CHAPTER XLIV

.

REVENGE.

The duty of the nearest relative—Procedure—Blood-nights—Secret slaying—Incitement to revenge by women—Intentional wounding—Arbitration—Manslaughter—Murder by lunatics—Insults—Punishment of derision.

Revenge played a conspicuous part in the daily life of the Norsemen, and it was the duty of the nearest relative to avenge the death of a kinsman. This duty first belonged to the brother of the deceased, and, if he had no brother, to his next of kin. Relatives as far as the fourth degree were obliged, if there was no one nearer, to undertake the duty. If the relative could not find the murderer, his revenge fell upon the innocent kinsman of the murderer, or upon the servants of the latter.

Procedure depended on the nature of the case. If a man was slain in his own Herad, his wife or heir, or the nearest of kin present in the Herad, the same day that the death became known sent out an arrow from farm to farm through the Herad to summon the bœndr. The summons ordered them to meet the same day, or, if it was already late, the next day, at the place of murder, to attend the Arrow-thing. At the Arrow-thing those more especially had to appear to whom the murderer had announced the slaying, with his name and residence; those assembled examined the circumstances of the slaying, and what was practically a coroner’s inquest took place.

“Thither came nine bœndr who lived next to the slaying-place. Mörd (who caused the slaying and declared it) had ten men with him. He showed to the bœndr the wounds of Höskuld, and named witnesses to the wounds, and one to every wound except one. He feigned not to know who had given it, for he had given it himself. He declared that Skarphedin had slain him, and that his brothers and Kari had given the wounds. Then he summoned the nine neighbours of the slaying-place to come to the Althing, then he rode home” (Njala, 112).

The days and nights immediately following a murder were called _blood-nights_.

Hrolleif, the son of a witchcraft-knowing woman, slew the chief Ingimund. When he came home and told his mother what he had done, she said:

“‘It is my advice that thou goest away, for the blood-nights are the quickest for revenge’”[581] (Vatnsdæla, c. 24).

“Glum went out one day to slay Sigmund; he put on the blue cloak, and had a spear in his hand, ornamented with gold. When he had killed him he rode off to his brother Thorstein, who, seeing blood on the inlaid ornaments of the weapon, asked if he had struck anyone with it just before. Glum said: ‘It is true, I forgot to tell thee that I have slain Sigmund Thorkelsson to-day.’ Thorstein answered: ‘That will be bad tidings to Thorkel (Sigmund’s father) and the Esphol men, his sons-in-law.’ Glum added: ‘It is an old saying, that during the blood-nights every one is most passionate; but they will think little of it as time passes’” (Viga Glum’s Saga, c. 8).

If at least twenty-seven bœndr had come to the Thing, and the nearest kinsman of the murdered man was present, and the slayer himself, after having received truce (_grid_), appeared, or it was stated that although the arrow had reached him he did not desire to appear, the Arrow-thing possessed the right to at once render judgment in the case.

The fifth day the prosecution took place at the _Fimtarthing_, which was an extraordinary _Heradsthing_.

To this Thing the slayer, or the person accused of the murder, was summoned, and here the case was carried to completion, and judgment given by the Thingsmen.

If the slaying was murder, and there was no certainty as to the murderer, then the next of kin could require three persons, on whom his suspicions had fallen, to free themselves one after the other, by _tylftareid_ (an oath of suspicion).

“If the king accuses a man of land-treason (high-treason), he must repel the charge by a tylftareid. Charge of murder and of breach of faith must also be repelled in this way. Six men, equal to him (the accused) in rétt, shall be summoned on both sides of him, two of them selected, then two of his nearest kinsmen, himself as the fifth, and seven fangavattar (witnesses summoned at random)” (Gulathing’s Law, 132).

“Further, if thou findest a man slain out on the field, thou shalt hide the body and tell the first man whom thou meetest, and then go to his heir if he is in the Fylki; else thou shalt cut a Thing-summons and call a Thing. The man that does not come to the Thing is fined six aurar, called the large Thing-fine, and proves himself to be the slayer if the heir wants to accuse him of it” (Gulath., 161).

If a reconciliation took place between the slayer and family of the slain, the nearest of kin to the slain at once assured the slayer of intermediate truce (_grid_), and later, when the indemnity was paid, which generally took place in several instalments, assured him of security (_tryggdir_), whereby the matter was regarded as completely settled.[582]

If the slayer left the weapon in the wound of his foe his act was not considered murder, but only a lesser crime, termed “secret slaying.”

“One morning, just before day-light, while Véstein was still in bed, some one entered the room, thrust a spear through his breast, and went out again. When Vestein tried to rise he fell dead. His sister Aud called upon a thrall of hers, Thord the faint-hearted, and bade him take the weapon from the wound. It was the custom for the man who pulled the weapon from a wound to be obliged to avenge the slain; but it was called secret slaying, and not murder, if the slayer left the weapon remaining in the wound” (Gisli Sursson’s Saga).

To slay a man for revenge at night, or to put any one to death at night, was considered murder.

“King Olaf sat down in his seat when the room had been prepared, and was very angry. He asked where the slayer was. He was told that he was guarded out on the balcony. The king said: ‘Why is he not slain?’ Thorarin Nefjulfsson answered: ‘My lord, do you not call it a murder to slay men at night?’ Then the king said: ‘Put him into fetters, and slay him to-morrow’” (St. Olaf’s Saga, c. 126).

“Then Arinbjörn said: ‘The king will not let himself be incited to all thy nithing-deeds. He will not let Egil be killed this night, because night-killings are murders.’ The king replied: ‘It shall be as thou askest, Arinbjörn, that Egil shall live this night’” (Egil’s Saga, c. 62).

Incitement to revenge was often given by women. Thorbjörg, the wife of Indridi, heard that her brother Hörd had been treacherously slain by Thorstein Gullknapp.

“When she and her husband came into their bed in the evening, Thorbjörg drew a sax and thrust it at Indridi; but he parried the blow with his hand and got much wounded. He said: ‘Thorbjörg, it is difficult to know what to do, and thou art very hard upon me. What shall I do that we may become friends again?’ ‘Thou canst do nothing but fetch the head of Thorstein Gullknapp for me’” (Hörd’s Saga, c. 37).

To him who performed _nabjargir_ (ceremony attending the dead) belonged the duty of avenging the dead.

Höskuld, a son of Njal by his concubine Hródný, was found wounded with sixteen wounds. Hródný laid him against the wall in Njal’s sheephouse and went in to Njal’s bed, as it was night.

“She asked if Njal was awake. He answered: ‘I have slept, but now I am awake. Why art thou here so early?’ Hródný replied: ‘Rise from the bed of my rival and go out with me, and also thy wife and thy sons.’ They rose and went out. Skarphedin said: ‘Let us take our weapons with us.’ Njal did not speak, and they ran in and fetched their weapons. Hródný walked on in front, and when they came to the sheephouse she went in and asked them to follow. She took up a lantern and said: ‘Here, Njal, is thy son Höskuld with many wounds on him, and he needs to be healed.’ Njal answered: ‘I see death-marks on him, and no life-marks; why hast thou not given him nabjargir, as his nostrils are open?’ ‘I intended Skarphedin to do that,’ she answered. Skarphedin walked up to Höskuld’s body and closed the nostrils, eyes, and mouth. Then he asked his father, ‘Who, sayest thou, is the slayer?’ Njal answered: ‘Lýting of Samstadir and his brothers have probably slain him.’ Hródný said: ‘I give it into thy hands, Skarphedin, to revenge thy brother; and I expect thee to behave well and perform the greatest part (in the revenge), though he was not legitimate.’ Bergthóra (Njal’s wife) said: ‘It is strange that you slay men for slight reasons, while you ponder over and digest this matter until nothing comes of it; Höskuld Hvitanesgodi will soon be here and ask you to come to terms, and you will grant him them; if you intend to do anything, do it now.’ Skarphedin said: ‘Now our mother incites us with lawful provocation’” (Njala, c. 98).

Then follows in the Saga a long account of how the two brothers of Lýting were killed, and how he himself was wounded and escaped. Lýting went to a man called Höskuld, who was a godi, and asked him to reconcile him with Njal and his sons. Höskuld consented, and went with him to Njal’s home.

If a man intentionally wounded an innocent man, or offended him in such a way that full rétt was due to him, the offended could slay him if he had not offered surety.

It was not uncommon to resort to arbitration when cases of revenge occurred for which weregild would have to be paid.

Gunnar of Hlidarendi, the famous champion, with his brother Kolskegg had slain eight men. After the prosecution of the case had begun at the Althing, some proposed that good men should arbitrate.

“It was determined, according to the advice of the wisest men, that all the suits which followed should be submitted to arbitration; six men to arbitrate, and it was done at once at the Althing. It was decided that the death of Skamkel should not be paid for, the wound of the spur making up for the wergild; for the other a befitting payment was made. The kinsmen of Gunnar gave property, so that all the weregilds were at once paid at the Althing” (Njala, c. 56).

Manslaughter was murder if it was not acknowledged by the slayer; if there was no witness to the deed, he had to acknowledge it at the farm nearest to the place of slaughter, and tell his name and home. If kinsmen of the slain were present, he might pass the place; but in no case could he go further than the third farm without declaring it.

“Further, if men meet at the crossing of roads, and the one slays the other, and the man is alive when people come to him, then he is the slayer whom the man declares to be, unless the _great evidence_ help him. If another man declares himself to be the slayer, then they are both slayers, though there is only one wound on the dead man. When a man declares the slaying lawfully, he goes from the place in whatever direction he likes, and declares it at the next house, unless kinsmen on male or female side or near relatives of the dead are there; in this case he shall pass on to the next house, unless they (kinsmen) are also there; then he shall go to the third house and declare it, whoever are in it. He is neither called Ulf (wolf), nor Björn (bear), unless it be his name. He shall tell the _jartegn_ (by which he is known), and tell where he slept last night. At the Arrow-thing evidence of the declaration of the slaying shall be given” (Gulathing’s Law, 61).[583]

If a man acknowledged a slaughter lawfully, and also in the presence of witnesses gave surety that he would pay weregild and _thegngildi_ (weregild for a thegn), he thereby made himself holy and sacred, so that he could not be slain.

“If a man wounds an innocent man, or injures him publicly by deeds liable to full rétt, and revenge is taken by the man or his kinsmen before a lawful offer with full surety has been made, then the one who first broke the peace is outlawed, whether he has been slain or outraged in other ways, unless the king and other men of good sense think otherwise. But if he offers full surety he is peace-holy, and the one who slays him is outlawed” (Frostath., Introd. 6).

An insane man who committed murder, though not accounted responsible for his actions, was expelled the country.

“If a man becomes mad so that he breaks his chains and kills a man, he shall leave the land, and have all his property in half a month’s truce during summer, and one month during winter” (Frostath.).

“If a father becomes so mad that he slays his son, or a son slays his father, or a brother his brother, he shall be outlawed, and leave the land, and never come back again” (Frostath., iv. 31).

Among the insults which were most resented were those caused by “_nid_,” or derision. Derision was of two kinds: the first called “_tungunid_,” tongue derision; that is, derisive or mocking words, which were chiefly in songs and lampoons (nidvisur), which sometimes were also thought to possess magical power, thus scaring away the guardian spirits, and bringing misfortune on the person in question. The second were _trenid_ (wooden derision), that is, derisive images carved or traced on wood. These were placed at spots where they would draw attention, generally on the grounds of the enemy; and some of them must have corresponded to the caricatures of our own times.

These derisive songs were so much resented that Harald Gormsson, King of Denmark, intended to go to Iceland to take revenge upon the people for a derisive song which had been made upon him by an Icelander.

“Harald Gormsson King of Denmark heard that Hakon jarl had cast away Christianity, and made warfare in many places in his lands. Then he levied a host and went to Norway, and when he came into the realm of Hakon he plundered there, and devastated the country, and went with his host to the islands called Solundir. Only five farms were left in Laradal, and all the people fled to the mountains and forests with all the loose property they could take with them. Then he wanted to sail[584] to Iceland, to take revenge for the derision (nid) which all the Icelanders had made on him. The Icelanders had enacted a law that as many nid-songs (derisive songs) should be made about the King of Denmark as there were noses (heads, men) in the country. The reason for this was that a ship owned by Icelanders had been wrecked in Denmark, and all the property on board taken by the Danes, who called it wreckage; this was done by the king’s steward Birgir, and the derision was on both of them”[585] (Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, c. 36).

Derision was forbidden by law, and punished by outlawry.

“No man shall make tongue-nid (derision) on another, nor wood-nid (nid carved on wood). If it be known and proved that he has done this, he is liable to outlawry; he shall redeem the offence with an oath of reconciliation; he falls as an outlaw if he is slain. No man shall make exaggeration or slander about another: that is exaggeration if a man says about another what cannot take place, or will not, or has not, saying he is a woman every ninth night, and has borne a child, and calls him _gylvin_ (she-wolf). He is an outlaw, if it is proved; he shall redeem the offence with an oath of reconciliation; he falls as an outlaw if he is slain” (Earlier Gulathing’s Law, 138).

END OF VOL. 1.

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Footnote 1:

A kind of baptism.

Footnote 2:

The assembly of the people.

Footnote 3:

The hall and abode of the slain.

Footnote 4:

“Sueonum hinc civitates, ipso in oceano, præter viros armaque classibus valent. Forma navium eo differt quod utrinque prora paratam semper appulsui frontem agit. Nec velis ministrantur, nec remos in ordinem lateribus adjungunt: solutum, ut in quibusdam fluminum, et mutabile, ut res poscit, hinc et illinc remigium” (Germ. xliv.).

