Thing sites, cult, churches, games and markets in Viking and medieval southeast Norway, AD c.800–1600

Abstract

The question of the co-location of different kinds of assembly, such as Old Norse things, churches, games and markets, is a familiar debate in archaeology and history. A close connection between thing and church sites is recognized in Scandinavia suggesting that law and religion were closely connected. While the location of different assemblies seems to have been determined by logistical practicalities and the choice of certain kinds of topographic feature, power relations may also have played a crucial part in dictating their setting. After the eleventh/twelfth centuries in Norway, royal regulation of things and markets increased. The locations of many types of gathering remained consistent, however, but the thing system in particular seems to have offered a mechanism for consolidating royal power.