It

1l

t1

111

irl

iitl
I

Li

PART

2
,l|l

Trolld6 mr in Early Medieual Scandinayia

lt

Catharina Raudvere

ir

il,l

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li1

ir

,]
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iri

ll

Introduction

The aim of the present survey is to give some glimpses of the cultural and
social context in early rnedieval Scandinavia that produced a system o{'
beliefs and rituals linked to the assurned special capabilities and extraordinary knowledge of certain persons. In this system, reference to witchcraft/ trolld|mr was considered a sensible and acceptable truth.
The world of the peoples of Scandinavia was geographically on Europe'.s
periphery, Llltima Thule as Roman writers regarded it. However, cultr-rrally
it was not an archaic isolated society as older, more ronlantic, scholarship
enrphasized (Burke 1992a:79). Recent writings on the Norse rvorld stress
the continental influences nlore and more (DuBois 1999).Through travelling and trade, groups in the Norse communities were in regular contact
with the Continent, as well as other parts of the world. Both nraterial culture and social structures show early influences from Europe. The period
covered by this study is to a large extent parallel to the process of
Christianization, approxirnately 800-1300 cr,, which involved significant
changes at all levels ofScandinavian society.The greater part ofthe sources
relevant to this study were written during the last of these centuries by
Christians. Labelling the time covered as either pre-Christian or Christian

confirrns

a dichotonry that does not take into account that

Christianization was

to

a lor-rs process, or the fact that

a large extent products of a nrixed culture.

the

what the texts reveal

is

Irnagcs of the Past

In this essay almost exclusive use is made of written Old Norse sources
from the Scandinavian Middle Ages, mainly of Iceiandic and Norwegian
This study was made possible by generous support from the Knut and Alice
Wallenberg Foundation- I anr also gratefr.ri for the kind hospitality shown rne durine the :rcaderrric yelr when this c'ssrry wls written by the members of the
Sclnclinaviuu 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 plrblishcd

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

Tiolld6rnr in Early Medicual

Witchuaft and lulagic in Europe:Tlrc Middle Agcs

origin.Forcomparativereasotlssollletextsinotherlanguagest'villbedh-protexts were
..,Jr.d.Wi,h the exception of runic inscriptions no written
althoueh,
christianicy,
of
il-rtroduction
the
drrced in ScandiDavia before
used their
the
Scandinavia,s
Irish,
the
and
.ffi*,i,r, the Anglo_Saxons
with a long
,=rrZ.ul., extensiv-ely. The texts rvrittetr in Old Norse deai
cenp..i"a tinre, but were principally conrposed during the thirteenth
culoral
"f
tury.Their relatio, ,o-rt-," f'""iot"'- ""ito the co,temporary tureislcomplicatednr:rtter.Thoughfornrandstyleindicateabackgroundthe
during
in oral rransnission, radical changes lllust have taken place
unreaiistic.
seems
transcription
vlerbatim
a
;;;;, of writing. To suppose
provide
narr.atives,
ntythological
and-the
,"gm
Tlwo rra.;or text groups, ,h".
oi the Oid Norse world
r-rs with the basic ,rr",.t1"1 for-an understanding
Lindow 1985;
and its belief systems (Andersson 1961; Clover 1985;
Ross 1994, 1998)'
Clunnies
discussi,g
ifr. n.t, grorl', oitexts is the varior'rs kinds of sagas'Without
said that
be
it
can
subgroups'
distinctive
into
the classifrcation of the sagas
sasas were
,ir.y.""t,i,uted the Ncxse forrn of history writing'-Nlost
by anonymous
,u.i,,.rr dorn'n in the thirteenth century and are generally
t""t' f'om the tirrre of the settlers'

.;,h";r. They recalf i,-,'po"""

(tle ninth-century landninl'and continue in sotne

give any
,.",, .rp until the *rite,'s own tirne' Altirough it is impossibic toof Iceland
the population
cxxct demographic statistics, it can be notedihat
and other parts of
Norwiy
fronr
originated
i, the Middle Ag.r';;i;l;
the sagas are chronoScrncli*avia, rrrd ilro fro,,, tl"r. B-ritish Isles. Formally
lvith its rnetaphoric
poetry
of
skaldic
insertions
Iosical prose texts with
have historical
appear
that
events
and
places
i,,;t .,;g'. Mostly th. f .rso.,r,
of religious and
rclevance and the ,.'"i, .tro iive probabie indicatiorls

c<rlonization of Iceland

nrrlral concePts.

.t.Ilcfocusofrnanysagasispower.rndpowerrelations..'lnlnanySenses
conflicts.The whole motitSesc rerts were a ,rrJd. of ..riiulrting political
ir-r a
vltion for establishing an old Norsc written literatlrre originated
history was forp.,li.,a rvhcn a clistinJt lcelandic identitv rvith a speciiic
cspcin harsh pohtical_conflicts,
i,.,.,l,rte..r. The Iceranders were i,vorved
.freestittc'
the Icelarrdic
ciallv rvith Norw:ry ancl l)enrllark, and in 1262-4
king and latcr
Nor-wegian
the
of
rule
the
p..iifr"a. lcelancl canle under
scveral discourscs of'
trndcr thc l)lnish crown. Therelore the tcxts reveal
individual identity' After tlrc
rrrrtioDal iclcDtity elo,rg with thosc of locJ atld
.l..iv .",,f",-..,.,.,t tl.r" I.,rd ,u.. princip,rllv clivicled bctrveett irlclepentlcrlt
ccl)ttlry wlls tirr
rlticfirrirrs, cvcrr thtxrgh thc tcrrdcrrcy irl'tlrc tlrirtccrlth
l:rtlclst':tPc
s.'rc tr'w flrrrilies t,, tl,rrrritr,rtc tlrc p,.,lrtittll:rttil soc'iltl sceltc'I'llc
ltistory.fltrrcs
f:rrrrily
to
tottttt't'tt'tl
s;rgrts,,l,,r,'ly
is rr si1{rrilit.:rpt cl)tity ip tlrc
.rlt ,ttl:llvsis ol- ltow Ict'l:rlltlit'
l;t.rr(Lt.ss ,rrr,l ( llrils wi, k1,,,,,, lr.,v,' r",r,l,'
:ttttl tltt'y rvl'itt':
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

Scanditruuia

71

'lcelandic social nremory neederl to develop genres which preserved the

cornplexity of their [the Icelanders'] social topography' (1992: 163f.). To
the authors of the thirteenth century the era of color.rization u,as the background against which social and spatial mobility were understood. Places
had their specifrc history and rvere related in the narratives to special persons. Social borders between fbmilies were established and maintained
through discussions about claims to larrd and places were named after
irnportant persons and consequential events.
Every saga text is part of these cor.rflicts and the histories of the families
and 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 loyalties
and ailiances rvere broken.'The logic of feud, in effect, constituted a narrative form in itself, which could underpin texts several pages long', write
Ferrtress and Wickharn (1992: 167). An accusatiolr of trolld6mr was in this
perspective a useful category of either claiming a certain authoriry or
explaining r.r,hy evil thines had happened.
With its background in classical antiqurry the Chtrrch inherited a link to
divination, astrololJy and healing rituals. But these cerenronies were placed
in a new context. Belief in witchcraft was therefore not necessarily contradictory to Christian dogma. As Valerie Fiint points out, 'early nredieval
Europe rvas rernark:rbly well suppled with inflr-rential and respected harioli,
auspices, sortilegii and incantaton-s'(1991:6()).lt is necessary from this perspective to conlnrent on the impact of conversion and the process of
Christianization, r,vith its many cultural, political and social implications.
Despite significant changes, continuity can be observed in areas where we
might at first not expect to find it: in the religious and moral universe. Most
conceptions of trolld6mr seem at first sight totally contradictory to central
Christian beliefs. lf those destructive deeds were to be associated with anything 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 certainly

not

seen as a way clf gaining victory over enernies, or looking into the
or assisting women in childbirth. 'Yet, the sagas were copied in

future,

rrlonasteries and all tl're eccounts of witchcraft we have lvitnessed would

hardly have survivecl had those who copied the Fanrily Sagas subscribed to
a 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 folk
beliefs and fulk nrcciicinc. It seenrs rs if the Relbrrrution in the sixteenth

ccntury was

shitt

rrs

inrportunt to Scrrndinavian spiritual life

as

the estab-

lishrnerrt of (llrristi;rrrity in thc carly Mirltllc Agcs. Still, certain thenres can
bc 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

Trolldtirnr in Early Llcdieual

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

78

Scandinauia

79

for knowledge of old Norse mythological narratives are the two

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

attempt to write a handbook fbr poets, is a svstenratic snrvey of the Old

Norse nrythology.Yet the motivation for the cornpilation was not based
in religious sentirnents. h-r order to preserve O1d Norse poetics in style
and content, especially the elaborate use of rnetaphors, he realized the
need to explaiu the old nrythology and offer future poets as rnany details
as possible. It is obvious that Snorri is nraking use of knor'vn and
unknown earlier texts together, as he generously quotes songs almost

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 estabfor
lish Icelandic cultural ,l.r,oro,',,y' Knowledge of rnythology was-c-ruciai
texts
these
of
the possibility of consrructing rnetaphors.The literary aspects
of
,rrr,r, b. stressed from the b.girr-rirg to avoid any nristrnderstanding
In
dogrnas'
theDr as religious documents or argulllents against christiart
the myths
rclarion ro the rhemes of the presen-t stucly it catl be noted that
in
the realr
tell irr an ahistorical perspecti;e how trollddmr had been used
of the gods since the dar"'lr of time'
'l-he Pocllr Ertrla in its standard eclitions consists of twenty-nine individCodex
rr:rl poet]]s written dowu anonyrrlously' The rna;or manu-script'
lost
being
after
1643
11,,*ii,r, was lrrore or less accicle.tally rediscovered in
by
arranged
,,r.i lo.g,r,r.n for so.ne centuries.The ir-rdividual texts are well
other
each
to
thc rtredieval editor rvho apparently saw the poelDs as linked
in the
irr I specific succession. f|r. ro"gi deal with mythological themes
hisof
daw,
rc:rlti of the gods as well ,, po.rrl abolrt heroes acting in the
preserved
of
,,)rf ffr. p,).",1. nrythological texts are unique irr the corpr'rs
(icrrrranic literature, whilie the latter group correspond to Continental
prrctic traditions as expressed i, Dos lliib.eltrngenlied tnd Beourl;.TheEddic
to revertl sot.ne of the characteristics of an
i.,.,",.,,, ure uenerally conside.ed
is an
,,l,le. or.1 lit.r..y forrn.The conlplex use of nrythological metaphors
content'
nrythological
irrriicuti<>n of the aucliencc's Jeneml awarelless of the
.M:r,y rexts refer to alleged
have precipireferences
these
ancl
ritual,
f,agan
-their
meani,g',
John
trustworthiness anc]
t.tccl a vigorous deba[ on
trrlnsnrission, it
of
oral
dyna,rics
creative
the
Given
(1993).
*iir",
[.irrtl.rv
instead' it
is irrrpossible to'clainr any age or Lltform lor the Eddic poetry;
1992)'
(Fi,rlega,
*,,u..,ro,r, for,rany individlal ,",odls of understa,ding
plays
trolldt5rur
i,, p.rlr.p, the nrost important lay of the coilection' l/qluspi'
the
of
phases
:rrr itttp.rtrttt part, ., ii i, usecl aud abused in the differe,t
lristory t>f thc urriverse.
ancl hisSrrrrrri Srurlusorr (c.117()-1 241) was a well-knorvn politician
rclarrnd
farllily
t()ri:rrr in his tirtre, lx>rn rr'l power ancl wealth. Through
I)et'rtc
- or
rivt.s lrt.w.s clccl,ly i,volvcci i. p.liticll attcl <>tlrer corlflicts.
ltrttitltt'trt'trt
irrvolvctttcttt Stttlrr-i ctrltivlrtctl
l)('l-l):ll)s lrcc,rus.i oi- tltis
('\t('l'lslvc
\vt'itirrgs ('()\'t'r 't v'lr icry trf'tlifltrcrlt
t
otttPllr;rtivcly
I
lts
itttt't-t'sts.
Nolst' lristot'y. Sttorri's lili't"r p:rlt ot- lris
tlrortglr

identical u,ith the texts of the Poetic Edda.Witbout the systenlatic and
pedagogical structure of Snorri's sLrrvey it wor:ld be diffictrlt for a nrodern reader to understand the many metaphors ancl hints about myths in
the Poelic Edda. Snorri's choice of forur is both traditional and innovarivc

sorlrces

1998)'The
Lir.rdow 1985; Fauikes 1987;Hallberg 1993;Clunies Ross 199'l'
etynrothe
i^nte Edda is of clisptrtable origin; sonle colnmentators claim
to
supposed
are
togical irrterpretatioi, of 'g."at-g1a1d1ot!e.1' (i'e' the texts
l-Ileans
edda
that.
clairn
L-r.'tt-re sorrr.. of old rviscl"our and 1o.") rvhile others
in public' distribute'
express
edo,'to
Latin
(from
the
writing
or
i,rspi.ation
...1i't').

!I(,nr-('\,

1,r,',1,r,,,it,,,',,(lV

for the tinre.The dialogr.re oihis Edda that takes the shape of a conrpetition about wisdom is a fornr frequently used in Old Norse literatr"rre
when it conres to draw up comprehensive overviews. Snorri gives the
inrpression that he was a le:rrned man in terms of his time. Marearet
Clunies Ross characterizes his strategy in forrnulating the pagan world
view as inspired by Continental ideals of style. The mythic narratives of
the Edda have, she writes, 'Aristotelian fbrrn, with well-defined beginnings, rniddles and ends, they are extended narr:rtives and they deal in the
nrain with myths of gods and giants on the horizontal plane' (1991 231).
The social setting of the Old Norse nwthoiogical narratives has a clanlike character and the gods are represented as living under fanrily-like patriarchal conditiorrs. Many texts reflect an ideology based on warrior ideals
frorn the npper part of a sociery rvith a distinct social hierarchy. Both poetry
and history were created for an audience in the upper parts of society and
were perfornrecl by a skillec'i poet. The cluestion of representation nrust
therefore be at the core when trying to e-\tract supposed nreaning tronr
them. Whose myths and whose history are we reading? To a large extent
they are echoes fronr the halls of the chieftains. Nevertheless, pictorial representations and archaeological artefacts fronr several centuries and from
vast geolJraphicll areas give clear indications that the stories, the characters
and the symbols were known to a rvidc range of conrnrtrnities all over the
Scandinavian peninsr:la.