Footnote 5:

“Hujus est civitatis longe amplissima auctoritas omnis oræ maritimæ regionum earum, quod et naves habent Veneti plurimas, quibus in Britanniam navigare consuerunt, et scientia atque usu nauticarum rerum reliquos antecedunt, et in magno impetu maris atque aperto, paucis portibus interjectis, quos tenent ipsi, omnes fere qui eo mari uti consuerunt, habent vectigales” (Gallic War, iii. c. 8).

“Namque ipsorum naves ad hunc modum factæ armatæque erant; carinæ aliquanto planiores, quam nostrarum navium, quo facilius vada ac decessum æstus excipere possent; proræ admodum erectæ, atque item puppes ad magnitudinem fluctuum tempestatumque accommodatæ; naves totæ factæ ex robore ad quamvis vim et contumeliam perferendam; transtra pedalibus in latitudinem trabibus confixa clavis ferreis digiti pollicis crassitudine; ancoræ pro funibus ferreis catenis revinctæ; pelles pro velis alutæque tenuiter confectæ, hæ sive propter lini inopiam atque ejus usus inscientiam, sive eo, quod est magis verisimile, quod tantas tempestates Oceani tantosque impetus ventorum sustineri, ac tanta onera navium regi velis non satis commode posse arbitrabantur. Cum his navibus nostræ classi ejusmodi congressus erat, ut una celeritate et pulsu remorum præstaret; reliqua, pro loci natura, pro vi tempestatum, illis essent aptiora et accommodatiora. Neque enim his nostræ rostro nocere poterant (tanta in his erat firmitudo), neque propter altitudinem facile telum adjiciebatur, et eadem de causa minus commode copulis continebantur. Accedebat, ut, cum sævire ventus cœpisset et se vento dedissent, et tempestatem ferrent facilius, et in vadis consisterent tutius, et ab æstu relictæ nihil saxa et cautes timerent; quarum rerum omnium nostris navibus casus erat extimescendus” (c. 13).

Footnote 6:

Ἐπὶ τὸν αὐχένα τῆς Κιμβρικῆς χερσονήσου Σάξονες (Geog. lib. ii. c. 2).

Footnote 7:

Βαστάρνας δε, Σκύθικον ἔθνος, ὑποπεσόντας αὐτῷ προσέμενος κατῴκισε Θρᾳκίοις χωρίοις· καὶ διετέλεσαν τοῖς Ῥωμαίων βιοτεύοντες νόμοις. καὶ Φράγκων τῷ βασιλεῖ προσελθόντων καὶ τυχόντων οἰκήσεως μοῖρά τις ἀποστᾶσα, πλοίων εὐπορήσασα, τὴν Ἑλλάδα συνετάραξεν ἅπασαν καὶ Σικελίᾳ προσσχοῦσα καὶ τῇ Συρακουσίων προσμίξασα πολὺν κατὰ ταύτην εἰργάσατο φόνον. ἤδη δε καὶ Λιβύῃ προσορμισθεῖσα, καὶ ἀποκρουσθεῖσα δυνάμεως ἐκ Καρχηδόνος ἐπενεχθείσης, οἵα τε γέγονεν ἀπαθὴς ἐπανελθεῖν οἴκαδε. (Zosimus. de Probo, i. 71).

Footnote 8:

“Quid loquar rursus intimas Franciæ nationes jam non ab iis locis quæ olim Romani invaserant, sed a propriis ex origine sui sedibus, atque ab ultimis barbariæ littoribus avulsas, ut, in desertis Galliæ regionibus collocatæ et pacem Romani imperii cultu juvarent et arma delectu?” (Eumenius. Constantin. Aug. c. vi.)

Footnote 9:

“Recursabat quippe in animos illa sub Divo Probo et paucorum ex Francis captivorum incredibilis audacia et indigna felicitas, qui a Ponto usque correptis navibus Græciam Asiamque populati nec impune plerisque Libyæ littoribus appulsi ipsas postremo, navalibus quondam victoriis nobiles ceperant Syracusas, et immenso itinere pervecti Oceanum, qua terras irrupit intraverant atque ita eventu temeritatis ostenderant nihil esse clausum piraticæ desperationi quo navigiis pateret accessus” (Eumenius Panegyr. Const. Cæs. xviii. circ. A.D. 300)

Footnote 10:

“Per hæc tempora (i.e. 287) etiam Carausius, qui vilissime natus in strenuæ militiæ ordine famam egregiam fuerat consecutus, cum apud Bononiam per tractum Belgicæ et Armoricæ pacandum mare accepisset, quod Franci et Saxones infestabant, multis barbaris sæpe captis, nec præda integra aut provincialibus reddita aut imperatoribus missa consulto ab eo admitti barbaros ut transeuntes cum præda exciperet atque hac se occasione ditaret; a Maximiano jussus occidi purpuram sumpsit et Britannias occupavit” (Eutropius, Breviarium Historiæ, ix. ch. 21).

Footnote 11:

Orat. 1. Φράγκοι καὶ Σάξονες τῶν ὑπὲρ τὸν Ῥῆνον καὶ τὴν ἑσπερίαν θάλατταν ἐθνῶν τὰ μαχιμώτατα.

Footnote 12:

“Hoc tempore velut per universum orbem Romanum bellicum canentibus buccinis, excitæ gentes sævissimæ limites sibi proximos persultabant. Gallias Rhætiasque simul Alamanni populabantur; Sarmatæ, Pannonias et Quadi; Picti, Saxonesque, et Scoti, et Attacotti Britannos ærumnis vexavere continuis” (Rerum Gestarum, lib. xxvi. s. 4).

Footnote 13:

“Gallicanos vero tractus _Franci_, et _Saxones_ iisdem confines, quo quisque erumpere potuit terra vel mari, prædis acerbis incendiisque et captivorum funeribus hominum violabant” (Ammianus Marcellinus, d. circ. 400, lib. xxvii. c. 8, § 5).

Footnote 14:

“Maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades; incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule; Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis Ierne.”

(De Cons. Hon. iv. 31.)

Footnote 15:

“Vita omnis in venationibus atque in studiis rei militaris consistit. Ab parvulis labori ac duritiæ student ... in fluminibus promiscue perluuntur et pellibus aut parvis rhenonum tegimentis utuntur magna corporis parte nuda” (Cæsar De Bello Gallico, vi. 21).

Footnote 16:

“Nec enim immensa barbarorum scuta, enormes hastas, inter truncos arborum et enata humo virgulta perinde haberi quam pila et gladios et hærentia corpori tegmina ... non loricam Germano, non galeam, ne scuta quidem ferro nervo ve firmata, sed viminum textus vel tenues fucatas colore tabulas, primatu utcunque aciem hastatam, cæteris præusta aut brevia tela” (Tacitus Annals, ii. 14).

Footnote 17:

“Nam super hac re varia opinio est, aliis arbitrantibus de Danis Northmannisque originem duxisse Saxones, aliis autem aestimantibus, ut ipse adolescentulus audivi quendam praedicantem de Graecis, quia ipsi dicerent, Saxone reliquias fuisse Macedonici exercitus qui secutus magnum Alexandrum inmatura morte ipsius per totum orbem sit dispersus” (Ann. lib. 1).

Footnote 18:

“Dani et Sueones, quos Northmannos vocamus, et Septentrionale litus et omnes in eo insulas tenent” (Vita Caroli Magni, c. 12; Eginhard, historian and friend of Charlemagne).

Footnote 19:

“Dani more quoque Francisco dicuntur nomine Manni.”

Footnote 20:

Völuspa is derived from _völva_, _sybil_ and _spá_, foretelling. The name _völva_ seems to be derived from _völr_ (staff, stick), as we see that the sibyls or prophetesses used to walk from place to place with a stick.

Footnote 21:

Vafthrudnir. _Vaf_ = weave, or entangle: _thrudnir_ = strong, or mighty; hence Vafthrudnir = mighty in riddles which cannot be disentangled.

Footnote 22:

The awful = Odin.

Footnote 23:

The one who gives useful advice.

Footnote 24:

When the heart, which is near the ribs, is cold, the ribs are also cold; therefore this means _cold-hearted_.

Footnote 25:

Fœda means both to give birth to, to raise, and to feed.

Footnote 26:

_Ividi_, a very obscure word (only found here in the whole Northern literature), which has been translated differently without any

## particle of authority in any case, and in each case only as a mere

guess. The word vid means tree, perhaps the world-tree, _Yggdrasil_, which extended its roots under the world.

Footnote 27:

It is well known that the later Edda bears strong marks of the influence of Christianity, and we quote it with caution and only when it essentially agrees with Voluspa and other parts of the earlier Edda.

Footnote 28:

_Vili_, will; _Ve_, sanctuary, holy place. Cf. also ‘Lokasenna,’ 26; ‘Ynglinga,’ c. 3.

Footnote 29:

Gjöll (the sounding one).

Footnote 30:

Gjallar bridge (the bridge of Gjöll).

Footnote 31:

Modgud (the valkyrja of anger).

Footnote 32:

Nanna is told of in Baldr’s burning, as she, his wife, was burnt with him.

Footnote 33:

In Sigurdrifumal it is said the runes were in the holy mead, sent to Asar, Alfar, and Vanir.

Footnote 34:

Elivagar, the streams flowing from the well Hvergelmir in Niflheim froze into a Jötun.

Footnote 35:

_i.e._, a Jötun woman.

Footnote 36:

A kind of trough used for flour; so the boat is called in which he saved his life as is seen by what follows. In the lay of Hyndla we read:—

“All Jötnar came from Ymir.”

Footnote 37:

Mundilfori, from _mondul_ = a handle, and _fara_ = to go; the one veering or turning round.

Footnote 38:

A Jötun.

Footnote 39:

Sun, in the north, is of feminine gender, and the moon masculine.

Footnote 40:

The rim of heaven = the line of the sky from the horizon.

Footnote 41:

The sun.

Footnote 42:

The moon.

Footnote 43:

Rökstól—_stol_, seat or stool; _rök_, judgment.

Footnote 44:

Wind-chilly.

Footnote 45:

Sweet mood.

Footnote 46:

Bloody surf means poetically the sea, and the expression, the bones of Blain, a name nowhere else mentioned in the earlier Edda, seems to refer to a fight, the record of which is lost to us.

Footnote 47:

Modsognir and Durin, only mentioned here, refer to some lost myth. There seem to have been three kinds of tribes of Dvergar, having for chiefs, respectively, Modsognir, Durin, Dvalin. “Many _man-likenesses_ in the earth,” namely Dvergar, who are often described as living under the earth.

Footnote 48:

The five stanzas (Nos. 11, 12, 13, 15, 16) omitted give a long list of names of Dvergar, among them those of Nyi, the growing moon; Nidi, the waning moon; Nordri, the north, &c.; Althjof, all-thief; Dvalin, the delayer, &c., &c.

Footnote 49:

The Dvergar clan of Dvalin, who is not mentioned before, seems to have been the highest among all the Dvergar.

From Alvismal we may infer that the Dvergar were related to the Thursar.

Footnote 50:

There seems to be something missing between the stanzas 16 and 17, unless the poet means the host of the Dvergar, who were under the three above-named chiefs.

Footnote 51:

It seems that the house in which Ask and Embla were to live was in existence already. _Ask_ means ash-tree, like _Yggdrasil_; _Embla_ only occurs here in the Völuspa, and it is most difficult consequently to give a meaning to it; the elm-tree is called _alm_, and perhaps is here meant to be in contrast to the ash.

Footnote 52:

Odin, Hœnir, and Lodur gave them life. Hœnir is mentioned in the later Edda. Lodur is only mentioned in the beginning of Heimskringla.

Footnote 53:

Jarnvid, or iron forest; the word is only found here and in the Later Edda. The old one means a Jötun woman, Angrboda, by whom Loki begat the Fenrir wolf (‘Later Edda,’ c. 34).

Footnote 54:

The son of Fenrir. According to the prose Edda _Mánagarm_ is the name of the son of the Fenrir wolf who swallowed the moon. See Gylfaginning, c. 12.

Footnote 55:

A third bird not named lives in the halls of Hel. They represent the Jötnar, the Asar, and the third Hel (the home of the dead), and seem to be the wakers of these three different realms.

Footnote 56:

The Asar, after taking Loki, bound him to a rock with fetters made of the entrails of his son, Vali (who must not be confused with his namesake, Baldr’s brother).

“Now Loki was without any truce taken to a cave. They took three slabs, set them on edge, and made a hole in each. They took the sons of Loki, Vali and Nari or Narfi, and changed Vali into a wolf which tore Narfi asunder. Then they took his entrails and with them tied Loki over the three slabs; one was under his shoulders, another under his loins, the third under his knees, and these bands changed into iron. Then Skadi (a goddess) took a poisonous serpent and fastened it above him, so that the poison should drip into his face; but his wife Sigyn stands at his side, and holds a vessel under the poison-drops. When it is full she goes out to pour it down, but in the meanwhile the poison drips into his face; then he shudders so hard that the whole earth trembles; that you call earthquake. There he lies in bands till the doom of the gods” (Gylfaginning, c. 50).

“Loki begat the wolf With Angrboda, And Sleipnir With Svadilföri; One monster was thought Most terrible of all; It was sprung from The brother of Býleist (= Loki).”

[Hyndluljód, 40]

The Asar were afraid of Fenrir wolf, Loki’s son, and twice tried to chain it, but could not.

“Thereupon they were afraid that they could not chain the wolf; then Allfödr (Odin) sent the servant Skírnir, the messenger of _Frey_, down to Svartálfaheim (world of the black Álfar) to some Dvergar, and had a chain made, called Gleipnir. It was made of six things: Of the noise of the cat, of the beard of women, of the roots of the mountain, of the sinews of the bear, of the breath of the fish, of the spittle of the bird.”

