Jamtamót

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Jamtamót was the parliamentary assembly of Jämtland, a historical province (landskap) in the center of modern-day Sweden in northern Europe. Founded in the first half of the 10th century, it was one of the oldest elected assemblies in the world. [1] All male inhabitants of Jämtland province were allowed to attend, making the gathered congregation rather large compared to the Jämtland population. Jamtamót was held annually the week of March 12, during the week of motsveckan, Jämtland's biggest market. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Jämtland Place in Norrland, Sweden

Jämtland is a historical province in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland to the north and Trøndelag and Norway to the west. Jämtland covers an area of 34,009 square kilometres, 8.3% of Sweden's total area and is the second largest province in Sweden. It has a population of 115,331, the majority of whom live in Storsjöbygden, the area surrounding lake Storsjön. Östersund is Jämtland's only city and is the 24th most populous city in Sweden.

Sweden constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe

Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund, a strait at the Swedish-Danish border. At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area. Sweden has a total population of 10.2 million of which 2.5 million has a foreign background. It has a low population density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre (57/sq mi). The highest concentration is in the southern half of the country.

Contents

Etymology

Unlike other Scandinavian assemblies, it is referred to as a mót, not þing, both meaning 'assembly'. The word mót is found in e.g. the political institution Witenagemot in Anglo-Saxon England.

Scandinavia Region in Northern Europe

Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties. The term Scandinavia in local usage covers the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The majority national languages of these three, belong to the Scandinavian dialect continuum, and are mutually intelligible North Germanic languages. In English usage, Scandinavia also sometimes refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula, or to the broader region including Finland and Iceland, which is always known locally as the Nordic countries.

Thing (assembly) type of governing assembly

A thing was the governing assembly of an early Germanic society, made up of the free people of the community presided over by lawspeakers. The word appears in Old Norse, Old English, and modern Icelandic as þing, in Middle English, Old Saxon, Old Dutch, and Old Frisian as thing, in German as Ding, and in modern Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Faroese, Gutnish, and Norn as ting, all from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic neuter *þingą; the word is the same as the more common English word thing, both having at their heart the basic meaning of "an assemblage, a coming together of parts"—in the one case, an "assembly" or "meeting", in the other, an "entity", "object", or "thing". The meeting-place of a thing was called a "thingstead" or "thingstow".

Witenagemot historical legislature

The Witenaġemot, also known as the Witan was a political institution in Anglo-Saxon England which operated from before the 7th century until the 11th century. The Witenagemot was an assembly of the tribe whose primary function was to advise the king and whose membership was composed of the most important noblemen in England, both ecclesiastic and secular. The institution is thought to represent an aristocratic development of the ancient Germanic general assemblies, or folkmoots. In England, by the 7th century, these ancient folkmoots had developed into convocations of the land's most powerful and important people, including ealdormen, thegns, and senior clergy, to discuss matters of both national and local significance.

Function

The Jamtamót was the highest authority in Jämtland during the time it was most prominent. Disputes were settled and judgments given in criminal cases. In addition the assembly worked as a kind of government in relation to other Scandinavian lagting areas, as the council decided on tax issues. The Jamtamót initially had no king over it, and hence Jämtland in the period before 1178 is regarded as a peasant republic. All free men had to participate, and the most prominent men in the different families deliberated and jointly discussed various issues concerning the country. Decisions on important matters were taken, enhanced by asking and informing everyone assembled. [6] There are theories that the Jamtamót decided to turn Jämtland to Christianity during the 1000s, shortly after the Battle of Stiklestad.

Battle of Stiklestad battle in Trøndelag, Norway

The Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway was killed. During the pontificate of Pope Alexander III, the Roman Catholic Church declared Olaf a saint in 1164.

History

There is some evidence that the population of Viking Age Scandinavia strived to reproduce the “ideal assembly site”, described in Eddic poetry. [7]

The Jamtamót continued to operate after falling under Norwegian control with the loss at the Battle of Storsjön in 1178. Even when Norway was centralized, the Jamtamót continued. When the Kalmar Union was formed, and Jämtland ended up far from the central power, the althing again increased its significance. In the late 15th century the Jamtamót was a Norwegian Legislative Assembly. It lost its status as a judicial body but was not abolished, and Jämtland came to have two parallel assemblies.

Norway constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe

Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe whose territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula; the remote island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard are also part of the Kingdom of Norway. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land.

