DIVISIONS OF PEOPLE INTO CLASSES.
Antiquity of class divisions in the North—Influence of education—The
classes into which society was divided—The Jarl the progenitor of
kings—Primogeniture—The thrall—Description of freemen—The freeman
a farmer or bondi—Occupation of Jarl and his wife—High-born
women—Marriage of the high born—Sons of Jarls—Divisions of the
people at the close of the Pagan era—The Hersir or leader of the
host—Customs of ancient chiefs—The Jarl in earlier and later
times—The Lendirmenn the leaders and advisers of the bœndr—The
position and power of the Bondi—The Haulld, a higher grade of
bondi—The king—Grades of kingship—Sea kings—Consent of the Thing
to the election of a king—Manner of selecting a king.
From very early times the people of the North were divided into classes.
Men and women were educated from their childhood to believe in the
superiority or inferiority of their own being, of the position inherited
by them at their birth, and consequently to think themselves superior or
inferior to the other people of the commonwealth. This belief was
intensified by the education they received, their surroundings and their
mode of life, as seen throughout from the day of their birth to the time
when they were buried. The class that governed held that they were born
to rule, and the slave to remain a slave. The lot of each had been
hereditary, fate had so decreed.
This demarcation into classes was acquiesced in by the people of the
land, for it could not have existed a single moment without their will,
and formed an integral part of the social and political fabric
throughout the whole history of the people.
But as will be seen in the perusal of these volumes, no man was allowed
to rule over the people unless he excelled in many things.
The _Rigsmál_ gives in a striking manner the mode of life of early
times, and shows into how many classes society was divided: viz., the
_slave_; the _karl_ or _bondi_; the _jarl_, and the _hersir_.
In the first stanza of the Voluspa we have seen that all men are called
the sons of Heimdall, of which we have an explanation in the Rigsmál.
Heimdall travels about under the name of Rig, from house to house; first
he goes to _Ai_ and _Edda_ (great-grandfather and great-grandmother),
then to _Afi_ and _Amma_ (grandfather and grandmother), and then to
_Fadir_ and _Módir_ (father and mother).
In the poem we see the ancestry of each class under a sort of developing
system—how the jarl and hersir are the progenitors of chiefs and kings;
and we learn of _odal_, or of primogeniture and entail; of the hersir we
learn nothing, except that he existed.
It is told there went
Along the green paths
A mighty and old
And wise As,
The strong and nimble
Rig the wanderer.
He went on thereafter
Along the middle of the path,
And came to a house;
The door was ajar;
He went in;
Fire was on the floor;
Man and wife sat there
Hoary, at the hearth,
Ái and Edda,
With her old-fashioned hood.
Rig gave them
Good advice;
He sat down
In the middle seat,
And on either side
The man and wife of the house.
Then Edda took
A lumpy loaf,
Heavy and thick,
Mixed with bran;
Then she put more
On the middle of the trencher
Broth was in the bowl;
She put it on a table.
There was boiled veal
The best of dainties.
Rig could give them
Good advice;
He rose from there,
Went to sleep,
And lay down
In the middle of the bed,
And on either side
The man and wife of the house.
There he stayed
Three nights altogether;
Then travelled on
Along the middle of the path;
Then passed
Nine months.
Edda gave birth to a child,
They sprinkled it with water.
_Appearance of the Thrall._
They called him Thrall.
He grew
And throve well;
There was on (his) hands
Wrinkled skin;
Crooked knuckles.
* * * * *
Fingers thick,
Face ugly,
Back bent,
Heels long.
Thereafter he began
To try his strength
To bind bast,
To make loads
Thereafter he carried home
Faggots the weary day.
There came to the house
The leg-walking;[463]
Scars were on her soles;
Her arm was sunburnt;
Her nose crooked;
(She) was called Thir.[464]
She sat down
In the middle of the seat;
The son of the house
Sat at her side;
They talked and whispered,
Made a bed
Thrall and Thir
Through the wearisome days.
They had children,
Lived and were happy;
* * * * *
They laid fences,
Enriched the plough-land,
Tended swine,
Herded goats,
Dug peat.
_Description of Freemen._
Then Rig went
Right on his way;
He came to a hall;
The door was on the latch.
He went in;
Fire was on the floor,[465]
Husband and wife sat there,
Busy with their work.
A man cut there
A log into a loom-beam,
(His) beard was trimmed;
Hair lay on (his) forehead,
His shirt was tight;
There was a chest on the floor.
