commonwealth

The article deal with the intellectual legacy of the English philosopher, writer and historian William Godwin (1756–1836). His was typical way of English intellectual who had to live through the Enlightenment, the Revolution and Romanticism. The Godwin’s historical ideas are a little known to contemporary academic audience. «History of the Commonwealth of England» of W. Godwin was written in 1824–1828 in the period of the great political crisis. Then British historians look for the answer of the public problem in the past.

The current article is an attempt of analysis of the image of medieval Icelandic society in the modern libertarian literature. The main aim is to emphasize the main positions of libertarian political philosophy on the subject of Icelandic commonwealth and observe the methodology of libertarian authors, as well as find out what place Medieval Iceland takes in libertarian discourse.