could change his "godord" as he liked, and the right of "judgment
by peers" was in full use. At first there was no higher
organisation than the local thing. A central thing, and a
speaker to speak a single "law" for the whole island, was
instituted in 929, and afterwards the island was divided in four
quarters, each with a court, under the Al-thing. Society was
divided only into two classes of men, the free and unfree, though
political power was in the hands of the franklins alone; "godi"
and thrall ate the same food, spoke the same tongue, wore much
the same clothes, and were nearly alike in life and habits.
Among the free men there was equality in all but wealth and the
social standing that cannot be separated therefrom. The thrall
was a serf rather than a slave, and could own a house, etc., of
his own. In a generation or so the freeman or landless retainer,
if he got a homestead of his own, was the peer of the highest in
the land. During the tenth century Greenland was colonised from
Iceland, and by end of the same century christianity was
introduced into Iceland, but made at first little difference in
arrangements of society. In the thirteenth century disputes over
the power and jurisdiction of the clergy led, with other matters,
to civil war, ending in submission to Norway, and the breaking
down of all native great houses. Although life under the
commonwealth had been rough and irregular, it had been free and
varied, breeding heroes and men of mark; but the "law and order"
now brought in left all on a dead level of peasant
proprietorship, without room for hope or opening for ambition.
An alien governor ruled the island, which was divided under him
into local counties, administered by sheriffs appointed by the
king of Norway. The Al-thing was replaced by a royal court, the
local work of the local things was taken by a subordinate of the