THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
The old Asa belief and Christianity—Clinging to the old faith—King
Hakon the Christian and the heathen bœndr—Mixture of the two
creeds—Hakon attempts to Christianize the people—Their
opposition—Performance of ancient rites in secret after the
introduction of Christianity—Sceptics—Adaptation of Christian
ideas to the old belief—Cruelty of the earlier Christian kings.
In the following accounts we see the struggle between Christianity and
the old Asa belief. Hakon, the foster-son of Athelstan, so named because
he had been fostered by that king in England, came back to Norway a
Christian, but his people clung to the old faith, and to strengthen
himself in the country he at first found it necessary to observe the
tenets of his religion in secret. He ordered the Yule-feast to be
celebrated at Christmas, and persuaded some of his best friends to adopt
Christianity.
“Hakon was a good Christian when he came to Norway; but as all the land
was heathen, and there were much sacrificing and many chiefs, and he
much needed the help and friendship of the people, he decided to conceal
his Christianity, and kept Sundays, and fasting on Fridays, and the
greatest festivals. He made it a law that the Yule should begin at the
same time as that of the Christians, and that every man should have a
certain measure of ale, or pay a fine, and keep the days holy while Yule
lasted. It formerly began on hökunótt (the midwinter-night), and it was
kept for three nights. He wanted to make the people Christians, when he
got established in the land and had fully subjected it to himself. He
sent to England for a bishop and other priests. When they came to
Norway, Hakon made known that he would try to Christianize the land”
(Hakon the Good’s Saga, c. 15; Fornmanna Sögur, 1).
“Wise men say that some of those who settled in Iceland had been
baptized, and that most of those who came from the West (British
Islands) had been baptized. Among them are named Helgi the Lean, Örlyg
the Old, Helgi Bjóla, Jörund the Christian, Aud the Deep-minded, Ketil,
and others who came from the West; and some of them kept Christianity
well till their death-day; but their families seldom preserved it, for
some of their sons raised temples and sacrificed, and all the land was
heathen for nearly one hundred winters” (Landnáma, v., c. 15).
Sigurd Thorisson, when a heathen, was accustomed to keep the three
feasts held during the year; he afterwards adapted them to the new
religion, which was destined finally to oust paganism.
“When he became a Christian he continued his custom with the feasts. He
then had in the autumn a great feast for his friends, and a Yule-feast
in the winter, and still invited many people; the third feast he had at
Easter-time (_Páskar_), and then also invited many. This he continued
while he lived” (St. Olaf’s Saga, 123).
But the struggle continued for some time, for the people were loth to
abandon the ancient faith, and Hakon was obliged, as king, to assist at
the sacrificial feast at the temple at Hladir. Sigurd jarl on one
occasion dedicated the first toast to Odin, and the king drank out of
the horn, first making the sign of the cross over it. One of those
present who watched him saw this, which displeased him very much;
whereupon we see by the answer of Sigurd that he tried to make the
people believe that it was Thor’s sign, from which we must conclude that
the two signs were very much alike.
The following day the bœndr, who wanted the king to observe the tenets
of the ancient belief, wished him to eat horseflesh, then to drink the
gravy, and finally to eat the fat; but as he would do none of these, he
had to “open his mouth over the handle of the kettle.” At the
_Frostathing_, Hakon made a speech, wherein he said he wanted the people
to be Christians and keep Sundays, which the bœndr did not like.
