Gisli Sursson's Saga and The Saga of the People of Eyri

by Martin Regal

  964 Gisli Sursson exiled (Ch. 21)

  977 Gisli Sursson is killed (Ch. 36)

  Social, Political and Legal Structures

  The notion of kinship is central to the sense of honour and duty in the sagas, and thereby to their action. Kinship essentially involves a sense of belonging not unlike that underlying the Celtic clan systems. The Icelandic word for kin or clan (ætt) is cognate with other words meaning ‘to own’ and ‘direction’ – the notion could be described as a ‘social compass’.

  Establishing kinship is one of the justifications for the long genealogies given in the sagas, which tend to strike non-Icelandic readers as idiosyncratic detours, and also for the preludes in Norway before the main saga action begins. Members of the modern nuclear family or close relatives are only part of the picture, since kinsmen are all those who are linked through a common ancestor – preferably one of high birth and high repute – as far back as five or six generations or even more.

  Marriage ties, sworn brotherhood and other bonds could create conflicting loyalties with respect to the duty of revenge, of course, as The Saga of Gisli Sursson supremely illustrates, but by the same token they could serve as instruments for resolving such vendettas. A strict order stipulated who was to take revenge within the fairly immediate family, with a ‘multiplier effect’ if those seeking vengeance were killed in the process. The obligation to take revenge was inherited, just like wealth, property and claims.

  Patriarchy was the order of the day, although notable exceptions are found. Likewise, the physical duty of revenge devolved only upon males, but women were often responsible for instigating it, either by urging a husband or brother to action with slurs about their cowardice, or by bringing up their sons with a vengeful sense of purpose and even supplying them with old weapons that had become family heirlooms.

  Iceland was unique among European societies in the tenth to thirteenth centuries in two respects in particular: it had no king, nor any executive power to follow through the pronouncements of its highly sophisticated legislative and judicial institutions. The lack of executive power meant that there was no means of preventing men from taking the law into their own hands. This gave rise to many memorable conflicts recorded in the sagas, but it also led to the gradual disintegration of the Commonwealth in the thirteenth century.

  The Althing served not only as a general or national assembly (which is what its name means), but also as the main festival and social gathering of the year, where people exchanged stories and news, renewed acquaintances with old friends and relatives, and the like. Originally it was inaugurated (with a pagan ceremony) by the leading godi (allsherjargoði), who was a descendant of the first settler, Ingolf Arnarson, in the tenth week of summer. Early in the eleventh century the opening day was changed to the Thursday of the eleventh week of summer (18–24 June). Legislative authority at the Althing was in the hands of the Law Council, while there were two levels of judiciary, the Quarter Courts and the Fifth Court.

  The Law Council was originally composed of the thirty-six godis, along with two thingmen for each, and the Lawspeaker, who was the highest authority in the Commonwealth, elected by the Law Council for a term of three years. It was the duty of the Lawspeaker to recite the entire procedures of the assembly and one-third of the laws of the country every year. He presided over the meetings of the Law Council and ruled on points of legal interpretation.

  Quarter Courts, established at the Althing around 965, evolved from earlier regional Spring Assemblies, probably panels of nine men, which had dealt with cases involving people from the same quarter. Three new godords were created in the north when the Quarter Courts were set up. The godis appointed thirty-six men to the Quarter Court and their decisions had to be unanimous.

  Around 1005, a Fifth Court was established as a kind of court of appeal to hear cases that were unresolved by the Quarter Courts. The godis appointed forty-eight members to the Fifth Court and the two sides in each case were allowed to reject six each. A simple majority among the remaining thirty-six then decided the outcome, and lots were drawn in the event of a tie. With the creation of the Fifth Court, the number of godis was increased correspondingly, and with their two thingmen each and the Lawspeaker, the Law Council was then composed of 145 people in all.

