Trolld6 mr in Early Medieual Scandinayia

Catharina Raudvere

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PART 2

Introduction

The aim of the present survey is to give some glimpses of the cultural andsocial context in early rnedieval Scandinavia that produced a system o{'beliefs and rituals linked to the assurned special capabilities and extraordi-nary knowledge of certain persons. In this system, reference to witch-craft/ trolld|mr was considered a sensible and acceptable truth.

The world of the peoples of Scandinavia was geographically on Europe'.speriphery, Llltima Thule as Roman writers regarded it. However, cultr-rrallyit was not an archaic isolated society as older, more ronlantic, scholarshipenrphasized (Burke 1992a:79). Recent writings on the Norse rvorld stress

the continental influences nlore and more (DuBois 1999).Through travel-ling and trade, groups in the Norse communities were in regular contactwith the Continent, as well as other parts of the world. Both nraterial cul-ture and social structures show early influences from Europe. The periodcovered by this study is to a large extent parallel to the process ofChristianization, approxirnately 800-1300 cr,, which involved significantchanges at all levels ofScandinavian society.The greater part ofthe sourcesrelevant to this study were written during the last of these centuries byChristians. Labelling the time covered as either pre-Christian or Christianconfirrns a dichotonry that does not take into account that theChristianization was a lor-rs process, or the fact that what the texts reveal is

to a large extent products of a nrixed culture.

Irnagcs of the Past

In this essay almost exclusive use is made of written Old Norse sourcesfrom the Scandinavian Middle Ages, mainly of Iceiandic and Norwegian

This study was made possible by generous support from the Knut and AliceWallenberg Foundation- I anr also gratefr.ri for the kind hospitality shown rne dur-ine the :rcaderrric yelr when this c'ssrry wls written by the members of theSclnclinaviuu I)cprrtnrcrrt, Univer^sity of (lllift>rrria, llcrkelcy, especi:rlly Professor

.fohn Lindow. Scvcr';rl strrtlics witlr rclcv;rrrt'c firr tlrc prcscr)t work huve bccn plrb-lishcd lficr this css:ry r.v:rs firrislrc,l. As f:rr.rs possiblc rt'fi'r't'rrt'cs to thosc sturiics

h:rvc lrt'crr irrtcgr:rtt'tl tlrrrurg tlrt' prool rc.rtlrrr11.

76 Witchuaft and lulagic in Europe:Tlrc Middle Agcs Tiolld6rnr in Early Medicual Scanditruuia 71

'lcelandic social nremory neederl to develop genres which preserved thecornplexity of their [the Icelanders'] social topography' (1992: 163f.). Tothe authors of the thirteenth century the era of color.rization u,as the back-ground against which social and spatial mobility were understood. Places

had their specifrc history and rvere related in the narratives to special per-sons. Social borders between fbmilies were established and maintainedthrough discussions about claims to larrd and places were named afterirnportant persons and consequential events.

Every saga text is part of these cor.rflicts and the histories of the familiesand their feuds are all told from highly subjective angles.The sagas were a

rvay of explaining why certain conflicts had arisen, i,vho took part in then.l,who was claiming authoriry over what area and, not least, how loyaltiesand ailiances rvere broken.'The logic of feud, in effect, constituted a narra-tive form in itself, which could underpin texts several pages long', writeFerrtress and Wickharn (1992: 167). An accusatiolr of trolld6mr was in thisperspective a useful category of either claiming a certain authoriry orexplaining r.r,hy evil thines had happened.

With its background in classical antiqurry the Chtrrch inherited a link todivination, astrololJy and healing rituals. But these cerenronies were placedin a new context. Belief in witchcraft was therefore not necessarily contra-dictory to Christian dogma. As Valerie Fiint points out, 'early nredievalEurope rvas rernark:rbly well suppled with inflr-rential and respected harioli,auspices, sortilegii and incantaton-s'(1991:6()).lt is necessary from this perspec-tive to conlnrent on the impact of conversion and the process ofChristianization, r,vith its many cultural, political and social implications.Despite significant changes, continuity can be observed in areas where wemight at first not expect to find it: in the religious and moral universe. Mostconceptions of trolld6mr seem at first sight totally contradictory to centralChristian beliefs. lf those destructive deeds were to be associated with any-thing in the sphere of the Church it had to be the devil himself. But in a

Christian perspective the per{brmances of cunning people were certainlynot seen as a way clf gaining victory over enernies, or looking into thefuture, or assisting women in childbirth. 'Yet, the sagas were copied inrrlonasteries and all tl're eccounts of witchcraft we have lvitnessed wouldhardly have survivecl had those who copied the Fanrily Sagas subscribed toa world-view very nruch opposed to heathen custonts' (Pllsson 1991:165).Practices very sinril;rr to tl-re Old Norse ores :rre recorded much later as folkbeliefs and fulk nrcciicinc. It seenrs rs if the Relbrrrution in the sixteenthccntury was r shitt rrs inrportunt to Scrrndinavian spiritual life as the estab-lishrnerrt of (llrristi;rrrity in thc carly Mirltllc Agcs. Still, certain thenres canbc obscrvctl irr Populrrr rt'ligiorrs tlist'oursc ()vcl' tl)e c'r'rtturics.

J'lrc sr't'ontl qrotrP ol-lt'xts rt'lt'r,.rrrt to tlrir strrrlv t'<lrrc'cnl lnytlr()logv,rrrrrl ;rrt' rrrrrtlr lt'ss lrotrr,,LIt'nt',,tts irr lirlrrr tlt,rrr tltt' srtg,ts.'l'ltt' llrirrciPll

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origin.Forcomparativereasotlssollletextsinotherlanguagest'villbedh-..,Jr.d.Wi,h the exception of runic inscriptions no written texts were pro-

drrced in ScandiDavia before the il-rtroduction of christianicy, althoueh,

.ffi*,i,r, the Anglo_Saxons and the Irish, the Scandinavia,s used their

,=rrZ.ul., extensiv-ely. The texts rvrittetr in Old Norse deai with a long

p..i"a "f tinre, but were principally conrposed during the thirteenth cen-

tury.Their relatio, ,o-rt-," f'""iot"'- ""ito the co,temporary - oral cul-

tureislcomplicatednr:rtter.Thoughfornrandstyleindicateabackgroundin oral rransnission, radical changes lllust have taken place during the

;;;;, of writing. To suppose a vlerbatim transcription seems unreaiistic.

Tlwo rra.;or text groups, ,h". ,"gm and-the ntythological narr.atives, provide

r-rs with the basic ,rr",.t1"1 for-an understanding oi the Oid Norse world

and its belief systems (Andersson 1961; Clover 1985; Lindow 1985;

Clunnies Ross 1994, 1998)'- ifr. n.t, grorl', oitexts is the varior'rs kinds of sagas'Without discussi,g

the classifrcation of the sagas into distinctive subgroups' it can be said that

,ir.y.""t,i,uted the Ncxse forrn of history writing'-Nlost sasas were

,u.i,,.rr dorn'n in the thirteenth century and are generally by anonymous

.;,h";r. They recalf i,-,'po""" t""t' f'om the tirrre of the settlers'

c<rlonization of Iceland (tle ninth-century landninl'and continue in sotne

,.",, .rp until the *rite,'s own tirne' Altirough it is impossibic to give any

cxxct demographic statistics, it can be notedihat the population of Iceland

i, the Middle Ag.r';;i;l; originated fronr Norwiy and other parts of

Scrncli*avia, rrrd ilro fro,,, tl"r. B-ritish Isles. Formally the sagas are chrono-

Iosical prose texts with insertions of skaldic poetry lvith its rnetaphoric

i,,;t .,;g'. Mostly th. f .rso.,r, places and events that appear have historical

rclevance and the ,.'"i, .tro iive probabie indicatiorls of religious and

nrrlral concePts..t.Ilcfocusofrnanysagasispower.rndpowerrelations..'lnlnanySenses

tSesc rerts were a ,rrJd. of ..riiulrting political conflicts.The whole moti-

vltion for establishing an old Norsc written literatlrre originated ir-r a

p.,li.,a rvhcn a clistinJt lcelandic identitv rvith a speciiic history was for-

i,.,.,l,rte..r. The Iceranders were i,vorved in harsh pohtical_conflicts, cspc-

ciallv rvith Norw:ry ancl l)enrllark, and in 1262-4 the Icelarrdic .freestittc'

p..iifr"a. lcelancl canle under the rule of the Nor-wegian king and latcr

trndcr thc l)lnish crown. Therelore the tcxts reveal scveral discourscs of'

rrrrtioDal iclcDtity elo,rg with thosc of locJ atld individual identity' After tlrc

.l..iv .",,f",-..,.,.,t tl.r" I.,rd ,u.. princip,rllv clivicled bctrveett irlclepentlcrlt

rlticfirrirrs, cvcrr thtxrgh thc tcrrdcrrcy irl'tlrc tlrirtccrlth ccl)ttlry wlls tirr

s.'rc tr'w flrrrilies t,, tl,rrrritr,rtc tlrc p,.,lrtittll:rttil soc'iltl sceltc'I'llc l:rtlclst':tPc

is rr si1{rrilit.:rpt cl)tity ip tlrc s;rgrts,,l,,r,'ly tottttt't'tt'tl to f:rrrrily ltistory.fltrrcs

l;t.rr(Lt.ss ,rrr,l ( llrils wi, k1,,,,,, lr.,v,' r",r,l,' .rlt ,ttl:llvsis ol- ltow Ict'l:rlltlit'

rrrt'tttot it':' w('l(' str(l( (tlrt'tl lly 1',t't'1',r'r1'll\"ttttl 1"t'trt"llt'L"tt's :ttttl tltt'y rvl'itt':

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78 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages Trolldtirnr in Early Llcdieual Scandinauia

attempt to write a handbook fbr poets, is a svstenratic snrvey of the OldNorse nrythology.Yet the motivation for the cornpilation was not basedin religious sentirnents. h-r order to preserve O1d Norse poetics in styleand content, especially the elaborate use of rnetaphors, he realized theneed to explaiu the old nrythology and offer future poets as rnany detailsas possible. It is obvious that Snorri is nraking use of knor'vn andunknown earlier texts together, as he generously quotes songs almostidentical u,ith the texts of the Poetic Edda.Witbout the systenlatic andpedagogical structure of Snorri's sLrrvey it wor:ld be diffictrlt for a nrod-ern reader to understand the many metaphors ancl hints about myths inthe Poelic Edda. Snorri's choice of forur is both traditional and innovarivcfor the tinre.The dialogr.re oihis Edda that takes the shape of a conrpeti-tion about wisdom is a fornr frequently used in Old Norse literatr"rrewhen it conres to draw up comprehensive overviews. Snorri gives theinrpression that he was a le:rrned man in terms of his time. MarearetClunies Ross characterizes his strategy in forrnulating the pagan worldview as inspired by Continental ideals of style. The mythic narratives ofthe Edda have, she writes, 'Aristotelian fbrrn, with well-defined begin-nings, rniddles and ends, they are extended narr:rtives and they deal in thenrain with myths of gods and giants on the horizontal plane' (1991 231).

The social setting of the Old Norse nwthoiogical narratives has a clan-like character and the gods are represented as living under fanrily-like patri-archal conditiorrs. Many texts reflect an ideology based on warrior idealsfrorn the npper part of a sociery rvith a distinct social hierarchy. Both poetryand history were created for an audience in the upper parts of society andwere perfornrecl by a skillec'i poet. The cluestion of representation nrusttherefore be at the core when trying to e-\tract supposed nreaning tronrthem. Whose myths and whose history are we reading? To a large extentthey are echoes fronr the halls of the chieftains. Nevertheless, pictorial rep-resentations and archaeological artefacts fronr several centuries and fromvast geolJraphicll areas give clear indications that the stories, the charactersand the symbols were known to a rvidc range of conrnrtrnities all over theScandinavian peninsr:la.

Too often Old Norse nlythology has been presented as a reflection ofstatic and hor.noserreous conditions rather than as part of dynanricprocesses and changes in r-rorthenr Europe. The same stories must havebeen given highly ciifftrent nreanings in different tirnes in different areas

among diflerent socill groups - and presumably also by nren and wonlen.'Change is structurecl, rrrcl structurcs cirange', rvritr's l)etcr Brrrke, indicat-ing the dangers of giving l petrificd irrrrrqc of ()ld Norse s()cietv anc'l itsconccpti()l)s (1<)()2t:2). lltrt witlt sottrr'cs rls sc:lr('('rrs rhc ()ld Norsc orres itis ficcltrcrrtll'lrrrrtl to rrrrrint.rirr.rrr,urirrr;rtetl irrruq('tlr:rt givr's tlre frrll fluvotrrof t'orrrplt'xity.

79

sorlrces for knowledge of old Norse mythological narratives are the two

so called ErJdas: the Poetic Edila and Snorrit ptose Edtla (Harris 1985;

Lir.rdow 1985; Fauikes 1987;Hallberg 1993;Clunies Ross 199'l' 1998)'The

i^nte Edda is of clisptrtable origin; sonle colnmentators claim the etynro-

togical irrterpretatioi, of 'g."at-g1a1d1ot!e.1' (i'e' the texts are supposed to

L-r.'tt-re sorrr.. of old rviscl"our and 1o.") rvhile others clairn that. edda l-Ileans

i,rspi.ation or writing (from the Latin edo,'to express in public' distribute'

...1i't'). Both t""t coll..iiors w,ere rvritte, down in the middle of the thir-

,..r,,h centlrry and both are pxrt of the same ideological project to estab-

lish Icelandic cultural ,l.r,oro,',,y' Knowledge of rnythology was-c-ruciai for

the possibility of consrructing rnetaphors.The literary aspects of these texts

,rrr,r, b. stressed from the b.girr-rirg to avoid any nristrnderstanding of

theDr as religious documents or argulllents against christiart dogrnas' In

rclarion ro the rhemes of the presen-t stucly it catl be noted that the myths

tell irr an ahistorical perspecti;e how trollddmr had been used in the realr

of the gods since the dar"'lr of time''l-he Pocllr Ertrla in its standard eclitions consists of twenty-nine individ-

rr:rl poet]]s written dowu anonyrrlously' The rna;or manu-script' Codex

11,,*ii,r, was lrrore or less accicle.tally rediscovered in 1643 after being lost

,,r.i lo.g,r,r.n for so.ne centuries.The ir-rdividual texts are well arranged by

thc rtredieval editor rvho apparently saw the poelDs as linked to each other

irr I specific succession. f|r. ro"gi deal with mythological themes in the

rc:rlti of the gods as well ,, po.rrl abolrt heroes acting in the daw, of his-

,,)rf ffr. p,).",1. nrythological texts are unique irr the corpr'rs of preserved

(icrrrranic literature, whilie the latter group correspond to Continental

prrctic traditions as expressed i, Dos lliib.eltrngenlied tnd Beourl;.TheEddic

i.,.,",.,,, ure uenerally conside.ed to revertl sot.ne of the characteristics of an

,,l,le. or.1 lit.r..y forrn.The conlplex use of nrythological metaphors is an

irrriicuti<>n of the aucliencc's €Jeneml awarelless of the nrythological content'.M:r,y rexts refer to alleged f,agan ritual, ancl these references have precipi-

t.tccl a vigorous deba[ on -their

trustworthiness anc] meani,g', John

[.irrtl.rv *iir", (1993). Given the creative dyna,rics of oral trrlnsnrission, it

is irrrpossible to'clainr any age or Lltform lor the Eddic poetry; instead' it

*,,u..,ro,r, for,rany individlal ,",odls of understa,ding (Fi,rlega, 1992)'

i,, p.rlr.p, the nrost important lay of the coilection' l/qluspi' trolldt5rur plays

:rrr itttp.rtrttt part, ., ii i, usecl aud abused in the differe,t phases of the

lristory t>f thc urriverse.

Srrrrrri Srurlusorr (c.117()-1 241) was a well-knorvn politician ancl his-

t()ri:rrr in his tirtre, lx>rn rr'l power ancl wealth. Through farllily rrnd rcla-

rivt.s lrt.w.s clccl,ly i,volvcci i. p.liticll attcl <>tlrer corlflicts. I)et'rtc - or

l)('l-l):ll)s lrcc,rus.i oi- tltis irrvolvctttcttt Stttlrr-i ctrltivlrtctl ltrttitltt'trt'trt

itttt't-t'sts. I lts t otttPllr;rtivcly ('\t('l'lslvc \vt'itirrgs ('()\'t'r 't v'lr icry trf'tlifltrcrlt

!I(,nr-('\, tlrortglr 1,r,',1,r,,,it,,,',,(lV Nolst' lristot'y. Sttorri's lili't"r p:rlt ot- lrisi

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ilO Witchcrdft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

Witchcraft or Trolld6mr?

There are difficulties with any attempt to formulate a definition of witch-craft as a universal category. The Old Norse concept of trolld6mr and

related terminology was frequently used and given meani.ng in specific

Scandinavian contexts. In order to avoid terms like 'witch', 'witchcraft','rnagic', etc., as far as possible, as they are loaded with r-niscellaneous nLean-

irrgs frorn totally different contexts (tsurke 1992a:87f.), the emic terminol-ogy: trollddmr,seidr,galdr,at spi etc. is used and there is no need to establish

I taxononric structure that does not exist in the sources. Precise classifications

are inrpossible to formulate since the texts give contradictory statenlents -not because the Norsemen had confused opinions, but because the con-cepts of trolld6mr and related ideas were used for explanations in so manyvery different areas of life. The empiricai material of the present study isdivided into three sections starting with the belief system and conceptualfiarrrework, following on with the ritual implications of trolld6mr, and end-ing with some examples of how the conceptions and rituals were dealt

with in the legal system. The earliest Christian laws deal to some extentwith pagan beliefs and practices in stating penalties for those who kept upthe old sacrifices or did not Ibl1ow the comrnandments of the new reli-sion. Penalties for practising trolld6mr are also mentioned in this Christiancontext and there are interesting parallels with some of the accounts in the

srrgas where cunning people are punished. There are certain analyticalirdvantages to using a broad terrn like trolld<|mr, when trying to avoidhortrogeneous categories that contradict the emic use. In what follows a

picture of trolldimr based on readings of Old Norse texts is presel.rted, inwhich emphasis is put on the idiosyncracies and the rnultiple use of termi-nology.A basic distinction is made in the disposition of this study between(-()ntexts where trolldtlrnr is used for rnalevolent deeds and other situations

where it is connected to divination rituals wi.th supposed positive effects.

lrr other words, there is a spectrunl in the Old Norse construction oftntlldtimr ranging from local political strategies to individual peasants' cot-l-

ce rrrs about the conting year. It is the context of the narrative that deter-ruines whether ;i deed was to be considered as nralevolent or beneficial.'I'he act or words were only a method. The distinction is definitely notluc:ult as any indication of a dichotonry between so callecl black and whitcrungii:.

As with'witchcraft in general', the history of trolldtimr is sometitrtcs rc1.r.'

rcscrrtcrl us wotttett'.s histttry irt the sense that it is a topic tttorc or lcss

t.xt lrrsivcly rclltctl to w()lnell ls victirrts rncl ruen es ;rcctlscrs. ()rrc of rtrltrrypxrIrlcrrlrtit' ils])ccts ot'srrc'lr urr opiltiott is tlr:rt it flxcs tltc t-ottccptiotts ol

trolldritttr irr tlrt'rt';rlru of'soti:tl lt'l:ttiotts, lt';tvitttl ottt its religiorrs:ttttl itlcrr

It,git:tl ,lsl)('( ls. 'l lrc rcl.rtitllt lrt'llv<'t'tt s''x/t',t'ltrlt'r- :ttttl t tttlt t'lltitltts ol

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia g1

trolldimr is a complicated matter for severar reasons. Both men and womenwere thought to be involved in troild|mr practices, although wornen didtake part more activeiy in trolld6mr narratives than is ..rrroir".y elsewherein old Norse literature. women's frequent appearance in this arena doesnot mean that we can pinpoint a specific .rrJ r.pr."t. wonrent culturewith a more inti,rate connection with trolld\mr,as ias been stressed (Kress1990, 1993). Men were apparently equally invorved (Dillmann 19g6, 1992;Adtalsteinsson 1994,1996).The saga iuthors were obviously making use ofgender politics in an attempt to construct as appealirrg , *o.y as possible(clover 1986a, 19u8, 1993), a,d social differences ai wen r, ,g. -...important when hierarchies were constructed. The result in the saga textsis rn_triguing interplays between sex/gender and power games.

Neither can trolld1mr accounts be used to fo.-.rlr*te a ,history frombelow', since accusations were to sonle extent part of elite politics (cf.Sharpe 1992). Tiolld|mr is, in rnany popular .rrryr, emphasizecl as some_thing'underground' and as hidden ro... o.r the contrary, mythology andpopular beliefs were used in literary motifs to express norms, ideas and val_ues,-not necessarily in exact reproductions but as metaphors and symbols.In this sense, literature nrirrors sociery. Sagas formulated coliective socialmelnory (connerto, 1989; Burke 1992a; Hastrup 1992a).The Icelandersof the thirteenth century interpreted their conte,rporary situation throughthe art of telling history.James Fentress and chrisVickiam write in theiressay 'Medieval ,remo.ries':'whatever they did with the past, they werewriting in - and ususally for - worlds thar had their own ideas about thenature of the usabie past, the current, functionally relevant past, and thecollectively remembered past' (1992: 1 46).

The rr-rral conditions are always present in the texts and most socialinteraction occured within the local cornmunity. Although it was a smallscale society rhere were importanr and emphasized sJcial differences:between free men who owned land,, benclv, ancl slaves, between chieftainsand their subjects, between the generations, and between men andwornen. To this can be added a certain e,rphasis in some texts on ethnicdifference. The social background to th._ tnild6nrr stories is still very muchthat of a pioneer sociery. The times of settlemerts and the formation ofliaisons between the fanrilies are apparently living traditio,s in the sagas.Asin the case of the ,rythological narratives, I think it reasonable to assumethat there were several other r.vays of telling history than those variantspreserved in written texts today. 'The rnedieval world was as heteroge-neous as tl-rat of toclly, or incleecl nlore so, ar.rcl it wor,rld be irnproper toattenlpt to scrre*rlizc t.o preciscly abotrt :lry .spcct of it, leasiof. all itssocial ruernrrry' ([--e ntrcss .rrrcl Wicklrrrr t 19()2: 172i.

. IIr tlrc llr()ccss tll'tlt'tttottiz;ttiort tlrr'oltl LIorls wt.rt.st;rrrt'tirrrt's:rtluptcd t.tltt' collt'r'tivt. ot'tlt'rrrorrs.'l'lrt'y rv,.n. tntrrslirnrrt.tl li.orrr rrror.c t.listirrt.t

a, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:The Middlc Ages

charactersintheoldNorsemythologicalnarrativestotrrembersofanrtrch more diffuse gr;; oi a.,r-", and devils. From hter r.nedieval texts

and Church prir-rtir-rg' *" krro* th"t such themes pl'ytd-.'. crucial part in

the didactic anrbitiotrs Jf-it" tttgo"'en' The Church did not deny the

.l*irr.rr.. of such creatures, but the power-9f God was greater'

The old Norse ."r.f*'i, .-r,,riqrr. collection of teits.This is not o'ly

becauseofitsrnagnitt'dt,bt'talsobecauseofitsvarietyinformandcon-terrt. Magical deeds ^"

ltttttta to in the epics and other kinds of prose

text fron outside St"ld"""i', but do not provid^e-lllany suggestions of

rctua\ perfornlecl ,i*"it-if" only really nreaningful comparisons in rela-

tiorr to the conceptions of trollrliwr that can be niade rvith literature fi'om

other parts of nt.op. .tt t"'th the Old High Germti t",1 Anglo-Saxon

spells. To a large exlent they indicate. a nlythology alld religiots concep-

tiorrs o[ similar kincls, bur lack descriptions of Jo.i^l .o.,t.xt. As stressed

rb.ve rrolldtimr was ;;; '" inclependent entity' but closely related to the

socill operations of a local comrnunity'

1'hepresentr,rayi'-"tt'ctttredirrthreenlajorsections'Thefirstdealswitlr the belief system th" "]t'o''-'

d'ed troUttinn' Basic concepts such as

Ai.i, ,fr. frr-^r, ,orl ,r.d krro*l.dg" are cliscussed' The second section on

pmctice and perform"rr.. In"t ",

a listinction between nrythological narra-

tivcs where varrous g;;;;.. told to be involved i'r trolld;mr rituals, anc'l saga

texts relirting to the behaviour of htrnrans'The question.whether nlytho-

Iosical strLrcttrre i, p;;;;"i|p';tl fot tt" hu,ratr ii debatable' Nevertheless'

the sinrilarities are rpf"tt'li'fne last part of the study concerns legal texts

.rrci t5e ;rdrnirristratiii oi1.rr,r.. as it i, crescribed rn the saga texts'The first

rcxr !{roLlp ir.*pli.itly irrJ ""i.. of christian authorities whereas the latter

hint it older legal proceclures'

CHAPTEI{ 1

The Concept of Trolld5mr:Belie;fs

Mentalities and

'*,la;jii

,:I!

*!

'l'he follow'ing u'orc1s of advice are utterl'd b,v the r.rother of Grettir, anoutlarv with urany enenries, as she is parting from her sons: 'Ile on yourgtrrrd lgainst treachcry. You rvill not be killeci by weapons; I have ha<jstr:urge. dreams. Be vary of sorcery: fer,v things are mightier than blackrrrrrgic.'lThe -st:rteuient certainly gives us ln inirrge of hoil.conceptions oftrolld6mr can be represented in old Norse literature.The scene occupies avcrv linrited part of the saga text but, althoush far fronr beir.rE one of rlr.ru()re spectacular episodes, this quoration from one of the Icelindic linrilys;rs.rs is a significant trttlld<inw narrative in its or,vn right. In this case, the sagatells, the sollrce of the old lvonran',s knorvledge is her clrearns. Thror-rghtlrt'rrr shc'can foresee rnuch more tror.rble for Grettir in the ftrture, and evEn1,r't'dict his cleatir. She uses the evcnts r>f the drcan'r to clarify and ar-ralysetlrc incirlents of the daytirne. Foreseeing in Olcl Norse literature is closelyrcl;rtccl tt> the protectiorr of fanrily interests, rvlrich is also a signifrc.rnt f-ea-lrrrc of the context of trclldrimr. No ritr.ral or perforrnance is necded; therrrotlrer',s action is exclusively oral, but u.ith :r strong conncction to com-Plt'x conceptions oi fate. Through her fbresight the clinrax of thc s;rg.r is.rrrticipltecl ancl her urger)r reqrrcst thereby corrsritutes a vital part oitherr:rlmtivc structure. Her rvords are like a sudden chilly breeze indicatingtlr.rt bad things will beconre worse. Hc.rwever, thc'rvarning turns out to belitritlcss, sirrce clrettir'.s erernies will prove to be stronger; and not only arerlrt'r'urore capable,but this is the way destinv hacl predicted thiru-rs ro be.

lly choosirrg this text as the lirst exanrple of Scandinavian trolid|nrr c<>n-r t'pfi6r115 it can. be denronstratecl that thesc' ideas are I1ot necessarily pre-rt'tttccl fi-arnecl by r,'ery sPectacular events. As .nve shall see titrther oir,^thisl,.rrticular saga also carries sorne highly drlrnatic narratives of perfbrntedrrr,rlcvolence, lrut, generalh', artless st:ttcllrents are as inrportant in ixpressingIrrrrrhnrental c()ltccptions lnd wclrlcl views.

'l'rolldimr ancl rrssocirrtecl e onceptiol)s were t() il qreet extcnr part of social( \'errts atrcl ttrttst thcrcfirrc bc plrrc't'rl irr tlrcir spccific ctrltural lontcxts. Norrolld<inrr story is tirrrrrti irr ()ltl Norst' litt'nrttrrc rvitlrotrt l blckgrourrd c>f, onHicts :rnrl rclutcil striltcsi('s. As rvill [rt' tliscrrsst'rl lrt'low, [rotli rhc pcr-lrrt'ttr;trtccs rrrrrl tlrt'.ttttlsrttiotrs ,,tl'troll,ltirttt tlc.rlt s'itlr tl.rirrrirrrl tlrc riglit ttl'It',rk irr ;ul irrrrlr()rit;rtivt' rrr,tlt'. Arrtlrolity,.rs tlist rrsst'tl ,rt lt'rrqllr [.,y il.r',..I ttttoltt,,trtrl.l l,t'tttl(l('t\trrorl .tr'llrr','llt',I lrtrrrlrlrt'rl l,r, ., ,,,,'irr,,tttrtt.of'

84 WitchuaJi and Mdgic tu Europc:Tlrc X'[iddle Agcs

the risht speaker, the rieht speech and_delivery, the rrght staging and props,

a,rd tii. right time ,nJ p1...' (Lincoln 1994:90).ln an intriguing essay

entitleci 'Tte name of tire wircir' Gisii Pilsson has discussed the iruplica-

tions of social dynamics of lcelandic society in the texts'

ln the Faruily Sagas borh sorcery and the accusation of lvitchcraft tend

to be described as powetful speech acts performed in particular contexts

by consciou, p".ro^ and foi particular purposes, not as rLlle-lJoverned

activities. The accuse, arrd the accused are creative agctlts, not the

iustruments of culture.Thus, sorcer1,, divination, arld tl.re gossip alld the

accgsations rvhich tbliowed were closely related to the tlricro-politics ofthe early Cotnmonwealth. (Pllsson 1991: 16tt)

Evidently both tr:rnsfornration and hybridity can be saicl to charrcterize

the period of christianization in Scandinavia, and a rnentality into which

trollddntr fitted as an explanation Inust have been prevalent for a long tirlre'

Despite bloodshed and violerlce, a couversion can also be a creative pfocess

*,he.e new forms are constructed, totally dependent on the nleeting ofcultnres: or to use Mary Lor-rise Prirtt's termilology, conversion can be a

conract zone. Although her perspective is colonial travel writing, her

approach to the interaction belween diverse culttlral systenls is illurlrinrrt-

ing when considerins the tinre of the saga u'ritcrs'

'Contact zone'is an attelllpt to irlvoke the spatial alld telllporel copres-

ence of subjecrs previously separeted by geogrrphic and historical dis-

jnnctures, and whose trajectorles now intersect' By using the term,contact,, I airn to foregrttund the interactive, improvisational dimen-

sions of colo.ial .rr.o.ri'tt"r, so easily ignored or stlppressed by diffu-

sionist accounts oi colquest and domilation. A 'colltact' persPective

ertrphasizes horv subjecti are constituted ip and by their relatrons tc-r

cach other. (1992:7)

solne parts of the old Norse r,vorld view rvere kept and some rejected in

thc transformation into christian theology through a process of derno-

niziition where anything conceived to be pagan was associrrted with the

r{c'il, I copresence in Fratt's terminology. 'There has to be consenslts''Ihcrc has to be' an it.pputation of inrnrorality'. as Mary l)ougl:rs says

rrlrotrt rhe techniques of rejection and control (1992: t35).The degrading

of-the olcl religion as sllperstition in theological discourse r1lso tllrlls otlt

ttt lrc crucill in the ipteiplay between contintiity '.rnd chanuc, and iri re ll-tiort t<t tltc c<lttstrttctiorr of tneanitlq. The sprrtial asFrects of Pratt's terttt

'(.()l)trl('t z()l)e'urc w()rtll ct>trsicleratiotr; i1 an lcelaldic perspective thcy

r.orrltl corrrprisc lt v.trit'ty ()f rlsPe cts tiorlr tregcltiations - ov('r ilctLlill

ttrlt 1rlrt,'t's i,r,,r,rr.;rllstrlt't strttgglcs ovcr st>ciltl sP'tte 'ltttl itlet>logit'rrl

,l<lrttittttrtt.

Trolld6nrr irL Eorly Medieual Smndinayia 85

Old Norse studies have traditionally been donrinated by philoiogicalend literary approaches. I}-rt the last ten or fifteen years have revealed arr

increasing interest in the social context and cultural background of the()1d Norse lvorld.With their anthropological approach to historical clocu-nrents scholars like Kirsten H:rstrup and Gisli Pilsson have influenced thepreserrt vier,v of the Old Norse conceptions of trollddmr as clearly struc-turecl interactions betrvcell protalionists in .r social arena. lhree aspects ofthese social studies. in particular, can bc emphasized 'ur,hen applied to his-tcrrical r.naterials like those in the Old Norse trollddnw narratives.

Mary Douglas uses the phrase'stratelly of re.;ection'rvhen she conrpares[-.uropean nredieval conceptions oi leprosy to conternporary Atiicanrvitclrcratt beliefi (Dougias 1992). She thereby touches on the cornplicatedtprestion of the nrlrginality of the perfbrrners. A rnlrginal position forthese persons is in nrany crses rpprrent in the Olc'l Norse te-xts but cer-t:rinly not for all of them. As we shall see further o11, sonre persons relatedto ttolldtlmr activities could aiso be in a central position in the tield of socialrrctivities. Rather than being rnarqinal in the first piace, a proccss of rnar-sinalization of the perfbrnrers (or the strspected perforlners) t:rkes place insorne of these texts.

Victor Turnerls criticisnr of the l'ery nruch used distinction betweenu'itchcraft rnd sorcerl', which was appropriate fbr Evans-Pritcharcl's Zande\tudies br,rt has rlot necessarilv prc'rvecl so lor other cultures is hiuhly rele-r':rrrt lor the present study (Evans-Pritchard 1937;Turner 1971).In his dis-( ussl()n of ttrxononry versus dvnanric:s in witchcralt beliels Turner points,,rrt:'[the clichotonryl is likely to sidetrack investigation fronr the study of,rr'tual behaviour in a social field context to an obsession rvith the proper

;,iuconholing of beliefs and practices as either "r.vitchcraft" or "sorcery" '

(lt)7 1: 126). A classification of performallces as either good or bad per se

( ,u)not be nrade in the C)ld Norse m:lterial, as far as I can see.2 Attenrpts tot'rr:rblish categories like'white'and'black'magic fail to ir]tegrtte the socialr trrteXt of r.he trolldririrr stories lnd the narrative construction olthe texts.