At last they succeeded in chaining it with the chain, but Týr lost his right hand, which he was obliged to put into the mouth of the wolf as a pledge.

“When the Asar saw that the wolf was fully tied they took the band which hung on the chain and was called Gelgja, and drew it through a large slab, called Gjöll, and fastened the slab deep down in the ground. They took a large stone and put it still deeper into the ground; it was called Thviti, and they used it as a fastening pin. The wolf gaped terribly and shook itself violently, and wanted to bite them. They put into its mouth a sword; the guards touch the lower palate and the point the upper palate; that is its gag. It groans fiercely and saliva flows from its mouth and makes the river Von; there it lies till the last fight of the gods” (Later Edda, c. 34).

Footnote 57:

Dvergar.

Footnote 58:

Hrym. This name occurs nowhere else.

Footnote 59:

Jörmungand is the world serpent, Midgard’s serpent, the son of Loki.

“Angrboda was a Jötun woman in Jötunheimar. Loki begat three children by her: Fenrir wolf, Jörmungand, or Midgardsorm, the serpent, and Hel. When the gods knew that these three children were brought up in Jötunheimar, they had foretellings that great misfortune and loss would be caused by them, and all thought much evil must be expected from them, first on account of their mother, and still more of their father. Allfödr (Odin) sent the gods to take and bring them to him. When they came to him he threw the serpent (Midgardsorm) into the deep sea that lies round all lands, and it grew so much that it lies in the middle of the sea round all lands and bites its tail” (Later Edda, c. 34).

Footnote 60:

“Naglfar.” The ship, said in the Later Edda, Gylfaginning 51, to be made of nails of dead men; when it is finished the end of the world comes.

Footnote 61:

Loki being the chief enemy of the gods.

Footnote 62:

The first sorrow is not mentioned. Hlin, a maid of Frigg (see Gylfaginning, 35). Her second sorrow is the death of Odin.

Footnote 63:

Slayer of Beli = Frey.

Footnote 64:

The wolf Fenrir.

Footnote 65:

Loki is the father of Fenrir-wolf, who is called the Jötun’s son, as Loki was a Jötun.

Footnote 66:

Odin’s son, Vidar, avenges his father by slaying the Fenrir-wolf.

Footnote 67:

Here the Völva again sees how everything is destroyed. Ragnarök, “the doom of the powers and the end of the world,” is mentioned in Lokasenna where Loki is taunting the gods; when he comes to Tyr, the latter answers him—

I have no hand And thou hast no praise; We are both badly off; Nor is the wolf well That in bands shall Wait for Ragnarök.

In Atlamal Ragnarök is also mentioned in the dreams of Glaumvor (see p. 462). In the later Edda the word is corrupted by having an “r” added, which gives the meaning of _twilight_ instead of _doom_ of the gods, as it really meant.

Footnote 68:

The Völva seems never to tire reminding her hearers that the dog Garm barks loud, &c.

Footnote 69:

The Völva.

Footnote 70:

Midgard—_midr_, middle; _gardr_, yard, enclosed space; also, courtyard and premises; a house in a village or town; a stronghold; a fence or wall; a collection of houses, a farm.

Footnote 71:

Asgard in olden times meant a place surrounded by walls, and also a collection of houses enclosed by a fence, hence the modern name in Scandinavia of gård for farm. The residence of the gods is also called by this name in the Edda.

Footnote 72:

_Mannheimar_ (always in plural _mannheimar_, the singular is _mannheim_) means homes of men.

Footnote 73:

The word _Gullveig_ is only found as a compound word this once in the literature of the North. _Gull_ = gold; _veig_ = draught, also strength. It may be a metaphor for the thirst of gold being the root of evil, and the cause of the first fight and manslaying in the world, as the thirst is never dying.

Footnote 74:

Hár = Odin.

Footnote 75:

Here evidently the reference is to the war between the Vanir and the Asar. This shows that they had been defeated. Feast means sacrifice, which was always followed by the feast; this would imply that they wanted to make a sacrifice for peace or victory.

Footnote 76:

A stockade made like Danavirki or other strongholds in the north.

Footnote 77:

Wergild, indemnity.

Footnote 78:

Alfheimar. In one text, Jötunheimar. In later times Risar, Troll, and Dvergar became synonymous with giants, dwarfs, and wizards.

Footnote 79:

Kvisl—a forked river, one of the forks where they unite—it also means a branch of a tree.

Vana-kvisl means the river of the Vanir; it is supposed now that it was the river Don which flows into the Sea of Azow, but it is doubtful.

Footnote 80:

This was probably the river Don, which is near the Ural Mountains.

Footnote 81:

Svíthjód the Great seems to be Russia—Norway, Sweden, perhaps Denmark and the shores of the Baltic.

Footnote 82:

Gefjon was one of the Asynjur.

Footnote 83:

Svithjód = Sweden, but it can hardly be taken in these early Sagas as exactly corresponding to modern Sweden.

Footnote 84:

People were buried with their wealth.

Footnote 85:

The one who owned the burning in the text. Heaven means space, not a blessed abode.

Footnote 86:

This word is not found elsewhere in Scandinavian literature.

Footnote 87:

See priest.

Footnote 88:

Idróttir, a name for all kinds of athletic and intellectual games.

Footnote 89:

We must here remark that nowhere is Thor called the God of Thunder.

Footnote 90:

See Havamal, the lord of the gallows; see Havamal where he is said to have hung on a tree.

Footnote 91:

Grimnismál, 19–20, also mentions these ravens.

19.

The battle-tamer (Odin) feeds Geri and Freki, The famous father of hosts (Herjafödr) And by wine alone The weapon-famous Odin always lives.

20.

Hugin and Munin Fly every day Over the wide earth; I am afraid Hugin Will not come back, But still more of Munin.

Poetical names were given to these ravens by Eyvind Skalda-spillir; they are called the Swans of Farmatýr (the god of cargoes), _i.e._, the Swans of Odin.

Footnote 92:

Because he was always fighting against the Jötnar.

Footnote 93:

The fires were always in the centre, lengthwise.

Footnote 94:

This man was Odin, who is always represented as having only one eye.

Footnote 95:

Cfr. also Volsunga Saga, c. 11.

Footnote 96:

The story of Odin’s ship reminds one of the tent mentioned in the ‘Arabian Nights,’ which could cover an army, and yet could be folded and carried in a small pocket.

Footnote 97:

Odin himself hung in Yggdrasil to learn wisdom, and this is a like custom (Havamal, 139); it seems that Odin learned wisdom from the one hanging in the gallows by sitting under it.

Footnote 98:

A high seat from which Odin could see over all worlds. (Gylfaginning, 17.) In the older Edda there is a long poem, Skirnismál or Skirnisför, on the story of Njörd falling in love with Gerd.

Footnote 99:

The peace of Frodi, so called from the chief who ruled Denmark at the time, and who must have become very celebrated.

Footnote 100:

Gymir, a jotun of whom nothing is known.

Footnote 101:

A lady is still called _fru_ all over Scandinavia.

Footnote 102:

In Icelandic Sagas housewife is _hús-freyja_; but in modern Icelandic, _hús-frú_.

Footnote 103:

_i.e._, mixed with water.

Footnote 104:

This would imply that Sweden was east of Vanaheim.

Footnote 105:

Cf. also Herraud and Bosi’s Saga, c. 1.

Footnote 106:

Cf. also Ynglinga Saga, and _Prologue to Heimskringla_.

Footnote 107:

The _Ynglingatal_ is not given, as it is tedious, and would be uninteresting to the general reader.

Footnote 108:

Fródi had two sons, Ingjald and Hálfdán. From the first was descended the great Harald Hilditönn, who was defeated by his kinsman Sigurd Hring at the Bravalla-battle, see p. 368. From the second was descended Harald Fairhair, the ancestor of the Dukes of Normandy, and so indirectly of Queen Victoria.

Footnote 109:

This was written after all the petty kingdoms of Denmark had been consolidated into one; the term Danish tongue at earlier periods did not exist, but _Norrœna_, or Northern tongue, was used instead.

Footnote 110:

Antiquities of the stone age have been found in bogs at Hœbelstrup; Sandbjerg, near Hörsholm; Lœsten, near Randers; Kjœr, Ringkjöbing Amt, Jutland; Samsö, &c.; and in mounds. Among them are numerous amber beads; flint tools from 4½ to 10 ins. long, many having teeth like a saw; axe-blades, chisels, spear-points, and ornaments.

Footnote 111:

The following contents of a _Dolmen_ at Luthra, Vestergotland, are typical:—5 spear-heads, 1 arrow-head, 19 rough flint axes, 4 bone pins, 18 bone beads, 4 amber beads, 11 pierced teeth of bears, dogs, and pigs, several bones of cows, and a great number of skeletons.

Footnote 112:

Of the 140 passage graves at present known in Sweden, more than 110 have been found in Skaraborglan, and most of these near Falköping.

Footnote 113:

Some of the forms of these antiquities are met with in parts of Germany, Hungary, England, and elsewhere in Europe, whilst others, by far the most numerous, are peculiarly Northern.

Footnote 114:

In one of the slabs (Fig. 28) there seems to be a representation of a kind of sacrificing altar, with figures of persons coming towards it, as if they were coming there for some object. There seem to be men blowing horns. In Fig. 29 are a ship and a large cone, on each side of which are an axe and another object or sign the significance of which is unknown.

Fig. 30 has only a ship.

Fig. 31 has four-footed animals, the lower ones coming in opposite directions, and the others going the same way; but the two subjects are separated by peculiar marks.

Footnote 115:

The Svastika, or Suvastika, is in its essential form a cross with bent arms [Illustration: Svastikas], but with many modifications. As a symbol, it is found widespread over a large part of the Old World. It is certainly of ancient origin, but authorities are disagreed as to its symbolical significance. Other symbols equally difficult to interpret, found in Norse remains, are the three dots, circle of dots, triangles, the triskele [Illustration: ], &c.

Footnote 116:

In a bog by Taarup several pieces of bronze, such as arm rings, spear-points, chisels, &c., were found.

Near Aarup, Jutland, two bronze earrings of a similar pattern, two bracelets made of convex bronze bands with engraved ornaments, a solid gold ring for the hair, three spiral-shaped loops of gold with bowl-shaped buttons at the ends. The engraved ornaments seem to point to the fact that the engraving needle was known in the bronze age.

Somewhat similar objects have been found in other bogs.

Footnote 117:

See ‘Land of the Midnight Sun’ for other ornaments of bronze.

Footnote 118:

During the stone and bronze ages the population of Norway was not as great as that of Sweden, Denmark, and the islands of the Baltic. It is only during the iron age that that country becomes more thickly settled, and approximates somewhat in its population to the neighbouring countries; bronze finds have occurred in Norway as far north as 66° 10´ N. latitude.

Footnote 119:

Mixed finds precede the advent of each age. Stone implements or weapons are found together with those of bronze, and later bronze implements, which are the forerunners of the approaching iron age, are found with those of iron. Examples of such are—a grave at Stonholt, Viborg Amt, containing pearl of glass mosaic, with bronze poniard; grave at Alstrup, Aalborg Amt, containing iron weapons alongside an urn in which were a knife and ring of bronze; grave at Assens on Fyen, containing early iron age fibula, with bronze knife, saw, and needle; at Helsinge Zealand, grave with iron pin and bronze objects; at Brandtbjerg, near Sorö, Zealand, fragments of iron fibula and objects from bronze age, &c.

Footnote 120:

Broholm, situated on the S.E. coast of Fyen, forms the centre of the area of a magnificent archæological field, which extends about four kilometres all around it. In order to give an adequate idea of the richness of the place, I cannot do better than use the language of the late Herr F. Sehested, who in three summers discovered more than 10,000 different pieces belonging to the three ages above mentioned.

Footnote 121:

In an urn in a mound near Veile, Jutland, was found a bent bronze poniard; and in another mound at Mors, Jutland, an urn containing burnt bones and a bent bronze poniard.

Sehested mentions (1) a bronze sword broken in four pieces, total length about 2 feet 8 inches with point missing; (2) fragments of a bronze sword with hollow handle broken at the top of the handle: (3) handle of sword with fragments of broken blade; (4) fragments of a spear-head broken near its socket. These objects had been intentionally rendered useless.

Footnote 122:

I can give an example that has lately come to my knowledge to prove this assertion. Professor Lorange found runes on parts of burnt bones found in a grave which he with Professor Stephens places, judging from the antiquities which belonged to it, as belonging to the sixth century.

“RUNE-INSCRIBED BURNT BONE.

“In a letter dated Feb. 27th, 1886, I received from my friend the gifted Norwegian old-lorist A. Lorange, Keeper of the Bergen Forn-hall, a facsimile drawing of a piece of burnt bone, shortly before found in a grave-urn from the early iron age at Jæderen. Afterwards he kindly sent the original to the Danish Museum, that I might give a faultless engraving. While there, the frail treasure was scientifically treated by Hr. Steffensen, the Conservator, and it is now quite hard and in excellent order. But even when it was taken from the urn, the runes were sharp and quite readable. These Old-Northern letters were elegantly cut, most of them in decorative writing, that is, with two or three strokes instead of one, very much in the style of the (? 7th century) Old-Danish Bone Amulet found at Lindholm in Scane, Sweden (‘Old Northern Run. Mon.,’ vol. i., p. 219; iii., p. 33; 4to Handbook, p. 24); and of the ashen Lance-shaft from the Danish Kragehul Moss, not later than the year 400 (‘O. N. Run. Mon.,’ vol. iii, p. 133; 4to Handbook, p. 90).

“This burnt bone is nearly 4 inches long; average width, ½ inch. It bears over forty rune-staves, cut in two lines, in the _Boustrophedon_ order.