Asbjörn, a powerful bondi, answered thus:—
“‘When thou didst hold a _Thing_ the first time in Thrándheim, and we
had taken thee for king and got our odals, we thought we had grasped
heaven with our hands; now we do not know whether we have become free,
or thou wilt make us thralls again in a curious manner, as thou wantest
us to scorn the belief which our fathers and forefathers had before,
first in the _burning age_ and now in the _mound age_; many of them have
been much more eminent than we, but nevertheless this belief has been
good for us. We have loved thee highly, so that we have given thee with
us the rule of all laws and land-rights. Now it is our will and decision
to have and keep the laws which thou didst establish at the
_Frostathing_, and to which we then consented; we will all follow thee
and hold up thy kingship while any of the bœndr here at this _Thing_ are
alive, if thou, king, wilt show moderation and ask of us only what we
can grant thee, and what is not unfeasible. But if thou wilt go so far
in this matter as to deal with us by force and overbearing, we have all
of us determined to part from thee, and take another chief, that we may
be free to hold the belief we wish to have; now thou shalt make thy
choice, king, before the _Thing_ is closed.’ The bœndr cheered this
speech much, and said they wanted to have it as Asbjörn said; it was a
loud noise. Sigurd jarl said, when he got a hearing: ‘It is the will of
King Hakon to assent to all that the bœndr want, and never to part from
your friendship.’ The bœndr said they wanted the king to sacrifice for
good seasons and peace, as his father did. The grumbling ceased, and
they closed the _Thing_. Thereupon Sigurd spoke to the king, and told
him not to flatly refuse the wish of the bœndr, and that it would not do
to act otherwise, ‘for, as you have heard, it is the strong will of the
chiefs and all the people; but I will find some way out of the
difficulty.’ The king assented to this.
“In the autumn during the winter-nights there was a large
sacrificing-feast at Hladir, and thither came King Hakon. He had been
accustomed when he was present at sacrifices to take his meals in a
small house with few men. The bœndr complained that he did not sit in
his high-seat at such a great feast; the jarl told him to do it, and he
did it. When the first horn was filled, Sigurd jarl spoke and
consecrated it to Odin; he drank from it to the king; the king took it
and made a sign of the cross over it; then a man called Kár of Grýting
said: ‘Why does the king behave thus? Will he no longer worship[446] the
gods?’ Sigurd jarl answered: ‘The king acts like all others who believe
in their own strength and might; he signs his cups to Thor; he made a
hammer-sign over it before he drank it.’[447] That evening all was
quiet. Next day when they sat down at the tables the bœndr crowded
towards the king and asked him to eat flesh (horseflesh, another text);
the king would by no means do it. Then they asked him to drink the
broth, which he would not. Then they asked him to eat the grease [fat of
the soup; another text, the blood], and he would not. Thereupon they
were going to attack him. Sigurd tried to reconcile them, and asked the
bœndr to stop the tumult; he said the king was going to open his mouth
over the handle of the kettle where the steam of the horseflesh-broth
had made it greasy. The king went to it and wrapped a linen cloth round
the handle, and opened his mouth over it. Then he went to his seat, and
none of them, bœndr or king, liked it well” (Fornmanna Sögur, i., c. 22,
23).
“King Olaf went with his men after Yule to Thrándheim. Kjartan, Bolli
and Halfred Ottarsson were with him, and many Icelanders; and he had a
large and fine host. When he came to Mœri those chiefs of the Thrands
who were most opposed to Christianity were there, and with them all the
great bœndr who had before been accustomed to keep up the sacrifices
there; a great crowd was present, and, as had been agreed upon at the
Frostathing, a _Thing_ was summoned, and both parties went fully armed
to it. At first there was noise and tumult; but when it subsided, and a
hearing could be got, King Olaf bade the bœndr be christianized, as he
had done before. Járnskeggi (Iron-beard) answered on behalf of the bœndr
as before, and said: ‘Now, as before, king, we do not want thee to break
our laws; it is our will, king, that thou sacrificest like other kings
have done here in the country before thee and other chiefs of the
Thrands, Sigurd Hlada jarl, and Hakon jarl (the great), who before thee
was chief over the greater part of this country; he was a famous man on
account of his wisdom and bravery, though he had not king’s name; for
long his rule was very well liked, and he did not lose it through
preaching such lawlessness that no one should believe in the god he
liked; nor did his father. Hakon Adalsteinsfostri has been the only one
who brought this forward; the Thrands got bitter and threatened him if
he continued this, and after the persuading of Sigurd jarl and other
friends of his he thought right to give in to the bœndr; the only thing
that will do for thee is to act as we told thee before this winter, for
we have not changed our mind since about the belief.’ The bœndr cheered
loudly the speech of Skeggi, and said they wanted it all to be as he had
said. Then the king said: ‘I will do as we agreed to at the _Thing_ of
Frosta; I will now enter the temple, and see your proceedings and the
preparing of the sacrifice.’ The bœndr were well pleased, and went to
the temple. The king went in with a few of his men and some of the
bœndr. All who went in were unarmed; the king had a gold ornamented
staff in his hand. When they came into the temple there was no lack of
idols. Thor sat in the middle, and was most worshipped; he was tall, and
ornamented all over with gold and silver. The king raised the staff and
struck Thor so that he fell down from the altar and was broken; then the
king’s men who had entered rushed forward and knocked down all the gods
from their altars. While they were in, Járnskeggi was slain outside the
door of the temple by the king’s men” (Fornmanna Sögur, c. 166, 167).