I{irsten Hastrup has dealt with the correspondence between mythoiogi-, ,rl und socirrl geography and raises questions about the relation betweenr,l.'o1og1.and ritual practice. In her studies on Icelanclic culture she has

rrr.rirrt:rined a highlv contextualizecl perspective,:rnd at tl-re sanre tin.re shelr.rs lreen pointing at continuities and an enrpfasis on long-tern.r cievelop-rr('l)t.'There w:rs such a close flt betlveen the ancient Scandinavian cos-nrolosy lnd the spatial and social realities of lceland th:rt each level ofr,',rlitv relflirnrecl the others'(19tt1:66) . [-l.rstrup, ltronr :r prorrounced struc-trrr',rlist point of vicrv clelrly irrspircrl by I{ussian scholltrs like Meletinskij,rrr,l ()trrcviclr, lr:rs (()r)tiuu()uslv siturrtcri thc discrrssion'"vithirr tlre fielcl oflrrrtori<':tl :u)tl)r()l)()l()g1'(l l.rstlrrP l()fi5, l()()O:r,[r, l()()2:t,b) .Wlrcrr rrrltlysirturlrr' ()ltl Norsc s'trt.ltl vt.'rv Il,rs( r'rrI s(l'('s\r's ,t lr.rsit tosntologitrrl t'orrHict

u6 Witchcralt anrl Magit' in Europc:'fhe Middlc Ages

between chaos and order.The struggle bet'nveen disorder and harPony-ls

,+..r."r.a in trrythological narratir'ies by the spatial inlagery of.Utgardr'

i,-r'hrbit.d by demonic ind destructive forces' and the structural harmony

"ifVliOgr.Or, the home of gods and men' In Hastrup's nrodei this.i's a rele-

vant pictttre for the ,o.i.l f-.og'aphy; she also regards the farm and the cul-

,-",.asoilasclearlydefinedinopposltlontothewildnessofnatLlre'Fron1Hastrup,s perspective the same str-ucture is visrble in rhe 1egal systelll where

""ifr*.y *", ^"r,

existence outsicle society in every respect' with a status

inferior to that of anirnals. It is debatabie how far these correspondi,g

"fi.Jii"r, can be taken, but when str-rdyins the world view of ttolld(tmr a

..it.i., contrivance with such dichotolr-ries is apparent'

The terrn 'conceptioll' is used irl this t""1; -to cover the. ideological

franreworkarrdthecognitivebasethatformeclwhatwasconceivedtobea."fr.*", syste,) li,kin'g cause anil effect.This abstraction is to be compared

rvith the ritual practic.i arrd legal cocles discussed in the follorving two Parts

"iirri, .rrrpr.r.bh. following disct'ssion^*ill not be of conception as a par-

;;.ilr; -rfl'.rt.r.t

qualiry bui-of the different ways in rvhich they were

.*fr.rr"a. When ivriting on 'the power of kr-rowledge" Kirsten Hastrup

srates:. .,beliefs" are rlot lir e,rpirical crrtegory, becaltse at

-the en-rpirical level

belief can,ot b. ,epr.rt.d fr; k"owleJge; (1990a: 197)'This is certainly

true in a discussion of trolltl(trnr u'herc a recurring question must be

lvhether practice .o...rpor.1.d to the itnages presented. in rnythological

narratives and other texts fbrmulatin€! lnore nortletive discourses' To put

itri, ,rro,t.,., rvay: the relatio.shi'p bei'ee" literature and lived experience

rllustbetakenintoconsideratior.wh.rrtheexpression'beliefintrolld'miisusetlitisnotre|erringtoextraordinarySuperllaturalexpetietlcesbuttoa,u*.,-,-, of k,orvledg. .1-rd .*p1rir-rations ihatiake into accollrlt that nrischief,

c'nr,ry and famine ,re.. frctoti to deal with in everyday life'

It must be stressed once nrore that there r.t'ere rllso positive aspects to

trclLtlinr.Beliefs and actions dicl not only cause or point at inauspicious

thi,,gs.Scjdr,thetnoreelaboratedivirrationritual,r,vasalsospokenofas.iffil",r, to p..fo.*ing trolldimr, and was used not only to predict the

Iuture, but also to gair.r power over e certaitl situatiolr (Striinrblick 1935;

I)ilhnanrr1986,1992).Wh.t*"nranipulationancldcstructionfrornoneperspective *., g.rcli advice and healing fronr atlother' Know-ledge and

knor.t irr g :tlu :rys ltttbigttorts'

'l-Irc Conct'Pt of Ttollditrlr

(irtrttrtott irrrlrcclicrtts in tllc (lorrtirrcrltrtl lllvthol()gy oItlrc crtrlv rttodcrtt

.witclr (.r.ilz(. ,,likc tlrt, witclrcs'srrtrlrrrtlr ,rr otlrcr rror'turtt:tl g:ttlrcrirlgs, rittrrll

ttttll..lt'r .ll. slrr,lll . l.),l.l'..,.,' .,t.rIit.s tll. irr'.t.vt.rsirrtt .,,1- 1.;11111iIl.rIistt,.. .t..' tt.,(

Trolld6nrr in Early Medieual Scandinauia

found at all in Old Norse literature. Altogether different matters were thefoctrs of interest. "ft'olld6mr conceptior)s dea]t with certain persorls' abrlitiesto have an influence on fellow humans and on natllre - for better orworse. References to such abilities are given in various texts and cannot belinrited to a particular qenre. Inclividual accounts of trolld|mr in nrost sagas

fit into a pattern of local conflicts; hence it rvould be incorrect to isolatethese texts from dreir social relations, ideas, and values. Lr sonre respectstrolld6mr is also a literary motif with a genuineiy wide use. Arguments insrsa texts besed on trolld6mr had to refer to conurronly shared beiiefs andirssunrptions to nrake sense and be valid.

-frolldr5rnr is chosen here as an umbrella ternr to indicate the notions, rit-

urrls, and sociirl interactions in the Olci Norse traditions relating to concep-tions about the influence certain pcrsons had - by innate qualities ortlrrough skill - on the r.vorld surrounding thenr. T'olld6rrr covered an('xtensive field and cornplex cornbinations of abstractions and ideas as well.rs ritual practices. Conceptions of trollddm,' were alw;rys related to ideas.r[)out power and the experience of the balance of power. The stories are.rlwlys well integrated into a social setting. There is always a distinct pur-1,osc for:r sender or an actirtg person.The target for the activities can be a

l)('rson, an animal, the landscape of a certain viciniw or [rore abstract enti-rrcs like prosperiry and lbrtune. Focused as they are on acrions committed,no text tives any formal definition of trolld6mr. lt covers a wide field of,rssrrnred abilities to change the visible reality by nreans invisible andrrrrrcachable to orclinary people. In nrost texts trolld6wr is said to generate(l('strulction and harm, and is almost always described fronr the perspective,rl tlre aflbcted.'When x cause w'as asked for,trolld6nrr could serve as a plau-',rl,lc and sensible reason for the mishap.With few erceptions performances,'l tn>lldt5mr for the purposes of creating destruction, sickness, or misfor-lunc's were clandestine and solitary activities, whiie the positive applica-Ir,rrs of such knowledge used in acts of divination were collective events,r'\tr'r.lted nlore or less in public.The talk about cr.rnning deeds was also a

lrrrr,lrly social rnatter. The very idea of accusations was the fuel of nruch

',,,,'sip ancl slander. In Old Norse tradition, trLtlldinv was tlrst of all a way of

, r1,1;1i11111s the hardships o[ life - rnisfortune, illness, theft, unexpected,lr'.rtlr, etc (Hastrup 7990a:197if.,1992b; Flowers 1993; Mitchell 1998). It',, r vt'(l rs a diagnosis of an r-rncontrollable situation. As no established ter-rrrrn,rlogy existed, a rich variety of terms to describe the extraordinary

'.rl',rlrilitics rvas used, rrrlny of thenr witlr the connotations of traditionalilr( r('r)t lcaruing ancl knowleclgc'.

/i,,// is usctl as thc first clcrncrrt of thc tcrnr to inc'lic:rtc thc nrytholoqicall',r, l.gr'otrrrtl t() tllc ('()n('cl)t5 iul(l :rcts tlisctrssed.'I'hc rcscrrr[rllrrrcc <lf worc'lsrrr nrorlt'rr) St';rrrtlirtltvr:ut l:rrrgrr;rgt's is itrtr'rtt.iort:rl.'l-lrt'rrr<ltivc is t<l ttlrrk lr

,lr',t.rtttt' t() t('rnls r.lt'rtvt',1 lronr (ltt' (it'tnt:rtt rvot-tl 'llt'xt",:r (()l)('('l)t tl)llt

87

88 Witchcraft dncl Magic in Eutope :T'hc Middle Agcs

was first introduced in Scandinavian languages cluril]s the witch-craze of

the seventeellth century. Tiollcl|mr is also wide enough to. cover tnany

;.;" of extraordina.yi'towltdge rncl cunning deeds in Old.Norse li'ter-

ature. I)iffer.r, .ot rpo'.,nds withioll- are frequent' aithough the use of the

forn-t trolld1mn i, ,-rro..-."rely fotrnd. Even leis contnlon is the ter,r /rol1-

skapr.hplausible reason is that the sagas focus on concrete deeds'Scrrin3nr'

"ri r_,orLn abstract cliscussions. Tioltis a terl,1 i' the ne,ter c:rse and is not,

;;;, g.,lJ.. specific.The trolls of the text can appear in both rnale and

i.r*f. ,fr.p. .nd- the word is therefore suitable as a technical term'

ItseerrlsthatthevariotrscorrrpoundsserveclassignalsinthetextsandasinJicattons that mighry powers *"tt i' the wind'When analysing them it is

an advantage to use "irora rernr and not very fruitful to rry to establish a

ittilnrr'gJ,r.r1ogy'that stems fronr supernatural beings or hutnans' l7ol/ is

the trame of a rather ".g"tly defined gtot'p of supernatural beings in Old

Norse nrythology (Hahirsen 1982a,b; Linclow 1993)'They are demonic

beings, sometimes ..,lng .' individuai c.haracters but n-rostly spoken of as a

harrnful collective. Ho#rr.r, the ternr is also used to characterize hu'tans

withspecialcapabilities,andisevcnassociatedr'vithgiants'TQtnar'orrelatedto the deacl. The *o.d i' also frequently used in early Scandinavian

Christian literattlre as arr equival"nt of devils, denrorrs, monsters etc' But

mostly /roll refers to the enenries of the asir and as a threat to the harnrony

of Midgardr (Hastrup 19U1,'1990a, 1992b;Clunies Ross 1994)'.words

associatecl *rtt, trlr.,tt,llnrr could point in several directions, partic-

ulariy those concernins knowleclge ancl speaking out lo.ud' There was a

rich variety in terrlrs ,elating to'knon'leJgc and knowing' and persons

affiliatecl with tyolldinrr in oid Norse text.i were generaliy described as

krrcr*1.dg.rble.The urrb ku"o,meaning both'to know to understand' to

know by heart, as u,ell as ,to have insighiin the old traditions and lore' and

iio U.t-r"". prop"rly,, i, .t th. core oithis senlanric field.When'knorv'or.krrowledge,areusedinarrC)ldNorseContextthewordslraveafarmore

elaborate si.gnifrcation than is usual in modern English'Thereforr' the enric

(folk or local) terms will be used here, as a constant rel.ninder of the ilnpli-

cations of knor,vledge in the original context'---

R f..ro, .o,rld,b. said to Le -fiqlkunnigr or margk.wmigr, i.e. to havc

much knolvledge about nrany thing.s. But this was certainlv never usecl ill :t

neutral way; the .o.r.1.""t"' of ""1] knowleclce woulcl always tell of thc

trltir-rrate purpose. ln iyrttygqla saga 15 and 'l (r thc trvo wolner)' (leirrit)r

and Katia, are both a..pi.i.i itr tertrts of a very si,rilar tcrtrlirlt>l.sy rts

;;^1r thcir k,orvlc.lg.: ,,,r,1 their rbilitics. Ilttt wlrcrr it t't:rtrtcs t. 'r'tt

tit't'

t1,.,.]i.,r"ry clifli,rcrrt chrr'rctcrs bccorrrc rrlrrifi'st.'['lrc irttetttiott itt thc ttsc ol

kno,nvlctlgc lrlrv:rys tunls ()ut t() [re ll tlist'l<lsttrc; rts ltlwrtys, kttowletlgt'

,.rrrl,l Ir..] lr<,tll trs.'r.1 lttltl tttisttst'tl' Ii1'rlr1'qq-'r 'rrl(rl tlt,t': ttol tlivt':ll)y ('\il(l

tlt.st.t.iP(i.trrs ol'rvlr:tt tlrt'rvorrrt.rr ,'..,illy ,1,,, otrlv (lr.rt ()l)('()l tlttttl ts Itt'

Trolld6mr in Early Mcdieual Scandinauid 89

pared to share her knowledge with a young nran while the other uses it toharm hinr severely when he resists her erotic invitations.

There is a rich variety of terms relating to knowledgeable persons andtheir activities, good or evil (Mundal and Steinsland 19i39; Hastrup 1990a:197ff.; Pilsson 1997:158fr.; Flowers 1993; Mundal 1993b).A rough divi-sion of the terminology can be made between words relating to descrip-tions of men and wonlen assurned to be, or accused of being,knowledgeable and performing trolldimr, and difTerent activities or deedsbased on assurned trolldtimr and age-old lore. The vocabulary deviates inditlerent genres of Old Norse literature and some of the terrns have.rlready been mentioned above. There was mostly a sender and these per-sons - or maybe 'personalities'is a better word * always had a name with a

visible gender. Males could be called galdrdmadr, uitki, skratti, trollmadr; andtl'rrrales gyor, seidkona, spikona, trollkona, uglua, the latter often in connec-tion with -scl<Jr rituals. A radical way of desecrating a person thought of as

kuowledgeable was to give hinr or her the name of a supernatural berngIrke illucrttr, meinuettr, or rtucrttr. In contrast to males, human fernales in thes:rsas could be given the names associated with the many evil-mindedrnythological women.

Action and result were the focus of the ternrinology related to the knowl-,'rlge able persons' activities, gerningar or -fordceduskapr. Deed, did, a;nd advice,r,ir), were loaded ternrs that flavoured the texts when used.To be-fr6dr meantto be knowing and well inforrned in a general sense, but it also included thetr':rtlitions of old (fiirn) ttrnes,Jontfrtidr, -forncskja and having access to the o1d

I'rrowledge, as we saw in the terminology used to portray what Grettir'srrrother had to say. Fredi hinted at both the abstract aspect of knowledge andl,'.rrning and the exercise of charms and spells. To predict the future, at -spl,\\,r\ ull instrunlent to protect the coming season and the future of children.

'l'here is a general tendency to historicize extraordinary knowledge int )lrl Norse literature. Such instghts are represented as the innate traditions,,1 trlcl tirnes,.fornfridr,.forneskia. A term llke -fornJrcedl referred both to the.rl)sn'ilct aspect of knowledge and learning and to the actual performance,r , . t lrarms or spells.Terms in this semantic field pointed to some individu-rl: lrlvilrg or exhibiting the capacity for discerning and the intelligentrpplicltion of knowledge, or to the ability to act in situations where other1r.r,[rlc with r.nore linrited rnental capaciry had reached their ]imit.

l'lrc rrrtrltipliciry of nreanings is a crucial feature of the trolld|my textsrrr,l .r key to understanding theur.As mentioned in the introductory dis-r u\\l()n of thc sourccs, tlre s:rgr tcxts c;rn certainly not unconditionally ber,.r(l :rs lristoricrl clocurrrcnts. As soci:rl nrenrorics thcy firnnulated an ideal,rl trrrt's l)ilst ir) lvlri<'lr knolvlctlgc ot-tlrc <lld tl:rys w:rs l powerftrl resource.',rrll, tlrt'y cxl)rcss rrttittttlt's ,uttl sl:uttlpoirrts. if-n()[ l('('rlnrtc dcscril-rtiorrs of, 'rr(('l)ti()r)s .trttl rtttt.tls; nro,lt's ol ltorv to rll:rtt' (o tltt' l)ilst, ils rrrrrt'lt :rs

90 Witchuqft and Magk in Europe:T'Irc Middle Ages

relating to somethirrg necessarily 'supern:rtural'. 'Magic, witchcraft, and

healing constiture a field of indigenous explanatior-rs of individual success

o. nrisiortune' (Hastrup 1990a: 197). Knorvledge about the past was a way

of establishing authority. Refererrces to what was -forn had a significant

effect as an arslument, and adcled to that was a flavottr of the capacity to see

into the future.With the exceptioll of scidr tro activity is nrore closely connected tcl

trolld6ntr thar-r the art of carving runes with the ain-r of cursing or healing'

llunes are letters, adapted in part from Latin, and mostly preserved as

inscriptions on wood, bone or stone. Most of the stone inscriptions were

memorials of individuals and their deecls, br.rt in the sagas scenes with the

carving of runes were also a way of tellins of people who made use oftl-rcir iiolld6mr knowledge. The rr-rnic alphabet was not just an ordinary

writing systent used foi straightforward communication, but to a large

extent associated rvith the carver'.s special abrlities.These Old Norse letters

were kept in use for several hupdreds of years after the introduction ofchristianiry and Latin letters, for rvriting charms, notes, and also prayers to

the Holy Virgin and the saints. The technique of formulatinu a plea

.er-,rair-,ei, but-the religious contexr changed. Sometimes the old Norse

texts do not reveal "ry-i".l difference between writing runes and the art of

singing powerful songs.When a phrase like'carving runes'appears in the

t.*i, li car., also .orrrl," pe.fonlring tr.olld|mr in a rnore lleneral sense. Ofall poets and knowlec1g..bl. characrers 6dirn is described as the rrraster ofal1 ihese potent c."fts. His quest for rvisdom and powerful runes is a nrajor

therrre in mythological nairatives. In the Eddic poe,t Hiuamal we read

about the most wise of gods and nlen:

The runes yolr must lind and the meanir.rgful letter,

a very great letter,a very Powerftrl letter,which the rnightY sage stained

and the Powerful gods n.rade

ancl the -..rn.rrrrrt..

of the gods carvecl out'4(trans. by Larrington 1996:34)

The nrythological images of Odinrr's corrplex relation to runes and

troltitdmi,withlts strength and artrbiguities, cot'rstitute a paradignl for other

forms of narratives.

Sltctkirr.q ()ut

'l'lrt' rrrost itrrpor.t;rrrt t(.nlls ('()llr)('ctctl to tntlldirttt'citlrcr rcfi'r to krtorvl'

t'.1g.. .rr t9 tlrr' spokt'rr rvoltl.'l'lrt' irttpot'trtrtr't' ol tltt' l;rttt'r' irr ()ltl Nolsc

Trolld6rnr in Early Mcdieydl Srandinayia 91

literature is well documented (Boyer 1986; Hastrup 1990a: 197ff.; PSlsson1991).The pronouncement of words r.vas recognized to have a tremendousinfluence over the concerns of life.The inrpact of a sentence uttered aloudcould not be questioned and could never be taken back - as if it hadbecome sornehow physical. Strong and powerful worcJs reappear through-out the sagas. Words create reality - not only the other way around.Concrete expression and utterance had a digniry and a status, as is corn-rnon in oral cultures. Many of the deeds of cunning people were not nec-essarily done but spoken. The forrnr-rlaic elenrents were supposedly vitalwhen performing trolld\mr.Therefore, the verb .gala,'to say, speak out ioud,utter, sing'is the focus in this context. Metaphoricallv the word also lreantchanting and singing, but not always wirh pleasant sounds: it could com-prehend 'to crow, to cry', or everl refer to anirnal sounds, e.g. repulsiverroise, wild cries. The associations of the verb gala are clearly negative. Aparticipal fornr of-the verb,galinn,corid also be used for describing a per-soll out of his or her mind - insane or bewildered. lt is unclear r.vhetherthis referred to the state of the performer or to the efltct of the song orperhaps both. This particular stare of r.nind was characteristically inter-preted as honourable and at the same tirne indicated the ar.nbigr-rous posi-rion of the poet and his praised abilities, skildskapr.The bard was thereforeke'eper of social r-nerrory and the key to days gone by. Many terms them-sclves do not indicate arry estinration, and connote the possibility oftlestruction. I3estiality or rnadness were powerful irnaees of the enernies ofthe harmony and order that characterized the ideals of Midgardr. Not sur-prisingly a usual punishrrent for performing trolldtinr was outiewry.

The power of the spoken word is an apparent exanrple of cr-rltural conti-rruity. Although pag:rnism was srrongly condemned by the Church, rnany.f its practices rvere transformed into modes of religious expression.rcceptable to the Church. Among them rvas the trust in prayers and bless-u)lr, the latter often accompanied by sonre kind of rituai behaviour. lnrrrrrch later recorded rural fblklore, uttered phrases were thought to have a

t.rrrLrible effect. Spells describing ceremonies accornpanied by minimaln)()vel]1ents seem to work out as a kind of fictive rituals: the narration of a

r itual - sometinres in a forrlrulaic nrode and n-raybe accompanied by sym-l,.lic bodily nlovellrents - was thought to have the same impact as if actu-.rllv perforrned (Raudvere 1c)93: 157ff.,301f.).sWhen fornrulated in wordsrlrt. lrealins or destrllction was believed actually to take place.'In Oldl, t'l:rrrdic.qalrirreferrecl to a song, rlainly in the sense of"charrn" or"spell".llrt' corresponcling vcrb wls,(,(//d, t() "chlnt" or to "cast spells".This lin-rrrrstic tlerivlrtion is:ur irrrportilnt kcy to tlrc senrlrrrtics of rnagic', KirstenI l.rstrrrp writcs (l()()O;r: 2{){)).'l'lrc ser.orrtl fi';rttrrc ('()nn()tcs tlrc pcrfirrrrrrrtivc,r\l)('('t\ of- tlre rrst' ol'lvonls. ( ,r/r/r., sorrr-ts ()r l)()('try rvitlr spe r'i:rl p()wer, wustlrt' irrstrrrrrrt'rrt lirl tltr' |,1'slirrrrrt.t (l l.rlvorst.n l()lil) .fust .rs .r Poct r'orrlcl

92 ll/it&craft and Magic in Europe:Tlrc Mitldle Ages

enchant his audience, so a person with the right insights could use loudly

uttered rvords for protectioir, healiug, ot' cursing. ln gelleral, r,vhat rvas said

in public had a certain epistemological_ status. But since women were

erciu,led fronr public speech acts ro a large extent, the cottceptions ofauthoritative speech formed the basis of a genclered social space. l)ue to

this women.re.. also 111ore or less excluded tiom trials.The texts therelore

hint irt words rltterecl in secrecy, r,vhen wonten were supposecl to Practisc

trolld6rur.Srrorri Sturlr-rson's hanclbook for poets Hittatal gives a catalogue of dif-

ferent nretres used itr ditTerent qenres.Also trolld6mr had its poetics and dis-

tirrctive forms of expression ti lltld,thittr and galdralag Gt. 101)- A whole

section of nretric ,p"il, ,t the end of Hiuamil is narrred 'Lj6datal' and pr-rts

power{ul sones into the r.rrouth of Odinn. Carolyne Larrington character-

ir., th. sectiin in the lbllowing way:'The lj6datal is a iist of eighteen

spells, w.hose contellts are briefly sketched, but rvhose text is nevcr

given,(1993: 62).The themes for the area of use are giverr,but not spells as

s-uch. It nrust be remembered as rne read that Hiuanill lvas never lneant to

be a docurnentation of spells, but a poet's visualization of the,lnearrings ofpor,verful worcls,.gal;r sorigs.Ar., e*a,rple is stanza 151 r,vhere Odinn speaks

of rhe situation of being &por..l to aitacks frorn evil runes and bad speech

and the poet rnakcs ui r-rnderstancl that the insighful god can turn the

assault back against the sender:

I know a sixth one if a mau wounds me

r,r,ith the roots of the sap-filled \ 'ood:and that man who conjured to harm me,

the evil collsunles him, uot nle'r'

(trans. bv Larrington 1996:36)

The field of extraorclinary knowledge is encompassecl in the stauza' Galdr can

also be synonyrnoLrs with practisid nolldt5nu as i. the phrase: galdrar ok

gQltingdr,crafty words and deeds. Kirsten Hastrup calls galdr'the original ter m

fo, ,-,.,igi.' (19V0a: 20()). Knorvledge ;urd utterance were closely associated' for

.rr.,.pi. in the expre ssion galdrar ok fiqlk1'ngi. Frcrn gala and galdr a rich vari-

ery of corrrporrnds enanates. People could be called .galdral< ona, g.a,ldranmdr, or

golrlrn u*rrand their art or character galdralist, galdrafttllr, and galdiligr and the

pr.rrr-rr.d equipntent of the perfor rncrs gald-rab'ile (book of ,qaldr songs)' or .go/-

rlrastafr lqaldr wand). The ternrinology indicates that the perfbrnrers were

thorrghtlo need inst^rnler1rs to be able to ',ediate

their insigl'rts.

Aiecur.e,-rt thenre in Old Norse litemttrre is trtetr lncl wcltttct-t itt posses-

sioD of strotrg words who givc their itssistencc tr> l)coplcirl ncccl by te.rclrirrg

tlterrr 1.rcrwcrii,l ,r".r.r.Th.l dicl;rctit- tltctrrc is rtpp;trcrrt :ts rcgrtr.ls.botlr iirrlrr

rrrrti c<lrttr'rtt. Wc lt:tvc sccll s()l)l(' [rricf-t'x:trlrplcs titlrrr I lir"tttt'il tlt:tt tt';lt'lt(')<lirrt\ .rIrilitit's. llt ,tttrltllt't-p6c'tlt ol'tlrc /)rrr'lit l:rll't. ()ni.q'tltlr':l y()tlllg lll:lll

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 93

adclresses Gr6a, a rplrra w'hose son he clailrrs to be, asking for her assistance inhis quest to win iris bride. Frorn the first stanza it is evident that the youn€lrnan is communicating '"vith the uqlua in her srave and commanding her toarise.Tlre sanre situatiolr.is prevalent in Vpluspa 2tl where before ragnargk -the end of the world - Odinn visits the grave of a uqlud to obtain the advicehe needs befbre lacing the flnal battle. In Grdgaldr the wise woman (lr6aresponds to her sorl'.s plea ancl gives hinr nine galtlrar for protection ag.rinst

enernies and harm, and ends her nronologue in this very motherly r.vay:

Never now gorvhere danger appears;and rnay no evil bar you t}om bliss!

C)n a stone firm in the earrhrvithin doors I stood,r,r,4rile I chanted you spells.

A nrother'.s wordstake r.vith you, son, au,ay fi-onr here,and keep thenr stored in your heart;ever rrbounding uood ibrtuneshail you have throughout life,,t. lottg as )ou ntirrd nry words.l(trans. by Robinson 1991:66)

Althor-rgh the context is fragr.nentary we can notice the claimed mclther-sonrelationsl'rip rvhich is also a nranifest nrotif in the sagas rvhere fosterr-nothersoficn act to protect their sons, sometirnes by means of trolld6mr and powerfulu'ords. Gr6a is not referred to in any negiltive tcrnN, in contrrrst to yet,urother Eddic poern, Hyndluli6d, r,vhere Frey.la is addressing a uglua to gain.rdvice alld the answering tone is quite cold and relnctant. Gr6a'.s enulllera-tion of beneficial aclvice is quite sinrilar to equivalent catalogues and could in\()n)e aspects be compared to Odirrn's list o{ goldr songs in Hiyamil.

Frorn the Continent sonre interesting exanrples of early nredieval spelJs

.r)(l charnls are preserved. Compared to the advice tn Hiutrmil, Carolynel.rrrington remarks,'The L;6c\atal is an index to spells,but spells r'vhich are

n()t "genuine", in that sense tilat the Old English charrr-rs, or the Old High( io'nrefl Merseburg Ch:trrns are'(1993: (r3). In the second of the trvo C)ldIlish (lernran so called Merseburg Charnrs help is asked lbr frorn pagan

:,,,,,1s, whclse n;rnles are recognizablc frorn ()ld Norse nrytholog,v (Hanrppl'X,l;WoliF l9(r3;Wipf 1975).The plrrpose of thc spell is thc healing of a

lr,rrsc urrtl it r,vus r,vrittcrr rlow'rr irr tlre tcrrth ccntury, dcfinitcly in a

(.lrristi:rrr c()r)tcxt. lt rcrtls irr;r prosc trrlr)sl:rti()r):

l'lrol ;rrttl Wotlrrrr ltlrt'()lrl lliglr (it'rttt:ttt n.un( ()l ()r)111111 t'otlt'ittto tltcrvooll; tlrt' lon'lt't,, ol l|,rltlt'r'ls lt<rrs<' rv.ts tlislor.rlt'tl; llrt'n Sintrltrrrt .rltrl

94 Witchua;ft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Agcs

Sunna, her sister, sang over it, then Friia andVolla, her sister, sang over it,than Wodan sang over it, for he could do that well: be it dislocation ofbone, be it an ailment of the blood, be it dislocation of the linrbs: boneto bone, blood to blood, iimb to linrb, as if they were glued.s

The gods are urged to sing over the wounded lir-nb and seemingly theirson5; as such had the assumed healing power.e In cornparison with muchlater recorded spells a formal sinrilarity can be noted.The healing situationwas aln-Lost always expressed as a nreeting or a confrontation - a rlreetingbetween the healer and the patient and a confrontation of curing anddestructive forces. A parallel situation is constructed (the gods are ridingtheir horses and an injury springs up) which is followed by a threefold par-allel structure: 'bone to bone ...'The first Merserburg Charm also showsthernatic resernblances with Eddic poety.This Old High German text dealswith releasing prisoners and breaking up fetters by rneans of the spokenword, a therne prevalent also in Eddic poetry. Here is Hdvamil 149, whereOdinn claims

I know a fourth one lgaldr songl if men putchains upon nry limbs;I can chant so that I can walk away,fetters spring from my feet,and bonds from my hands.ll)(trans. by Larrington 1996:35)

The few Old High Gerrran spells that are preserved are generated from a

distinctly Christian context and reveal another characteristic feature alsoapparent in later charnrs: the seemingly unproblentatic nlix of pagan con-ceptions with references to Christ, the Virgin, the saints etc. The structureseems to be an indication of continuity not only in form but also in theunderstanding of the power of the spoken word. The text quoted aboveshows striking conceptual and formal sirnilarities with the well-knownAnglo Saxon Journey Spell'that begins:

I protect nryself with this rod, and commend myself to thegrace of God,Against the grievous stitch, against the dire strike of disease,Against the gruesome horror,Against the frightful terror loathsome to all men,Against all evil, too, that nray invade this lar-rd. 11

(trans. by Grendon 1909:177)

The charnr ends with a long catalogue n:rnring the HolyTrinity, Mary anclcharacters fi'onr the Olci Tl'stanrclrt, anlolrq others. Spclls likc this constitrrtclrr irrdiclrtitlrt of a ('()-prcscllcc of tr;rtlitiorrs rrot orrly irr nrr'trt' lrrrrl gt'rrrcbttt ;rlso :ts rt'gurtls rltc rc:tlity ol'tlrr' powerlirl lvortl. As llt';rtlrt'r Strr:rrt

Trol1d6mr in Early Mcdieual Srcndinauia 95

argues, a'charm can be viewed as a structure rather than a haphazard con-glomeration of magically necessary ingredier-rts' (1985: 36).

A very special form of intentional use of the spoken word in order toaclrieve destruction is nid, referring to both verbal genre and ritual practice(Meulengracht Sorensen 1983, 1993; Hastrup 1990a: 200f.). It can bedefined as ritual insulting and verbal defarration, very often with rough sex-ual allusions.There are hints of the concept in various texts and in Christianlegal docu.re,ts. A well-known example of thrs harsh for,r of poetic cre-ativity is found in Egik saga Skalla-Crimssonar (57). Already in the famouspoet's genealogies there are conlnlents about his ancestors which rnakes thereader realize that he is a person with extraordinary capabilities. Egil1tsrandfatheri narne is Kveld-Ulfr, literally 'Evening Wolf', which usualiy isinterpreted to mean that he was thought to be a shapeshifter wirh the abilityto take the temporal fornr of a wolf at r-right. Another relative of Egillt isnoted to be'half a troll', hilftrall, i.e. of demonic origin. Not sr_rrprisinglyEgill is a man who knows how to use the spoken word and how to carverunes. At one point, as his conflicts with king Eirikr of Nor-way (known as'Eirikr Blood-Axe') and his wife Gunnhildr reached their climax, Egill issaid to have raised a hideor-rs pole with carved runes, r.ridslpng, against thenr.

Egill went up onto the island. He took a hazel pole in his hand andwent to the edge of a rock facing inland. Then he took a horse's head:rnd put it on the end of the pole.

Afterwards he nrade an invocation, saying'Here I set up this scorn-pole lilidstqngl ancl turn its scorn upon King Eirikr and QtieerrGunnhildr'- then turned the horse's head to face land -'and I turn irsscorn Lrpon the nature spirits llanduettirl that inhabit this land, sendingthetr astray so that none of thenr shall find its resting-place by chanceor design until they have driven King Eirikr and Queen Gunnhildrfiom this land'.

Then he drove the pole into a cleft in the rock and left it to standthere. He turned the head towards the land and carved the whole invo-cetion in runes on the pole. ll

As in the poetical and nryrholosical context of Hiuaruil there is no rnen-trorr ofwhat words are uttered,only a considerable stress on the act ofspeak-rrrs.'k> chase arvay the laduettir was obviously the best method of makingrlrt' king rncl clucern leave. when the spirits were displeased a place wastlr.rrsht to be left witlr<>ut protection ancl peace. Egill'.s rid is not left r.rnan-

"rvt'rctl, btrt fbllows rt |.rrlttc'1ll of actiort ln(l cr()nnteractiorr. Queen Gr-rnnhildrr: rrot withotrt spccirrl lbilitics lrcrself arrd tlrc cvil-rrrintlccl rvontan sendsl,.rt'k rt spcll rturrirrst lrirrr. Irr:r strcsslirl sittrutiorr firrtlrt'r orr irr thc tcxt shel.t't'Ps Iruill :rwrrkt' tlrc rvlrolc rriglrt Irv :rsstrrrrirrs tlrt. lirr.rrr ol'rr trvittcring bird

siltr't'tltt'rtt:rlir'iorrs (lu('r'n tunls orrl lo lrr.rr slrtrPt'slrilir'r'too (5()).

96 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:'lhe Middle Ages

Fatc and Destiny

Most activities relating to trollddmr, positively or negatively, referred to con-ceptions of fate in one way or the other. The sagas tell of cerernonies andrituals that ain'r to reveal what the future holds. The task of conductingthese ceremonies was linuted to the knowledgeable.

In Vatnsdela saga 1() auqlua is invited to tel1 fortunes at a grand Gast.Theknowledgeable woman is said to be from Lapland, a Finn.a. As will be dis-cr-rssed further down, Saanri people are generally described in biased terms as

specially skilied in cunning deeds. She has nrainly positive things to forecast,but young Ingimundr does not want to hear about his future in advance andclain.rs not to believe in prophecies.Then the uqlud, unbidden, tells him thathe will become a settler in lceland and a lost token will be found as a sign ofher trustr'vorthiness.The scene is constructed as a confrontation befr,veen theattitudes towards one of the fundanrental concepts in the Old Norse worldview: an individuall given destiny. Ingimundr'.s cornpanion repeatedly tellshim how vain it is to struggle against his destiny. But as always in a goodstory the prediction comes true and the fight between the seeres and therecipient turns out ro be an inrportant narrative instrunrent.

A multitude of conceptions describing interhuman relations were linkedto the ideas of fate and destiny. Power, control and domination rvere alwaysnlore or less under the surface when different fortunes are to1d.

Conceptions of trillddmr in relation to knowledge were also closely con-nected with conceptions of destiny (Hallberg 1973; Mundal 1971;Lcinnroth 1976:123ff.).The predicted destiny of individuals, families, godsand other nlythological beings - even of the universe itself at ragnarqk - is

constantly referred to in various kinds of texts and all of these were, alongwith the material world, subject to the fina1 fatal destruction. There is a

strong relationship between conceptions of fate and O1d Norse nrytholog-ical narratives of creation ancl destruction.

The importance of destiny rnust llot be unclerstood to nrean that theNorsemen held purely fatalistic beliefs. Rather it must be r.rnderstood interms of knowing the future, in order to keep it under some kind of con-trol. l)ivination rituals and the perforn'rance of seidr, either by Odinn innlyths or execr-rted by invited specialists as in the example front Vatnsdtxla

-saga above,were expressions of ways of frnding the keys to hidden parts ofreality and measuring what was given.The results of divination nrarked thelirnits of individual free will and after the divination ceremony strategiescould be made for acting within these linrits. Hence, prophecies, dreanrsand dream interpretations, and curses were treatecl with the greatest con-cern. Many of therl also con.rprise reasonings on trolldinr aud extraordi-rtary knowleclge. Il.elating to late, or destiny, these wrtys of tellirrr-r iruplv tlrclirnitlrtiorrs tlrltt lrlve bccrt stlked otrt irrtlcl'rurdcrrtly o[- lrrurr:ur Irclruviorrr

Tiolld6nrr in Early Medieual Scandinayia 97

and choices. They reveal a tension between freedom and dependence.Nevertheless, there can seem to be a contradiction in terrns: the concep-tions of destiny could also be viewed as a definition of personal freedorn.L-)n the one hand, the linrits are set and it lies within the hunran conditionto identify thern and act within the given space; on the other, choices andtheir consequences over a longer period of time is an inrportant theme inthe sagas. More than a seneral dependence on fate, it was used in the nar-ratives when explaining something of utmost intportance.

Destiny was in one sense given, but still there were opportunities fordeveloping diflerent strategies, as recently analysed by Margaret Cluniesl{oss (1994) in connection with the fundamental structure for the percep-tion of time.

Prosperity and Enuy

Abstract ideas about late and destiny are for-rnd in Old Norse literature.rlong with very concrete configurations of beings that are supposed tonrle over sliccess and failure. This inseparable blend flavours all the stories,tt' trt5lldomy. Kirsten Hastrup and Orvar Lofgren have discussed rvhat they, :rll 'the econonry of fortune' as a latent model in the social landscape ofScrndinavia (1992). Such a model was a nrode of explaining the hardships,rrrtl the very diflerent fortunes of life.Their article is based on much laterlirlklore recordings, but their arguntents can be applied to Old Norsesociety as well.

I-inked to destiny, each individr"ral and each family had their share of for-Irure, materially as well as in a more abstract sense. Fortune and the goodtlrirrgs in life were considered a constant, i.e. when somebody gained pros-

;,t'rity, sol11eone else necessarily lost it. Resources were lirnited.(.onceptions of luck and fortune explained not only the current situation,lrrrt also social structures in general and why there were more and less

l)11)sperous fanrilies. Fortune was something given and only trolldt5rur could, lr.urqe what was settled. Not surprisingly, n'rore attention was paid to badlrr, k tl.ran to success.There were many stories about destructive evil forces,

l,t'rsonal i11-wi11, and greed.The notion of 'the economy of fortune'served,rs .r rcpressive nrechanisnr and offered explanations for economic inequal-rtv irr rural Scandinaviir. In this sense, it was also an instrument for social( ()rltl'()l in an oppressive system that concealed power relations (Hastrup.rrrtl l.ijf{-rrcn 1992:25O; Hrrstrup 1992b). What little was left could alwaysl'(. l,lkclt llw]y.

