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Title: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia
Author: Sir William Alexander Craigie
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Language: English
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Religions Ancient and Modern
THE RELIGION OF
ANCIENT SCANDINAVIA
RELIGIONS: ANCIENT AND MODERN.
ANIMISM.
By EDWARD CLODD, Author of _The Story of Creation_.
PANTHEISM.
By JAMES ALLANSON PICTON, Author of _The Religion of the Universe_.
THE RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA.
By Professor GILES, LL.D., Professor of Chinese in the University
of Cambridge.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT GREECE.
By JANE HARRISON, Lecturer at Newnham College, Cambridge, Author of
_Prolegomena to Study of Greek Religion_.
ISLAM.
By AMEER ALI SYED, M.A., C.I.E., late of H.M.'s High Court of
Judicature in Bengal, Author of _The Spirit of Islam_ and _The
Ethics of Islam_.
MAGIC AND FETISHISM.
By Dr. A. C. HADDON, F.R.S., Lecturer on Ethnology at Cambridge
University.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
By Professor W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, F.R.S.
THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.
By THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, late of the British Museum.
EARLY BUDDHISM.
By Professor RHYS DAVIDS, LL.D., late Secretary of The Royal
Asiatic Society.
HINDUISM.
By Dr. L. D. BARNETT, of the Department of Oriental Printed Books
and MSS., British Museum.
SCANDINAVIAN RELIGION.
By WILLIAM A. CRAIGIE, Joint Editor of the _Oxford English
Dictionary_.
CELTIC RELIGION.
By Professor ANWYL, Professor of Welsh at University College,
Aberystwyth.
THE MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
By CHARLES SQUIRE, Author of _The Mythology of the British Islands_.
JUDAISM.
By ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, Lecturer in Talmudic Literature in Cambridge
University, Author of _Jewish Life in the Middle Ages_.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT ROME.
By CYRIL BAILEY, M.A.
SHINTO, THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF JAPAN.
By W. G. ASTON, C.M.G.
THE MYTHOLOGIES OF ANCIENT MEXICO AND PERU.
By LEWIS SPENCE, M.A.
EARLY CHRISTIANITY.
By S. B. SLACK, Professor at McGill University.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ORIGIN AND NATURE OF RELIGION.
By Professor J. H. LEUBA.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT PALESTINE.
By STANLEY A. COOK.
THE
RELIGION OF ANCIENT
SCANDINAVIA
By
W. A. CRAIGIE, M.A.
TAYLORIAN LECTURER IN THE SCANDINAVIAN
LANGUAGES, OXFORD. AUTHOR OF
'SCANDINAVIAN FOLK-LORE'
LONDON
CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD
10 ORANGE STREET LEICESTER SQUARE
1914
FOREWORD
The native religion of the ancient Scandinavians was in its main
features only a special form of that common to all the Germanic
peoples, and this again was only a particular development of primitive
beliefs and practices characteristic of the whole Aryan race. It
is impossible to say how far back in time the special Germanic and
Scandinavian developments of this religion may go, and of their earlier
stages we have absolutely no knowledge beyond what may be doubtfully
reached by the methods of comparison and inference. Even of the later
stages our information is much more scanty than might be expected.
Among the Goths, the southern Germans, and the Anglo-Saxons in Britain,
paganism gave way to Christianity at so early a period, that very few
details relating to it have been recorded by the civil or religious
historians of these peoples; they were indeed more inclined to suppress
than perpetuate any lingering knowledge of this kind. The absence
of such information is a great bar to the proper understanding of
many points in Scandinavian religion, which, instead of being thus
illuminated from without, has continually been forced to throw light on
the heathen worship of the other Teutonic peoples.
As to the Scandinavian peoples themselves, it is only from a
comparatively late period in the history of Europe that we have any
real knowledge of them. They first became notorious at the close
of the eighth century, when their unexpected piratical descents on
Britain and France alarmed Western Christendom. Early in the ninth
century the Saxon monk Ansgar ventured upon missionary enterprises
into Scandinavia, at that time entirely a heathen region, and on two
occasions reached the court of the Swedish king. About the middle of
the same century Christianity began to make way in Denmark, which in
another fifty years or so had become in the main a Christian land.
During the tenth century the new faith began to make itself felt
in Norway, but did not finally overcome the old religion until the
beginning of the eleventh: in Iceland, which had been colonised from
Norway, the adoption of Christianity took place somewhat suddenly in
the year 1000. Sweden for the most part still remained heathen, and
did not fully accept the new religion until the twelfth century.
During these three centuries we have very little outside evidence as
to the character of the religion professed by any of the Scandinavian
peoples, and our knowledge of the beliefs and practices of northern
heathenism is for the most part derived from native sources of a
later date. These, while in some respects copious enough, by no means
give all the information that could be desired, and on some important
points their evidence is either scanty or very unsatisfactory. The
deficiencies are to a large extent disguised, at first sight, by
the fact that we possess abundant information as to Scandinavian
_mythology_. Not only do the poems of the skalds (from the close of
the ninth century onwards) abound in mythological allusions, but
there also exists a systematic account of the subject in the work
of Snorri Sturluson, commonly known as the 'Prose Edda,' written in
Iceland about the year 1220. For the facts relating to the actual
_religion_, on the other hand, we have to depend on the few pieces of
outside evidence, and on fairly numerous, but not always reliable,
statements in the biographical and historical prose writings commonly
grouped together under the name of 'Sagas.' These works, based on
oral tradition of a very full and often very accurate nature, were
written in Iceland during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and
most of them are separated by more than a century and a half from the
period of time to which they relate. As the authors were in every case
Christians, and many of them were ecclesiastics, it is obvious that
the late evidence thus afforded us is not to be absolutely relied
upon. On the other hand, the tenacity of Icelandic tradition, the
continuous interest in the poetic mythology, and the absence of any
fanatical hatred of the old heathenism, make it possible to accept,
with due reservations, many of the statements made in these writings.
It is unfortunate, however, that Iceland alone of all the Scandinavian
countries developed a literature of this kind. The result is that the
information thus preserved relates for the most part only to Iceland
itself and its mother-country, Norway. The heathen period in Denmark
was so remote, and Sweden itself so slightly connected with Iceland,
that comparatively little is recorded of either, although Sweden was
still heathen when Icelandic literature began. This is the more to be
regretted, as a fuller knowledge of the precise form which the old
religion had in Denmark and Sweden would in all probability solve some
problems which are now obscure.
In the following account of the ancient Scandinavian religion, an
attempt has been made to exhibit what is really known of the religious
beliefs and practices of the people as distinct from the mythological
fancies of the poets. With the evidence which we possess, it is
impossible to determine how far the latter ever formed any part of a
real popular religion: in some respects there seems to be a decided
opposition between the two. The mythology, as it is found in the old
poems and in the Prose Edda, has been the subject of much learned
speculation, and various theories as to the original functions of the
different gods and goddesses have from time to time been advanced, and
have met with more or less acceptance. Much has also been written on
the question how far the original conceptions had been modified under
classic and Christian influences even before Christianity was finally
accepted in the north. All discussion of these matters is here omitted
in favour of a more direct investigation into the purely religious
aspect of the old faith, so far as the existing materials admit of
this.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
FOREWORD, v
I. THE GREAT GODS: THOR AND ODIN, 1
II. THE REMAINING GODS AND OTHER OBJECTS OF WORSHIP, 24
III. TEMPLES AND IMAGES, 39
IV. CEREMONIES AND MINISTERS OF RELIGION, 53
SELECTED WORKS, 71
THE ANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN RELIGION
CHAPTER I
THE GREAT GODS: THOR AND ODIN
In common with the other Aryan races, the ancient Scandinavians
recognised, as the basis of their religion, certain supernatural,
usually unseen, powers ruling the world and exercising an influence on
the affairs of mankind. In the ideas which prevailed as to the nature
of these powers certain correspondences can be clearly traced in the
various Aryan religions, in spite of the fact that our knowledge of
them dates from widely different periods of history. Even the Romans,
when they came into contact with the Germanic races, noticed some
of the similarities, and applied the names of several of their own
deities to the corresponding figures among the barbarian gods. When
closer intercourse between Roman and German had established itself, the
result of these equations was made prominent in the names adopted by
the latter for the days of the week, several of which, in most of the
Germanic tongues, still bear witness to the old religion of the race.
Thus the counterpart of the Roman _Mars_ was found in the god _Tiw_,
and consequently _dies Martis_ was rendered by forms now represented in
English by _Tuesday_. In the same way the Roman _Mercurius_, _Jupiter_,
and _Venus_ were identified with the Germanic gods called by the
English _Wóden_, _Thunor_, and _Fríg_, whence the names of _Wednesday_,
_Thursday_, and _Friday_. In making these equations, of course, neither
German nor Roman did more than consider the most obvious points of
resemblance between the deities; how close the correspondence actually
was in each case it is impossible to say, as we know so little of the
precise form which the native religion had among the southern Germans.
It is only to a certain extent that the details suggested by these
translations of the Roman names are supported by the evidence from the
Scandinavian side, but it is extremely probable that some of the more
striking discrepancies are due to difference in time as well as in
place and people.
The three gods and the goddess whose names are thus commemorated in
the days of the week hold also a prominent place among the Scandinavian
deities, where they appear under the names of Ty (_Týr_), Odin
(_Óðinn_), Thor (_þórr_), and Frigg. But while Odin and Thor actually
hold the place which they might be expected to occupy as objects of
worship, the warlike deity Ty has apparently become of secondary
importance. This is indicated not only by the native Scandinavian
evidence, but also by what can be gleaned from external sources. In an
Old English sermon[1] by the Abbot Ælfric, about the year 1000, the
mention of some of the Roman deities leads the preacher to introduce
the corresponding Danish names. Jove or Jupiter, he says, 'was called
Thor among some peoples, and him the Danes love most of all.' Mercury,
too, 'was honoured among all the heathens, and he is otherwise called
Othon in Danish.' Of Ty there is no mention, although Mars is one of
the Roman deities specified by name. In another homily by Ælfric there
is the same identification of Thor and Odin, along with 'the foul
goddess Venus, whom men call Frigg,' but here also Ty is ignored.
