Gothi or goði (plural goðar , fem. gyðja ; Old Norse : guþi ) was a position of political and social prominence in the Icelandic Commonwealth . The term originally had a religious significance, referring to a pagan leader responsible for a religious structure and communal feasts, but the title is primarily known as a secular political title from medieval Iceland .
32-679: The word derives from goð , meaning "god". It possibly appears in Ulfilas ' Gothic language translation of the Bible as gudja for "priest", although the corresponding form of this in Icelandic would have been an unattested * gyði . In Scandinavia , there is one surviving attestation in the Proto-Norse form gudija from the Norwegian Nordhuglo runestone ( Rundata N KJ65 U), and in
64-680: A goði , although he was free to choose which one—a goðorð was not a geographical unit. The goði would help his þingmenn to bring cases before the court and to enforce their rights, and the þingmenn would in return provide the goði with armed manpower for his feuds and carry out legal sentences. By the 13th century, all the goðorð were controlled by five or six families and often united under office holders who in modern studies are known as storgoðar ("great goðar ") or storhöfðingjar ("great chieftains"). These goðar struggled for regional and sometimes national power, and occasionally sought to become retainers for
96-539: A goðorð she had to leave the leadership to a man. The office was in many respects treated as private property but was not counted as taxable, and is defined in the Gray Goose Laws as "power and not wealth" ( veldi er þat en æigi fe ); nevertheless the goðar are frequently portrayed in the sagas as concerned with money and expected to be paid for their services. During the Icelandic Commonwealth,
128-464: A 4th century letter from his pupil, Auxentius of Durostorum , who wrote it immediately after his death. A summary by Photios I of Philostorgius' Ecclesiastical History is also significant, but references to Ulfila's life are generally scarce, and he was omitted from Jerome 's De Viris Illustribus . Around the year 311, Ulfila was born presumably in what is now modern Romania . He was partially descended from Roman prisoners who were captured in
160-662: A disputation. He likely traveled to the city in 383, although the emperor came to reject the Homoian position. Ulfila soon became ill, died, and was buried soon after, though not before drafting a creed affirming his belief in Homoianism. He was succeeded as bishop by the Gotho-Phrygian Selenas. The traditional date for Ulfila's completion of religious texts for the Goths of Moesia is around 369. Cassiodorus attests that he "invented
192-649: A local dignitary who was associated with a vé , which is a religious structure. It thus attaches the title to a simultaneously secular and religious upper strata . The most reliable sources about the goðar in Iceland are the Gray Goose Laws , the Landnámabók and the Sturlunga saga . After the settlement of Iceland , a hofgoði was usually a wealthy and respected man in his district, for he had to maintain
224-453: A raid by Goths at Sadagolthina and carried away from Asia Minor . His ancestors were likely kidnapped by Western Goths in 264 or 267 then brought to an area near the Danube river . Prisoners taken in such raids from Anatolia were usually unrepentant Christians, and Ulfila was raised as a Christian in a pagan society. He lived in a diaspora community composed of Cappadocian Christians under
256-673: Is God the Father, who is also the God of our God); and in one Holy Spirit, the illuminating and sanctifying power, as Christ said after his resurrection to his apostles : "And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49) and again "But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you" ( Acts 1:8 ); being neither God (the Father) nor our God (Christ), but
288-458: Is immune to sorcery" or "he who does not engage in sorcery". The three Danish stones are all from Funen . The early Viking Age Helnæs and Flemløse 1 stones provide no details about the function of a guþi , but mention a guþi named Roulv whose name also appears on two other runestones, the lost Avnslev stone and the Flemløse 2 stone. The early 10th-century Glavendrup stone uses the term for
320-566: Is known about his life in Moesia, but he resumed preaching and likely exercised the office of chorepiscopus (Greek: χώρα) . Most of his theological works, including the translation of the Bible from Greek into Gothic, were likely to have been produced in this period. He seemed to have remained the temporal and spiritual leader of the Christian Goths in Nicopolis, possibly exerting influence beyond