'lltr' notiort oIirrstlr[rility wils r)()t orrly arr ecorrorrric considcrlticll; to a

l,rrr'.t't'xtcttt it ulso t-ott, t't'ttt:tl t'rotit rrllt't'tiorr.Witlr trr,//r/rilrr, Ir>vc cotrlcl belrotlt :rrottst'rl :rrrt'l stillt'tl. Srrt lr rrotiorrs t'n'rrtt'rl sIr.tt't' lirr sl)('(-ulilti()l)s il[)()ut

9u Witchcrdft and Magir in Europe :'1'1rc Middlc Agcs

sinister manipulation.There was always a latent threat of insidious attack.Asudden mischief could be caused by an obscure enemy, acting himsel7her-self or througl'r a cunning person'.s rnaterialized will. In this nroral econ-orrry enrotions :urcl social potver internringled to a great extent.

'There rre nrally references to destiny and fortune in Old Norse litera-ture, either giving strength to an argunrent or for purely narrative pur-poses. There was also an abstract ternrinology of the subject (Hallberg1973;l.onnroth 1976). Fate in general was called dudna or with positiveconnotations gipta and gaft, and souretimes individual fate,-lbrlqq. Mostly,though, fate was discussed not in abstract exegesis br-rt in stories, tnytholog-ical or other.

There are nrany'agents of fate', to use Lars Lonnroth's phrase - charac-ters that eppear in the sasas as personifications of destiny, luck or nrisfor-tunc'.The diflerent nrythological beings rel:rted to late and destiny are harclto separate from each other and the texts interchauge the difTerent cate-qories and names. Many tinres they have a clouble position of both form-ing individual destinies and having the ability to look into the futr.rre.Thecharacters that represent tlre conceptions of fate are given female body, ifnot appearing in anirral forru.

-the.fylglur are guardian spirits cor-rnected to individual persons or farli-lies (Mundal1971,l993b; Lindow 1L)87,1993).The word derives from theOId Norse verb,-fylgia, 'to follow', and is also associated with the noun forcaul or afterbirth. They appear in the ciistinct visible shapes of anirnals orwonlen ancl in a metaphorical sense fo11ow their concerns. Else Mundalhas shown that the diflerent suises are accordingly used in two very differ-ent ways in the texts (Mundal 1971).'Thesc two types have little in conr-mon but the nanre', she writes (Mundal 1993b: 62,1).The aninral-fy/qia wasa synrbolic ir-n:rge pointing at the inner clualities r>f its owner, a constantsyrrbolic characteriz:rtion. As nretaphor the -fylgla tells a iot about the per-son it follou,s. Strengtl.r, an evil nrind, or social position was visualized inthe inrage olta bear, a rvolf, or an eagle.The aninral shape was not supposedto vary over tinre and r,vas therefbre tl-rought to be easy to identify. In thetexts.fyl,qjur brirrg warirings or advice.The animal-ly{qio rs told of as appear-ing in front of its ou,ner, often in clreams, and givine indications of eventsto come. As such it is a representation of the futr-rre itseil-, not the characterof a person. Like a person'.s fate the -fylgla is not chanseable, nor can itirrrprove or act on its own.Tl-re antntal .fyl,q1a works, as Else Mr"rndal puts it,like a nrirror (Mundal 1971 40).The identity of the two is absolute andtherefore the death of a-fyl.q1a also predicts the cleath of its owr-rer.

A.fylda in the shape of a wour:rn is rtrore of a guarclins ancl helpirrgspirit that protects not nrerelv an incliviclual but a rvhole frtntily. This is .r

rn<rre abstmct rspt: ct closcly rclatcrl to tlte c()nccpti()ns ot' ltarrtirt.qjt(Mtrrrrl;rl 1()7-1: 86tf ).'l'lrc trvo rrrc lrrrrtlly selrilr:l[)l(' evt'rr firr rrrr:rlysis.'l lrc

Tiolid6nrr in Early Mcdieual Scandinavia 99

lylgia ln this latter aspect in not even always given a physical form, bLrt spo-ken of more diffusely as standing behind the family. Sometitues the-[,iq7a is

called spidk, indicating that the character had a function as a diviner forthe protection of the family. When appearing in a drearn she could be

calic'd dreanr-woman, draumkona.These aspects of late are very cotrcrete intheir bodily appearance, showing themselves for a short while, but leavingno roorn for alterrrarive interpretations.

The norns, nttrnir, a.re perhaps the nrost well known in the group ofrnythological beings related to fate.They are spoken of as carving runes orweaving destinies and fortunes. In nrythological narratives they are said toclwell at the foot of Yggdrasill, close to the r,vell associated with insightsrrr.rd clandestine knowledge.ln Vqluspl they seenr to controi the destiny oftlre whole universe, doonrecl to destruction. The wise maidens, rnL'1tilv,

rtrargs uitandi, are irt this text given individual symbolic nanres, (Jrdr,

Verdandi, and Skuld, popularly interpreted as 'Past','Present' ancl 'Future'.O:rrolyne Larrington's translation is more faithful to thc original text:

I know that an ash-tree stands calledYggdrasiil,a high tree, soaked w-ith shining loam;frorl there conle the der.vs which fall in the va11e1,,

ever lgeen, it stands over the r'vell of fate.

Fronr there come three girls, knowing a great dea1,

frorl the lake which stands under the tree;Fate one is called, Becon'ring another -they carved on rvooclen slips - Must-be the third;they set down larvs, they chose lives,

for the sons of men the fates of nren.l3(trans. by Larrington 1996:6)

'l lrese two stanzas end the Vgluspi version of the creation myth and it is

lr.rrdly a coincidence that the'l'that speaks - the uglua r,vho is telling thelirnclanrentals of the mythological universe - places the wotneu by the trunk,,1'Yggclrasill, the very synrbol of the world of sods and nren.'When t:orrsid-,'rits tntlldtinrr, the etynrology of the name isYggr'.s [i.e. Odinn'.s] horse indi*r.rtcs his ride to clandestine realnrs. Although nrythical by definition, uontit'

l,r iclly appear in sagas too. In Norra-Ccs/s pittr it is hard to diflerentiatel)('twcert rrorrir establishing a destiny and the invited rglur reading the future.ll)e text tells of a gathering at a wealthy fartnhouse to which three invited.rrrtl lronotrreci wonren corne. C)f the three visiting wonren, olrc \&?Ilts to

l,rurish Nornu (icstr'.s niothcr for bad treatlnent by giving thc bov a shortlrlt', lvlrilc thc otlrcr t$() srvc thc siturrtiorr.'T'he varicty rrnrl rnixing oltr:rtnes,rl rlrc ugr'rrts irrrlit':rtc tll;rt n()t too rntri'lr c:ur bc tir:nvn ti-orrt trrcrcly tltc usc

,rl.t r'crt:tirt tt'rnt. l;ottrs is on tlrt'irr(r'rrtiort,:tt'tiott:rtttl (()t)s('(lu('ll('('.

100 Wirchcra;fr and Magic in Europe:1hc Middle Ages

J'here are several other exanrples in the sagas of how Gmale figures ofrlrore or less nrythological character bring messages of times to come.Darradarlj|d, a long poen.r in l,ljils saga 157, tells of a Good Friday shortiybelore an important battle when twelve women on horseback appear(Liirrnroth 1976:134;l)armshoit 1984; Kress 1993: 97f, Poole 1993).Thewolnen turn out to be valkyries and have come to give their support tothe yor.rng king. They seenr to have an irnportant influence on the oLlt-conre of the conring battie and give a horrifiiing image of things to come.'fhe rnetaphor of weaving is used in a nronstrous mode. The introductorylines and the first two stanzas of this strong imagery read:

Merr's heads were used for weights, rnen's intestines for the weft andwarp, a sword for the sword beater, and an arrow for the pin beater. Thewonren spoke these verses:

A wide r.varp

warns of slar-rghter;

blood rainsfi'om the beam's cloud.A spear-grey fabricis being spun,r,vhich the friendsof Randv6r'.s slayerwill fill outwith a red weft.TIrc warp is wovenrr",ith rvarriors' guts,and heavilv weightedwith the l.reads of nren.Spears serve as heddle rods,spattered with blood;irorr-bouncl is the shed rod,ancl arrows are the pin beaters;rve will beat with swordsout battle web.1a(trans. by Cook 1997:215)

l)espite the gruesonre images the poem ends with predictions of victory. Itis the destiny of the enernies that is described.The nornir take an active partin the core conflict of the text and in some way they are mastering fate.

The r/i-sir constitute another collective of female deities related to bothfate rnd prosperity that are hard to distinsuish fronr the-ly{qjur.A uqluainthc sasas cotrlcl also be given the nanre .tpldi.s, or fenrale diviner.Oorrtcptrtrtl tigurcs :rrrd rittr:rl :rctivities bccorrre c'losc[y conrrectcc{ in thetr'xts.'l'lrt' r/i.sir .rrc tlrc orrly ()n(' ()l tlrt' tlrrt't' ll11)ul)s rrrcrrtiorrcri lrclt' thrrt

Trolld6nrr in Early Madicudl Scandinauid 101

are recipients of any form of distinctive cult. The disabl|t is mentioned insome texts as a form of sacrifice or feast in the winter tirne and shows sinri-luities with other fertiliry rituals of a ltlore private character. Popular sur-veys sornetirnes follow Snorri in a hierarchization of diflcrcnt rnythologicaisroups, calling them'higher'or'lower'.The r/isir are often in such divisionsproscribed to a lower dwelling - although they rnost certainly playecl a vitalpart in everyday ritual life and were not without connections to the nurjoruods. Freyja is called uarrudis, the dis of theVanir.The function of the di.slr has

been interpreted as protecting the prosperity and good fbrtune of e cerhinplace. They are lnore closely connected to the landscape and have a ratherpronounced protective aspect than the rnore abstract-fy/gur.The latter arerclated to an individual or fanrily while the former are ntore connected tospace. But solne texts do not nrake any diflerence betweer-r disir and.fl,l,qjr.w,

since both are guardian spirits in sorue sensc.As n.rentioned above, classifica-tions and taxononiles are not in line with the tone of the texts.

There are other nanres for the spirits and deities of a certain place. Thelarducpttir and the alfar seen:r to have their dweliings close to thc farrnhousc.'The latter also received a cult, alfabklf, according to sonle texts. As is obviousfiorn their nanle, the landucettir are very closely connected to the land aroundthe farnr and the cultivatcd soil. In the quotation above froni F,gi1-s .s4qa

Skalla-Cr{msson(1r were noted the flrtal consequences when the spirits aban-tk>ned a place. In this respect all these beings connected to a clistinct placeilre part of the cosmological and social inside-outside conflict, as pointecl outby Kirsten Hastrup (1981).As protectors these various beings formed a con-tr:rst to the clear-cut destructive forces fronr outsicle, like the trolls and thcirkind. Nevertheless, there are evil-nrinded disir trtd the wrath of the rii-sir is

rrrentioned in Crimnismil 53 and spoken of rvith fuar: if the d{sir are against a

l]crson or a family only destruction can follow.The valkyries are occasionallycalled Odinn's r/i-slr and associated with revenge and struggle.

When someone prospered, while others were troubled with setbacks, anr'rplrnation was needed. -li'olld,trrr

was Jn irrrportarrt cogrritive cJtcgor) in rnepisten.rological systeln where the very existence of such a knowledge pro-tluced an acceptable explanation for public and private incidents.The clusalr.onnections were obvious. Bad iuck could be as perceptible: 'a kind of con-tlgit'rus nroral disease, spreading lionr inclividual to individual throughout thesrrsrr', as l-ars Lonnroth writes about the events in Nil/s -iaga (1976:130).

Tlrc Hrtrntut Stttrl

'l'lre elrly (lhristirrrr rvritcrs of Sc:rrrrlirr:rvi:r tlid rrot :rtklpt tlre ()lcl Norsctt'rtttirtology firr tlrt' irrrrt'r tlrrllitics ot-lrrurr:rrrs, [rrrt iutnrtltr,'c.l ,r rrt'rv lvorclsorrl, s,i/, 6rrrtr tltt' Arrglo S,rrorr. l'lris is rluitc trrrtlt'r'st,rrrtl;rlrlr' sirrt t' tlrt' prc

102 Witdrcraft and Magic in Europe:'fhc Middle Ages

Christian conceptions of hurnan mental capabilities were so radically dif-ferent frorn the new religion's dogn.ras about the htulan soul. Indeed, theywere llot only difGrent, but at sorne points decidedly heretical.

The most important discrepancy r,vas the Old Norse belief that a personcould leave the ordinary body and act in a tenlporary new shape. This is

rrot or1ly the nrost fundanrental assurnption for nrost trolld1rnr stories, butalso essential to the conviction that the dead could act fronr the grave withtheir old personalities.A persont tetnporary split into body and soul is nota specifically Old Norse assumption. For centuries night riders,shapeshifters, and r,vere-animals caused serious debates within the Churchabout ho.uv to relate to these phenornena and about their ontological sta-tus. For the Clhurch Fathers, antollg them Augustine, the crucial qucstionr,vas rvhether the devil hacl such powers that he could appear in any tlngi-ble form, or help evil humans to transfornr thenrselves, only to drawChristians away fronr the true faith.

There are two ternrs fundamental to the semantic field of shapeshifting,hu.gr and hamr.The Old Norse term lrlgr, often translated just as soul, wasrnr-rch r.vider in nteaning than the Christian concept (Alver 191IbIlaudvere 1993: 6,1tT.).The r.vord connores personhood, tl-rought, wish andclesire. Sorne people, with a stronq hugr,hacl the capability to act over longdistances without n'roving their bodies. L'r the tangible guise of an animalor an object, they could cause harnr while their ordinary bodies lay as ifsleeping. The shape adopted for the temporary appearance nrost oftenrevealed the purpose or the nroral status of the sender: a powerful bear, anaegressive wolf etc. Hrigr rvas also applied metaphorically to describe a per-son's character or temper.

Hamr, literally 'skin', was rhe name of the temporary guise the hugrcould take for its lrovenlents rvhile perfornring trolld6mr. The ability tochange shape and act out of the ordinary body in a new guise was aninborn character or acquired through learning. The materialized will,power or h-rst is a conrnrorl theme in rnany texts. A person rvho was calleda lmmhleypa could let tlte lngr leap into a hamr (see below).

No absolutely clear distinction can be rnade between a.lylgla on a spe-cial nrission, often in a gr-rise characterizing the or,vner'.s intention, and a

honu.Techrically it is the sarne kind of appearance.The fornrer is nrore of a

rrrythological character while the latter indicates a human. Furthermore,there is a relationship between the hugr and the hom1that is quite differentfi-orrr that betweetr the -l)tl,q1a and its owrler. The focus is on the personalrvill when lmnfi'rr\, a travellirrs ursc, is describecl. 1)iffererrt hanlhrir a:ncl

were-aniurrrls appear irr seveml appearanccs, r,vhile the .fyl.qia is a ncver-chrrrrging svrrrbolic irrrrrgc olirrne r c1u:rlities or u.gu:rrtlirru spirit.

trgill Skrrll;r-( irirrrssorr's qlrrrtltrrtlrcr I(vcld-Lllfi wls c;rllcrl ltitttr,ttrrttrr,rvlrrr'lr ittrlit';rtt'rl tlr;rt lrc ,,vrts :r /r,lri/r/r'yl)(,. AIl)iu'('rrtlv lrc rv;rs tlrorrglrt to [rc

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 103

:rtric to act in the shape of a wolf in the night when his own body rvasslccping. fveld-Olfr's own father's ,.,,r. *rr Bjalfi, literally'animal skin',rvhich rrrakes it easy to guess what abilities he was supposed to have. Thescnealogy of knowledge is a vital thenre in both sagas and rnythologicallcxts. Svanr in Njlls saga 1)fr. is also sleepy when it is time for him to con-tlrrct his shameful deeds.The impiicit message of these characters'fatigue is

tlret their strength and powers are far away from their bodies.The hamingja was the shape of a person's fate and is also very harcl to

tlitfcrentiate {rom.fylgja.lt can show itself to its owner and give hints abouttlrc future.The hamingja is closely connected to the notions ofglpra (luck):r'rtl oce-fa (personal qualities) and to destiny in terms of prosperity. Speaking.l-contact zones,ideas as well as practices must have been transfornted overlrrrndreds of years into hybrids acceptable in a local context: 'This( llrristian concept Idivine grace] may also have influenced the use of har.n-rrruja in the sense of 'luck', for such usage is first attested ir.r clerical sagas

,lt':rling with Christian kings blessed by God's grace.The in-rpersonal ham-

',rr-rja,'lLrck', rvhich we find in the classical family sasas, nlay then be a fur-

rlrcr development of this concept', Lars Lcinnroth writes (Lcinnroth 1976:lJ6).'Lr-rck'is one of the 111ost frequent abstract terrns referred to inSt ;rrrclinavian folkore collected in the nineteenth century. It was the basic

;,r'crcquisite of the local'econonry of fortunc'.

Shapeshifting

l'lrcre were nlany nalnes for persons with the capacity to change their',lr,rpe and temporarily act outside the ordinary body.'Shapeshifters'is usedlr,'r'c us an umbrella terrn for a wide rar.rge of characters in Old Norse liter-.rtrrrc that were said to have the ability of letting their hugr ieap into a tem-l),)r'iu-y body or g:uise, hamr, i.e. of being a hamleypa, solreone who ieapsrrrttt tr lmmr. In many texts the materialized willt deeds are the principall,,rsrs firr lnatters explained by trolld|mr.

lrr both rlythologicai narratives and the sagas individuals were givcn'.rr, lr c:rpacities. [t is quite inrpossible to distinguish categorically betweenrrrt't.rphorical metamorphosis in poetry and mythology and assumed abili-rr('\ ()t transforr.nation.'When Egik saga Skalla-Cr'ims-rol?.7/ was discussedrl,ovt' it was briefly n-rentioned that queen Gunnhildr was irritating Egilltlrrouslrrrut the nisht in the sh:rpe of a bird.The ternl hamhlrypa is used intlrrr p:rrt of thc text btrt it is both inrpi'lssible to cleciclc and uninterestin!J to',1,('( ul:ltc whcthcr tlrc cprccrr wrrs bclicvctl rrcttltlly to clrerrge hcr shape orrl tlrrs w;rs.jtrst lrrt c;rsily:rcr'cssiblt'irrrrrgc of lr strorrt-l-rnirrdctl w()nl:llr.

)iiq/irrqrr.{(r(.r 7 stirt('s tlr,rt ()r)irrrr rv,rs tlrt'firrt'rrrost slrrrpcslriftcr, ctr lrtrrrlr-/r'1'|,1. $111;1'1i tclls lr.,r,u' ()r'\ttut l.ry.rs il ,lt':t,l or-;rslr't'P r,r,ltilt'lris /rrrgr.,vls

10.+ Witchcra.ft and Magic in Europe :The Middle Ages

carrying out diflerent deeds for himself or others in the shape of a bird, ananimal, a fish or a serpent. His resular body rvas left behind, only his soulassunred ternporary shapes. This is also the prevalent case in most OldNorse shapeshifting stories. No transformation with a corrrplete disappear-ance of the ordinary body is told oe sonre part of the body is always leftbehind. It was thought to be a dangerous moment for the shapeshifter as itgave his or her enernies an opportunrry either to steal or hurt the ternpo-rary body.An analogous stigma would imrnediately appear on the ordinarybody. Hduamll refers to Odinn'.s ability to hinder the sor-rls of some nighthags (tinridu r) from getting back to their regular bodies when they are car-rying out their nightly deeds (Schjodt 1990: 44f{.).

I know a tenth one if I see witchesplaying up in the air;I can bring it about that they can't nrake their way backto their own shapes,

to their own spirits.l5(trans. by Larrington 1996 36)

The stanza is cryptic, ts ts Hiuamil, but we can recognize Odinn's supremepower over tl-re hags by nreans of spells, the spoken word. It is probable thatthe lines are hir-rting at how vulnerable tl-re shapesl'rifter is when leaving thebody behind for the new guise. This was also the nlortent to strike backagainst an attacking hamhlcypa. A similarly interesting description ofshapeshiftirrg can be found irr the introductury prose of Vqlundarkuida,another poerl of the Poetk Eddd, whereVplundr and his two brothers stealthe s'uvan skins from three wornen who are said to be valkyries. Nothingmore is said about the captr-rred wornen or their origins.They are forced torernain in human shape and rnarry the brothers.The rnotif is well kno'nvnfrom several international fairv tales as well as from later Scandinavian folklegends. Odinn's aggression against knowledgeable wornen is also empha-sized irr Hiudmil 1 13 where erotic relations with a -fiolkunni,gri kono arecondemned. The rnythological narratives seem to form models for historywriting in the sagas where brute force and sexual dominion intermingle inrrrale attenrpts to hinder fernale executions of trolld6mr.

A comparable episode can be found in Kormiks -sava chapter 1B wherethe actions of a shapeshifter, along with the counter actions taken againstlrer, clearly illuminate some vital conditions of the human hugr andshapeshifting. The saga tells of how the cunning won)an D6rveig has laid a

crurse on the younu rnan Komr.:rkr. lt is her imrnediate revenge since he has

c--attsed the death of l.rer two sol)s as a consequence of ongoing clan conr-b:rts. Thc curse will rrnke it irul.rossiblc firr I(orrrt'rkr to lruve his bcloved.lr<irvciljls r'ttrsc :uttl firrtlrcr ;l('ti()lrs ur(' Purt of l llrrgcr l)lttcnr ol conflicts,ttot isol:rtctl :rttivitit's.'l'lrc krtrxvlt'tlgr':rIrlc w()nriu) is usirrg lrcr;rbilitics to

Tiolid6mr in Early Medieyal Scandinauia 105

l)rotect her farnily honour. In this perspective her curse is the revenge onlrcr sons'r-nurderer.The conflicts escalate and D6rveig pllrsues Kornrlkr tothc sea.The ship is attacked by a walrus that attenrpts to overturn it andl,rirveig is recognized as acting out of her body by her eyes. The men ontlre ship press the animal down under the sudace and at the sanre tinrelr(rrveig, at home, is said to be on her death bed. People around her latertlraw the conclusion that her death was caused by the events at sea.The linkbctween the two bodies in this text, symbolized by Kormlkr's recognitionof her eyes, is so strong that the human body cannot ward off the injuriesrrrilicted upon the rvalrus. A relationship of analog- exists between the\v()nlan and the anirnal * a recurring therue in nrany texts of shapeshifting.'l he link between them serves both as the tool of trolldltntr and as a possiblerrrcthod of revenge. More than D6rveigt act of trollddmr itsel( Korrnikr'.s( ()unteraction is the core of the episode. He makes use of his knor.vledse ofslrrrpeshifting and the analogous link - and so the originally evil actionlrlrns out to be the salvation of the attacked.This is a fundamental pointrvlrere literary descriptions connect with ritual praxis. Apotropaic attacks,rsrinst evil-minded shapeshifters, returning dead or assaulting demons are

,rll based on the acceptance of sr-rch a connection between the bodies.stmtegies of this kind are also apparent in later Scandinavian folk medicine,rs ln obvious recurrent theme. In apotropaic rituals unfanriliar objects are( ut, torn, or broken while waiting for an unveiling danrage in the neigh-l,ourhood to appear, and the cause of atliction is thereby found.

'l'he idea of the analogous links was vital to the Old Norse conccptionsttf tr(rlldimr.It provided a theory of how the hu.qr of certain persons couldrvork over such long distances and also forn-red the strategy for a possible\v:ry of averting the attack. Seemingly ordinary and harrnless objects couldl,e iclentified as carriers of insidious harm', to use Mary Douglas'.s terni fortlrc invisible and contagious peril (Douglas 1992).The attacking objecr was

n()t a spectacular ob.lect but something so fanriiiar that it was sonretirDeslr,rrtl to observe and thereby served as a narrative sr.rrprise.

Ari expressive terln of sorne frequency is sendingar, i.e. the figures sent by

1,t'ople with access to a strong hamr,hamrammr.The terr-n explicitly empha-srzes tlre perfbrrr-rative aspect and ritual practiccs o{ troLld6mr,thc activc- per-Iorrrrances of the sender of a distinct desire. Eddic poetry nrentionsilrlli'rent night-riders, apparently women, moving through the air. Theserir)rrrshould be interpreted as night hags acting in a temporary body.Theirn.urcs :rssociate thenr with darkness and the night, nq,rkridur artd kueldvidur.llrcy rrrc':rttacked by (idinn as if he hacl the right to punish thenr.There.rrt'st'xunl overt()nes in the wly the god is addressing thenr. It can be notedtlr,rt tlre w()nlrlr) itt liyrlty,qqla -rd(d nlentioned above, who is accused ofrrsirrq lrcr krro'uvlctlgt'to trrkc rcvellgc orr the y()Lu)g tnan'nvho re'jccts hcr, is,.rllctl Ir,r'/r/rirlr. Mos( likt'ly slrt' wirs itssr.lnlc(l to ltrtrrrtf tltc rttun drrrirrg tlrc

106 Witchuaft and Magic in Europe:Thc Middle Ages

night and cause hinr severe damage.When she is summoned it is for beinga night hag, rnara.-fhe end of this particular story is that it turns out to beanother knowledgeable wornan who is guilty and has rnisused hercapabilities.

Closely connected to the shapeshifters are the nrany categories ofreturning dead, draugar and aptrgangur (Ellis Davidson 1981;Adalsternsson1987;Clunies Iloss 1994:247tr.).These could be evil minded persons whocould not obtain peace in the grave and appeared hostile and revengefui.The more friendly dead, still close to their families, conte with a mission tolLlfi1 amone the living. Like the/yfuur they give warninus or reveal hiddentruths. It was inrportant to obey the advice and hints from the friendlyclead. Messages fronr them were treated like replies to divination were.Against the evil dead, actions were often taken that can be compared tothe punishrnents for trolld6nr deaths anton€J the living. Returning deadtrouble makers were told to be reburied far away and dead associated withtrollddrnr could not rest near the living.The gaze of the returning dead wasfeared as much as the gaze of the evil-nrinded living.

The treatment of the dead sives a perspective on the concept ancestor.A11 these activities of the dead indicate that, at least for a tirrte after death,they were thought of as having insight and interest in the world of the liv-ing, and having opillions about what was going on.The realms of the deaclare described rather obscurely and most attention in mythological narra-tives is paid to the afterlife of the fallen warriors in Odinn's dwellings.Returning dead are aiways enconntered and related to in the perspectiveof the living. As long as they were relnembered they were thought of as

acting members of the fanrily with legitirnate reasons to take action.Once again it must be stated that it is difficult and not meaningful to

distinguish between'beings'that appear in Old Norse texts, the activirlesof the returnin5l dead and the deeds of people supposed to performingtrolld|rur. Classification does not take the various textual contexts into con-sideration.

Eyrbygqja saga provides us with several interesting stories of the deadturning back for di{Ierent reasons. Dorgunna in chapters 50f. shares manycharacteristics with a trollkon.a.ln her Lfetime she was feared. Foreign andmysterious, she stands outside the network of farnily relations.When dead,she returns naked to ensure that her pall-bearers receive proper hospitality.When not obeyed she makes her will known lrom the other side of thegrave.

D6r61fr brgifotr ('twist foot') in chapter 34 of Eyrbygqla -saga becorneswhen most troublesonre dead. At the tinie of his cleath he 'nvas deeplyinvolved in conflicts ar-rd it is no wonder that he began to retllrn as a

drau,qr. Irr contrlst t<t t lrntttltlcllrt, rrrtm, ()r rrny kirrd ol wcrc-arrirnal rr

retttrttittg rlcltl is irrrrrrcdi;rtcly irlcntiiictl rrs ;ur irrtlivitlrr;rl. lr<ilrilfi- :rttlcks

Troild6rnr in Edrly Medieual Swrdinauia 107

lrurrrans and cattle. Like the ridur he rides the oxen and the farmhouse.Finally, alrrrost hke a mara, he kills a shepherd.The bones of the shepherdare crushed and the man is strangled to death. The only way to stop therussaults is to dig the corpse out of the grave with great di11iculry and burnit (ch. 59). Reburving acconlpanied with crentatiorl was a wf,y to stop thetroublesome dead fronr returning. By this nleans an evident barrier (insonle cases as concrete as a heap of stones) was constructed that markedthe bordcr bctwccn the living and the dead.

Knowledge and Destiny: Trolld6nir Beliefs in the Old lrlorse WorldVieut

'flie literature of the Norsenren holds a special position in relation to thetexts preserved from other Germanic peopies. In particular, the Old Norsesrruas provide a social background for trolldt5mr narratives that is mostlyl:rcking in texts from the Continent.The texts function as social memories;cven if biased and inraginative they rnost often refer to historical personsrrnd events.

When sumrning up the conceptual base for trolldt5mr beliefi it rnr-rst bestressed once more that, even if odd and conspicuous in details, these.rssunrptions were part of a consistent world view. Socially they were inter-woven with a network of political and social conflicts anlong the settlers.rrrd their followers in Iceland.

ln rrrythological narratives, as well as history r,vriting, trolldtimr was a rea-sonable cause for events past and present. These stories were founded onlrlsic assurnptions about human nature and rnan's relation to history and,lcstiny. The ability to acconrplish benefrts outside the ordinary bodyrt'rluired special knowledge. These extraordinary insights were inborn orIt'rrrnt skills, qr-rite difTerent froln the ideology introduced into Scandinavia,ltrring the epidenric 'witch craze' of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-rrrries.The early modern Continental'witch beliefs'was a hybrid of popu-l.rr beliefs and learned tradition.The system was introduced by jurists and, lcrgvmen and associated with the legal administration rather than ruralrrnintenance. Supported by the dognras of Lutheran ortodoxy it height-, rrccl the dualisnr between the realnr of God and that of the devil.The lat-(t'r l'recanre apotentate of a magnitude he hardly held during the MiddleAgcs.

Nevertheless, persistencc r:an be observed over a lonrr tir.ne, despite dra-rrrrrtit's<>cial chenscs, lcrr nrerry of thc vital conL:eptiolrs.There are strikingsrrrrilrrritics bctwcctt ()ld Norsc rrrrldcs ol cxprcssinu trolldt5mr conccptions.rrrtl tirlklorc rt't-orrlirrgs rtrrt'lt';rt tlrt't'rrrl oltht'nirrctecrrth ccntury and thel,r'girtrrirtg o1'tlrt' twt'trtit'tlr. Witlr its t'rrrrrrirrg |coPlc, ('urs('s, urrd';rrrrrws ofrlr'slr-ttctiott'il ,rlso slrorvs llrt'Iosilrvt'.rsl)('(ts ot tlrrs lrr'lit'f'systcrrr: lrcrrlirrg

108 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

practices and protection. When discussing the confrontation between theold religion and the new, Kirsten Hastrup writes: 'But I would argue thateven if the heathen faith is depicted through a learned Christian's conceptsof right and wrong, we can legitimately cotrpare the structures of the twothought systems, as these are thought to be more persistent than surfacephenomena, such as the conversion ro Chnstianiry' (I981: 68).Scandinaviart trolld|mr conceptiorls were deeply embedded in a rural worlddependent on farming, fishing and 1-runting. Tiolldt5mr and its domains werea form of ritualization of the constant threat of fanrine and crop failure.

As we will see in the following chapter, however, the enrphasis in OldNorse stories about trollddmr was not so rnuch on conceptions, as on con-crete acts, rrerningar.

CHAPTER 2

Tio11d6 n1r Rituals: Practice and Performance

l{cligron is by no means onlv a cognitive category. Religion is ro most peo-plc, past and present, a lived experience acted out in physical motion. Faith is('\pressed in actions and attitudes that cannot be defined as either exclusively..rt'red or solely profane. I{eligion is not limited to any distingurshable realm,rf'l'roliness. Many religious activities rnay tppear trivial and common, yet('\press concepts that are vital for how individuals understand their world.

In Old Norse one single word, sidr, comprised the wide field of reii-riiorr, faith, moral, custom and tradition. It included both what were sup-

l)()sed to be traditional conceptions and also the way things were thoughtt,r lre done.The rnultitude of meanings gave this term a wide range of pos-.rble usage: cognitive and practical as well as juridical and religious. Thett'rrn certainly had a ser-nantic field of great variety.Actions done, planned,,r'onritted in connection with trolldtimr are sornctirnes conunented on inllr(' texts as being opposed to -sidr, which is then the appropriate n1ode. Sid/rs :rlnrost always used as sontething positive, with a certain accentuation onrvlrat is directly expressed.The concept is thoroushly based in the old lore,rr(l customs, and therefore reliable. The word often appears in contextsrvlrcre the question of lcelandic identity is crucial, with positive referencesto the old days. However, the term was adopted by Christian authors in\r:rrrclinavia during the processes of Christianization and here the religious,rsl)cct wa( exclusively stressed.

As cliscussed in the previous chapter, even if a strictly structuralist inter-l,r('tltion is highly debatable, there is a certain conflict between the social,rnrl the antisocial, order and chaos, inside and outside, as an apparent themern trclld6mr myths, sa5Jas, texts, and even in early Christian laws. Likewise, int rtrt;rls trolldt5nt tnd extraordinary knowiedge function symbolically as a linklrt twcen chaos and structure.This irnage of the struggle for knowledge can, ,,r'respondingly be noted in the ciescriptions of ritual practice.'W'hen con-',r,lt'rins rituals a sirrrplc nrorlel can be :rpplied, which regards them basically.r\ ,r ('onrl)unicutit>rr irr t'nvo difk'rent directions, likt' two axes: horizontal andr','r.lir'rtl.-llrt'vertic:rl direction is pcrh;rps tltc tttost obvious one: here rituals(.ul [)c scert ls ttt:ttt'.s tlcsirt' t() (-()nlnlr.ulic:rtc r,vitlr srrpr:rlrtrrn:tt-t reahns in( \l)('('[lIi()rt ot'sorttt'kirrtl ot'rt'sporrsc. l]rrt ritu:rls rrrt'irr rrrost ('lscs ilnportlnt'.ot i:tl cvcttts;rs wcll.'l'lrt'y rvor-k ltot-izont.rlly,rrrtl t'sl,rlrlrslr lrurrr;rn Iricr:rrclrics.rrrtl irlt'rrtitit's lrtst'rl ort tltt' so,i.rl otrlt'r', rir)1. ( )rr llrt' ollrt'r- lrrrrttl. :rrt

'l 10 Witdwaft and Magk in Europe :The Middle Ages

exclusively communicative approach to rituals limits the possible interpreta-tions of then.r rvhen it conres to the construction of r-neaning. In a ritualpowers are let loose that the human society nrust keep in control.

A ritual, as discussed by Paul Connerton, can be defined as a'rule-gov-erned activiry of a synrbolic character rvhich draws the attention of itsparticipants to objects of thought and feeling which they hold to be of spe-cial significance' (Connerton 1989: 41).lt is a wide definition where otherthan solely religious dirnensions of ritual life also have a given place.Politrcal,juridical and economical conditions are inseparably linked to pre-Christian rituals.There were no rules in a fornral sense for rituais,bllt a cer-tain established practice seenls to be at hand in Old Norse literature.'We canread horv power relations were established and socially rnaintained at localgatherings and feasts.The political and reli.gious leader,godi, invited his mento peform a llftir (offering) of vital importance to the local cornrnunity. Insaga texts the bl6t is often represented in a royal or aristocratic context and isernphasized as being the nrost important ritual event. Despite the narrativegrandeur, the bl6t offerings see1.n to have been strongly related to the basicneeds of a rural community and to have followed the cycle of the seasons.

On the same occasions pirigs r'r,'ere held where oaths were sworn, conflictswere solved, and econonric transactions were estabLshed. Within this con-text it was the responsibility of agodi to arrange for a public L/dr ritual.Butthere were other important ritr.rals even closer to agricultural living condi-tions, focusing on future prosperiry and fertility. These activities have notalways been defined as ritr,rals, but as we shall see from sorne examples theycertainly fulfil the criteria of Connerton'.s definition. Nor do the texts giveany clear distinction between actions related to divination, healing, dreaminterpretation or cl-rrses and other destructive deeds.