Too often Old Norse nlythology has been presented as a reflection of

static and hor.noserreous conditions rather than as part of dynanric
processes and changes in r-rorthenr Europe. The same stories must have
been 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 its
conccpti()l)s (1<)()2t:2). lltrt witlt sottrr'cs rls sc:lr('('rrs rhc ()ld Norsc orres it
is ficcltrcrrtll'lrrrrtl to rrrrrint.rirr.rrr,urirrr;rtetl irrruq('tlr:rt givr's tlre frrll fluvotrr
of t'orrrplt'xity.
i

*J

ilO

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual

Witchcrdft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

Witchcraft or Trolld6mr?

There are difficulties with any attempt to formulate a definition of witchcraft 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 nLeanirrgs frorn totally different contexts (tsurke 1992a:87f.), the emic terminology: 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 concepts of trolld6mr and related ideas were used for explanations in so many

very different areas of life. The empiricai material of the present study is
divided into three sections starting with the belief system and conceptual
fiarrrework, following on with the ritual implications of trolld6mr, and ending with some examples of how the conceptions and rituals were dealt
with in the legal system. The earliest Christian laws deal to some extent
with pagan beliefs and practices in stating penalties for those who kept up
the old sacrifices or did not Ibl1ow the comrnandments of the new relision. Penalties for practising trolld6mr are also mentioned in this Christian
context and there are interesting parallels with some of the accounts in the
srrgas where cunning people are punished. There are certain analytical
irdvantages to using a broad terrn like trolld<|mr, when trying to avoid
hortrogeneous categories that contradict the emic use. In what follows a
picture of trolldimr based on readings of Old Norse texts is presel.rted, in
which emphasis is put on the idiosyncracies and the rnultiple use of terminology.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 of
tntlldtimr ranging from local political strategies to individual peasants' cot-lce rrrs about the conting year. It is the context of the narrative that deterruines whether ;i deed was to be considered as nralevolent or beneficial.
'I'he act or words were only a method. The distinction is definitely not
luc:ult as any indication of a dichotonry between so callecl black and whitc
rungii:.
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 rtrltrry
pxrIrlcrrlrtit' 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

Scandinauia

g1

trolldimr is a complicated matter for severar reasons. Both men and

women
were thought to be involved in troild|mr practices, although wornen
did
take part more activeiy in trolld6mr narratives than is ..rrroir".y elsewhere
in old Norse literature. women's frequent appearance in this arena does
not mean that we can pinpoint a specific .rrJ r.pr."t. wonrent culture
with a more inti,rate connection with trolld\mr,as ias been stressed (Kress

1990, 1993). Men were apparently equally invorved (Dillmann 19g6,

1992;
Adtalsteinsson 1994,1996).The saga iuthors were obviously making
use of
gender 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 -...
texts
is rn_triguing interplays between sex/gender and power games.
Neither can trolld1mr accounts be used to fo.-.rlr*te a ,history from

below', 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 and
popular 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 social
melnory (connerto, 1989; Burke 1992a; Hastrup 1992a).The Icelanders
of the thirteenth century interpreted their conte,rporary situation through
the art of telling history.James Fentress and chrisVickiam write in their
essay 'Medieval ,remo.ries':'whatever they did with the
past, they were
writing in - and ususally for - worlds thar had their own ideas about the
nature of the usabie past, the current, functionally relevant past, and the
collectively remembered past' (1992: 1 46).
The rr-rral conditions are always present in the texts and most social
interaction occured within the local cornmunity. Although it was a small
scale society rhere were importanr and emphasized sJcial differences:
between free men who owned land,, benclv, ancl slaves, between chieftains
and their subjects, between the generations, and between men and
wornen. To this can be added a certain e,rphasis in some texts on
ethnic
difference. The social background to th._ tnild6nrr stories is still
very much
that of a pioneer sociery. The times of settlemerts and the formation of
liaisons between the fanrilies are apparently living traditio,s in
the sagas.As
in the case of the ,rythological narratives, I think it reasonable to assume
that there were several other r.vays of telling history than those variants
preserved in written texts today. 'The rnedieval world was as heterogeneous as tl-rat of toclly, or incleecl nlore so, ar.rcl it wor,rld be irnproper
to
attenlpt to scrre*rlizc t.o preciscly abotrt :lry .spcct of it, leasiof. all its

social ruernrrry'

([--e

ntrcss .rrrcl Wicklrrrr

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,

Ages
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:The Middlc

charactersintheoldNorsemythologicalnarrativestotrrembersofa
devils. From hter r.nedieval texts
nrtrch more diffuse gr;; oi a.,r-", and
such themes pl'ytd-.'. crucial part in
and Church prir-rtir-rg' *" krro* th"t
Church did not deny the
the didactic anrbitiotrs Jf-it" tttgo"'en' The
God was greater'
.l*irr.rr.. of such creatures, but the power-9f
of teits.This is not o'ly
collection
The old Norse ."r.f*'i, .-r,,riqrr.
becauseofitsrnagnitt'dt,bt'talsobecauseofitsvarietyinformandconltttttta to in the epics and other kinds of proseof
terrt. Magical deeds
^"
provid^e-lllany suggestions
text fron outside St"ld"""i', but do not
comparisons in rela-

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

can be niade rvith literature fi'om
tiorr to the conceptions of trollrliwr that
High Germti t",1 Anglo-Saxon
other parts of nt.op. .tt t"'th the Old
alld religiots concepnlythology
a
spells. To a large exlent they indicate.
of Jo.i^l .o.,t.xt. As stressed
tiorrs o[ similar kincls, bur lack descriptions
but closely related to the
rb.ve rrolldtimr was ;;; '" inclependent entity'
socill operations of a local comrnunity'

1'hepresentr,rayi'-"tt'ctttredirrthreenlajorsections'Thefirstdeals
Basic concepts such as
witlr the belief system th" "]t'o''-' d'ed troUttinn'
The second section on
Ai.i, ,fr. frr-^r, ,orl ,r.d krro*l.dg" are cliscussed'

between nrythological narrapmctice and perform"rr.. In"t ", a listinction

involved i'r trolld;mr rituals, anc'l saga
tivcs where varrous g;;;;.. told to be
question.whether nlythotexts relirting to the behaviour of htrnrans'The
Nevertheless'

ii

Iosical strLrcttrre i, p;;;;"i|p';tl fot tt"

of the study concerns legal texts
the sinrilarities are rpf"tt'li'fne last part
first
oi1.rr,r.. as it i, crescribed rn the saga texts'The

hu,ratr

debatable'

.rrci t5e ;rdrnirristratiii

authorities whereas the latter
rcxr !{roLlp ir.*pli.itly irrJ ""i.. of christian
hint it older legal proceclures'

CHAPTEI{

The Concept of Trolld5mr: Mentalities and

Belie;fs
'*
,l

a;

ji
i
I

,:

'l'he follow'ing u'orc1s of advice are utterl'd b,v the r.rother of

Grettir, an
outlarv with urany enenries, as she is parting from her sons: 'Ile on your
gtrrrd lgainst treachcry. You rvill not be killeci by weapons; I have ha<j
str:urge. dreams. Be vary of sorcery: fer,v things are mightier than black
rrrrrgic.'lThe -st:rteuient certainly gives us ln inirrge of hoil.conceptions of
trolld6mr can be represented in old Norse literature.The scene occupies a
vcrv 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 linrily
s;rs.rs is a significant trttlld<inw narrative in its or,vn right. In this case, the saga
tells, the sollrce of the old lvonran',s knorvledge is her clrearns. Thror-rgh
tlrt'rrr shc'can foresee rnuch more tror.rble for Grettir in the ftrture, and evEn
1,r't'dict his cleatir. She uses the evcnts r>f the drcan'r to clarify and ar-ralyse
tlrc incirlents of the daytirne. Foreseeing in Olcl Norse literature is closely

rcl;rtccl tt> the protectiorr of fanrily interests, rvlrich is also a signifrc.rnt f-ealrrrc of the context of trclldrimr. No ritr.ral or perforrnance is necded; the
rrrotlrer',s action is exclusively oral, but u.ith :r strong conncction to comPlt'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 oithe
rr:rlmtivc structure. Her rvords are like a sudden chilly breeze indicating
tlr.rt bad things will beconre worse. Hc.rwever, thc'rvarning turns out to be
litritlcss, sirrce clrettir'.s erernies will prove to be stronger; and not only are
rlrt'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<>nr t'pfi6r115 it can. be denronstratecl that thesc' ideas are I1ot necessarily prert'tttccl fi-arnecl by r,'ery sPectacular events. As .nve shall see titrther oir,^this
l,.rrticular saga also carries sorne highly drlrnatic narratives of perfbrnted
rrr,rlcvolence, lrut, generalh', artless st:ttcllrents are as inrportant in ixpressing
Irrrrrhnrental 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. No
rrolld<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 pcrlrrt'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'

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

84

the risht speaker, the rieht speech and_delivery, the rrght staging and props,
essay
a,rd tii. right time ,nJ p1...' (Lincoln 1994:90).ln an intriguing
iruplicathe
discussed
'Tte
has
Pilsson
Gisii
wircir'
tire
of
name
entitleci
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 of
the 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
tirlre'
trollddntr fitted as an explanation Inust have been prevalent for a long

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

*,he.e new forms are constructed, totally dependent on the nleeting of
cultnres: 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 illurlrinrrting when considerins the tinre of the saga u'ritcrs'

'Contact zone'is an attelllpt to irlvoke the spatial alld telllporel copresence of subjecrs previously separeted by geogrrphic and historical disjnnctures, and whose trajectorles now intersect' By using the term
,contact,, I airn to foregrttund the interactive, improvisational dimensions of colo.ial .rr.o.ri'tt"r, so easily ignored or stlppressed by diffusionist accounts oi colquest and domilation. A 'colltact' persPective
tc-r
ertrphasizes horv subjecti are constituted ip and by their relatrons
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 dernoniziition 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 lltiort t<t tltc c<lttstrttctiorr of tneanitlq. The sprrtial asFrects of Pratt's terttt

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)trl('t z()l)e'urc w()rtll ct>trsicleratiotr;

,l<lrttittttrtt.

Trolld6nrr

irL

Eorly Medieual

Smndinayia

85

Old Norse studies have traditionally been donrinated by philoiogical

end 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 clocunrents scholars like Kirsten H:rstrup and Gisli Pilsson have influenced the
preserrt vier,v of the Old Norse conceptions of trollddmr as clearly structurecl interactions betrvcell protalionists in .r social arena. lhree aspects of
these social studies. in particular, can bc emphasized 'ur,hen applied to histcrrical 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 Atiican
rvitclrcratt beliefi (Dougias 1992). She thereby touches on the cornplicated
tprestion of the nrlrginality of the perfbrrners. A rnlrginal position for
these persons is in nrany crses rpprrent in the Olc'l Norse te-xts but cert:rinly not for all of them. As we shall see further o11, sonre persons related
to ttolldtlmr activities could aiso be in a central position in the tield of social
rrctivities. Rather than being rnarqinal in the first piace, a proccss of rnarsinalization of the perfbrnrers (or the strspected perforlners) t:rkes place in
sorne of these texts.
Victor Turnerls criticisnr of the l'ery nruch used distinction between
u'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 reler':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 to
t'rr:rblish categories like'white'and'black'magic fail to ir]tegrtte the social
r 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 between
r,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 she
lr.rs lreen pointing at continuities and an enrpfasis on long-tern.r cieveloprr('l)t.'There w:rs such a close flt betlveen the ancient Scandinavian cosnrolosy lnd the spatial and social realities of lceland th:rt each level of
r,',rlitv relflirnrecl the others'(19tt1:66) . [-l.rstrup, ltronr :r prorrounced structrrr',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 of
lrrrtori<':tl :u)tl)r()l)()l()g1'(l l.rstlrrP l()fi5, l()()O:r,[r, l()()2:t,b) .Wlrcrr rrrltlysirtu
rlrr' ()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

disorder and harPony-ls

between chaos and order.The struggle bet'nveen
of.Utgardr'
,+..r."r.a in trrythological narratir'ies by the spatial inlagery
the structural harmony
i,-r'hrbit.d by demonic ind destructive forces' and
a relethe home of gods and men' In Hastrup's nrodei this.i's
the
culand
farm
the
"ifVliOgr.Or,
vant pictttre for the ,o.i.l f-.og'aphy; she also regards

,-",.asoilasclearlydefinedinopposltlontothewildnessofnatLlre'Fron1
where
the same str-ucture is visrble in rhe 1egal systelll
Hastrup,s perspective
^"r,
status
a
with
existence outsicle society in every respect'
*",
correspondi,g
""ifr*.y
inferior to that of anirnals. It is debatabie how far these
view of ttolld(tmr a
can be taken, but when str-rdyins the world
"fi.Jii"r,
..it.i., contrivance with such dichotolr-ries is apparent'
ideological
The terrn 'conceptioll' is used irl this t""1; -to cover the.
franreworkarrdthecognitivebasethatformeclwhatwasconceivedtobea
is to be compared
."fr.*", syste,) li,kin'g cause anil effect.This abstractionfollorving
two Parts
the
rvith the ritual practic.i arrd legal cocles discussed in
not be of conception as a par.rrrpr.r.bh.
-rfl'.rt.r.t following disct'ssion^*ill
were
"iirri,
qualiry bui-of the different ways in rvhich they
;;.ilr;
Hastrup
Kirsten
.*fr.rr"a. When ivriting on 'the power of kr-rowledge"
en-rpirical level
.,beliefs" are rlot lir e,rpirical crrtegory, becaltse at
srates:.
-the
197)'This is certainly
belief can,ot b. ,epr.rt.d fr; k"owleJge; (1990a:
must be
true in a discussion of trolltl(trnr u'herc a recurring question
rnythological
in
lvhether practice .o...rpor.1.d to the itnages presented.
discourses' To put
narratives and other texts fbrmulatin! lnore nortletive
experience
itri, ,rro,t.,., rvay: the relatio.shi'p bei'ee" literature and lived
rllustbetakenintoconsideratior.wh.rrtheexpression'beliefintrolld'miis
usetlitisnotre|erringtoextraordinarySuperllaturalexpetietlcesbuttoa
into accollrlt that nrischief,
,u*.,-,-, of k,orvledg. .1-rd .*p1rir-rations ihatiake
in everyday life'
c'nr,ry and famine ,re.. frctoti to deal with
r.t'ere rllso positive aspects to
there
that
nrore
once
It must be stressed
point at inauspicious
trclLtlinr.Beliefs and actions dicl not only cause or
thi,,gs.Scjdr,thetnoreelaboratedivirrationritual,r,vasalsospokenofas
to predict the
.iffil",r, to p..fo.*ing trolldimr, and was used not only
1935;
(Striinrblick
Iuture, but also to gair.r power over e certaitl situatiolr
I)ilhnanrr1986,1992).Wh.t*"nranipulationancldcstructionfrornoneand
atlother' Know-ledge
perspective *., g.rcli advice and healing fronr
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
.t..' tt.,(
ttttll..lt'r .ll. slrr,lll . l.),l.l'..,.,' .,t.rIit.s tll. irr'.t.vt.rsirrtt .,,1- 1.;11111iIl.rIistt,..