  Legal disputes feature prominently in the Sagas of Icelanders, and the prosecution and defence of a case followed clearly defined procedures. Cases were prepared locally some time before the Thing, and could be dismissed there if they were technically flawed. Preparation generally took one of two forms. A panel of ‘neighbours’ could be called, composed of five or nine people who lived near the scene of the incident or the home of the accused, to testify to what had happened. Alternatively, a party could go to the home of the accused to summons him during the Summons Days, two weeks before the Spring Assembly but three or four weeks before the Althing.

  The accused generally did not attend the Thing, but was defended by someone else, who called witnesses and was entitled to disqualify members of the panel. Panels did not testify to the details and facts of the case in the modern sense, but determined whether the incident had taken place. The case was then summed up and a ruling passed on it by the Quarter Court.

  Penalties depended upon the seriousness of the case and took the form of either monetary compensation or outlawry. Lesser outlawry lasted for three years, while full outlawry meant that a man must not be ‘fed or helped on his way’ and was tantamount to a death sentence. A confiscation court would seize the belongings of a person outlawed for three years or life. Cases were often settled without going through the complex court procedure, either by arbitration, a ruling from a third party who was accepted by both sides, or by self-judgement by either of the parties involved in the case. Duelling was another method for settling but was formally banned in Iceland in 1006.

  The Farm

  The farm (bær) was a basic social and economic unit in Iceland. Although farms varied in size, there was presumably only one building on a farm at the time of the settlement, an all-purpose building known as a hall (skáli) or longhouse (langhús), constructed on the model of the farmhouses the settlers had inhabited in Norway. Over time, additional rooms and/or wings were often added to the original construction.

  The Icelandic farmhouse shown in figures 1–3 is based on information provided by the excavations at Stong (Stöng) in the Thjorsardal valley in the south of Iceland. Stong is regarded as having been an average-sized farm by Icelandic standards. The settlement at Stong was abandoned as a result of the devastating ash-fall from the great eruption of Hekla in 1104.

  The plan of the farmstead (figure 1) shows the overall layout of a typical farm. It is based on the measurements carried out by the archaeologist Daniel Bruun, but it should be stressed that the layout of these farms was far from fixed. None the less, the plan indicates the common positioning of the haystack wall/yard (stakkgarður) in the often-mentioned hayfield (tún). The hayfield wall (túngarður) surrounds the farm and its hayfield. Also placed outside the main farm are the animal sheds. With the exception of one cowshed, no barns or other animal sheds came to light during the excavation at Stong, but these must have existed as they did on most farms. Sometimes they were attached to the farmhouse, but more often they were independent constructions some distance away from the building. Sheep sheds, in particular, tended to be built some distance away from the hall, and closer to the meadows used for grazing.

  The smithy was also separate (for safety reasons), and the same often appears to have applied to the fire room/fire hall (eldhús/eldaskáli). The latter was essentially a form of specialized kitchen. It was not only used for cooking, but was also the site of other daily household activities carried out around the fire. Indeed, sometimes the term eldhús seems to

  Figure 1. Plan of an Icelandic farmstead

  Figure 2. Cross-section of the hall at Stong

  Figure 3. Layout of the farmhouse at Stong

  refer not to a separate buil
ding, but to the farmhouse, used instead of the word skáli (hall), stressing the presence of the fire and warmth in the living quarters.

  Figure 2 shows a cross-section of the hall at Stong, giving an idea of the way the buildings were constructed. The framework was timber. The main weight of the roof rested on beams which, in turn, were supported by pillars on either side of the hall. The high-seat pillars (öndvegissúlur) that some settlers brought with them from Norway might have been related to the pillars placed on either side of the high seat (hásæti). The outer walls of most farms in Iceland were constructed of a thick layer of turf and stone, which served to insulate the building. The smoke from the main fire was usually let out through a vent in the roof, but the living quarters would still have been rather smoke-ridden.

  Figure 3 depicts the layout of the farm excavated at Stong. The purpose of the area marked ‘latrine’ is uncertain, but this role makes sense on the basis of the layout of the room. For information about the bed closet, see the Glossary.

  See further: Foote, P. G. and Wilson, D. M., The Viking Achievement, (London, 1979); Graham-Campbell, James, The Viking World (London, 1980).