More than merely negative evidence, however, is supplied by another
outside source, which is the leading contemporary account of
Scandinavian religion, viz. that given by the German historian, Adam of
Bremen (about the year 1075), in his description of the great temple of
the Swedes at Upsala, and of the gods worshipped there. Here he writes,
'the people venerate the statues of three gods, so placed that the
most powerful of them, Thor, has his seat in the middle of the bench.
On either side of him Wodan and Fricco have their places. Of these the
significations are as follows. Thor, they say, presides in the air,
and governs thunder and lightning, winds and rains, fair weather and
crops. The next, Wodan, that is "Fury," carries on wars and gives men
valour against their enemies. The third is Fricco, bestowing peace and
pleasure upon mortals.' The image of Wodan, he adds, resembled that
of the Roman Mars; that of Thor suggested Jupiter, while Fricco was
represented in a form resembling the minor deity Priapus.
The god here called Fricco was known to the Scandinavians themselves
by the name of Frey (_Freyr_), and that the triad thus specified by
Adam were in fact the chief deities worshipped in the later stages of
Scandinavian religion is abundantly proved by the native evidence.
The identification of Odin with Mars in place of Mercury is also in
full accordance with the later beliefs: in other words, Odin has taken
the place of Ty as the chief war-god. Whether this was the main reason
for the admission of Frey as third member of the supreme triad is
uncertain, the earlier position of this god being altogether unknown.
Thor, it will be noticed, still retains his place as the counterpart
of the Roman Jupiter, and stands between the other two gods, as being
the most powerful. The precise relationship, however, between Thor and
Odin is not by any means so simple as this statement would suggest, and
forms indeed one of the most difficult questions connected with the
subject. This will be most clearly brought out by a detailed account of
the relative place assigned to each of them in religious practice on
the one hand, and in mythological accounts on the other; and the most
correct impression of the facts will probably be obtained by dealing
first with Thor.
The pre-eminence assigned to this god by Ælfric and Adam of Bremen is
quite in accordance with what can fairly be inferred from the native
historical sources. A considerable number of passages in the sagas
yield combined proof that by the people at large Thor was regarded
as the chief deity, at least in Norway and Iceland: for Sweden and
Denmark the evidence is less conclusive, but seems to point in the
same direction. It is of great significance, for example, that in all
the Scandinavian countries the name of Thor is the one which is most
frequently used as a formative element in the names of persons (such
as Thor-kell, Stein-thor), and these were evidently quite as common
in Sweden and Denmark as in Norway and Iceland. On the other hand,
the name of Odin is scarcely ever employed, only one or two instances
being found among the Danes and Swedes. Names with Frey- as their
first element are more frequent, but are in small proportion compared
with those in Thor-. In Danish and Swedish place-names, too, the
predominance of Thor is very marked, although Odin and Frey are better
represented here than in the case of the personal names. In Norway and
Iceland place-names of this kind are rare, but Thorsness and Thorsmark
occur in the latter country. The frequency with which Thor's hammer
(see below) is represented on Danish and Swedish runic monuments, and
the occurrence on ancient Danish stones of the formula 'May Thor hallow
this monument' (or 'these runes'), also indicate that the position of
this deity was much the same among all branches of the Scandinavian
people. In Denmark, too, there are distinct traces of a tendency to
hold local assemblies on the day named after the god; in Iceland this
was the day on which the famous _Al-thing_ (the legal and legislative
assembly of the whole people) began every year, ten weeks after the
first day of summer, and in Norway the great law-assembly of the
western districts also began its meetings on a Thursday.
For Norway and Iceland there is a considerable amount of more direct
evidence than this. In several of the Icelandic historical writings it
is expressly stated that some of the leading colonists had a special
regard for Thor and his worship. Of one who came from the island of
Mostr, on the south-western coast of Norway, it is told that he had
the custody of Thor's temple there, and was a 'great friend' of the
god, on which account he was called Thorolf (=_Thor-wolf_). This
Thorolf fell out with King Harald, and went to inquire of Thor, 'his
loving friend,' whether he should make terms with the king or leave
the country. The oracle directed him to go to Iceland. He pulled down
the temple, and took with him most of the timber, as well as the earth
from under the pedestal on which Thor had been seated. On coming near
Iceland, he threw overboard the two chief pillars of the temple, on
one of which the image of Thor was carved, and declared he would settle
wherever Thor made these come ashore. After landing on the south side
of Broadfirth, they found that Thor had come ashore with the pillars
on a headland, to which they then gave the name of Thor's-ness, while
a river in the neighbourhood was also named after the god. When this
Thorolf had a son in his old age, he gave him to his friend Thor, and
called him Thorstein. Thorstein also gave his own son to Thor, 'and
said he should be a temple-priest, and called him Thorgrim.' Another
son of Thorolf's sacrificed to Thor, that he might send him pillars for
his house, 'and gave his son for this,' which probably means that he
also dedicated his son to the god, though one account appears to imply
that he actually offered him in sacrifice.
Of another settler, Helgi the Lean, who was brought up in Ireland, it
is stated that when he came in sight of Iceland, he inquired of Thor
where he should land; the oracle directed him to Eyafirth, and would
allow him to go nowhere else. Before they came in sight of the firth,
Helgi's son asked him whether he would have obeyed Thor's directions
if he had sent him to winter in the Arctic Ocean. Yet Helgi was not
absolutely devoted to Thor, as he also believed in Christ, and even
called his Icelandic homestead by the name of Christness. It was to
Thor, however, that he turned for aid in sea-faring and difficult
enterprises, and in all matters that he considered to be of most
importance.
Thorolf and Helgi were not the only settlers who allowed Thor to fix
the place of their habitation in Iceland, and one in the south of the
island also consecrated all his land to Thor and called it Thor's-mark.
The tendency to appeal to Thor for help in time of need is further
illustrated by an incident recorded as having taken place during the
Wineland expedition of 1007-8. The explorers were in great straits for
want of food, and had prayed for help, which seemed long in coming.
One of the party, named Thorhall, was found by the others on the peak
of a cliff, looking up to the sky, and muttering something, besides
making strange gestures of which he would give no explanation. Shortly
afterwards a whale came ashore, and Thorhall said, 'The red-bearded one
was stronger now than your Christ. I have got this for my poetry that I
made about Thor. He has seldom failed me.'
This contrasting of Thor with Christ is a trait which appears in other
narratives, and is significant of the place which the god held in
the old religion. In the struggle between heathenism and Christianity
in the Scandinavian countries it is usually Thor, the red-bearded
one, who is the champion of the primitive faith and its most powerful
representative. The cases in which Odin takes this place have a much
more legendary character, and are more likely to be due to later
invention. It was Thor whom the believers in the old faith expressly
put forward as a rival to the God of the Christians. In the early part
of the eleventh century, when King Olaf Haraldsson was doing his utmost
to christianise Norway, the following words are represented as having
been spoken by a powerful chief named Gudbrand: 'There is come hither
a man named Olaf to offer us another faith than the one we had, and to
break all our gods in pieces, and he says that he has a greater and
mightier god. It is a marvel that the earth does not open under him
when he dares to say such things, and that our gods let him go any
further. I expect, if we carry Thor out of our temple where he stands,
and where he has always stood by us, that as soon as he looks on Olaf
and his men, then _his_ god and himself and his men will melt away and
come to nought.' So also when Thangbrand the priest went to Iceland
on his missionary enterprise in 997, he met a woman who preached
heathendom to him at great length, and asked him, 'Have you not heard
that Thor challenged Christ to single combat, and He dared not fight
with Thor?' When Thangbrand's ship was destroyed by a violent storm, it
was to Thor that the credit of the accident was assigned.
The firm hold which Thor had upon the minds of his worshippers is also
illustrated by the way in which some of the converts to Christianity
felt uneasy at abandoning him. Thorgils of Flói, in the south-west of
Iceland, was one of the first to accept the new faith, and more than
once he dreamed that Thor came to him with reproaches and threats for
this desertion. Thorgils was firm, and defied the angry god, but his
later perils at sea were believed by his companions to be the work of
Thor, and some of them even wished to sacrifice to him for a fair wind,
saying that people had fared much better when they made offerings to
him.
The prominent place held by the worship of Thor in the old religion is
also indicated by the frequent mention of images of the god in various
temples (as will appear in a later chapter); this fact acquires special
significance when contrasted with the lack of similar statements
regarding Odin. It is also extremely probable that it was Thor, and
not Odin, to whom the vague names of 'Land-god' (_Land-áss_) and 'The
Almighty God' were given; the latter was used, coupled with the names
of Frey and Njörd, in an old oath-formula.
Having thus made the position of Thor among the Scandinavian gods
as clear as the evidence admits of, it remains to show what manner
of god his worshippers supposed him to be. On this point there is
unfortunately less direct evidence than could be wished. In origin Thor
was the thunder-god, and it is therefore natural to find him spoken of
as 'the strongest of all the gods.' His weapon, the thunderbolt, was
imagined as a hammer, mythologically known by the name of _Mjölnir_,
and was especially used by him to protect the gods and men against
giants and other evil monsters. To grasp it with he had iron gloves,
and he was also possessed of a girdle of might which increased his
strength twofold. In his journeys, of which the mythological writers
have a good deal to say, he sometimes rode in a chariot drawn by two
goats. Of these details there is very little trace in historical
sources, although one passage (of doubtful value) speaks of an image
of Thor seated in his chariot. The hammer, however, was certainly the
distinctive symbol of the god, and representations of it were evidently
in common use as sacred and protective marks. Not only is it frequently
cut on stone monuments, but small figures of it were apparently used as
amulets, of which a number have been found in Denmark and Sweden. When
the Danish prince Magnus returned from an expedition into the heathen
districts of Sweden in 1123, he brought back with him as trophies
some Thor's hammers of metal. It is not clear how far such models of
the hammer were used in religious ceremonies; that it was employed at
weddings 'to hallow the bride' appears to be highly probable, but there
is no direct historical evidence to prove it.