Trolld6nrr in Early Medieual

Scandinauia

87

found at all in Old Norse literature. Altogether different matters were the
foctrs of interest. "ft'olld6mr conceptior)s dea]t with certain persorls' abrlities
to have an influence on fellow humans and on natllre - for better or
worse. References to such abilities are given in various texts and cannot be
linrited 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 isolate
these texts from dreir social relations, ideas, and values. Lr sonre respects
trolld6mr is also a literary motif with a genuineiy wide use. Arguments in
srsa texts besed on trolld6mr had to refer to conurronly shared beiiefs and
irssunrptions to nrake sense and be valid.
-frolldr5rnr
is chosen here as an umbrella ternr to indicate the notions, riturrls, and sociirl interactions in the Olci Norse traditions relating to conceptions about the influence certain pcrsons had - by innate qualities or

tlrrough 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 pur1,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 entirrcs 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 and
rrrrrcachable 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 misforlunc's were clandestine and solitary activities, whiie the positive applicaIr,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
ancl slander. In Old Norse tradition, trLtlldinv was tlrst of all a way of
',,,,'sip
, 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 terrrrrn,rlogy existed, a rich variety of terms to describe the extraordinary
'.rl',rlrilitics rvas used, rrrlny of thenr witlr the connotations of traditional
ilr( r('r)t lcaruing ancl knowleclgc'.
/i,,// is usctl as thc first clcrncrrt of thc tcrnr to inc'lic:rtc thc nrytholoqical
l',r, l.gr'otrrrtl t() tllc ('()n('cl)t5 iul(l :rcts tlisctrssed.'I'hc rcscrrr[rllrrrcc <lf worc'ls
rrr 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

Trolld6mr in Early Mcdieual Scandinauid

Agcs
Witchcraft dncl Magic in Eutope :T'hc Middle

88

in Scandinavian languages cluril]s the witch-craze of

to. cover tnany
the seventeellth century. Tiollcl|mr is also wide enough
li'terOld.Norse
in
deeds
cunning
rncl
;.;" of extraordina.yi'towltdge
the
of
use
the
aithough
frequent'
are
ature. I)iffer.r, .ot rpo'.,nds withioll/rol1ter,r
is
the
contnlon
leis
Even
i, ,-rro..-."rely fotrnd.

was first introduced

forn-t trolld1mn

focus on concrete deeds'Scrrin3nr'

i' the ne,ter c:rse and is not,
can appear in both rnale and
text
g.,lJ.. specific.The trolls of the
as a technical term'
suitable
,fr.p. .nd- the word is therefore

skapr.hplausible reason is that the

sagas

r_,orLn abstract cliscussions. Tioltis a terl,1

"ri
;;;,
i.r*f.

Itseerrlsthatthevariotrscorrrpoundsserveclassignalsinthetextsandas
*"tt i' the wind'When analysing them it is
rernr and not very fruitful to rry to establish a
an advantage to use
"irora
or hutnans' l7ol/ is
ittilnrr'gJ,r.r1ogy'that stems fronr supernatural beings
beings in Old
supernatural
of
gtot'p
the trame of a rather ".g"tly defined
are demonic
1993)'They
Linclow
Norse nrythology (Hahirsen 1982a,b;
of as a
spoken
n-rostly
but
c.haracters
beings, sometimes ..,lng .' individuai
hu'tans
characterize
to
used
is
also
harrnful collective. Ho#rr.r, the ternr
withspecialcapabilities,andisevcnassociatedr'vithgiants'TQtnar'orrelated
Scandinavian
to the deacl. The *o.d i' also frequently used in early
etc' But
monsters
denrorrs,
devils,
Christian literattlre as arr equival"nt of
harnrony
the
to
threat
a
as
and
asir
mostly /roll refers to the enenries of the
Ross 1994)'
of Midgardr (Hastrup 19U1,'1990a, 1992b;Clunies
.words
directions, particseveral
in
point
associatecl *rtt, trlr.,tt,llnrr could
There was a
lo.ud'
out
speaking
ulariy those concernins knowleclge ancl
and persons
knowing'
and
rich variety in terrlrs ,elating to'knon'leJgc
as
described
generaliy
were
text.i
affiliatecl with tyolldinrr in oid Norse
to
understand'
to
know
both'to
ku"o,meaning
krrcr*1.dg.rble.The urrb ,to
have insighiin the old traditions and lore' and
know by heart, as u,ell as
iio U.t-r"". prop"rly,, i, .t th. core oithis senlanric field.When'knorv'or
.krrowledge,areusedinarrC)ldNorseContextthewordslraveafarmore
English'Thereforr' the enric
elaborate si.gnifrcation than is usual in modern
rel.ninder of the ilnplia
constant
(folk or local) terms will be used here, as
of knor,vledge in the original context'
cations
--i.e. to havc
R f..ro, .o,rld,b. said to Le -fiqlkunnigr or margk.wmigr, usecl ill :t
never
certainlv
was
this
But
much knolvledge about nrany thing.s.
woulcl always tell of thc
neutral way; the .o.r.1.""t"' of ""1] knowleclce
'l (r
trvo wolner)' (leirrit)r
thc
and
trltir-rrate purpose. ln iyrttygqla saga 15
si,rilar tcrtrlirlt>l.sy rts
and Katia, are both a..pi.i.i itr tertrts of a very
tit't'
it t't:rtrtcs t.
wlrcrr
Ilttt
rbilitics.
;;^1r thcir k,orvlc.lg.: ,,,r,1 their
ol
ttsc
thc
itt
'r'tt
irttetttiott
rrlrrifi'st.'['lrc
t1,.,.]i.,r"ry clifli,rcrrt chrr'rctcrs bccorrrc
kttowletlgt'
ltlwrtys,
rts
()ut
tlist'l<lsttrc;
ll
t() [re
kno,nvlctlgc lrlrv:rys tunls
ttol tlivt':ll)y ('\il(l
,.rrrl,l Ir..] lr<,tll trs.'r.1 lttltl tttisttst'tl' Ii1'rlr1'qq-'r 'rrl(rl tlt,t':
otrlv (lr.rt ()l)('()l tlttttl ts Itt'
tlt.st.t.iP(i.trrs ol'rvlr:tt tlrt'rvorrrt.rr ,'..,illy ,1,,,

inJicattons that mighry powers

89

with a young nran while the other uses it to

harm hinr severely when he resists her erotic invitations.
There is a rich variety of terms relating to knowledgeable persons and
their activities, good or evil (Mundal and Steinsland 19i39; Hastrup 1990a:
197ff.; Pilsson 1997:158fr.; Flowers 1993; Mundal 1993b).A rough division of the terminology can be made between words relating to descriptions of men and wonlen assurned to be, or accused of being,
knowledgeable and performing trolldimr, and difTerent activities or deeds
based on assurned trolldtimr and age-old lore. The vocabulary deviates in
ditlerent genres of Old Norse literature and some of the terrns have
.rlready been mentioned above. There was mostly a sender and these persons - or maybe 'personalities'is a better word * always had a name with a
visible gender. Males could be called galdrdmadr, uitki, skratti, trollmadr; and
pared to share her knowledge

latter often in connecA

radical
way
of
desecrating
a person thought of as
-scl<Jr
kuowledgeable was to give hinr or her the name of a supernatural berng
Irke illucrttr, meinuettr, or rtucrttr. In contrast to males, human fernales in the
s:rsas could be given the names associated with the many evil-minded
tl'rrrales gyor, seidkona, spikona, trollkona, uglua, the

tion with

rituals.

rnythological 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 meant
to be knowing and well inforrned in a general sense, but it also included the
tr':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's
rrrother had to say. Fredi hinted at both the abstract aspect of knowledge and
l,'.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 in
t )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 intelligent
rpplicltion of knowledge, or to the ability to act in situations where other
1r.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 texts
rrr,l .r key to understanding theur.As mentioned in the introductory disr u\\l()n of thc sourccs, tlre s:rgr tcxts c;rn certainly not unconditionally be
r,.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

Trolld6rnr in Early Mcdieydl

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 of
tl-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 of
christianiry 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
difference between writing runes and the art of
texts do not reveal
"ry-i".l
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. Of
all poets and knowlec1g..bl. characrers 6dirn is described as the rrraster of
is a nrajor
al1 ihese potent c."fts. His quest for rvisdom and powerful runes
we read
Hiuamal
therrre in mythological nairatives. In the Eddic poe,t
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,

literature is well documented (Boyer 1986; Hastrup 1990a: 197ff.; PSlsson

1991).The pronouncement of words r.vas recognized to have a tremendous
influence over the concerns of life.The inrpact of a sentence uttered aloud
could not be questioned and could never be taken back - as if it had
become sornehow physical. Strong and powerful worcJs reappear throughout the sagas. Words create reality - not only the other way around.
Concrete expression and utterance had a digniry and a status, as is cornrnon in oral cultures. Many of the deeds of cunning people were not necessarily done but spoken. The forrnr-rlaic elenrents were supposedly vital
when performing trolld\mr.Therefore, the verb .gala,'to say, speak out ioud,
utter, sing'is the focus in this context. Metaphoricallv the word also lreant
chanting and singing, but not always wirh pleasant sounds: it could comprehend 'to crow, to cry', or everl refer to anirnal sounds, e.g. repulsive
rroise, wild cries. The associations of the verb gala are clearly negative. A
participal fornr of-the verb,galinn,corid also be used for describing a persoll out of his or her mind - insane or bewildered. lt is unclear r.vhether
this referred to the state of the performer or to the efltct of the song or
perhaps both. This particular stare of r.nind was characteristically interpreted as honourable and at the same tirne indicated the ar.nbigr-rous posirion of the poet and his praised abilities, skildskapr.The bard was therefore
ke'eper of social r-nerrory and the key to days gone by. Many terms themsclves do not indicate arry estinration, and connote the possibility of
tlestruction. I3estiality or rnadness were powerful irnaees of the enernies of
the harmony and order that characterized the ideals of Midgardr. Not surprisingly a usual punishrrent for performing trolldtinr was outiewry.
The power of the spoken word is an apparent exanrple of cr-rltural contirruity. 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-

by minimal
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 syml,.lic bodily nlovellrents - was thought to have the same impact as if actu.rllv perforrned (Raudvere 1c)93: 157ff.,301f.).sWhen fornrulated in words
rlrt. lrealins or destrllction was believed actually to take place.'In Old
l, 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 linrrrrstic tlerivlrtion is:ur irrrportilnt kcy to tlrc senrlrrrtics of rnagic', Kirsten
I 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, wus
tlrt' irrstrrrrrrt'rrt lirl tltr' |,1'slirrrrrt.t (l l.rlvorst.n l()lil) .fust .rs .r Poct r'orrlcl
t.rrrLrible effect. Spells describing ceremonies accornpanied
n)()vel]1ents seem

and

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

forms of narratives.

Sltctkirr.q

91

u)lr, the latter often accompanied by sonre kind of rituai behaviour. ln

rrrrrch later recorded rural fblklore, uttered phrases were thought to have a

which the rnightY sage stained

gods n.rade
and the Powerful
-..rn.rrrrrt..
of the gods carvecl out'4
ancl the
(trans. by Larrington 1996:34)

The nrythological images of Odinrr's corrplex relation to runes

Srandinayia

()ut

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

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

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

92

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual

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 of

authoritative 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.

Scandinauia

adclresses Gr6a, a rplrra w'hose son he clailrrs to be, asking for her assistance in
his quest to win iris bride. Frorn the first stanza it is evident that the younl
rnan is communicating '"vith the uqlua in her srave and commanding her to
arise.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 advice
he needs befbre lacing the flnal battle. In Grdgaldr the wise woman (lr6a
responds 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:

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

Never now go
rvhere danger appears;

ferent nretres used itr ditTerent qenres.Also trolld6mr had its poetics and distirrctive forms of expression ti lltld,thittr and galdralag Gt. 101)- A whole
'Lj6datal' and pr-rts
section of nretric ,p"il, ,t the end of Hiuamil is narrred
power{ul sones into the r.rrouth of Odinn. Carolyne Larrington characterir., 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

and rnay no evil bar you t}om bliss!