  Early Icelandic Literature

  Enabled by the advent of Christian learning c.1000, writing flourished in Iceland from the twelfth century onwards. Native traditions were combined with materials and influences drawn from foreign literature, especially medieval Latin and, later on, French, though the ‘native’ strand predominates in the most famous branch of the literature, the Sagas of Icelanders. The word saga in Icelandic derives from the verb segja ‘say, tell’ and denotes an extended prose narrative that may (to modern perceptions) be located anywhere on the spectrum between seriously historical and wholly fictional, and various groupings of sagas are customarily identified especially on the basis of content and degree of apparent historicity. Some but by no means all of these saga genres were recognized in medieval Iceland. Literacy also enabled poetry to be recorded, some of it oral compositions dating from the Viking Age (approximately ninth to mid eleventh centuries). Some poetry, especially the earlier compositions, and certain prose genres had their genesis in Norway, and for a few texts Norwegian or Icelandic origins are equally possible.

  SAGAS

  Sagas of Icelanders or Family sagas (Íslendingasögur)

  Composed from the early thirteenth century to c.1400 and beyond, based on characters and events from the Icelandic past, especially from the settlement period (c.870-c.930) to the early eleventh century. Most are concerned with feuding in a pastoral setting, and feature in varying proportions both exceptional individuals and neighbourhoods: hence titles such as Egil’s Saga, Njal’s Saga and The Saga of the Sworn Brothers on the one hand, and The Saga of the People of Eyri and The Saga of the People of Vatnsdal on the other. The Saga of the People of Laxardal is unusual in featuring a woman, Gudrun Osvifsdottir, as its central figure. Many sagas, including The Saga of Hrafnkel and The Saga of the Confederates, are concerned with chieftainly power. In The Saga of Grettir the Strong and Gisli Sursson’s Saga the titular heroes spend long periods of outlawry in the Icelandic ‘wilderness’, and many depict episodes abroad, including Bard’s Saga, a late work of c.1400, which differs from the ‘classic’, feud-based sagas in narrating adventures of an often fantastical kind. On the style of the Sagas of Icelanders, see the Introduction, p. xi.

  Contemporary sagas (Samtíðarsögur)

  Sturlunga Saga, ‘The Saga of the Sturlungs’: a compilation, from c.1300, of sagas based on Icelandic events from the twelfth century to the end of the Icelandic Commonwealth in the 1260s. They were written by various authors. Sturla Thordarson’s Saga of the Icelanders (Íslendinga saga) is the most substantial; shorter items include The Saga of Thorgils and Haflidi, which relates the dispute between these two men in the early twelfth century.

  Sagas of Kings (Konungasögur)

  Mostly about Norwegian kings and earls, but also Danish kings and earls of Orkney (Orkneyinga saga). Writing begins, in Latin and the vernacular, in Norway and Iceland, in the mid twelfth century. Some sagas concern individual kings, especially the two missionary Olafs, for instance the sagas of Olaf Tryggvason by Odd Snorrason and Gunnlaug Leifsson, both written originally in Latin, and Snorri Sturluson’s Great Saga of St Olaf. Others cover a broad sweep of reigns, including the anonymous Morkinskinna, Fagrskinna and Snorri Sturluson’s massive Heimskringla, all from the first decades of the thirteenth century. Flateyjarbók, a huge manuscript compilation mainly from the late fourteenth century, contains many kings’ sagas.

  Short tales (Thættir)

  Brief narratives, often of encounters between Norwegian kings and low-born but canny Icelanders; these are more or less independent stories, but are incorporated especially in major compilations of the Sagas of Kings such as Morkinskinna, Fagrskinna and Hulda-Hrokkinskinna. Other tales, including some contained in Flateyjarbók, are in effect miniature Sagas of Icelanders, or Legendary sagas.

  Sagas / Lives of Saints (Heilagra manna sögur)

  Mainly translations from Latin; some fragments are preserved from the mid twelfth century, putting these among the earliest type of literature produced in Iceland.

