feudality was establishing itself over the rest of Europe. One was the colonisation of Iceland by that class which in other countries became feudal lords; the other was the conquests in England and in France, by leaders who drew off all of the same