There sat a woman;
She twirled a distaff,
Stretched out her arms,
Made cloth;
There was a sveig[466] on her head,
A smock on her breast,
A kerchief on her neck,
Pin-brooches on her shoulders;
Afi and Amma[467]
Owned the house.
Amma gave birth to a child;
(They) sprinkled it with water,
Called it Karl,
The wife wrapped it in linen;
(It was) red and ruddy,
(Its) eyes rolled.
_The Freeman, a Farmer or Bondi._
He did grow
And thrive well;
He broke oxen,
Made ploughs;
Timbered houses,
Made barns,
Made carts,
And drove the plough.
They (the parents) drove home
The maiden with the hanging keys
And with the goatskin kirtle;
They married her to Karl;
She was called Snör,
She sat down under bridal linen.
(They) lived as man and wife,
Divided rings (wealth),
Spread bedclothes,
And set up a household.
They had children;
They lived together happy.
Then follows a description of the jarl, who possessed all the qualities
given by Odin, from whom many claim descent. From this we learn the
occupation of himself and wife and their manner of living, that he was a
warrior, and had a knowledge of runes.
Rig went thence
Right onwards;
He came to a hall,
The door was to the south,
And it was shut;
A ring[468] was in the door-post.
Then he went in;
The floor was strewn with rushes;
The man and the wife sat,
Looked into (each other’s) eyes;
Fadir and Modir
Played with their fingers.
The husband sat,
And twisted strings,
Bent an elm,
Shafted arrows;
And the housewife
Looked at her arms,
Smoothed the linen,
Folded the sleeves.
She let her fald stand out;[469]
A brooch was on her breast;
She wore long trailings,[470]
A blue-dyed sark;
A brow brighter,
A breast lighter,
A neck whiter,
Than pure snow.
The mother took
A broidered cloth,
A white one of flax,
Covered the table;
Then she took
Thin loaves,
White loaves of wheat,
And laid them on the cloth.
Forth she set
Full trenchers,
Silver covered,
On the table,
Shining pork
And roasted birds;
Wine was in a jug;
The cups (were) mounted;
They drank and talked;
The day was passing away.
Rig could give them
Good advice;
Then he rose,
And made his bed;
He was there
Three nights together:
Then he went on
In the middle of the path;
Then there passed
Nine months.
Modir gave birth to a boy,
Wrapped him in silk
Sprinkled him with water,
Called him jarl.
His hair was fair,
Cheeks bright;
His eyes were keen,
As a young snake’s.[471]
The Jarl grew up
There in the house;
Shook the lind,[472]
Laid the strings,
Bent the elm,
Shafted the arrows,
Threw the javelins,
Shook the spears,
Rode horses,
Set on the hounds,
Brandished the sword,
Practised swimming.
Out of the brushwood
Came Rig walking,
Taught him runes,
Gave him his name,
Said he was his son;
He bade him own
The _Odal_-fields,
The old homestead.
He rode on thence
Through a dark wood,
Over hoar-frosted mountains,
Till he came to a hall;
He brandished the spear,
Shook the linden,
Let the horse gallop,
Drew his sword,
Stirred up war,
Reddened the field,
Felled men for land.
He alone then ruled
Eighteen farms,
Dealt out wealth,
Gave to all
Treasures and costly things,
Bare-ribbed horses;
Scattered rings,[473]
Cut them asunder.
_Appearance of the High-born Women._
The messengers drove
On the wet paths,[474]
And came to the hall
Where Hersir lived;[475]
He had a daughter
Slender-fingered,
White and gentle,
She was called Erna.
_The High-born Marry together._
They asked for her
And drove home,
And married her to Jarl;
She walked under linen;
They lived together
And were happy,
Increased the kin,
Enjoyed life.
Bur was the oldest,
Barn the second,
Jód and Adal,
Arfi, Mög,
Nid and Nidjung,
They played
Son and Svem (swain)
And played chess.
One was called Kund,[476]
Kon was the youngest.
_Sons of Jarls are called Kon._
Up grew
The sons of Jarl,
They brake horses,
Bent shields,
Smoothed shafts,
Shook ash-spears.
But Kon[477] the young
Knew runes,
Everlasting runes,[478]
And life runes;
And further he knew
How to save men’s lives,
To blunt edges,
To calm the sea.[479]
From this we see that the Jarl was supposed to have qualities not
possessed by the lower class, which was kept in awe of him on this
account.