The descriptions of trolld|mr as ritual practice cover a wide range of dif-ferent text types, fronr rather elaborate descriptions of performances in thesaga literature to simple and bald activities like single words uttered. Thesecerenronies do not seenl to confirm any social hierarchy in the same sensethat bk5t rituals did; ntuals relating to hidden knowledge had a much moreambivalent character and sometimes openly contested prevalent authority.When divination was performed the outcorne of the cerenlony was innlost cases in the hands of the perfornrer.Yet prominent landowners :rppearto have been obliged to arrange lbrmalized fortune-telling events, and theresult was not always in tune with his intentions.

Pcfibrmin.q Sei&: lror IJcttL'r orWorsc

St'idr is otte of ttlttty worrls trscd for ('ust()nr :rrttl pr:rxis irr t'orrrrcr't.iorr witlrpc'rs()r)s of't'xtr-:rorrlirrrry krrorvlt'tlgc. lt is pt'rlr;tps tlrr' nrost ( ('lltl':tl rituirl,

Trolld6mr in Early A,Iedieual Scandinauia 111

rr,'lrerr trying to understand the difTerent aspects <>f trollddmr. The ternr.rl)pears in many divergent contexts, although the corpus of texts related to

'r'ir)r is quite limited (Strornblck 1935;I)illmann 1992; I)r-rBois 1999).1r' Intlrc broadest sense seidr is a technique for gaining knowledge about theliltrlre or trying to change the options for events to conre.The intention oftlrt'act cor-ild therefore be nralevolent as well as beneficial.Thus, the use oftlr('ter1l1 seidr does not per se give any indication of which was the case.Sirrce the sagas always tell a highly subjectivc story ir is not possible to,lr.:rw any sharp distinction between what'uvas regarded as good or evillrrrn different points of view.A scidr act to protect a ntember of one's fam-rly is v'ewed as an outrage by his or her opponents. Calling antagonists and,'rrcrrries nanles like -reidmat)y, seidkona had an or.ninous tone and was an, lIi't'tivc forrrr olt de[rluation.

Some thernes in the descriptions of scidr are recurrent, though in sonrevrt:rl aspects they are very contradictory. A major difference concernsrvlrcther the texts express any Christian opposition to the ritual activities.r' r)ot. In some sagas the pagan-Christian conflict is en-rphasized as a majortlrt'rrre, r,vhile in other sagas -scidr is regarded tnore as a corllnunal local tra-,lrtion, as the sidr of old tirnes. It is a crucial question whether to regard the

','ir)r ceremony as occasional and sporadic or as a ritual practice profoundlyrrrrqr';rined in the rural livins conditions of pre-Christian times. The textsrrrrght slrggest that the per{ormance of -seidi,, as a recurrent ritual, was( .,\('r)tial for the welfare of local conrnunities. Many of the texts set the;,,'r'firrnrer in an atmosphere of exoticisnr, which of course affects thernlcrpretation.'Was this a way for the saga authors to accentuate the pauan, lr,rr:rcter of the rituals. or are the exoticisnts to be read as if the ritualsrrt vt'r- tc>ok place, or were products of pr.rre fantasy, or the conventional lit-, r.rry ruotifs of the tinre?

,\r'ir)r is a conlplex tenn used in rtrany contexts in Old Norse literature,rllt'r.ring to a rrultitude of practices perfornred in an attempt to intervene intlr( ('vcnts of the near futr-rre.Judging f}om the way the ternr is representedrrr st'vcml texts, the cerenrony seenls to have been a ritr-ral event of somernrl)()rtallce. It is described as an act of clivination, predicting the futr-rre andrlr, lrrtc, not only of individuals, but of a whole local cornmunity. It alsorrrr lutlcd foretelling the weather ancl prosperity for the coming season.The,, r('nr()ny wns concluctecl by a person with spccial skills and knowledge,anclrr nriu)y cases by the reqtrcst of ln irrdivicil,ral r>r a group. Scidrcor-rld be per-l,r1 1111',.1 firr thc protcr'tion of lr furnily nrerrrbcr, to danrage an enenly, or as a

r, tttrtttcnttivc fortrtttc tcllirrg ^Scir)r wrrs r firll ccrcrrrony of sorne lencth, with(,r(' ()l' tttorc llcrfirrtttcrs rvlto lrr'tctl to ir grcilI cxt('r)t irr fhtrrt of lrr attclience,rrr,l ,tt'ttlrtlittg to tt'rt;titt s.r{:rs v:rt-ious kirrtls ot't'tltriprrrt'r)t wct'c rrscd. lrr, onlt',lst to /r/ril littrrrls,.ir'ir)r rvrrs st.nri PrrIrlir' rrrrtl its t't]i't't tlrt. torrr.t.rrr ot-:r',rrt,tllt't !lt'()(tl). (.ottt t'Itiotts ,tl trolltl,trttt lirt rrrt'tl llrt' Ir,rsrs ol llrt' ir,it)t ritrrtrls irr

112 Witchua_ft and Magic in Europe:'l'he Middle Agcs

the sense that they assurned certain persons'extraordinary knowledge andabiliry to pass the limits of ordinary perception.

The Mythirul Oru3ln of Seidr

Seidr is performed both in the mythological narratives and in the sagas as

a process for gaining knowledge from outside the baianced structure andorder. No details of the ritual processes are described in the rnyths. Themythological genealogy of sci dr and its perforrners anlong the gods is anintriguing correlate to the narratives of the sagas. Seidr is given a positionas an institution within an ideological framework. A n-rore complicatedissue is whether there exists a mythicai model for the social orderexpressed in the rituals; or if there is any obvious relation betweenmyth and ritual at all. When it comes to trolld6rnr this is a fundar-nentalquestion.

Vqluspd, the most conrplex of al1 Eddic poerrls, reveals the history of theuniverse from creation to apocalypse in 66 stanzas. The poet has put thewords in the mouth o{ a ugLua, a prophetess claiming to have access toclandestine knowledge older than the universe itself.The uplua is speakingotT and on in the first person addressing men and gods. Obviously she has

the insight into how to spd, to disclose what is concealed in the past andthe present. In the text seidr is said to be per{ormed at dilTerent significar:rtphases of the progress and decline of the universe. In the very first stanzas

of the poern, i.e. the uglua's invocation, the wise wornan is claiming author-ity by knowledge from before tinre, when she was raised and nurtured bythe giants. Wrthout this connection to the demonic forces the crertionnlyth cannot be told. Order is established to distinguish Midgardr from thechaotic otherworld. Tinre, days and seasons are structured along with a

model for the good life, including &/rit rituals.Then, suddenly, in the nriddleof the creation myth three maidens from the realn.r of the giants appear.Nothing is told o[their mcssasc or rnission, and rrraybe ihe narrative pur-pose of their appearance is to rernind the listener/reader that Midgardr is

surrounded by destructive forces. Imr-nediately after the uglua's version ofthe creation myth, another two females with fatal ambitions are intro-duced. The appearance of Gullveig and Heidr (the latter a narne conl-monly given in Old Norse literature to women conducting clestructrvedeeds, 'witches') leads to an escalation of the conllicts and the text indi-cates a conflict between the gods themselves,'the first war in the world'(Clunies Ross 1994: 203ff .).The rrrythological position ancl status of thesetwo characters is a topic for cliscussion. Heidr is also calle rl 1,91m arrd liertechniclue .scidr; apperently shc is willirrg to tcach vit'iorrs w()nl('n how topredict tltc frrtrrre, s7rri, in ortler to rri:rkr' llrt] thirrgs rvorst'. I It'r rr:rnrt','tlrt'

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 113

lrrisht one', is related to Freyja, the matron of the Vanir, 'uvho, Snorri, l.rirrrs, was the one that originally taught the art of seidr to the Asir. Thes^rnle source tells that seidr was customary anlon€J the Vanir. Margaret( llunies Ross has discussed at length the position of Gullveig within 'rworrnjor semantic fields with the don-rinant operative rnetaphors of masculin-rtv and femininrry' Q9()4:187).

The middle part of the poem refers to a war antong the gods, betweentwo grollps named,lEsir andVanir.The text in this passage is obscure, prob-.rbly corrupt. The origin of the rivalry is unclear, but broken oaths andli'rrud are designated.The conflict turns ol-rt to be the beginning of the end,w.qrmrpk,and seidr is said to be used successfully by theVanir in the struggle.rsrirrst the ,4sir, and with their powerful galdr songs they turn or-rt to berrrrclefeatable.Although Odinn, the leader of the,4,sir, is usually acknowl-..'dsed as the nraster of seidr, these stanzas indicate that this art originated.uuong theVanir. Further on in the complex structure of conflicts scidr istrscd again. Once dissension is there, the successive devastation of harmony.rrr,l order is rnevitlblc.

6dirm is seeking the assistanc e of a uqlua before the final battle, i.e. thetlcstruction of the world, ragnargk. Apparently he is paying the uglua forIrcr divination with jeweller.v. A similar situation opens another Eddicl)()en1, Baldrs draumar, where Odinn wakens a uqlua from the grave torlrrestion her.A uglua gling valuable advice to the living from her gravers also at hand in the opening of Cr1galdr. Vqluspd gives a hint of thekrrowledgeable womant technique: it is stated that she is sitting out intlre wilderness,lT probably making an iltiseta, seeking solitude ro obtainvisions. Her vision is lucid, although frightening. A11 she can see isv;rlkyries and destruction. The uglua is briefly telling of the death oflirrldr, the fina1 sign of the coming end. The following stanzas, 31-2,,lcscribe the beginning of ragnargk, extended in Snorri's prose text{ )yfi'apinning (33-5) .It rnust be noted, as (llunies Ross does in her exten-sivc analysis, that when destruction conres into the arena of the history,rf the universe, it is also the introduction of active fen-rinine agents(()lunies Ross 1994, esp. 187ff.).The way seidr is described in Vqluspi,r('centuates not only the conflict between Otgardr and Midgardr but.rlso the one within the category of gods; and the quest for knowledge as

vit:ll fbr the balance of cosmos. The gods are dependenr on the knowl-.'tlqc fror-n the world of giants and trolls as a necessity for development,.rrrd still its origin is tl.re seed of the end. Nevertheless, the evah-ration of'r'i r)r throughout Zqrlrr.s1ll is rr.rore rlr less positivt:. Even though the fr-rture,rs sccn by tlrc 1,qr/r,,r is rlrrrk it is enrlrhlsizccl as u 1'rowcrful rrrcthod of div-tttrttiort, l)()t prinlilrily :r tct'lrrritlrrc firr rlcstruc-tiorr.'l'lris lppllrcllt lnrbigtr-lly llt'twt'ctt ttt't t'sst(V rrtt,l (l('stru( ti()t) rs 1r11'y,;11r.'r,1 tlrr-ouglr<lrrt tltcItoIItlr\tttt- ttrrr-r-;rlivr's oI Ilrt' s,rr,,,rs Ioo.

114 l,Vitchcra-fi and Magic in Europe:Tlrc Middlc Ages

Frc y.j a : The Prime Seidkona

The process of passing on the knowledge of scidr appears to be of particu-lar interest in some texts. Snorri refers to the nrvthological origin of seidrinhis Ynglingd sdgd, the nrythical history of the Swedish kings, tracing theirgenealogy back to Odinn himself. The source of his knowledge is said tobe the gods of fertility.When connected with theVantr seidr is not associ-ated with poetry or old-tinre rvisdonr. Freyja taught the art of seidr to theAsir.18 In this part of the text nothing about technique or what constiturtes

-scidr is rnentioned; if anything the focus is on the interplav between theAsir and theVanir. Clunies I{oss has errrphasizecl the similarities in rnytho-logical ftrnction between Gullveig in Vqluspi and Freyja in Ynglirrga sa.qa

(1991:2()3f .). Both texts indicate that -ieidr is a skill iacking among theA,sir and it rnust be captured frorn the Vanir or the giants. Althoughdesired, it is obviously referred to rvith strongly negative connotations.Other texts concisely call Freyla spidis or Vanadis. By giving her thesenames the connection between Vanir, fertility and different aspects oftrolldtimr rituals is accentuated (N:isstrorn 1995).This is a reasonable con-nection since the divinatory aspects of -icidr are strongly connected toluture prosperity.

Yet clandestine knowledge and divination abilities were not assumed tobe inborn qualities among theVanir either. In the Eddic poenr Hyndluljida conflict between Freyja and the uphtaHyndla is referred to.The goddessis addressing Hyndla as if awakening her, calling her'sister'and thus clairn-ing some kind of affinity (Hyndlull<1d 1). But the vqlua's answers are quiteaggressive. Hyndla gives a long genealogy of various rnythological beingsand in stanza 33 she mentions the origin of uqlur, and classifies themanlong knowledgeable people, seldr perfornrers and giants. There is nontention of gods, but instead Freyja'.s helper is rel:rted to the destructiveinhabitants of the outside world.

In Snorri',s Ynglin,qa saga 1,0 Freya is said to be the last sr.rrviving of theold gods and the last to keep up the old fornr of sacrifices.This commentcould be compared to the imase of the age-old uglud n Vgluspi, and else-where, being the last with knorvledge of the old lorc. Ynalinga -sa3a is notprintarily a collection of myths, but a historical narrative in rvhich Snorriplaces the gods as agents in the dawn of tirne. As will be notcd further onin this chapter, it is not unusual that -scidr perfi>rnters lre saicl to be the lastof their kind. In many texts the prototype of thc uqrllr,l seenrs to be a veryold wonran, as a personification of agerolcl si<)r.

Tro11d6mr in Early Medieual Srundinauia 115

Odirn, Mythical Chicftain antl Master rt'seidr

( )<)inn is the most complex of the Scandinavian 5;ods, contradictory in.rl)pearance and ambiguous in character (Lindow 1985; Mitchell 1993).leI'he eod plays an important part in the nrythical history of the universe, a

;,osition that is especially enrphasized in the account of the creation of thervtrrld in the Pttctic Edda as well as in Snorri'.s Edda.Odinn is described as

lr.rving an active part in the creation of the world and is repeatedly calledl.rther or lord of the other gods. He is presented as aristocratic, called'thelrishest', and acts as a ruler, with a special relation to the warriors andr'.rlkyries atValhqll; he is referred to as the chieftain of nren and gods andlus chvellings in Midgarilr seem to be the middle of the world. On the,l.rrker side of the represer-rtations of Odinn are death, dying and the realnt,,l the dead. These various aspecrs are arnalganuted with the image oft )r'\inn as the god of poetry and wisdom.The supreme god is said to be therr.rster of the spoken word and as such in control of ultir-nate knowledge.I )r'lth and poetry tend to internringle in the irrrage of the wise Odinn.l'lrc god's.harsh qr,rest for knowledse is synlbolically shown in different

',tories of C)dinn's self-sacrifices, when parts of his own body are sacrificedrrr cxchange for knowledge and runes. [n these texts the god of death ist,rst irrs death hirnself.

'l'he nrost well-known scene is perhaps when Odinn is hanging in thervrrrrlswept tree, usually interpreted as Yggdrasill, sacrificing himself tolrrrrrself, being both subject and object of the act (Schjodt 1993). Odir,,lr,rrrss for nir-re days and nine nights, withor-rt food or water.According tollitnrnil 13U*44, he fasts and suffers, in a forrl of iltiscta in the wildernessont' cillt assume, tormenting his body as a prepJration to receive knowl-,,lr1e.'fhis and other poenls strongly stress that the prize for wisdonr is a

lrrrilr one.A certain enrphasis on direction is also apparent; knorvledge is, .rllctl up fron.r below. Wounded by a spear, he is receptive to poweffulrurrt's that he is able to bring up. Frorlr these Odinn becomes wise,-ftidr,rrrtlr:rccluired abilities to heal and to curse. In the opening section ofr ;titrtrrisnril the god, disguised as the wanderer Grimnir, is sitting betweentr'rr fircs to prepare himself for the rvisdor-n duel with rhe jqtunn kinu( ,t irrodr--

( )r)irrnls offering of his eye in another variant of the wisdom-questtlrt rrrt' is relatecl to tl.rc lnyth about the'uvise Mirnir and takes us back totlr,' r'orrHict betr,vecrr Asir lnrl Vanir. Yrr.g/irLgd sqqd 7 recounts that Odinnl,rrnss Mirrrirls head with hirn:rn11 that it lus tcllc'l hinr abotrt evcnts iu.tlrr'r'lvorlcls.'l-'lrcrc :rrc rlitli,rcrrr versiorrs of the nryth olMirrrir, br_rt it is.rlrr',rvs rcl:r(crl to tlrc r,v;rr l)etw(.cl'r tlre goris:rrrtl tlrc cxchrrrrge of hostages.i\, t ottltttg to Sttot't't's :r('(()unt irr ) rrg/irrq,r .\(r(.r -+ tll('Vrrrir ti.lt bctruyccl bytlr, It',rtt'ilgr('('r)r('nt. Mirrrrl rv.rs tlt'r-rrlrrtltcrl ;rrrtl lris lrcrrrl w:rs scr)t blr.k to

11,6 Witchcra;ft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

the ,4'sir frorn the Vanir where he had been kept hostage. Odi.r.t is said tohave enrbah-r-red it with herbs and galdr soogs, and spoken rvith the head intirnes of danger.The head is used technically in two ways according to themyths: as a tool for divination when Odinn speaks with Mimir's headshortly before ragnargk (Vqluspi 46 Ynglinga saga 4,7), or in scenes whereOdinn is drinking from Mirnir's well to acquire knowledge (Vqluspi 28;Gylfaginning 8). Mimir, or rather the representation of his wisdom, and his

liminal position as a hostage and as a giant among the gods, syrnbolize thepoint of connection between order and destruction.

Llke Vpluspi, Ynglinga s4g4 stresses that seidr originates from the Vanirand that Mimir has an-inrportant position in the process. But it is Odinnwho is hailed as the master of seidr in the following chapters of the saga.

By perforrning seidr Odi.r, can make his enemies blind and deaf in battles,or paralysed with fear and their weapons useless, while his own men, filledwith fury and strength, can take part in the battle without armour. Thisstate of wild rage anlong the nrythical warriors is called berserksgangr.

Seemingly it is related to the shapeshifting theme: the conception that cer-tain people and nrythological creaturcs can maintain tentporary operationsin the guise of an animal.

Snorri tells that 'Odinn shifted shape and lay as if sleeping or dead,

appearing as bird, or animal, fish or snake, and in a moment he could go toto renlote places on his own or other's business'. And he 'could put outfire, calrn, the,sea, and turn the wind with his words'.20 Further on inYnglinga saga Odinn'.s abilities due to access to knowledge achieve what is

irnpossible for.others.Moreover, Odinn is said to be the foremost shapeshifter and to have the

ability to appear in different guises. Shapeshifting is a weighty theme inOld Norse trollddnu stories and also a continuous thenre in laterScandinavian folklore.The myths of self-sacrifice and the journeys symbol-ically confirnr that essential knowledge is to be gained outside Midgardrand that the border to the realm of the giants must be crossed. In nrytho-logical geography the border in between is symbolically marked by art

irnposing sea and a serpent. Few rnyths lack the conflict between the twoopposing realms. Journeys into the other world or visits to its borderlanclare essential to achieve the advantages sought.Assisting himself or others is

also tlre therne of the final part of Hiuamil, the so called'Lj6datal', whereOdir., in eighteen galdr songs praises his own abilities (Larrington 19c)3:

62tT.).The god of poetry and knowledge speaks in.the first person, givirrga long catalogue of powerlul skills. L-itid, the sonqs ()dinn is in charge ot, irfar fronr the suffering depictecl ir Hivdrn,il 13tlfI. arrcl Orirrrrrismil l . 'l'lrc

perspecti'r,e is that of helpinu lncl :rssistrrrs lnd l t'r:rfty uotl rtppcurs wlttthas lcccss to lrt';rlirrg wourrtls, protct-tiort ;rguirtst cttcntics' ltttlcks, Pttttittl{otrt flre, r'llrrrirl-I tlrt'st':r, nrisirrg tlrc tlt'rrrl, itt:rkittr{ l)('r's()l)s irrvtrlrrt'rrrlrlc rttttl

Trol1d6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia I17

rrr.rrrrpr-rlating through love magic. Hiuamil tells of very much rhe samerl,rlitics as does Ynglinga saga 6 and 7.The utmost aim of the skills is gain-ilrri l)ower over other individuals. The san-re assisting purpose is stressedtlt<', trLtlltl6mr rituals are reported in sagas as being executed by humans.llrt'senealogy of seidr continues from the gods to the world of humans.'rrr.r'r'i tells in Ynglinga saga 7 of how odinn taught mosr of his skilis to the',.r, rrticial priests, bh5tgodar. They were second to him in knowledge,It,',tltikr, and insights,fiqlkynngi. Many orhers learned from this a.d thel,r,rr'tic:e of trolld6mr became widespread and continued for a long tinre.

t )rrc of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda, Siqrdr{fumil,provides a cata-1,,1',11.' n1'gnomic poetry close to the elaboration in Hiuairdt (Larringtonl't'ti; I\ar-rdvere 1998). The wise Sigrdrifa, categorized as a varkyria,,r',rructs the young hero Sigurdr by means of powerful charms.Viciory,lr' 11;11u and wisdom is pro,rised if her advice, rid, is kept. The stanzas1',n, rr in the poem are hardly forr.nulas as such, rather sententious phrases,, r, rr thongh the mode of forrnulating the advice has a distinct riiualized, lr.rr.rt ter.'w'ords are always followed by acting: what is verbally expressed is,,,rrlisrrred in motion.The poem is no manuai, but a poetic application oftlr, tirrru genre. The last group of rtlnar mentio.ed in this catalogue isrrrrrr,l rrlnes' (hu,gninar), described in rhe cryptic style of the Eddic lays:

Hroptr IOdinn] inrerpreted rhem,cut them, thor-rght them out,lrorn that liquid which had leakedfrorn the skull of Heiddraupnir ['Brighr Dropper,]and from Hoddrofnirt ['Hoard-tearer'] horn.21(trans. by Larrington 1996: 168)

()cndL:r and the Peyformance ry'seidr in Mythological l,,tarratiues

llrr,l,,rrlrtcclly nlost Icela,dic skalds were men, their audience was to a

l'r, .rr ('\tcnt nrale, and it was nren who copied the nranuscripts when writ-rr rr ,rrrl kcpt the,r - even if there are examples of learnid nuns i, thel,,l.rrr,lit' (and other Sca,dinavian) r-,onasteries. Sigrclrifa hardly speaks on1,, lr.rll .t- worneu or cxprcsscs lny particular fenrale wisdom, and ther', ('r\'('r'of-her aclvice is a rrrarr.The way she is portraved in the poern, shelrl,lll' rrrirrors lrurrr:ur fi'rrr:rles, brrt rether wisclorrr beyond eveiyclay life,rrr,l slrt' rs tlcpicted ls ()nc ol tlrc v:rlkyries, the rrr:rirlcns serving close toI lr\ililt.

Ilrr' t;trt'sriorr wlrctlrct'tlrr'Pcrfirrlrrurrt't'ol'.rr,ir)r in ( )lrl Nor.sc tcxts is.rr', n(l('r sPctifit ll('tivrty lr:rs rt't't'rvt'tl rrr;rrry tlilli.n'nl ,ur\\\,(.r.s.'l lrt. rt.lltirlrrlrr t\rt'r'il tlrt' rrrvtlrologir':rl tt'xls ,rrr,l llrr, rrrt,rr. rt..rlrs(r( \.rr,,,rs is .urotlrt,r

118 WitchuaJt and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

cornplicated question in this context. Do the texts fornl a protorype orparadigm of the seidr performer with relevance to actually performed ritu-als? The implications of the stated nrythological genealogy of seidr are hardto specify when trying to corne to ternls with this complicated nratter.

As seen above, seldr is described in some texts as originating from theVanir, but Odirrn is represented as the master of seidr in many others.Whether this mirrors a social conflict about the ritual responsibilities ofrnen and women in the Old Norse world is highiy questionable. As

FranEois-Xavier Dillmann has shown, when counted in the sources, menand wonren appear equally often as practitioners of trolld|mr (19U6).

Ynglinga saga 7 comments on Odinn's interest in and practice of seidr as

ergi, a terr.n often translated as an indication of 'unrnanliness'and also giventhe sexual interpretation,'hontosexual'.To perform seidr was supposed tobe shameful for men and the art was taught to the priestesses.22 In fact thisstatement points in the opposite direction to the enrphasis sometimes laidupon seldr as a specifically fernale knowledge overpowered by the principalrnale god (Kress 1993). In Snorri'.s genealogy of seidr the knowledge andskills seern to have been mastered by the supreme god and later handedover to vaguely described fernale ritual perforn.rers.

Interestingly enough a paragraph sonre lines further on keeps up thethenres of power, knowledge and trollddmr, and states that these beneficialskills were passed on to the D/tir (sacrifice) priests. The priests were secondto Odinn in foresight and knowledge.23 Instead of rnaking negativerernarks on seidrthis part of the text connects the important social positionof a hl(ttgodi with Odinn and his extraordinary abilities.The passage has notreceived half as much attention as the crgi part, but there is nothing thatindicates any inferior relevance. These two very different statements in thesame text can serve as an indication of the arnbiguous attitr-lde with regardto seiiir expressed throughout Old Norse iiterature, and not necessarily as

mirrors of ritual practices. Nevertheless, it is the former paragraph that is

referred to and discussed in most handbooks and surveys.

Lokasenna ('Loki's Quarrel') 24 in the Poetic Edda also uses the ternrinol-ogy ergi/argr (noun,/adjective) in relation to Odinn and seidr.When read otttof its context it must be remetnbered that the stanza belongs to a longercatalogue of verbal defanration pronounced by Loki towards the othergods. One accusation more enrbarrassing than the other conres over Lokilssneering lips to many of thenr with erotic allusions.To (ii)inn he says:

'But you once practisccl -scir)r on Sirtnscy,

anci you beat on thc druur us witchcs r1o,

in the likcncss r>f u wizunl you.jotrrrrcyctl :ttttottI rrtrtrtkirrtl,lrrtl tlrrrt I tlrotrglrt tlrt'lr;rllrrrrrlk ol-;t [rt't'vt'rt.']l(tr;rrrs. lry L:rt'ritrgtott l()()(r: l"i())

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 1.19

( )dinn is compared to a uplua who, like Saami or Siberian shamans, uses adrum (ubtt) and is called both argr and uitki,i.e. performer of trolld1mr. Otherlrcldic poer"ns give the image of the seeker of wisdom as afflicted, andlrccause of that - not despite it - as the greatest of seidr per{ormers. Most( )ther texts on seidr do not mention ergi/ argr at all, but emphasize Odirrr,

"ttlrc wisest of gods and the master of poetry without any hint of sexual,lclanration.

There is no sexual activity or erotic synrbolism expressed in the seldrrr:rrratives. It is debatable to what extent the connection between homo-\r'xuality and ergi/ argr should be taken (Meuiengracht Ssrensen 1983; Kressl')()0, 1993; Sayers 1992). Instead Carol Ciover has stressed the moral.rslrect of the term: cowardliness (Clover 1993). She raises the question to\vllat extent categories like woman, man, fernale and male are relevant for.rrrrrlyses of interhuman actions in the Old Norse world, loaded as they arervith our own understandings of the terms. Instead, she points to 'a sex-1i,'rder system rather difTerent from our own, and indeed rather differentlrorrr that of the Christian Middle Ages'(Clover 1.993:364).Thereby sher)l)ells up a more fundamental discussion about gender as an analytic toolrrr ()ld Norse studies.To attract their audience the sagas and the Eddic laysIr.rd to be good and entertaining narratives.2SAs verbal art they were stuc-trrlcd around'a systern based to an extraordinary cxtent on winnable andlrrsrrble attributes' Clover 1993:379).The tension between normative dis-( ()rrrse and social reality was obviously a narrative possibility.What couldl)('nrore effective than calling the aristocratic lord of the gods and warriors,rrrrrranly? As part of social interaction a certain negotiation with the defi-rrrtions of male and fernale and the construction of gender-specific quali-lr( s was at hand.There is an apparent gender system expressed in the texts,rr rth norrns and rules. But it cannot be read apart from other systems oflrrt'rrrrchy to do with social status and age. Positioning norms within hier-.rrr'lries was a basic way of describing persons as well as a tooi of socialrrr,rrripulation. Movable categories, attributed to nten and women, were,rr)('()f lnany ways for a writer to heighten the ternperature of the plot andrrr.rkc surprising turns more plausible (Clover 1993:372).'fhe gender rolesrrr ()ld Norse texts are closely connected to the narrative structure and the

' r('.rtion of interesting fiction. l)reams, visions, sudden bad luck, seidr div-rrr,rtior.r and the like must also be seen from the perspective of the narrative

' , rle s of the respective genre.

I lelsa Kress holds a radically different opinion. She has several tinresrrritrctl that a pre-ohristian fcnrllc oral culture, in which worrrenls arts andItlct'rttttre flotrrishccl, wts cruslrcd by thc nrlle literate (lhristi:rrr [-atin cul-rrrrt'(l(rcss 1990, l()()3).'lir ltt:r tht'tt'xts of-.r'r'ir)r lrrt,.l lrolldt\rttr bcur witrrcss ttrr lr.rttlc bctwccrr tlrr' st'xt's, wlrt'rt' w()rrr('n :rrc tlrt' r'cPrcscrrt;rtivcs ol a

r('r'r('ssing r'rrltrrrt.. | )csPitt. tlrr. otrit,r'liorrs r-;riscrl ;rg:rirrst :r sirrrplistit. rrrotlcl ot'

120 Witchcrdt and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

the relation between textual imagery in nrythologicai narratives and exist-ing social conflicts, a certain pattern is visible in the texts concerning thegenealogy of seidr.In various narmtives gender does play a vital part in theconstruction of conflicts, along with other significant markers of 'other-ness'.The seidrperformerwas an outsider in one way or the other.But thefringed position of the performer was not exclusively marked by gender.

As we shall see in the examples fronr the sagas,the otherness of the seldr

performer was marked in various ways, among them a quite complicatedinterplay between gender roles and social status. Characters were givcn a

marginal position when described as connected to trolldimr and seidr.

Being a woman is surely not a marginal position as such, but certain scenes

in the sagas focus on wonren acting in a way they usually did not, that is,

outside the conventional limits of supposed female behaviour.

The Tiddition of Seidr as a Diuination Ritual in the Sdga Literature

I)re-Christian Scandinavian nrythology reveals a great interest in questionsof fate and destiny. In urgent situations there is often, even among the gods,

a desire to control the future, or at least to have knowledge of it. Accountsof seidr in the sagas express the same interest in future events and reflect a

social background to the cerenronies and a dependence on farming, fishing,and hunting. At the same time, divination and trolld6mr are always part of a

narrative strategy contructed by the author. Seidr is said to be conductedeither for the benefit of the acting person herself, but more frequently itwas a cerenrony otTered by a more or less professional per{ormer to assist a

recipier-rt in need of support. It served as an act of divination to be con-ducted by a person who was conceived to be 'of great knowledge', whichwas the lnost conlmon phrase of all in relation to trolld|mr.

The scholariy interest concerning rituals has, to a large extent, been

focused on the communal sacrifices, b/dr, whereas -seldr has been classi{ied

as socially more marginal. On the cor.rtrary, seidr could be put in the centre,ernphasizing the ritual as an important act of divination and therefore ofvital inrportance to nraintain. Scidr was not only an occasional act for solv-ing irnmediate problems. It also seenrs to have been a periodically recur-ring ritual of considerable length; solne texts state that it lasted several days,

According to what can be gathered fronr the texts, such a cerer.nony lrad Icertain formal structure that recurs as a cllstornary pattern in the ciifTercrtt

sagas. In this respect scidr wus closc'ly linkcd to runtl lifc. The prc'clictitlrtsnr:rde at a .scidr cerellrolly ciitl not only concern pcrsortrrl clcstirry.Thcy rrlstl

hacl a vital socirtl irrrportnncc rrnd inclicutcd tlrc tirtrrrc tirr:t locll rrrcrt. Itltl-rc litcrlry ('()l)tcxt l prctlit'tiorr ()r ir ('urs(' grtvt' rt ltirtt it[)()r.tt cvct)ts firrtlrct'on itt tlrt' t('\(, ()r liurt tiorrt'tl rts :t ttvt'lrtliort ol' t rtrtlltt ts.

Trolld6rnr in Early Medieual Scandinauia

'[-lrere are obvious destructive aspects o{ seidr, not only because dangersrr'..'rc always associated with the ceremony itself, but also due to the,rrrrbiquous intentions of the performer who, although respected, was,r;,Plrently also feared. It must be remernbered that in most cases when,, ir)r is rnentioned in the sagas it is not in conrlection with any clear-cutrrturrl of a fertility character, but as an explanation of ntishaps, as performedrn.rlcvolence, often expressed in a short line rather than an elaborate narrativc.

S()nle texts that tell of an invited honoured uqlua also give her a flavour, 'l ,lrrnger.Through her knowledge and performance she held the destiny ofur.u)y people in her hands and obviously she had potential to manipulare a

1ir't'rr fate.The person who conducted the seldr served as a mediator fbr the,lrllt'rent avenues of communication.The uglua had the capabiliry- both tol,r.rlit't. at spa.and to give advice. at rida. In contrast to various conceptions, 'l slrrrpeshifiing, the per{ormance of seidr was not only a matter of the inner,;rr,rlities of the acting person.To a great extent it was a question of instruc-rr('n ruld learned skill,transmitted fronr an experienced performer to a dis-,r;,lt'. In Eyrbygla sagayovng Gunnlaugr frequently visits the middle aged\\(,il)iln Geirridr. His eagerness to learn puts him in the forcefield betweenrrr,r kn<>wledgeable wonlen, with disastrous consequences for him.

Wlr:rt can be gathered from the texts is that seidr was conceived as part ofr,lr, t ustomxry behaviour, but thcre were no dogmas, no written rules, only

, ',r,rl,lished custom.The traditions of those experienced in performing seidrr, ('nrphasized in the sagas.The inner qualities of the per{ormer, good orl,r,l,.rr-c key points in the narratives, as well as knowledge of tradition.ToI'r r t,l)rc knowledgeable,;flqlkunnigr or margkunnigr, was a development, atrunurq, and a struggle to gain insights about what was hidden to others.llr, ritrral showed the importance of being connected to ancient tradition,rrr,l tlrc central character was a person who had access to long-forgottenI rr,

'1y11'qlgs. Many texts emphasize this ancient knowledge, not only in reia-rrr,11 11v trolldtSmr and seidr,but as sonlethingvaluable and desirable as such.

l lrt' lloman historianThcitus noted in his descriptions of the Cermanictrrl,, s (r.9ll t;e) that cerrain women were thought to have a sacred andl,r,,l,lrt'tit'quality (Cermania tt). they are said to deliver advice and forecastsr,,l t. lre honoured for these skills.Thcitus points out a certain wornan,\i l,,l.r. rrs specially well-known in this respecr. Although he builds hisr, , (,trtrt ott hearsay artd prcviorts historians, the sirnilarities with the record-rrr,,', lr()rn lcelancl lronr rrrore than a thousanci ycars later can be noted.

lt<trbi\>r! l.itil-ltph,,t's l)crlitrrtrarrrt' rr/ St'ir)r n llujtill.sncs

I lr, tttosl t'xtt'rtsivt'lrrtl rlc(;rilt'tl ir((()unt ol',r tr'ir)r (('11'nl()ny is tirtrrrtl irrtlrr l.trrtlr t lr,rPtt'r- ol /iir.i(,i {rl(rl lilllr)rl, ()n(. ()l tlrt,Vrrrl,rrrtl r.,r.,,,,r.lt"l'lrt' s,r{;r

121

122 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:Tlrc Middlc Ages

deals with the Icelandic settlement on Greenland and the Norsenren'.s voy-ages toVinland/Anrerica.The text was most likely written in the middle ofthe thirteenth century (Conroy 19it0;Wahlgren 1993).In the centre of thisearly chapter stands a travelling father Dorbjqrn and his daughter Gudridr,temporarily staying on Greenland at Dorkell of the Herj6lfsnes farm.