  Legendary sagas / Sagas of Ancient Times (Fornaldarsögur)

  Usually set in remote times and locations, showing stereotypical heroes in racy though sometimes tragic adventures involving the supernatural – hence giving a generally unrealistic impression. These include The Saga of the Volsungs (Völsunga saga), c. 1260–70, and Fridthjof’s Saga, c.1400.

  Chivalric sagas (Riddarasögur)

  Romances: some of these are adaptations of French originals, such as the Saga of Tristram and Isond (Tristan and Isolde, Norwegian, c.1226); others are original Icelandic compositions in a similar mode. The latter have sometimes been termed ‘lying sagas’ (lygisögur).

  Translated quasi-historical works

  These include The Saga of the Trojans (Trójumanna saga, first half of the thirteenth century), a retelling of the story of the Trojan Wars, mostly based on classical sources, especially the late Latin De excidio Troiae historia attributed to ‘Dares Phrygius’.

  POETRY

  Skaldic poetry

  Usually attached to named poets and specific occasions, skaldic poetry includes praise of princes, travelogue, slander, love poetry and, especially in the earliest surviving poetry (late ninth and tenth century), pagan mythology. Metre, diction and word order tend to be elaborate, though the style of later religious poetry (twelfth to fourteenth centuries) is simpler. Skaldic poetry tends to be preserved as fragmentary citations within prose works, including the sagas of poets. The names of 146 poets, and the rulers they composed for, are preserved in the List of Poets (Skáldatal), c.1260.

  The Poetic Edda (Eddie poetry)

  The poems of this genre are mainly in older, simpler metres, and span the ninth to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. Topics are drawn largely from pagan mythology or legend. Composed in Norway, Iceland or the wider Nordic-speaking world, the works were preserved mainly (as complete or near-complete poems) in the Icelandic Codex Regius, c.1270.

  OTHER PROSE WORKS

  Works on Icelandic history

  The Book of the Icelanders (Íslendingabók), by Ari Thorgilsson c.1122–33, on the Settlement and the establishment of Christianity.

  Kristni Saga: a saga history/narrative of the Christianization of Iceland, probably late thirteenth century.

  The Book of Settlements (Landnámabók): the names, also often accompanied by genealogies and anecdotes, of over four hundred settlers, given region by region. There are five main versions, the earliest thirteenth century, but including still older materials.

  Icelandic Annals: lists of dates and events (Icelandic and foreign), existing in numerous versions, the oldest compiled in the late thirteenth century from older sources.

  Legal writings

  Grágás (‘Grey Goose’): the laws of the Icelandic Commonwealth, as preserved in a range of mainly thirteenth-century
manuscripts. These are Christian laws, but to some extent founded on the pre-Christian Norwegian laws brought by early settlers of Iceland.

  Works on poetry, language or grammar

  The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson (Snorra Edda, probably composed in the 1220s) comprises a prologue and three parts: on Nordic mythology (Gylfaginning, ‘The Deceiving of Gylfi’ – the most comprehensive medieval account we have); on the diction of skaldic poetry (Skáldskaparmál, ‘The Language of Poetry’); and on metre (Háttatal, ‘List of Metres’, 102 illustrative verses with commentary).

  The Third Grammatical Treatise, by Olaf Thordarson, mid thirteenth century: the fullest of four prose treatises applying classical grammar and rhetoric to Icelandic language and poetry; it is rich in poetic quotations.

  Glossary

  The Icelandic terms are printed in italics, with modern spelling.

  Althing alþingi: General assembly. See ‘Social, Political and Legal Structures’, p. 220.

  arch of raised turf jarðarmen: In order to confirm sworn brotherhood, the participants had to mix their blood and walk under an arch of raised turf: ‘A long piece of sod was cut from a grassy field but the ends left uncut. It was raised up into an arch, under which the person carrying out the ordeal had to pass’ (The Saga of the People of Laxardal, Ch. 18).

  assembly ping: See ‘Social, Political and Legal Structures’, p. 220.

  ball game knattleikur: A game played with a hard ball and a bat, possibly similar to the Gaelic game known as hurling which is still played in Scotland and Ireland. The exact rules, however, are uncertain.