Quote Originally Posted by Taedius
The description of Norway at the start of this thread gives you a good idea. It was a kingdom, but quite decentralized. Most people were farmers, but many also traded. Their military was based on levies; the land was divided in small regions, each responcible for equipping a ship with crew in wartime. In addition, the King had a body of professional soldiers called the Hird.

There was no feudalism. Farmers mostly owned their own land, and the 'nobility' consisted of the richest among them. Society was based around the family. A mans influence depended on the family or clan he came from, and his relation to other powerful families.

The judicial system was based on the Ting. This was simply a gatering of all 'free men', where laws were read aloud and issues of common interest was debated. Conflicts were also solved, and the lawmen would issue punishment on offenders, usually fines, but also outlawry.

Hm. Anything else?
Largely correct, but I disagree with the ''quite decentralized'' statement. As Norway had a relatively weak nobility, the kings powers were quite strong, hence it was one of the more centralized states in Europe*, England developing the most centralized system in western Europe in the medieval period. Other than that good post.

*(as far as royal power was concerned, exception for the civil wars of course, and orders and edicts from the king would travel slowly through the difficult geography of Norway)