“From the rune-types and language I judged this piece to date from the 6th century. But as Hr. Lorange was familiar with the build and grave-gear of the tumuli of a similar class, I begged him to say whether—exclusively from his standpoint as archæologist—he agreed with me. He replied, _that he did_.

“If I have read the runes aright, this object also has been a heathen amulet. It is the first burnt bone yet found _risted with runes_. Other such we may have lost, for want of lynx-eyed examination.

“George Stephens, Cheapinghaven, Denmark.

_November 6, 1886_.”

Footnote 123:

Similar runes also occurred on a scabbard found at Varpelev, and on a gold horn.

Footnote 124:

Danish coins with runic characters have been obtained from as early a period as that of Svein Úlfsson, or the 12th century. A runic _kefli_, according to its contents, carved soon after 1200, is preserved in the Danish museum. It was found in Vinje church, Upper Telemarken, of Norway. The inscription thereon signifies: _Sigurd Jarlson traced these Runes the Saturday after Botolf’s mass, when he journeyed hither and would not be reconciled to Sverre, the slayer of his father and brother_. Sigurd was the son of the well-known Erling Skakke; he lost a battle against Sverre in 1200. As the latter died in 1202, it was between these two dates that the unsuccessful attempt at reconciliation occurred. (Stephens, p. 515.)

Footnote 125:

Dennis, p. 306. See Signor Gamurrini, who has described and illustrated them (see Ann. Inst. 1871, pp. 156–166). Franzius, in his ‘Elementa Epigraphices Græcæ,’ p. 22, 4to, Berolini, 1840, gives three Greek alphabets found inscribed in the same manner on various objects. No. 1, of twenty-four letters, is on the Agyllic vase first engraved by Lepsius (‘Annal. Hist. Archæol. Rom.,’ vol. viii., p. 186). The second is a fragment, only sixteen letters, found on the wall of an Etruscan sepulchre (‘Lanzi Saggio di ling. Etr.,’ ii., p. 436). The third is incomplete, having only the beginning, or the first fourteen letters.

Footnote 126:

Tacitus (Germ. c. 19) says: “_Litterarum secreta viri pariter ac feminæ ignorant_” (Men and women are equally ignorant of the secrets of letter writing). The earliest Latin inscriptions found in the North have characters unlike the runes.

Footnote 127:

In the Royal Library at Copenhagen there exist three most remarkable manuscripts in runic characters, showing the late period at which these still were in use. The first of these manuscripts, bearing the date of 1543, was written as a journal by Mogens Gyldenstjerne (a Danish noble) of Stjernholm, during a voyage into the North Sea undertaken by him in that year. The second bears the date of 1547, and is written as a note on a rough draft of a power of attorney by Bille of Bregentved, another Danish noble. The third is a notice about the last-mentioned estate, also containing a line in runic characters.

The Runic codex containing the Scanian law also contains, in a different hand, a list of Danish kings, and among these one Ambruthe as having been king in Jutland. The time of this codex can be approximately fixed at about the year 1300.

Footnote 128:

The sacred or mystical number.

Footnote 129:

We see that Odin had to go through a terrible ordeal to learn the runes.

Footnote 130:

Bölthorn and Bestla are nowhere else mentioned in the earlier Edda.

Footnote 131:

Song-rouser, one of the vessels holding the sacred mead.

Footnote 132:

From this stanza we learn which tribes or people knew the art of writing runes.

Footnote 133:

Thund = Odin.

Footnote 134:

Three last lines of stanza are missing.

Footnote 135:

The edges of weapons. Some persons were supposed to have the power to deaden weapons’ edges.

Footnote 136:

Spells on the roots of a young tree or sticks.

Footnote 137:

Witches and ghosts were believed to ride on hedges and tops of houses at night.

Footnote 138:

Hanged corpse.

Footnote 139:

Man.

Footnote 140:

Here the Alfar are reckoned among the gods.

Footnote 141:

The mighty rearer.

Footnote 142:

Delling is the father of Day (Vafthrúdnismál, 25; Later Edda).

Footnote 143:

Odin.

Footnote 144:

Loddfafnir is some one whom Odin is teaching.

Footnote 145:

One must not tell his secret to any one.

Footnote 146:

We see by this and many other passages that the Jötnar were the enemies of the Asar.

Footnote 147:

Property here means gold.

Footnote 148:

Of witches = shape-stolen.

Footnote 149:

Undecipherable.

Footnote 150:

Take care of his clothes, &c.

Footnote 151:

Cf. also Gretti’s Saga. c. 62.

Footnote 152:

Kvædi, a poem or song. The poem consists of seventy-one stanzas with eight verses each, and the manuscripts are late and corrupted. It is evidently made up from the lives of several warriors, and often exaggerated, e.g., that he lived 300 years, and that his height was 16 or 24 feet.

Footnote 153:

Speldi = tablet, flat piece of wood.

Footnote 154:

A form of duelling.

Footnote 155:

Professor Stephens in ‘Handbook of Old Northern Runic Monuments,’ says: “The only Northern stone known to me which bears two words, cut far apart and running in different directions. I would therefore suggest that the one name is carved later than the other. Perhaps the husband or wife died first, and shortly after the partner was called away: thus they most likely lay in the same grave, and were remembered on the same block.”

Footnote 156:

Bugge, by comparing the runic inscription on the Piræus marble lion now at Venice, comes to the conclusion that, while the damaged state of the inscription makes it impossible to decipher it as a whole, enough can, however, be read to show its approximate date, and also the home of the tracer. The snake-slings and runes on this lion in all probability are traced by a man from Sweden, who has been among the Værings or Varangians.

Footnote 157:

Bog finds belonging to the bronze age, as well as to the iron age, have been discovered in many places in the North. Those of the bronze age consist chiefly of swords, lance-heads, axes, sickles, &c. Objects of the bronze age are also found deposited under stones or in fields.

Footnote 158:

Thorsbjerg is situated south of Flensborg, in Southern Jutland. Among the objects found were fragments of swords, all double-edged, the hilts of all, with one exception, of wood, inlaid with bronze and silver, with scabbards of wood with metal mountings (on the metal bottom-piece of one scabbard is a very clear runic inscription); a sword-belt of thick leather, 41½ inches long and 3½ inches wide; buckles for sword-belts, all of bronze, with broken pieces of iron buckles; bows and arrows in a more or less complete state, the most perfect bow being about 60 inches long, but both ends are somewhat damaged, and the original length seems to have been a couple of inches more; a great number of arrow-shafts, all of similar shape, between 26–35 inches long and ½ inch thick, but the arrow-points are all destroyed, the iron having rusted; remnants of shields, flat and circular, composed of several smoothly-planed and pretty thin wooden boards, which are not equally broad all over, but become narrower towards the border:—the largest cross-measure is 42½ inches, the smallest 21 inches, the thickness of the middle boards, which as a rule are somewhat heavier than the rest, is about ½ to ¼ inch (the shield-buckles are of bronze, but broken pieces of iron ones have been found also; their cross-measure is between 6–7 inches); axes, whose blades are much decomposed by rust, with thirty good handles of ash and beechwood, which measured between 23 and 33½ inches in length; a few well-preserved spear-points, and others more or less destroyed by rust; four spear-handles, 32, 98½, 107½, and 116 inches in length; several riding and driving accoutrements; more than sixty fibulæ of many different styles; many broken pieces of gold rings, only two of which have been fitted together so as to form one complete ring; two spiral rings of bronze; a round pendant of gold; a hollow ornament of silver-mixed gold; a mass of beads; a piece of unworked amber; pincers; dice of amber; a variety of utensils and tools for domestic use, such as bowls of wood and clay, spoons, jugs, knives, &c.; two pairs of coarse woollen trousers, &c.; and several objects, the use of which is unknown.

Footnote 159:

Thirty-seven _Roman coins_ were found altogether. The earliest is of the year 60 A.D.; the latest, 194 A.D.—1 of _Nero_, 1 of _Vitellius_, 4 of _Vespasianus_, 1 of _Domitianus_, 7 of _Trajanus_, 6 of _Hadrianus_, 1 of _Aelius_, 6 of _Antoninus Pius_, 1 of _Faustina the elder_, 3 of _Marcus Aurelius_, 2 of _Faustina the younger_, 3 of _Commodus_, and 1 of _Septimius Severus_, the last-named being struck in the year 194 of our era.

Footnote 160:

On a superb silver vase at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, found in Southern Russia, is a representation of a man wearing similar trousers.

Footnote 161:

The principal objects in this find included a very great number of arrow shafts (most of them thoroughly decayed), with arrow-points of bone or iron; a remnant of a quiver of wood about 25 inches long; a mass of wooden scabbards, mostly for edged swords; 390 pieces of metal and bone mountings for the scabbards, some of silver, and one of bronze covered with silver and thin gold plates, with runes lightly traced; shield-boards, handles and buckles (180 of the latter of iron); about 150 knives, all of iron and different shapes; several remnants of belts, as well as about 40 buttons of bronze, some covered with gold, and about 60 double buttons of bronze; about 250 different pieces of buckles and other mountings of iron and bronze; about 150 different pieces of riding harness; a few horses’ bones; bronze bowls, needles, keys; scissors; scythe-blades; 1 millstone; 1 small anvil; 6 hammers; 25 iron chisels; 3 iron files; 2 iron pincers; 57 bone combs, some with _svastica_, and one with runes on; 4 square, 2 oblong dice; amber, glass, and mosaic beads; fibulæ of bronze, iron, silver, &c., &c.

Footnote 162:

This Greek writer, who lived at the beginning of the 3rd century, was called to the Roman Court by Faustina, wife of Septimius Severus, whose numerous coins are found, and if this art was known by the Romans he would certainly have described it.

“Around this youth is a group of young men of fine appearance, and engaged in fine pursuits, as beseems men of noble birth. One of them seems to bear on his countenance traces of the palæstra, another gives evidence of gentleness, a third of geniality: here is one who you would say had just looked up from his book; and of the horses on which they ride no two are alike, one is white, another chestnut, another black, another bay, and they have silver bridles, and their trappings are adorned with golden and decorated bosses (φάλαρα). And it is said that the barbarians by the ocean pour these colours on red-hot copper, and that the designs become hard, like stone, and are durable.”—Philostratus, Imagines. Chapter on Boar-hunting.

Footnote 163:

The articles found include glass, mosaic, and porcelain beads; fragments of four bone combs; four tweezers of bronze, of which two hang on bronze rings; remains of wooden shields with metal mountings; bronze mountings; 10 iron swords, damascened in several patterns, the length of the blades being from 31 to 35 inches, their width 1¾ to 2 inches; and fragments of several others; fragments of wooden scabbards, of which one has remains of leather on it; several metal mountings for scabbards; a buckle of bronze; about 80 points of iron spears, all of different shapes; 30 spear-handles, ornamented with engraved lines, some straight, and others with snake lines; remains of a wooden bow, length 47½ inches, and fragments of another; arrows; four whole iron knives, between 7 and 10 inches long, and several handles and fragments; four oval-shaped whetstones and fragments of a square one; five small balance-weights; fragments of a heavy wooden post and of a small twig; some mountings of silver which probably belonged to riding harness; bones of three animals; &c., &c.

Footnote 164:

Among the objects found in the bog were 106 iron swords, all double-edged, with handles of wood sometimes covered with silver, or of bone or massive bronze; 93 damascened in different patterns, two wrought from two different pieces, and only eleven simply wrought. On several there are Latin inscriptions, and on one blade runes inlaid in gold. The condition in which the swords were when buried is peculiar. Generally they were without hilts and bent, on many were found deep cuts on both edges, one having 23 cuts on one, and 11 cuts on the other edge. Wooden scabbards, with mountings of bronze; mountings to sword-belts; buckles of iron and bronze; rings with loose end-mountings; 70 iron shield buckles; iron axes; iron bridles, three of which were still in the mouths of (skeleton) horses; 552 iron spear-points, several ornamented with gold; several hundred spear-handles; numerous household utensils of wood; several hundred arrow-shafts with traces of marks of ownership on them, and some with runes, &c.

Footnote 165:

Thirty-four Roman coins, struck between the years 69 and 217 A.D., are so-called denarii of silver, and date from the time of _Vitellius_ (1), _Hadrian_ (1), _Antoninus Pius_ (10), two of which have the mark of DIVVS; _Faustina the elder_ (4), _Marcus Aurelius_ (7) (partly as Cæsar, between the years 140–143, and partly as Imperator), _Faustina the younger_ (1), _Lucius Verus_ (2), _Lucilla_ (2), _Commodus_ (5), and _Macrinus_ (1), the latter a very rare coin, struck in 217 A.D.

Footnote 166:

See p. 385.

Footnote 167:

In the coffin itself, on the right side of the skeleton, were found, among other objects, forty-six checker pieces of glass, sixteen dark red, the others of whitish colour, ¾ to 1½ inch; three finger-rings of gold, and a spiral bracelet, similar to the one from Oland (vol. ii. p. 311); two fibulæ of silver, one gilt. On the left, sixty checker pieces, thirty-one of which were black, the others whitish; with these was a small amethyst stone with rough, unworked surface. At the feet, bronze vessels, one placed on the other, two small bosses of silver of unknown use.

Footnote 168:

See also pages 280, 282, 284.