The Battle of Storsjön was fought during 1178 outside Sunne, in Jämtland province, Sweden. The battle was won by the Birkebeiner army of King Sverre of Norway.

Kalmar Union former country; personal union of the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway

The Kalmar Union was a personal union that from 1397 to 1523 joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, together with Norway's overseas dependencies. The union was not quite continuous; there were several short interruptions. Legally, the countries remained separate sovereign states, but with their domestic and foreign policies being directed by a common monarch.

In the 16th century, Jämtland became a Danish county. After the Swedish occupation of Jämtland in the Northern Seven Years' War (1564-1570), King Christian IV forbade the Denmark assembly, but it continued to exist in secret and in the protection of the market week.

Denmark constitutional monarchy in Europe

Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Nordic country and the southernmost of the Scandinavian nations. Denmark lies southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and is bordered to the south by Germany. The Kingdom of Denmark also comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark proper consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, Funen and the North Jutlandic Island. The islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. Denmark has a total area of 42,924 km2 (16,573 sq mi), land area of 42,394 km2 (16,368 sq mi), and the total area including Greenland and the Faroe Islands is 2,210,579 km2 (853,509 sq mi), and a population of 5.8 million.

Northern Seven Years War war (1563–1570) between Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and Poland, causd by Denmarks dissatisfaction with the dissolution of the Kalmar Union and Swedens wanting to break Denmarks dominance; ended in stalemate

The Northern Seven Years' War was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and Poland between 1563 and 1570. The war was motivated by the dissatisfaction of King Frederick II of Denmark with the dissolution of the Kalmar Union, and the will of King Eric XIV of Sweden to break Denmark's dominating position. The fighting continued until both armies had been exhausted, and many men died. The resulting Treaty of Stettin was a stalemate, with neither party gaining any new territory.

After Jämtland became Swedish in 1645, parts of the Jamtamót were transferred to a Swedish rural summer assembly called Jämtland landsjämnadsting. During the last half of the 19th century, the Jämtland landsjämnadsting was the only existing county council in Sweden. The 1862 municipal ordinances resulted in the creation of counties throughout all Swedish provinces. The only difference in Jämtland was that it now also included representatives from Härjedalens parishes in the county. The Jämtland County Council is therefore the only county in Sweden with a continuity from its roots as a medieval Germanic general assembly.

Jamtamot in the present

There is an unbroken link between today's Jämtland County Council and the medieval althing from the time the Jämtland operated independently, without any king. Jämtland's population has declined since the 1950s, and the government has proposed amalgamation between Jämtland and Härjedalen.

The center partist Håkan Larsson, a former member of the Swedish parliament coming from Jämtland, is one of the most serious politicians arguing for a reestablishment of Jamtamót. On his home page where he presents his vision of Jämtland year 2052 he writes: "Sedan dess har självstyret stärkts och i dag har länet ungefär samma självstyrande roll inom Sverige som Åland hade inom Finland redan på 1900-talets slut. Jamtamot har utvecklats till ett starkt regionalt parlament. Ett tecken på uppslutningen bakom parlamentet är att härjedalingarna numera aldrig talar om att lämna Jämtlands län för Gävleborg." [8]

which roughly translates to: "Since then the autonomy has become strengthened and today the county [of Jämtland] has approximately the same role of autonomy within Sweden as Åland had within Finland already in the end of the 20th century. Jamtamót has developed into a strong regional parliament. A sign of the support behind the parliament is that nowadays, the people of Härjedalen never speak about leaving the county of Jämtland for Gävleborg."

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Oscarsson, 1000 år av frihet sid. 23
  2. ↑ Ekerwald, Jämtarnas historia intill 1319 sid. 114–115
  3. ↑ Larsson, Jämten 2000 sid. 99 ”I Jämtland var kontinuiteten från det gamla Jamtamot obruten även när landstingsreformen trädde i kraft”
  4. ↑ Oscarsson, Alltinget Jamtamot (se webbreferens)
  5. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum (volumes I–XXI) ..thetta breff som giort och scriffwat war Anno domini Mocdolxv torsdaghen j mootz wiku.
  6. ↑ Ekerwald, Jämtarnas historia intill 1319 sid. 124
  7. ↑ "BioOne Online Journals - Sacred Legal Places in Eddic Poetry: Reflected in Real Life?". Bioone.org. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  8. ↑ Håkan Larsson, Och nu var det 2052 – hur kom vi hit?, Centerpartiet i Jämtlands läns webbplats
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