in Iceland. The church became the second unifying institution in the country after the Althing. Continuing similar patterns from the pre-Christian era, church estates could be owned by goðar who would then get a portion of the tithe.

Decline and fall

In the early 13th century, the Age of the Sturlungs, the Commonwealth began to suffer from chaos and division resulting from internal disputes. Originally, the goðar (chieftains) functioned more as a contractual relationship

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