But there were not any national institutions at the time other than the king himself and thus not really a national level above the provincial assemblies The king was just as much king of Vstergtland as he was king of Sweden Even if the local stormn organised Vstergtland in a way similar to Iceland they were not oligarchs who could do what they pleased so long they got along with their peers Iceland stopped being an oligarchy in  just like Vstergtland had done several centuries ago if they ever had been one  Oligarch meaning one of the few who rule is just not a good translation for storman great man in Swedish as aristocrat meaning one of the most powerful members of the society with the root aristos meaning best or prominent  Even the historic use of the word nobleman is a lot closer to storman than oligarch  An example of how the sentence could be phrased is customary hostage from the local aristocratic families The only difference from the current text being that prominent is replaced with aristocratic and clans with families However local aristocracy would make the sentence shorter and essentially have the same meaning