Thing and veche in descriptions of Scandinavian sagas and Old Rus chronicles

The purpose of the study. The article compares fragments of Scandinavian sagas and Old Rus chronicles, which describe medieval assemblies, namely thing and veche. The methodology. The paper uses general historical and comparative methods. The scientific novelty. The comparative study of medieval Scandinavia and Old Rus is necessary, because there are only a few such investigations of their socio-political development. The article for the first time provides a systemic typological comparison of Scandinavian sagas and Old Rus chronicles, specifically of the evidence they present about medieval assemblies.
Conclusions. Based on the achievements of the newest historiography the article demonstrates clear similarities between sagas and chronicles. Both groups of texts are narrative, rooted in oral traditions and written long after the period they describe. Sagas and chronicles present events in a chronological manner, focus on the deeds of rulers. At the same time, the comparative analysis of these narrative traditions shows only limited similarities in the descriptions of assemblies. Sagas contain much more evidence about thing, then chronicles about veche as well as present highly detailed accounts. Chronicles describe veche as completely urban phenomena, which became widespread in the middle of the 12th century. Their evidence could be compared to the information from sagas. However, it is possible to analyze only some aspects of gatherings. There is not enough material in the chronicles for a systematic typological comparison. Unlike thing, early veche is almost unknown. In addition, there is no information about rural gatherings of Old Rus. It is possible to compare veche only with urban thing, but necessary evidence is limited. Also, people from rural areas did not come to urban assemblies. Overall, comparative analysis could focus only on such types of gatherings as thing and veche during a military expedition, urban meeting or rebellion against ruler, and other. Therefore, systemic comparison of Scandinavian and Slavic assemblies requires the analysis of additional sources.