It is with sorne hesitation that I choose this text for a more detailed dis-cussion, although it has rnany striking similarities to other Old Norse textsdealing with -seidr and divination. But too nrany tirnes this particularaccount of the ceremony has been read as an accurate anthropologicaldescription o{ a uglua's performance. Questions nrust also be raised con-cerning the pr.rrpose of the conspicuous image of the seidkona and whatwas narratively eained from it. The significance of difGrence always seems

to be at the core when -sei dr perforrners are described.The chapter opens with a description of the conditions at Herj6lfsnes

before the -seidrwas performed.The area had had a harsh period of famine,and a change was urgently desired. T'he invitation to the uqlua was a pleafor alteration; her help was badly needed. As the most irnportant farn.rer ofthe area it was Dorkell'.s responsibility to arrange for a divination ceremony.According to the explicitly claimed custom, sidr, he invites the uglua to hrsfarm to predict the forthcor"ning period, a matter of concern for the wholelocal communiry.'When the famrer adrnits the uglua into his house, socialspace is created for the ritual. He is in charge of the preparations, and theevent as a whole is his responsibility. The rnvited woman is called spikonaand given the nicknanrc litil-uglua, 'little seeress'. She is said to be the last

surviving of nine sisters, and one r-nanuscript of the saga states that all ofthem had been spdkonur.zT With this specifrcation the text stresses herbeing part of an old tradition. It should be noted that the number nineo...r., again, as it does on other occations when Odinn's capabilities are

nlentioned in mythological narratives.The -seidr performance was part of a special event, a feast, ueizld, but

there was nothing spectacular about the situation. It is a time of crisis, butthere is no 'gothic' atrnosphere. The fortune-telling was obviously a socialtradition of the area and it was also part of a local ritual pattern to invitethe uglta to perfornr divination at the farnr.The outfit and the utensils ofthe uglua are described as spectacular, i.e. her role as a perforrner is stressed.

The text states that at the end of the winter season she wanderedbetweenthe farms. Hopefully springtime would be more prosperous, which was a

vital qr-restion for everybody. Different preparations were undertaken tohonour the arrival of the uglua and a nlan was sent to call for her. She

arrived at night escorted by the nrarr. l)uring his absence tl're flrrnr pcoplehad made vrrri<'rus arrangenrents. A cornfirrtlblc hiqh scrrt, /rri.s,r'/i, wrrs

arrayecl firr hcr errd :r ti'ether bcrl w:rs ptrt urrclcr Ircr'.'l'lrc stltus ()f tlrc uqr/u,i

irr this tcxt is:tpp:rr('ntly clll)lrilsizctl rts lrcing ltiglr. Ilolvt'vt'r, itt otltet'tcxts

Tioild6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauid 123

:r rather ambiguous status can be expressed. This equivocality is obviouslyused by the saga authors to create intriguing plots. It is noticeable howiveli Dorbjorg lltil-uqlua rvas received at the farm, in line with the localconvention. It was the custom, -sidr, to receive a uqlua with reverence.Theimportance of holdins her in great respecr is explicitly stated three timesin the chapter. Flonouring her with an escort contradicts the irnage of ther,glua wanderin5; alone fronr farn.r to farrn that is stressed elsewhere inother saga texts.

The text gives a colourful description at leneth of the outfit of thelqrft.,a. She differs fi"om everything commonplace; her marginality is

e nrphasized by her costunle. This description by the Christian sa€ia authorcarr certainly not be read as'the general costunre of a uqlua'.I\ather it is inline with the saga's scenery of a renrote place where pa€Jan customs are stillpractised.

She was wearins a black n.rantle with a strap, which was adorned withprecious stones right down to the hen.r. About her neck she wore a

string of glass beads and on her head a hood of black lambskin linedwith white catskin. She bore a staff with a knob at the top, adornedwith brass set with stones on the top. About her she had a linked charn-rbeit rvith a large purse. In it she kept the charnrs which she needed forher predictions. She wore calfskin boots lined with fur with long, sturdylaces and large pewter knobs on the ends. On her hands she wore pllovesof catskin, white and lined rvith fur.

Son.re details in her clothing are of special interest. It is complicated torrnke out what is in her purse, lq-f, and whether and how the uglua wasrrrrkirrg trse of it, til-frrldlciks at hafa.The terrninology only indicates rhar shers saining knowledge with help fronr the substance. The wand and thelrtrod are mentioned in other trolld6mr stories, although the latter usuallylirrrctioned as a;lrotection fronr the evil eye. No estirnation is expressed, or,rrry hint of what was thought of this costullte, or what feelings it chal-I..'nsed. Nothing is said about the looks of the woman, or if she was con-srtlcred beautiful or uely. Likewise, nothing is said directly about her age,lrut since she is the last of nir-re sisters it is very likely that she was supposed(o be an aged won'ran. It is of course interestirlg to note that certain syrn-l,ols recur when scidrrcnrL and scic)konur are described and to observe that

'r'ir)r pcrfornrers are saic.l to use a special kincl of equipnlent. But it must bert'rrrr:rrrberecl that all strch characters rtre nrade to stand out fi'orn the rest.I ltc literary uses of trolldtirrrr syntbolisnr clo not represent the ritr-ral pracrice

,,r.socirrl intemctiorr stcp by stcp.As u perfirrrrrer thc uq>lru was the rtranifes-l.rl i, rtt ot'olrl-tit ttc lttrc.

/ririft.t.s,rq,,r titttr)rt tt'lls of',t lottrl r'itrr:rl l:rstirrg two tlrrys, ()r nl()r-c prccisclylrvo rriglrts.'l'lrc Pt',rPlr'ol llrt'l.rtrrr r'orrsitlt'rt.rl it to be tlreir tlrrty t() grc('t

724 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:Tlrc Middle Ages

the uqlua with great respect, although Dorbjqrg litil-uglua's answers wereaccording to her estimation of each person. The first night Dorkell, themaster of the farm, took her hand and 1ed her to the prepared high seat,

which once nlore stresses the importance of honouring the in-rportantgtrest. A most intriguing scene is rvhen the uqlua is asked to look all overthe place, renna par augLutt, to set her eyes on people and livestock, and overthe whole settlement.The eyes of the knowledgeable is a recurring themein Old Norse literature, but it is the fear of their gaze that is emphasized inother texts. In this sequence the gaze is asked for as something favourable,but it could as well be hazardous. Once again we are confronted with theambiguity of the capacities of -seldr perforn-rers. Every character in the textis dependent on the intention of the spikona. However, thrs first nightDorbjqrg is sornewhat reluctant and mostly stlent,-fimilngr.After the greet-ing cerenrony and an introduction to the farm people, a special meal wasprepared for the uglua; first she was served a porridge of goat's milk andthen a stew of hearts from ail animals. No comment on the food is ofTeredin the text. The uqlua had brought her own cutlery, which was as remark-able as her clothing: 'She had a spoon of brass and a knife with an ivoryshaft, its two halves clasped with a bronze bands, and the point of rvhichhad broken off '.2e As with the cloths, no comnlent is given on the cutleryeither.

After the meal Dorkell, the farrr-rer, approached the uplua and asked herwhat she thought about the place and its people. He aiso made an attempt tobring up subjects everybody was anxious to inquire about. B:ut the uglua

rejected his questions and said that she could not answer until the nextrnorning after having slept.The text does not give us any indication whetheror not there is a connection between the rneal and her dreams. ISefore gorngto sleep the uplua is asked if she is content, but she keeps hei silence.

Not until the next evening do the preparatiorls surrt again, lnd for thefirst time the expression seidr is used in the text.Arrangements to promotethe seidr are said to be made, but no details are otTered. Before the scidrcould begin the uqlva asked for a wonran who knew the song that was

essential for the ceremony.But no such woman was available.After a whileGudridr, the gucst, said:'I have neither: magical powers lfiqlkunnigrl nor thegift of prophecy [i.e. I anr not a wiscwomlt:r,uisindanakoral, but in Icelandmy foster-n-rother Halldis taught me chants she called ward songs

fuardlokkurl.'3{) 3r, she refuses to take part in the actual ritual since she is a

Christian wonlan. Her father has left the farnr irnd stays ilway as long as

such pagan ceremonies are perfornrecl. With the exccption of Gudridr'.srather gentle protests at the beginning and hcr fathcrls rtbsence, the conflictbetween the olcl religion ancl thc ncw is not explicitly crrrplmsizcd rn thisprrticul:rr tcxt. l>orkcl] is by rto n)c:lns rcprcscrrtcrl ils u l)ilgiu); trcvertltclcsslre is tlrc orrt'wlro |crsrrrrtlcs tltt'yotrrrg \\'()nr.ln lo [rt'r'firrrrr tltt'sortg

T[o11d6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 125

required for the cerentony. Although nothing is said in the text about hisreasons to procure her, it is plausible ro think that he invites her out ofconcern for his farm. As the leading man of the area he knows that theperiod of fanrine rnust be broken.

In contrast to the preparations, the ritual itself is hardly described at all.The women formed a ring around the hjallr and Dorbjqrg sat upon it.Neither the activities of Dorbjqrg litil uqlua, nor rhe hjallr is explained, norif she nrakes use of her wand or anything else in her equipment. Gudridr'.ssons, ky@di, is said to be the most beautiful ever heard. Considering thedetaiis already given in rhe text it is hard to agree with Strombdck in hisirrterpretation of the meaning of the vardlttA&a song. FIe argues that there isrrn obvious trace of shamanistic trance in the ritual.31 But nothing is men-tioned in the text about the uglua's soul or any journey of the soul, eitherin ecstasy or with the body lying down in any kind of altered stare of con-sciousness.The song is just said to be sur-rg and there are no comments onthe eflect on the participants. Direct influences on the Old Norse worldview from circunrpolar areas is still a little-investigated field, though rnostpossibly interesting parallels are to be found. To label the performance ofrr'idr as shamanism in a post-Eliade manner seenls an all too phenomeno-logical and simplistic approach. In contrast to phenornenological argunlen-trtion, Thornas DuBois has recently offered linguistic evidence for Sami.rnd,/or Balto-Finnic influence on the Norse practice of seidr (1991)).

It is unclear how long it takes to perform the sei dr. After the acrual rit-rrll Gudridr is first of all thanked for her achievement.Then the rplza tellstlrat the spirits, nittilrur, are pleased with her beautiful singing.The nameoI the spirits is not known from mythological narratives either. The ugluars able to tell that they are pieased to hear the singing. Suggestions havelrcerr nrade that they should be interpreted as landuettir.'Help in exploit-rrrq aninral wealth is normally credited to landucettir, or "gr,rardian spirits",rf the country / ... . Landucettir is grammatically a feminine noun, butrr,'lren the creatures are represented, they appear either as animals or men'(f<rchens 1993:310). Disir and alfar are other beings associared with thelr.,sehold, and as recipients of offerings and as the objects of rituals they,.rrld plausibly influence futurc prosperity.They were all collective beingslivins u,der family-like conditions and could in some respects be said torrrirrt:lr the people of the fatm.The well-being of the larnrer was rhe pre-rt'tltrisite of the latter. Ancestors who are concerned about the farm andIt'r'tility spirits are spoken of in the sanre nrode. Chasing away the landuret-tir rv:rs the qoll fbr Egill Skalh-(]rinrsson when he was perforrning hisr',rrrcsonre lii<).

Aficr thc sirrgirrg 1l1g 1,qr/i,rr's irrrporturrt prcdictiorrs arc to bc r.rrlde.The,rrrly firr-t'r'rrst toltl ;rt lcrrgtlr is:rtrotrt (itrr)rit)rls splcrrdid tirtrrrc - tlmrrraticlrttt Irt'tlsIlt'rotrs.'l'ltr' l)r'()l)lr('( y st'r'vt's tlrt' s.lnl(' n,u'r',rtiv(' l)ur'[)()\c lrs firrc-

126 Witchcrali and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

telling, curses and drearns often do in Icelandic sagas; it outlines the forth-coming text (Conroy 1980: 119f.). The atmosphere is amicable and theuqluabids Gudridr farewell and calls her'r-ny daughter'.This intimacy couldbe conrpared to the scene at the beginning when the uglua greets the peo-ple of the farm according to her opinions about ther-n.The underlying toneis that the perforrner of the ritual, the vglua,has some distinct influence overthe near future. Not only should the spirits be pleased to assure a flourish-ing summer season, but the uplua as well. Aggression against a diviner neverpays off.Then the scene is settled for the last part of the long ritual and per-haps the most important for the cornnron people - the opportunity forother people fronr the farm to ask the uqlua what is on their minds. She wasquite talkative and the saga states that most of what she said turned out toconle true.\X/hen the cerenrony was all over Forbjgrn, Gudridr's father, wassent for, since he had left the farr-n while paganism was practised.

'What was the author's purpose in providing us with this circunrstantial

picture of pagan rituals? The episode certainly stands out among other nar-ratives of individual persons in Old Norse literature. One plausible reasoncould be the wish to formulate a powerful contrast between the old and thenew religion, with the two Gnrales as icons for old and new sidr. Eir[ks saga

rauda as a whole could be read as a glorification of Gudridr as a favourablecharacter, thus emphasizing the sapJa as a Christian text. As many scholarshave argued, the main character in the saga is the young worlan Gudridr buther dorninant position in the text has been interpreted in different ways.Since she is to beconle the Grnale ancestor of several bishops, someobservers note that the young wonran's virtues and merits are emphasizedthroughout the text (Strornblck 1935: 56ff.).Yet her role as main charactercan be interpreted fronr two very dillerent points of view. As there are twopronrinent Gnrale characters irnportant to the sei dr - the uqlua and Gudridr- one could focus on the women'.s different religious faiths. To begin with,claiming her Christian faith, Gudridr refuses to take part in the ritual. Butafter some persuasion she agrees to sing the song necessary for the ritual. Amore concealed conflict in the text, between the old traditions and the new,could therefore be stressed. On the other hand, the ritual is never con-demned in the text. Quite the opposite; the scidr cerernony is said to obtainthe e{lect desired.The divination does not seem to be necessarily contradic-tory to the Christian faith, no aggression towards the new religion is

expressed.As in other texts, turnirlg back to the old lore seenrs to be a solu-tion in difficult situations.The vivid scene could be the result of the histori-cal interests of an antiquarian author,who wishes to give a grar-rdiose pictureof tirr.res passed.The'exotic'image is of Grecnland as son)ethins nlore pag:uland wild, a lancl olsettlers, only slor'vly conrltrcrccl by Olrristiarrity, in contmstto thc (llrristiun civilizrtion of Iccl:rrrd. Accortling to tlrc srrr{rr tcxt tlrc orrlyottcs wlto llr()t('st rrglrirtst tlrt't-r'rt'rnorry rrn' lror[rjr,rrrr lrrrtl lris rl:rtrqlrtcr, rvlr<r

T[o11d6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 127

lr.rtl recently arrived from lceland.The Greenlanders seem to take the cere-rrr,,rry for granted, in all its phases and possibilities.

Irrstead of pointing to the contrast between Gudridr and Forbjgrg one,,,rrlcl stress the fact that the ritual described is almost exch-rsively domi-rr,rtcd by women and that it is the collaboration between the women thatrrr,rkcs it a success.Without doubt both women are needed for the fulfil-rrrt'rrt of the ritual.Whether or not the conflict or the collaboration thenrers stressed, Eiriks saga rauda ts nevertheless a text fiiied with more details,,rrrcerninS; scldr than any other. Even so, unanswerable questions renrainr,'r1:rrtlins the actual practice and its meaning.

Scveral diflerent a€lents appear on the ritual arena at Heri6lfsnes, each ofrlrt'rrr adding a perspective to the conrplexity; the farrner, who has the',,,t i:rl responsibility; the perfornrer, alternately called spikona and uqlua;the',rrqcr, the main assistant of the performer; and the other wonlen fronr thel,rrrrr tlrat assemble around the uqlua on the h.iallr during her performance.rrrrl firnn a circle, co-assisting in sonre way.There is also an anonymous,rrr,licnce'to the cerenrony which interr.ningles with'the other wornen'in

.r ,luul role; on the one hand they are co-performers, on the other they,rr,' rcceivers of the benefits fronr the ritr-ral. Indirectly, r,ve can surnrise a

,,, rrtlcr-division of the farm people where the women seenl to take a more,r( trvc part in the fertility ritual than the men.

'I'lre reason given for the promised turn of fortune is that the spirits are,r,,rr, lrleased when Gudridr has sung the uardlokkd song, and indirectly we.'r, lctl to believe that they have caused the famine.Throughout the chap-r, r tl)c uqlua ts the acting and dominant subject of all events and the objectr', tlrt'people of the farrn who have actually asked her to perform the seldr.llrt'rc is no tendency to reverse sr-rbject and object as is the nrethod for

.rlr,'r'rrrg the balance of power in sonre trolld|rnr stories.With Connerton'.s definition in rnind we can assunre that divinatory

', r,),. wils a rule-governed social conventiorl. I specially want to emphasizelr\ \t.rtcllrent that a ritual'draws the attention of its participants to objects,,1 tlrotrsht ancl fi:eling which they hold to be of special significance'(('orrrrcrton 1989: 44). Divination satisfied both intellect and ernotions,rrr, r'it g.rve irrsig;irts into what had caused the fanrine as well:rs an irnpres-,r()n ()f sccl-u-ity ls regarcls the future.As a senri-public event it was open totlr,' prrrticipation r>f wornelr r,vho - at least the nrost proillinent amongrlr, rrr r'otrlcl cstablish sonrc socirl authority.

I : rtq t r t r r l' I'l tt t t t c s i t r,4tto t r r t I s rr/ Scit)r

/ lr'('r r,tq,t titlr),r is :t ttttitlttt' ltrll lt'rrgtlr rr'i<)r tt:rt't':t(ivt' ol-tlre wlrolr' rit-u,rl t't't'tt(, tvltt'tt':ts olltt't .tt r ottnls ottly rlivt' ll,rr-ls ol tlt't:ttls llr,tt ttcvt't'-

128 Witchcraft and Magic in Europc:The Middle Ages

theless follow a certain pattern. There were no settled rules for -scldr rit-ua1s, but some of the saga authors stressed in their texts sonle syrnbolsthat seemingly nrust have been associated with such perforn-rances. Mostsaga writers, in one way or the other, give seidr performers and charac-ters associated with trolld6mr a n-rarginal position in the text. As therewere reservations about Eiriks saga raudd, other accounts of seidr arelikewise questionable as ethnographic sources.

Although the conditions and contexts of the texts may alter, there is

always a distinct purpose for performing -seidr. It is never said to be exe-cuted accidentally, but always by will. There was always a problern to besolved, a condition to be changed, or a prediction to be made for the corl-ing season, and for this reason a person with extraordinary knowledge wascalled upon. Both the divinatory aspects of -seldr and the performed malev-oience share this basic feature.When seidris conceived as a comlllunal div-inatory ceremor-ry in sagas this is frequently expressed with ar-r invitation tothe uglua to perform at quite a grand feast.As Norna-Gests pll/r states about'the old days':

At that time [Norna-Gest's childhood] wise wornen fuqlur] used to lloabout the country. They were called 'spae-wives' [-rplkorllr], and theyforetold peoplet futures. For this reason people used to invite them totheir houses and gave then hospitality and bestowed gifts on thenr atparting. 32

The fonr-ral organization around the uglua's visit hints at an understatrd-ing of the ceremony as an estabiished social institution. But as with theexotic surroundings for the seldr ceremonies many explanations are plausi-ble. The uglur are said to w-alk frorn one farm to another and be invited toperfornr at larger gatherings arranged by a host who invites all his peopleat the farm to a seidr ceremony and to join the feast. The ternt yeizla is

often used for these occasions. Qruar Odds saga tells the following aboutthe uglua Heidr:'She wor-ild go to feasts, telling people about their destiniesand fbrecasting the weather for the corning winter.'33 In almost all textspersonal fate and future prosperiry are at the centre ofinterest. In Vatnsdela

-sa.ga Ingjaldr and his people invited a Saami wonran to spi.'The Lappwonran, splendidly attired, sat on a high seat. Men left their benches anclwent fonvard to ask about their destinies. For each of then'r she predicteclthat which eventually carte to pass.'34

Some texts tell of preparations n.rade for the honor.rred gtrest. In Viga-Glilms sd.qd we read: '[t was thought very irrrportlnt that h<>uscwives in thcarea should give her [the rrplrral a g<>ocl wclconrc, firr wh:rt shc seid w:rs

rather influenced by thc hospitrrlity ofli'rcd lrcr.'rs lrrtcrcstinLlly, tlrc tcxtg()cs ()rr to tcll ltrotrt:t conHii't Irclwer'rr tlrt'lrostt'ss rrrrtl tltt'r,Q/r,,r.'l-lre tirr-tttt'r is lt()t ('()llt('ltt wrtlr wlr:rt slrt'lrt':rrs:rrrtl slrorrts:'l slrotrltl Ir.rvc tlrottgltl

Tiolld6mr in Early Medicual Scandinayia 129

loocl hospitality deserved something better, and you'll be driven away if\'()r.r go round predictine evi1.'36 Paynrent and gifts to the spikona are rnen-troned several times elsewhere and in this case a flavour of dissatisfactionrvith tl-re result of the divination seems to be at hand.As mentioned above,,'r'",, 6dirrn pays the uglua wtth jewellery for advice before rarynrqk.

(]uite difTerent from the stories when -seidr is performed to cause darn-,rrit' is divinatory seidr, which seems to demand two things: the ceremonyl,oth as a joint effort by the comrnunity and also as a gathering of a semi-l,rrblic character.There xre no secrecies or hiclden activities, just the per-lor.rnance of an expert, sometimes with the assistance of people from thel,rrrrr. In Qruar Odds sdg.7 the seidkond cotlles to the feast with a group of\()uus assistants who form a kind of choir for the nightly performances. Itr., rrbvious in Eiriks saga rauda how important the joint singing of ther',tr,\lokka song was to piease the spirits.The ritual seemed to be completedrrrtlr the circle of women around 1\s yglua. In the exceptional ritualr,lt'rr-cd to in the Vqlsa pdffi all the people frorn the farm come togetherto sirrs to and praise the cult object,Vqlsi.

( )nc text of great interest * although it does not mention any of therr.,rr;tl trttlldimr terminology * is the observations made by the Arabic writerll,rr lradlan, -"vho encounteredVikings sailing down theVolga at the begin-rrrnq of the tenth centlrry. In a context utterly difGrent from that of the,.rr1,rs, he describes parts of a funeral ceremony that lasted for several days.\,'rt.rl clenrents recognizable from texts in an Icelandic setting appear also intlr,' Mtrslinr writer'.s chronicle. Before the chieftain is burnt on his ship a

l.rrrtl oldivination ritual is said to be perfornred by his conlpany with therrlr,rle crew participating. Songs are nrentioned and there is a woman atr lr(' ('e l)tre of the perforntances.

Arr olcl won1al1, called'the angel of death', and her two daughters assistrrr tlrc lor-rg preparations for the chieftaint last journey. A young slave\\()nlrln is selected to accolnpany him and she plays an essential role in the,lrlli'rent parts of the ritual. In the finai cerenrony she is lifted over a

rr,,,,tlcr) gate or franre construction and is thereby able to look into other,lrrrrt'nsions of reality.As a kind of nrediator the slave girl tells that she can,, , (lrc relln ol the dead and leaves nressages for the other participanrs.llrt' sirnilarities rvith .rcidr and the cerc-nrony conducted by the farmer'srr rlt' irr L/plsa l:ittr lrave crrught the attention of several scholars who pointrr tlrt'clinrtrirrq or lifting up as esscntili to tl-rc diviner (Steinsland andVost| 'tS I ; Arrtlr[.rr 1993).

Irrr'rurtrrtiorr :rrrci tlrc illlp()rt;u)('c oF sirruing :rrc very rrruch stressed inl,,,tlr lttldic' [)()ctry rrrrd tlrc Iristoricll cltrorrit'lcs oI tlrc sagas. Irr thenr()rr('lrt ol'vot;rliz:rti()n tl)(' lorrtl rrttr'r'lurtc rrr;rtlc tlrc worcls lrr :rbsoltttcrr(l ('()r)( r('tt' rc;rlity. SPclls r',rst t'orrltl rrot Irt' t't'rrrovt'tl witlr lcss thlrr, rlu.rllv s(11)ng rvortls.'llr,' ,lttttl,tng ol tlrt' /ri,r//r .rrrtl tlrt' rrsg of'otlrcr

130 Witchua_fi and Mdgic in Europt':The Middle Ages

eqr-ripment could either be textual markers of otherness or tools necessaryfor successful rituals. Urrdor-rbtedly the most intricate description of specialclothing is Dorbjprg litil-vglva in Eiriks saga rauda. No other -scidr per-forrner is given such an outstanding outfrt.Their outward appearance is inr11ost cases not lllentioned at all. A few other texts nrention the wand, s/af,but rve have no description of its ritual use. Hoocls like porbjeg'.s do alsoappear in relation to perfomers, but rnore to protect against the gaze of a

knowledgeable person who perfornts destructive seidr when captured andpunished.

The seidr performer was obviously not conceived of as an ordinary per-son and this discrepancy had to be nrarked in the text. But the var:iationbetween the individual sagas is so great that no fixed pattern can be estab-lished. For the saga writer a choice of dillerent possibilities was :rvailable. Aswe have seen, the executor was a temporary lluest and the perfomrancewas at night. OId ase was one way to represent the oid lore, i.e, the ancienttraditions.

Along with age, ethnicity is the strongest nrarker of otherness, as whenthe Celtic Kotkell family perforrns -scidr in Laxdela saga 35f{. (Sayers 1992:133).When.finnir,i.e. Fir.rns and Saami people, appear they often serve as awarning in saga texts. Trouble is bound to colne since these pc-ople rverebelieved to be more skilled in trolldtinw rhan others (Page 1964; Mundaland Steinsland 19U9: 108).In Hilfdanar sdsd sudrta a Saarni n-ran is capturedand tortured in order to make hinr reveal clandestine things to the king.However, violence is not the way to nrake the Saanti speak, rvhclse spiritualstrenpith lasts longer than bmte lbrce. The Latin chronicle HistoriaIrlLtrtuegiae, an anonynlorls text frortr the latter part of the trvelfih century,dedicates a whole chapter to the Saarni and their extraorclinary physicaland spiritual abilities.Their r-rse ofgarrdr, their ability to achieve tenrporaryguise, is especially stressed and conceived of as a terrible threat. Marriagesto Saami wonten in Old Norse texts alw:rys tllrn ollt to be disastrous. InVdtnsdrxla saga 10 a Saanri wonlrn is urvited to tell fortunes according tothe old traditions since such women did not always give bad prophecies, iftreated well. Like the uqlua in ntytirological narratives she is both lbaredand needed, and ciearly defincd to be of anorher kind - rn Vpluspi as

raised by jqtnttr, in the sagas by ethnicity.Along wirh sonre nrore erhno-graphic notions on their nonradic life, skills in hunting and use of snowshoes and skies, Saxo tells of how Saanris are known to be able to deceivethe sight of victims by rllusion (V: 13il).

Kins Haraldr of Norway in Haralds -raqa in-s htifiaqm is in raprures overthe beauty of Srl6lri<)r, dar-rrl.rtcr of :r Saanii kirrg. The youns wolllar)serves the kirrg a cttl'r of tttenrl:irrcl 'nvlrerr he trrkcs hcr harrtl thc tcxt rlssrlrcsrrs thrtt hc fi'cls.rs if-firc burrrs lris skirr. spcllbotrrrtl lrt'rrr:rrrit's tlrc lrc:rrrtifirlSrr.jritii<)r :uttl lirrge ts ltis loyrrl tltrtit's. ( )nlitr:rry pcoplt"s plt',rs .rlc rrot

Trolld6rnr in Early A,Lt:dieual Scandinauia 131

strflicient to free the kingt nrind lronr what Snj6fridr has done to bindlrim.When she dies the king r-nourns inconsolably fbr three years arrd herbody does not decornpose * until the king is advised by a knowledgeablepcrson to change the cloth under the corpse. Her body inrnrediatelybcgins to change. When burnt the trr,rth is revealed; snakes, lizards, andother foul animals corne out of her body.The inragery is significant for thehybridity of the Viking age: local conceptions about ethnic neighboursrrrcet Christian thenres of rejection. Since the early days of Cllrristi.rniwtlernons and devils - and persons associated with such creatures - werelinked to foul aninrals. Physical contact in this case seelrls to be the solu-tiorl to revealing the true nature of tire Saami wife.

The perforrner of trolldt|mi. was given a r.narginal status. Nevertheless, she

or he was an in.rportant person, whom people depended upon.This urrbigri-ity runs nlore or less constantly throughout the .v'idr corpus.A clear exanrpleis in Nlorna- Cests pitn' 1 1 rvhere three -sprifrorrlr tell the fortune of your.rg( iestr.Tlre per{ornring wollren are interchanueably called rplkorurr, uqlur tndtrorniy. Orte of then'r, r,vho does not gain the estinration required, allnoLllrces.rrr on.rilrous fbrtune for the little boy: he will not live longer than the candlc'

lreside hirn lasts. He is rescued bv one of the other spikonur who blows thet'rrndle out and gives it to Gestr's mother. The account is skilftrlly placed at

the end of the story so that in the foilowing chapter (lestr can finally lightthc candle when he concludes that, at the age of 30(), he has irr,'ed a full life.

-t'he Cult of rlre Vplsi and ()tlrtr Priuatc Rinuls

()rre of the few exanrples of private religious cerenronies in Old Norse lit-('r:rtlrrL' r;an be read irr the so called y'p/-sa pattr, an inscrtion of prose and

l)oetry in the longer Olali saga lius ltclga.It is a story of conversion andtlcscribes King C)lafr'-s irrcogniro visit to r renrote farnr in the far north ofNorway.The disgtrisecl king and his conlpany lvitness a reinarkable ritr,ral,rrr lvhich the rgl-si, a preservecl horse phallus, is r,vorshipped as a god. Thelcxt states that these people have no knor.vledge about the trtre f,rith.Thelocll fertility cerelrony is performed by the people fron the firrnr :rnd,,rt'r'orcling to the text, the ritual is first introduced, and then continouslyIcd, by the fanuer\ witb. The private character and the fernale rctivitvrrr:rkcs it a uniclr-re description.The pittr refers to:rn old frrra'di (poerrr) as

tlrc origin of the story end through the'thirteen strlnzes the egents in thet('\t ure giverr indiviclrnl v<'riccs irr thcir rclation to thc cult of thc rrol-si.

Vrrior-rs lsp('cts of tlris tt'xt llrvc becrr :rnllyzcd lry (iro Stcirrsllrrd arrt]l(.rri Vrgt (l()ltl). Ilrt'r'nr:rkt'st'vt'nrl rtt'u'suggt'stiorts,strcssittq tlrt'tcxt:rs:tPossi[rlc s()u11'(' lilr-orrl krr,,rvlt'rlrit'ol't'r,t'rvrl:rv rt'ligiorr. IIorvcvcr, it is ttotrrrv irrtt'rrtiorr to l.rkt' l).uI ln tlrt' tlisrtrssiott ,rlrott( lltt' tlt.rt':tttt'r ol'(ltt'

132 Witchcra_ft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

cerenlony and what it is airned at, but only to notice their interpretation oftlre farnrer'.s wife as a local uqlua w'Lth the ability not only to foresee theFuture, btrt also to rrrake it prosperous.

Actually two rituals are described. First, there is a preservation ceremonyduring which the horse phallus is embalmed in a piece of linen-cloth withonions and herbs. Secondly, there is the daily evening ritual when thefirnrer's wife takes the uplsl out of its coffin and brings it to the firrmpeople. They sit together, they all take the uqlsi rn their hands, and eachnrenrber of the household sings an individual verse, kuctdi, to it.The phal-lus is simultaneously worshipped as a deiry and sacrificed. The cult objectis spoken to in terms of an oflering and the receiver(s) are named mqrutir.

The identity of these powers is disputable and has caused debate. Fertrlitypowers llke disir have been suggested, as well as the fertility god Freyr, andSteinsland andVogt argue for giantesses.The llrst one to address the zglsi is

the farmer'.s wife. She greets it and praises its size and strength - and calls ita'gift'to the mernir.

Disgusted by witnessing this pagan ceremony, the Christian king throwsthe rqlsi to the farm dog, which swallows it immediately. King Olafrreveals his identity and,since the saga is the story of a saint,he converts thervhole farrn and the plrtr ends.

Of special interest to the present discussion on trolld6mr is the questionrr.hether the farnrer'.s wife could be regarded as a performing uqlua or not.Steinsland and Vogt ofler two argunrents which relate the farmer's wife tothe actil,ities of auqlua (1981:103f.).The first one is the etymolosical con-nc'ction between uplr (wand), uqlua and uplsi. They suggest that the uglsirnight be the equivaient of the u,and in the cultic activities of the woman.Ilut there are few exai.nples of wands ritually used by uglur and, therefore,the second argunlent nrust be regarded as the stronger, which concerns thefollowing points. Certainly a nrost interesting detail is that the rituai seerns

not to end when the uplsi is thrown away by the king. The farmert wife,although very upset, can complete her ritual r,vith a fornrula. In stanza 13

she asks to be raised over the door-frame so that she can rescue the ofTer-ing that has been destroyed. The lifting up can be plausibly connected totlre ability at spi, of foreseeing, with the door serving as a nretaphor forseeing into 'anotl.rer side'. Like Forbjgrg litil-vglva and the slave gir1, theworran climbs the tree constrllction as a part of the ritual perforrnance.When the fanner's wife'.s worship is violently interrupted, her ability touse her gaze helps her to fulfrl the cerenrony in the way the knowleclge-able airvays can, since they see what is clandestine to others.The divinatoryaspect is what Steinslancl ancl Vogt call 'the real and the inrnraterial aspects

of the ritual'(19U1: l{)4). For c<>nrpamtivc rcrsons it clrr lrc rrcldcd that inTiicittrs'rl('('()r.lr)t o1'()errnlrrrir' dcvirr:rti<ln. tlrt' sccr-css Vt'lctlrr is slitl t<l bckcpt irr :r lriglr torvcr tirrrr rvlrit lr slrt';rrrsr,vt'r's tltrt'stiorrs (//irl,,ri,rr'-1.r,5) .

Tiolld6mr in Early Medicudl Scdndinayit 133

A third argument could be added to Stei.sland andvoigti in ordcr roestablislr such a connectiorr between the farrner's wife and uqlur ts the,'lose link to fertility and sood living condirions. FutLlre prosperity is also[)resent in many activities perforrned by a t,glua.Therc is nothing in thetcxt indicating any divination of indiviclual futures, rvlrich - as we havescetr in other texts - is a vital elenrent in ntost -scidr-ritua1s. But collectiveProsperiry is saved by the actions undertaken by the wolrlan in charge oftlrc rituals-

when trying to a,alyse vqka pittr,rany of the sa,re problelrls occur asrvlrerr discussing the scidr cereurony in Eirik-s sago raudi.ln both cases a1rt'l:rborate ritual is described and in the corrversion story rn cxotic andlrcathen context is constructed in the text, as rvild ancl rerllote .rs( irecnland. Nevertheless the ceremony can be connectcd to a cert.rin pf,t-It'rn of ritual practices, as stressed before.T\no radically diflerent positions, .rn be arsued for: either the zpl-ii ritual is a burlesqtre of the hicleousnuurners of the pagans of the tar north, or it is a plausible n-rodel of localre lisious lifb.

It is told that only the dar-rghter of the farnr recognizes rhe suest at once.rs the king, but she does not revcal his true identity. Sir-rce tte text is or1tlrc whole very well structured it is very ternpting to read this cletail as anrrrrlrse of thc young generation'.s attitude resarclins the new religion in( ()ntr;lst to the older generation'.s ancl the olcl religior-r.In this perspecrivc, it( .ur be noted that the farnrer's rvifb is looked upolr as stubbornly holcling.rr to the heathen faith.At the beginning of the texr she is s:rid to be clonr-rrr:rnt and determined and at the end to be the nrost reluctant towarcls therrerv religion. Old wonlen in other texts also serve as representatives of,rrrcient lore.Those two features - age and gencler - were, on the otherlr,rrrtl, r-rot the most iurportant rvhen trying to gair.r public aLlthority roslrcrk.What rernained was'corrosive discor-rrse' (Lincoln I991).'rlre fanrous Buslubean rhat appears in the fifth chapter of iJd-sa -sa{a oftllcrrttuds is a poem that emphasizcs the power of the spoken u,ord to a

lr,r.('lter extent than many other old Norse texts (Kress 191)3: 57ff.;N.urnrann 191)3).The text is divided into three parts; the first sc-ven sran-z.rs firllow each other, while the two last are anticipatecl by prose inser-ti.rrs. with its nine verses the text constitutes a Llnique exarnple in olclN.rse literature of how a saga writer has made use of the poetic fbrn-r of.1,t'lls rrncl the sr,rpposccl por.ver of tar-reaching strong worcls. poetry.rl)[)cur{ with sorrrc frecltrency in tlre prosc texts, but to nry knorvledge thisrt tltt' lttttgest ttsc of tltc spcll [rrrrrr in uny sitgu. With rts str()ng worcls r-heslrt'll :tdtls irrtcltsity ro tltc corrHict irr tlrc clr:rptcr.Tlrc rr;rrr;rtivtl firc:trsgs 9rr,r tlisPtrte [lctwt'ctt I(itrg Ilrirrqt';rttil ;ur oltl w()lniul. Iitrsl,r, krrorvrr firr ]rerrvistlottt. IIcr PllrVt'r'is;r lrt.titiolr lo r.t.lt';rst'(lrt.tr.r,o intPt.isotrt.tl lrt.rot.s of'lltt's;tg:r, <ltrt'ol'tltt,ttt llrt'Ltrrri's ()\\,il s()il, lltt'otlrt'r-ltt.t.lirstt,r.sorr. lirrt

134 Witdrcrqft and Magic in Europe:The Middle A,qes

what begins as a plea ends as a cllrse. The introductory prose gives sotneinteresting details about the character of Busla. No really negative wordsare used, but her skills are apparently conceived of as ambiguous old-timelore, tq.t'r.