Footnote 169:

The earliest coins (Gotland) are those of Augustus (29 B.C.–A.D. 14). Then follow those of Nero, and coins of all the different emperors to Alexander Severus (222–235); the greatest numbers are those of Trajan (98–117); Hadrian (117–138); Antoninus Pius (138–161); Faustina, wife of Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius (161–180); Faustina junior, wife of Marcus Aurelius, and Commodus (180–192). At Hagestaborg the most numerous were those of Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Faustina the younger, and Commodus. The earliest are of the time of Nero (54–68), the latest of that of Septimius Severus (193–211). In Öland the earliest are those of Trajan, the latest those of Alexander Severus. In Zeeland the earliest are of Vespasian, the latest of Macrinus (217, 218). In Fyen the earliest are of Tiberius (14–37), the latest of Geta (211, 212). In Bornholm the earliest are of Nero, the latest of Septimius Severus. In Jutland the earliest are also of Nero, the latest of Macrinus (217, 218). In southern Sweden the earliest are of Claudius (41–54), the latest of Alexander Severus, but only one or two of the latter have been found; after the time of Commodus the silver denarii became rarer and rarer. On the island of Fyen a complete series of gold coins from Decius (249–251) to Licinius the elder (307–323) have been found. The Byzantine coins are of gold, and chiefly used as ornaments, date from Constantinus Magnus (306–337) to Anastasius (491–518); one also of Justinius I. (518–527) has been found. In Norway the gold coins of the above period are exceedingly rare, only one of Valens (364–378) and one of Gratuanus (367–375) having been discovered; also one of Tiberius Constantius (578–582), one of Mauricius Tiberius (582–602), one of Constantius V. Copronymus (741–775), one of Michæl III. (842–867) all of gold. Some of the earlier Arabic coins had already made their appearance in Scandinavia. The Roman coins from the Bangstrup find date from between A.D. 249 and 361. See also Appendix.

Footnote 170:

I have myself seen an illustration of this on the African coast, where natives could not understand that coins represent the value of goods, though traders had come to their country for a long time, and in some places they were loth to take money as payment, while a few miles inland it was refused.

Footnote 171:

See “Land of the Midnight Sun.” The islands of Zeeland and Fyen are especially rich in Roman objects and show the existence of great intercourse with the Roman provinces; while Gotland is particularly rich in coins. In the hamlet of Ryk (Tanum parish), Bohuslän, a Roman coin struck A.D. 179 for the Emperor Marcus Aurelius was found in the ground. From the inscription on the coin the date can be accurately fixed, for it was said that it was coined in the year when Marcus Aurelius was Tribune for the thirty-third time, Imperator for the tenth time, and Consul for the third time.

A gold coin of Tiberius (14–37) was found in a stone-set coffin at Rorbœk; a silver denarius of Nerva (96–98) in the find of Fraugdegard, Fyen; and a silver denarius of Antoninus Pius (138–161), with a skeleton, in a natural hill at Bennebo, near Holbœk; a silver denarius of Lucius Verus (161–169), with a skeleton, in a hill at Gunnerugs, near Prestö; a barbaric imitation in gold of a Roman imperial coin, with a loop soldered to it, found with a skeleton at Aareslen in Odense amt, Fyen. One limit of time obtained by means of the coins is certain enough, for the graves cannot have been closed before the year of their coinage.

Pyteas mentions Guttanæ. The Gotlanders in the Sagas are called Gutar; they may have met him on some of their trading journeys. The two names seem to be sufficiently similar to make this a probable supposition. In the island of Gotland a Greek coin of copper was found, but it seems to have been struck at Panormus in Sicily. On the obverse is a female head looking to the right, on the reverse a horse galloping to the left; it has no Punic letters. (In the collection of Capt. C. T. von Braun, of Ystad.) Two Macedonian coins of silver were also found; one of them is a diabole of Philip II., similar to the coins described in Müller, “Der Macedoniske Konge Philipp II.’s Mynter,” p. 3, Nos. 14–16, and engraved Plate 1. (Both were in the collection of Capt. v. Braun, of Ystad; now only one remains there.)

Also Roman coins anterior to Augustus, found together about 100 years ago. A silver coin of the family of Lucretia; a silver coin of the family of Nævia; a coin of the family of Sulpicia. They are all unusually well preserved, but shorn on the border. (In the collection of Capt. von Braun Ystad.) A silver coin of the family Funa; a silver coin of the family Poblicia; one subærate coin of the family Postumia; one silver coin of the family Procilia; a silver coin of the family Tituria; a silver coin of the family Veturia. (In the collection of Capt. von Braun.) A silver coin of the family Nævia, given by Capt. Braun to the Museum at Uddevala; and a silver coin of the family Sicinia, both well preserved. (In the Wisby Museum; formerly in the collection of Mr. P. A. Save.)

Footnote 172:

Three hundred and forty-four silver denarii, coined by the emperors between Nero and Marcus Aurelius, among them many of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius, have been found at the mouth of the Elbe.

Under a large stone on a bank at Sengerich, in Hanover, 1,100 silver denarii were dug up, coined between the years 96 and 211.

In Mecklenburg the finds of imperial coins embrace the period from Augustus to Valentinian.

Finds of Roman coins from the first two centuries after Christ have also been made at the mouth of the Vistula and in its lower course, near the Oder.

An especially interesting discovery was that of a Greek denarius coined in Lycia by Trajan; the only Greek coin discovered in Hanover.

Footnote 173:

Apollo Grannus, to whose temple the vase once belonged, was worshipped by the tribes of Gaul and Belgium. The Roman historian Dio Cassius relates that he was one of the gods worshipped by the Emperor Caracalla, who was murdered in A.D. 217. The name has also been discovered in Transylvania on a stone which Quintus Axius Ælianus, Governor of Dacia at the beginning of the second century, had cut. It, however, happens that this Ælianus had before this resided in Belgium, whither he had probably brought with him the worship of the god.

Footnote 174:

More than forty different statuettes have been found.

Footnote 175:

Among the bones outside the urn were found various fragments of bronze, six clinch-nails of iron, remains of glass, a burnt oblong loaf of bread, two pieces of a head ornament of bronze with rivets of iron, a ring of bronze, twelve beads of glass of different size and appearance, a damaged hanging ornament of bronze, a square plate of bronze with iron rivets, a denarius of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius coined in A.D. 162.

Footnote 176:

The word amber occurs in three earlier poems. Magical runes were written on gler.—Sigrdrifumal. Pliny in his ‘Natural History,’ Book xxxv. 3, 42, speaks of amber as being “formed in the islands of the Northern Ocean.”

Footnote 177:

For other objects in Bavenhöi find, see p. 252–254.

Footnote 178:

For other objects found at Varpelev, see p. 256–258.

Footnote 179:

Cf. also Flateyjarbók, i. 401; Hrólf Kraki, c. 44; Heidarviga Saga, c. 20; Eyrbyggja Saga, c. 13.

Footnote 180:

Cf. also Finnboga Saga, c. 23; Gunnlaug Ormstunga’s Saga, c. 5.

Footnote 181:

Grimhild had asked her sons Gunnar and Högni to pay _weregild_ to Gudrún because they had slain her husband, Sigurd Fafnisbani.

Footnote 182:

This shows that bows of yew as well as of elm were used.

Footnote 183:

Another stone in relief has been found by Prof. Save, nearly 12 feet high, at Larbrö, in the northern part of the island of Gotland; of the same horse-shoe shape as shown here and on p. 58, with representations of ships, horses, and the eight-footed horse Sleipnir.

Footnote 184:

In Tanum parish, Bohuslän, alone there are more than 2,000 mounds, the largest being about 300 feet in circumference; near Upsala nearly 600; at Ultuna, 700.

The greatest number of mounds found in any one spot is east of the ancient Birka Bjorko, where there are over 1,000 of them; while seven graves, as will be seen in the course of the narrative, are found close together.

Footnote 185:

Poets, see vol. ii. p. 389.

Footnote 186:

I was sorry to see the place being gradually destroyed, the gravel taken away, and the embankments, made by the digging, falling down with the grave.

Footnote 187:

Gudlaug, Hakon’s ancestor.

Footnote 188:

At Eds, Upland, there is a very fine ship-form grave of twenty-eight stones, 182 feet long and 50 feet wide. The largest stone at one end is 9 feet in height, and is evidently a bautastone; the rest, although large, each measuring several feet in circumference, are common boulders. At the centre of the ship there lies a similar stone, where, as well as at the ends, there is a small mound-like elevation.

In the woods at Braidfloar, between Levide and Sproge in Götland, there is a ship-form grave 144 feet long, but only 16 feet at its widest part; the stones, however, are small, none being higher than 3 feet.

At Lungersas, Götland, Nerike, there is a ship-form grave in which stands a stone with an inscription in later runes.

There is also a bautastone with runes, in one end of a ship-form at Lilla Lundley in Lids, Södermanland, upon which are the words “_Spjute and Halfdan_ raised this stone after _Skarde_ their brother. He went eastward with Roar. In Serkland lies the son.” (See p. 356 Yellow Book, Den yngre jernalder.)

A ship-form grave between the post-stations of Ljungby and Hamneda province of Kronobergs is 92 feet long and 32 feet broad; the neighbourhood is full of grave-mounds and bautastones.

Another near the shore of the Baltic, in Eista parish, Götland, is 50 feet by 16 feet. A third, on the island of Faró, near Götland, is 50 feet by 8 feet.

We see by this that their breadth does not always bear the same proportion to their length.

In two ship forms at Hjortehammar, in Blekinge, there were found burned bones, ashes, two of the bowl-shaped fibulæ of bronze so common during the later iron age, a round fibula of silver, some glass beads, &c.

In one at Raftötangen, in Tanum parish, was an urn filled with ashes, on the top of which lay a finely ornamented damascened sword of the later iron age.

Footnote 189:

Such expressions occur as “i haug lagdr,” mound laid; “heygdr,” mounded.

Footnote 190:

There seem to have been special places built for the burning of the dead. On the island of Fyen, not far from Broholm, and about 1,200 yards from the numerous graves, are two sites of pyres, round in shape, about 120 yards distant from each other. The pavement, about 7 inches in thickness, is made of cobble stones of the size of a man’s fist set very close together, and broken into sharp angles. The stones, especially those in the middle, have been exposed to the

## action of fire, but have been preserved by being covered with earth

that had gathered over them brought by wind and rain in the course of centuries.

Footnote 191:

Nabjargir.

Footnote 192:

In Sigrdrifumál the texts have in stanza 34 _laug_ = bath, and _haug_ = mound. The letters _h_ and _l_ being very like in the manuscripts, we can choose whichever we like best of the two.

Footnote 193:

Cf. also Egil’s Saga, c. 61.

Footnote 194:

In Brynhild’s ride to Hel we have a different account:—

“After the death of Brynhild two pyres were made, one for Sigurd, which was first set on fire, but Brynhild was burned on the other and was in a carriage tented with _god-web_ (a kind of fine cloth). It is told that Brynhild drove in the carriage on the road of Hel, and went through the tun where the jötun-woman dwelt” (Hel-reid Brynhildar).

Footnote 195:

Sigurd.

Footnote 196:

See Volsunga, ch. 20 and 31.

Footnote 197:

Probably on account of the ring on the door, as fine doors were ornamented with them.

Footnote 198:

We will follow on his heels, so that the door will not be shut after he enters, but be open while we enter.

Footnote 199:

The inheritance—wealth, treasure, dowry, &c., &c.

Footnote 200:

In the preceding stanzas she has foretold the fate of Gudrun, Gunnar and Högni, as is told in Volsunga.

Footnote 201:

For battle, see Vol. ii., p. 436.

Footnote 202:

A division of land.

Footnote 203:

Cf. also Göngu Hrolf’s Saga, c. 3.

Footnote 204:

Breast.

Footnote 205:

Tyrfing.

Footnote 206:

Tyrfing.

Footnote 207:

I would wish thee to believe it.

Footnote 208:

Ships.

Footnote 209:

That Tyrfing was dangerous.

Footnote 210:

I visited the island of Samsö in order to see if I could discover any indication of the mound of Angantyr. This island stands in the middle of the great belt; it is only in clear weather that part of the coast of the peninsula of Jutland can be seen; its shores are in many parts lined with huge boulders. In some parts mounds, passage graves, dolmens, &c., are to be seen; everything tends to show that in olden times it was a great burial place. Many of the mounds are either hidden by woods, or stand solitary amidst cultivated fields. The scene described in Hervara came forcibly upon my mind, and I wondered not that Hervör knew not where the mound of her father was. This island was well chosen for the resting-place of these men of the sea.

Footnote 211:

The gyg (ogress, witch) seem to have been women of Jötun race, possessing supernatural strength.

Footnote 212:

Volsunga Saga. ch. 38; instead of a ship he is buried in a stone coffin, but the poetry must be more trusted.

Footnote 213:

Smear well with wax the sheets.

Footnote 214:

Cf. Landnama, ii. An Bogsveigi’s Saga, c. 6. Atlamál. Gisli Súrsson. Laxdæla Saga, ch. 7.

Footnote 215:

Other ship-graves, such as that of Tune, Borre, &c., have been found with skeletons of horses.

Among other ships found is the Gunnarshaug ship, discovered in Bergen Stift in 1887. The large mound in which it was found had a diameter of over 125 feet, and stood about 500 feet from the shore.

The ship was only partly preserved owing to the action of the soil. Its planks were of oak, thicker and less broad than those of the Gökstad ship, fastened by clinch-nails. In the uppermost planks, considerably thinner than the rest, there are holes at distances of a little over 3 feet. Its keel is about the same length as that of the Gökstad ship.

It stood _north to south_, and has been supported by six stones, each about 6 feet high. Its inside has been clothed with a layer of moss, evidently to hinder decay by the soil, and on one side of it was a heap of shavings, chips and bark, left by the carpenters. There are reasons for thinking that a wooden roof had been erected over the ship, and afterwards broken down.

Of the Viking’s body no trace is left, but the remains found indicate his place in the middle of the ship; these are two swords, forging-tools, five long whetting-stones, a tinder-box and pieces of a wooden box. Farther north: several large beads of mosaic glass and fine chesspieces of amber and coloured glass, part of a waxen tablet, a bracelet of gold, &c.