He learnt the chirping of birds,[480]
To quench fires,
To soothe minds,
To allay sorrows;
He had the strength and energy
Of eight men.
He coped in runes
Against Rig jarl;
Used tricks
And outdid him;
Then he got
And then he owned
The name of Rig,
The knowledge of runes.
The young Kon rode
Through copse and forest,
Shot the bolt,
Killed birds.
Then said a crow;
It sat alone on a bough:
“Why wilt thou, young Kon,
Kill birds?
Thou shouldst rather
Horses ride
And fell the host.[481]
Dan and Danp
Own costly halls,
A higher odal
Than you have;
They know well
To ride the keel,
To teach the edges
To cut wounds.”
Towards the end of the Pagan era the grades of the people were Konung,
Jarl, Hersir or Lend mann, Hauld, Bondi, Leysingi, and Thrall.
_The Hersir._—The dignity of Hersir was hereditary and of great
antiquity, but was not as ancient as that of the Drottin or Godi.[482]
The records in regard to his functions are very meagre. He was the
leader of the _her_ (host, or community), their chief in war and in the
administration of justice; high “priest (Godi)” in regard to worship,
and as such took care of the temple, superintended the sacrifices and
other religious ceremonies. As a godi he held the farms and estates
belonging to the temple, and sometimes received a temple-tax from the
bœndr for the maintenance of the temple and sacrifices. In most
instances the temple property from time immemorial belonged to the
Hersir who presided at the Thing. The change of the name of the ruler
from that of Godi to that of Hersir seems to point to the time when the
temporal and spiritual authority were united, but we have no knowledge
how it came to pass—probably it did so very gradually and insidiously.
By Harald Fairhair the independence of the Hersir, consequently of the
Herad, was well-nigh annihilated, and the former never regained his
position. Thus died this ancient and noble dignity, connected with the
very earliest history of the ancestors of the English-speaking people.
It was an office of a patriarchal nature belonging to the social
structure of that period, intimately connected with the Bondi of the
Herad of which the Hersir was the hereditary head; and with the loss of
his independence came that of the freedom of the Herad and of the
people; and never has Norway been herself since that time. But out of
evil came good. These men, who could not bear the yoke of this Royal
despot, in whom there is but little to admire, except his personal
bravery, afterwards migrated into different parts of Europe, as is seen
from several Sagas.
“In the old age of Ketil, Harald Fairhair established his rule over
Norway, so that no Kings of Fylkis or other great men could thrive there
without acknowledging his power.
“When Ketil heard that King Harald intended to make him submit to the
same conditions as other powerful men, to get no wergild for his kinsmen
and become his tenant, he summoned a Thing of his kinsman and said: ‘To
your knowledge must have come our dealings with King Harald, which need
not be told, for it is more necessary to take counsel about the hard
conditions which he wishes to impose on us. I know for certain his
enmity toward us, and that we can hope for nothing from him. It
therefore seems to me that we have the choice of only two things—either
to flee the country, or be slain each at his place; and I prefer to die
like my kinsmen, but I do not wish to lead you into such danger by my
self-will, as I know the temper of my friends and kinsmen: they will not
leave me though it may be some danger to follow me.’
“Björn, Ketil’s son, replied: ‘Quickly will I proclaim my choice, for I
will follow the example of other high-born men, and flee this land,
rather than remain here as the thrall of King Harald.’ All thought this
well and manfully spoken, and it was decided that they should all leave
the country. Björn and Helgi wanted to go to Iceland, as they had heard
that the land was good, with plenty of game and fish. Ketil however said
that he would not go to that wild country in his old age, but westward,
where he knew many places, as he had ravaged widely there” (Laxdœla, 2).
“Úlf Gyldir was a powerful hersir in Thelamörk. He resided at
Fiflavellir, and his son Asgrim dwelt there after him. King Harald
Fairhair sent his kinsman Thórorm from Thruma to get tribute from
Asgrim, but he would not pay any, for he had shortly before sent to the
king a Gautaland horse and much silver, but said that this was a gift,
and no tax, for he had never before paid any. The king returned the
property, and would not accept it” (Landnáma, v., c. 6).
“A man was called Dala-Gudbrand; he had the name of Hersir, but ruled
like a king over the _Dalir_ (district). Sigvat Scald compared him in
power and in vast possessions to Erling Skjálgsson” (St. Olaf,
Heimskringla, c. 118).