The form in which the hammer was commonly represented easily led to its
association with the Christian mark of the cross. At a festival held in
Norway in 952, Earl Sigurd dedicated the first toast to Odin, and after
drinking from the horn handed it to King Hákon, who was a Christian.
When the king took it, he made the mark of the cross over it. The
heathens present protested against this, and Earl Sigurd attempted to
satisfy them by saying, 'The king does like all those who trust to
their own might and strength, and consecrate their toast to Thor. He
made the mark of the hammer over it before he drank.'
The relationship of Thor to Odin, and the precise position of
the latter among the Scandinavian gods, must now be more closely
considered. In the sermon by Ælfric already cited there is an
interesting remark bearing on this, in these words: 'Now the Danes
in their delusion say that Jove, whom they call Thor, was the son of
Mercury, whom they call Odin, but they are not right in this' (_i.e._
according to Roman mythology).[2] Ælfric's statement is in perfect
accordance with the old Scandinavian myths, which represent Thor as the
son of Odin and Earth, a relationship also attested by various poetical
designations of the god. This is not at all what the historical
evidence would lead us to expect, but the mythological account of
Odin presents a still more striking contrast to what has been brought
forward above as to the position of Thor. 'Odin,' says Snorri, 'is the
highest and eldest of the gods; he rules over all things, and for as
mighty as the other gods are, they all serve him as children do their
father.... Odin is called All-father, because he is the father of all
the gods.'
It is indeed quite clear that the whole mythological system expounded
by Snorri, and implied in all the old Scandinavian poetry, centres on
the idea of Odin as the supreme god. As such he has two important sides
to his nature. On the one hand he is a war-god, who assigns victory or
defeat to men, and who takes the slain warriors to live with himself
in Valhall; 'he is also called Val-father, because all those who fall
in battle are his chosen sons: to them he gives places in Valhall
and Vingolf,' says Snorri. On the other hand he is a god of wisdom
and cunning, knowing all things, and a god of poetry whom the skalds
regard as the author of their art. So far as the historical evidence
is strong enough to prove anything regarding Odin, it indicates that a
belief in both of those aspects was really a part of the old religion.
We have already seen that Adam of Bremen describes Odin as the war-god
among the Swedes, and Snorri also says that the Swedes thought he
often appeared to them before great battles; 'to some he gave victory,
and some he invited to himself, and either lot was thought good.'
This association of Odin with war, and the assignation to him of all
those who were slain in battle, are very prominent in the mythical
sagas, which may be accepted as representing a genuine tradition in
this respect, however much the details may be due to later invention.
In these sagas one also finds the connection of Odin with death by
hanging, which appears in some of his poetic names, and must be
regarded as a real belief.
The purely historical evidence is, however, very limited. Perhaps
the only mention of an actual offering to Odin is that found in the
account of Earl Hákon's doings after he had, under compulsion, accepted
Christianity in Denmark in 975. On leaving that country, he sailed
round to the east coast of Sweden, landed there, and made a great
sacrifice. 'Then two ravens came flying and croaked loudly, and the
earl thought it certain that Odin had accepted the sacrifice, and that
he would have success in fighting.' It is very probable, however, that
sacrifices to this god were more common among the Danes and Swedes
than among the Norwegians, and that this may account for the lack of
reference to them in the Icelandic writings.
That the belief in Valhall was a real one is clearly shown by one or
two passages in the sagas. King Hákon the Good had been a Christian,
though latterly he had not made his religion prominent, in order to
avoid offending his heathen subjects. When he was killed in battle in
961, he was laid in the grave-mound with all his weapons and best
array. 'They made such speeches at his burying as it was the custom
of heathen men to make, and sent him off on the way to Valhall.' A
poem on Hákon's death and his reception by Odin in Valhall, which was
composed at the time by one of his skalds, gives a very fine expression
to the belief, which is also the leading theme in an earlier poem on
the death of King Eirík in 954. Even some who had not been killed in
battle were apparently thought of as going to Odin in Valhall, if the
passage in the saga of Gísli may be relied upon, in which Thorgrím is
represented as saying, 'It is the custom to tie hell-shoes on men when
they shall go to Valhall, and I will do that with Véstein' (who had
been murdered in his bed). There is also a reference to the belief in
Njál's saga, in the words of Högni, 'I intend to take the halbert to my
father' (Gunnarr, who had been killed shortly before this), 'and let
him have it to Valhall and bear it there at the weapon-thing.' The same
saga also represents Earl Hákon in Norway, when he found his temple
burned down, as saying, 'The man who has done this will be driven away
from Valhall, and never get entrance there.' It is doubtful, however,
whether much weight can be given to these passages. The old practice
of beginning a battle by throwing a spear over the enemy is in some of
the mythical sagas explained as a dedication of them to Odin, and it is
possible that this idea may be correct.
It is remarkable that in the Icelandic sources there is no clear
evidence for a general worship of Odin in Norway or Iceland. In his
account of the old festivals Snorri states that the first toast which
went round was consecrated to Odin, and was drunk 'for victory and for
power to their king.' And he also says that at the festival at Hladir
in 952 Earl Sigurd 'consecrated the first toast to Odin.' The accuracy
of Snorri's account has been questioned, but even if it is correct, it
does not definitely establish Odin's position in popular belief. Among
the Icelanders themselves there is nothing like the same evidence to
show that Odin was generally held in esteem and veneration as there is
in the case of Thor; and it is noticeable that in the few cases where a
belief in, and reliance on, Odin are expressed, the speaker is usually
a poet. Thus Egil Skallagrímsson, when he had suffered at the hands of
King Eirík (about 934), expresses in a verse his wish that 'the gods
and Odin' may be angry with the king: in the second half of the verse
Frey and Njörd are also mentioned by name. The poet Hallfred, who
accepted Christianity in Norway in 996, makes several references in
his verses to his former worship of Odin, but in words which clearly
indicate that his capacity of skald had much to do with this. When he
was afterwards accused of being still a heathen, it was the possession
of 'an image of Thor' which formed one of the charges against him.
It is, however, stated that previous to their becoming Christians
Hallfred and his companions made a vow 'to give much money to Frey
if they reached Sweden, or to Thor and Odin if they got to Iceland.'
Kjartan Olafsson is also made to speak of Thor and Odin together, and
Odin (along with Freyja) is specified in the abusive verse by Hjalti
Skeggjason (999), which led to his prosecution for blasphemy against
the gods. On the other hand there is no mention in any saga of any
temple, image, or special priest of Odin in any part of Iceland.
That the attribution of the art of poetry to Odin, and his consequent
position as the special god of poets, was no mere conventional figment
of the skalds is best attested by Egil's poem on the loss of his sons.
Towards the end of this the poet expresses his resentment against 'the
lord of the spear,' in whom he had confidently trusted before he sent
this loss upon him, and so destroyed the friendship between them.
Now he has no pleasure in worshipping Odin, 'yet,' he adds, 'Mimir's
friend has given me recompense for my woes: he gave me an art' (that of
poetry) 'free from fault and stain.'
As the above will show, there is a real difficulty in reconciling
the historical statements as to the worship of Odin and Thor with
the relative positions assigned to them in the old mythology. The
explanation which seems to clear away this difficulty in the most
satisfactory manner is the suggestion that Thor and Odin really belong
to different stages in the development of Scandinavian religion. On
this view Thor was originally the chief god, and to a certain extent
continued to hold this position to the end. His supremacy, however, was
in the later period of heathenism seriously threatened by the growing
cult of Odin, which was at first foreign to the Scandinavian peoples,
and was received by them from the South Germanic races. This would
easily account for the seemingly greater popularity of Odin among the
Danes and Swedes than among the Norwegians and Icelanders, to whom
the new cult would be later in spreading. In this connection it may
be noted that some of the poetic names for Odin, such as 'the friend
of the Gauts,' 'Tyr of the Gauts' (as well as the simple _Gauti_ and
_Gautr_), appear to indicate that his worship was associated with the
people of that name in southern Sweden. It was in Gautland that the
poet Hallfred was nearly sacrificed to Odin in 997, and here also in
1018 the poet Sigvat was refused admission to a farm where a sacrifice
was taking place, because they 'were afraid of Odin's anger.' It may
even be significant that Earl Hákon's sacrifice already mentioned was
performed on the coast of Gautland.
The ninth and tenth centuries were a period of new development and
great changes within the Scandinavian countries. The Viking expeditions
brought a large part of the population into direct contact with war
and battle, while the former petty kings disappeared, or lost most of
their importance, before strong rulers like Gorm in Denmark or Harald
in Norway. In the courts of these new sovereigns there was a life and
splendour previously unknown in the north, and under the royal favour
the art of poetry flourished to a remarkable extent. It appears fairly
certain that in these surroundings the cult of Odin found most favour,
and that the conceptions of the god which meet us in the mythology
were developed among men who found a pleasure both in fighting and
in poetry, and who modelled their ideas of the warlike deity on the
monarch to whose court they attached themselves. Odin was thus the god
of the warrior, the poet, and the friend of kings, while Thor retained
his former place in the hearts of those who still followed the old
way of life in the secluded valleys of Norway or Iceland. Something
of this distinctly appears in the figures of the two gods as they are
presented in the old poems and legends. Odin bears all the stamp of the
new life and culture about him; Thor is rather a sturdy yeoman of the
old unpolished type. Odin is a ruler in whom knowledge and power are
equally combined; Thor has little more to rely upon than his bodily
strength. Even in small matters the contrast is marked: Odin lives
by wine alone, while Thor eats the flesh of his goats and drinks the
homely ale. Odin's weapon is the spear; Thor's is the more primitive
hammer. It is to Odin that all the warriors go after death; Thor gets
only the thralls. In some of the poems there is an obvious tendency
to assign to Thor an undignified and even ludicrous part, which is
strongly at variance with the veneration in which he was actually held,
as we have seen above. It would, perhaps, be unsafe to attach very
much importance to this, as it, is quite uncertain how far these poems
can be accepted as evidence for religious beliefs. It is perhaps more
significant that while writers like Snorri tell how Odin and various
other gods (such as Njörd and Frey) came from the south-east into
Denmark and Sweden, there is no similar account as regards Thor. In the
historical period, too, there were distinguished families in Sweden
and Norway whose genealogy was traced back to Odin and Frey, while no
one claimed descent from Thor. Both of these facts may reasonably be
regarded as supporting the view that Odin belongs to a later period
in the history of Scandinavia than Thor, and some such explanation
appears to be requisite to account for the striking differences in
the traditional statements regarding the two chief gods of the old
religion.