The knolvledgeable."vor.nan'.s monologue identifies itself by name in thesecond stanza, Buslubtt:n,'Br-rsla'-s prayer'. It is specifically called brxn,prayer,a 'uvord common in Christian terrninology, and not galdr, kucedi or anythingelse we could easily trarrslate as spell or charnr. Sti1l the poem is empha-sized as pagan and'wicked'.

l-)usla appeared in the king'.s bedroom and recited a prayer which has

been known as'Busla's Prayer' ever since. It has becorre famous every-rt,here, and contains nrany wicked rvords unfit for Christian tnouths.3T

lrr this text the recurring rrotif of the performer of trolldltmr as an old per-sor-r with access to ancient lore and alnrost lost knowledge, tp-fr, appears

again. Both before and after the poem explicit references are made to thenevn, religion , ts in Crcttis -saga discussed above. Nevertheless, Busla is asked

to assist in a problenratic situation and the text reveals at this point an

anrbiguous attitude torvards the o1d religion.Busla is not ar all preser-rted as an evil person and, fronr the saga author'.s

point of view, she is supportivc and loyal to her fosterson. Even so, whatshe threatens King Hringr r,vith nrust fall undc'r the category of perforrnednralevolence. The use of the spoken word in an attelnpt to break fettersand release prisoners is not exclusively an Old Norse tradition. Release is

the tlrerre of the first Merseburg Charm and Bedei Historia Ecclasiastiu 4'.

22 as well as the Christian legend of St Paulis visit to and inrprisollrent inIlor"r're.

Tlre first part of Buslubwn constitlltes a kind of invocation to listen tcl

Br-rsla.The king nrust realize her capacity r,vhcn shc threatens to nrake heru,ords known all over the world, which w'ill disgrace the man who rs pre-pared to kill his own son. IJusla'.s speech is necessarily'corrosive' since she

is neither the right person to cornnrand a king, nor does she choose theright tirrre or place (the king's bedroorn).There is fbrce and confidence itther words and fronr the third verse she lets her powers loose. ln the ftil-lowing verse Busla gives a catalogr-re of the bacl things that will happen ttrthe king rf her plea is not obeyed. King Hringr will experiencc physicllpain, and snakes and clernons will rttack hinr. IJusla will raise storms artrl

turn all llatLrre against hinr; ships rnci irorses will feil I'rirrr lrrd hc will be :rrr

casy target for all trolls. Starrzrs -l to 7 cxprcss (-()nlru()n vicw's ltbout wltltlkrro'nvlcclgcublc pcrsorrs:lrc supl)()sc(l to lrc:rblc to irrf]it't orr tltt'il rrplto-rrerrts urrtl slrorv sirrtil:tt'itics to tltt' t':rtllogttc's ot'/r,r//r/,irirr ;r[rilitres irr lrtltlrt'l)()('( ry.

Trolld6nrr in Edrly Mcdieual Scartdinauia .l 35

Soon I shall dartClose to your heartWith poison snakes

to gnaw yor-rr breast:I)eafen your ears,

Blind you with tears.38(trans. by Pilsson and Edwards 1985: 206)

Ncither the place nor the mode is proper i, addressing a king. Busla encJslrcr threats with a hint about king Hringr',s impotence and loit nranliness;tlrcreby she challenges hirn both as a man and as a ruler:

And what a shameWhen you play the uame,'When

she'.s on her backBut you've lost the knack:Would you like to hear some more39(trans. by Pilsson and Edwards 19g5:20(rf.)

lrr the following prose the king is very upset and atenlpts to attack Br_rslar'ith physicai violence, to silerce her, to cut hcr ofr, calling her uintJ ucetty,', r'il clemon' or'spirit'. But Busla has bor-rnd hir-n with her ipell. He cannotr rst' fronr his bed to attack her and the servants around hi,-,, ,.. put to',lr't'p. we recognize fiom other sagas the aggressive atte,lpt to stop theIrr.wledgeabie when unfavourable lvords are uttered. Thus, in this caserr.tlring can hinder the forceful words uttered bv Ilusla. She continues andlrt'r' threats escalate. All kinds of supernatural beings are let loose accordingrr, l1g1 curse, all the beings that wrll attack if Ki,g Hringr does not obey:-llrsl.ls plea to release the prisor.rers. They are called trolls, elves (afii{,lrrtrwledgeable norns (tqfranornir), a,d different narles lor giants ancl,lt rrronic beings: hilar, hcrgrisar, hrimpursar - beings presented

", ,t.ong..tlr.rrr the power of the king.

Attcr this cascade the king rneets Busla's petirion half-way and asrees rc-r

r, lt'.rse one of the prisoners, his own son, but not her fosterson.'lrr that case, I'11 have to deal u.ith yor-r further,' said llusra. Then shestrrrtcd recitins the so-called 'Syrpa verses'which hold the nrost power-lirl rn:rsic, and which nobody is allor,vecl tc-r siug after sunset.40

Ilr,'tin:rl statrzlt is strpposeclly thc strorrscst rnil ilher plca is not lulflllecltlrt'kirrg rttttst t'itltcr solvc:t riddlc of six nlr)res or tlrc worst of []r-rsllls pre-,lt, (lol)s r,vill c'orttc tltrt'. Aticr tltc vcrst' lr lirrc witlr lturir' lcttcrs is irrscrtcrl,rr lrit lr rs strplrost'tl to [rt' tlrt' ritkllc. li:rt.irrg tlris Prctlorrrirr;rrrt.c tlrt. kirrgr',1\'('s tl[). Ncxt tllry tltt'1rt'isottt't-s,rti'tt'lt':tst'rl rrrrtl tlr<. li,llorvirrg r'lr:rPtt'r-t( (()tlllts tlrlrt tlrt' tw() ttt('tr .tlrr,tYs lirllorvt'tl llrrsl.ri .rrlvr,t' irr llrt'ir lirtrrrt.

136 Wixhcraft and Magk in Europe:'L'he MiddleA.qes

business. Neither equiprlrent nor symbols are mentioned in tsuslubtrn.Thetext colrcerltrates entirely on the spoken word. It is nrost likely that thepoerr-r existecl as an individual text which the saga author rnade use of in a

l1ew context.Spells r.vere thought of as useful for distinct purposes, such as attempts to

n.ranipulate lveather and love, and at hindering ar1 opponent, and they are

in tlrat sense close to the catalogues of Hiuamil, Sigdriliunil and otherEddic poenrs. A conrparison could be made between Buslubcen and thesecond Old High Gernran Mersebr.rrg Charrn. Both texts are constrlrctedin terrns of a direct confrontation.The speakers are directly adclressing thesollrce of trouble.There seerns to be a certain psychology ir.r the convictionthat there are bc'lrefits ir-r facing a complicated situation with direct speeches a counteraction. Busla is threatening and plays with the double nature oftrolld|mr.With its clivergent possibilities she cannot only release the prison-ers, but rnust alsc> put a curse on the reluctant king.

Pcrformed Malcuolence

Sinister ch:rracters, r,vho operate on behalf of themselves or others, are farnrore frequent in the sagas than actual divination rituals. A certain patternappears in connection r,vith these actions of performed malevolence.Thereis always a sender, i.e. the person who performs or acts, who has theknorvledse needed.This character is not always visible frorr-r the beginning.The act can be perfornred in great secrecy, and it can be part of the plotand the narrative strateliy not to reveal the cause of the rnisfortune untilnruch later in the text" The sender always r-nakes use of an instrunrent toahieve the goal. It can be the spoken word: a song, a fornrula or some kinclof spell. Most ofter-r it ir.rvolves an act, elaborate or simple, or even a full rit-ttal. Some texts nrention the use of concrete objects, like blood or a pieccolwoocl. Signs and syrnbols like runes can be included.The intricate ques-tion of the use of the runes rnust be discussed in this context.The senderlsuse r>f the instmrnent(s) airrs at a result. Sornething nrust be changed irrfavour of the person who initiates the perfonrance, not necessarily thcsender. Flor.vever, it nrust be renrenrbered that sirlilar rituals were used ftrrgaining prosperity, healing, ar-r d protection.

It is therefore inrportant to ask: ntalevolence frortr whosc perspectivc?T1're sagas, as any other texts, are never neutral. Most explicitly tl-rey tell of rr

slrrvey of events fronr a certain farnily'.s point olview, rrnr:rlglrrrrrted with lllthe loyalties, aninrositics, ancl tcrrsiorrs of thc sr()up. 'liolldr\rur rituals rrrt'oftcn sttpposcd to bc exct-tttcd iln'r()lrg tht'r'rrt'nrics:rs:rrr irrrlit':rtion of h<lw[r:rtl tlrcv r-cllly rrrt'. Ilvcrytlrirrg t'lst' irr r slgil t('\t rrr:rv Irr' o[rst'rrrt', btit tlrct'otttlit ts :rr.' :rlrl'.rvs lrrt itl itr tlre [11v1.

Troild6mr in Early Medieyal Scandinauia

Dorbjqrn and his Fostermother Fighting thc Outlau., Crettir

An eiaborate story of performed rnalevolence can be read in Grettis sagaTu and onwards. one of Grettir'.s enemies, Forbjgrn Qngull, wants revenge,rrrd the reward for killing the outiaw Grettir. Despite the fact thar Grettirls en outlaw the reader'.s sympathies are with him. He has caused a great,lcal of tr:ouble but is certainly not characterized as an evil perso,. Andl'orbjern is also fully aware of the fact that he cannot overcome Grettir'.ssrcater strength with ordinary means. He needs old-tinre knowledge.( irettir's nlother has previously warned her son, when interpreting an.nrinous dream, that he will never leave the island where he has('r)trenched hinrself, and she has also given him the advice to keep awaylirrnr knowiedgeable persons (ch. 69). Her words are also a hint that her\()r) cannot escape his destiny. Knowing that Grertir is forceful, Dorbjgrn,rsks his fostermother Duridr ro slrpport him. The old wonran is said tolr.rve been of great knowledge in her younger da.vs, and describecl as

liplkunnig njqk og margkurutig mjpk, perhaps rhe mosr frequent terms ror Irrrracterize knowledgeable people. Her age nrakes her a representative of,rrrcient traditions and lore. The text relates her explicitly to the old reli-r1i.n, in contrast to the new custol11s. Dorbjern is making use of his foster-rrrother's knorvledge and once again the question can be raised whether a

l)rrrely negative characterization of what is done in the narne of trolkl|mr isrt':rlly appropriate. From Duridr's perspective she is only supporting her,,wn kins{blk against their mutual enemies.

'fhe knowledgeable woman's strategy towards such a strong opponenr is.rt tion in several stages. She asks Dorbjgrn repeatedly to follow her insrruc-tr.,s, dc), precisely.al A process of careful considerarion slowly begins,rr.thing is done hastily, and over and over again it is repeated that Dorbjprnrnrrst follow the o1d woman's advice exacrly. Alter a long time Duridrr((lr.lcsts him to go to Grettir on Drangey. She wants to accompany hinr,lrrtlden in the boat so that she can make her inrportant calculations of theIr,rttrirrqja of the victims - then she can decide what words are suitable,rrl.rinst them. She nrakes a prognosis about how mr-rch luck they have,a3.rrrtl tells Dorbjgrn of the difficulties he will have to struggle against. lt willrr,t lre-an easy victory, the fosternrother can foresee, ancl he must be pre-l,.rlt'd for adversity to begin with. And of urnrost inrporrance he rnust,lt'P1'11i otr hcr and I'rer decisions completely. Duridr follows the company,rrrto thc island to have a look ;rt (lrettir anc.l l.ris nrcn. Apperently; shc hastlrt'c:rp:tcity to cttttc.lttct a firrrrr of nrclrtal X-rly.Aftcr hcr observuticlns slrcr,rr) stirte tlrrrt they rlrc str()ug, [rtrt rvitlrotrt lrrck, /r,rrrrirrq joltttsir, i.e. rvitltoutIt,tttritt.qit.'l'ltcrc:rfter sltt' is 1r11'1r;11't'.i t,r r'orr6-orrt tlrcrrr. Witlr lll tlris p6rverIrrl irrlirnrltiorr slrt' l:rys ( irt'tti' rrrtlt'r-ir ( rrrs(' tlr:rt rv.r-ks ,rs ,r P1i.1lj1.1j1y;1 1yf-

lroy1, 1lr.' [r;rl,rrrr't' of'norvt.r' rr'rll, lr.rrrr,.,.:

137

138 W'itchcrdft dnd Mdgir in Europe :Tlrc Middle Ages

'Now I curse yoLl, Grettir, to be deprived of all favour, all endowmentsand fbrtune, all defence and wisdonr, the t.uore so the lor-rger you live. Itrust that you lvill have ferver days of happiness in the future than yor.r

have had until now.'+3

With her uttered rvords she takes away not only his luck and fortune, Siplok grc-fd,but also all possibilities of help and wisdonr. Frotn Grettir'.s answerwe can gather that he knows that he has lost: 'No lvords have ever unset-tled nre more than those that she spoke.'aa His reaction against the oldwoman is very violent, not because she represents paganism, but because

sl.re is tl-rreatening him r,vith her knowledge. Most of all he is afraid of herspoken lvorcls, beir-rg well aware of his rnother's predictions. He throrvs a

larse stone at her and her 1eg breaks. Helga Kress has noted the sitnilaritybetween Grettir's behaviour against Durid and tl.re custom of stoning per-sons accused of trolldtSmr to death. The conflict with the knorvledgeabletrlnrs out to be a vital part of this plot too, only it ntust be noted that thistinre there is no Christian opposition as in other scenes of the sagas.

Dorbjgrn is very disappointed w'ith the trip to l)rangey, but I>uridr carr

conrfort him; this is only the beginning of Grettir's hard times. I>orbjqrnstill thinks he has r.nade a lool of hinrself, e:Iger as he is for imnrediateresults. Nevertheless, a lclng tinre passes before the old wolran nrakes hersecond irlove - the ritual. Since she is severely rnjured in her leg she is car-ried down to the beach, r,vhere her actior.rs are carefully described:

He did as she recluestecl, and when she reached the shore she hobbledalong by the sea as if follor.ving directions,until she carne to a tree lyingther:e, a stub with the roots on, big enough to have to be carried on a

nran's shoulders. She looked at the tree and asked the men to tttrn itover for her. The underside looked burnt and rubbed down. She nrade

them scrape a flat sudace where the tree had been rubbed, then tookher knife and carved runes into the root, stneared them with her bloodand recited spells. Then she walked backwards and withershins aroundit, and spoke many mighty prolloLtncenlents upon it. After that she had

the tree pLlt to sea, prorlor.lncing that it should drift out to l)rangey,'andnray it harm Clrettir in every *"y.''+5

The olcl wonran is consistently obeyed and the young nran is loyally givingher assistance. Clandestine forces are guiding the fbstertnother. Her ttlove-nrents in rvalking backr,vards, cottnter-clocklvise, rnake the ritual appear

strange, as ancient ancl exotic as the clothirxa of dtc uglra irt L'irift-s -sa.g,r

r,lrrda.The use of the woocl arrcl thc can,iug of nrncs rnight be cotttparecl tolrlrrid, ritttal clellinr:rtiorr (r,n,hclr clestrltctive rtlllcs arc crtrvccl irrtr> a trcc)'Aqain thcrc lrc rc:rsorlrblc rr:u-r:rtivc l)rrrl)()scs firr thc cottspit'ttotts scclrcry;tltr';rtrtlror's irrtt'rrtiorr is.tpp:rr-t'rttly to rtt:tkc tltt'stolv s,'t'ttt tl,l,l:rrrtl oltl.

T[o11d6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 139

l)istant'powers'seem to gLride Forbjqrg. She is well prepared and can per-form an elaborate ritual.'was the snrearing of blood iomething spectacularto the saga audience, as it is to a modern reader? was it . *ry

"r makingthe christian audience understand how cruel the pagan rituals were?

It is an elaborate performance, well prepared in several stages. Duridr isprobably operating with a piece of wood that has previously been used fortrolld6mr. The fosternlother uses her sensitiviry

"rd ,rrak.r no over-hasrynloves. Her instruments are the wood and her own blood, the carving ofrunes and her spell, the spoken word. She sends a tangible object agalnsttl.re victim. She is the performer, the mediurn, through *t i.t the wishes ofthe assigner are sent, although Dorbjgrn is ignorant of ho* and why he hasto rely on her. Some texts stress the importance of physical contact whentrclld\mr is performed, such as vatnsdela saga 44 r"h.r. Dorkell can makelris enenry qpeechless at the pingby touchini him with a spdkrna'swand. Inthe text discussed rhe nroment of touch seems to be the iurningpoint forcvents to so in a new direction.

Powerfi.rl forces are let loose and the results are bound to be quickly evi-tlcnt. Grettir twice tries to avoid contact with the piece of wood, having asense of danger,but the third time it is brought to the house by the thrill.when chopping it up for firewood Grettir is wounded and is thereafter awcak and vulnerable target for his enernies. Duridr's deeds have fulfilledrvhat Grettir's mother had foreseen in her dreams ancl warned her sonrr[rout.

There are both sirnilarities and differences when Duridri deeds are com-1r;rred to the seidr performed by Irorbjgrg litil-uqlua on Greenland. Thesrrnre terminology is used for their capacities. Divination is performed, cal-, trlations and predictions are made, but the intention behinJ the act differs, .nrpletely. Crettis saga tells of an exclusive private ritual where the goal is.nly to harm and eliminate the enemy. Furidr's ritual is a private ceremonylirr the benefit of an individual and her kin, an affair of interpersonal andrrrtcrfamily conflict, not an event shared by a local communiry.

Kotkell Perfrtrms Seidr Ti.uicc u,ith his Fanill,

Arr.ther story of sorlre length about perfornred nralevolence comes froml.,t.t'do'la -sarra (ch.35fr.). It differs fronr tl-re account i-t Eir{ks saga rauda inr,'vcrrrl irrteresting rnatters.The trolldtirur is perfon.ned by male piactitionersI.r' errtirely c-lcstrtrctivc rcasous arrcl the activitics are strongly condenrned.l'lrr' s:rrrrc kirrrl of sot'icty firrnrs tlrc blcksnrurrrl, but h I-ixita,ta -saga otherlltt'tttt's rtrt' ilr fot'rrs. It rclls ol'lrort, I(otkcll ;rrrrl Iris f;rrtrily - his wife ancll\\() 1l11)\vl) tll) \()ll\ 1rt'tlirt ttt ( ('t('tn()rli('\ t.rusirr11 tlt..ttlt .rrrtl tlis.tstcr ilt

140 Wirchcraft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

the local community. It is interesting to note how the family acts togetherin these rituals and how they are treated as a group, not primarily as indi-viduals. The succession of knowledge is evidently conceived of as keptwithin the fanrily, to give a flavour of uninterrupted transmission. In somesense Kotkell himself takes the lead as head of the family, but there is noobvious gender division in the performances expressed in the text. Noaction is commented on as unmanly or with any equivalent terrn, butrather as immoral and, above all, foreign. The family is said to be from theHebrides and to be newcomers to Iceland.'When introduced, these peopleare given a description with negative connotations: 'all of them skilled inwitchcraft fmjqkfiqlkunnigl and accomplished magicians lmestu seidmen )'.16Their foreign origin is emphasized in the episode and ethnicity serves herevery clearly as a marker of otherness (Sayers 1992:133ff.). Soon they areinvolved in local conflicts and Kotkell is offering the family's skills as a wayof establishing allegiances in the new place. The family is said not to workparticularly hard to support itself, which might indicate that they were alsosuspected of using their abilities and trollddmr knowledge to gain prosperitywithout hard labour. Such abilities are labelled'magical rnilk theft'in laterScandinavian fblklore and were literary and iconographic motifs on theContinent during the Middle Ages. In the Christian context both theolog-ical discourse and more didactic anrbitions to explain the origins of evilwere focused on the devil as a character. Such a figure could be used tovisualize the sum and substance of the message existentially and ontologi-cally as well as mythologically. The very existence of devils and demonswas constantly confirmed by the Church in sermons, ceremonies andiconography. The attributes of these creatures that were irnpressed duringthe process of Christianization and further on during the Middle Ageshave their origin in ancient Greece and the NearEast.All over Europe theChristian mission could identifli the demonized gods with the devils andfiends with cloven hoofs, tails and horns. Many stories, motifs and themesin the Old Norse literature are adaptations from a widespread Continentalcorpus of texts and pictures.

-fhe Laxddd text does not give any details of the ceremonies,but rathera striking and detailed picture of the conflict pattern behind thenr. First,the fanriiy members are accused of theft and of being knowledgeable, pi6;f-

nadr okJjqlkynig,and are condemned to outlawry. However, there is never a

fornral trial at the Alpingi, since Kotkell and hrs farnily imrnediately take upthe struggle against the accusation by performing -seidr with dramatic cor.r-sequences. Kotkell raises a seidhlallr and the whole fanrily gets Lrp to singgdldr songs. As a result a stornl arises and causes the death of Kotkell'.santagonists at sea.The fanrily uses the scidlldllr, ar.r object of obscure cc>n-

strlrction th:rt is also nrentionccl in l:iriks stqa rrltr)rr,.rS tlrcir collcctivcctlttil.rtttt'ttt.'I'lrc text strcsscs thlt tlris olr-jcr't is r'lirrrlrr'rl lry tlrc [ro'tirnrrcrs,

Trolld6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 141

the direction being clearly upwards, but no technical explanation is given.The core of the ceremony seems instead to be the use of the spoken word,in_ the for,r of powerful songs.47 The ceremony is a joint effort by thewhole fanily with a direct and fatal effect.

This trolld\mr acrion leads to an escalation of the conflicr and people inthe area want rhe Kotkell family killed (ch. 36). once again the familymake use of local conflicts just as they are used themselves by people in theneighbourhood * in transactions between the families:

Forleikr then approached his tenants, Kotkeil and Grima, to ask them rotake some action to discredit Hrftr [Dorleikr's enemy]. They agreedreadily and prornised to ger righr to work.48

For the second time the family performs a seidr ceremony together. Thesong is said to be very beautiful but also strange. It is directed towards acertain person, who understands the purpose and therefore forbids hispeople to leave the house during the night. But to the young son of thehouse the sounds of the seidr are irresistible and he walks out ;f the houseonly to fall dead irnmediately. This is quite similar to what happened toFidrandi in ltidranda pdttr,who was enticed out of the house anJ kiled bythe d{sir. ln Laxdela s4g4 norhing is said about which powers or beingsactually kiil the boy - just that the sounds of the rorg horrr the Kotkellsoverpower him. The scene - with the foreign family singing outdoors inthe night, while the local people have entrenched therruelves inside thefarmhouse - is a powerful image of the contrast between outside andinside, of being part of society and in a double meaning standing outside it(ch.37).This situation corresponds more than in any other deslription ofseidr to the mythological struggle berween aggressive destruction and cos-mological order, between the misfits and the settled.

After the death of the boy, full revenge is inevitable. Kotkell and his wifeare soon found and sroned to death. That place is thereafter calledSkrattavardi, a derivation from skratti and seidrskralfi, other related terms forpeople of knowledge and destructive powers. The burial-mounds of suchpersons could be dangerous, as the Laxdela saga tells further on in anothercontext (ch.76). A very pious christian woman is disturbed during her,ightly prayers and when the floor is opened on the recommenclation of areturning dead:

u,der the ground they found bones, which were brackened a,dhorrible, along with a chest pendant and a large magician'"s staff lseidstafrnrikilll. People therr dc'cided that a prophetess ruusr have been buriedhere luq>lulti<)i,:r prophctcssls sravel.J"he bones wcre urovecl to a relllotepllcc littlc ti-ccltrlrrtt'tl l,y rrrcrr.'r"

App;rrctrtly tltc por"vt't ol tlrt. ,rltl lrprrcs r.6trlrl rret Lrc 6vt.rr.er1c. 'l'ltc

142 Wixhcraft and Magic in Europe :The Middle Ages

renrains of the uglua could be moved, but their power could not be com-pletely destroyed.

The trolld6mr and seidr story in l-axdela saga is skilfully woven around a

series of actions and counteractions.The accusations of theft and extraordi-nary knowledge lead to a spiral of conflicts with violent deaths and greatanger among the local people.The final revenge and the punishments of theKotkel family are undertaken by the local people without any formal trial.

No general classification of seidr can be made according to the temri-nology in use, since only a vague distinction as to the intention of the ritu-als is adopted as a narrative tool by the saga authors. Still, cornpared toEiriks saga rauda 4 there are some similarities of interest, even if the purposeof the acts are entirely di{Ierent. In both texts the scenes of the seidrcerernonies are focused on the singingon the hjallr,bot there is no techni-cal information. Obviously the equipment is of less interest than the powerand effect of the spoken word. In both texts the trolld()mr knowledge is

considered to be of old times and associated with geographical fringes,Greenland and the Hebrides.

Apotropaic Acts and Rituals

Although the introduction to this section speaks of 'seidr for better orworse'I find it reasonable to deal with the positive aspects of trolld\rur andseidr in a briefer part at the end. There are fewer Old Norse texts focusingon healing (Dutsois 1999:93ff .),but on the other hand there is more com-parable material from the Continent. Among these protective practices wewill not frnd any descriptions of grand rituals or elaborate cerenronies,merely modest acts of protection against what wrre conceived as trolld|mrassaults. In this cate€lory of rejecting diffuse negative influence I alsoinclude different attempts to achieve relief from physical and mental dis-ease. Seeking to arouse or subdue love follows basically the same pattern.

Stories of trolld6mr attacks do not always end with the person aimed atbeing harmed; they are in most cases followed by apotropaic acts and ritu-als concerned with revealing the sender and the source of the assault.Thesc-counteractions were based on the same nlethods and theories as the pri*mary attack. One way was to attempt to harm the attacker'.s ternporarybody in order to accomplish an analogous injury on his or her ordinarybody. This visible mark had a triple function. It was a punishrnent, itrevealed the guilty parfy to the public and finally the counteraction servcclas a cure and the trolld1nrr attack was obstructed (l\atrclverc 1993:173ff.,1995).lllness and nrischicf were conceivecl to bc scnt 6rlru otrtsidc, lbllow-ing the cttttccpttr:tl firrrrcwrlrk oltltc t'onflit't bctwcerr irrsitlc antl outsidt..Firllowirrg tlris prtttt'rrr, krrowlctlgc of-lrolv to Ir;rttlc ;rs:rirrst rrristirr-ttrrrc rlso

to1ld6mr in Early Madieual Scandinauia 143

conres from contact with destructive powers.Some lyrical catalogues were previously discussed, predonrinantly in Eddic

poetry with advice, threats and possibilities - the 'gnornic discourse rype'asMargaret clunies Ross calls thern (1990: 221).They forrn long lists oicapa-lrilities and of knowledge attainable after training and strt[gle . Hiuainittcrnpts with the knowledge and understanding of many clandesiine nlatters:

l)o you know how to carve, do you know how to interpret,do you know how to stain, do you know how to test out,do you know how to ask, do you know how to sacrifice,do you know how to dispatch, do you know how to slaughter?so(trans. by Larringron 1996:35)

L a healing perspective, parts of Hituamdl and sigdrfiundl of the poetic Edda,rrc of special interest, as in both poems the rnetre of spells is used.,\i.qdrifimil is an excursus from the heroic Sigurdr cycle (known in oldI lish Gernrarr versions as well) and the better part of ihe poen, consists ofstunzas on the knowledge of runes and the art of carving and chantingtlre,r (Andersson .l980: u1fr., 101ff.).The introductory prose tells of howtlrc hero Sigurdr finds a sleeping person surrounded by a wall of shields.when Sigr-rrdr slits the clothes with his sword what first.seerns to be a nran,tlris'he', turns out to be a wonlan. She prese.ts herself as a valkyrie, andtlr.rks the hero for re-scuing her fro,r her deep sieep by giving him theI.rrg catalogue of useful runes, that is healing iorrgr. accolainf to AnneI Ici,rich,'Sigurd'.s encounter with her can be viewed as the finillpisode oflris vouthful educarion'(19it6:115).Two of rhe stanzas (4, 1l) refei directlyt. healing practices, while the others are either nlore general or speak ofvrctory, revenge etc. Before chanting the runes the wonian offers Sigurdr alrtrrrr of nread, which gives strength to his ,re,rory, ninnisuel.g, and pro,risesrvrsclo,r,,righry spells and healing ha,ds.s1 Then he is readylo learn:

'Limb-runes you nlust know if you want to be a healerand know how to see to wounds;on bark they nrust be cut and of the tree of the woodon those whose branches bend east.,52(trans. by Larrington 1996:168)

lrr ()lcl Norse literature nrany things harmful to the individr_ral body, tolrrr k .r prosperity or to the fa.rily or kingroup, were conceived of as pro-;t'ttilcs.Therefore, powerful words and rituals were nsed to stop " th...t,,ltt'rr visualized as an rrrow, a nrissile ainred at a crertain target by a clistinc-Ir'r' scndcr. A vcrbal pr<r.jcctio, cotrlcl be as cffcctivc ,,r., .,ir*..'., physical',trt'rrstlr.'l-he sls;rs tcll of- tlifli.rcrrt w:tys oI rrnkirrq weilp()l)s 1.,,x,vc,rfLrl, of.,lt't r'ivirrg.f siglrt rrrrtl .l'rv,rrrrl<'r'firl lrclrrrcts .f irrvisibility.

Not orrly lrrrnr.rns lrrrlrl Irt,sul)l)()t.t('(,|, Irrrt.rls,., t..rtrlt.,rlrtl otlrt,r t;rrnr

l

l

144 Witchcraft anrl Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

anirnals. The same type of verses and spells are found in large numbers inlater Scandinavian folklore. The Anglo Saxon charms also give r-nanyexamples of spells against physical illness caused by elves and demons: elf-shot, elven race, dwar{i, etc. (Grendon 1909:208;Page 1964;Gay 1988).

Healing physical and mental pain or even raising the dead is the explicitainr of some Eddic galdr songs. Not only Odinn but also Freyja can beassociated with curative processes. Probably it is Freyja who speaks inFjqlsuinnsmii 49 where an interesting intermingling of healing and sexuallonging emerges:

Long I waitedon Lyfabergday on day I waited for you;now it has happened,that I anticipated,my lover, you have come to nry halls.53(trans. by Robertson 1991:84)

The verb ffia is not very common in Old Norse, but in later Scandinavianlanguages it is quite frequent and forms several compounds like /r75a andlAuja in association with trollddmr and healing. The iatter form is used byChristian writers before and after the Reformation as a broad ternr for alikinds of paganism and superstition. In Old Norse the nouns taufr and ly.fcan reGr to knowledge of healing, but are mostly used in their negativemeaning of damage or destruction.

Egik saga Skalla-Cr{mssonar 72 gives a lucid example of the process ofaction and counteraction in a healing procedure per{ornred by Egill him-self. A young woman is laid up in bed, weak and feeble, due to runes cutagainst her. She is described as the victim of a rejected suitor, who hadfailed in his attempt to handle the runes. Instead of raising love he hadcaused her illness. Apparently the knowledge of rune carving was not eas-ily accessible. Due to his sufficient knowledge, Egill finds the runes, cut ona fish-bone, in the woman'.s bed and immediately burns it. Thereafter, as a

confirmation of the faiiure of the unskilled carver, Egill sings:

No man should carve runesunless he can read them well;nlany a n1an goes astrayaround those dark letters.On the whalebone I sawten secret letters carved,from them the linden tree [i.e. wornan]took her long hair.5a(trans. by Scudder 1()97 143)

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 145

New runes, apparently more powerful, are cut by Egill and the youngwonlan is freed from her paralysing weakness. Egill is said to be generouslyrewarded by the family, in the sarne manner as the direct piyment orreward given to the seidr performers.

A particular aspect of healing through spells is the aid given to womenat childbirth (Mundal and Steinsland 1989: 104f.; Morris 1993: 7gtr.).sigdr{;fumil 9 mentions what are called bjargriltTar, rLtnes rhat can help atdelivery. It is interesting to note that Sigrdrifa's advice in the long cata-logue of charms is directed to a man.The stanza relares to help,healing andstrength in general.

'Helping-runes you must know if you want to assistand release children from women;they shall be cut on rhe palms and clasped on the joints,and then the d{sir asked for help.'s:(trans. by Larrington 1996: 168)

There is a distinct physical contact between the helper and the wonran inneed. The runes on the hand serve as mediators for the healing power.Nothing is said here about whether a,y special ritual was needed-to gethelp from the disir, but it seems that the powerful spoken word couldteaccompanied by some kind of ceremony in favor,rr of these protectivefbrtility deities. Not only the female disir were challenged. Inoddrrinargritr other nrythological beings are addressed by oddninwhen trying to help with delivery pains. It can be noted that the oldNorse text mentions the vrrtir. Like the disir this is a group of a collec-tive character, living nearby the farmhouse under familyJiki conditions,but not exclusively female. In later Scandinavian folklore there is a grearnumber of legends telling of females from the 'little people' coming tohelp women in childbed. Along with the vrttir od&rin asks the gld-clesses Frigg and Freyja for help:

'May all the kindly beings help you,Frigg and Freyja and more of the gods,as you warded away that dangerous illness from me.,s6(trans. by Larrington 1996:206)

'l'he Anglo Saxon charrns also offer help at delivery with ceremonies thatt'onrbine the spoken word with prescribed bodily rnovements:

For delayed birth

Let the woruan who c:rnr.rot bring forth her child g. ti> the grave of awise rrrarr,:rrrd stcl-r thrcc tirrrcs <lvcr thc grlrvc,:rrrtl thcrr sly thcsc worclsthrcc tirrrcs:

146 Witclrcrqft and l4dgic in Europc:The L/tiddlc Ages

This be nty cure for the loathsome late-birth,This be my cure for the grievous swart-birth,This be nty cure for the ioathsome iame-birth.s7(trans. by (]retrdon 1909:207)

As in nuny spells, words and ritual gestures are combirred, in this case

along rvith frequer-rt triads of repetition.The visit to the grave oithe helper

is, as discussed above, a metaphor used in Eddic poetry. When it cornes to

the ritual aspects of the AIrglo-Saxou chartn quoted above, it could be

interprered in two ways - either as genuirtely descriptive, indicating that

panpi. actually went to such a grave, or in ternrs of the introcluctory lir-re

telling of the rvise rvonrant grave functioning as a form of invocation giv-ing legirinracy to the following three lines. The latter way of reading the

teit would indicate a rather obvious sinrihritv with the fortnulaic ele-

ments of Eddic song tradition.

Trolld6mr and Loue

Texts dealing with the atnorous aspecrts of trolld\mr ;rre nruch l1lore scarce

than those concerned rvith the clestrLlctive. Interestingly they mirror the

sanle attitLtdes and methods as the descriptions of perforrr.red nralevolence

(Ellis Davidson 1973: 33; Holtsmark 1980; Moller-christepsen 19tl();

Mundal and Steilsland 19t19; Seyers 1992; I)anrico 1993; Morris 1993:

771T.).The therne of arousing love in ()ld Norse literature is not so nluch a

question of stories of affection and tenderness, but has to do with the

pro..rr of gaining power over another persoll; the corlflict patterrl is rts

apparent as ever.Skirniynil in the Poctic Edda can serve as a sootl exatlrple (Larrington

1992). Skirnir. the servant of Freyr, is sent to propose to a gi.rnt wonlan,

Gerdr. Since she is unrvilling and rejects him frorn the beginning,trolld|mrand runes are ttsed to rru'eaketr her:

' "Cliant" I carve on you atrd three runes:

lewdness and frenzyand unbear:rble desire;

thus I can rub that off, as I carved that on,

if there is need of this.'s8

(trans. by Larrington 1996:67)

Gerdr cannot resist the porverful runes fiorn the suitor and uives trp her

resistance.A tone of cruelry and violence is present throtrghout the poetlt.