It was so difficult to make any progress in christianizing the people,
that they were for a time allowed to perform their rites secretly. The
bœndr were little satisfied with the religious belief of their king. The
eight chiefs who superintended the sacrifices (probably from the eight
fylkis of the Thrándheim district) united to exterminate the Christian
religion.
“These eight men who ruled over the sacrifice made an agreement that the
four chiefs from outer Trandheim should overthrow Christianity, and the
four from inner Thrandheim should force the king to sacrifice” (Hakon
the Good’s Saga, c. 19).
“Gunnhild’s sons had embraced Christianity in England, but when they
began to rule in Norway they could not make any progress in
christianising the people; but wherever they could they tore down the
temples and spoiled the sacrifices, and thus became very much disliked
by the people. The good years also soon ceased in the land. The kings
were many, and each had his hird around him, and therefore spent much
and were greedy of property; so they did not well observe the laws
established by King Hakon. They were handsome men, large and strong, and
great men of _idróttir_”[448] (Fornmanna Sögur, 1).
“Thorbjörn Ongul (hook) had a foster-mother, Thurid; she was very old,
and people thought her good for little. In heathen times when she was
young, she had been very skilled in witchcraft, but she appeared to have
forgotten all this. Although Christianity prevailed in the land, there
were many traces of heathendom left. It had been the law of the land
that it was not forbidden to sacrifice secretly or perform other old
customs, but if it was discovered it was to be punished by lesser
outlawry” (Gretti’s Saga, c. 80).
The following passage shows how firmly rooted amongst the people was the
belief in the power of Thor, the sight of whose image was alone
sufficient, in their minds, to make the God of the Christians vanish
before it, and how hard was the struggle when they had to give up that
belief.
“Olaf had all the most prominent men there (in Upplönd) taken, both in
Lesjar and in Dofrar, and they were forced to accept Christianity or
suffer death, or, if able, flee away. Those who received Christianity
gave into the hands of the king their sons as hostages and pledges of
their faith. The king stayed overnight at Bœar in Lesjar, and left
priests there. Then he went through Lorodal and came to Stafabrekka. The
river Otta runs through the valley, and the fine district on both sides
is called Lóar. The king could look over the whole length of the
district. ‘It is a pity that we must burn a district so fine,’ said the
king. He came down into the valley with his men, and they stayed
overnight at the farm Nes, and the king chose a loft as his
sleeping-room, which is there still (Snorri’s time) and has not been
changed since. He stayed there five nights, and cut a _Thing-summons_,
summoning men from Vagar, Lóar, and Hedal, and at the same time let them
know that they should either fight battles against him and suffer from
his ravages, or accept Christianity, and bring him their sons as
hostages. Thereafter they came to him and obeyed, but some fled south to
Dalir.
