Farthings of Iceland
Historically, Iceland was divided into four farthings (landsfjórðungar, singular landsfjórðungur) corresponding to the cardinal directions. These were administrative divisions established in 965 for the purpose of organising regional assemblies called farthing assemblies (fjórðungsþing) and regional courts called farthing courts (fjórðungsdómar). Each farthing held three local assemblies (usually in spring and autumn), which were each presided over by three goðar or chieftains. The North Farthing alone held four. Farthing courts would judge cases if both plaintiff and defendant belonged to the same assembly; otherwise the case was brought to the general assembly, the Alþingi. Little else is known about these farthing courts and they seem to have been much more irregular than the spring and autumn assemblies. Also, in spite of the apparent regularity of three goðar per assembly and three to four assemblies per farthing, the system of rule by chieftains and assemblies probably followed a much more varied pattern.
The two
The lawmen
Iceland had come under the King of Norway's sway in 1264, and a change of law came with
Medical districts
In 1683 Iceland was made an
In 1651 the king had granted permission for the construction of one hospital in each farthing. These were not hospitals in the modern sense but primarily intended as lazarets or leper colonies that later became shelters for vagrants and beggars. In 1766 the office of farthing doctor (fjórðungslæknir) was created, one for each farthing. Soon, however, the medical districts were further divided, first with the introduction of another doctor for the West Farthing in 1781 and then another for the eastern part of the South Farthing in 1799. For most of the 19th century these were the six medical districts in Iceland. In 1944 the state agreed to increase their funding of three hospitals outside of Reykjavík which would be designated as farthing hospitals (fjórðungssjúkrahús). These were the hospitals of Ísafjörður, Akureyri, and Neskaupstaður.
Contemporary use of the term
Later administrative divisions of Iceland (notably the voting districts established with the Constitution of Iceland in 1874) were based on the division of counties and municipalities and the farthings gradually lost any official significance, although they are still used in common parlance to refer to parts of the country.
Currently there is only one form of local government in Iceland, the municipalities, the counties themselves having lost any official significance in the 1990s. Several times during the 20th century there have been regional organisations, societies, cooperation venues at the municipal level etc. based on the farthings. In 1980 one Jóhannes Árnason suggested reinstating the farthing assemblies as means of distributing power from the state to the regions, but this was not seriously considered. A more common way of dividing Iceland nowadays is the eight regions (landshlutar).
Farthing divisions
- Vestfirðingafjórðungur or Breiðfirðingafjórðungur (the farthing of the Westfjorders or Breiðafjorders) originally stretched from Hrútafjörður in the north to the river Hvítá at Borgarfjörður, but in the 13th century was extended southward to the Botnsá at Hvalfjörður
- Norðlendingafjórðungur or Eyfirðingafjórðungur (the farthing of the Northerners or Eyjafjorders) stretched from Hrútafjörður in the west to Langanes in the east.
- Austfirðingafjórðungur (the farthing of the Eastfjorders) extended from Langanes to the river East Skaftafellssýsla was made part of the Eastern amt, and the border thus moved southward again to the Skeiðará.
- Sunnlendingafjórðungur or Rangæingafjórðungur (the farthing of the Southerners or Rangæings) was really only the southwestern corner of the country, including the capital at Reykjavík.