Editing Republic (section)

=== Icelandic Commonwealth ===
The Icelandic Commonwealth was established in 930 AD by refugees from [[Norway]] who had fled the unification of that country under King [[Harald Fairhair]]. The Commonwealth consisted of a number of clans run by chieftains, and the [[Althing]] was a combination of parliament and supreme court where disputes appealed from lower courts were settled, laws were decided, and decisions of national importance were taken. One such example was the [[Christianisation of Iceland]] in 1000, where the Althing decreed that all Icelanders must be baptized into Christianity, and forbade celebration of pagan rituals. Contrary to most states, the Icelandic Commonwealth had no official leader.

In the early 13th century, the [[Age of the Sturlungs]], the Commonwealth began to suffer from long conflicts between warring clans. This, combined with pressure from the Norwegian king [[Haakon IV of Norway|Haakon IV]] for the Icelanders to rejoin the Norwegian "family", led the Icelandic chieftains to accept Haakon IV as king by the signing of the ''Gamli sáttmáli'' ("[[Old Covenant (Iceland)|Old Covenant]]") in 1262. This effectively brought the Commonwealth to an end. The Althing, however, is still Iceland's parliament, almost 800 years later.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iceland-free-speech-20110403,0,5332545.story | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Henry | last=Chu | title=Iceland seeks to become sanctuary for free speech | date=April 2, 2011}}</ref>