“Dala-Gudbrand was the name of a man who ruled like a king over the
Dalir, and was _Hersir_ by title. Sigvat Scald compared him in regard to
power and large possessions to Erling Skjálgsson. Gudbrand had a son who
is mentioned here. When he heard that King Olaf had come to Lóar and
forced men to accept Christianity he cut a war arrow and summoned all
the men of Dalir to the farm Hundthorp to meet him. They all came, and
it was a multitude of men, because the lake Lög lies near there, and
they could come as well by water as by land. Gudbrand held a _Thing_,
and said: ‘A man, by name Olaf, has come to Lóar, and wants us to take a
new belief and break all our gods asunder, and says he himself has a
much greater and mightier god. It is a wonder that the earth does not
burst asunder under him when he dares speak such things, or that our
gods allow him to live any longer. I expect if we carry Thor out of our
temple at the _bœr_ where he is, and if he looks on Olaf and his men,
Olaf’s god and himself and his men will melt and vanish, for this has
always helped us.’ They all shouted at once that Olaf should never
escape thence if he came to them, and they said he would not dare to
advance farther south in the Dalir. They sent seven hundred men north to
Breida to spy, with the son of Gudbrand, eighteen winters old, as
leader, and many other prominent men. These men came to the farm Hof and
remained there three nights, and many who had fled from Lesjar and Lóar
and Vagar, unwilling to adopt Christianity, joined them there. King Olaf
and Sigurd, the bishop, left teachers in Lóar and Vagar.
“The king went to the bœndr and held the _Thing_ with them. The day was
very wet. When the _Thing_ was opened the king rose and told them that
the men of Lesjar, Lóar and Vagar had accepted Christianity and torn
down their sacrificing-houses, and now believed in the true God, who
shaped heaven and earth and knew all things. The king sat down, and
Gudbrand answered: ‘We do not know about whom thou art talking; dost
thou call him God whom neither thou nor any other can see? We have a god
whom we may see every day, but he is not out to-day because the weather
is wet. He will look terrible and great to you. I expect that fear will
creep into your breasts if he comes to the _Thing_. But as thou sayest
that thy God is so powerful, then let him make the weather to-morrow
cloudy, with no rain, and we will meet here.’ Thereupon the king went
home to his room, and with him Gudbrand’s son as a hostage, while the
king gave them another man in his place. In the evening the king asked
Gudbrand’s son how their god was made. He answered he was made after
Thor (his likeness); had a hammer in his hand; was of a large size, and
hollow inside; that a platform was made under him, on which he stood
when outside the temple; that he did not lack gold and silver on him:
that four loaves of bread were brought to him every day, and as much
meat. Then they went to bed. But the king was awake all that night and
prayed. When it was day he went to mass, then to his meal, and then to
the _Thing_. The weather was as Gudbrand had said. The bishop rose in
his gown with a mitre on his head and a crozier in his hand, and
preached to the bœndr and told them many tokens which God had shown, and
ended his speech well. Thórd Istrumagi (paunch-belly) answered: ‘This
horned man with a staff in his hand with a top like a crooked ram’s horn
talks much. As you, comrades, say that your god works so many tokens,
then ask him to-morrow before sunrise to let the weather be bright and
sunny, then we will meet and do one of two things—agree on this matter,
or fight a battle.’ They parted for a time.
“Kolbein the Strong, who was with King Olaf, had his kinsmen in the
Fjords. He was always so dressed that he was girt with a sword, and had
a large stick in his hand which some call ‘club.’ The king told him that
he should stand next him that morning, and then said to his men: ‘Go
this night to the boats of the bœndr and bore holes in all of them, and
take away their horses from the farms where they are and ride on them.