Near the weapons lay an iron kettle and both the stones of a hand-mill, which shows that the Vikings ground their grain at sea. The stem was filled with rust.

Oars and carved tools were also found, and planks of an exceedingly well-built boat of oak, over which there lay a fir plank, several feet long, with steps cut in it, evidently a landing-board (cf. Gökstad ship).

This is the first burial-place found in Bergen Stift where the body was unburnt, but they are common further south.

Footnote 216:

In a large mound at Vold, Borre parish, Norway, was a small vessel about 54 feet long, but in such an imperfect state of preservation that only the clinch-nails with pieces of the planks were left. On the right side lay a horse’s skeleton, near which were found remains of a fine bridle and saddle of leather and wood, the mountings of bronze and silver; also fragments of a glass bowl similar to the one found in a mound at Taplow (see p. 319). On the left side lay the skeletons of another horse and of a dog. Above the ship, over the entire mound, was spread a layer of charcoal. Among the objects found were a wrought-iron chain, an iron axe, fragments, and an iron kettle containing ashes, &c. This grave was made in a group of large mounds.

In Tune, Norway, about five miles from the river Glommen, were found in 1867, in a mound, the remains of a viking ship, now in Christiana. This mound lay on a hill not far from the Visterflö, one of the branches of the river Glommen. It was about 24 feet in height, and 500 feet in circumference. Behind the mast lay the unburned corpse of a man, with part of the skeleton of a horse at his side. At the stern were the remains of ring armour.

At Lackalänga, near Lund, there are several earth-mounds. In one of these were found—fragments of a ship, the wood being incrusted with iron rust; an urn of clay, with burned bones and coal; fragments of weapons, &c.; at least 100 clinch-nails of iron, and some other pieces of the same metal, probably originally belonging to a vessel buried in the mound; two larger buckles of iron, like those used on saddles; two stirrups, bits for a bridle, &c.

Footnote 217:

According to Herodotus, i. 212, Tomyres, queen of the Massagetæ, whose son had been taken prisoner by Cyrus, sends to him the following message:—“Restore my son; depart out of the country, unpunished.... But if you do not do this, _I swear by the sun, the Lord of the Massagetæ_, that insatiable as you are, I will glut you with blood.”

Footnote 218:

“East of Tanakvisl (Tanais, Don) in Asia was Asaland, or Asaheim, and the head-burgh (chief town) in the land was called Asgard. In the burgh was a chief called Odin; it was a great sacrificing-place (blótstad). It was customary there that twelve temple-priests (hofgodar) were the foremost, and had charge of the sacrifices and judged between men. They were called _diar_ or _drottnar_; all the people were bound to give them service and reverence” (Ynglinga Saga, c. 2).

Footnote 219:

_Vetrarblót_ = winter-sacrifice; from _vetr_ = winter, and _blót_ = sacrifice. The milky way is called _vetrarbraut_ = winter way, because people thought that the appearance of the milky way predicted the course of the winter.

Footnote 220:

The people counted by nights instead of days.

Footnote 221:

This was also sometimes called Thor’s sacrifice.

Footnote 222:

It seems that at this season other sacrifices than those to Frey were sometimes offered. Cf. Hálfdán the Old. Skaldskaparmal, c. 13.

Footnote 223:

Cf. Ynglinga Saga, 8; St. Olaf, 115.

Footnote 224:

Cf. also Hörd’s Saga and Hervarar Saga, c. 14. The boar was consecrated to Frey.

Footnote 225:

Cf. also Hakon Adalsteinsfostri’s Saga, c. 15; Olaf Tryggvason (Hkr.), c. 28.

Footnote 226:

Cf. Hakon Adalsteinsfostri’s Saga, c. 15. Snorri’s Olaf Tryggvason, c. 28.

Footnote 227:

See chapter on Godis, p. 525.

Footnote 228:

Olaf Tryggvason in Fms. ii. 173.

Footnote 229:

See p. 496, a landowner.

Footnote 230:

St. Olaf 115, Heimskringla.

Footnote 231:

Ynglinga, 47. Snorri’s Olaf Tryggvason, 16.

Footnote 232:

Sometimes the expenses devolved on the king, at others the feasts were provided for by the food and ale brought by those in attendance (Hakon Adalsteinsfostri, 16, 18). How far people went for sacrifices is seen in Landnáma v., 8.

Footnote 233:

Eyrbyggja, 4, 10.

Footnote 234:

In Herraud’s Saga, ch. 12, the toasts are given in different order. The first toast is dedicated to Thor; then one to all the Asar; then one to Odin; and lastly, one to Frey.

Footnote 235:

Hallfredar Saga.

Footnote 236:

In the earliest times Thor was the great enemy of the Jötnar. He was called upon by wrestlers also (Gunnlaug Ormstunga, 10), and showed his anger by causing loss of property (Flóamanna Saga, c. 20)

Footnote 237:

Thrymskvida. The bridegroom and bride were to be marked with the holy sign. (Vol. II., p 12.)

Footnote 238:

St. Olaf’s Saga, 44. “He was marked after Thor and hammer in the hand.”

Footnote 239:

In the account of Fornmanna Sögur about the battle of Svold, Eirik jarl is said to have had Thor in the prow of his ship. “He took it away and put the cross instead, which he did on the advice of Olaf Tryggvason,” otherwise he would not get the victory.

Footnote 240:

In Vafthrudnismál, Njörd is said to have ruled over many temples by the old Asgard.

Footnote 241:

Cf. Egil’s Saga, c. 58.

Footnote 242:

From Vafthrúdnir’s answer to Odin about Njörd’s origin we find that he ruled over temples and hörg. (Vafthrúdnismál, 38.)

Footnote 243:

Shining like glass. Amber is called gler; and in Sigrdrifumál, st. 17, we find that runes were written on gler or amber.

The hörg is also mentioned in Völuspa, 7; Helgakvida Hjorvardssonar, 4; Landnáma ii. 16; Elder Gulathing’s Law, ch. 29; Orvar Odd, p. 29; Hervarar Saga, 1.

Footnote 244:

See Landnama v., 2; Hrafnkel Freysgodis Saga, pp. 4–6.

Footnote 245:

Olaf Tryggvason Heimskringla, ch. 65, 66.

Footnote 246:

Kjalnesinga, 2; Droplaugarsona, Saga about Bessi temple, Landnáma v. 12.

Footnote 247:

Landowner (see p. 496).

Footnote 248:

Adam of Bremen about 1070 writes that not far from _Sictona_ (Sigtuna) is the temple _Ubsola_, where were the three gods, _Thor_, _Wodan_ and _Fricco_ (Frey). What he says about this temple makes it evident that not only its roof but also the whole inside of the structure was covered with gold plates. Further he says that close to it there was a large tree, which no one knew, and which stretched its branches far out, and was always green, as well as a spring, near which the heathen made their sacrifices, and wherein a live man was thrown; the people believed that his wishes would be fulfilled, in case he sank; also a golden chain went around the temple, and hung from the roof.

Footnote 249:

Saxo writes that the Danish king Halfdan journeyed to Upsala in order to find out the cause of his daughter’s sterility, and was answered that he must first satisfy the spirit of his brother, whom he had unwittingly slain; this he did, and then she, in accordance with the promise of the oracle, bore Harald Hilditönn.

At the present old Upsala church there were discovered the foundations of an old building, a mass of coals, molten copper and silver pieces, with small traces of pure gold, as well as a rusty nail with a little gold on it, and finally skulls of pigs and hawks, and cheekbones and teeth of horses, all of which tend to show that the old heathen temple of Upsala, so famous during pagan times, stood there. (Verelius Notæ in epist. def. Shefferi, p. 16.)

Footnote 250:

This implies that in the sacred precincts there were several buildings.

Footnote 251:

Gridastad means place of truce.

Footnote 252:

The writer or copyist seems to have been a Christian.

Footnote 253:

Fridthjóf means the thief of peace, the one who steals or destroys peace.

Footnote 254:

Cf. also Landnama, iv. 5; Kormak’s Saga, 11.

Footnote 255:

Cf. Landnama, iii., c. 2, 7.

Footnote 256:

Cf. also Vatnsdæla, 12. Landnama, i., c. 10. Ondvegissula = high-seat pillar.

Footnote 257:

Disar = genii.

Footnote 258:

Olaf, son of Ingjald Illrádi ... fled to a forest district of Vermaland, where he cleared the land of its woods; therefore he was called Tretelgja (tree-cutter).

Footnote 259:

“The scene of most interest, and at the same time of most horrors, taken from the mythical or poetical history of Greece is one which represents the sacrifice of Trojan captives to the _manes_ of Patroclus. Achilles himself is the priest or butcher, for he occupies the centre of the scene, clad in brazen cuirass and greaves, his long yellow locks uncovered by a helmet, and seizing by the hair the wretched Trojan captive who is seated naked at his feet imploring mercy, he thrusts his sword into his neck, just as the ‘swift-footed son of Peleus’ is represented to have treated Lycaon, the first victim he sacrificed to his friend Patroclus. Above the Trojan stands Charon, in red jacket and blue chiton, wearing a cap or helmet, and bearing his mallet on his shoulder ready to strike. The right half of the

## scene is occupied by the two Ajaces, each bringing forward a victim,

naked and wounded, whose hands are bound behind their backs. Ajax Telamonius, the more prominent of the two, is fully armed; and Ajax Oïleus is similarly armed, but without a helmet. The funeral pyre on which the corpse of Patroclus was already laid before the sacrifices of captives, horses, and dogs were made to his manes is not shown. This episode forms the subject of the first wall paintings found in Etruria which were illustrative of Hellenic myths, but since their discovery that of the Grotta del Orco at Corneto has afforded us additional proof that the Etruscans did not always confine the pictorial adornments of their sepulchres to the illustration of the peculiar customs, funeral observances, or religious creed of their native land” (Dennis’s ‘Etruria’).

Footnote 260:

From this passage we see that it was the custom of Hakon Jarl to make sacrifices, but unfortunately the manner in which he made them is not told.

Footnote 261:

See p. 478.

Footnote 262:

Tíundaland = land of the tenth.

Footnote 263:

Hervarar Saga, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Footnote 264:

Kristnisaga, Fornmanna Sögur ii., 228.

Footnote 265:

I.e. Tun or open space.

Footnote 266:

Meaning, broke the backs of.

Footnote 267:

Not far from nearly every one of the (twenty) dom-rings of Nerike there is a spring tending to confirm the Icelandic tradition of their use.

Footnote 268:

King Olaf was on an expedition into France.

Footnote 269:

Odd evidently, like some other of his countrymen, as seen in this narrative, was not orthodox in the religion of his fathers, for he robbed the graves.

Footnote 270:

Cf. also Ragnar Lodbrók, 18; Norna Gest, 6; Olaf Tryggvason, 179; Sigurdar Kvida Fafnisbana ii., 26; Orkneyinga Saga, ch. 8.

Footnote 271:

Ynglinga Saga, 10.

Footnote 272:

Gisla Sursson mentions the same.

Footnote 273:

Olaf Tryggvason, Hkr., c. 76; Halfredar Saga, 6; Vatnsdæla, c. 10, 16.

Footnote 274:

See p. 411, sacrifice to the Disir.

Footnote 275:

I.e., draw the string so hard that the point of the arrow is inside the curve.

Footnote 276:

Cf. also Sigrdrifumál, 17; Helgi Hundingsbani; Norna Gest; Flateyjarbók; Fornaldar Sögur, i. Later Edda; Orkneyinga; Egil’s Saga; Hávamál; Atlakvida.

Footnote 277:

Helgakvida Hundingsbana.

Footnote 278:

These three maidens came from Jötunheim, the home of the Jötnar; here they are no doubt meant to designate the three Nornir, who came and disturbed the peace of the golden age by establishing past, present, and future, _i.e._, change, fluctuation, development, and growth.

Footnote 279:

Idavöll, _ida_, movement; _voll_, plain. This stanza tells of the golden age when the Asars were happy and lacked nothing.

Footnote 280:

Grimnismál, gives a somewhat similar account.

Footnote 281:

Burn a spot on the skin as a cure.

Footnote 282:

Thjód nation, nation of the Goths.

Footnote 283:

Odin.

Footnote 284:

Warriors.

Footnote 285:

See pp. 31, 32.

Footnote 286:

Wealth.

Footnote 287:

Sun plains.

Footnote 288:

Fire-mountain. Here the text is corrupted, but I follow Bugge in the suggestion that this is a place-name, the battle taking place on the plain beneath the Logafjöll, from which the Valkyrias come down to take the slain.

Footnote 289:

The Valkyrias.

Footnote 290:

Valkyrias are here called disir, guardian spirits, and seem to come from the South, the ancient home of the Asar.

Footnote 291:

Chiefs. Helgi invited them to come home with him and his chiefs that night, and they would not.

Footnote 292:

We find that kings sometimes had meetings among themselves.

Footnote 293:

Probably she was betrothed by her father, not being present herself.

Footnote 294:

From this we see that this beautiful story is derived from the lost Völsunga-kvida (a great loss), and from which Völsunga itself is probably mostly taken.

Footnote 295:

Glad because of victory.

Footnote 296:

The marriage which her father had set his mind upon.

Footnote 297:

Sigrun speaks to the dying Hödbrod on the battle-field.

Footnote 298:

Wolves.

Footnote 299:

Meaning: “Everything is not in thy power, as the Nornir have great power also over the fates of men.” The death of Helgi was against Sigrun’s will.

Footnote 300:

King.

Footnote 301:

A custom found in the Old Testament (Joshua), of putting the foot on the subdued king’s neck.