The young wolnan is exposeci to thc clprice of n sttpr:rior titrcc.Acttrllly itis prtt .r r1ri,.'sti6n oFlxrr.rsiug lovc, btrt of brr':rkirrg tlorvtt tItc ()tllcl'l)('rs()ll's

Trolld6mr itt Enrly lllcdieyol Scartdhmvitt 117

will. As in the later nredieval ballads rvith their abducted brides andZauberberg motif this is nrore or less a nretaphoric image for rape. Saxo tellsof how C)dinn punishes a reluctant youll€J nristress by touching her rvith a

piece of bark inscribed with spells (lII:71).The harsh trolld6nr against reluctant lovers is used by both rnen and

rvotren.W'hen the lrd,.a llppears in bj6dolfr\ poenr Ynqlrruganii it is the firstsupernatural category to be given a nanle in Old Norse literature. Theternl is etymologically related to the Indo-European root *tnr,'to crush',which is nrost interesting considering the actions ascribed to it in sometexts.The nar(l ts a transfornred and dissuised hunran being and, in contrastto other nrore 'collective'beings, acts purposefully as an individual, often

"vitl.r erotic irnplications.The srorv of kingVanlandi'.s painful death is told

in three different early texts, all part of the legendary history of theYngiingtirmily. Tl-re kings all suller nrysterious deaths, each one rtrore astoundingthan the previous. (Krae 1991:1t)21.,l93f.;Rausing 1993).The third stanzatn Ynglingatal is the shortest and earliest version of the events, focusing onrhe nronrent of dearh, when a denron tramples on :rnd stiflesVanllndi. Nore:lson is given rn this text for the conflict between Vanlandi and thet{enron. The being attacking the king is spoken of in the fen'rinine andgiven three significant nalnes: 'she' is called 'creature of trolld\mi, (uittalrr'tfr),'night strlrggle' Qrimhildr) and nrdra, and her dernonic ortgin, troll-kttnd.is errrphasized. Her purpose, horvever, is clear-cut - killing the king.

Srrorrii prose adaptation of the poen1, Ynglinga -iaga, gives a ltlore detailed.rccoLrnt of the cause of the king'.s death.Accordtng to SnorriVanlandi aban-iloned his wifb Drifa anrl did not keep his promise of a pronrpt retlrrn tolrer in Finl.rnd.Therefore, Drifa asked the seidAona Huldr to perfornr -scidr torrrrkeVanlandi conre back or die.-5e Drifa is, according to Snorri, a-finnkona(l'age 1963). Such liaisons are ahv.rys dangerous in Old Norse texts, andrvhenVanlandi in Sweden feels a sudden Lrrge to go to Finland his companytry to stop hinr. Tlrey inrmecliatelr, sltspect the Finns.('(r But king Vanlandrlirlls asleep pardysecl. calling out that a mdrd is pressine hiur, ar mara trad/r,rrzn. Snorri gives a forceful inrage of the helpless king and of horv the mara

,'nrshes the deceitful king's legs and finally stifles him to death.Tlre Latin chronicle Historia Aloruegia, is rrs short as Ynplingttttll when it

(onres to tellirrq of the painful death of kingVanlandi. But all three textsrrterrtion the narne martt, whch in later Scandinavian folklore is also a

rnrue for a heing assclciated r,,ith lustful wonlen mking revclrge on reluc-tiu)t nlen (l{audvere 1993, 1995). Conrponents vital to ,?r.ir,, texts overlrtrrrdreds oltye'ltrs are already nranifest in the story of kingVanlancli, includ-irrs not <>nly a suflbcrrting victinr, but llso a jeelotrs or evil person, often a

\v()l)):rI), rv'lro ttscs thc p<>wer of tmnsfirrtttlttion to guin :rtlvlntlrgcs in tcllt-l)()rary gtrise. Sccrrtingly fiorrr tlrc begirrrriuq. s('x und violcrrr'(':lrc rlt tht..

t orc of-tlrt' Sr';rttrlitt;rviltn sul)('r'n:rtur';tl t't'trcrtgt' slolit's.

tu

148 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe :The Middle Ages

Tiolld\mr could serve as an effective weapon in love conflicts and be thecause of inrpotence and disturbed emotional relations. In Kormdks saga

young Korrnlkr is the target of D6rveig's curse, he will never have his giri(Davidson 1973; Mundal and Steinsland 1989: 114f{.;Sayer 1.992:141ff.). Asdiscussed in the first chapter, the knowledgeable woman can attack Korm6krfrom a far distance and in a temporary guise.The saga has a complicated plotof conflicts, power, loyalties - and love. When D6rveig utters the harsh wordsthat the young man will never enjoy his beloved Steinger6r,61 Kormlkrimmediately strikes back verbally:'You will have no say whatever in that, youevil woman.'62 The verb rdda is used with the same significance here in thecontext of a curse as it is in connection with divination rituals. FIe cannotchange what is once uttered and he does not have the abi1iry to competewith F6rveig's extraordinary insights. And as the following chapter in thesaga recounts, Kormikr wins Steingerdr's hand, but fails to appear at themarriage, and she rnarries another man.

ln Busluben we noticed that a strong threat from the knowledgeablewoman was her power over the king's sexual abilities. Several stanzas in theEddic poetry also refer to Odinnt power over love and lust.The'Lj5datal'at the end of Hiuamil stresses the god's abilities to turn the minds of youngmaidens and rnake hirnself attractive (161ff.).Arousing love perhaps soundssweet, but when Odim is praising his own sedr.rctive po*.iit is in a harshand rough tone:

I know a sixteenth if I want to have alla clever wornan's heart and love-play:I can turn the thoughts of the white-armed womanand change her mind entirely.I know a seventeenth, so that scarcely anyyoung girl will want to shun me.63

(trans. by Larrington 1996:37)

Sexual desire is also a vital part of Odinn's relation to supernatural wornen.ln Hirbardsljrldi dialogue Hlrbardr (Odinn) boasts about his influenceover night riding hags, myrkridur, clainring his potency, miklar nxdnullar(Mundal and Steinsland 1989):

'Mighty love-spells I used on the w-itches,those whom l seduced fronr their men.'64(trans. by Larrington 1996:72)

Manuilar and manrilnar are both terms with erotic connotations hinting at

the ability to arouse love by the force of trolldtirnr insights (l)./rlsson 1990:1751if .). The same aggressive atnrosphere snrrouncls 6hs he16is: poerrrHelgakuida Hjgruardssonar 15 where the hcro Atli is irrvolved in l verbalduel with thc giruitcss Hrirrrgcr<)r.'l'lrc torrt'is vcry rrgurcssivc rrrrtl wc c;rrr

Trolld6mr in Early Medieval Scandinauia 149

note that the metre is the same as in Hiuamll's catalogue of spells. He is

praising hinrself for har-rnting night riding hags, kueldridur'.

'Atli I'nr called, atrocious I shall be to yoLl,I am nrost hostile to ogresses;

I've often stayed at the dew-washed prowand tornrented night-riding witches lkueldridur)' .('5

(trans. by Larrington: 126)

Knowledgeable wornen and sexualiry was a theme that recurred in laterChristian literature. ''When fernale sexuality conles to the fore, it is usuallyin a demonic or "Otherworld" context, explicitly or implicitly connectedto the pagan past', Margaret Cormak writes in her discussion of sex andthe supernatural in Icelandic saints'iives (1992:228). Cunning wonren andtheir abilities became an inrage of the sedtictive power of the devil. Theconrbination of unrestrained lust and tntlld6mr in the writings of witch-hunters centuries later, as well as of clergyrnen, continued to solxe extentir-r Scandinavia into the catechisrns of the Reformation.

Heal or Destroy:The Ambigr.tity o;f Perfonning Tiolld6mr

As this chapter has indicated, both nrythological narratives and sag;as givetlescriptions of more or less eiaborate rituals perforrned in an attenlpt to:rchieve knowledge of otherwise hidden matters.To some extent the deedsof the gods seern to have formed a prototype for the understanding of theorigin and effect of trolldtimr. In sagas some historical and contemporaryindividuals were conceived to have the extraordinary skills to conductstch trolld|nr rituals. Knowledge was sought from the outside, froms()Llrces that could be destructive of the social order. The demonic beingsof the realm of the giants are often involved, as if knowledge could not belvith harmony only or be fully operative unless also i.n contact rvithrlisharmony.

The .luridical and political decisions of the plnl meetings were acconl-

1,:rnied by lil6t offerings perfbrmed according to the established custom ofsociety, sldr. While bl6t was conducted among influential men, that is, bytlre godi in local society, -seidr seems to have taken place less formally atl,rrnrs. It was also a ritual of a highly ambiguous character.The perforrners.rre described as odcl and significantly diflerent in one way or another,,r..'cr:lrclins to age, ethnicity or social position. Anrongl the perforrnersw()lllen play a nrorc uctivc role than otherwise in Olc-l Norse literature.Wlrcthcr this irrdicrrtcs tll:rt w()lr)elr took 1r nr()re dircct prrrt in .srir)r and,livirlrtiorr ritu;rls otrtsirlt'tlrt'tt'xts is lr rrlrttcr tor tlc[r;rtc. Sorrrt'tcxts sittr:rtctltc ritrr:rls itt rt'tttolr' l)l.rt t's, lrr,'sttttt:rhly t() str('ss tltt' irtt:rgt' <lf'lrr,rttrt-t's

15i) Witchuaft and Magic in Europe :Tlte Middle Ages

from days gone by. Many rituals are performed in order to destroy andharm, sometimes on behalf of a person other than the performer. On theother hand, from tirne to time the saga texts stress that the knowledgeablewere invited to perform divination rituals, seidr. Insight into the conditionsof the forthcoming year was a fornr of knowledge that was eagerly soughtafter. Seidr and related ceremonies could also be seen as private fertiliry rit-uals in accordance with the needs of a rural sociery.

Vital pre-Christian conceptions can be observed in rnuch later docu-mentation of Scandinavian folk beliefs and folk medicine as regards bothform and content.The authority of skilled persons'use of the spoken wordfor destruction or healing is apparent over a long period of tinre. In popu-lar discourse this was not explicitly expressed as an opposition against theChurch (although clergymen after the Reforrnation definrtely regarded itas such) but as a way of handling rnore or less clandestine powers.

Cornpared to the world of the Norsemen very little is known about theritual practices of other Germanic peoples on the Continent. When itcomes to trolld6mr, there are no texts comparable to the Eddas or the sagas.

FIowever, correspondences can be observed with Old High German andAnglo-Saxon poetry, especially in the use of charms and spells. Not only inrletrics and form, but also in content and ideology, this corpus shows

striking similarities wrth different Old Norse modes of expressing trust irrthe power of the spoken word. Many of the Continental spells combincuttering with bodily nlovenlents in a way that is familiar frontScandinavian traditions.

The knowledgeable could also use their special knowledge to perfornrceremonies to bring injury and misery to others. [n this perspectivctrolld\mr was malevolent performance as a strategy of handling difficult sit-uations. Most protective actions taken to avert trolls and illness follow thcsame pattern: both actions and speech directly face the source o{ trolldtimrusing parallel motions. Aiming back was the only way of defence.

As expressed in the literature, trolldimr was acted out in rituals and for-rnalized speech as well as in paradigmatic nrythological narratives. A thirclmode of expressing the complex conceptions of knowledge, destructiottand healing was the interplay between accusations and trials.

CHAPTER 3

The Legal Code: Law andTiial

As social memory the sagas dealt much with the administration ofjustice,irrcluding accusations of trol.ld6mr. In Iceland time and social space werecxplicitly allotted for trials. The rules for these events represent a circunr-stlntial process of formalization, when a local conflict was to be solved inlrublic. Any accusation or other issue should always be brought to publickrroweldge in due time before negotiations could start. Since the code ofIr,ruour is so visible as an irnportant matter in the saga texts. it is interestingto speculate on what was thought of people who took the law into their,rwn hands.The killing of a person connected wtth trolldt5mr was not alwaysIollowed by revenge or legal proceedings; rather, the spontaneous revengervrrs in some cases conceived to be a praiseworthy deed.

The Old Norse texts reveal several different strategies regarding peoplervlro were sr,rpposed to perform trollddmr and cunning deeds. Some of themrvcre dealt with directly, while others faced formal trials. The cases weretlrcrl treated like any other criminal case and followed an established set ofrrrles. Compared to other aspects of social organization the sources providetlrc modern reader with quite a lot of useful information.

The Oral LautThdition

lrr corrtrast to trolld|mr, the concept of law was a cortlllonly accepted andrrsctl abstract ternt. Tiadition recounts that law was brought to Icelandlrorrr Norway with some of the first settlers, landnimsmenn (Fix 1993b).llro early laws of the Norsemen were orally transmitted and are onlyl.rrown as echoes in the first written legal documentation, Crigis, and inrlr(' sxgas (Dennis, Foote and Perkins 1980). However, names of insticutions.rrrtl posi.tions used Iong after the introduction of Christianiry give hints.rlrotrt the organization of the oral law. It is generally assumed that the laws\\'('r'c anlor1ll the first texts in Scandinavia to be written down. Crigis,liter-.rlly'(irey (]oose'because of the erey cover to one of the nranuscripts, is arrrrxctl collection of lcg:tl rtranrrscripts oltthe so-callecl Icelandic colulrlorl-rvt',rltlr (Fix 1993u).'['lrc tcxts wclc brought toscthcr in l flrst conrl.rounclecilor n1 t,"r1r'tps us crrrly ;rs tlrt' lrrtt' twclftlr ('cntrrry,:rrrtl cxprcss thc lcgal cotlelr()nr tltc titttc ol tltt's:r1,,,rs. Ilowt'vt'r, tlrt'llrtto':rirrr lrt rllrys p:rst rvlrilc tlrc

t52 Witchuqft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

former mirror the morals of contemporary time, and in between there is

more than one drastic shift in social life. In contrast to the sagas, the laws

were explicitly Christian texts that based their authority on the new reli-gion. No obvious distinction was made between trollddmr deeds, divina-tion, healing or bl6t o{ferings.These acts were all conden-rned as pagan.

There was a reciprocal relationship between the introduction of writtenculture and other important social and cultural changes in Scandinavia.The dcvcloprnent of kingdonrs and territorial states was parallel to that ofstate authority and the establishrnent of national legal codes. This process

went along with an acceleration in the establishment of the first urban

communities and the introduction of a monetary economy. All these

changes during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries strengthenedScandinavia's links to Continental Europe even r11ore. In many respects

these radical changes led to processes of institutionaltzation of public 1ife,

among these the organization of legal matters. Due to the political and

cultural conflicts, Iceland did not take part in this development to the same

extent as did the newly established kingdoms of Nor-way, Sweden and

Denmark.The arnbition o[ rhe sagl writers was to link their contclnporary tinlc

to the world befbre these changes. Before the subrnission to the

Norwegian king in 1262-4 there was no state or general state authority illIceland. A certain idealizing romanticism flavours the accounts of tinrcpast, but based on the conviction that a social order existed from thcbeginning. l\egions were ruled by local chieftains, godar.The relationshipbetween the ruler and the local inhabitants formed the basis of a social

network that included both law and religion, among other social activitics.Free men could rnake a treaty of rnutual loyalry with a godl that both par-

ties could annui. The possibilities of local variation nlust, therefore, always

colour any reconstruction of the lcelandic judicature.

The Social Organization o-f the Latu

When the sagas speak of law it is not a national code for lceland that is

referred to - as was the case with the Scandinavian codes of the latcrMiddle Ages - but local agreements with a more or less explicit coltlrcc-tion with a general assembly for the whole island. I)espite other nlrtjorchanges, the sociai organization of the law remained to a large extent rlll(lfor a long tinre unchanged and the developtttetrt of tnore fcrrtrlal lcg:rl

institutions was a later process. I)ower rclatiorrs wcrc always very visiblc irr

the social operatiols surrotrndirrg crinrc uncl prrnislttttcnt. Irr tlrc legrrl sys

tcnr of tlrc or:rl r'ulttrrc thc llrwspcrrkt'r, /qrq.iirqrrlr(,()r, nlcrllorizctl :ttttlrccited tlrc l;r'nv;rt.joirrt rrrt't'tirrgs of'tlrr',grrr)rtr. Illt'ttt'tl lirr:t pt'riotl of-tltrt'c

Tro11d6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 153

years, the lawspeaker held a special position with responsibility for theproper preservation and transmission of the law and tradition.

The Alpingi, the general annual assembly, was the foremost uni$,ingpolitical factor in the absence of state authority.According to tradition theinstitution was founded in 930 and meetings were held for a few weekscvery summer. The legendary history of the foundation of the Alpingigives the original number of chieftains as thirry-six. A special area with nopermanent buildings was reserved for the assembly. It was a clearly definedsocial space fbr the leading members of sociery as well as a gendered space

since women could generally not speak befbre the Alpingi. The nreetingsr.vere certainly not of a purely legal character, but of religious, social andcconomic importance too. The Alpingi was an important opportuniry fortrading. It was also a tirle when political power was negotiated and agree-nrents of different kinds were made. Long after the establishment of the( lhurch and national legal codes, this kind of multipurpose meeting keptrts relevance for local social life all over Scandinavia. A legislative assembly:rlso rnet on these occasions, constituted by the most prominentgodar.Thisgroup also elected the lqgsqgumadr, a most honourable position.

There were also regionai assemblies in the spring and in the autumn.l'he ping, the assernbly of the local free men, was an occasion for negotia-tions, decisions and trials (Sandvik 1993). It was an opportuniry to solveIocal conflicts and disputes and a time when agreenlents were confirmedlry oaths.Very few conflicts involved only individuals.At the ping the malelrcad of a family spoke on behalf of his household. The proceedings of a

/,ing were led by a godi, who was also responsible for the bl6t offerings oftlrc neighbourhood. The etymology of the title of the leader godi (frornq,,t),'god') hints at an original religious interpretation of a position that intlre days of the sagas and Grigis was mainly a political office. The godi,rtrviously held a position of power and great influence that was tradition-,rlly inherited within the farnily.The stationary system led to the petrifica-lr()n of conflicts between the stronger families. A godord was not as such a,lrstir.rct geographical area, but referred to the authoriry that the godi had inrr'lrrtion to his pingmenn.It was a relationship of a contractual character thatlroth parties could give up. A godord, like any item of properry could be,lcllt with in different ways; it could be bought and sold, inherited, given,rwily etc. I)ue to elaborate commerce and other political and social

l)r()cesses, power was consolidated in the thirteenth century into the hands,rl'rr few fanrilies. Snorri Str-rrluson's life ancl death is a good exar.nple of this,lt'vclopnrent. Born as he was into the ruling elite he could rchieve lrlorerv.'llth and influcncc through nrarriage, i-rut was rrt tl're surrre tirrrc alscr

rnvolvccl irr rrcw t'orrHic'ts. [{is cout;rcts with tlrc Norwcgirrrr kirrg c::ttrsccl,,rrspir'iort lborrt lris loy:rltir's:trttl un csc';tl:rtiort of tlrc corrflir't lctl to Slrrlrrilsnrru'tlt'r'irr l2-ll.l)trirrri tlrrs |t'riorl tll('.(()()()r() wt'rt'rttlt'tl by orrly l fi'w

154 Witrhcraft and Magk in Europc:'I"he Middle Ages

members of the dominant families. This was the harsh reality, far fronr the

idealized accounts of the landnim pertod when the thirry-six godord rvere

supposed to have been settled.

'l|ial and Rirual

Trials and rituals are in many respects very similar social events. When a

trial is analysed in terms of a ritual the legal process becomes a lucid exaln-ple of the indisputable interconnection between law and religion. In OldNorse texts distinctions between these two areas were not nrade. Both 1aw

and religion were regarded as part of sidr, traditional custonl. Through the

trial a social conflict was ritualized and a process of formalization - fromthe private to the public arena - was tuade visible.

Paul Connerton's wide definition of a ritual, discussed above, has provedto be helpful in the discussion of Old Norse trolldtimr trials. An advantage

of the wide definition is that the difler:ence between religious, political and

social activities in many ways becomes irrelevant. At what point, then,should the distinctions between the religious, social, legal and ecouonriccharacteristics of the ping be n-rade? lf rituals are not limited to specific

beiief systems the definition could also cover rnajor upheavals likeChristianization or the introduction of Latin written culture.

The Old Norse trials seem to have been rule-governed acitivities wherecertain steps were stipulated. The proceedings of the trial had a symboliccharacter and the situation was clearly limited in time and space. Both rit-uals and trials are necessarily occasional, although ntostly regular.They are

defined by their relation to everyday life and to the nrainstream, in com-parison to which they stand out as events of special importance.The roles

for participants in rituals and trials were colttnlonly knorvn and easy torecognize.

In the sagas, accusations of trolld\mr are spoken of nruch nrore often than

actual trials and penalties. Suspicious speech was often used as defamationor threat and did not necessarily lead to any legal proceedings in the texts.

Williarn Ian Miller writes: 'sorcery accusations in the sagas frequentlyappear as reactions to untimely death or illness', and continues further on:'The neat thing about the sorcery accusation was that it foreshortened the

causal chain that led to the misfortune'(19i16:110f.). It can be noted that

when trolld1rar per{orrners were dealt with and punished this could bt:

done in two separate ways. Either the pr-rnisl-rr.nent was the result of I.resoti-

ations at a ping or the people involved took the law into their own hatrcls.

The two reactions to asstrnred trolldtlmr deetls clcscribecl irr tlrc s:tsns leltl t<r

:r distinction betwecn :lcc()ultts of tirrrrral trirrls rtrrtl llc('()t.tt)ts of tltc tttttt'cinfitrrrr:rl t>rrcs.'f[rc llrttcr :tK' rrrrrt'lr rrrorc r'()nlnl()r) tltlttt tltt' tirrlltt'r ltlttl

Trolld5mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 155

sometimes consist of only a few sentences, being part of a web of gossip

and slander.

Something Has Happened

The most elaborate narrative in the sagas of a fornral trial against a personsuspected of per{orming trolldt5mr can be read ir.r Eyrbygqla saga 16.In relationto the rest ofthe corpus this text nrust be regarded as an exception becauseof its length and details.The sequence is focused around guilt, responsibiliryand punishrlent. It suggests a given set of legal rules and a social organiza-tion in which trollddmr crimes could be punished and disputes settled.

Eyrbyggja saga 1.6 opens at the heart of a conflict. Further events lead to a

severe accident that is considered in the neighbourhood to be caused bytrolldtimr and one woman is under suspicion.The erotic implications of thetrttlld6mr practices in chapters 15 and 16 that cause youn€i Gunnlaugr bod-ily harr-n have been discussed above.The intrigue focuses around the strug-gle between two wonlen with contradictory attitudes towards theirtrolld|mr skills.These two knowledgeable wolllen do not:rct exclusively ontlreir own but on the periphery of other major fandly conflicts.This con-fir:nrs the idea that a trolldt5mr conflict never appears on its own. There are

nrany layers of dispute and nruch tnore vioience will occur before the saga

('olr1es to its end. Still, these two chapters on trollddmr can be read as a

conrplete story in its own right.Both women are old enough to have grown-up sons. Katla is still good-

kroking but not very ruuch liked by the local people and her son Oddr is

siven an entirely negative characterization:'boisterous and very talkative, a

trouble maker and a slanderer'.66 Geirridr on the other hand is just said tobc mdrgkurnrlg,'knowing a lot', and is shown to be willing to pass on herirrsights generously to the younger generation.

Katla keeps repeating her invitation to the yolrng man to stay overnight,lrut she is always rejected. Her sneering and insinuating rvords to(iunnlaugr when he refuses to stay the fatal night reveal her coarse man-rrcrs and lack of qualities: 'She asked him whether he was going toMivahlid [Geirridr\ placel again "to stroke the old wotnan's groin" '.67

[-or the young nran the antagonism between the wornen leads to disas-tt'r; he is found unconscious and severely wounded in the nrorning, aftertryirr* to travel on his orvn during the nieht. From a legal point of viewtlrcrc is an incident antl l victinr, ancl behincl hinr a whole fanrily.The localrrrtcrprctati<rn is th:rt (itrrrrrl:ru{rr is l.rurt by trolld6nr.lJr-rt there are no wit-r)('sscs, orrly nrrrrotrls, :rrttl :rn irttrir':ttc corrflict to bc s<tlvcd.

( )tltlr,;rttirrg orr lrr'lr.rll ol'lris rrrotlrcr, ptrts tlrc lrlutttc ort (icirrir)r, tcllilrrr

lrt'o[rlt' tlr;rt slrt' ltrrs ,r((,rt kr'tl (itrrrrrlrrugl irs rr rttqlrt lr:rg, /i()i/ ltotttrttt.'l'l'tc

156 Witchldft and Mqgic in Ettrope :'lhe Middle Ages

relatives of the injured therefore want to bring the case before the pirg and

they act in a given sequence in accordance with custolll: 'Forbjqrn rode toMlvahlid and summonsed Geirridr, accusing her of being a night-rider

lkuetdrida) and having caused iryury to Gunnlaug'.('8 The serving of the

sunlnlons, when representatives of the prosecutors visited the house of the

accused to announce their intentions, was a highly sienifrcant mornent.The announcenlent of the accttsation was a perforrnative act; after this the

conflict was a public nlatter and continucd to be so until a decision was

made.'What we can gather from the text is that the meeting described was

probably a local ping.The term for the charge, kuelrida, shows that Geirridrwas accused of being a shapeshifter, a night-riding hag. Frorn the charac-

terization of the two women the reader already knows that the accLlsation

is false. On the contrary, Geirridr has tried to warn the young nran against

the dangers she could foresee. But the social custotns of gender and speech

made the situation even more complicated.Although innocent, as a woman Geirridr cannot speak before the ping.

Therefore, her brother Arnkell represents her in the public arena.The pro-ceedings of the ping are not fully described, but we can see how specific

actions were nrade. In this case there were no proofs, the accusation was

entirely based on runlours, and hence a tylftarkuidr, a jurv of twelve, was

appointed to solve the case. For serious crirnes such a panel was needed: 'ltwas a means of proof chiefly used in cases where a greater degree of publicinterest was involved (e.g. sorcery, theft, and perjury)' (l)ennis, Foote ancl

Perkins 1980b:253).Apparently there were also elaborate rules about whcl

was suitable for such a commitment and not irnmediately involved in thcconflict, since the saga states'neither Snorri norlArnkell could give a deci-sion in the case because of their kinship with the plaintiff and the defen-dant'.6e -fhe tyl;ftarkuldr freed Geirridr and the question of her guilt was

ritually closed as the twelve tnembers of the jury swore an oath by the stal-

lahringr, the altar ring, to testifii to the knowledgeable r'vontan's innocencc.After such a procedure the accusation could not be raised in pubiic agairr.

Words uttered aloud like accusations, testimonies, oaths and announcc-rnents were surrounded with ritual activities. The conflict was solved fi>r

ever.Spreading gossip concerning seriotts luatters was certainly not an holl-

ourable thing to do and the chapter closes with a harsh remark:'Snorri antl

Dorbjqrn's case was quashed, which brought thern dishonour.'7o The nris-

use of the spoken word was considered a rrajor crinre attd only dishontltrrcould come from such behavior-rr.

All the actions of the fornral trial took placc in wcll-clefirred ptrblit'space eud were, as such, clearly obscrvrrblc :rctivities.J'hc irttirrrrral trill lr:rtl

rrrorc oF tltc clrarlctcr of :rrr uct of rcvcngc utttl oficrt took pl;tt'c irr tltt'vitirrity of-tlorrrcstit-ltrt';ts.'l'ltc irrlirrrrr:rl st'ttlctttt'ttt w;ts tl()t strt'rtrtttrtlt'tl lly

Trolld6urr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 157

the institutionalized procedures of the negotiations at the ping. In bothcases the question of guilt was the focus and all activities were aimed atfinding out the identity of the guilty party. }\evenge was not only a ques-tion of stating a righteous punishment; the revealed guilt also threw lighton a whole chain of events.But social space for operations in both formaland informal trials was based on conceptions of honour and tradition(sidr);any form of solution, therefore, involved whole famiiies.

Guilt and Responsibilities

The fornral trial in Eyrbygja saga 1.6 did not solve the question of who hadcaused young Gunnlaugr's iryuries; it only freed the wrongly accusedparty. It was the responsibility of the relatives to find the guilty party. Thesearch for the night hag leads to an informal trial against Katla at Holt inchapter 20. The false rumours had turned out to be a failure, and insteadhad added shame to an already disliked farnily. Katlat son Oddr wasinvolved in other despicable conflicts in the area.-When his antagonistscome to take revenge, his mother makes use of her extraordinary knowl-edge and makes him invisible.These tricks of hers are the beginning of hersurrender. The enemies only see a distaff, a goat, and the third time theycon1e, a hog, and the revengers become suspicious that Katla is manipulat-ine their sight with her cunning abilities. At this point in the escalatingconflict only a person with equal insight and capacities can help them.(leirridr is called for and fronr a long distance Katla can see that the com-plny searching for Oddr has increased by one person:' "That will be therroli, Geirridr, coming with therr,'said Katia,'and simple illusions fsjinhuerf-irrg, i.e. deceiving of sightl wrll not be enough now." '71 Knowledgeablerrnd sensitive as she is, Katla feels that this time things mrght go in a direc-tion unfavourable to her.

When Geirridr and the ltren enter the room they immediately put a

skin bag over Katlat head as protection against her evil eye. They find( )tldr and hang him at once. As he is recalcitrant it is comrnented by ther'('vengers that all his trouble is due to his evil-minded mother. Ther1'sponse conres immediateiy:' "Maybe he doesn't have a good mother,"s:ricl Katla,"but I never wished him to get such an evil end because of me.It's rny will that you all get an evil end because of me, and I expect thatrvil[ bc the case."'72 As always in the sagas the curse will later ttlrn out tolrc cftective.

I(:ttllr rrrakcs ;r r'orrltcssion tlr:rt sl'rc was tl'rc t:rrrc causing Gtrnnlaugr darn-,rqt' :rrrtl tlrc qtrcstiorr of'r-lrrilt is thcrcby scttlcd. Apparcntly, thc revengerslill tlrc s:rrnc rolr':rs tll('witn('sst's irr u lirrrrr:rl trill. llrrt befirrc shc is killcc'lslrt' llys yt't :ur<rtlrt'r ( ur\(', ,i('r,rr'()i; tlris tirrrc orr Arrrkcll. Iivcrr if'hcr' 11:rzt' is

158 Witcltcraft and Magic in Europe:'lhe Middle Ages

rendered harmless by the skin bag there are still powerful words to be used

and until the last moment the knowledgeable fights back against her ene-nries. Katla is stoned to death and the chapter ends:'The news quicklytravelled everywhere, but no o11e thought it was sad. And so the winterpassed by'.73The sagas nlay be laconic, but they are certainly not neutral intheir ways of telling.

The foreign Kotkell farnilyt malevolent seidr performances in Laxdela

-saga chapters 35ff. were discussed in the previous section; and there is also a

lega1 afterrnath to their activities (Miller 19i16: 110ff.). The Hebredianfanrily was accused of theft and -fi7lkyngl because they gained prosperitywithout any seeming effort, which irnplied the use of trolld6mr. Theepisode starts as if a formal trial is going to take place. An old womanstands behind the accusation but it is her son who is the formal actor' As aman he can sumlnon the Kotkells in public:

F6rdr rode to Kotkell's farrr with nine other nten. Kotkell's sons were

not at home. Before witnesses, D6rdr charged Kotkell and his wife and

sons with theft and sorcery ffiqlkyngl, an offence punishable by out-lawry for life lskigangr).74

Ski,qqangr figuratively speaking nleant that the person was doomed to walkthe woodlands and not stay in populated areas. It distinctly nleant that the

condemned was outside the law, as the English 'outlaw' suggests.

Apparently outlawry is the only thinkable punishnrent since such a veryserious crirne as trolldimr is suspected, a feature which agrees r,vith the laterChristian codes. But before the proper time for the Alpingi comes there is

a new trolldimr incident that clearly links the fanrily to clandestine deeds.

No formal trial ever takes place.

By means of trolldimr the Kotkells cause a storm in which the accuser

D6rdr dies.The event arouses the anger of the local people even rnore.Thefatal storm is followed by the incident when Hrtitr's young son is killed byseidr and incantations.The relatives of the victim now act on their own -although, as the saga states, it is too late * and they inunediately go for the

Kotkell family. Altogether, seventeen lnen leave to find the seidmenn and toget rid of them for good.The revenge on the family comes in three phases.

The first one for,rnd is Hallbjqrn and he is caught so that he can be

drowned.'When he is captured a skin bag is inrnrediately put over his head,

as was done in the case above. Kotkell and (]rirna are stoned to death as

previously noted and a cairn of stones is constructed over their brlnes- Ntlcomments are made on this except that the place is natrled after the inci-dent. Thereafter Hallbjgrn is to be drowned and while he is irl tlre boat,'they renroved the sack and tiecl a stor.re al.r<ttrt his lreck. As they tlicl so,

Hallb-jern turnecl:l [4ilzc that wus al)ytl]inli brrt scrrtlc towrtrr'ls lrrnd.'75 ['lclr'lso t:rkcs thc opportturity t() l;ry rr t'trrsc. rrlIrtr'<)i, rttr ltis crtt'tttics.'llvctrts

Trolld6rnr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 159

are thought to have proved how effective was his curse'is the short com-ment in the saga.76 Hallbjqrn's destructive gaze and the powerful words inhis mouth show him fighting not only to the end, but even later still. Heis, as planned, drowned by the revengers. However, the sea does not keephis body and washes the corpse ashore. Hallbjqrn has no peace and showshimself to the living and causes trouble as a revenant.The conflict goes onfrom the other side of the grave. As noted befbre, no sharp distinction canbe made between the livrng and the dead when it comes to action andcounteraction in trolld6mr cases.

The last surviving member of the Kotkell family, Stigandi, remains freefor some tinre. He is condemned in public as an outlaw, but manages tokeep away. The saga calls hirn iltile,qumadr, which has associations in twodifferent directions - socially with outlawry, and ritually with beingthotrght of as a performer of utilegd/ittisata and -seidr. In both meanings hebelongs to the wilderness outside sociery. In either aspect he had noexpectations of protection frorn anyone. A seidr performer and an outlawcould be killed like an animal.

Stigandi is captured through crafty trickery (ch.3B). Somehow it is

known that he is meeting a wonlan sent out to watch the cows while theygraze. She is forced by nreans ofviolence to betray Stigandi: D6rdr had herthreatened to try and find out thc truth. When suitably frightened, thewonran revealed that a man calne to her, "a large man, and handsome, heseenred to me." '77 The harshness of the conflicts is shown in these fewsentences and rvhen Stigandi is finally captured, while resting with hiswoman. The sarne procedure takes place as with the execution of his rela-tives. The revengers are afraid that Stigancli will cause the same damagewith his fatal gaze as did his brother, and are very careful when they putthe skin bag over his head. But this tirne there is a small slot in the headbag and the gaze of the -seidmadr causes the surrounding land to ianguish as

if a whirlwind has passed:

There was a tear in the sack through which Stigandi could see the slopeopposite. It was a fertile brt of land, green w'ith grass, but suddenly it wasas if a tornado struck it. The land was transformed and never again didgrass grow there. It is now called'the Fire-Site'.78

llere we find another exan-rple of a place given its name after trolld|nuincidents; nan-ring the lanclscape preserved menlory. The place nar.ne herettrnctions in the sanre way as a nronLlnrent of stone. Stigandi is finallystoned to cleath. An outlaw hacl no nrore pr()tection, either socially orlcgally, than rr wiltl lrclst. Killing an outlaw wils cvcll rc'nvurclctl.

So, wh:rt d<l thc two irrfirrrrr;rl trilrls hrrvc irr ('()nllll()n urrtl wh:rt nr:rkcstlrcrn diflt'r' fi'orrr tlri' lirlrrr.rl?'l-lrc irrtirrrrr:rl tri;rls lr:r.l rr t-lt':rr t'lrrrluctcr as

:rt'ts of'Iriv;r(('11'v('n1,,('. ll ,,rrr lrr'rrott'tl tlr;rl irr llrt'Priv,rl('.lr'('nil tlrrlirru tlrc

160 Witchcrqft and Magic in Europe:Thc Middle Ages

inforrnal trial against Katla, she takes part in a debate with her accusers

ending with hei cursing thern while the innocent Geirridr remains silent

thror-rghout the negotiations. Secondly, there are no indications in the texts

that the informal disputes are rnade public. It does not seem to have been

considered dishonouiable to execute persons proved to be associated withtrollil|mr.The latter is a critical point since the formal trial dernanded evi-

dence or at least a trustable jury to pronounce a sentence.

In the narratives the theme of trial could be used ahnost in a mocking

way, or at least jocularly, and even the disobedient dead could face a trial.