This was done. The king stayed all night at the farm, and prayed God to
clear this difficulty with His mercy and grace. After the matins, about
daybreak, he went to the _Thing_. When he came some of the bœndr had
arrived. They saw a large crowd of bœndr coming to the _Thing_, carrying
a large image, ornamented all over with gold and silver. When the bœndr
present saw it, they all rushed up and bowed to the monster. Then it was
placed on the middle of the _Thing-plain_. On one side sat the bœndr, on
the other the king and his men. Then Dala-Gudbrand rose and said: ‘Where
is your god now, king; I think he now carries his chin rather low. It
seems to me that your boasting, and that of the horned man whom you call
bishop, sitting at your side, is less than yesterday. It is because our
god, who rules all, has come, and looks on you with keen eyes; and I see
that you are full of terror now, and dare scarcely look up with your
eyes. Now throw off your superstition and believe in our god, who has
you altogether in his power.’ He ended his speech. The king said to
Kolbein the Strong, so that the bœndr did not hear: ‘If during my speech
it happens that they look away from their god, then strike him as hard a
blow as thou art able with the club.’ Then he rose and said: ‘Many
things hast thou (Gudbrand) spoken to us this morning; thou wonderest
that thou art not able to see our God, but we expect He will soon come
to us. Thou dost threaten us with thy god, who is blind and deaf, and
can neither help himself nor others, and can move nowhere from his place
unless he is carried: I expect that in a short time evil will happen to
him. Now look into the east; there comes our God with great light.’ The
sun was rising, and all the bœndr looked towards it. At the same moment
Kolbein struck their god so that he burst all asunder, and mice large as
cats, and vipers and worms, ran out. The bœndr were so frightened that
they fled, some to their ships; but when they launched them they were
filled with water, and they could not get on them. Those who ran to
their horses found them not. The king had them called to him, and said
he wished to speak with them, and they came back to the _Thing_. Then
the king rose and said: ‘I do not know why you make this tumult and
uproar; now you can see what power your god had to whom you brought gold
and silver, food and provisions; you saw what beings had eaten him, mice
and worms, vipers and adders. Those who believe in such things, and will
not leave off their folly, are the worse for it. Take your gold and
costly things scattered on the plain; bring them home to your wives, and
never hereafter ornament tree or stones with them. Now here are two
choices: either you accept Christianity now, or fight a battle against
me to-day, and may those get the victory whom the God in whom we believe
wills.’ Dala-Gudbrand rose and said: ‘A great loss have we suffered in
our god, but as he could not help us we will now believe in the God in
whom thou believest.’ They all accepted Christianity, and the bishop
baptized Gudbrand and his son. King Olaf and Sigurd the bishop left
teachers there; and those who were foes parted as friends, and Gudbrand
had a church made in the Dalir” (St. Olaf, Heimskringla, 117–119).
But even in early times, before Christianity had made any advance among
the Northmen, there were sceptics such as Hrolf Kraki, Orvar Odd, and
others, who had little or no belief. Examples are given in the Sagas of
others in later times, when Christianity had gained a footing in the
country, who also had no belief. When King Olaf Tryggvason asked
Eindridi what was his religious belief, the latter answered:—
“‘I have made up my mind never to believe in logs or stones, though they
be in the shape of fiend or man, whose power I don’t understand; and
though I have been told that they have great power, it seems to me very
unlikely, for I find that those images which are called gods are in
every way uglier and less powerful than myself.’ The king asked: ‘Why
dost thou then not believe in the true God, who is all powerful, and let
thyself be baptized in his name?’ ‘Because,’ Eindridi replied, ‘it has
never before been put before me, and no one on your behalf has told me
about this God, whom you call almighty; but another more important
reason is that, as I would not believe what my father and kinsmen told
me about their gods, I have decided never to hold that belief which is
in every way so unlike theirs, unless I am fully convinced that your God
is as almighty as you call him’” (Fornmanna Sögur).
When Christianity predominated among the people, we find that sacrifices
and worship of heathen gods were forbidden.
“When Harald Gormsson the Dana king had become a Christian, he sent an
order throughout his realm that all the people should get baptized and
be converted to the true faith. He went round himself, and punished and
forced those who were unwilling. He sent two jarls to Norway with many
men to preach Christianity there; their names were Urguthrjót and
Brimisskjar. Many people were baptized in the Vikin which belonged to
King Harald. After Harald’s death his son Svein Tjúguskegg (forked
beard) soon went on an expedition to Saxland and Frisland, and later to
England. The Northmen who had adopted Christianity turned again to their
sacrifices as before, like the people did in the northern part of the
country (Norway). Olaf Tryggvason said he would christianize the whole
of Norway or lose his life. ‘I will make you all great and powerful men,
for I trust you best for the sake of kinship and other relationship.’