Footnote 302:

Dag broke his oath, as we have seen before; and Sigrun cursed him for having done so.

Footnote 303:

Leiptr = flash of lightning. Probably this was a swift river, or waterfall.

Footnote 304:

Here we see the custom of wergild, so often described in the Sagas.

Footnote 305:

The temple of Vandil.

Footnote 306:

Valleys of fight.

Footnote 307:

Cf. also Helga Kvida Hjörvardsonar.

Footnote 308:

The song of Kara is lost. Svafa in the first song, Sigrun in the second, is Svafa reborn; and Kara in the third and lost song is Sigrun reborn.

Footnote 309:

In Orvar Odd we see that the Volvas performed the foretelling ceremony with fifteen boys and fifteen girls. It seems that night was the chosen time. The boys and girls doubtless stood in a ring round the platform, and sang incantations. They had a stick, with which they struck the cheek of a man, and brought oblivion on him, and then, by striking him on the other cheek, gave him back his memory.

Footnote 310:

Eirik the red, 5.

Footnote 311:

Boiling “seid,” or the witches’ broth, was the chief art in witchcraft.

Footnote 312:

Only found in Thorfin Karlsefni.

Footnote 313:

Vatnsdæla, 3, 10; Thorfin Karlsefni, 3; Orvar Odd, ch. 2, 3.

Footnote 314:

Helgi and Hróar had taken the names of Ham and Hrani.

Footnote 315:

This song is lost.

Footnote 316:

Cf. also Norna Gest’s Thatt. c. 3.

Footnote 317:

Laxdæla, 33; Njala, 127.

Footnote 318:

Orkneyinga, 100, 102; Ljosvetninga, 21; Vatnsdæla, 12; Orvar Odd, 2.

Footnote 319:

The name of Ægir is found in Helgi Hundingsbani i., st. 30: in Lokasenna; in Hymiskvida; that of Ran, in Helgi Hjorvardsson, 18; Helgi Hundingsbani, i. 3; Egil’s Saga, &c.

Footnote 320:

In poetry gold is often called Ægir’s fire, or Ran’s light, showing that belief in the old myth still existed.

Footnote 321:

Inheritance feast; see Vol. ii., p. 47.

Footnote 322:

He calls his son Bödvar a string of his family, made or twisted by himself.

Footnote 323:

The son’s death.

Footnote 324:

Ægir, who brewed ale for the Asar.

Footnote 325:

This passage means—“If I could get my son avenged, Ægir would fare badly.”

Footnote 326:

The upheaver of the waves was the wind = Kari; his brother was Ægir.

Footnote 327:

Plank-bane = ship-destroyer; _i.e._, Ægir.

Footnote 328:

Egil being old, Bödvar is called the family shield or protector.

Footnote 329:

Dwellings of joy (Valhalla).

Footnote 330:

Alfheim was given to Frey as a tooth-fee.

Footnote 331:

Here we see that Svartálfar are Dvergar.

Footnote 332:

From this it is supposed that Loki had come in the shape of a fly to make them lose the wager.

Footnote 333:

Other texts—Raum and his kinsmen were tall and ugly.

Footnote 334:

Cf. Gisli Sursson, 22, 24, 30, 33; Half’s Saga, 15; Grimnismal, 53; Atlamal, 23. Fylgjas appeared to people in dreams: Ljósvetninga, 21; Atlamal, 19; Njal, 12.

Footnote 335:

See Vol. ii., p. 423.

Footnote 336:

A kind of duel. See p. 563.

Footnote 337:

The worship of the Lares and Penates, the household deities who watched over the personal and pecuniary interests of individuals and families, was the most prominent feature of the Etruscan mythology, whence it was borrowed by the Romans. Thence it was also, in all probability, that the Romans obtained their doctrine of an attendant genius watching over every individual from his birth. (See Dennis’s ‘Etruria,’ vol. i., p. 59.)

Footnote 338:

(1) Viga Glum, 9; (2) Laxdæla, 26; Snorri, St. Olaf, 68.

Footnote 339:

The eagles dreamt of by Angantyr were thought to be the fylgjas of champions (Hervarar Saga, c. 5).

Thorstein Vikingsson saw in the many bears which attacked him a foreboding of a king or a king’s son (Gautrek and Hrolf’s Saga; Thorstein Vikingsson, c. 12).

Thus also Geitir guessed the birth of Thorstein Uxafot from the white bear cub, which he had observed walking ahead of the latter.

Footnote 340:

Njala, 12; Finnbogi Rammi’s Saga; Fornmanna Sögur, iii. They are seen in a walking state. Viga Glum’s Saga; Halfred’s Saga, 22, 24; Vatnsdæla, p. 36; Atlamal, 19; Egil’s Saga, 50, 60; Sögubrot, 2.

Footnote 341:

The nine women in black had been the Disir of the family, which was going to forsake the old belief; the Disir wanted to take with them the best member of the family before they left. Therefore they slew Thidrandi, whom the nine white Disir try in vain to defend. The nine white Disir were to be the guardian spirit of the family after it had adopted the new belief. From this we can see that the new religion could not entirely overthrow the old superstition and belief.

Footnote 342:

Persuaded by Ivar Vidfadmi, Hrœrek slew his brother Helgi, thinking he was too good friends with his wife. Afterwards Ivar slew Hrœrek in a fight. In the dream Hrœrek is the stag, Helgi is the wild beast, Ivar is the dragon, and the she-bear with the cub is Aud with her son.

Footnote 343:

See Exposure of Children, Vol. II., p. 39.

Footnote 344:

Cf. also Orvar Odd’s Saga, c. 4.

Footnote 345:

This dream seems to have had the power to make the first man who heard it death-fated.

Footnote 346:

Cf. Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, p. 37.

Footnote 347:

Gladsheim = Home of the glad.

Footnote 348:

Men slain by weapons.

Footnote 349:

Coats of mail or chain armour.

Footnote 350:

The word in the text means “hangs,” and it is impossible to tell if the wolf is living or dead; it may mean that the wolf is ready to pounce.

Footnote 351:

Odin’s warriors. In Ragnarök these Einherjar fight with Odin against the Fenri wolf.

Footnote 352:

Voluspa, 24; Hervarar Saga, 5; Eyrbyggja, 44; Fornmanna Sögur, v. 250. Harald Hilditönn was given to Odin at his birth (cf. Saxo). He was victorious all his life till his last battle.

Footnote 353:

Cf. also Gautrek’s Saga, c. 7.

Footnote 354:

One of the goddesses is also called Snotra.

Footnote 355:

From this we learn that a serf must be in company with some one freeborn in order to go to Odin.

Footnote 356:

Fagrskinna.

Footnote 357:

Two Valkyrjas.

Footnote 358:

Gautatýr = the god of the Gautar = Odin.

Footnote 359:

Yngvi’s kin = the Ynglings descended from Odin.

Footnote 360:

The brother of Björn, who was one of Harald Fairhair’s sons, is Hakon.

Footnote 361:

Battle-oars = sword-blades; a fine simile.

Footnote 362:

Hakon.

Footnote 363:

We see from the last line of stanza 4 that Hakon wore a gold helmet. It is also said in the prose that he was conspicuous by it in the battle.

Footnote 364:

Battle is often called play or game; cf. the synonyms for battle.

Footnote 365:

Gram.

Footnote 366:

Váfad = Odin; Odin’s cloth = armour.

Footnote 367:

The hard feet of the hilt = sword-blades.

Footnote 368:

Weapons.

Footnote 369:

Wound-drop = blood.

Footnote 370:

Cape of swords = armour.

Footnote 371:

Tempest of Odin = battle, which can also be called the storm of any Valkyrja, and has many other names.

Footnote 372:

Hropt or Hroptatýr = the shouting god = Odin.

Footnote 373:

Hakon.

Footnote 374:

Eight brothers, that is half-brothers, Harald Fairhair being the father of them all.

Footnote 375:

By this is meant end of the world.

Footnote 376:

Einherjar is plural, and is a compound. Ein = only, single; and herjar, from the verb herja = make warfare. Thus it means the only fighters, the only champions, being the warriors chosen by Odin to dwell in Valhalla with him, while Freyja lodged one-half of the slain.

Footnote 377:

Chief meal, corresponding in time to breakfast.

Footnote 378:

Cf. also Vafthrudnismal, 41.

Footnote 379:

Cf. also Grimnismál, 19:—

“Geri and Freki Does the battle-tamer feed, The famous Herjafödr (father of hosts of Odin); But by wine only The weapon-famous Odin always lives.”

Footnote 380:

Some under-king, or host-kings, probably from Norway.

Footnote 381:

The belief in men having the power to change their shape is common in Africa to this day. See Ashangoland.

Footnote 382:

See hereditary dignity, p. 491.

Footnote 383:

See a house or room. Vol II., p. 259.

Footnote 384:

Meaning that the skin was torn.

Footnote 385:

Meaning that the skin could be touched with it.

Footnote 386:

There were two kinds of poison used. Cf. also Volsunga, c. 5.

Footnote 387:

The woman’s name means she-bear.

Footnote 388:

In ch. 27 we are told that Bera ate one bit and a little of another bit of the bear’s flesh, and bore three sons.

Footnote 389:

See p. 558.

Footnote 390:

From some stone tracings and many jewels we see the proof of this. Numerous instances are given in the Earlier Edda of birds speaking to persons.

Footnote 391:

Cf. also Volsunga, 19.

Footnote 392:

Same expression as of a ship.

Footnote 393:

Cf. also about Hrolf’s Champions, c. 31. (Ynglinga, c. 38.)

Footnote 394:

By magical drink, poisonous drink is often meant (Heimskr Harald Fairhair, 41). See Gudrúnarkvida ii., stanzas 21, 22, 23, 24.

Footnote 395:

Egil’s Saga, 44.

Footnote 396:

Egil’s Saga, 75. See p. 165.

Footnote 397:

Cf. Ynglinga, c. 7.

Footnote 398:

Cfr. Laxdæla, 57, 58, Njala, 30.

Footnote 399:

Cf. Landnama, pt. iii.

Footnote 400:

Cf. also Eyrbyggja, c. 20; and Fœreyinga, c. 40.

Footnote 401:

Ragnarök.

Footnote 402:

Chiefs.

Footnote 403:

From Odin.

Footnote 404:

Helgi.

Footnote 405:

Helgi.

Footnote 406:

Hawks as birds of prey.

Footnote 407:

Helgi.

Footnote 408:

We see it is so late that the eagles sit on the boughs for the night, &c. So they despair of Helgi’s coming.

Footnote 409:

One of the finest similes for sleep.

Footnote 410:

Here _dis_ may be sister or guardian-spirit. Skjöldungs = kings.

Footnote 411:

The bondmaid calls Helgi and his men ghosts and fiends.

Footnote 412:

See description in Eyrbyggia. Each ghost was called by its name, and had to leave by the opposite door.

Footnote 413:

Cf. also Laxdæla, 24; Gretti, 34–37.

Footnote 414:

Snorri Harald Fairhair’s Saga, ch. 36.

Footnote 415:

Viga Styr, 102.

Footnote 416:

Njala, 72, 79.

Footnote 417:

Gandreid = wolf ride, wizard or witches’ ride.

Footnote 418:

Eyrbyggja, 52, where the moon moves all round along the wall.

Footnote 419:

Egil, 24.

Footnote 420:

A warrior.

Footnote 421:

Sister of the moon = sun.

Footnote 422:

The famous war custom.

Footnote 423:

I.e., raven.

Footnote 424:

Wound-thorn, sword; sweat of the sword, blood.

Footnote 425:

The raven was looked upon as very wise and prophetic.

Footnote 426:

I.e., a Valkyrja.

Footnote 427:

The birds of Odin were the birds of prey, or perhaps his ravens Hugin and Munin coming to tell him the news.

Footnote 428:

The hail-sprinkled gull, sprinkled with blood; hail—poetical expression used for arrows. The wave of the heap of slain—the blood of the slain making waves by its quantity. A gull is often used as meaning a bird of prey.

Footnote 429:

The mead of kings (blood of warriors slain by the host of kings).

Footnote 430:

Shield is called here the plain of the ring. The tree of the shield is the warrior.

Footnote 431:

I make ready for the sound of Ilm—take my weapon for battle, as the sound of Ilm is = noise made by weapons.

Footnote 432:

A Valkyrja.

Footnote 433:

Hedin’s cloth = armour. The dyed wand is the sword dripping with blood.

Footnote 434:

In Helgakvida Hundingsbana, sleep is called _draum-thing_ (dream-meeting).

Footnote 435:

Halfdan dreamt of the greatness of his family, Halfdan the Black, c. 7. Sometimes there were different explanations of the same dream (Vatnsdæla, 42).

Footnote 436:

Laxdæla, 33; Atlamál, 14–25.

Footnote 437:

See Vol. II., p. 142.

Footnote 438:

See Vol. II., Frontispiece.

Footnote 439:

There was no little hard pushing—meaning that there was a fight between the men and the bears jostling against each other.

Footnote 440:

One of Atli’s shapes, which he could change himself into.

Footnote 441:

Her husband.

Footnote 442:

Summon to join the dead.

Footnote 443:

Guardian spirits; _Disir_, the shapes of dead women. Cf. Gisli Súrsson.

Footnote 444:

Dreamstolen, meaning, that the ability of dreaming had been taken away from him.

Footnote 445:

Cf. also Sigrdrifumal.

Footnote 446:

Sacrifice to.

Footnote 447:

This passage seems to imply that those who believed in their own strength only made the sign of Thor.

Footnote 448:

Athletic and mental exercises. See vol. ii., p. 369.

Footnote 449:

Cf. also Gulathing’s Law, c. 29.

Footnote 450:

This refers to stealing the mead.