C)n a stone firm in the earrh
rvithin doors I stood,
r,r,4rile

I chanted you

spells.

given,(1993: 62).The themes for the area of use are giverr,but not spells as
lneant to
s-uch. It nrust be remembered as rne read that Hiuanill lvas never
of
the,lnearrings
be a docurnentation of spells, but a poet's visualization of

por,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

take r.vith you, son, au,ay fi-onr here,

and keep thenr stored in your heart;
ever rrbounding uood ibrtune
shail you have throughout life,
,t. lottg as )ou ntirrd nry words.l

assault back against the sender:

(trans. by

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 varior
ery of corrrporrnds enanates. People could be called .galdral< ona, g.a,ldranmdr,
the
and
galdiligr
golrlrn u*rrand their art or character galdralist, galdrafttllr, and
pr.rrr-rr.d equipntent of the perfor rncrs gald-rab'ile (book of ,qaldr songs)' or .go/were
rlrastafr lqaldr wand). The ternrinology indicates that the perfbrnrers
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 possessioD 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

93

nrother'.s words

Robinson 1991:66)

Althor-rgh the context is fragr.nentary we can notice the claimed mclther-son

relationsl'rip rvhich is also a nranifest nrotif in the sagas rvhere fosterr-nothers
oficn act to protect their sons, sometirnes by means of trolld6mr and powerful

u'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 enullleration 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, Carolyne
l.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)ld
Ilish (lernran so called Merseburg Charnrs help is asked lbr frorn pagan
()ld Norse nrytholog,v (Hanrpp
:,,,,,1s, whclse n;rnles are recognizablc frorn
l'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
(.lrristi:rrr c()r)tcxt. lt rcrtls irr;r prosc trrlr)sl:rti()r):

l'lrol

ltlrt'()lrl lliglr (it'rttt:ttt n.un( ()l ()r)111111 t'otlt'ittto tltc

tlrt' lon'lt't,, ol l|,rltlt'r'ls lt<rrs<' rv.ts tlislor.rlt'tl; llrt'n Sintrltrrrt .rltrl

;rrttl Wotlrrrr

rvooll;

in

94

Trol1d6mr in Early Mcdieual

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 of
bone, be it an ailment of the blood, be it dislocation of the linrbs: bone
to 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 their
son5; as such had the assumed healing power.e In cornparison with much
later recorded spells a formal sinrilarity can be noted.The healing situation

or a confrontation - a rlreeting
between the healer and the patient and a confrontation of curing and
destructive forces. A parallel situation is constructed (the gods are riding
their horses and an injury springs up) which is followed by a threefold parallel structure: 'bone to bone ...'The first Merserburg Charm also shows
thernatic resernblances with Eddic poety.This Old High German text deals
with releasing prisoners and breaking up fetters by rneans of the spoken
word, a therne prevalent also in Eddic poetry. Here is Hdvamil 149, where
was aln-Lost always expressed as a nreeting

Odinn claims

I know a fourth one lgaldr songl if men put

chains 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 also
apparent in later charnrs: the seemingly unproblentatic nlix of pagan conceptions with references to Christ, the Virgin, the saints etc. The structure
seems to be an indication of continuity not only in form but also in the
understanding of the power of the spoken word. The text quoted above
shows striking conceptual and formal sirnilarities with the well-known
Anglo Saxon Journey Spell'that begins:
I protect nryself with this rod, and commend myself to the
grace 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

ancl

characters fi'onr the Olci Tl'stanrclrt, anlolrq others. Spclls likc this constitrrtc
lrr irrdiclrtitlrt of a ('()-prcscllcc of tr;rtlitiorrs rrot orrly irr nrr'trt' lrrrrl gt'rrrc

bttt ;rlso :ts rt'gurtls rltc rc:tlity ol'tlrr' powerlirl lvortl. As llt';rtlrt'r

Strr:rrt

Srcndinauia

95

argues, a'charm can be viewed as a structure rather than a haphazard conglomeration of magically necessary ingredier-rts' (1985: 36).
A very special form of intentional use of the spoken word in order to
aclrieve destruction is nid, referring to both verbal genre and ritual practice
(Meulengracht Sorensen 1983, 1993; Hastrup 1990a: 200f.). It can be
defined as ritual insulting and verbal defarration, very often with rough sexual allusions.There are hints of the concept in various texts and in Christian
legal docu.re,ts. A well-known example of thrs harsh for,r of poetic creativity is found in Egik saga Skalla-Crimssonar (57). Already in the famous

poet's genealogies there are conlnlents about his ancestors which rnakes the

reader realize that he is a person with extraordinary capabilities. Egil1t

srandfatheri narne is Kveld-Ulfr, literally 'Evening Wolf', which usualiy is
interpreted to mean that he was thought to be a shapeshifter wirh the ability
to take the temporal fornr of a wolf at r-right. Another relative of Egillt is
noted to be'half a troll', hilftrall, i.e. of demonic origin. Not sr_rrprisingly
Egill is a man who knows how to use the spoken word and how to carve
runes. 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 is
said 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 and
went 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 scornpole lilidstqngl ancl turn its scorn upon King Eirikr and Qtieerr
Gunnhildr'- then turned the horse's head to face land -'and I turn irs
scorn Lrpon the nature spirits llanduettirl that inhabit this land, sending
thetr astray so that none of thenr shall find its resting-place by chance
or design until they have driven King Eirikr and Queen Gunnhildr
fiom this land'.
Then he drove the pole into a cleft in the rock and left it to stand
there. He turned the head towards the land and carved the whole invocetion in runes on the pole. ll
As in the poetical and nryrholosical context of Hiuaruil there is no rnentrorr ofwhat words are uttered,only a considerable stress on the act ofspeakrrrs.'k> chase arvay the laduettir was obviously the best method of making
rlrt' king rncl clucern leave. when the spirits were displeased a place was
tlr.rrsht to be left witlr<>ut protection ancl peace. Egill'.s rid is not left r.rnanfbllows rt |.rrlttc'1ll of actiort ln(l cr()nnteractiorr. Queen Gr-rnnhildr
"rvt'rctl, btrt
r: rrot withotrt spccirrl lbilitics lrcrself arrd tlrc cvil-rrrintlccl rvontan sends
l,.rt'k rt spcll rturrirrst lrirrr. Irr:r strcsslirl sittrutiorr firrtlrt'r orr irr thc tcxt she
l.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

Tiolld6nrr in Early Medieual

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:'lhe Middle Ages

Fatc and Destiny

Most activities relating to trollddmr, positively or negatively, referred to conceptions of fate in one way or the other. The sagas tell of cerernonies and
rituals that ain'r to reveal what the future holds. The task of conducting
these ceremonies was linuted to the knowledgeable.
In Vatnsdela saga 1() auqlua is invited to tel1 fortunes at a grand Gast.The
knowledgeable woman is said to be from Lapland, a Finn.a. As will be discr-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 and
clain.rs not to believe in prophecies.Then the uqlud, unbidden, tells him that
he will become a settler in lceland and a lost token will be found as a sign of
her trustr'vorthiness.The scene is constructed as a confrontation befr,veen the
attitudes towards one of the fundanrental concepts in the Old Norse world
view: an individuall given destiny. Ingimundr'.s cornpanion repeatedly tells
him how vain it is to struggle against his destiny. But as always in a good
story the prediction comes true and the fight between the seeres and the
recipient turns out ro be an inrportant narrative instrunrent.
A multitude of conceptions describing interhuman relations were linked
to the ideas of fate and destiny. Power, control and domination rvere always

nlore or less under the surface when different fortunes are to1d.
Conceptions of trillddmr in relation to knowledge were also closely connected with conceptions of destiny (Hallberg 1973; Mundal 1971;
Lcinnroth 1976:123ff.).The predicted destiny of individuals, families, gods
and other nlythological beings - even of the universe itself at ragnarqk - is
constantly referred to in various kinds of texts and all of these were, along
with the material world, subject to the fina1 fatal destruction. There is a
strong relationship between conceptions of fate and O1d Norse nrythological narratives of creation ancl destruction.
The importance of destiny rnust llot be unclerstood to nrean that the
Norsemen held purely fatalistic beliefs. Rather it must be r.rnderstood in
terms of knowing the future, in order to keep it under some kind of control. l)ivination rituals and the perforn'rance of seidr, either by Odinn in
nlyths 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 of
reality and measuring what was given.The results of divination nrarked the
lirnits of individual free will and after the divination ceremony strategies
could be made for acting within these linrits. Hence, prophecies, dreanrs
and dream interpretations, and curses were treatecl with the greatest concern. Many of therl also con.rprise reasonings on trolldinr aud extraordirtary knowleclge. Il.elating to late, or destiny, these wrtys of tellirrr-r iruplv tlrc
lirnitlrtiorrs tlrltt lrlve bccrt stlked otrt irrtlcl'rurdcrrtly o[- lrrurr:ur Irclruviorrr

Scandinayia

97

and choices. They reveal a tension between freedom and dependence.

Nevertheless, there can seem to be a contradiction in terrns: the conceptions 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 condition
to identify thern and act within the given space; on the other, choices and
their consequences over a longer period of time is an inrportant theme in
the sagas. More than a seneral dependence on fate, it was used in the narratives when explaining something of utmost intportance.
Destiny was in one sense given, but still there were opportunities for
developing diflerent strategies, as recently analysed by Margaret Clunies
l{oss (1994) in connection with the fundamental structure for the perception 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 to
nrle 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 of
Scrndinavia (1992). Such a model was a nrode of explaining the hardships
,rrrtl the very diflerent fortunes of life.Their article is based on much later
lirlklore recordings, but their arguntents can be applied to Old Norse
society as well.
I-inked to destiny, each individr"ral and each family had their share of forIrure, materially as well as in a more abstract sense. Fortune and the good
tlrirrgs 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 bad
lrr, 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 always
l'(. 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 be
lrotlt :rrottst'rl :rrrt'l stillt'tl. Srrt lr rrotiorrs t'n'rrtt'rl sIr.tt't' lirr sl)('(-ulilti()l)s il[)()ut
(

9u

Tiolid6nrr in Early Mcdieual Scandinavia

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

sinister manipulation.There was always a latent threat of insidious attack.A

sudden mischief could be caused by an obscure enemy, acting himsel7her-

self or througl'r a cunning person'.s rnaterialized will. In this nroral econorrry 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 purThere was also an abstract ternrinology of the subject (Hallberg

poses.

1973;l.onnroth 1976). Fate in general was called dudna or with positive

connotations gipta and gaft, and souretimes individual fate,-lbrlqq. Mostly,
though, fate was discussed not in abstract exegesis br-rt in stories, tnythological or other.
There are nrany'agents of fate', to use Lars Lonnroth's phrase - characters that eppear in the sasas as personifications of destiny, luck or nrisfortunc'.The diflerent nrythological beings rel:rted to late and destiny are harcl
to separate from each other and the texts interchauge the difTerent cateqories and names. Many tinres they have a clouble position of both forming individual destinies and having the ability to look into the futr.rre.The
characters that represent tlre conceptions of fate are given female body, if
not appearing in anirral forru.
-the.fylglur are guardian spirits cor-rnected to individual persons or farlilies (Mundal1971,l993b; Lindow 1L)87,1993).The word derives from the
OId Norse verb,-fylgia, 'to follow', and is also associated with the noun for
caul or afterbirth. They appear in the ciistinct visible shapes of anirnals or
wonlen ancl in a metaphorical sense fo11ow their concerns. Else Mundal
has shown that the diflerent suises are accordingly used in two very different ways in the texts (Mundal 1971).'Thesc two types have little in conrmon but the nanre', she writes (Mundal 1993b: 62,1).The aninral-fy/qia was
a synrbolic ir-n:rge pointing at the inner clualities r>f its owner, a constant
syrrbolic characteriz:rtion. As nretaphor the -fylgla tells a iot about the person it follou,s. Strengtl.r, an evil nrind, or social position was visualized in
the inrage olta bear, a rvolf, or an eagle.The aninral shape was not supposed
to vary over tinre and r,vas therefbre tl-rought to be easy to identify. In the
texts.fyl,qjur brirrg warirings or advice.The animal-ly{qio rs told of as appearing in front of its ou,ner, often in clreams, and givine indications of events
to come. As such it is a representation of the futr-rre itseil-, not the character
of a person. Like a person'.s fate the -fylgla is not chanseable, nor can it
irrrprove 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 and
therefore 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 helpirrg
spirit 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

99

ln this latter aspect in not even always given a physical form, bLrt spoken of more diffusely as standing behind the family. Sometitues the-[,iq7a is
called spidk, indicating that the character had a function as a diviner for
the protection of the family. When appearing in a drearn she could be
calic'd dreanr-woman, draumkona.These aspects of late are very cotrcrete in
their bodily appearance, showing themselves for a short while, but leaving
no roorn for alterrrarive interpretations.
The norns, nttrnir, a.re perhaps the nrost well known in the group of
rnythological beings related to fate.They are spoken of as carving runes or
weaving destinies and fortunes. In nrythological narratives they are said to
clwell at the foot of Yggdrasill, close to the r,vell associated with insights
rrr.rd clandestine knowledge.ln Vqluspl they seenr to controi the destiny of
tlre 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:

lylgia

I know that an ash-tree stands calledYggdrasiil,

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.
a

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 the

lirnclanrentals 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 diflerentiate

l)('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 short
lrlt', 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 of
rlrore 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 shortiy
belore an important battle when twelve women on horseback appear
(Liirrnroth 1976:134;l)armshoit 1984; Kress 1993: 97f, Poole 1993).The
wolnen turn out to be valkyries and have come to give their support to
the yor.rng king. They seenr to have an irnportant influence on the oLltconre of the conring battie and give a horrifiiing image of things to come.
'fhe rnetaphor of weaving is used in a nronstrous mode. The introductory
lines and the first two stanzas of this strong imagery read:
Merr's heads were used for weights, rnen's intestines for the weft and
warp, a sword for the sword beater, and an arrow for the pin beater. The
wonren spoke these verses:

