Democracy is under pressure. Autocratic governments are gaining approval worldwide. Democracy as we value it today, with the separation of powers, free elections and individual rights in the Basic Law, is historically only a blink of an eye old. Parliament is the heart of a living democracy. The very word parliament contains the word parler, and a look into the past shows that talking moves societies forward. About parliaments in the open air in Iceland, Sweden, Germany and Georgia.
Þingvellir in Iceland – speeches at the fission zone
In Þingvellir, which means “assembly plain”, the Icelandic general assembly Alþing was founded around the year 930. Since the settlement by Norwegian Vikings, the plain on today’s Golden Circle has been an important place for Icelanders. The gorge was the setting for one of the oldest parliaments in the world. The huge cleavage zone served as a meeting place for 39 chieftains and their entourage. The reason was of a practical nature: the rock walls along the tectonic plate boundaries amplified the speaker’s voice. Absolutely remarkable for the time and considering the Viking kinship from Norway: All chiefs had the same power. A chief could distinguish himself not through force, but through personal charisma. Rhetorical skill and a strong voice were what counted. To assert yourself in parliament, you had to be a great orator. At the Alþing, only the spoken word counted. There were no written records. Laws were passed down orally. To ensure that they were not only heard but also remembered, there was the office of Law Speaker. His term of office lasted three years, and each year he spoke around a third of the laws aloud and from memory. The Law Speaker stood on the Law Stone and belted out the rules of society in a loud voice against the walls of the dramatic rocky outcrops. During these two weeks in June, negotiations were also held on the Alþing and sentences were enforced.
Where the law is king
In 1798, the Danish king dissolved the Althing. This parliament, the oldest after the ancient Greek and Roman parliaments, had existed for centuries. The regulation of the people’s affairs by a general assembly of chieftains resolved many conflicts without violence. In the year 1000, the Icelanders in Þingvellir decided to adopt Christianity without bloodshed. It was at this historic site that they proclaimed the Republic of Iceland on June 17, 1944 and celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1994. Adam of Bremen, clergyman and chronicler of the powerful Archbishop of Bremen in the 11th century, was a kind of foreign correspondent with a focus on Scandinavia. He traveled to Denmark once between 1066 and 1069, but built up an extensive network of informants and noted in his chronicle: “The Icelanders have no king, only the law.”
More stories from the country between America and Europe, where volcanoes and good ideas are still breaking through today: Island
Guly Thing near Kappeln on the Schlei
On a gentle hill lies Guly Thing, an important cult and meeting place in Schleswig-Holstein. Since the 1980s, archaeological finds have shown that the Angeln region was important as a transit area between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and was settled early on. Today, Gülde is home to the Arltberg regional history site. A rune stone and a dolmen chamber with a ship setting from the Viking Age have been reconstructed here, as well as a stone circle that served as a meeting place and for the administration of justice. Unlike the dramatic cleft in the rock at the Althing in Iceland, the lovely hills of the Schlei region do not necessarily recognize their former importance as a thing. Those who find their way here should also know that the inhabitants of this region, the Angles, emigrated around 450 AD, presumably due to a cold spell. As a collective people, the Angles, together with the Saxons, increasingly colonized and dominated Britain from the 5th century onwards. Around 950 AD, the region, which had become deserted due to migration, belonged to the kingdom of King Harald Bluetooth. His negotiating skills and rhetorical ability to unite several principalities into a Danish kingdom made him the namesake of the Bluetooth radio standard more than a thousand years later, whose logo
is composed of his runic initials H and B.
The time of the Vikings and Danish kings is long gone in the Schlei region. What remains is the beautiful landscape and the almost Mediterranean flair in places like Kappeln or Arnis. You can easily reach the old cult site of Guly Thing by bike from Kappeln. More about Kappeln an der Schlei.
Stone circle near Dartlo in Tusheti
The fortified village of Dartlo in Tusheti impresses with its well-preserved residential and defensive buildings. To the west of the church is a semi-circular square with 12 stones next to each other and 2 stones in the middle – it is the medieval court of Tusheti. Twelve judges from different villages sat here, including a chief judge, while the defendant and the plaintiff knelt on the opposite stones. The death penalty was not imposed in Tusheti; the most severe punishment was banishment from the village or region. It is worth noting that women also acted as judges. In the 18th century, the daughter of a village elder was the chief judge of the region for ten years.
More stories from Georgia: about the current situation, which is dominated by political tensions, as well as culinary specialties, rich culture and impressive nature
Gamla Uppsala – cult place of the Vikings
According to legend, people from all over Scandinavia flocked to the temple in Gamla Uppsala every nine years during the Viking Age to make sacrifices to the Norse gods. Nine males of each species were sacrificed, including humans. It is said that they were hung in trees in a grove and their blood was to propitiate the gods. This can also be found in the chronicle of Adam of Bremen. He wrote that the people of the north had a famous temple called Uppsala, which was decorated entirely with gold.
In 1164, this legendary Uppsala became Sweden’s first archbishopric in the course of Christianization. Traces of the supposedly golden temple can no longer be found today, but the large royal tombs are still visible. Gamla Uppsala has captivated people for more than 1,500 years. Even King Gustav Vasa used the symbolic power of Uppsala on several occasions and used Parliament Hill to announce unpopular taxes. In 1989, Pope John Paul II visited Gamla Uppsala and held a mass on a meadow by the burial mounds. His altar was a large stone.
More stories from Sweden, for example about the runestones of Uppsala and Gamla Uppsala, the cult site of the Vikings