Footnote 451:

Frey and Freyja.

Footnote 452:

Olaf Tryggvason.

Footnote 453:

_Buandi_, plural _buendr_; _bondi_, plural _bendr_; _bóandi_, plural _bóendr_. These are different forms of the same name; the transition from _buandi_ to _bóandi_ and then to _bondi_ is easily traced. The form to-day is _bonde_. The original meaning is a dweller; the verb to dwell is _búa—bjó—búid_.

Footnote 454:

Indemnity, see p. 544.

Footnote 455:

The Frostathing’s Law says nothing about the deduction of one-fifth from the appraised value.

A new law enacted that the _odalsman_, in order to keep his right open, should make the usual announcement every tenth year; and the king was subject to the same regulations as other people.

Footnote 456:

Cf. also earlier Gulathing’s Law, 267; earlier Frostathing’s Law, vi. 4.

Footnote 457:

Baugryg means a woman who, being a single daughter, could pay and receive wergild.

Footnote 458:

A chalet.

Footnote 459:

All that was thrown up by the sea, whales, wreck, &c., belonged to the king (Gulath., 145).

Footnote 460:

Some great fishing-place in Hálogaland.

Footnote 461:

Cfr. also Heimskringla, 51, 52.

Footnote 462:

See p. 491.

Footnote 463:

So named probably because accustomed to walk much.

Footnote 464:

Bond-woman.

Footnote 465:

In later times we see that the fire-place was in the middle of the floor.

Footnote 466:

Kind of head-dress.

Footnote 467:

Grandfather and grandmother.

Footnote 468:

Probably for fastening the door.

Footnote 469:

This peculiar head-dress is still found in Iceland and Normandy.

Footnote 470:

A kirtle trailing, long trailing dress.

Footnote 471:

In Volsunga Saga the same expression occurs.

Footnote 472:

The shield of linden tree.

Footnote 473:

Rings were of gold, and were used as money.

Footnote 474:

Perhaps this means the sea.

Footnote 475:

We are not told about the Hersir.

Footnote 476:

Kund—a son, a kinsman.

Footnote 477:

Kon-ung = Konung = Kung = King.

Footnote 478:

Everlasting runes, probably more powerful runes than ordinary—runes that may have been only known to few.

Footnote 479:

To calm the sea by spell.

Footnote 480:

Some people were supposed to understand the language of birds.

Footnote 481:

From this we see that the business of a young king was war.

Footnote 482:

See p. 525.

Footnote 483:

Greyiom: this is the dative form which is grey in nominative; the form grey hund also occurs (Fornmanna Sögur xi. 10.)

Footnote 484:

The male line of Hákon Jarl the Great became extinct in his grandson, Hákon Eiríksson, in 1029.

Footnote 485:

_Háleygjatal_, in which Eyvind traces the family of Hákon. Cf. also the jarls of Mœri (Rögnvald, Mœra-jarl, who was the forefather of the jarls of Orkneys and Rouen in Normandy).

Footnote 486:

Herra = a lord, or master, was only used as a title after the year 1277, when knights and barons were first introduced into Norway. The word is derived from Her (host), thus meaning the lord, or perhaps at first the leader of a host.

Footnote 487:

Pl. Konir.

Footnote 488:

Rig seems to be a son of Rig Jarl, the hero of Rigsmál, whose name was otherwise Kon.

Footnote 489:

This custom of becoming an _under-man_ is illustrated in several Sagas.

Footnote 490:

The word _Viking_ has, of course, nothing to do with king.

Footnote 491:

Nafnbót = addition to the name, improvement of the name.

Footnote 492:

In the Danish laws the stipulation to be given by the king at his elevation was called Haand-fæstning (hand-fastening).

Footnote 493:

Cf. also Magnús the Good, c. 22 (Heimskringla).

Footnote 494:

Thrall was a male slave; ambátt, a female slave.

Footnote 495:

Here chief is = king. This meeting of kings seems like the meetings in our times of monarchs for alliance or treaties.

Footnote 496:

Cf. also Heimskringla, c. 58.

Footnote 497:

Claim, rights, law, atonement for injury, see p. 544.

Footnote 498:

Cf. Gisli Súrsson.

Footnote 499:

Gulath., 66, 106, 296.

Footnote 500:

The redemption-sum of a leysingi.

Footnote 501:

Hereditary freeman.

Footnote 502:

This means, to take the slavery off.

Footnote 503:

Cf. also p. 7.

Footnote 504:

Cf. also Njala, c. 36.

Footnote 505:

A man convicted of the lesser outlawry by paying a fine of one mark within a fixed period was safe within a certain space. If he neglected such payment he became a full outlaw.

Footnote 506:

Father’s and mother’s side.

Footnote 507:

Cf. also Laxdæla Saga, 12, 13.

Footnote 508:

Gulathing’s Law, 57.

Footnote 509:

Ostgöta Law, 6, § 2; Vestgöta Law, i. 22; Gotland Law, i. 28, § 6.

Footnote 510:

In the side.

Footnote 511:

See chapter on Exposure of Children. Vol. ii. p. 42.

Footnote 512:

Earlier Gulathing’s Law, 131.

Footnote 513:

After the introduction of Christianity, near a church.

Footnote 514:

Cfr. also Frostathing’s Law, i. 2.

Footnote 515:

Laws by King Magnus, A.D. 1263–1280.

Footnote 516:

Grágás, 56.

Footnote 517:

Islendingabók, c. 5.

Footnote 518:

Eyrbyggja, c. 10; Landnáma, ii. c. 12.

Footnote 519:

A Thing held on the plain.

Footnote 520:

The Saga was about Thorgeir Hávarsson, _Thormod’s foster-brother_, and his last fight, in which Thorgrim had fought against him. Thormod cleft Thorgrim’s head with his axe as he sat on the chair, and escaped.

Footnote 521:

Pitched a tent over the walls which remained standing.

Footnote 522:

The term “hundreds” means some value, perhaps of vadmal or of silver.

Footnote 523:

Twenty feet of vadmal were paid yearly by each bondi who did not go to the Thing to those who went to the Althing (Grágás, 77, 107).

Footnote 524:

Grágás, 23, 49, 51, 62, 67.

Footnote 525:

Every bondi had to belong to some Thing.

Footnote 526:

The country was parcelled out into Thing-districts, each being presided over by three godis, hence the word _Thridjung-district_.

Footnote 527:

Einmanud, last month of winter.

Footnote 528:

It is probable that this sign was the svastica, used in Iceland instead of the arrow used in Norway. (See p. 520.)

Footnote 529:

Thingmen of his district.

Footnote 530:

The high court of justice composed of 48 Godars, also held in the sacred precincts inside of the _vebönd_. See p. 534–538.

Footnote 531:

Each district has its name, e.g., Kjalnesinga district.

Footnote 532:

Landnáma, 1, c. 9; Islendinga Sögur, i. 336.

Footnote 533:

Grágás, 23, 43.

Footnote 534:

Grágás, 59.

Footnote 535:

Grágás, 23.

Footnote 536:

The old laws of Sweden were published during the years 1827–77 (the life-work of Schlyter), in Lund, in thirteen volumes; the thirteenth volume is a dictionary to the twelve volumes preceding it.

Footnote 537:

The Danish ell is a trifle more than two English feet.

Footnote 538:

_Gulathing_, so called from Gula or Guley (an island), where the Thing took place. _Frostathing_, from some local name. Our knowledge of the earlier laws of the Northmen is derived from the earlier _Gulathing’s Law_, almost completely preserved in writing from the latter half of the 12th century. The earlier _Frostathing’s Law_ is almost completely preserved in a writing from the earlier part of the 13th century. Of the earlier _Eidsifjathing’s Law_, the earlier _Borgarthing’s Law_, and the earlier _Bjarkeyjar Law_, or town-law, there are only fragments left. Most of the Icelandic laws are comprised in the _Grágás_, which is completely preserved in writing not later than the year 1200.

The historical Sagas often show the effect of the laws in real life and how the latter were interpreted by the people.

Footnote 539:

_Nefnd_ also = a body of men or arbitrators to give judgment in a case. In the old Swedish law it was composed of twelve members (see Schlyter). It is not found in the Icelandic laws, but the Görd is its equivalent.

Footnote 540:

Grágás, 211–217.

Footnote 541:

In the same Saga, c. 96, there is another account of the powers of the lawman.

In ch. 81, the king (of Sweden), the jarl of Vestr Gautland, and the lawman Thorgnýr are all three called _höfdingjar_ = _chiefs_.

Footnote 542:

Eight aurar made a mark.

Footnote 543:

Indemnity to be paid in metal rings of silver or gold.

Footnote 544:

The reksthegn was a freeman descended from thrall kin, although his family might have been free for several generations. The rétt of the árborinn-madr was 12 aurar, that of the reksthegn one mark. The classes in the two other law districts were probably similar to those above, but it seems that the haulld and bondi were classified as one.

Footnote 545:

The laws on wounds are so minute and numerous that it is not possible to give them in full. Cf. also Gulath., 179–215; Frostath., iv. 42–53.

Footnote 546:

N. G. L., ii. 60.

Footnote 547:

Frostath., v. 20.

Footnote 548:

See oath, p. 558.

Footnote 549:

It was thought unmanly to be disgraced three times and take no revenge. Cf. also Gulath., 196; Addition to Frostath. Law, 36.

Footnote 550:

_Baug-eid_, or “ring-oath,” is mentioned in Havamál, stanza 110.

Footnote 551:

Cf. also Eyrbyggja, c. 4, 16, 44.

Footnote 552:

The sleeping room.

Footnote 553:

The stepson of Thor.

Footnote 554:

See also Kjalnesinga, 2.

Footnote 555:

_Skirsl_, to pass under jardarmen. See page 559.

Footnote 556:

_Dulareid_, an oath of denial.

Footnote 557:

Evening rider, night hag, witch, riding on wolves in the twilight.

Footnote 558:

Witnesses fetched at random when defendant could choose his co-swearers.

Footnote 559:

Witnesses called by a body of named men.

Footnote 560:

_Séttareid_, an oath of six; i.e., six compurgators.

Footnote 561:

_Grima_, a hood covering the face; _grimueid_, a kind of oath taken by six compurgators. The origin of the word is obscure; perhaps the compurgators had to appear in court with cowls or hoods on.

Footnote 562:

See chapter on Foster-brotherhood. Vol. ii. p. 61.

Footnote 563:

In the second song of Helgi, stanza 31, an oath upon a stone is mentioned; these holy stones may have meant _hörgs_.

Footnote 564:

This shows the large size of some of the halls.

Footnote 565:

Her brothers.

Footnote 566:

From stanza 2 we see that the kettle was consecrated. Stanza 5 shows the accuser had to go through the ordeal also.

Footnote 567:

They drowned her in a mire.

Footnote 568:

Einvigi Kormak, c. 10.

Footnote 569:

On Holmganga, Egil, 67.

Footnote 570:

Cf. also Gisli Sursson’s Saga.

Footnote 571:

Cf. Svarfdæla Saga.

Footnote 572:

Ingjald (another text).

Footnote 573:

Ingibjörg.

Footnote 574:

Inheritance feast. See Vol. II., p. 47.

Footnote 575:

Cf. Sigurd Jórsalafari, Heimskringla, c. 20–21.

Footnote 576:

From the last paragraph we see that announcing a hostile invasion of one’s country was a redeemable case.

Footnote 577:

Cf. also Gretti’s Saga, c. 16.

Footnote 578:

Or any one under fifteen years of age.

Footnote 579:

I.e. Slaying which was not done in secret or against plighted faith or skill.

Footnote 580:

N. G. L., i. 122, 265.

Footnote 581:

Gulath., 132.

Footnote 582:

Cf. Fœreyinga Saga, c. 4, 5; Njala, 38, 122; Heidarviga Saga, c. 22; Björn Hitdœlakappi; St. Olaf’s Saga, 126, 132; Egil’s Saga, c. 24, 59, 60; Viga Styr, 4. N. G. L., i. 56, 60, 159, 167, 178.

Footnote 583:

Cf. also Kormak’s Saga, c. 16.

Footnote 584:

The text of Fornmannasögur says that he had 1200 ships.

Footnote 585:

In the song, which is very coarse, it is said that the king and Birgir were like stallion and mare. Cf. Vatnsdæla Saga, c. 33. Björn Hitdœlakappi’s Saga.

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._

THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN.

ASHANGO LAND.

EXPLORATIONS IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA.

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STORIES OF THE GORILLA COUNTRY.

WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR.

LOST IN THE JUNGLE.

MY APINGI KINGDOM.

THE COUNTRY OF THE DWARFS.

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Moved the list of the author’s books from the beginning to the end. 2. Changed “Lanfey” to “Laufey” and “Lanfeyjarson” to “Laufeyjarson” everywhere. “It is guessed that this was Loki Laufeyjarson” on p. 35 was already correct. 3. Changed “ἐπενεχθείσῃς” to “ἐπενεχθείσης” on p. 10. 4. Added missing footnote anchor after “slain Saxon” for fourth footnote on p. 12. 5. Added footnote reference numbers to footnotes on pp. 60, 326, 333, 430, and 430. 6. Changed “see p. .” to “see p. 368.” on p. 68. 7. Corrected the footnote reference number for the 2nd footnote on p. 68. 8. Changed “Fig. 26.” to “Fig. 126.” on p. 114. 9. Changed “225.” to “Fig. 225.” on p. 142. 10. Changed “237.” to “Fig. 237.” on p. 145. 11. Added missing footnote anchor after “A halter-corpse” for second footnote on p. 162. 12. Changed “^2 real size” to “⅔ real size” on p. 281. 13. Silently corrected typographical errors. 14. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. 15. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.