The godi in whose district the Thing-place lay declared the Thing holy; if the Thingman could not come himself, he could send a freeman of his house in his place.
“We shall have a Spring-thing in our country. Three godis shall have one together. They shall not hold a Thing for longer than one week, nor for less than three nights, unless they are allowed by the Lögrétta[[530]].... The godi who owns Thinghelgi (declaration of thing-peace) there shall declare the Thing holy the first evening when they come there.... The godi shall decide what are the Thing-boundaries, and he shall declare it holy, as at the Althing, and declare what is its name”[[531]] (Grágás, p. 96, § 56).
A Thingman could declare himself the Thingman of another godi. Every godi had to have a booth on the plain, large enough to hold all his Thingmen; but the great bœndr often had with them their own booths, and their friends, women, children, and servants, &c. The godi who declared the Althing holy was called allsherjar godi (the godi of the whole host).
We see that in Iceland at first the Kjalnesinga godi had the high office at the Althing,[[532]] but later the godi in whose district the Althing lay.
The Althing began on Thursday when ten weeks (fifty days) of summer had passed, and lasted fourteen days.[[533]]
To the Althing all the godis had to come, and to arrive on Thursday night, before the sun had left the plain; if not, they forfeited their godiship. If a godi had met with lawful hindrances, the godi of the same Thing-district decided who should take his place. He had the right to call upon every ninth man of his Thingmen to follow him to the Spring-thing.[[534]]
All the bœndr who had come to the Althing on Thursday night were considered right Thingmen, but the bœndr who remained at home had to pay a fine. If they came before the first Sunday of the Thing they were right Thingmen, but received no pay. The Thingmen were not allowed to leave the precincts of the Thing before the assembly was dissolved.[[535]]
“All godis shall come to the Thing on the fifth day of the week when 10 weeks of the summer have passed before the sun leaves the Thing-plain. If they do not come they are fined and lose their godiship, unless necessity causes their absence. The Thingmen shall come to the Thing on the fifth day of the week and go to their booth with the godi in whose Thing-district they are; each of them shall have a partition of cloth across the booth; each shall get Thing-journey pay, and they are Thingmen both in their own matters and in those of others. The godi is then bound to give a Thingman room in his booth; if he does not, then the Thingman does not break the law though he go to another booth, and has also a claim to the Thing-journey pay. Men shall pay Thing-journey pay as they agree upon in every district with the godi.... The Thingmen shall not be one night or longer away from the Thing; nor are they Thingmen when they go outside the Thing-marks” (Grágás, i. 24).
Sometimes meetings took place called Vápnathing, where all the bœndr had to appear, and produce for inspection the arms which every man was legally obliged to have.
“Wherever a weapon-thing is to be, the king’s steward (árman) or a lend-man shall announce it in the autumn, and hold the Thing in the spring. All free and full-grown men shall come to it or pay a fine of three aurar each. Then men shall show their weapons as is laid down in the laws. A man shall have a broad-axe or a sword, a spear, and a shield which must have at least three iron-rims across it, and whose handle must be fastened with iron nails. Three aurar are to be paid for every folk-weapon (missing or not in good order). For every rowing-bench the bœndr shall furnish two dozen arrows and one bow. One eyrir shall be paid for every missing arrow, and three aurar for a bow” (Earlier Gulathing’s Law, 309).