CHAPTER II
THE REMAINING GODS AND OTHER OBJECTS OF WORSHIP
The third god mentioned by Adam of Bremen as worshipped at Upsala
is (Fricco or) Frey, a name which appears to be identical with the
Teutonic word represented in Old English by _fréa_, lord or king.
Adam's statement is fully confirmed by the Icelandic sources, and
there are also general references to the prevalence of the cult in
Sweden.[3] In a somewhat legendary source it is even stated that an
image of Frey, which was worshipped at Thrandheim in Norway, had been
sent there from Sweden. The story of Gunnar Helming also makes mention
of an image of Frey in Sweden which was carried about the country,
and to which sacrifices were offered, but the value of the statement
is very doubtful. Saxo Grammaticus, speaking of a sacrifice of black
oxen offered to Frey by the mythical hero Hading, adds that this had
continued to be a yearly custom, and 'the Swedes call it _Fröblod_,'
_i.e._ Frey's sacrifice. The frequent occurrence of _Frey-_ in Swedish
(and Danish) place-names has been already mentioned, and indicates the
prevalence of the cult in both of these countries.
The worship of Frey, however, must also have been very popular in
Norway, from which it passed to Iceland with the early settlers. As
late as 998 the men of Thrandheim are represented as refusing to break
their image of Frey at the command of King Olaf, 'because we have long
served him and he has done well by us. He often talked with us, and
told us things to come, and gave us peace and plenty.' At the great
festivals it was customary to drink to Frey (along with Njörd) in
order to secure peace and prosperity. A talisman on which the image of
Frey was 'marked in silver' is mentioned as having been owned by one
of the petty kings of Norway about 872; this was given by King Harald
to Ingimund, and tradition associated it in a mysterious way with the
place where the latter finally settled in Iceland.
In Iceland itself the traces of a popular cult of Frey are very clear,
and more than one prominent person mentioned in the sagas bears the
title of _Freys-goði_, or 'priest of Frey.' Of one of these, Thorgrím,
brother-in-law of Gísli Súrsson, the saga says that 'he intended to
hold a festival at the beginning of winter, and greet the winter, and
sacrifice to Frey.' When Thorgrím was murdered, and had been laid in
a grave-mound, it was noticed that snow never lay on the south or
west sides of the mound, and the ground never froze there: 'and it
was supposed that he was so highly esteemed by Frey for the offerings
he made to him, that the god did not wish it to freeze between them.'
Great attachment to this deity also appears in the story of Hrafnkel,
who loved no other god more than Frey, and gave to him joint possession
with himself of all his most valuable things. Among these was a horse,
which on that account bore the name of _Freyfaxi_. Another Freyfaxi
belonged to Brand in Vatnsdal, and most people believed that he had
a religious reverence for the horse. Horses owned by Frey are also
mentioned as existing in Thrandheim in the days of Olaf Tryggvason
(about 996).
At Eyafirth in Iceland there was a temple of Frey, which is mentioned
several times in the saga of Víga-Glúm. Thorkel, says the story, went
to Frey's temple, taking with him an old ox, and addressed the god
thus: 'Frey,' said he, 'you have long been my confidant, and have
received many gifts from me, and repaid me well. Now I give you this
ox, so that it may come to pass that Glúm will leave this land as much
under compulsion as I do now. And show me now some token whether you
receive this or not.' Thereupon the ox bellowed, and fell down dead,
and Thorkel then believed that Frey had accepted his gift. The saga
also mentions that Frey would not allow outlaws to make his temple
there a sanctuary. Glúm himself afterwards had a dream that many men
had come there to see Frey. He asked who they were, and they said, 'We
are your departed kinsfolk, and are making intercession with Frey that
you may not be driven away from this ground; but Frey answers shortly
and angrily, and recalls the ox that Thorkel gave him.' Then Glúm
awoke, and had less liking for Frey all the rest of his life.
According to the mythological accounts, Frey was the son of Njörd and
brother of Freyja. He had great personal beauty in addition to his
divine powers. 'He rules over rain and sunshine and the produce of the
earth, and it is good to call on him for peace and plenty. He also has
power over the prosperity of men.' He was believed to own the ship
_Skíðblaðnir_, and to ride on the boar _Gullinbursti_ (Golden-bristle).
This association of Frey with the boar appears also in the following
passage of one of the mythical sagas (_Hervarar Saga_): 'King Heidrek
sacrificed to Frey; he should give to him the largest boar that could
be got. They considered it so holy, that over its bristles they took an
oath about all important matters. That boar was sacrificed by way of an
atonement; on Christmas eve it was led into the hall before the king,
and men then laid their hands on its bristles and made their vows.' In
another and earlier mention of the _sónargöltr_ (boar of atonement),
however, it is not stated that the practice was connected with the cult
of Frey, and in the absence of direct historical evidence the reality
or significance of the rite remains doubtful.
As mentioned above, the mythology regarded Frey as the son of Njörd
(_Njörðr_), a god of whom very little is really known. It has been
supposed that the _Nerthus_, mentioned by Tacitus as being worshipped
in common by a number of Germanic tribes, is the same as Njörd, but the
fact that Tacitus speaks of Nerthus as a goddess and explains the name
as meaning Mother Earth, makes the identification a very doubtful one.
According to Snorri, Njörd 'rules over the course of the wind and calms
the sea and fire. He is to be called on for voyaging and fishing. He
is so rich and wealthy that he may give lands and treasure to whom he
will.'
The worship of Njörd in Sweden and Norway is implied in the fact that
places named after him are found in certain parts of these countries.
When he is mentioned in the Icelandic writings, it is usually in
conjunction with Frey. The practice of drinking the second toast to
Njörd and Frey 'for peace and plenty' has been already mentioned. In
the old heathen form of oath, taken by suitors and others at the legal
assemblies, the deities invoked were 'Frey and Njörd and the Almighty
God' (probably Thor). The two names are also combined by Egil in a
verse (of 934) in which he prays that Frey and Njörd may be angry with
King Eirík, while in one of his poems (about 962) he refers to them
as the givers of wealth. With this may be compared the proverbial
expression 'as rich as Njörd,' which occurs in old Icelandic. In one of
Hallfred's verses (of 996) Frey and Njörd, Odin, Thor, and Freyja, are
all mentioned together in contrast with God and Christ: in another (of
the same time) the poet says, 'I am forced away from Njörd's offspring
and made to pray to Christ.' These passages are sufficient to show that
the cult of Njörd was closely connected with that of Frey, and make it
probable that he was a deity of some importance even in the popular
religion, but at best he remains a somewhat vague figure among the
Scandinavian gods.
Of the remaining gods known to us from the mythology there are only the
faintest traces in the historical sources. Even the original war-god Ty
was so completely supplanted by Odin, that no distinct evidence is to
be found for his worship in any part of Scandinavia, although Snorri
describes him as 'the bravest and stoutest-hearted of the gods,' who
had a great share in deciding the victory in battle; 'on him it is good
for men of valour to call.' His name was, however, retained in poetic
appellations of men (sometimes even of Odin), and was used in the
epithets _tý-hraustr_ for a very brave man, and _tý-spakr_ for a clever
one.
Still more uncertain is the question how far such deities as Heimdall,
the wakeful warder of the gods, Bragi, the special god of poetry,
and some others, really held a place in ordinary religious belief
as distinct from the myth-creating fancy of the poets. Even such a
striking mythological figure as the peace-maker Baldr, the most
beautiful and lovable of all the gods, is strikingly ignored in all
historical references to the old worship (the statements in Frithjof's
saga being of no value in this respect). This is also the case with
nearly all the goddesses, not excepting Frigg herself, the wife of
Odin, the mother of Baldr, and the highest of them all, according
to Snorri. It would appear, however, that Frigg had to some extent
retired into the background before another goddess Freyja, the sister
of Frey. We have already seen that when the days of the week received
their Germanic names it was Frigg who was equated with the Roman Venus;
but in the Scandinavian mythology it is Freyja, not Frigg, who is
the goddess of love. Snorri describes Freyja as riding in a chariot
drawn by two cats, 'and wheresoever she rides to battle, she has half
the slain and Odin the other half.' This association of Freyja with
Odin, which seems to imply that Frigg was almost on the point of being
displaced by a rival goddess, also appears in the verse for which
Hjalti Skeggjason was found guilty of blasphemy. It is implied, too, in
a passage in Egil's saga, in which Thorgerd is represented as saying,
'I have had no supper, and will have none, until I come to Freyja. I
know no better counsel for myself than my father's: I will not live
after my father and brother.' The fact, too, that in the mythical sagas
Freyja is almost the only goddess mentioned, indicates that her name
had been remembered as one of special note in the old religion.
To their chief deities the ancient Scandinavians gave the general
name of _goð_ (equivalent to the English _god_), or _æsir_ (plural of
_áss_). Both of these appellations were in common use as the first
element in personal names, such as _Goðmundr_ (later _Guð-_) or
_Ásmundr_. In the Edda, however, the _æsir_ are distinguished from
another race of gods, the _vanir_, to whom Njörd and Frey belonged.
Whether this distinction had any bearing on the popular religion does
not appear. Other names which occur in the poetic or mythological
sources are _regin_ or _rögn_, denoting their decisive or guiding
powers, and _bönd_ or _höpt_, which imply a binding or constraining
might; the goddesses are usually known by the name of _ásynjur_. The
Edda speaks of twelve chief gods, but it may be doubted whether the
number was ever definitely fixed, or that it was uniform in all parts
of Scandinavia.