A wide r.varp
warns of slar-rghter;
blood rains
fi'om the beam's cloud.
A spear-grey fabric
is being spun,
r,vhich the friends
of Randv6r'.s slayer

will fill out

with a red weft.
TIrc warp is woven
rr",ith rvarriors' guts,

and heavilv weighted

l.reads of nren.

with the

Spears serve as heddle rods,

spattered with blood;

irorr-bouncl is the shed rod,
ancl arrows are the pin beaters;
rve will beat with swords

out battle web.1a

(trans. by Cook 1997:215)
l)espite the gruesonre images the poem ends with predictions of victory. It
is the destiny of the enernies that is described.The nornir take an active part
in 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 both
fate rnd prosperity that are hard to distinsuish fronr the-ly{qjur.A uqluain
sasas cotrlcl also be given the nanre .tpldi.s, or fenrale diviner.
Oorrtcptrtrtl tigurcs :rrrd rittr:rl :rctivities bccorrre c'losc[y conrrectcc{ in the
tr'xts.'l'lrt' r/i.sir .rrc tlrc orrly ()n(' ()l tlrt' tlrrt't' ll11)ul)s rrrcrrtiorrcri lrclt' thrrt

thc

Trolld6nrr in Early Madicudl Scandinauid

101

are recipients of any form of distinctive cult. The disabl|t is mentioned in

some texts as a form of sacrifice or feast in the winter tirne and shows sinriluities with other fertiliry rituals of a ltlore private character. Popular surveys sornetirnes follow Snorri in a hierarchization of diflcrcnt rnythologicai
sroups, calling them'higher'or'lower'.The r/isir are often in such divisions
proscribed to a lower dwelling - although they rnost certainly playecl a vital
part in everyday ritual life and were not without connections to the nurjor
uods. 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 cerhin
place. They are lnore closely connected to the landscape and have a rather
pronounced protective aspect than the rnore abstract-fy/gur.The latter are
rclated to an individual or fanrily while the former are ntore connected to
space. 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, classifications 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. The
larducpttir 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 obvious
fiorn their nanle, the landucettir are very closely connected to the land around

the 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 abantk>ned a place. In this respect all these beings connected to a clistinct place
ilre part of the cosmological and social inside-outside conflict, as pointecl out
by Kirsten Hastrup (1981).As protectors these various beings formed a contr:rst to the clear-cut destructive forces fronr outsicle, like the trolls and thcir
kind. 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 occasionally
called Odinn's r/i-slr and associated with revenge and struggle.
When someone prospered, while others were troubled with setbacks, an
r'rplrnation was needed. -li'olld,trrr was Jn irrrportarrt cogrritive cJtcgor) in rn
episten.rological systeln where the very existence of such a knowledge protluced an acceptable explanation for public and private incidents.The clusal
r.onnections were obvious. Bad iuck could be as perceptible: 'a kind of contlgit'rus nroral disease, spreading lionr inclividual to individual throughout the
srrsrr', 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 Norsc
tt'rtttirtology firr tlrt' irrrrt'r tlrrllitics ot-lrrurr:rrrs, [rrrt iutnrtltr,'c.l ,r rrt'rv lvorcl
sorrl, 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

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual

Christian conceptions of hurnan mental capabilities were so radically different frorn the new religion's dogn.ras about the htulan soul. Indeed, they
were llot only difGrent, but at sorne points decidedly heretical.
The most important discrepancy r,vas the Old Norse belief that a person
could leave the ordinary body and act in a tenlporary new shape. This is
rrot or1ly the nrost fundanrental assurnption for nrost trolld1rnr stories, but
also essential to the conviction that the dead could act fronr the grave with
their old personalities.A persont tetnporary split into body and soul is not
a specifically Old Norse assumption. For centuries night riders,
shapeshifters, and r,vere-animals caused serious debates within the Church
about ho.uv to relate to these phenornena and about their ontological status. For the Clhurch Fathers, antollg them Augustine, the crucial qucstion
r,vas rvhether the devil hacl such powers that he could appear in any tlngible form, or help evil humans to transfornr thenrselves, only to draw
Christians 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

in

as soul, was

nteaning than the Christian concept (Alver 191Ib

Ilaudvere 1993: 6,1tT.).The r.vord connores personhood, tl-rought, wish and
clesire. Sorne people, with a stronq hugr,hacl the capability to act over long
distances without n'roving their bodies. L'r the tangible guise of an animal
or an object, they could cause harnr while their ordinary bodies lay as if
sleeping. The shape adopted for the temporary appearance nrost often
revealed the purpose or the nroral status of the sender: a powerful bear, an
aegressive wolf etc. Hrigr rvas also applied metaphorically to describe a person's character or temper.
Hamr, literally 'skin', was rhe name of the temporary guise the hugr
could take for its lrovenlents rvhile perfornring trolld6mr. The ability to
change shape and act out of the ordinary body in a new guise was an
inborn character or acquired through learning. The materialized will,
power or h-rst is a conrnrorl theme in rnany texts. A person rvho was called
a lmmhleypa could let tlte lngr leap into a hamr (see below).
No absolutely clear distinction can be rnade between a.lylgla on a special 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 different
fi-orrr that betweetr the -l)tl,q1a and its owrler. The focus is on the personal
rvill 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 ncverchrrrrging 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
rnr-rch r.vider

:rtric to act in the shape of a wolf

slccping. fveld-Olfr's own father's

Scandinauia

103

in the night when his own body rvas

,.,,r. *rr

Bjalfi, literally'animal skin',

what abilities he was supposed to have. The
scnealogy of knowledge is a vital thenre in both sagas and rnythological
lcxts. Svanr in Njlls saga 1)fr. is also sleepy when it is time for him to contlrrct 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 about
tlrc 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 over
lrrrndreds of years into hybrids acceptable in a local context: 'This
( llrristian concept
Idivine grace] may also have influenced the use of har.nrrruja 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 hamrvhich we find in the classical family sasas, nlay then be a fur',rr-rja,'lLrck',
rlrcr development of this concept', Lars Lcinnroth writes (Lcinnroth 1976:
lJ6).'Lr-rck'is one of the 111ost frequent abstract terrns referred to in
St ;rrrclinavian folkore collected in the nineteenth century. It was the basic
;,r'crcquisite of the local'econonry of fortunc'.
rvhich rrrakes

it

easy

to

guess

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 used
lr,'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 teml),)r'iu-y body or g:uise, hamr, i.e. of being a hamleypa, solreone who ieaps

In many texts the materialized willt deeds are the principal

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 between
rrrt't.rphorical metamorphosis in poetry and mythology and assumed abilirr('\ ()t transforr.nation.'When Egik saga Skalla-Cr'ims-rol?.7/ was discussed
rl,ovt' it was briefly n-rentioned that queen Gunnhildr was irritating Egill
tlrrouslrrrut the nisht in the sh:rpe of a bird.The ternl hamhlrypa is used in
tlrrr 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 or
rl 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
rrrttt tr lmmr.

l,,rsrs

10.+

Witchcra.ft and Magic

in

Europe :The Middle Ages

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

I know a tenth one if I see witches

playing up in the air;
I can bring it about that they can't nrake their way back
to 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 supreme
power over tl-re hags by nreans of spells, the spoken word. It is probable that
the lines are hir-rting at how vulnerable tl-re shapesl'rifter is when leaving the

body behind for the new guise. This was also the nlortent to strike back
against an attacking hamhlcypa. A similarly interesting description of
shapeshiftirrg can be found irr the introductury prose of Vqlundarkuida,
another poerl of the Poetk Eddd, whereVplundr and his two brothers steal
the s'uvan skins from three wornen who are said to be valkyries. Nothing
more is said about the captr-rred wornen or their origins.They are forced to
rernain in human shape and rnarry the brothers.The rnotif is well kno'nvn
from several international fairv tales as well as from later Scandinavian folk
legends. Odinn's aggression against knowledgeable wornen is also emphasized irr Hiudmil 1 13 where erotic relations with a -fiolkunni,gri kono are
condemned. The rnythological narratives seem to form models for history
writing in the sagas where brute force and sexual dominion intermingle in
rrrale attenrpts to hinder fernale executions of trolld6mr.
A comparable episode can be found in Kormiks -sava chapter 1B where
the actions of a shapeshifter, along with the counter actions taken against

lrer, clearly illuminate some vital conditions of the human hugr and
shapeshifting. 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 conrb: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 on
lrcr sons'r-nurderer.The conflicts escalate and D6rveig pllrsues Kornrlkr to
thc sea.The ship is attacked by a walrus that attenrpts to overturn it and
l,rirveig is recognized as acting out of her body by her eyes. The men on
tlre ship press the animal down under the sudace and at the sanre tinre
lr(rrveig, at home, is said to be on her death bed. People around her later
tlraw the conclusion that her death was caused by the events at sea.The link
bctween the two bodies in this text, symbolized by Kormlkr's recognition
of her eyes, is so strong that the human body cannot ward off the injuries
rrrilicted 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 possible
rrrcthod 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 of
slrrrpeshifting and the analogous link - and so the originally evil action
lrlrns out to be the salvation of the attacked.This is a fundamental point
rvlrere 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 neighl,ourhood to appear, and the cause of atliction is thereby found.
'l'he idea of the analogous links was vital to the Old Norse conccptions
ttf tr(rlldimr.It provided a theory of how the hu.qr of certain persons could
rvork over such long distances and also forn-red the strategy for a possible
\v:ry of averting the attack. Seemingly ordinary and harrnless objects could
l,e iclentified as carriers of insidious harm', to use Mary Douglas'.s terni for
tlrc invisible and contagious peril (Douglas 1992).The attacking objecr was
n()t a spectacular ob.lect but something so fanriiiar that it was sonretirDes
lr,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 emphasrzes tlre perfbrrr-rative aspect and ritual practiccs o{ troLld6mr,thc activc- per-

Iorrrrances of the sender of a distinct desire. Eddic poetry nrentions

ilrlli'rent night-riders, apparently women, moving through the air. These
rir)rrrshould be interpreted as night hags acting in a temporary body.Their
n.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 noted
tlr,rt tlre w()nlrlr) itt liyrlty,qqla -rd(d nlentioned above, who is accused of
rrsirrq 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 being
a night hag, rnara.-fhe end of this particular story is that it turns out to be
another knowledgeable wornan who is guilty and has rnisused her
capabilities.

Closely connected to the shapeshifters are the nrany categories of

returning dead, draugar and aptrgangur (Ellis Davidson 1981;Adalsternsson
1987;Clunies Iloss 1994:247tr.).These could be evil minded persons who
could not obtain peace in the grave and appeared hostile and revengefui.
The more friendly dead, still close to their families, conte with a mission to
lLlfi1 amone the living. Like the/yfuur they give warninus or reveal hidden
truths. It was inrportant to obey the advice and hints from the friendly
clead. Messages fronr them were treated like replies to divination were.
Against the evil dead, actions were often taken that can be compared to
the punishrnents for trolld6nr deaths antonJ the living. Returning dead
trouble makers were told to be reburied far away and dead associated with
trollddrnr could not rest near the living.The gaze of the returning dead was
feared 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 living, and having opillions about what was going on.The realms of the deacl
are described rather obscurely and most attention in mythological narratives is paid to the afterlife of the fallen warriors in Odinn's dwellings.
Returning dead are aiways enconntered and related to in the perspective
of 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 activirles
of the returnin5l dead and the deeds of people supposed to performing
trolld|rur. Classification does not take the various textual contexts into consideration.
Eyrbygqja saga provides us

with several interesting stories of the dead

turning back for di{Ierent reasons. Dorgunna in chapters 50f. shares many
characteristics with a trollkon.a.ln her Lfetime she was feared. Foreign and
mysterious, 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 the
grave.

brgifotr ('twist foot') in chapter 34 of Eyrbygqla -saga becornes

when most troublesonre dead. At the tinie of his cleath he 'nvas deeply
involved 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
D6r61fr

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 shepherd
are crushed and the man is strangled to death. The only way to stop the
russaults is to dig the corpse out of the grave with great di11iculry and burn
it (ch. 59). Reburving acconlpanied with crentatiorl was a wf,y to stop the

troublesome dead fronr returning. By this nleans an evident barrier (in

sonle cases as concrete as a heap of stones) was constructed that marked
the 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 the

texts preserved from other Germanic peopies. In particular, the Old Norse

provide a social background for trolldt5mr narratives that is mostly

l:rcking in texts from the Continent.The texts function as social memories;
cven if biased and inraginative they rnost often refer to historical persons
srruas

rrnd events.

When sumrning up the conceptual base for trolldt5mr beliefi it rnr-rst be

stressed once more that, even if odd and conspicuous in details, these
.rssunrptions were part of a consistent world view. Socially they were interwoven

with a network of political and social conflicts anlong the

.rrrd their followers

settlers

in Iceland.

ln rrrythological narratives, as well as history r,vriting, trolldtimr was a reasonable cause for events past and present. These stories were founded on
lrlsic assurnptions about human nature and rnan's relation to history and

The ability to acconrplish benefrts outside the ordinary body

rt'rluired special knowledge. These extraordinary insights were inborn or
It'rrrnt skills, qr-rite difTerent froln the ideology introduced into Scandinavia
,ltrring the epidenric 'witch craze' of the sixteenth and seventeenth cenrrrries.The early modern Continental'witch beliefs'was a hybrid of popul.rr beliefs and learned tradition.The system was introduced by jurists and
, lcrgvmen and associated with the legal administration rather than rural
rrnintenance. 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 Middle
,lcstiny.

Agcs.