They all consented to do whatever he commanded, and follow him in all
that he wished, with all those who would take their advice. Then Olaf
made known to the people that he would preach Christianity to all men in
his realm” (Olaf Tryggvason, Heimskringla, c. 59).
“Blót (worship by sacrifice) is forbidden to us—we shall neither worship
heathen _vœttir_ (guardian spirits), nor gods, nor mounds (_haugar_),
nor altars (_horgs_). If a man is known and convicted of secretly
throwing up a mound, or making a house and calling it hörg, or raising a
pole and calling it _skaldstong_ (_i.e._, imprecation-pole), he shall
thereby forfeit every penny of his property” (King Sverri’s
Kristinrétt).[449]
It is curious to see how Christian ideas were transformed. The poet
Eilif Gudrúnarson says of Christ, that he is “_strong against the
Jötnar_”; he was possibly thinking of Thor. Halfred says the Christian
dogmas are not more poetical than the old belief.
In a fragment of a song on Christ, the poet Eilif Gudrúnarson says that
Christ sits at the well of Urd (Later Edda, Skáldskaparmál, 52)—
“Men say he (Christ) sits on a rock
South at the well of Urd.
Thus the mighty lord of the gods
Has strengthened himself with the lands of Rome.”
It appears that the eating of horseflesh was forbidden by the early
Christians. The Emperor Otto having consulted his chiefs as to what
steps should be taken to provide provisions for the army, when fighting
against the Danes south of Danavirki, was advised by them either to
withdraw from the country, or slay some of the horses for food. To this
the Emperor replied:—
“To this advice there is a great drawback, for it is the greatest
sacrilege for baptized men who can in any other manner prolong their
lives to eat horseflesh” (Olaf Tryggvason, Fornmanna Sögur, c. 1).
The Halfred’s Saga, which relates how Halfred, who had been baptized,
was for some time with the King, Olaf Tryggvason, and asked him to hear
a song, which at first the king declined to hear, as too heathen for
him, shows how hard was the struggle with some men to entirely give up
the old faith.
“Of yore I worshipped well
Him the bold-minded
Lord of Hlidskjalf (Odin);
The luck of men changes.”
The king said: “This is a very bad stanza; thou must improve it.”
“Every kindred has made songs
To win the love of Odin;
I remember the songs
Of the men of our time,
But because I serve Christ
I must hate against my will
The first husband of Frigg (Odin),
For his power I liked well.”
The king replied: “The gods dwell much in thy mind, and I do not like
it.”
“Enricher of men, I forsake
The god-name of the raven-worshipper (Odin)
Who in heathendom performed
A trick praised by the people.”[450]
“This makes it no better; make a stanza to mend this.”
“Frey and Freyja and the strong Thor
Ought to be angry with me;
I forsake the offspring of Njörd.[451]
The angry (gods) may be friends with Grimnir (Odin);
I will call on Christ, for all love
The only Father and God;
The anger of the Son I dislike,
He is the famous ruler of earth.”
“This is a good song, and better than none; sing more.”
“It is the custom with the Sygna king[452]
To forbid sacrifices;
We must shun most of
The time-honoured dooms of the Nornir;
All men throw
The kindred of Odin to the winds;
Now I am forced to pray to Christ
And leave the offspring of Njörd.”
(Halfred’s Saga, c. 6.)
That conversion to Christianity did not always at first have a softening
influence over the character of its converts is to be seen from the
following passages:—
“The great Hákon jarl was a zealous sacrificer. When he came to Vikin he
found that the (Emperor Otto’s) jarls Urguthrjót and Brimisskjar had
broken down the temples and christianized all the people they could.
Hákon had all the broken temples rebuilt, and sent word all over Vikin
that no man should believe in the faith which the jarls had imposed. He
went northward across the land to Thrándheim, and there first remained
quiet. He ruled over the whole of Norway, but never afterwards paid any
taxes to the King of Denmark. Afterwards he was in all things worse and
more heathen than he had been before he was baptized” (Fornmanna Sögur,
vol. i., ch. 73).