In addition to the greater gods various supernatural powers were
recognised by the Scandinavians as having influence for good or evil
upon human fortunes, and to some extent at least worship was paid to
these. This is clearest in the case of the _dísir_, female guardian
spirits of individuals or families, to whom formal sacrifice was made
under the name of _dísablót_. It is less certain that the belief in
the _nornir_, or Fates, usually thought of as three sisters, can
properly be regarded as belonging to religion, though its influence was
evidently a powerful one. A belief in the _valkyrjur_, or war-maidens,
who were present at battles and sometimes appeared to the combatants,
naturally connects itself with the cult of Odin, but here also the
evidence for a religious feeling accompanying the belief is lacking.
It is not quite clear what place is to be assigned to the _landvættir_,
who were supposed to watch over and protect various parts of the
country, and whose presence and favour were reckoned to be of so much
importance, that the old heathen law of Iceland (framed about 930)
began with a provision relating to them. It enacted that 'men should
not have ships with heads on them, or if they did, they should take
them off before they came in sight of land, and not approach the shore
with gaping heads or yawning snouts by which the _landvættir_ might
be scared.' When Egil was incensed against King Eirík of Norway, he
set up a _níðstöng_, or insulting post, and declared that he directed
it not only against the king and queen, but also against 'those
_landvættir_ who inhabit this land, that they may all go astray and
none of them find his home, until they drive Eirík and Gunnhild out of
the country.' Of the son of a settler in the south-west of Iceland it
is said that second-sighted men saw the _landvættir_ accompany him when
he went to the assembly, while they followed his brothers in hunting or
fishing. The _landvættir_ were also credited with having appeared to a
wizard whom the Danish king sent to Iceland about 980, and with having
prevented him from landing on its shores. In view of all this, it is
extremely probable that these supposed beings may have been actually
worshipped, but of this there is no positive evidence.
A somewhat mysterious place among the minor deities is held by two
sisters named Thorgerd and Irpa, the former of whom also bears the
epithet of _Hölgabrúðr_, apparently meaning 'Hölgi's bride.' All that
is known of these is that they are alleged to have been worshipped by
Earl Hákon of Norway, in the latter half of the tenth century. It is
not improbable that their worship may have been confined to that part
of Norway (in Thrandheim) in which Hákon lived, or that they were
_dísir_ connected with the family to which he belonged. In the very
legendary account of the battle which Hákon fought against the vikings
of Jómsborg in 985, it is told that when he found the battle going
against him 'he called upon his confidant Thorgerd, but she was angry
with him and would not hear him.' It was only when propitiated by the
sacrifice of Hákon's own son that she consented to aid him. She and
her sister Irpa were then seen by second-sighted men fighting on the
earl's side. The great reverence which the earl was believed to have
felt for the sisters also appears strongly in the accounts relating to
the images of them which he had in his temples; to that of Thorgerd he
prostrated himself in prayer and made offerings of silver.
Among the Scandinavians, as among other branches of the Aryan race, the
practice of hero-worship appears to have been known. Adam of Bremen
records it as occurring among the Swedes, who in the life of St.
Ansgar are also said to have paid divine honours to one of their kings
(Erik), assigning to him a temple and special priests. In Norway it is
mentioned that offerings were made on the grave-mound of Olaf, at one
time king in Vestfold; and probably some kind of religious feeling
towards the deceased person is implied in the worship of grave-mounds,
which was sufficiently prevalent to be specially forbidden in the early
Christian law of Norway. One of the early settlers in the Færöes, Grím
Kamban, is also said to have been worshipped after his death on account
of his popularity.
Not only human beings, but even animals, were perhaps occasionally
worshipped by individuals. An old tradition related that a King Ögvald,
in the west of Norway, chiefly worshipped a cow, and took it about with
him wherever he went; and at a later and more historical date Hárek
of Rein is said to have worshipped an ox. When Floki set out to look
for Iceland he sacrificed to three ravens, which he then took on board
with him that they might show him the way. It may also be noted that,
if a very curious legend can be depended on, there were even traces of
phallic worship in Norway as late as the days of Olaf the Saint (about
1020).
An old account of the heathen period in Gotland (off the eastern coast
of Sweden) begins with the words, 'before that time and long after men
believed in groves and grave-mounds, holy places and enclosures, and in
the heathen gods.' The prominence here given to sacred places appears
to be in accordance with the facts recorded elsewhere. In the early
Christian law of Norway, for example, cairns (_hörgar_) as objects of
worship are condemned along with grave-mounds, and sacred cairns are
also named in some Icelandic sources. In these also a single stone is
sometimes mentioned as being worshipped, the most notable instance
being that in _Kristni Saga_, where it is said, 'At Giljá,' in the
north of Iceland, 'stood the stone that the family had worshipped, and
alleged that their _ár_-man lived in it. Codran declared that he would
not be baptized until he knew which was the more powerful, the bishop
or the _ár_-man in the stone. The bishop then went to the stone, and
chanted over it till it broke asunder. Then Codran considered that the
_ár_-man was vanquished.' (The precise meaning of '_ár_-man' here is
uncertain: usually the word means 'steward,' but in this case it may
be derived from _ár_ in the sense of good or plentiful years.) Of an
Icelandic settler in the tenth century it is also told that he 'took
Flateydale up to the War-stones (_Gunnsteinar_), and worshipped them.'
Close beside him was another settler who worshipped a grove, while one
in another part of the island, who is described as a great sacrificer,
paid his devotions to a waterfall, into which all remains of food were
thrown.
In connection with this worship of natural objects may be noticed the
curious belief in Iceland that certain families passed after death
into hills or hillocks in their district. This is told, for example,
of Thorolf who settled Thorsness and had great reverence for the hill
there: 'He called it Holy-fell, and believed that he would go there
when he died, and all his kinsmen on the ness.' Even the kinsmen of
Aud, who was a Christian, had great religious faith in some hillocks on
which she had erected crosses: 'They believed that they should die into
these hillocks, and Thord Gellir was led into them before his sons took
their place among men, as is told in his saga.'
CHAPTER III
TEMPLES AND IMAGES
In common with other peoples, the ancient Scandinavians erected special
buildings in which to worship their gods, and in which their images
were placed. These temples (called _hof_, _goða-hof_, _goða-hús_, and
_blót-hús_) must not be thought of as in any way comparable to those
erected by the more cultured Aryan races, such as the Greeks and
Romans. It is true that Adam of Bremen describes that at Upsala in
Sweden, which he calls _nobilissimum templum_, as being 'all of gold,'
while a note to the passage says that it was surrounded by 'a golden
chain hanging on the pinnacles of the building, and seen glittering
afar by those who approach the place'; but it is very doubtful how far
this description is trustworthy. In any case the Upsala temple would
naturally be much superior to those in less central localities; from
other indications it appears to have been specially well endowed with
landed and other property. Unfortunately there is no evidence from
which any general idea of the heathen temples in Sweden and Denmark
can be obtained. In Norway they were, like the ordinary houses,
constructed of timber, and in many cases were probably of small size
and insignificant appearance. Mention has already been made of the
temple of Thor in the island of Mostr, which Thorolf took down and
carried off to Iceland when he went to settle there. The same thing is
told of Thorhadd, who was priest at Mærin in Thrandheim; he also took
down the temple, and carried with him the temple-mould and the chief
pillars. Some of the buildings, no doubt, may have been more imposing,
and even to some extent furnished with costly ornaments. When Olaf
Tryggvason gave orders to burn down Earl Hákon's temple at Hladir, 'he
made them take all the treasure and ornaments out of the temple and
off the images of the gods.' A large gold ring was also removed from
the temple door, but it afterwards proved to be only brass internally.
It may also be noted that various accounts of temples speak of them as
being lighted by glass windows 'so that there was no shadow anywhere
in them.' Beside the great temple at Upsala there was a sacred grove,
and the evidence of place-names shows that similar groves existed
elsewhere in Sweden and Denmark: as regards Norway and Iceland there is
no positive information on this head.
Of the temple which Thorolf erected at his Icelandic home on Thorsness
an interesting description is given in _Eyrbyggja Saga_, which is
thus the chief source for what knowledge we have on the subject. It
is described as a great house, with doors on the side-walls, nearer
to one end of it than the other. In from these doors stood the chief
pillars, and in these there were nails, which were known by the name
of _regin_-nails (_regin_ was one of the names for the gods, but its
precise meaning here is not certain). The part of the building lying
inward from these pillars was a great sanctuary. At the inner end there
was a smaller building 'of the same form as the choir in churches is
now'; and here, in the middle of the floor, stood a pedestal of the
nature of an altar. On this lay a ring weighing two ounces, on which
all oaths had to be sworn. It was the duty of the temple-priest to
wear this ring on his hand at all assemblies. On the pedestal stood
also the sacrificial bowl (_hlaut-bolli_), and in this were placed the
sacrificial twigs (_hlaut-teinar_), by means of which the blood of
the sacrifice (_hlaut-blóð_) was sprinkled upon those present at the
ceremony. 'This was the blood from those animals that were offered to
the gods.' Round about this altar the images of the gods were arranged.
All those living in the district had to pay toll to the temple, and
were bound to attend the temple-priest on all expeditions, 'as thingmen
are now bound to attend their chiefs.' On the other hand, the priest
had to keep up the temple and not allow it to fall into decay, and to
hold in it the sacrificial feasts.
In the late and fictitious _Kjalnesinga Saga_ there is given a similar
description of a temple, which may possibly have some basis in local
tradition. It is described as having been a hundred and twenty feet
long, and sixty broad. At the inner end was a circular annex, the shape
of which suggested a cap or hood; this had windows, and was hung with
tapestry. Thor was the chief god there, and stood in the middle, with
the other gods on each side of him. In front of them was an altar with
an iron plate on the top, on which a fire was kept constantly burning:
'they called that hallowed fire.' The silver ring on which oaths were
sworn, and the bowl for the sacrificial blood, are also mentioned, but
the account of them may be derived from the passage in _Eyrbyggja
Saga_ already quoted.