“Arnvid the blind replied: ‘Lord (Herra), most unlike are red gold and
clay, but greater is the difference between King and Thrall. You
promised your daughter Ingegerd, who is high born in all pedigrees of
Uppsvia family, which is the highest in the northern lands, for it is
descended from the gods themselves’” (St. Olaf, Hkr., 96).
It was the custom of the Hersir and of chiefs to sit daily or often on
the mound raised over the remains of their ancestors’ kinsmen or wives,
so that they could be seen for a long distance, and that every one might
have access to them. At such times it seems to have been customary for
the chiefs to be alone. They occupied themselves there in playing with
their dogs, hunting with hawks, cutting the manes of their horses, or
looking at games, &c.; or they quietly contemplated the panorama, and
saw before them visions of Odin, of the Valhalla, and of their kinsmen
who had gone there.
This custom of sitting on mounds seems to be of very great antiquity,
and was mentioned in the earlier Edda, and in many places in the Sagas.
“Thrym the Jotun had stolen Thór’s hammer, and Loki, having borrowed the
eagle-shape of Freyja, goes in the dress of Freyja (see Wedding-dress),
as a bride to Jotunheim, and there beholds Thrym.
Thrym sat on a mound,
The Lord of Thursar,
Braiding gold bands
For his grey hounds,[483]
And cutting even the manes
Of his horses.”
(Thrymskvida, 6.)
Thorleif the wise was a chief who would not accept Christianity, and
Ólaf Tryggvason sent the poet Hallfred to him on this account.
“Thorleif was wont, as was often the custom of men in ancient times, to
sit on a mound not far from the bœr, and there he was when Hallfred
came” (Fornmanna Sögur).
“Thorgnýr Jarl had much loved his queen, and her mound was near the
burgh. The jarl sat there often at good meals, or when he held councils,
or had games played before him” (Göngu Hrólf’s Saga, c. 5).
_The Jarl._—The term Jarl, in the Earlier Edda, was not hereditary, but
was a name of distinction given to a high-born chief who possessed
warlike qualities, to the commander of a host, and, at a later time, to
a chief ruling over certain districts.
In the historical period, when _Fylkis_ existed, we have independent
jarls of Hálogaland, whose jarldom was only different in name from that
of king, to whom he was next in dignity. Later the jarldom was an office
given by the king for life. Harald Fairhair named jarls for every Fylki,
to govern on his behalf; but this was never completely carried out, even
in his own time, for his sons became sub-kings. In the course of the
tenth century the jarls, except those of Hálogaland,[484] disappeared in
Norway. In Harald Fairhair’s time the jarldom was inherited in the
Orkneys, and the jarl, who sometimes possessed large tracts of land in
Scotland, had to pay taxes to the Norwegian kings. During Harald
Hardrádi’s rule, in the middle of the eleventh century, there was only
one jarl in Norway as a help to the king (Harald Hardrádi, Hkr., ch.
49). They often traced their title, which was sometimes considered a
family title, through a long descent; and the famous _Háleygja jarls_
(the jarls of Hálogaland) traced their pedigree from Odin.[485]
“Hákon jarl ruled over Norway all along the coast over sixteen Fylkis.
After Harald Fairhair had ordered that a jarl should be in every Fylki
the custom was continued for a long time. Hákon had sixteen jarls under
him” (Olaf Tryggvason, Heimskringla, c. 50).
In the time of Harald Fairhair there seems to have been a certain
ceremony at the making of a jarl.
“In Naumudal two brothers, Herlaug and Hrollaug, were kings. They had
been making a mound for three summers; it was made of stones, and lime
and wood. When the mound was finished the brothers heard that Harald
Fairhair was coming with a host. Then Herlaug had a great deal of food
and drink conveyed to the mound, and went with eleven men into the mound
and had it shut. Hrollaug went to the mound on which the kings used to
sit and had his high-seat prepared for him there and sat down; he had
cushions laid on the footboard where the jarls used to sit; then he
rolled himself down from his high-seat into the jarl’s seat, and gave
himself the name of a jarl. Thereafter he met Harald and gave him his
whole realm, and offered to become his man, and told him what he had
done. Harald took a sword and fastened it to his belt; then he fastened
a shield to his neck and made him his jarl, and led him up to his
high-seat; he gave him Naumudalsfylki and made him jarl over it”
(Heimskringla, p. 53).