352-450: Is often used as a priestly title by modern adherents of various denominations of Germanic neopaganism . Ulfilas Ulfilas ( Greek : Ουλφίλας ; c. 311 – 383), known also as Wulfila(s) or Urphilas , was a 4th-century Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent. He was the apostle to the Gothic people. Ulfila served as a bishop and missionary, participated in
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#1732859216448384-459: The goðar as secular leaders is shown in how the word was used synonymously with höfðingi , meaning chieftain . Over time, and especially after 1000, when the Christian conversion occurred in Iceland , the term lost all religious connotations and came to mean liege-lord or chieftain of the Icelandic Commonwealth. A goðorð could be bought, shared, traded or inherited. If a woman inherited
416-453: The goðorð of the descendants of Ingólfr Arnarson , the first Scandinavian to settle permanently in Iceland, had the ceremonial role of sanctifying the Althing each year, and was called the allsherjargoði ("all-people goði "). The followers of a goði were called þingmenn . Every free landowner in possession of a certain amount of property was required to be associated with
448-604: The Arian controversy , and is credited with converting the Goths to Christianity as well as overseeing translation of the Bible into the Gothic language . For the purpose of the translation he developed the Gothic alphabet , largely based on the Greek alphabet , as well as Latin and Runic characters. Although the translation of the text into Gothic has traditionally been ascribed to Ulfila, analysis of
480-642: The Norwegian king . The institution came to an end when the major goðar pledged fealty to king Haakon IV of Norway in 1262–1264, signing the Old Covenant , and the Norwegian crown abolished the goðorð system. In the early 1970s, the words goði , goðorð and allsherjargoði were adopted by the Icelandic neopagan organization Ásatrúarfélagið . Following this, goði , godi or gothi
512-572: The Thervingi between the Olt , Dniester , and Danube. It is believed that he was Cappadocian Greek on his maternal line and of Gothic descent through his father. Ulfila was either raised by Goths in his childhood as a captive or was born in captivity to Cappadocian parents. No sources exist concerning Ulfila's education. However, he was a lector in a church in Gothia by age thirty, which required study of
544-445: The Althing courts. When a court of appeals was established in the early 11th century, they also nominated judges for this court. Further, they had a few formal and informal executive roles, such as confiscating the property of outlaws. They also had a central role in the redistribution of wealth , by holding feasts, giving gifts, making loans, extending hospitality, as well as pricing and helping to distribute imported goods. The holder of
576-612: The Bible and prepared him as a translator. Since services were rendered in the Gothic language, he may have already had both the ability to translate and read. According to Philostorgius, he was sent by the Goths during the reign of Constantine I as an ambassador to the Roman Empire, where he was consecrated as the bishop of Gothia by the Arian Eusebius of Nicomedia . The Romans saw Ulfila as pontifex ipseque primas (bishop and tribal leader); Constantius II supposedly described him as
608-455: The Gothic letters and translated the divine scriptures into that language". Walafrid Strabo wrote that "(a team of) scholars translated the sacred books". There is no primary evidence to support the traditional assumption that Ulfila translated the Bible into Gothic; the brief mentions of Ulfila as a translator in the works of ancient historians count only as circumstantial evidence. Authoritative scholarly opinion, based on rigorous analysis of
640-595: The Pale, guþi of the sanctuary , honourable þegn of the retinue. Inscription from the Glavendrup stone From the pagan era in mainland Scandinavia, the only sources for the title are runestones. The Norwegian Nordhuglo stone from around AD 400 seems to place the title in opposition to magic, using a word related to the Old Norse gandr . The inscription's Ek gudija ungandiz means "I, gudija " followed by "he who
672-580: The Roman frontier into Gothia as well. He also engaged in theological debates and subscribed to Homoeanism , which became established at the 357 Council of Sirmium . Ulfila was present at the Council of Constantinople in 360, where he endorsed the council's creed and represented the Moesian Goths as their leader. The Roman emperors during the tenure of his bishopric were generally sympathetic to Arianism, though
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#1732859216448704-628: The Son ("only-begotten"), who was begotten before time and created the world, and the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son: I, Ulfila, bishop and confessor, have always so believed, and in this, the one true faith, I make the journey to my Lord; I believe in one God the Father, the only unbegotten and invisible, and in his only-begotten son, our Lord and God, the designer and maker of all creation, having none other like him (so that one alone among all beings