Nevertheless, persistencc r:an be observed over a lonrr tir.ne, despite drarrrrrtit's<>cial chenscs, lcrr nrerry of thc vital conL:eptiolrs.There are striking
srrrrilrrritics bctwcctt ()ld Norsc rrrrldcs ol cxprcssinu trolldt5mr conccptions
.rrrtl tirlklorc rt't-orrlirrgs rtrrt'lt';rt tlrt't'rrrl oltht'nirrctecrrth ccntury and the
l,r'girtrrirtg o1'tlrt' twt'trtit'tlr. Witlr its t'rrrrrrirrg |coPlc, ('urs('s, urrd';rrrrrws of
rlr'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

CHAPTER

practices and protection. When discussing the confrontation between the

old religion and the new, Kirsten Hastrup writes: 'But I would argue that
even if the heathen faith is depicted through a learned Christian's concepts
of right and wrong, we can legitimately cotrpare the structures of the two
thought systems, as these are thought to be more persistent than surface

the conversion ro Chnstianiry' (I981: 68).

Scandinaviart trolld|mr conceptiorls were deeply embedded in a rural world
dependent on farming, fishing and 1-runting. Tiolldt5mr and its domains were
a form of ritualization of the constant threat of fanrine and crop failure.
As we will see in the following chapter, however, the enrphasis in Old
Norse stories about trollddmr was not so rnuch on conceptions, as on concrete acts, rrerningar.

Tio11d6 n1r Rituals: Practice and Performance

phenomena, such as

l{cligron is by no means onlv a cognitive category. Religion is ro most peoplc, 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 reiiriiorr, faith, moral, custom and tradition. It included both what were supl)()sed to be traditional conceptions and also the way things were thought
t,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. The
tt'rrn certainly had a ser-nantic field of great variety.Actions done, planned
,,r'onritted in connection with trolldtimr are sornctirnes conunented on in
llr(' texts as being opposed to -sidr, which is then the appropriate n1ode. Sid/
rs :rlnrost always used as sontething positive, with a certain accentuation on
rvlrat is directly expressed.The concept is thoroushly based in the old lore
,rr(l customs, and therefore reliable. The word often appears in contexts
rvlrcre the question of lcelandic identity is crucial, with positive references
to 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 interl,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 theme
rn trclld6mr myths, sa5Jas, texts, and even in early Christian laws. Likewise, in
t rtrt;rls trolldt5nt tnd extraordinary knowiedge function symbolically as a link
lrt 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 and
r','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

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
'.ot i:tl cvcttts;rs

'l

10

Witdwaft and Magk in

Trolld6mr in Early

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 ritual

powers 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 its

participants to objects of thought and feeling which they hold to be of special significance' (Connerton 1989: 41).lt is a wide definition where other
than solely religious dirnensions of ritual life also have a given place.
Politrcal,juridical and economical conditions are inseparably linked to preChristian rituals.There were no rules in a fornral sense for rituais,bllt a certain established practice seenls to be at hand in Old Norse literature.'We can
read horv power relations were established and socially rnaintained at local
gatherings and feasts.The political and reli.gious leader,godi, invited his men
to peform a llftir (offering) of vital importance to the local cornrnunity. In
saga texts the bl6t is often represented in a royal or aristocratic context and is
ernphasized as being the nrost important ritual event. Despite the narrative
grandeur, the bl6t offerings see1.n to have been strongly related to the basic
needs 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, conflicts
were solved, and econonric transactions were estabLshed. Within this context it was the responsibility of agodi to arrange for a public L/dr ritual.But
there were other important ritr.rals even closer to agricultural living conditions, focusing on future prosperiry and fertility. These activities have not
always been defined as ritr,rals, but as we shall see from sorne examples they
certainly fulfil the criteria of Connerton'.s definition. Nor do the texts give
any clear distinction between actions related to divination, healing, dream
interpretation or cl-rrses and other destructive deeds.
The descriptions of trolld|mr as ritual practice cover a wide range of different text types, fronr rather elaborate descriptions of performances in the
saga literature to simple and bald activities like single words uttered. These
cerenronies do not seenl to confirm any social hierarchy in the same sense
that bk5t rituals did; ntuals relating to hidden knowledge had a much more
ambivalent character and sometimes openly contested prevalent authority.
When divination was performed the outcorne of the cerenlony was in
nlost cases in the hands of the perfornrer.Yet prominent landowners :rppear
to have been obliged to arrange lbrmalized fortune-telling events, and the
result 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 witlr
pc'rs()r)s of't'xtr-:rorrlirrrry krrorvlt'tlgc. lt is pt'rlr;tps tlrr' nrost ( ('lltl':tl rituirl,

A,Iedieual

Scandinauia

111

trying to understand the difTerent aspects <>f trollddmr. The ternr

in many divergent contexts, although the corpus of texts related to
is
quite
limited (Strornblck 1935;I)illmann 1992; I)r-rBois 1999).1r' In
'r'ir)r
tlrc broadest sense seidr is a technique for gaining knowledge about the
liltrlre or trying to change the options for events to conre.The intention of
tlrt'act cor-ild therefore be nralevolent as well as beneficial.Thus, the use of
tlr('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 evil
lrrrn different points of view.A scidr act to protect a ntember of one's famrr,'lrerr

.rl)pears

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 sonre
vrt:rl aspects they are very contradictory. A major difference concerns
rvlrcther 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 major
tlrt'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 profoundly
rrrrqr';rined in the rural livins conditions of pre-Christian times. The texts
rrrrght 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 the
rnlcrpretation.'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 rituals
rrt 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 in
tlr( ('vcnts of the near futr-rre.Judging f}om the way the ternr is represented
rrr st'vcml texts, the cerenrony seenls to have been a ritr-ral event of some
rnrl)()rtallce. It is described as an act of clivination, predicting the futr-rre and
rlr, lrrtc, not only of individuals, but of a whole local cornmunity. It also
rrrr lutlcd foretelling the weather ancl prosperity for the coming season.The
,, r('nr()ny wns concluctecl by a person with spccial skills and knowledge,ancl
rr nriu)y cases by the reqtrcst of ln irrdivicil,ral r>r a group. Scidrcor-rld be perl,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

the sense that they assurned certain persons'extraordinary knowledge and

abiliry 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 and
order. No details of the ritual processes are described in the rnyths. The

mythological genealogy of sci dr and its perforrners anlong the gods is an

intriguing correlate to the narratives of the sagas. Seidr is given a position
as an institution within an ideological framework. A n-rore complicated
issue is whether there exists a mythicai model for the social order
expressed in the rituals; or
myth and ritual at all. When

if
it

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual

Agcs

there is any obvious relation between

to trolld6rnr this is a fundar-nental

comes

question.
Vqluspd, the most conrplex of al1 Eddic poerrls, reveals the history of the
universe from creation to apocalypse in 66 stanzas. The poet has put the
words in the mouth o{ a ugLua, a prophetess claiming to have access to
clandestine knowledge older than the universe itself.The uplua is speaking
otT 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 and
the present. In the text seidr is said to be per{ormed at dilTerent significar:rt
phases 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 authority by knowledge from before tinre, when she was raised and nurtured by
the giants. Wrthout this connection to the demonic forces the crertion
nlyth cannot be told. Order is established to distinguish Midgardr from the
chaotic otherworld. Tinre, days and seasons are structured along with a
model for the good life, including &/rit rituals.Then, suddenly, in the nriddle
of 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 purpose of their appearance is to rernind the listener/reader that Midgardr is
surrounded by destructive forces. Imr-nediately after the uglua's version of
the creation myth, another two females with fatal ambitions are introduced. The appearance of Gullveig and Heidr (the latter a narne conl-

monly given in Old Norse literature to women conducting clestructrve

deeds, 'witches') leads to an escalation of the conllicts and the text indicates a conflict between the gods themselves,'the first war in the world'
(Clunies Ross 1994: 203ff .).The rrrythological position ancl status of these
two characters is a topic for cliscussion. Heidr is also calle rl 1,91m arrd lier
techniclue .scidr; apperently shc is willirrg to tcach vit'iorrs w()nl('n how to
predict tltc frrtrrre, s7rri, in ortler to rri:rkr' llrt] thirrgs rvorst'. I It'r rr:rnrt','tlrt'

Scandinauia

113

lrrisht one', is related to Freyja, the matron of the Vanir, 'uvho, Snorri
the one that originally taught the art of seidr to the Asir. The
s^rnle source tells that seidr was customary anlonJ the Vanir. Margaret
( llunies Ross has discussed at length the position of Gullveig within 'rwo
rrnjor semantic fields with the don-rinant operative rnetaphors of masculin, l.rirrrs, was

rtv and femininrry' Q9()4:187).

The middle part of the poem refers to a war antong the gods, between
two grollps named,lEsir andVanir.The text in this passage is obscure, prob.rbly corrupt. The origin of the rivalry is unclear, but broken oaths and
li'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 be
rrrrclefeatable.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 is
trscd 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. the
tlcstruction of the world, ragnargk. Apparently he is paying the uglua for
Ircr divination with jeweller.v. A similar situation opens another Eddic
l)()en1, Baldrs draumar, where Odinn wakens a uqlua from the grave to
rlrrestion her.A uglua gling valuable advice to the living from her grave
rs also at hand in the opening of Cr1galdr. Vqluspd gives a hint of the
krrowledgeable womant technique: it is stated that she is sitting out in
tlre wilderness,lT probably making an iltiseta, seeking solitude ro obtain
visions. Her vision is lucid, although frightening. A11 she can see is
v;rlkyries and destruction. The uglua is briefly telling of the death of
lirrldr, 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 extensivc 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 divtttrttiort, l)()t prinlilrily :r tct'lrrritlrrc firr rlcstruc-tiorr.'l'lris lppllrcllt lnrbigtrlly llt'twt'ctt ttt't t'sst(V rrtt,l (l('stru( ti()t) rs 1r11'y,;11r.'r,1 tlrr-ouglr<lrrt tltc
ItoIItlr\tttt- ttrrr-r-;rlivr's oI Ilrt' s,rr,,,rs Ioo.

114

l,Vitchcra-fi and
Frc

Tro11d6mr in Early Medieual

Magic in Europe:Tlrc Middlc Ages

y.j a

ing some kind of affinity (Hyndlull<1d 1). But the vqlua's answers are quite
aggressive. Hyndla gives a long genealogy of various rnythological beings
and in stanza 33 she mentions the origin of uqlur, and classifies them
anlong knowledgeable people, seldr perfornrers and giants. There is no
ntention of gods, but instead Freyja'.s helper is rel:rted to the destructive
inhabitants of the outside world.
In Snorri',s Ynglin,qa saga 1,0 Freya is said to be the last sr.rrviving of the
old gods and the last to keep up the old fornr of sacrifices.This comment
could be compared to the imase of the age-old uglud n Vgluspi, and elsewhere, being the last with knorvledge of the old lorc. Ynalinga -sa3a is not
printarily a collection of myths, but a historical narrative in rvhich Snorri
places the gods as agents in the dawn of tirne. As will be notcd further on
in this chapter, it is not unusual that -scidr perfi>rnters lre saicl to be the last
of their kind. In many texts the prototype of thc uqrllr,l seenrs to be a very
old wonran, as a personification of agerolcl si<)r.

115

Odirn, Mythical Chicftain antl Master rt'seidr

The Prime Seidkona

The process of passing on the knowledge of scidr appears to be of particular interest in some texts. Snorri refers to the nrvthological origin of seidr
inhis Ynglingd sdgd, the nrythical history of the Swedish kings, tracing their
genealogy back to Odinn himself. The source of his knowledge is said to
be the gods of fertility.When connected with theVantr seidr is not associated with poetry or old-tinre rvisdonr. Freyja taught the art of seidr to the
Asir.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 the
Asir and theVanir. Clunies I{oss has errrphasizecl the similarities in rnythological ftrnction between Gullveig in Vqluspi and Freyja in Ynglirrga sa.qa
(1991:2()3f .). Both texts indicate that -ieidr is a skill iacking among the
A,sir and it rnust be captured frorn the Vanir or the giants. Although
desired, it is obviously referred to rvith strongly negative connotations.
Other texts concisely call Freyla spidis or Vanadis. By giving her these
names the connection between Vanir, fertility and different aspects of
trolldtimr rituals is accentuated (N:isstrorn 1995).This is a reasonable connection since the divinatory aspects of -icidr are strongly connected to
luture prosperity.
Yet clandestine knowledge and divination abilities were not assumed to
be inborn qualities among theVanir either. In the Eddic poenr Hyndluljid
a conflict between Freyja and the uphtaHyndla is referred to.The goddess
is addressing Hyndla as if awakening her, calling her'sister'and thus clairn-

Srundinauia

( )<)inn is the most complex of the Scandinavian

5;ods, contradictory in
.rl)pearance and ambiguous in character (Lindow 1985; Mitchell 1993).le
I'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 the
rvtrrld 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 called
l.rther or lord of the other gods. He is presented as aristocratic, called'the
lrishest', and acts as a ruler, with a special relation to the warriors and
r'.rlkyries atValhqll; he is referred to as the chieftain of nren and gods and
lus 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 of
t )r'\inn as the god of poetry and wisdom.The supreme god is said to be the
rr.rster of the spoken word and as such in control of ultir-nate knowledge.

)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 sacrificed
rrr cxchange for knowledge and runes. [n these texts the god of death is
I

t,rst

irrs death hirnself.

'l'he nrost well-known scene is perhaps when Odinn is hanging in the

rvrrrrlswept tree, usually interpreted as Yggdrasill, sacrificing himself to
lrrrrrself, 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 to
llitnrnil 13U*44, he fasts and suffers, in a forrl of iltiscta in the wilderness
ont' 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 powefful
rurrt'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 of
r ;titrtrrisnril the god, disguised as the wanderer Grimnir, is sitting between
tr'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-quest

tlrt rrrt' is relatecl to tl.rc lnyth about the'uvise Mirnir and takes us back to
tlr,' r'orrHict betr,vecrr Asir lnrl Vanir. Yrr.g/irLgd sqqd 7 recounts that Odinn
l,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 by
tlr, 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

Trol1d6mr in Early Medieual

the ,4'sir frorn the Vanir where he had been kept hostage. Odi.r.t is said to
have enrbah-r-red it with herbs and galdr soogs, and spoken rvith the head in
tirnes of danger.The head is used technically in two ways according to the
myths: as a tool for divination when Odinn speaks with Mimir's head
shortly before ragnargk (Vqluspi 46 Ynglinga saga 4,7), or in scenes where
Odinn 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 the
point of connection between order and destruction.
Llke Vpluspi, Ynglinga s4g4 stresses that seidr originates from the Vanir
and that Mimir has an-inrportant position in the process. But it is Odinn
who 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, filled
with fury and strength, can take part in the battle without armour. This

state

of wild

rage anlong the nrythical warriors is called

berserksgangr.