“Hálfdán the old had nine sons by Alvig the Wise, daughter of King
Eyvind of Hólmgard. They were called Thengil, Ræsir, Gram, Gylfi,
Hilmir, Jöfur, Tyggi, Skyli or Skuli, Harri or Herra.[486] These nine
brothers became so famous in warfare that in all songs their names are
used as names of rank, like the names of kings or jarls. They had no
children, and fell in battle” (Hálfdán the Old, Later Edda).
_The Lendir menn._—With the disappearance of the Hersir a new class of
men, called _Lendir menn_, arose, who ranked below the Jarl, and whose
office was somewhat similar to that of the Hersir; but they received
their dignity, which was not hereditary, from the king, and it seldom
happened that any one but the son of such a one was raised to the
dignity.
Before a hundred years had passed after Harald Fairhair’s usurpation of
power, the Lendir menn had won such a position in the state that the
rulers of the country always had to seek their help. They were the
leaders and trusty advisers of the Bondi.
“Shortly after Yule, Svein Jarl gathered men all around Thrándheim,
summoned the levy, and prepared his ships. At this time there were in
Norway many lendir menn, several of whom were powerful, and so high-born
that they were near descendants of kings or jarls; they were also very
rich. Kings and jarls ruling the country had great support from the
lendir menn, for in each Fylki it was the lendir menn who ruled over the
mass of the bœndr” (St. Olaf, c. 44).
_The Bondi_ was a name of honour given to him who possessed lands which
he cultivated with men under him consequently the foremost chiefs of the
country were bœndr.
They made and unmade the laws in the Thing, accepted or deposed the men
who were to rule or ruled over them. In them lay the strength and power
of the country; from their earliest youth we find them practising all
kinds of athletic games, fitting themselves to be warriors on land and
sea.
The _Haulld_ seems to have been a higher grade of bondi, on account of
the nature of the odal which he had inherited from his father and
mother, and which his forefathers had owned before them. The haulld and
the bondi were the only classes who could be regarded as hereditary;
they formed an integral part of the herad, and were the representatives
of all that was powerful and influential in the land. Throughout the
whole Northern literature we see their power when assembled in the
Thing.
The desire to show this power caused chiefs and rich bœndr to surround
themselves with a retinue of free and warlike men.
“When Ólaf Tryggvason ruled over Norway, he gave his brother-in-law
Erling one half of the land-rents, and one half of all the revenues
between Lidandisnes (Lindesnœs) and Sogn. Ólaf married his other sister
to Rögnvald Jarl Úlfsson, who ruled long over Western Gautland.
Rögnvald’s father Úlf was the brother of Sigrid the Proud, mother of
Ólaf King of Sweden. Eirik Jarl did not like Erling to have so much
power, and took to himself all the possessions which King Ólaf had
granted to Erling; but Erling continued to take all the land-dues in
Rogaland, and the inhabitants often paid them twice to him. Little did
the Jarl get of the fines, for the _sýslumenn_ (tax-gatherers) could not
remain there. The Jarl never went to _veizlas_ (entertainments, feasts)
there unless he had many men with him.
“Eirik did not dare to fight against Erling, for he had many and mighty
kinsmen, and was powerful and popular. He also constantly had with him
as many men as a king’s bodyguard. Erling was often on warfare during
the summer, and won property, for he kept up in the same manner his
liberality and high living, though he had smaller and less revenues than
in the days of King Ólaf” (St. Ólaf’s Saga, 21).
“Thorstein Thorskabit became a most powerful man; he always had with him
sixty free men” (Eyrbyggja Saga, ii.).
_The King._—_Kon_[487] in the old Northern tongue meant a man of high
birth; in the Rigsmál, the word is konung.
All descendants of Rig[488] retained the name of konung. Dyggvi, who was
the first of the Ynglings, assumed this title, and later arose a class
of chiefs to whom the name of konung was applied.
“His son Dyggvi then ruled the lands and of him is nothing told except
that he died of sickness.... The mother of Dyggvi was Drótt, the
daughter of King Danp, the son of Rig, who was the first that was called
king (konung) in the Danish tongue; his kinsman always afterwards held
the king’s name to be the highest name of honour. Dyggvi was the first
of his family who was called king.