736-466: The communal hall or hof in which community religious observances and feasts were held. The office over which a goði had leadership was termed a goðorð , a word that only appears in Icelandic sources. Initially many independent goðorð were established, until they united under the Althing around 930. In 964, the system was fixed under a constitution that recognized 39 goðorð . The role of
768-494: The era's Moses and he was additionally compared to the prophet Elijah . His first journey to Constantinople was made between 332 and 337 for the purpose of accompanying a Gothic delegation, and he possibly lived in the city for a time with Aoric . His consecration took place in either 336 or 341. Ulfila would master both Greek and Latin during his life, and as bishop he wrote theological and exegetical treatises in both languages. In 341, he returned to Gothia, spending
800-450: The following seven years working to explain and confirm the doctrine of Arianism among existing adherents and the unconverted. His pursuits were abruptly ended in 348, when a Thervingian iudex began the persecution of Christians in the area. The exact catalyst of the persecution is unknown. Ulfila and his followers were expelled and fled to the Roman provinces, where they were accepted by Constantius II. Ulfila then established himself in
832-462: The later Old Norse form guþi from three Danish runestones: DR 190 Helnæs, DR 192 Flemløse 1 and DR 209 Glavendrup . There are a few placenames, such as Gudby in Södermanland , Sweden, that probably retain the name. Otherwise, there are no further surviving attestations except from Iceland where the goðar would be of historical significance. Ragnhildr placed this stone in memory of Alli
864-476: The linguistic properties of the Gothic text, holds that the Gothic Bible was authored by a group of translators. This does not rule out the possibility that, while overseeing the translation of the Bible, Ulfila was one of several translators. The Creed of Ulfila concludes a letter praising him written by his foster son and pupil Auxentius of Durostorum . It distinguishes God the Father ("unbegotten") from God
896-486: The minister of Christ... subject and obedient in all things to the Son; and the Son, subject and obedient in all things to God who is his Father... (whom) he ordained in the Holy Spirit through his Christ. Maximinus, a 5th-century Arian theologian, copied Auxentius's letter, among other works, into the margins of one copy of Ambrose 's De Fide ; there are some gaps in the surviving text. Redistribution of wealth Too Many Requests If you report this error to
928-596: The mountains near Nicopolis in Moesia Inferior , with no evidence that he would ever return north of the Danube. He had been the only religious and political leader of Christian Goths at the time of the expulsion, after which he held the honorary title of confessor . His followers were shepherds, and their descendants remained 200 years later in Nicopolis as a poor and docile community. For 33 years Ulfila continued to serve as bishop and attended church councils. Little
960-459: The responsibilities of a goði or goðorðsmaður (" goðorð man") included the annual organization of the local assemblies várþing in the spring and leið in the autumn. At the national Althing, they were voting members of the Lögrétta , the legislative section of the assembly. When quarter courts were introduced in the 960s, the goðar became responsible for nominating judges for
992-806: The situation changed near the end of his life. In 380, Theodosius I issued a law against heresy, supported the First Council of Nicaea , and deposed the Arian Demophilus of Constantinople in favor of orthodoxy. The next year, he confiscated all church property belonging to heretics and banned all heterodox religious meetings. After the convocation of the Second Ecumenical Council , the Arian bishops Palladius of Ratiaria and Secundianus of Singidunum were anathematized. Ulfila would journey with them to Constantinople upon being ordered by Theodosius to attend
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1024-508: The text of the Gothic Bible indicates the involvement of a team of translators, possibly under his supervision. Ulfila is mentioned by the orthodox Catholics Socrates of Constantinople , Sozomen , and Theodoret , in addition to the Eunomian historian Philostorgius . He is also mentioned by the Gothic historian Jordanes , although the writer said comparatively little of him. The dominant and most important account of Ulfila's life comes from
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