In a much more reliable source, _Landnámabók_, there occurs the
following passage relating to the ring and its use. 'A ring of two
ounces or more in weight had to lie on the altar in each chief temple.
Each priest had to wear the ring on his arm at all assemblies over
which he himself presided, having previously reddened it in the blood
of the animal which he himself had sacrificed there. Every man who
required to do legal business at a law court had first to take an oath
on that ring, and name two or more witnesses. "I name [M. and N.]
witnesses herein," he had to say, "that I take an oath on the ring,
a lawful oath,--so help me Frey and Njörd and the Almighty God, as I
shall pursue (or defend) this suit, or bear witness, or give verdict
or judgment, according to what I know to be most right and true and
in accordance with the law."' In general agreement with this is the
account given in _Víga-Glúms Saga_: 'That man who was to take a
temple-oath took in his hand a silver ring which was reddened in the
blood of the sacrificed ox, and which had to weigh not less than three
ounces.' In taking the oath, Glúm is represented as using the words, 'I
take a temple-oath on the ring, and I say to the god,' etc.; here the
names of Frey and Njörd are omitted.[4]
While Iceland was being colonised from Norway, the place and number
of the temples would depend on the religious zeal of the settlers in
the various districts, but when a fixed constitution was adopted in
the year 930 special regulations were made with reference to this.
'The land was divided into quarters, and there were to be three
places of assembly in each quarter, and three chief temples in each
assembly-district. Men who were noted for intelligence and just dealing
were selected to have charge of the temples; these had to appoint the
law-courts at the assemblies, and to superintend the legal proceedings
there. Each man had to give toll to the temple, as they now give
toll to the church.' References to the payment of this tax are not
infrequent in the sagas, and one of the results of the preaching of
Christianity by Thorvald and Bishop Frederic in 981-985 was that in the
north of Iceland 'many men abandoned sacrifices and broke their idols,
and some would not pay the temple-tax.' We also meet with such remarks
as, 'the men of Geitland had to maintain half of the temple along
with Tungu-Odd.' The chief temples were thus legally endowed religious
buildings, but it would appear that there were others which were the
private property of individuals, and no doubt many of those which
were entitled to legal support were originally erected by the more
prominent of the settlers. An interesting case of temple endowment is
that recorded of Grím Geitskor, who travelled over all Iceland to find
the most suitable spot for holding the yearly assembly. For his trouble
he received a 'penny' from every man in the island, and this money he
gave to the temples. One of the early settlers in the east of Iceland
is recorded as having taken formal possession of an unoccupied piece of
land for the behoof of a temple which he had built there.
As has already been mentioned, the inner part of the temple was more
particularly the sacred place, where stood the altar and the images of
the gods. The main part of the building served as a kind of hall, in
which were held the entertainments which followed upon the sacrifices,
and at which the flesh of the slain animals was eaten. As in the
ordinary halls, there were fires in the middle of the floor and seats
down each side. In some of the sagas dealing with prehistoric times in
Sweden mention is made of a _dísar-sal_ (in connection with the worship
of the _dísir_: see p. 33). What relation this had to the usual temple
is not clear: it has been supposed to be no more than another name for
the temple-hall, but this is not at all certain.
The temple being a holy place, there were naturally certain
restrictions attached to it, of which a prominent one was that no
weapons were to be taken inside it. This is clearly illustrated by an
incident in _Vatnsdæla Saga_, where Ingimund enters the temple first,
and Hrafn the Norwegian follows him, wearing his sword. Then Ingimund
turned to him, and said, 'It is not the custom to carry weapons in the
temple, and you will come under the wrath of the gods unless you make
amends for it.' When Olaf Tryggvason entered the temple of Mærin in
Thrandheim, he carried a gold-mounted staff, but his own men and those
belonging to the district were weaponless.
Another offence which is frequently mentioned is that of slaying a
man in a holy place; in this connection, however, the regular word
used is not _hof_ but _vé_, which has a more general meaning. One who
committed this offence incurred the penalty of outlawry, and was
designated by the name of _vargr í véum_, 'wolf in holy places.' The
same view of bloodshed as a crime against the sanctity of a holy place
is illustrated in the cases of Thorsness and Stödvar-firth in Iceland,
where the killing of anything was forbidden. In the case of Thorsness
it was decided, after a battle had taken place there, that it was
defiled by the blood that had fallen on it, and 'was now no more holy
than other places.'
Along with the timber-buildings known as _hof_, there is frequent
mention, both in the historical and legendary sources, of other sacred
places called _hörgar_. In its simplest form the _hörg_ was evidently a
kind of stone-altar or sacrificial cairn standing in the open air; in
modern Norwegian and Icelandic the word is applied to a mountain-top.
This is most clearly indicated by the words of _Hyndlu-ljóð_, where
Freyja says of Ottar, 'He made me a _hörg_, piled up with stones; now
these stones are turned to glass. He reddened it in the fresh blood
of oxen. Ottar always believed in the goddesses.' In contrast to the
burning of temples, the usual expression for the destroying of _hörgar_
is 'breaking,' which also indicates a structure of stones. In some
cases, however, the name of _hörg_ seems to be applied to something
more approaching the nature of the _hof_; this not only appears to be
implied in the use of 'timbered,' which occurs in at least two poetic
passages, but is also suggested by the wording of the old Norwegian
law, 'if a man raises a mound (_haug_), or makes a house, and calls
it a _hörg_,' etc. The stone altars or cairns would naturally be more
primitive places of worship than the temples, but they continued in use
along with these down to the disappearance of the old religion. The
altar in the temple, indeed, was no doubt the representative of the
earlier and ruder one in the open air, for both are spoken of as being
'reddened' with the blood of the sacrifice.
It has been already made clear that the gods worshipped were
represented in the temples by images, which in the historical accounts
are called by the names of _líkneski_ ('likeness') and _skurð-goð_
('carved gods,' probably an epithet applied by Christians). The
description given by Adam of Bremen of those which stood in the temple
at Upsala has already been quoted (p. 4); here it is only necessary to
add that in no other writing of historical value is there any mention
of an image of Odin. With Thor the case is very different. Another
image of this deity is mentioned by Adam himself, who relates that
about the year 1030 an English missionary in Sweden found it standing
in the assembly-place of the heathens. In his religious zeal he smashed
it with an axe, and was at once put to death by the angry worshippers.
Images of Thor are also frequently referred to in the Icelandic sagas.
In the year 998, when King Olaf Tryggvason was christianising Norway,
he entered the temple at Mærin in Thrandheim, 'and when the king came
where the gods were, there sat Thor, adorned with gold and silver, and
was most honoured of all the gods.' In the fullest account of this
incident it is stated that the image was seated in a splendid chariot,
to which were harnessed two goats beautifully carved out of wood; both
chariot and goats were on wheels, and the cords attached to the goats'
horns were of silver. Thor in his chariot is also mentioned as one of
the images in the temple belonging to Earl Hákon and Gudbrand in the
Dales, which is described in _Njál's Saga_. There is no mention of the
chariot, however, in the account of this image given in connection
with King Olaf's visit to the Dales in 1021. There it is said to have
been 'of great stature, and hollow inside, with the hammer in his
hand; under him there is a kind of pedestal or platform, on which he
stands when he is outside; and on him there is no lack of gold and
silver.' This image was carried out to the place where the people of
the district held their meeting with Olaf, and those already assembled
there paid homage to it. It was set down in the middle of the ground,
and on one side of it sat the heathens, and on the other the king and
his followers. It is also related that at the battle of Svöldr in the
year 1000, Earl Eirík had an image of Thor in the prow of his ship,
but threw it aside and put a cross in its place when he found his men
unable to board Olaf Tryggvason's vessel.
Mention has already been made (pp. 7-8) of the likeness of Thor carved
on the chief pillars of the temple in Mostr, and no doubt similar
representations of the god were not uncommon. In that part of the story
of Thormod the poet which takes place in Greenland, about 1027, a large
chair is described as having on its back an image of Thor with his
hammer.
That some at least of the other gods were similarly represented in the
temples may be assumed as beyond doubt, but the evidence on this point
is very scanty. It seems likely that there was an image of Frey at
Thrandheim, and it is highly probable that this god would be largely
figured in Sweden, although the texts in which there is mention of
this are of a very legendary character. It is doubtful, also, whether
any reliance can be placed on the passage in _Droplaugarsona Saga_,
which describes Frey and Thor as sitting on the lower bench in a
temple, while Frigg and Freyja occupied the higher. More historical,
perhaps, is the image of Frey which ornamented the talisman given by
King Harald to Ingimund (p. 25).
In the traditions connected with Earl Hákon there are several
references to an image of Thorgerd. The earl is related to have taken
Sigmund Brestisson to a secluded building in the forest, in which
there were 'a number of gods.' At the inner end of the house was the
image of a woman splendidly dressed. What follows is of a legendary
character, but the building and image appear again in the story of Olaf
Tryggvason, who not only stripped Thorgerd of all her 'gold and silver
and good clothes,' but dragged the image at a horse's tail, knocked
it to pieces with a club, and finally burned it along with that of
Frey. In _Njál's Saga_, Earl Hákon and Gudbrand are said to have had
a great temple in the Dales in which there were images of Thorgerd
and Irpa; the former was as tall as a full-grown man, and had a large
gold ring on her arm and a hood on her head. These accounts may have
a foundation in fact, but that given in _Harðar Saga_ of a temple in
Iceland with an image of Thorgerd is probably mere invention, perhaps
an echo of the passage in _Njál's Saga_.
