Editing Thing (assembly) (section)

===Norway===
In the period between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, [[Norway]] went through a state-formation process that elevated the control and power of the king. On the regional level, it has been assumed that the king would have taken control of the organization of assemblies via local representatives. Today, few thingsteads from Norway are known for sure, and as new assembly sites are found, scholars question whether these are old jurisdiction districts which the king used as a foundation for his organization or whether he created new administrative units.{{sfnp|Ødegaard|2013|pages=42–43}} In southeast Norway in particular, one hypothesis for why the king would have established new thing sites might be that they were a "strategic geopolitical response to the threat from the Danish king in the beginning of the 11th century."{{sfnp|Ødegaard|2013|pages=42–63}} Since the record of Norwegian thing sites is not comprehensive, it is not favorable to rely on archeological and topographical characteristics to determine whether they were established before the state-formation period.

In northern and southwestern Norway, there appears to have been a close association between chieftains' farms and sites interpreted as assemblies or court sites. These areas were considered neutral ground where the landowning elite could meet for political reasons and for [[Norse rituals]]. This view is based partly on [[Norse saga]]s' narratives of Viking chieftains and the distribution of large grave mounds.<ref>Storli, Inger (2010). “Court Sites of Arctic Norway: Remains of Thing Sites and Representations of Political Consolidation Processes in the Northern Germanic World during the First Millennium ad?” ''Norwegian Archaeological Review'' 43, no. 2: pp. 128–144.</ref> Ultimately, this neutrality was important for thing participants' cooperation; royal officials required cooperation to look after the king's interests in local areas. In this regard, Norwegian things became an arena for cooperation between the royal representatives and the farmers.{{sfnp|Ødegaard|2013|page=58}}

Based on what is known from later medieval documents, one deep-rooted custom of Norwegian law areas was the bearing of arms coming from the old tradition of the [[wapentake]] "weapon-take", which refers to the rattling of weapons at meetings to agree.{{sfnp|Mehler|2015|page=72}} The Law of the Gulating provides that the handling of these weapons should be controlled and regulated.{{sfnp|Ødegaard|2013|page=44}}

This is seen at [[Haugating]], the thing for [[Vestfold]] in Norway, which was located in [[Tønsberg]] at Haugar (from the [[Old Norse]] ''haugr'' meaning hill or mound). This site was one of Norway's most important places for the proclamation of kings. In 1130, [[Harald Gille]] called together a meeting at the Haugating, where he was declared [[King of Norway]]. [[Sigurd Magnusson]] was proclaimed king in 1193 at the Haugating. [[Magnus IV of Sweden|Magnus VII]] was acclaimed hereditary King of Norway and Sweden at the Haugating in August 1319.<ref name=GansumOestigaard>Gansum & Oestigaard ''Ritual''</ref>