Seemingly it is related to the shapeshifting theme: the conception that certain people and nrythological creaturcs can maintain tentporary operations
in 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 to
to renlote places on his own or other's business'. And he 'could put out
fire, calrn, the,sea, and turn the wind with his words'.20 Further on in
Ynglinga 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 in

Scandinauia

I17

through love magic. Hiuamil tells of very much rhe same

rl,rlitics as does Ynglinga saga 6 and 7.The utmost aim of the skills is gainilrri l)ower over other individuals. The san-re assisting purpose is stressed
tlt<', 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,
rrr.rrrrpr-rlating

It,',tltikr, and insights,fiqlkynngi. Many orhers learned from this a.d the
of trolld6mr became widespread and continued for a long tinre.

l,r,rr'tic:e

t )rrc of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda, Siqrdr{fumil,provides a catan1'gnomic poetry close to the elaboration in Hiuairdt (Larrington
l'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 stanzas
1',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
1,,1',11.'

,,,rrlisrrred in motion.The poem is no manuai, but a poetic application of

tlr, tirrru genre. The last group of rtlnar mentio.ed in this catalogue is
rrrrrr,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 leaked
frorn the skull of Heiddraupnir ['Brighr Dropper,]
and from Hoddrofnirt ['Hoard-tearer'] horn.21
(trans. by Larrington 1996: 168)

trollddnu stories and also a continuous thenre in later

Scandinavian folklore.The myths of self-sacrifice and the journeys symbolically confirnr that essential knowledge is to be gained outside Midgardr

Old Norse

and that the border to the realm of the giants must be crossed. In nrythological geography the border in between is symbolically marked by art
irnposing sea and a serpent. Few rnyths lack the conflict between the two
opposing realms. Journeys into the other world or visits to its borderlancl
are essential to achieve the advantages sought.Assisting himself or others is
also tlre therne of the final part of Hiuamil, the so called'Lj6datal', where
Odir., in eighteen galdr songs praises his own abilities (Larrington 19c)3:
62tT.).The god of poetry and knowledge speaks in.the first person, givirrg
a long catalogue of powerlul skills. L-itid, the sonqs ()dinn is in charge ot, ir
far 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 wlttt
has 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

()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 writrr rr ,rrrl kcpt the,r
- even if there are examples of learnid nuns i, the
l,,l.rrr,lit' (and other Sca,dinavian) r-,onasteries. Sigrclrifa hardly speaks on
1,, lr.rll .t- worneu or cxprcsscs lny particular fenrale wisdom,
and the
r', ('r\'('r'of-her aclvice is a rrrarr.The way she is portraved in the poern, she
lrl,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 to

I lr\ililt.

Ilrr' t;trt'sriorr wlrctlrct'tlrr'Pcrfirrlrrurrt't'ol'.rr,ir)r in ( )lrl Nor.sc tcxts is.r

sPctifit ll('tivrty lr:rs rt't't'rvt'tl rrr;rrry tlilli.n'nl ,ur\\\,(.r.s.'l lrt. rt.lltirlrr
lrr t\rt'r'il tlrt' rrrvtlrologir':rl tt'xls ,rrr,l llrr, rrrt,rr. rt..rlrs(r( \.rr,,,rs is .urotlrt,r
r', n(l('r

118

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual

WitchuaJt and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

cornplicated question

in this context. Do the texts fornl

a protorype or

paradigm of the seidr performer with relevance to actually performed rituals? The implications of the stated nrythological genealogy of seidr are hard
to specify when trying to corne to ternls with this complicated nratter.
As seen above, seldr is described in some texts as originating from the
Vanir, but Odirrn is represented as the master of seidr in many others.
Whether this mirrors a social conflict about the ritual responsibilities of
rnen and women in the Old Norse world is highiy questionable. As
FranEois-Xavier Dillmann has shown, when counted in the sources, men

and 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 given
the sexual interpretation,'hontosexual'.To perform seidr was supposed to
be shameful for men and the art was taught to the priestesses.22 In fact this
statement points in the opposite direction to the enrphasis sometimes laid
as a specifically fernale knowledge overpowered by the principal
rnale god (Kress 1993). In Snorri'.s genealogy of seidr the knowledge and
skills seern to have been mastered by the supreme god and later handed
over to vaguely described fernale ritual perforn.rers.
Interestingly enough a paragraph sonre lines further on keeps up the
thenres of power, knowledge and trollddmr, and states that these beneficial
skills were passed on to the D/tir (sacrifice) priests. The priests were second

upon seldr

to Odinn in foresight and knowledge.23 Instead of rnaking negative

rernarks on seidrthis part of the text connects the important social position
of a hl(ttgodi with Odinn and his extraordinary abilities.The passage has not
received half as much attention as the crgi part, but there is nothing that
indicates any inferior relevance. These two very different statements in the
same text can serve as an indication of the arnbiguous attitr-lde with regard
to 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 ternrinology ergi/argr (noun,/adjective) in relation to Odinn and seidr.When read ottt
of its context it must be remetnbered that the stanza belongs to a longer

catalogue

of verbal defanration pronounced by Loki towards the

other

gods. One accusation more enrbarrassing than the other conres over Lokils
sneering 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())

Scandinauia

1.19

)dinn is compared to a uplua who, like Saami or Siberian shamans, uses a

drum (ubtt) and is called both argr and uitki,i.e. performer of trolld1mr. Other
lrcldic poer"ns give the image of the seeker of wisdom as afflicted, and
lrccause 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,
"t
tlrc 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 seldr

It is debatable to what extent the connection between homo\r'xuality and ergi/ argr should be taken (Meuiengracht Ssrensen 1983; Kress
l')()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 are
rvith our own understandings of the terms. Instead, she points to 'a sex1i,'rder system rather difTerent from our own, and indeed rather different
lrorrr that of the Christian Middle Ages'(Clover 1.993:364).Thereby she
r)l)ells up a more fundamental discussion about gender as an analytic tool
rrr ()ld Norse studies.To attract their audience the sagas and the Eddic lays
Ir.rd to be good and entertaining narratives.2SAs verbal art they were stuctrrlcd around'a systern based to an extraordinary cxtent on winnable and
lrrsrrble attributes' Clover 1993:379).The tension between normative dis( ()rrrse and social reality was obviously a narrative possibility.What could
l)('nrore effective than calling the aristocratic lord of the gods and warriors
,rrrrrranly? As part of social interaction a certain negotiation with the defirrrtions of male and fernale and the construction of gender-specific qualilr( 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 of
lrrt'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 social
rrr,rrripulation. Movable categories, attributed to nten and women, were
,rr)('()f lnany ways for a writer to heighten the ternperature of the plot and
rrr.rkc surprising turns more plausible (Clover 1993:372).'fhe gender roles
rrr ()ld Norse texts are closely connected to the narrative structure and the
' r('.rtion of interesting fiction. l)reams, visions, sudden bad luck, seidr divrrr,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 tinres
rrritrctl that a pre-ohristian fcnrllc oral culture, in which worrrenls arts and
Itlct'rttttre flotrrishccl, wts cruslrcd by thc nrlle literate (lhristi:rrr [-atin culrrrrt'(l(rcss 1990, l()()3).'lir ltt:r tht'tt'xts of-.r'r'ir)r lrrt,.l lrolldt\rttr bcur witrrcss ttr
r lr.rttlc bctwccrr tlrr' st'xt's, wlrt'rt' w()rrr('n :rrc tlrt' r'cPrcscrrt;rtivcs ol a
rr:rrratives.

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

120

Trolld6rnr in Early Medieual

Witchcrdt and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

the relation between textual imagery in nrythologicai narratives and existing social conflicts, a certain pattern is visible in the texts concerning the
genealogy of seidr.In various narmtives gender does play a vital part in the
construction of conflicts, along with other significant markers of 'otherness'.The seidrperformerwas an outsider in one way or the other.But the
fringed 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 complicated
interplay 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 questions

of 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. Accounts
of 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 conducted
either for the benefit of the acting person herself, but more frequently it
was 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 conducted by a person who was conceived to be 'of great knowledge', which
was 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 of
vital inrportance to nraintain. Scidr was not only an occasional act for solving irnmediate problems. It also seenrs to have been a periodically recurring 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 I
certain 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'clictitlrts
nr: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. Itl
tl-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.

Scandinauia

121

'[-lrere are obvious destructive aspects o{ seidr, not only because

dangers
rr'..'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-cut
rrturrl of a fertility character, but as an explanation of ntishaps, as performed
rn.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 of
ur.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 to
l,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 instrucrr('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 between
rrr,r kn<>wledgeable wonlen, with disastrous consequences for him.
Wlr:rt can be gathered from the texts is that seidr was conceived as part of
r,lr, t ustomxry behaviour, but thcre were no dogmas, no written rules, only
, ',r,rl,lished custom.The traditions of those experienced in performing seidr
r, ('nrphasized in the sagas.The inner qualities of the per{ormer, good or
l,r,l,.rr-c key points in the narratives, as well as knowledge of tradition.To
I'r r t,l)rc knowledgeable,;flqlkunnigr or margkunnigr, was a development, a
trunurq, 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-forgotten
I rr,
Many texts emphasize this ancient knowledge, not only in reia'1y11'qlgs.
rrr,11 11v trolldtSmr and seidr,but as sonlethingvaluable and desirable as such.
l lrt' lloman historianThcitus noted in his descriptions of the Cermanic
trrl,, s (r.9ll t;e) that cerrain women were thought to have a sacred and
l,r,,l,lrt'tit'quality (Cermania tt). they are said to deliver advice and forecasts
r,,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 his
r, , (,trtrt ott hearsay artd prcviorts historians, the sirnilarities with the recordrrr,,', 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

I

llujtill.sncs

lr, tttosl t'xtt'rtsivt'lrrtl rlc(;rilt'tl ir((()unt ol',r tr'ir)r (('11'nl()ny is tirtrrrtl irr
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

tlrr l.trrtlr

122

with the Icelandic settlement on Greenland and the Norsenren'.s voytoVinland/Anrerica.The text was most likely written in the middle of
the thirteenth century (Conroy 19it0;Wahlgren 1993).In the centre of this
early 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 discussion, although it has rnany striking similarities to other Old Norse texts
dealing with -seidr and divination. But too nrany tirnes this particular
account of the ceremony has been read as an accurate anthropological
description o{ a uglua's performance. Questions nrust also be raised concerning the pr.rrpose of the conspicuous image of the seidkona and what
was 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 plea
for alteration; her help was badly needed. As the most irnportant farn.rer of
the area it was Dorkell'.s responsibility to arrange for a divination ceremony.
According to the explicitly claimed custom, sidr, he invites the uglua to hrs
farm to predict the forthcor"ning period, a matter of concern for the whole
local communiry.'When the famrer adrnits the uglua into his house, social
space is created for the ritual. He is in charge of the preparations, and the
event as a whole is his responsibility. The rnvited woman is called spikona
and 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 of
them had been spdkonur.zT With this specifrcation the text stresses her
being part of an old tradition. It should be noted that the number nine
o...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, but
there is no 'gothic' atrnosphere. The fortune-telling was obviously a social
tradition of the area and it was also part of a local ritual pattern to invite
the uglta to perfornr divination at the farnr.The outfit and the utensils of
the 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 wanderedbetween
the farms. Hopefully springtime would be more prosperous, which was a
vital qr-restion for everybody. Different preparations were undertaken to
honour 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 pcople
had 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
deals
ages

Tioild6mr in Early Medieual

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:Tlrc Middlc Ages

Scandinauid

123

:r rather ambiguous status can be expressed. This equivocality is obviously

used by the saga authors to create intriguing plots. It is noticeable how

iveli Dorbjorg lltil-uqlua rvas received at the farm, in line with the local
convention. It was the custom, -sidr, to receive a uqlua with reverence.The
importance of holdins her in great respecr is explicitly stated three times
in the chapter. Flonouring her with an escort contradicts the irnage of the
r,glua wanderin5; alone fronr farn.r to farrn that is stressed elsewhere in
other saga texts.
The text gives a colourful description at leneth of the outfit of the
lqrft.,a. She differs fi"om everything commonplace; her marginality is
e nrphasized by her costunle. This description by the Christian saia author
carr certainly not be read as'the general costunre of a uqlua'.I\ather it is in
line with the saga's scenery of a renrote place where paJan customs are still
practised.
She was wearins a black n.rantle

with a strap, which was adorned with

precious 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 lined
with white catskin. She bore a staff with a knob at the top, adorned
with brass set with stones on the top. About her she had a linked charn-r
beit rvith a large purse. In it she kept the charnrs which she needed for
her predictions. She wore calfskin boots lined with fur with long, sturdy
laces and large pewter knobs on the ends. On her hands she wore plloves
of catskin, white and lined rvith fur.
Son.re details

in her clothing are of special interest. It is complicated to

in her purse, lq-f, and whether and how the uglua was

rrnke out what is

rrrrkirrg trse of it, til-frrldlciks at hafa.The terrninology only indicates rhar she
rs saining knowledge with help fronr the substance. The wand and the
lrtrod are mentioned in other trolld6mr stories, although the latter usually
lirrrctioned as a;lrotection fronr the evil eye. No estirnation is expressed, or

hint of what was thought of this costullte, or what feelings it chalNothing is said about the looks of the woman, or if she was consrtlcred 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 syrnl,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 be
rt'rrrr:rrrberecl that all strch characters rtre nrade to stand out fi'orn the rest.
,rrry

I..'nsed.