The recently dlparted retained a strong relationship to the living, a bond

that the latter sometimes wanted to cut. ln Eytbygla r.1gd chapters 54-5 a

group of drowned people start to return in the evenings in their wet

.totfr.r.Each night they draw closer and closer to the fire.The closer they

come, the more problems arise and the peopie of the farnr fall ill and some

die.'Six people di.d thlr time, and some people fled because of the haunt-

ings and the ghosts.'79 The situation beconres il1ore and more chaotic and

deip.r"t.. A man known for his wisdom advises the people to have 'a11 the

revenants prosecuted at a door court.Then the priest should say mass,con-

secrate *ater and hear everybody's confession.'80 This is done and finally

there is peace and the sick start to improve. Evidently the methods of both

the new and the old faith could heip in critical situations.

The descriptions of the drowning and stoning of people found guilty oftrolliltlmr agrei with what is written in Crigis and other later legal texts.

Katla is stoned to death and in Haralds sagd hirfapra some eighty seidmenn

are burnt to death. These rnethods of execution aiso appear in Christian

laws.Grettis saga 82 can serve as an illuminating example of how the question

of guilt wis conceived in a trollddmr case. The old wonlan who carved

r.urrt, "gri,-rrt

Grettir was contmissioned by his enemies. Like many other

knorvleJgeable women she was acting out of loyaity against her fanrily, not

on her own. She served as a mediator due to her access to the methods oftrolld\mr and she was not held personally responsible for the consequences

of her acting. The fosternlother was herself never taken to court, but the

man who gave her the nrission was.'The many foster llothers in the sagas

rvho r,vere adept at magic and lore seldom suffered SorcerY accusations.

They apparently were well protected in the b6ndi's household and of littleinteresilo those competing with that household' (Miller '19t36: 115).

Individual guilt and responsibility is rnuch nlore strolrgly enrphasized irr

the Christian laws.

The present text inclicates a teltse situation. As Clrettrr is seric)usly htrrt

{ue to the old woltan's rittrals, he bccottrcs vttltrerablc rttttl rttl clsy vi,-trrrr.

His encrrry Qrrgrrll c:lairrrs thlt it wrrs (llrrist wlto lcd Irilrr tlre (lrettir tlrt'11tttlltW [rtrt is lticrw;tnls lookt'tl tl[)()ll ils :t t'ow:tr,.l: 'look.'d tl[)()ll rls ;l

Tiolld6nrr in Early Lledieudl Scandinauia 161

coward and "greatly despised for his deed when people realised that he hadovercome Grettir with sorcery fulorningarl"'.81 It is not the killing of Grettirthat has brought the case before the Alpingi, but the use of gerningar. Noteven against an outlaw rs trolld6mr regarded as acceptable behaviour.

The proceedings of the Alpingi are described in chapter 84. Qngullclainred a reward for killing an outlaw, as custorrl stipulated. Instead, it wasdecidecl that he was responsible for killing by means o{ trolld|mr.lt is also

stated in Crdgis 7 that it is considered a crirne to pay a person to performtntllddmr. As a consequence, Qngull was now deerned an outlaw himselfand had to leave the same sr-lfirmer,never to return to Iceland.At the same

nreeting a new law is said to have been nrade that outlawed all knou4edge-able nren,-fo rneski wnenn.

Several of the episodes referred to above irnply a 'contact zone' whereold and new norms were amalgamated. The trial constitr.rted a 'spatial andternporal copresence', as discussed by Mary Louise Pratt (1992:7). Theintroduction of r,vritten Christian laws into the early Scandinavian king-donrs in one way rnarks the end of this essay. The Continental Christianlesal traditions brought changes to the procedures of law and justice alongr,vith the influence of Mosaic and canonic law. Local traditions of legallt.lnrinistration became less relevant. Nevertheless. the world view behind('ertain kinds of accusations shows striking similarities with the sagas.'l'rolldtlmr was apparently considered a serious crime in Christian times.Therndical changes and differences must have worked together for a long tinrern a form of hybridization.We can recognize a stress on the spoken word,the talk of cunning deeds, and an apparent awareness that an accusation oftrolld|mr could serve as serious defamation. The victims of trolld|mr cooldbc people and cattle, as well as material goods. The early Christian 1egal

tcxts state that spreading superstition should be pr-inished by fine, but it is

r()r vcry cleer whrr supcrstition wJs ('or)('cived.rs.The laws vary in givingtlitli:rent fornrs of penalties and as in the saga texts the terminology variesirr a way that indicates a variation in degrees of tntlld6mr.It is spoken of in\'('ry lleneral terms as a threat to the true Christian belief. The Srvedishl),ildlagen rrrentions wornen\ use of nails and hair as instrunrents for evil,lceds, and the older l3orgarpingt law from Norway speaks of men sittingout in the wilderness to seek visions and raising the trolls.82

(lisli Pllsson suggests that the decline of accusations of trollddmr as a

rrrotif in sasa texts was not connected to the introduction of Christianirylrrrt c:urne'as a result of increasecl social clistance, that is, with the develop-rrrt'rrt of ir-rcreasingly usynrnretrical power relations', and (he ci:ntinues at

tlrc orrl r:lf lris essly) 'wrs l conse(plcl)ce r>f changes in the political organi-s.rtrorr of tlrc (lorrrrrrorluvt',rltlr, tlrcsc clrlrrgcs bcirrg thc rcstrlt of inherentt ontrrrlit'tiorrs irr lt'l.rtrt)ns .lnr()l)g t lricftlirrs ;rrrd firllor'vcls' (199 1: 157,l{rl-i) . lt rs:r rlrst('r'nru', olrsr'rr'.rlton sitttt'tltt't'c ru't's() nlluly sirrril:rritics

162 Witchuaft and Magit in Europe:Tlrc A,litldlt Agcs

between sasa texts and Christian larvs.The old gods were transforu.red intoclemons, but nrany vital conceptions obviously retnained the satne.

Shapeshifrers, the power of spells and destruction by nleans of, trollddmr

*ere t.eated by Christian authors for centuries as if they objectively

existed - they were evil but real. But now a new theological entify wes

added;the devi1.

Bibliographical llotc

The most recent selteral introcluction to O1d Norse lnythology and religion in

Errg/ish are Margaret Clunies Rossls nvo volutnes Prokmpcd Erhocs (lc)91,1998)-These

thorough n-ronographs give an analytical survey alone r'vith cotnruetrtaries on the

sources and a useful bibliography. Thornas A. l)ullois, Nordic religitrrs in the Viking Agc

(1999) covers a wicler area than the conventionil'Sc;rndinavian'including nraterials

frolr Saani and Balto-Finnic sources. Several chapters tor'rch cliscussions related to

trolld6nu. Jenny Jochens' O/d Nror.sc Imagcs of-Wbntut (1,996) discusses several of the

ferrrale agents taken up by the present study. ()ld Norsc-kclantlic Litcrdhu'c: A Critiml

Grildc, editecl by Carol Clover andJohn Linclow (1985), presents six rnajor essays on

11yths, Eddic and skaldic poeq/ ancl s:rsas, cach rvith atr extensive bibliogaphy. Medicual

Scandinavia,edited by Phlipp Pulsiano (1 993), is a one voiume diction:rry with very

inforr-native ancl detailed articles on texts, persons and different aspects of sociery lnd

religiol, as rve1l as nraterial culture arcl places.All articles have bibliographies er-rd refer-

erlces to editions ancl translatiotts of relevartt texts. Krrlrrriy'ri-sntrisk l&sikort-fi;r rtotdisk rnid-

lclildcr (2nd edn 19U1-8 in 18 volurrres) goes nrorc into det:ril, but the articles are

written in Scandinavian lanp;uages. Mcdieuat.firlklttrc: an cntl'rlLtpcdia ttl'nrytlu, Icgentls, tdlcs,

bclids, and clsttrrrs (200()) edited by Carl Lindahl ct al.tn rn'o volunres 55ive e detailecl

overview over popular culture and populer religion of the European Middle Agcs.

John Lindor.vs bibliography Scantlinduiarr l4ytlrcloa:', (19138) covers rrticles and lnono-

graphs published world wide and in nrost l:rnguages.

Sorle perioclicals that publish esseys relevant to the ()ld Norse freld can be tnen-

tioned: Scanrlinattian Srrrdi.,j, Arkiu_fiit'nordisk-filoktgi, Maal o,q rnirurt',and lrr.To thesc

lvell established.journals two new ones can be addecl: Alvissnill md Skildskapnnill.

Most of the saga texts used it'r this stucly are to be fotrnd in critical editions witlr

coilllentrries and introdLrctltry essirys in Isln:k -fitrnrit.The origin:rl terts of thc

Poctital Edda xe edited by Gustav Neckel :rncl Hrns Ktrhn in tidda: dic I'itdtr dt:s

Corlcx Rca;r,s (5th edn, 19tt3).The nrajority of the trrnslatious ttsecl irt tltc prcsertt

study are taken fronr (larolync L:rrrinston\ tr:rttsletiott <':f 'l'ltc l\tctit lldda (1996)'

Arrthony Frglkels olSlot'ris ljrirl,r,:rncl nl()st sitqil text fi'tttrt 'l'ltt Oorttplttc,Srl(rt-s o/

k(l(ytd(ts. v<tl 1-5 (1997). All of tlresc tr:rrrslutiorts lrt' rit'lt ilt toltttttt'tlt:trics lttttl

rcfi'rcttr'es to trrrtllt'r l't':ttlitlq.

No/es

Chapter 1

I. Tians. Scudder,The Conrplete Srgas of the lcelanclers ll: 158. Clrettis saga (r9:

Grtid ykkar vel vid gorningurn; fitt er ranlnarl en forneskjan. All tmnsh-tions of sallas are teken lronr The Conrplete Sagas of the Icelanders (hence-forth CSI), and olEclclic versc lrom the trurslatiol olLarrington (sec uncler

Poetic Edda), r.rnless notecl otherrvise.To avoici confusion, hor,vever, f<rnns ofnanles are standardizecl in the translations. Origin:rl texts are refc'rred to bvcl'rapter nunrber (sagls) or stanzas (verse). lt should be notecl that nrrnuscriptor editorial differences fronr the originals of rcxts quoted hcre nray Lrc

reflected in the translations cited; thc general uinr has been to usc thc nrost

reaclily available and r-rp-to-clate texts arrd translations.

2. Attenrpts to est:rblish such a distinction have been nrlcle. For KatherineMorris (1c)93) this difterence constitutes thc' basis lbr her str-rdy.

3. Cohn 1975; Levack l9tl7; Flint 1991;Mary l)ouglas rvrites rvhen discr.rssins

the Continental .'vitch crue (1992'.86):'The ureclieval wrtclr u'as also thor-rght

to be given to unnatural vrce lnd to :rn ins:itiablc sexual xppetite. Cherges ofsecret sexual deviance, spite, lieresy, and occult dmgerous powers were conr-bined. Everything significarlt about the Enropean rvitch rv:rs occult, hicidcn,urrknorvablc by orclinary rtteans.'

1. Hiuamil 142llirnar nrunt pir frnna oc rlclnr stlfl,nripc st6ra stafi,

nrigc stinna steft,

er fidi finrbulpnh'oL g()rd() tirrlcgirroc reist hroptr rquna.

5. For lleneral overviews on Scantlinavian lirlk beliefs acconrpanicd by tcxtstranslated to English see Lindow 1978; Kvidellnci nrrc'l Schnrsclorl l9illJ;Sirrrpson l9lJt3, md with special enrphasis <tn trolldirnr. Alvcr 1971r, b; Alvcrlntl Selberg 199o; [l.auclvere 1993, 1995.

(t. Ilivcunil 151:lrat k;urrr cr' it sirtt:r, clrrric s:.-rir pcurr

ir nitorrr r'.is vir).rr':

ot Jr.11111 lr.rl,, r rrrr, l:t'ipt:r t1r,r'r)r',

lr,t',t, ,'l.t ttt, ttt lt,'l,lt t'tttt rttit.

164 Witch.crafi and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

7. Trans. and ed. I\obinson. Cr6galdr 15*16:

Far Pir nri rva

Par er foraii PYkkir;ok standit P6r mein fYr nrunuml

:r jl'd[q:torlr stcirri

st6d ek irtnan dura,

ure<lati ek f6r galdra 961.

M6dur ord

ber pi, mBgr, hedan,

ok 1it P6r i br16sti btia;

iilgn6ga heillskaitr"r of aldr hafa'

medan Pti min orii of mant.g. Trans. and cited (from Braune and Ebbinghaus 1969:89) by Simek 1993:278.

Phol ende ulrodan uLlorun ziholzt-du uuart demo balderes uolon sin uuoz birenkit'

thu biguol en sinfftgunt, sunna era suister;

thu biguol en fi-iia, uolla era suister;

thu biguol en uuodan, so he uuola conda:

sose benrenki, sose bluotrenki,sose lidirenki:ben zi bena. bluot zi bluoda,

licl zi geliden, sose gelimida sin.

9. There ere different opinions as to whether 'baldr' refers to the narne of the

gocl or should be interpreted as'lord, nlaster'and reftr tn Odi"''70. Hivamil 1,49

Dat ka'n ec it fi6rda' ef m6r $'rdar bera

bgnd at boglirnorr:svi ec gel, at ec ganga t-ui,

sPrettr nl6r affotom floturr,enn afhgndonr haPt.

1 1 . Trans. ar.rd ed. Grendon 1909: 177 ,414:Ic rnE on pisse g,vrde bellice, arrd on godes helcle bebeode

wr<) pane sdra stice, wid par-re slra slege,

wid dane €Jryl11l1l:In gryre,

rvid dane micelau egsan, pe bid eghwam ltd,and wid eal p:et hd, pe into lancl frre '

12. Tra1s. Scr-rclcler, (.',S/ I: 113f. Egils -snga sln11a-Cv',111155tttr.l" 57: Clckk Egill upp i

eypa. IJapp t(rk i hqrncl s6r hr'slistpng ok gekk it betgsnqrs rrqrkkttr:t, [rr'r ct vissi

til la1tls ip1;|rh trik h:rtrrr hrosshqfir<) ok setti trpp ir st<2rruinrt. Sit)rltr vcitti h:trttr

firrrrril:r 6k rrlrlti svi:'l Ii'r- st't t'k trpp rri<)str,rttg. ,rk srrv ck Irt'ssLr rrit)i :i lrqrrrtl

NIolc.r

Eiriki konungi ok Gunnhildi dr6ttn:ingu,'hann sneri hrosshqfdinu inn ir llnd-'sny ek pessu nidi I landvrttir prr, er lancl petta byggva, svl at allar fari p:trvillar vega, engi hendi n6 hitti sitt inni, fyrr en pler reka Eirik konung okGunnhildi 6r landi.' Sidan skytr hann stgnginni nidr i bjargrifu ok 16t par

standa; hann sneri ok hgfbinu inn 1 lancl, c-n hann reist ritnar 1 stgnginni, oksegja per formlla penna ailan.

Vqhrspi 19-20Asc veit ec standa, hcitirYggdrasill,hlr badrnr, ausinn }rvitaauri;padan koma dpggvar, prrs i dala falla,

stendr iE yfir, grcrnn, (Jrdar bmnni.

D:idan konra meyiar, nargs vitancli,prilr, 6r peim sr, er und polli stendr;

Urd h6to eina, at)raVerdandi

- sc6ro 1 scidi -, Sculd ina l:ridio;prr lpg lqgdo, prr lif kuroalda bornom, orlqg seggia.

Trans. Cook, CS/ lll: 215. Nil/-s sqqa 157

Mannahgfuii viru fi,rir kljlna, en parnrrr 6r tlqnnttttt fyrir viptu ok grrr1,

sverr) var fyrir skeid, en gr firrir hrcl. Drr kvidu frh visur nqkkurrr:Vitt er orpitfyrir valfalliriG reidisky,rignir bl6di;ni er fyrir geirum

grir upp kominr.r

vefr verpj(rdar.

er prr vinur fyllaraudunr veptiRandv6s bana.

Sji er orpinn vefryta pgrmunrok hardkl6adrhgtlurrr nrJt)lt.l.

eru dreyrrekindqrr at skgptunr,jirrrvlrr)r yllir',

en (,)rurr'r h :r.'l:tt'tr-;

skulttttr sl.i sr.'t't,)tttn

sit.r,t vt'l lrt'ttrt.r

165

tl

13

l/+

166 Witchcraft and Magic in Europc:The Middle Agas

1.5. Hiuarnil 155

Dat kann ec ip tir"rnda, elec s6 tirnridorleice lopti 1:

ec svh vittnc, at Peir vi11ir fara

sinna heint hama,

sinna heirl huga.

Chapter 216. The rtrost cletailed narrations describing the ritual perforntances of scidr are:

Eiriks sqqa rauda 4; Vhmsdtrlu saga i 0; Laxdttla -saga 35ff.; Qruar Odds saga 2; Hr\llisoqn krakd 3; Vigd-Clums sa,qa 12. Severai other texts are of interest and sotne oft[e1r u,ill be discussed in rvhat follows. For a rnore or less cotuplete catalogue oftexts relevant to -vrir)r see Dillnrann 19U7. Generrl discussiotrs on -icldr Striinlblck1935; l)illmami 1982, 19U7; Mundal and Steilsland 19ti9; Hastrup 1990a: 197tr,

Clurries l{oss 1998: 321; l)uBois 1999: 1211T.

17 . Vqllrspi 28: Ein sat hon i1ti.'l 8. Snorri, Ynglinga -sa.qrl .1: Hou kenndi fyrst nred Asrrm seld,scmVgtttttn var titt.19. Solie OId Norse texts :ue of special illterest: In the Pocllc Edda: Vpluspi,

Hit,drnil :irtd Crlttnisrnil; ancl Snorri'.s Etlda and the first chapters of his

Yn,glirryd -saga. E,specially the latter deals:rt length rvrth these nrore clandestine

but severe :rspects of the gocl.

20. Snorri, Ynglitrga -saga 7: Odirrn skipti hgluum. Li pi bikrinn sem sofitrn eda

claur)r, en hann var pi fugl eda ciyr, fiskr eda ornlr ok for I einni svipstund ii

t1:rr1:rg lqnd at sinurn orendunt eda annrrra flt:lnna. bat kunt'ri hantr enn at

gen nrec) ordurn eirrunr at slokkva elcl ok kyrra sli ok snia vindunl hverjlleid. er hrn vi1di.

Sigrdrilinill 13

Husritnar scalttt kunna, ef pir vilt hveriom vera

ucc)svinuari gutua;prr of r6d, prr of reist,prr unr tmgr)i Hroptr',

af peinr legi, er lekicl hatbr

or lr.rusi Hcr,lJrruptritoc 6r horni Hodclrofhis.'

Snorri, Yn,qlingLt sqqaT:;rt eigi p6tti karlrnprlnutn skanlnrlaust vid lt f;rrl, ok

var gydjunum kennc'l su ipr6tt.Srrorri, Ynglingd.sa.qa 7: Vhru peir n:est honum ttur allan fr6dieik ok fq)lkyrilrgi.Lokascnrn 21'.

'Enn pic sida k6do Sirnrscyo i,

oc clraptu l'r v6tt scnr vqrlor;

vitcr liki ftrrtu vcrpiirc) yfir',

oc ltuqr)l cc f ltt ltrgs et)rtl.'

'( )r'rtlrirrly [1.'trv,'cn \v()t)t('r) s tlt' .jrrt-t' st:ltus irtl(l tlt' f:tt to st:lttls (its it is rcpr-c

st'rrtt.rl irr litt'r'.rr'\',ln(l (\'('t) ltistotit.rl tt'rts) lltt'tt'.tppt.tt: (tl lt.tr"t'llt'ttt:t vt'rV

21

22

23

21

Nbtes 167

large playing field, and the woman (especially the divorced or widowedwoman) sr-rfhciently ambitious and sufEciently endowed with money :rnd

power seerns not to have been especially hinderecl by notions of maie :rnd

ferrrale nature' (Clover 1993: 369).

2(r. The chapter has been interpreted lroni rnany points of view. For sonrc inrptrr-tant studics of the various approaches, see Strcinrbrick 1935; Pilsson -1991:

164f. (with enrphasis on Gudridr); I)illmann 1,1)92 25fi.; Muncl:rl and

Steinsland 198t): 99 (divination as healing) l)uBois 1999 1211T.

27 . The Hiuksb(rk nranuscript gives this rnfornr.rtion.28. Tians. Kunz, CSl l:6. Eiriks saga rauda,l: Dl var hon svl biin, at hon hafbi yfir

s6r tuglarnqttul blin, ok var settr steinl11l1 a1lt i skaut oflrn; hon hafdi I hilsi s6r

glertplur, lanrbskinnskofra svartan t hqfAi ok vid innan kattskinn h",it; ok honhafbi staf i hendi, ok var 5 knappr; hann var birinn nred messinsu ok settrsteinunr ofan um knappinn; hon hatti um sik hnj6skulinda, ok var l.lar Iskj6dupungr mikill, ok variiveitti hon par i tgfr sin, pau er hon purfti tilfr6dleiks at haf). Hon hatbi 1 foturn kiilfskinnsskira iodna ok i pvengi langa,

ok I tinknappar miklir 1 endunum. Hon hafbi t hgndur.n s6r kattskir.rnsgl6fa,

ok vlru hvitir innan ok lodnir.29. Trans. Kunz, CS/ l: 6. Eiriks sdgd rdudd 4: Hon hatti messingrrsp6n ok knif

tannskeptan, tvih6lkadan af ein, ok var brotinn af oddrinn..10. Trans. Kunz, CSI I: 6. Eir{ks saga rauda 4: Hvlrki em ek lqlkunnig n6 visir.r-

dakona, en f6 kenndi Halldis, 6stra nrin, rn6r 1 islandi pat kvrdi, er hon

kalladi Vardlokur. (Manuscripts vary betrveen uardl okkur and uar dlo kur.)

.11 . Dag Stronrbick rvrites: 'Varr)lokkur syftar pi den speciella sins, sorn anvinclcs foratt iterkalla den schamanerandes sj:il till den i extatisk utrnattning liggande krop-pen'(Strcimb:ick 1935: 139 'Vardlohkrrr reGrs to the special song used to recall the

soul of the one shamanizing to the body lying in a state of ecstatic exhaustion').

.12. Trarrs. Kersharv 35-6. Noma-Ccsts pittr 11: bar 16r pl unr landit volur, er

kallaclar viru splkonur ok spidu m6nnunr aldr. Irvi budu rnenn pcim okgerdu heim veizlur ok glfu peim gjafir at skilnar)i.

.1J. Trans. Pllssorr and Edr,vards 28. Qruar Odds sdg,t 2: Hirn fcrr l veizlur ok sagdi

nrcinnurn fyrir um vetrarfar ok forlog sin.

i-l. Trans.Wawn, CSI IV: 11. Vamsdtxla s4ga 10: Finnan var sett hirtt ok bfiit umI'rana vegliga; pangat gengu nrenn til fr6tta, hverr 6r sinu riuni, ok spurdu at

crrlguum sinum.i5. Trans. McKinnell, CSI II: 2U5. V[ga Glilms saga 12'. Dcitti mikit unclir, at hirsfreyur

lignadi hcnni vel unr heradit; sagdi ngkkut vilhalt, sem henni vlr beini vcittr.f(r. Tnrns. McKinnell, CSI II:286.Viga ()lints sa.qtt 12:'Eigi rtla ek p6r rrir allg6-

<)an pykkjr bcinnnn fyrir skirtu pess:r.'

l'7. Trrrrrs. l)r'rlssorr urrtl lllw;rrcls ?05. Brj.srl .srqgrr of HL'yrurt\s 5: Irctt:r kvckl it slnra

korrr llrrsl;r i [rrrt lrt'rlrcrqi, scru Hrirtqr konuttgr svlf i, ok lr(rf trpp brtrr p:'r, er

sir):rrr cr kiillrr,) lltrslrrlr,r'rt. ok lrctir lrrirr vir)fi:t'q or<)it sit):ttt, ok ,.'rtt [r:tr i Irtirrgorr^l ok ill,lr:ru s,'rrr krrstrrrrrn rrriirrrrtrrrr t'r'[r.rrllcys:r i rrrrrrrrri.rt lr.rf,r.

Witchmft dnd Magic in Europe:The MiddleAges

Trarrs. Pllsson and Edwards 206. Bd-sa sdga ok Hcrrauds 5, st. 4:

Svi skal ek pjarnrap6r at brj6sti,at hjarta pitthoegorrrr.tr grrrgi.err eyru pin

aldregi hevriok augu pinirthverf sniist.

39. Trarrs. Pllssorr and Ecllvards 206f . R6sa saga ok Hcrrauds 5, st. 7:

56 P6r i hvilusern i hlhneldi,en i hlsrtisem i ha{blru;pri .krl pcr stinn:r

synu verra,

en ef pir vilt vid mel,jarnlanns ga1l1n1an hafa,

villi't pir pa v.'g.rrirrs:

ec)a viltu pulu lengri?

Trans. Pllsson and Ecl.vards 207. Btisa saga ok Herrauds 5:'Di skal taka p6r fram

betr,' segir tsusla. H6f hin pi upp pat vers, Syrpuvers er kal1at ok mestr galdr

cr i f6iginn ok eigr er lofat at kveda eftir dagsetr.

Crettis saoa 78: Ef pir vil1 min riil ha[r, p:i vil ek rlda, hversu rned er farit.

Tians. Scudder, CSl ll: 168: 'If you want my advice, I must also decide how

you should enrplo1, it.'

12. Grcttis saga 78'. hversu heilladr.ltlgir peir nlunu vera. Trans. Scudder, C-'S/ II:

1 (ru:'hou' providelrce favours thcur'.Trans. Scrrclder, CSI II: 169. Crettis sagd 7u: Ni mrli ek pat um vid pik,(lrettir, at pir s6r heillurn horfinn, allri gipt ok g:efu ok allri vqrn ok vizku, rpvi meir. sem l.lir lifir lengr.

Trans. Scudder, CS1 II: 169. Crettis saga78 ok vid engi ord hefir m6r meir

brugdit en pessi.

Trans. Scndder, CSl II: 170. Crettk saga78: Nir var svi ggrt, sern hon beiddi, ok

er hon kom til strandar. haltradi hon frarn med srnun, svl sem l-renni vrrivisat til. Dar l1 fi,rir henni r6tartr6 svl rnikit sem axlbyrdr. Hon leit I tr6it ok

bad pi snia fyrir s6r; pat var senr svidit ok gnidat q<)ruur megin. Hon 1['t telgja

1 litinn fletveg, par gnidat var; sid:rn t6k hon knif sinn ok reist rirnar 1 r6tinniok raut) i bl6di sinu ok kvar) yfir galdra. Hon gekk gflr.rg rrrrclstr:lis unr tr6it ok

hrfbi par yfir nrgril relnnt ulnln,cli. Eptir pat l:r:tr horr hritttl:r tr6rlLl ir sjir ok

nrclti svi fyrir, lt pat skyldi rckl irt til I)rrrrrucy.j:rr, ok vcrt)i ()rctti allt Ittcitt at.

Tpls. I(u12, (lSI 5: .17. I-rr.rr/rr'/rr rrr((r 35:qrll vurir [r:rtr rrrjt,rk tlt,rlktrrrrris ok irrirrrrt'strr st'ir'\nrt'tut.

Nolc-s

Laxdo:la -raga 35:kvidu par hart)snirin fi-cdi; pat viru galdrar.Trans. Kurrz. (.'SI

5: 50:'Then they chanted powcrful itrcantations; they wcre sorcery.'

Tians. Kunz, CS/5: 53. I-axdtrla sa,ga36: F6r Dorleikr ni 5 fund landseta sirrrr.r,

Kotkels ok Grirnu, ok bad pau eera npkkurn hlut, pann er Hrfti v:trisvivirding at. bau t6kr"r undir petta l6ttliga ok kvldusk pess vera albirin.

Trans. Kunz, CSI 5:177. Laxdela saga 7(t: Far ftndusk undir bein; pau virtrbll ok illi1ig; par fannsk ok kinga ok seidstafr mikill. D6ttusk nrenn pi vita, rtpar mundi verit hali vqluleidi ngkkut.Vlru pru bein fcrrd langt i brott, par

sem sizt var rnannn ve!]r.

Hittamil 114'.

Veiztu, hv6 rista scal, veiztu, hv6 rlda scal?

veiztu, hv6 fI sca1, veiztu. hv6 freista scal?

veiztu, hv6 bidia scal, veiztu, hv6 bl6ta scal?

veiztu, hv6 senda scal, veiztu, hv6 s6a scal?

Sigrdrilimill:'nril oc manvit gefit ocr rrrcrom tveimoc hcnishendr, medan lifornl'

Sigrdrifunill 11

'Lin-rn-lnar scaltu kunna, ef pir vilt lrcnir vera

oc kunna slr at sia;

I berki scal paer rista oc 6 badmi vidar,peim er lita austr lima.'

Trans. and ed. Robinson. Fjqlsuinnsmil 49

Lengi ek sat

Lyfabergi 1,

beid ek pin degr ok daga:

nrl pat vard,

er ek vrtt hefi,at pi ert kominn, rregr, til urinna sala.

Ti'ans. Scudder, CSI I: 1,43. Egils sqga Skalla-()rimssonarT2'.

Sk:rl.rt rrrrdr rutter rist.t,

nema rida vel kunni, pat verdr n1ergllu1 trrerrni,

es of rnyrkvan staf villisk;slk 1 telgdu talknitiu launstafi ristna,pat hefr lauka lindilangs o[rtregr fcngit.

Si.qnlr{fum,il 9:

'lJilrqrirnar scaltu kunna, ef fir birrrgl viltor'leys:r kirrrl fiir korrorn;:i l6l.r Ir.r'r- \(,,1 ristil ot' ot-li<)o spcrlll:l

rtt lrt,ft.t l,.i,litir,ltril,r.'

169168

38 17.

4it

49.

50

51

52

53

54

40

41

13

11.

45.

46.

55

56. Odtlnirnrgritr 9:

'Svi hillpi P6r hollar vettir,Frigg oc Freyia oc fleiri god,

senr pi fuldir ni6r ftir af hqnclotn.'

57. Trans. and ed. (lrendon 19(],9:207:

Wid lrtbyrde.

SA r.r''ifiI:rn, s6 hire cilcl nGclan ne rll:epl, gange t6 gewitenes mannes bir-genne, ancl strppe ponne priwa pi byrgenne, ancl cwepe ponne prirva pis

w<>rc'l:

Dis nr6 t6 b6te pire lipan htbyrde,lris r.116 t6 b6te pdre sr'vc\ran swrrtbyrde,Dis nr6 t6 b6te plre lit)an lanrbyrde.

58. Skinismil36:'Durs rist ec P6r oc |:ria stafi,

e'rgi oc tr:di oc 6Poia;

svir ec pat af rist, settr ec p:rt h reist,

ef goraz par{:rr Pcss.'

59. Hulclr also appears in cl'rapter 1'1 and is then called t uglua-

60. Snorri, Yn,qlirrya sa.qa 13: at vera rnyndi fqlkynngi Finna i $'si hans.

(tl . KLtrntiks saga 5: pir skalt Steir.rgerr)rr aldri nj6ta.Trans. McTurk, CSI I: 1U7:

'you will never enjoy Steingerdr\ love.'

62. Trans. McTurk, CSl I: 187. Konniks saga 5: Dvi n'rantu ekki rli1a, in vinda ker-

ling.63. Hiuamil 1,61:

Irat kann ec ip scxtlnda, ef ec vil ins svitrtra ttrrt-ts

hafa ged dt oc ganran:

hugi ec l'rverfi hvitarn.rri konooc sny ec hennar qllom sefa.

Dat kann ec ip siauti;inda, at nric mun seitlt firraz

ip rtranunu:r man.

64. Ilirbar<)slitid 2{l:'Miclar tnatrv6lar ec halba vid nryrcridorpl er ec v6lta P:tr frl verour.'

65. Ilcl,qakui dn Hj qruardssonar 1,5:

'Atli ec heiti, atall scal ec p6r vera,

nrigk eni ec silionr grxnrastr;

irrgan stalir ec I'refi oPt biitok c1valc)ar qveldri c)or.'

Chapter 3(r(r. "Il'lrs. (]rrirrn, (,'S/ V: 142. I;yr|1,qqi,r -irr(rr 1(r: ltiv:tt);ttttrtt)r rrrikill ok rrr:'rltrgr,

slysirrrr ok rtiqs:ttttt.

6il.

7o

67.

Tlolld6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia 171

Trans. Quinn, CSIV: I42. Eyrhygqla saga 7(t'. en hon spurdi, hvlrt hann rtlarpl enn i Mlvahlid *'ok klappa um kerlingar nlrann?'Trans. Quirrn, CSIV: 143. Eyrltygqla sagd L6'. Detta vlr um stefnudaga reidIrorbjern i Mivahlid ok steftdi Geirridi um pat, hon vrri kveldrida ok honhefdi vaidit r.neini Gunnlaugs.

69. Trarrs. Quinn, CS1 V: 143. Eyrbyg4la saga 16: en hvirrgi peira Snorra n6Arnkels p6tti bera rrega kvidinn f,irir hleyta sakar vid scekjanda ok

71.

varnaradilja.Trans. Quinn, CSIV: 143. Eyrbygqla saga 1.6:6nyttisk mllit fyrir leim Snorrrrok Dorbirni, ok fengu peir afpessu 6virding.Tians. Quinn, CSIV: 154. Eyrhygja saga 20: Mun Geirridr trollit par konrirr,ok nrun pl eigi sj6nhverfingum einum mega vid koma.Trans. Quinn, CSIV: 154. Eyrbygqla sapa 2\'.Vera n.ri vist, at hann eisi cisig6da m6dur, en eigi hlytr hann af pvi illt af m6r, at ek vilda lrat; en pat vtrivili minn, at p6r hlytid allir illit af ni6r; vrnti ek ok, at pat mun svi vera.

Trans. Quinn, CSIV: 154. Eyrbyg4a saga 20: spurdusk ni pessi tidendi qll lrfrr-saman ok var engrlnl harms:rga i. Lidr ni svi vetrinn.Tians. Kunz, CSIV: 50. Laxd,rla saga 35: D6rdr korn til b<rjar Kotkels nrc<)

tiunda mann; synir peira l{otkels viru eigi heirna. Sidan steftdi hann pcirrr

Kotkatli ok Grinru ok sonum peira ur.n pj6ftad ok fqlkynngi ok l('t vrrr<):r

sk6ggang; hann stefirdi sekum peim til alpingis ok for til skips eptir pat.

Trans. Kunz, CSIV: 54. Laxdela sald 37: sidan t6ku peir belg af hefbi honrrrrr,en bundu stein vid hilsinn. Hallbjqrn rak pl skyggnur I landit, ok vrr etrg-nalag hans ekki gott.Trarrs. Kunz, CSIV: 54. I-axdela sagd 37, Mjpk pykkir petta atkv:r:r)i :'r lurfir

74.

hrinit.77. Trans. Kunz, CSIV 55. l-axdela sagd 38: htr henni naudga til st{rnlr, ok u'

hon verdr hrrdd, pi segir hon, at rnadr kemr til fundar vic) lrlna, - 'sr'r crmikill,' segir hon,'ok synisk n'r6r v:rnligr.'

7lJ. Trarrs. Kunz, CSIV:55. Laxdela.sa.qa 38: ok getr Stigandi s6t gdmnr nrcgirr ihlidina; par var fagrt landsleg ok graslodit; en pvi var likast, sern hvirtllvirrtlrkomi at; sneri um jgrdunni, svi at aldregi sidan kom par gr:rs upp. lr:rr hcitirnr-l i llrennu.

79. Trans. Quinn, CSI V: 202. Eyrltygqla saga 54'. l6tusk pir cnn scx rrrcrur i

hridinni; en sunlt folk ilidi fyrir rein.rleikum ok aptrgprrgunr.S0. Trans. Quinn, CSI V: 202. Eyrby,ryqja saga 55: en sckjr pi urerrrr :rlla i

c'lurac16mi, er aptr €lengu; bad prest veita par tidir, vigja vltn ok skripte rrrqrrr,

11L1ltl.

l"i l.Trrns. Scudder, CSI II: 178. ()rcttis.s4ga 82: Q)ngLrll ver irpokk:rt)r'rriqrk ;ri[rcs.sunr verkrrnr, pcglr ltt rrrcnrr vissu,:rt (lrcttir h:rft)i lrrc<) grtrrrirrurrrrr untunnvcrit.

lil. l'hc'(lhristcrrlt'l'ol lltc olrlt't llrrqrr[rirrr1ls l'rw, N,rr(r'r .qnttlt lot't I:.}7]: rrr.tr)r'

sittrrr trti, ot v;t'kLr troll ulr; l).rl.rl:r$'tr, /(yr(rr/rrr/(r'rr l l: nr:rt)r silt.t'r rr(r, ot lrv:r'r'kir troll ttp.

72

73.

75.