“Before, they (the family) were called dróttnar (lords) and their wives
dróttningar and the hird was called drótt. Each one of them was called
Yngvi all his life and all together they were called Ynglingar. Drótt
the drottning (queen) was the sister of Dan the Proud, after whom
Danmörk (Denmark) is named” (Ynglinga, c. 20).
The process of the transfer of the ruling authority from the hands of
the Hersir to those of the King cannot be clearly shown; it was most
probably gradual and slow, the one being absorbed by the other. The
dignity of Hersir was earlier than that of Konung.
At first the name of king was a dignity which implied power or rule with
it; there were several grades.
The _Fylki_ kings; the _Herad_ kings; the _Skatt_ kings = tax-kings or
sub-kings; the _Sea-kings_, and the _Host-kings_.
The _Herad-kings_, the kings of the whole realm, who ruled over several
Fylkis or Herads, were the most powerful. They were originally spiritual
rulers, and traced their origin to Odin and his sons.
“At that time there were many kings in Upplönd who ruled over Fylkis,
and most of them sprang from Harald Fairhair. Two brothers, Hrœrek and
Hring, ruled Heidmörk, and Gudröd ruled the Gudbrandsdal. There was also
a king in Raumaríki” (St. Ólaf, 34).
“Harald Fairhair reigned over Norway for a long time; but before that
the country was ruled by many kings, some having one _Fylki_ to govern,
and others somewhat more. All these kings Harald deposed.... He placed a
jarl in every Fylki, to rule the land and administer the laws”
(Flateyjarbók).
Many of the bold spirits of the North could ill brook the yoke of the
first king of Norway.
Sölvi, son of King Húnthjóf, escaped from a battle against Harald
Fairhair in which his father fell. He went to King Arnvid of Sunnmœri
and told him to fight against Harald.
“‘Though this trouble has come on our hands, it will not be long before
the same will come on yours, for I guess that Harald will soon come here
when he has subjugated and made thralls of any one he pleases in
Nordmœri and Raumsdal. You will have to do the same as we had to do,
defend your property and your freedom, and gather together all those
from whom you may expect help. I offer my help and that of my warriors
against this overbearing and insolence; else you must do like the men of
Naumudal, go of your free will under his yoke and become his thralls. My
father thought it a victory to die in his kingship with honour, rather
than become the _under-man_[489] of another king in his old age. I
expect thee to think the same, and others who are of some rank and wish
to use their strength’” (Egil’s Saga, c. 3).
“Once King Hrólf invited his brother-in-law Hjörvard to a feast; while
Hjörvard stayed at the feast it happened when the kings were outside
that King Hrólf untied his breeches belt and meanwhile gave his sword to
King Hjörvard; when King Hrólf had again fastened the belt he took back
the sword, and said to King Hjörvard: ‘We both know that it has long
been said, that he who receives the sword of another man while he unties
his breeches belt, shall ever after be his _under-man_; now thou shalt
be my under-king, and bear it as well as others.’ Hjörvard became
exceedingly angry at this, but had to submit. He went home dissatisfied,
nevertheless he paid tax to King Hrólf like others of his under-kings
who had to pay him homage” (Hrólf Kraki’s Saga, c. 23).
But there were men to whom the name of king was given who had neither
land nor power, and finally it came to imply a leader who ruled over
warriors, and who was called host-king, in the same way that the
commander of a ship was called a sea-king. The latter sometimes
possessed no land, and they were only leaders of smaller or larger
parties of Vikings.[490] As soon as a king’s son or some other prominent
man had acquired a number of warships, he was at once called king by his
companions. These men roamed wherever they pleased, plundering every
man’s land; their estate was upon “Rán’s land”—the sea; their ships were
their houses. Their acts of daring must have been numerous indeed, and
the following passage gives a vivid idea of a sea-king:—
“Eystein the son of Adils ruled Svíaveldi after his father; at that time
Hrólf Kraki fell at Hleidra, and kings plundered much in the Swedish
realm, both Danes and Northmen. There were many sea-kings who ruled over
many men, and had no land. He only was thought to fully deserve the name
of sea-king, who never slept under a sooty rafter and never drank at the
hearth-corner (fire-place)” (Ynglinga Saga, c. 34).
“As soon as Olaf got men and ships, his warriors gave him the name of
king, for it was the custom that _host kings_, who went on Viking
expeditions, if they were _king-born_, should be given the name of king,
although they ruled over no lands” (St. Olaf’s Saga, c. 4).