CHAPTER IV
CEREMONIES AND MINISTERS OF RELIGION
With regard to the rites of the old Scandinavian religion a
considerable amount of information has been preserved, although mainly
relating to one part of the subject, the offering of sacrifice. It is
clear that this was the central feature in the worship of the gods, and
the great means towards propitiating their favour or averting their
displeasure. Hence the verb _blóta_, which was the distinctive word for
worshipping the heathen gods, very frequently (if not usually) implies
the accompaniment of sacrifice; and the noun _blót_ similarly means
either the act of worship or that of sacrifice. In the case of the
verb, the object of worship stands in the accusative case, the thing
sacrificed in the dative, the original sense being 'to worship (the
gods) with something.' In this killing of living things as an offering
to the divine powers lay one of the most obvious differences between
the old religion and the new, and it is consequently one which holds
a prominent place in the accounts of the struggle between heathenism
and Christianity. One of the first objects aimed at by the kings who
adopted the new faith was the suppression of the practice in every
form, while the adherents of the old religion clung to it tenaciously
as long as they could. Even after Christianity was the established
religion of Norway, it was still thought necessary to remind the
people that all _blót_ were forbidden, whether to 'the heathen gods,
mounds, or sacred cairns.' Here and in other passages where the word is
similarly employed, it may be assumed that sacrifices are to be thought
of as an essential part of the heathen worship.
Sacrifice might be offered either by individuals on their own account,
or by some prominent man on behalf of the community. It was, indeed,
the duty of the latter to 'keep up the sacrifices,' on which the public
peace and prosperity were believed largely to depend. The king as head
of his people was especially bound to maintain this religious rite,
and the adoption of Christianity by the Norwegian kings naturally
brought them into direct collision with the national feeling on this
point. When King Hákon in 952 proposed that his subjects should worship
Christ, give up the heathen gods and the sacrifices to them, and keep
holy each seventh day, he was met by the reply that they desired him
rather to follow the custom of his father, and 'sacrifice for peace
and plenty to them.' On the other hand, the importance attached to the
practice by the more religious among the people is shown in the case of
Loft the Old, who emigrated to Iceland from Gaular in Norway. He 'went
abroad every third summer on his own account and that of his uncle
Flosi, to sacrifice at that temple in Gaular of which his mother's
father, Thorbjörn, had been the custodian.'
The extent to which the common people shared in the expense attendant
on such sacrifices seems to have varied according to circumstances. In
some cases the offering was a collective one; in others some great man
showed his wealth and munificence by providing it entirely from his
own resources. Probably the latter course was somewhat exceptional, as
Snorri says of Earl Sigurd, that 'he did a thing that was widely famed:
he made a great sacrificial feast at Hladir, and stood all the expense
of it himself.' This he confirms by citing a verse from a poem in
praise of Sigurd, composed by the Icelandic poet Kormak. Otherwise, he
states, 'it was the old custom, when there was to be a sacrifice, that
all the householders should come to the place where the temple was,
and bring there the provisions they would require while the festival
lasted.' According to Adam of Bremen, too, the great festival which was
celebrated every nine years at Upsala was maintained by contributions
from the whole Swedish people, and attendance at it was compulsory;
even those who had adopted Christianity were only exempted on payment
of a fine. The national character of the festival is also certified by
Snorri, who calls it the 'chief _blót_,' and says it was held to obtain
peace and victory for the Swedish king.
The actual sacrifice consisted in the killing of various animals,
usually oxen, horses, sheep, or swine, but on special occasions even
human beings were offered to the gods. At the great Upsala festival,
according to Adam's account, nine male animals of each kind were
offered, as well as men; and a Christian eye-witness reported having
seen seventy-two carcases of slaughtered men and beasts (dogs and
horses) suspended together from the trees of the sacred grove adjoining
the temple. Whether this custom of hanging up the bodies of the
offerings was practised elsewhere in Scandinavia is unknown, but the
connection between Odin and death by hanging makes it probable that
it was more widely known than appears. In Denmark also human victims
were offered along with animals; according to Thietmar's chronicle the
great gathering in this country took place at Lejre (near Roskilde in
Sjælland) every nine years, in the month of January. The sacrifice
here consisted of ninety-nine men and as many horses, dogs, and cocks
(the latter being offered in place of hawks). How the victims were
selected or obtained is not stated; but it is probable that they were
usually captives taken in war, criminals, or thralls. In Sweden,
indeed, strangers appear to have run some risk of being selected as
victims; in 997 the Icelandic poet Hallfred nearly met with this fate.
In early times, however, the Swedes were credited with having burned
one of their kings in his own house as an offering to Odin, in order
to dispel a famine which they believed was due to his slackness in
maintaining the sacrifices. One of the early kings was also reported
to have offered up nine of his sons in succession to Odin, to obtain
long life for himself. In an account of the heathen period in the
isle of Gotland, which is given in _Guta Saga_, it is said that 'they
sacrificed their sons and daughters and their cattle. All the land
had its highest sacrifices with folk (=human beings), as also had each
third (of the country) by itself; but the smaller districts had lesser
sacrifices with cattle.'
In Norway and Iceland human sacrifices appear to have been more
exceptional, and only resorted to in extreme cases. The usual nature
of the victims is clearly indicated by the words assigned to King
Olaf Tryggvason in 998, when he found his subjects obstinate in their
determination to hold the midsummer _blót_. He then threatened 'to
make it the greatest kind of sacrifice that is in use, and offer up
men; and I will not choose thralls or criminals, but will select the
most distinguished men to give to the gods.' At the very crisis of the
conflict between paganism and Christianity in Iceland, in the year
1000, the adherents of the old religion resolved to sacrifice two men
out of each quarter, and 'called upon the heathen gods not to let
Christianity overrun the country.' Then Hjalti and Gizur held a meeting
of the Christians, and said that they would also make an offering of
as many men. 'The heathens,' they said, 'sacrifice the worst men, and
cast them over rocks or cliffs; but we shall choose the best men, and
call it a gift for victory to our Lord Jesus Christ.' Various methods
appear to have been in use besides that mentioned here; at Thorsness,
in the west of Iceland, tradition long pointed out the 'doom-ring,'
in which men had been adjudged for sacrifice, and the stone within
it--called _Thor's stone_--on which they were killed by being broken,
'and the stain of blood is still to be seen on it.' Another source
speaks of human victims as having been sunk in a fen close to the
temple on Kjalarness, which is supported by Adam of Bremen's statement
that near the temple of Upsala was a fountain in which 'a living man'
was immersed. A 'sacrificial pit' is also mentioned in _Vatnsdæla
Saga_, where one Thorolf was believed to sacrifice both men and
cattle. That in exceptional cases the victim may have been of higher
standing than the thrall or criminal is possible enough; as late as
985 Earl Hákon in Norway is credited with having given his young son
as an offering to Thorgerd, when he prayed to her for victory over the
vikings of Jómsborg. In other cases, such as that of Hallstein, who
'gave his son to Thor' in order that the god might send him pillars
for his house, the language is ambiguous, and may imply dedication
rather than sacrifice. When the sacrifice consisted of animals which
might be used for human food, it was apparently only the blood which
was regarded as belonging to the gods. To this was given the name of
_hlaut_, and it has already been stated (p. 41) that special bowls
were kept to receive it in. It was then smeared or sprinkled by means
of twigs, not only upon the altars and the walls of the temples (both
outside and in), but also upon the assembled people. The flesh was
then boiled in large pots over the fires which burned in the middle of
the temple, and was eaten by the worshippers, after being consecrated
by the chief man present. A prominent feature, at least of the more
important festivals, was the use of horse-flesh for this purpose--a
practice so intimately associated with heathenism that its abandonment
was strictly prescribed to those who accepted Christianity. This
appears in the strongest light in the case of Hákon the Good, who was
finally forced to appease his heathen subjects by eating some pieces
of horse-liver. In Iceland, however, it was permitted for a few years
after the new faith was publicly adopted.
When the drinking began, the horns of ale were carried round the fire
and solemnly dedicated to various gods. The first _full_ or toast was
assigned to Odin (see p. 18), and was drunk to obtain victory and power
for the king. Next came that of Njörd and Frey, for peace and plenty.
'After that it was the custom of many to drink Bragi's _full_. Men
also drank to those of their kinsmen who had been famous, and that was
called _minni_.' It is possible that this account may be imperfect
or inexact, as another passage mentions Thor as well as Odin in this
connection. This is a story of how St. Martin appeared in a dream to
King Olaf Tryggvason, and said to him: 'It has been the custom of men
in this country, as well as elsewhere among heathen people, that ale
is given to Thor and Odin, and toasts are assigned to the Æsir, when
there is drinking or feasting in common.' The saint then suggests that
in place of the old gods Olaf should substitute Martin himself, along
with God and His saints. This was actually what took place in Norway
and Iceland, a fact which shows how strong a hold on popular feeling
the practice must have had. In the early Christian law of Norway it
was enjoined that ale was to be brewed for certain festivals, such
as All Hallowmas and Christmas, 'and that ale shall be consecrated
to Christ and Saint Mary _for peace and plenty_.' Omission to do so
was punishable by a fine to the bishop. In place of drinking to the
heathen gods and their departed kinsmen, men now drank the _minni_
of Christ, of Mary, of St. Martin, St. Olaf, or other saints, and
even of the Holy Ghost, and this practice continued to be observed at
wedding-feasts in Iceland as late as the seventeenth century.
The great festivals took place especially at three seasons in the
year. One of these was at the close of autumn (about the middle of
October) 'to greet the winter.' At mid-winter came the festival of
Yule (_Jól_ or _Júl_), originally held in the middle of January,
but afterwards altered to correspond with Christmas. The third was
held at the end of the winter (about the middle of April) 'to greet
the summer.' The precise time of each, however, may have varied
in different parts of Scandinavia; Adam of Bremen, for instance,
represents the great Upsala festival as taking place about the spring
equinox, while Snorri places it a little earlier. As late as 1020
these three festivals were still kept up by the majority of the
inhabitants in the district of Thrandheim in Norway, and must have been
maintained in Sweden for nearly a century later. The return which the
worshippers hoped to obtain from the gods for the sacrifices offered
was mainly good seasons, abundant crops, peaceful times, and victory
in war if it arose. To some extent each festival appears to have had
a special object, but the statements on this point are not quite in
agreement with each other. No doubt the desires of the worshippers
were expressed in formal prayers offered up by the one who presided
over the sacrifices, but no specimen of these has been preserved. Adam
of Bremen asserts that in the sacrifices at Upsala use was made of
many incantations of an odious character, but of the precise nature
of these there is no indication. The drinking of the various toasts
was certainly accompanied by formal speeches, of which those used in
Iceland at a later date are probably the Christianised representatives.