“Hákon was open-handed with property toward his men, and for a long time
beloved by the whole people; but he had the greatest misfortune to his
dying day, which was not strange, for he was always guileful, unfaithful
and treacherous, both to friends and foes, and the greatest
_god-nithing_ and sacrificing man: the time had come when Almighty God
had intended that the sacrifices and heathendom, and the evil messenger
of the devil, Hákon jarl, should be condemned, and the holy faith and
true customs take their place. When Hákon was slain, he had been Jarl
thirty-three winters since the fall of his father, Sigurd Jarl; he was
twenty-five when his father fell, and lacked two winters of sixty”
(Fornmanna Sögur, i., c. 104).
“‘Now, Sigurd, thou hast jarlship over this realm, which I call my own,
as well as all other realms, which King Harald Fairhair owned, and each
of his descendants have inherited one after the other. As it has
happened that thou hast come into my power, thou hast two choices: the
first is that thou and all thy dependents shall embrace the true faith
and be baptized, and then thou shalt hold from me the rule thou hast
heretofore, and what is worth more, live with Almighty God eternally in
the kingdom of heaven, if thou observest His commands. The other choice
is very bad, and very unlike the former: that thou shalt die in this
place, and I will go with fire and sword over the islands and lay waste
this whole realm, unless the people will believe in the true God; and,
if thou shalt make this choice, then thou wilt, as all others who
believe in a skurdgod (carved god, idol), after a sudden death, suffer
terribly with the fiend in the flames of hell without end.’ As the Jarl
was then situated, he chose to embrace the true faith.
“The Jarl and all his men were therefore baptized. Thereupon he became
King Olaf’s man, and bound this with oath. Sigurd Jarl then took the
country as fief from the king, and gave him as hostage his son _Hvelp_
(whelp) or _Hundi_ (dog), whom King Olaf had baptized with the name
Hlödver, and taken to Norway. Thereupon King Olaf sailed from the
Orkneys, and left behind learned men to teach the people in the holy
faith. The king and the jarl then separated as friends” (St. Olaf’s
Saga).
The later accounts of the struggle between the two creeds show how many
crimes were committed avowedly in the name of conscience and religion,
but really in that of superstition and ignorance, which brings with it
bigotry, vandalism and murder, the curse of mankind; and we see that the
people had a dislike to the adoption of Christian names.
“He (King Olaf, the Saint) had Hrærek blinded in both eyes and took him
with him; he had the tongue of Gudröd, King of Dalir, cut out; Hring and
two others he forced to give oaths that they would leave Norway and
never come back” (St. Olaf, Heimskringla, c. 74).
“Olaf Tryggvason and Bishop Sigurd both went with many worships to Godey
(god-isle), where Raud the Strong, a man of sacrifices, lived. Olaf
attacked the loft where Raud slept, and broke it and went in. Raud was
taken and tied, and of the men in there some were killed and others
taken. Raud was led before the king, who bade him let himself be
baptized; ‘then,’ said the king, ‘I will not take thy property, but be
thy friend if thou wilt do this.’ Raud cried out against this, and said
he would never believe in Christ, and blasphemed much. The king grew
angry, and said Raud should die the most hideous death. He had him taken
out and lashed to a beam, a stick was placed between his teeth to force
open his mouth, in which a snake was placed; but it would not go in, and
recoiled, because he blew against it. Then the king had a stalk of
angelica put in Raud’s mouth; some say that the king put his war-horn
into his mouth with the snake in it; he had a red-hot iron bar put on
the outside of it. The snake recoiled into the mouth of Raud, and down
his throat, and ate its way out of his side, and Raud died. The king
took thence a large quantity of gold and silver and other loose
property, weapons, and many costly things. He had slain or tortured all
those of Raud’s men who would not be baptized” (Olaf Tryggvason, c. 87).
“Olaf Sviaking had a son by his queen who was born on the day of St.
James’ vigil; when he was baptized the bishop called him Jacob. The
Sviar disliked that name, and said that never had a Sviaking been called
Jacob” (St. Olaf, c. 89).