Many of the valorous deeds of the sea-kings, whose names are only
mentioned, are lost to us, but this confirms how much of the history of
the famous men of the North has been lost.
It was the custom for the head kings to receive taxes from tributary or
tax-kings.
“Now Knút the Powerful had won England by battles and fights, and he met
with much difficulty before the people of the land became obedient to
him. He considered himself as possessing all Norway as an inheritance;
but Hákon, his nephew, thought he owned part of it, and that he had been
forced to leave it in a shameful manner. One reason that Knút and Hákon
had kept quiet over their claim on Norway was, that when first King Olaf
Haraldsson came into the land, the whole people gathered together and
would hear of nothing but that he should be king of the whole country;
but afterwards, when they thought they were oppressed on account of his
overbearing, some left the country. Many eminent men and sons of
powerful bœndr had gone to Knút on various errands; and each one who
came to Knút asked his friendship, and obtained much property. There was
also greater splendour to be seen there than in other places, both on
account of the number of men which were daily there, and of the
furnishing of the rooms which he possessed. Knút the Powerful took taxes
and dues from those countries of the northern lands which were richest,
but as he received more than other kings, he also gave away more. In all
his realm there was such peace that no one dared break it; the
inhabitants themselves had peace and ancient land-rights. From this Knút
won great renown in all lands” (St. Olaf’s Saga, 139).
A king could give to a friend the _title_ of king without the power of
one.
“King Hring said: ‘I would not give her to thee unless it were that I am
sick, and I like thee to have her rather than others, for thou art the
foremost of all men in Norway; I will also give thee the name of king,
for her brothers will not give either her or the honour away to thee
like I do.’ Fridthjóf answered: ‘I thank you much, lord, for your
favour, which is greater than I expected, but I do not want more than a
jarl’s name as a title.’[491] Hring gave Fridthjóf power over the realm
he had ruled with hand-fastening (joining of hands) and jarl’s name. He
was to rule until the sons of Hring were full-grown and could rule the
land” (Fridthjóf’s Saga, c. 14).
“Then Heidrek went about the land, and made it tributary to King Harald
of Reidgotaland as it had formerly been, and then returned to the king.
He had won very large treasures and a great victory. Harald welcomed him
and thanked him with many fine words. A wedding-feast was prepared, and
Heidrek married the daughter of the king, who celebrated it with great
honour; he gave to Heidrek the name of king and half of his kingdom; he
ruled Reidgotaland long after this, and was thought wise and victorious;
he had a son by his wife called Angantýr. King Harald also in his old
age begot a son called Hálfdán; they were both most promising, and were
thought far above other men in Reidgotaland” (Hervarar Saga, c. 10).
No king could rule over the people or the land without the consent of
the _Thing_.[492]
“Some Fylkis-kings summoned a Thing, and Olaf made a speech wherein he
asked the bœndr to take him for king over the country, and promised to
keep to the old laws and defend the land against foreign chiefs and
hosts; he spoke long and well, and was cheered. Then the kings rose one
after the other, and all spoke in favour of this to the people. At last
the name of king over the whole land was given to Olaf according to the
laws of Upplönd”[493] (St. Olaf, Heimskringla, c. 35).
When Olaf had made a long speech to the bœndr—
“The whole crowd of people arose and would hear of nothing but that Olaf
Tryggvason should be king; and so he was chosen king at the
_Allsherjarthing_ (general Thing) over all the country which Harald
Fairhair possessed, and the rule given to him according to ancient laws.
The bœndr promised to give him many men in order to get the realm, and
afterwards to hold it; and he, on the other hand, promised to uphold the
laws and rights of the land” (Fornmanna Sögur, 1).
If a king attacked a man, the people of all the Fylkis might gather
against him and kill him. The _bœndr_, as soon as a king or jarl had
encroached upon the property or violated their domestic peace, were
obliged to cut up _herör_ (host arrow, war arrow)—if it was a king in
every Fylki, if it was a jarl in four, and after such a summons to
gather together, attack, and slay or drive the offender away. This legal
enactment was undoubtedly of very ancient origin.
“No man shall attack another (with armed men), neither the king, nor any
other man. If the king does so, an arrow shall be cut and sent inland
through all the Fylkis, and he shall be attacked and slain if taken. If
he escapes he shall never come back to the country. Whoever will not
attack him, or drops the arrow, shall pay three marks” (Earlier
Frostathing’s Law, iv., 50).