It is noteworthy that in most of the references to these great
religious festivals there is no statement that the sacrifices were
offered to any particular deity, the usual expression being simply
'to sacrifice for peace,' etc., or 'to the gods.' The same vagueness
sometimes appears when more private offerings are mentioned; it is
simply said that the person 'performed a great sacrifice.' It may
naturally be assumed, however, that the deity appealed to would vary
according to the boon desired, or the preferences of the worshipper.
Adam of Bremen, in fact, states that in event of pestilence or famine
the offering was made to Thor; in case of war it was given to Odin;
while Frey was the recipient on the occasion of a wedding. The Swedes
are also said to have sacrificed to Frey for peace and plenty, and
Thorgrim in Iceland honoured the same god at the beginning of winter
(p. 26). Earl Hákon's sacrifice to Odin has already been mentioned (p.
16), and is in agreement with Adam of Bremen's statement.
Among the ancient Scandinavians there was no distinct priestly caste.
The duty of presiding over religious ceremonies, and of acting as
custodian of sacred places, was attached to persons who had also
temporal authority of a more or less extensive nature. Highest of all
stood the king, on whose attitude towards the gods and their worship
the prosperity of his people was believed largely to depend. Next to
him came the earls, who in this as in other respects acted as the
representatives of the king. Among the titles of honour given by the
poets to both kings and earls are those of 'ruler' or 'guardian' of
sanctuaries. Finally each district had its recognised religious head
in one or other of its most prominent men, whose power as a chief was
naturally augmented in no slight degree by his position as priest.
The holder of this double office appears in the Icelandic writings
under the name of _goði_ (also _hof-goði_), a derivative of _goð_
'god(s)'; it may be assumed that the name was also known in Norway,
and its existence in Denmark is certified by its occurrence in Runic
inscriptions. The sagas contain numerous references to these priestly
chiefs, who are sometimes named after the god whom they specially
worshipped (as _Freys-goði_), sometimes after the place where they
resided (as _Tungu-goði_), or after those whose religious head they
were (as _Ljósvetninga-goði_). By the older constitution of Iceland
the number of recognised _goðar_ was thirty-nine, distributed pretty
equally in the various parts of the island. The office itself was, at
least in Iceland, known by the name of _goð-orð_, and was regarded
as an item of personal property, which might even be shared by more
than one person, so that we find such statements as 'he had a third of
the _goð-orð_ with Thorgeir.' The right to the office was hereditary,
and could also be transferred by one person to another, and this
was frequently done, especially when the rightful holder was to be
absent from the country for a time. In one case the claimant to a
_goð-orð_ is described as performing a ceremony which may have been a
usual accompaniment of such transference. He 'said, "we shall redden
ourselves in the _goði's_ blood in the old fashion," and killed a ram,
in the blood of which he reddened his hands, and claimed Arnstein's
_goð-orð_.' The _goði_ being as much a chief as a priest, the name did
not disappear with the adoption of Christianity into Iceland, though
it naturally lost its religious associations and thenceforward denoted
only the recognised leader in the various districts of the island.
It appears also that women to some extent acted as priestesses, and in
Iceland, at least, these were designated by the name of _gyðja_, or
_hof-gyðja_, a feminine form corresponding to _goði_ and _hof-goði_.
In one passage where a Thord _Freys-goði_ is spoken of, a female
relative of his is also mentioned as being _hof-gyðja_. When the
missionary Thorvald was preaching Christianity at Hvamm in the west of
Iceland about 984, a certain Fridgerd 'was meanwhile in the temple and
performed sacrifice, and each of them could hear the other's words';
then Thorvald made a verse in which he gives the name of _gyðja_ to
Fridgerd. Other women are also mentioned with this appellation, but
the precise place of the priestess, and her relation to the priest,
remains somewhat obscure.
That the public worship of the gods was thus in the hands of the most
prominent men in the community, and not merely of a separate priestly
class, indicates that the Scandinavian peoples as a whole were really
interested in their religion. This is also shown by the thoroughly
popular character of the great sacrificial feasts. In earlier times it
is probable that the belief in the native gods was strong even to a
degree of fanaticism, of which traces are still found in the historic
period, especially in Sweden and in the more northerly districts of
Norway. The words of Gudbrand already quoted (p. 10) no doubt express
a genuine religious attitude common to many worshippers of the Æsir,
and similar confessions of faith are to be met with in other accounts.
When King Hákon wished his subjects to adopt Christianity, 'and believe
in one God, Christ the son of Mary, and abandon all sacrifices and
the heathen gods,' there arose a great murmur in the assembly, and
the speaker who replied protested against the idea 'that we should
abandon that faith which our fathers have had before us ... and yet
this faith has served us well.' Instances have already been given of
the strong attachment which individuals had for certain gods, whom
they regarded as their dear and faithful friends, consulted them in all
their difficulties, and gave them joint-ownership of their possessions.
Others again were zealous in erecting temples and maintaining
sacrifices, such as Hall in Thorskafirth, who 'raised a great temple,
because Ulf,' the chief man of the district, 'was no sacrificer.' By
such men the encroachments of Christianity were naturally regarded
with resentment and dismay. At the Althing in Iceland in 996 it was
decided that any one blaspheming the gods should be prosecuted by a
near kinsman, and for one to be a Christian was reputed a disgrace to
all the kindred. Four years later, while the adoption of Christianity
was being debated at the Althing, a volcanic eruption was reported from
the neighbourhood, whereupon the heathens said, 'It is no wonder that
the gods are angry at such talk.' In 1020 the men of Thrandheim held
sacrifices after the old fashion, drinking to the gods, killing cattle
and horses, and reddening the altars with the blood; this was done
on account of a great dearth in that part of Norway, 'and it seemed
clear to all men that the gods were angry because they had turned to
Christianity.' So late as the twelfth century the people in some parts
of Sweden were still inclined to throw off such Christianity as they
had, and revert to the sacrificial rites of the old religion.
On the other hand, it is clear that even in the ninth and tenth
centuries the worship of the Æsir was gradually losing its hold.
Some of the early settlers in Iceland were either wholly or partly
Christian; among the latter were, for example, Helgi the Lean, who
believed in both Thor and Christ, and the kinsmen of the Hebridean
Örlyg, who 'believed in Columcille, though they were not baptized.' A
belief 'in their own might and strength' was all the faith that some
of the Scandinavians of this period would own to. Many who came into
intercourse with southern peoples accepted the _prima signatio_, or
first sign of adoption into the Christian Church. From at least the
beginning of the ninth century zealous missionary efforts were made by
the Church to supplant Thor and his hammer by Christ and the cross;
while, on the other hand, the Scandinavian religion, however strong
its hold upon its adherents, never succeeded in spreading beyond its
original limits. The combination of all these facts explains the
comparatively rapid manner in which the old faith finally succumbed
before the new, leaving behind it only the imperfect traces which have
been summed up in these pages, and a mythology which has a profound
interest of its own and is inextricably associated with the history of
Old Norwegian and Icelandic poetry.
SELECTED WORKS
The chief works in English in which information on ancient
Scandinavian mythology and religion may be found are the
following:--
G. VIGFUSSON and F. Y. POWELL.--_Corpus Poeticum Boreale; the Poetry
of the Old Northern Tongue._ 2 vols. Oxford, 1883.
B. THORPE.--_The Edda of Sæmund the Learned._ London, 1866.
G. W. DASENT.--_The Prose or Younger Edda._ Stockholm, 1842.
I. A. BLACKWELL.--_The Prose Edda_ (in Mallet's _Northern
Antiquities_).
R. B. ANDERSON.--_The Younger Edda; also called Snorre's Edda or the
Prose Edda._ Chicago, 1880.
R. B. ANDERSON.--_Norse Mythology; or the Religion of our
Forefathers._ Chicago, 1875.
C. F. KEARY.--_Mythology of the Eddas._ London, 1882.
(Miss) W. FARADAY.--_The Divine Mythology of the North._ London,
1902. (No. 12 of Nutt's _Popular Studies in Mythology_, etc.)
GRIMM'S _Teutonic Mythology_, translated by Stallybrass. 3 vols.
London, 1880-83.
RYDBERG'S _Teutonic Mythology_, translated by R. B. Anderson. London,
1889.
S. LAING.--_The Heimskringla, or Chronicle of the Kings of Norway._
London, 1844.
R. B. ANDERSON.--_Snorro's Heimskringla, or the Sagas of the Norse
Kings._ (Revised edition of the preceding.) London, 1889.
W. MORRIS and E. MAGNUSSON.--_The Heimskringla, or the Stories of
the Kings of Norway._ 4 vols. London, 1893-1906. (Vols. iii.-vi.
of the _Saga Library_.)
J. SEPHTON.--_The Saga of King Olaf Tryggwason._ London, 1895. (Vol
i. of Nutt's _Northern Library_.)
W. MORRIS and E. MAGNUSSON.--_The Eyrbiggia Saga._ London, 1892.
(Vol. ii. of the _Saga Library_.)
G. VIGFUSSON and F. Y. POWELL.--_Origines Islandicæ._ 2 vols.
Oxford, 1905.
MALLET'S _Northern Antiquities_. (Bohn's Library.) London, 1847.
P. DU CHAILLU.--_The Viking Age._ 2 vols. London, 1889.
Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the
Edinburgh University Press.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Based upon the Latin discourse _De correctione rusticorum_, by
Martin of Bracara, who died in 580.
[2] This discrepancy between the Roman and Scandinavian myths is also
noticed by Saxo Grammaticus.
[3] Compare the vow of Hallfred and his companions mentioned on p. 19.
[4] In the ceremony of entering into 'foster-brotherhood,' each person
swore to avenge the other, 'and named all the gods as witnesses.'
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
Page ii, period added (JUDAISM.)
Page 19, "Hjalfi" changed to "Hjalti" (verse by Hjalti Skeggjason)
Page 65, "_hofgoði_" changed to "_hof-goði_" (also _hof-goði_)
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