The history of one of the world’s oldest working parliaments will be told in a new book.

‘A Key to Tynwald: An Introduction to the Isle of Man’s Parliament’ has been written by local author Sara Goodwin (above) and published by Loaghtan Books.

The book will dive into the history of Tynwald, and will look closely at the Viking origins of the Manx parliament, which saw the most important men in the area get together in a ‘thing’ to ‘lay down some basic rules: don’t cheat, don’t steal, don’t run off with someone else’s girl/wife/mother and don’t kill each other’.

The ‘Thing field’ was called ‘thing-völlr’, which over time became ‘Tinvaal’ in Manx and ‘Tynwald’ in English.

The book will also look at the ceremony on Tynwald Hill, and also discuss the workings of the modern-day Tynwald today.

It also talks about the ‘Things’ of the seven other countries which still have parliaments based on Viking traditions.

‘A Key to Tynwald’ is available, priced £5.95, from local book shops and online from loaghtanbooks.com