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 rtranifesl.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 prcciscly

lrvo 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 were
to her estimation of each person. The first night Dorkell, the
master of the farm, took her hand and 1ed her to the prepared high seat,
which once nlore stresses the importance of honouring the in-rportant
gtrest. A most intriguing scene is rvhen the uqlua is asked to look all over
the place, renna par augLutt, to set her eyes on people and livestock, and over
the whole settlement.The eyes of the knowledgeable is a recurring theme
in Old Norse literature, but it is the fear of their gaze that is emphasized in
other 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 the
ambiguity of the capacities of -seldr perforn-rers. Every character in the text
is dependent on the intention of the spikona. However, thrs first night
Dorbjqrg is sornewhat reluctant and mostly stlent,-fimilngr.After the greeting cerenrony and an introduction to the farm people, a special meal was
prepared for the uglua; first she was served a porridge of goat's milk and
then a stew of hearts from ail animals. No comment on the food is ofTered
in the text. The uqlua had brought her own cutlery, which was as remarkable as her clothing: 'She had a spoon of brass and a knife with an ivory
shaft, its two halves clasped with a bronze bands, and the point of rvhich
had broken off '.2e As with the cloths, no comnlent is given on the cutlery
according

either.

After the meal Dorkell, the farrr-rer, approached the uplua and asked her
what she thought about the place and its people. He aiso made an attempt to
bring up subjects everybody was anxious to inquire about. B:ut the uglua
rejected his questions and said that she could not answer until the next
rnorning after having slept.The text does not give us any indication whether
or not there is a connection between the rneal and her dreams. ISefore gorng
to 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 the
first time the expression seidr is used in the text.Arrangements to promote
the seidr are said to be made, but no details are otTered. Before the scidr
could 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 while
Gudridr, the gucst, said:'I have neither: magical powers lfiqlkunnigrl nor the
gift of prophecy [i.e. I anr not a wiscwomlt:r,uisindanakoral, but in Iceland
my 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'.s
rather gentle protests at the beginning and hcr fathcrls rtbsence, the conflict
between the olcl religion ancl thc ncw is not explicitly crrrplmsizcd rn this
prrticul:rr tcxt. l>orkcl] is by rto n)c:lns rcprcscrrtcrl ils u l)ilgiu); trcvertltclcss
lre 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 his
to procure her, it is plausible ro think that he invites her out of
concern for his farm. As the leading man of the area he knows that the
period 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, nor
if she nrakes use of her wand or anything else in her equipment. Gudridr'.s
sons, ky@di, is said to be the most beautiful ever heard. Considering the
detaiis already given in rhe text it is hard to agree with Strombdck in his
irrterpretation of the meaning of the vardlttA&a song. FIe argues that there is
rrn obvious trace of shamanistic trance in the ritual.31 But nothing is mentioned in the text about the uglua's soul or any journey of the soul, either
in ecstasy or with the body lying down in any kind of altered stare of consciousness.The song is just said to be sur-rg and there are no comments on
the eflect on the participants. Direct influences on the Old Norse world
view from circunrpolar areas is still a little-investigated field, though rnost
possibly interesting parallels are to be found. To label the performance of
rr'idr as shamanism in a post-Eliade manner seenls an all too phenomenological and simplistic approach. In contrast to phenornenological argunlentrtion, 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 ritrrll Gudridr is first of all thanked for her achievement.Then the rplza tells
tlrat the spirits, nittilrur, are pleased with her beautiful singing.The name
oI the spirits is not known from mythological narratives either. The uglua
rs able to tell that they are pieased to hear the singing. Suggestions have
lrcerr nrade that they should be interpreted as landuettir.'Help in exploitrrrq aninral wealth is normally credited to landucettir, or "gr,rardian spirits"
reasons

,rf the country

/ ... . Landucettir is grammatically

a feminine noun, but

rr,'lren the creatures are represented, they appear either as animals

or men'
Disir and alfar are other beings associared with the
lr.,sehold, and as recipients of offerings and as the objects of rituals they
,.rrld plausibly influence futurc prosperity.They were all collective beings
livins u,der family-like conditions and could in some respects be said to
rrrirrt:lr the people of the fatm.The well-being of the larnrer was rhe prert'tltrisite of the latter. Ancestors who are concerned about the farm and
It'r'tility spirits are spoken of in the sanre nrode. Chasing away the landurettir rv:rs the qoll fbr Egill Skalh-(]rinrsson when he was perforrning his
(f<rchens 1993:310).

r',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 - tlmrrratic
lrttt 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 forthcoming text (Conroy 1980: 119f.). The atmosphere is amicable and the
uqluabids Gudridr farewell and calls her'r-ny daughter'.This intimacy could
be conrpared to the scene at the beginning when the uglua greets the people of the farm according to her opinions about ther-n.The underlying tone
is that the perforrner of the ritual, the vglua,has some distinct influence over
the near future. Not only should the spirits be pleased to assure a flourishing summer season, but the uplua as well. Aggression against a diviner never
pays off.Then the scene is settled for the last part of the long ritual and perhaps the most important for the cornnron people - the opportunity for
other people fronr the farm to ask the uqlua what is on their minds. She was
quite talkative and the saga states that most of what she said turned out to
conle true.\X/hen the cerenrony was all over Forbjgrn, Gudridr's father, was
sent 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 narratives of individual persons in Old Norse literature. One plausible reason
could be the wish to formulate a powerful contrast between the old and the
new 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 favourable
character, thus emphasizing the sapJa as a Christian text. As many scholars
have argued, the main character in the saga is the young worlan Gudridr but
her dorninant position in the text has been interpreted in different ways.

Since she is to beconle the Grnale ancestor of several bishops, some

observers note that the young wonran's virtues and merits are emphasized
throughout the text (Strornblck 1935: 56ff.).Yet her role as main character
can be interpreted fronr two very dillerent points of view. As there are two
pronrinent 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. But
after some persuasion she agrees to sing the song necessary for the ritual. A
more concealed conflict in the text, between the old traditions and the new,
could therefore be stressed. On the other hand, the ritual is never condemned in the text. Quite the opposite; the scidr cerernony is said to obtain
the e{lect desired.The divination does not seem to be necessarily contradictory 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 solution in difficult situations.The vivid scene could be the result of the historical interests of an antiquarian author,who wishes to give a grar-rdiose picture
of tirr.res passed.The'exotic'image is of Grecnland as son)ethins nlore pag:ul
and wild, a lancl olsettlers, only slor'vly conrltrcrccl by Olrristiarrity, in contmst
to thc (llrristiun civilizrtion of Iccl:rrrd. Accortling to tlrc srrr{rr tcxt tlrc orrly
ottcs 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 cererrr,,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 domirr,rtcd by women and that it is the collaboration between the women that
rrr,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 thenre

rs stressed, Eiriks saga rauda ts nevertheless a text fiiied with more details
,,rrrcerninS; scldr than any other. Even so, unanswerable questions renrain
r,'r1:rrtlins the actual practice and its meaning.
Scveral diflerent alents appear on the ritual arena at Heri6lfsnes, each of
rlrt'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 the
l,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

,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 chapr, r tl)c uqlua ts the acting and dominant subject of all events and the object
r', 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 emphasize
',
lr\ \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 to
tlr,' prrrticipation r>f wornelr r,vho - at least the nrost proillinent among
rlr, rrr r'otrlcl cstablish sonrc socirl authority.
,r(

rtq

tr

r r

l'

I'l tt

tttc

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' ritu,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

Tiolld6mr in Early Medicual Scandinayia

Witchcraft and Magic in Europc:The Middle Ages

follow a certain pattern. There were no settled rules for -scldr ritua1s, but some of the saga authors stressed in their texts sonle syrnbols
that seemingly nrust have been associated with such perforn-rances. Most
saga writers, in one way or the other, give seidr performers and characters associated with trolld6mr a n-rarginal position in the text. As there
were reservations about Eiriks saga raudd, other accounts of seidr are
theless

likewise 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 executed accidentally, but always by will. There was always a problern to be
solved, a condition to be changed, or a prediction to be made for the corling season, and for this reason a person with extraordinary knowledge was
called upon. Both the divinatory aspects of -seldr and the performed malevoience share this basic feature.When seidris conceived as a comlllunal divinatory ceremor-ry in sagas this is frequently expressed with ar-r invitation to
the 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 llo

about the country. They were called 'spae-wives' [-rplkorllr], and they
foretold peoplet futures. For this reason people used to invite them to
their houses and gave then hospitality and bestowed gifts on thenr at
parting.

32

The fonr-ral organization around the uglua's visit hints at an understatrd-

In

Vatnsdela

Ingjaldr and his people invited a Saami wonran to spi.'The Lapp

wonran, splendidly attired, sat on a high seat. Men left their benches ancl
went fonvard to ask about their destinies. For each of then'r she predictecl
that which eventually carte to pass.'34
Some texts tell of preparations n.rade for the honor.rred gtrest. In VigaGlilms sd.qd we read: '[t was thought very irrrportlnt that h<>uscwives in thc
area 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 tcxt
g()cs ()rr to tcll ltrotrt:t conHii't Irclwer'rr tlrt'lrostt'ss rrrrtl tltt'r,Q/r,,r.'l-lre tirrtttt'r is lt()t ('()llt('ltt wrtlr wlr:rt slrt'lrt':rrs:rrrtl slrorrts:'l slrotrltl Ir.rvc tlrottgltl
-sa.ga

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 rnentroned several times elsewhere and in this case a flavour of dissatisfaction
rvith 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 ceremony
l,oth as a joint effort by the comrnunity and also as a gathering of a semil,rrblic character.There xre no secrecies or hiclden activities, just the perlor.rnance of an expert, sometimes with the assistance of people from the
l,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. It
r., rrbvious in Eiriks saga rauda how important the joint singing of the
r',tr,\lokka song was to piease the spirits.The ritual seemed to be completed
rrrtlr the circle of women around 1\s yglua. In the exceptional ritual
r,lt'rr-cd to in the Vqlsa pdffi all the people frorn the farm come together
to sirrs to and praise the cult object,Vqlsi.
( )nc text of great interest * although it does not mention any of the
rr.,rr;tl trttlldimr terminology * is the observations made by the Arabic writer
ll,rr lradlan, -"vho encounteredVikings sailing down theVolga at the beginrrrnq 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 in

ing of the ceremony as an estabiished social institution. But as with the

exotic surroundings for the seldr ceremonies many explanations are plausible. The uglur are said to w-alk frorn one farm to another and be invited to
perfornr at larger gatherings arranged by a host who invites all his people
at 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 about
the uglua Heidr:'She wor-ild go to feasts, telling people about their destinies
and fbrecasting the weather for the corning winter.'33 In almost all texts
personal fate and future prosperiry are at the centre ofinterest.

129

tlr,' 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 the
rrlr,rle crew participating. Songs are nrentioned and there is a woman at
('e l)tre of the perforntances.
Arr olcl won1al1, called'the angel of death', and her two daughters assist
rrr 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

lr('

,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's
rr rlt' irr L/plsa l:ittr lrave crrught the attention of several scholars who point
rr 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

l,,,tlr lttldic' [)()ctry rrrrd tlrc Iristoricll cltrorrit'lcs oI tlrc

stressed in

sagas. Irr the

worcls lrr :rbsoltttc

nr()rr('lrt ol'vot;rliz:rti()n tl)(' lorrtl rrttr'r'lurtc rrr;rtlc tlrc

rr(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

Trolld6rnr in Early

Ages

eqr-ripment could either be textual markers of otherness or tools necessary

for successful rituals. Urrdor-rbtedly the most intricate description of special
clothing is Dorbjprg litil-vglva in Eiriks saga rauda. No other -scidr perforrner is given such an outstanding outfrt.Their outward appearance is in
r11ost 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 also
appear in relation to perfomers, but rnore to protect against the gaze of a
knowledgeable person who perfornts destructive seidr when captured and
punished.

The seidr performer was obviously not conceived of as an ordinary person and this discrepancy had to be nrarked in the text. But the var:iation
between the individual sagas is so great that no fixed pattern can be established. For the saga writer a choice of dillerent possibilities was :rvailable. As
we have seen, the executor was a temporary lluest and the perfomrance
was at night. OId ase was one way to represent the oid lore, i.e, the ancient
traditions.
Along with age, ethnicity is the strongest nrarker of otherness, as when
the 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 a
warning in saga texts. Trouble is bound to colne since these pc-ople rvere
believed to be more skilled in trolldtinw rhan others (Page 1964; Mundal
and Steinsland 19U9: 108).In Hilfdanar sdsd sudrta a Saarni n-ran is captured
and tortured in order to make hinr reveal clandestine things to the king.
However, violence is not the way to nrake the Saanti speak, rvhclse spiritual
strenpith lasts longer than

bmte lbrce. The Latin chronicle

Scandinauia

131

strflicient to free the kingt nrind lronr what Snj6fridr has done to bind
lrim.When she dies the king r-nourns inconsolably fbr three years arrd her
body does not decornpose * until the king is advised by a knowledgeable
pcrson to change the cloth under the corpse. Her body inrnrediately
bcgins to change. When burnt the trr,rth is revealed; snakes, lizards, and
other foul animals corne out of her body.The inragery is significant for the
hybridity of the Viking age: local conceptions about ethnic neighbours
rrrcet Christian thenres of rejection. Since the early days of Cllrristi.rniw
tlernons and devils - and persons associated with such creatures - were
linked to foul aninrals. Physical contact in this case seelrls to be the solutiorl 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 urrbigriity runs nlore or less constantly throughout the .v'idr corpus.A clear exanrple
is 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 tnd
trorniy. 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 the
t'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 light
thc candle when he concludes that, at the age of 30(), he has irr,'ed a full life.
-t'he

Historia

an anonynlorls text frortr the latter part of the trvelfih century,

dedicates a whole chapter to the Saarni and their extraorclinary physical
and spiritual abilities.Their r-rse ofgarrdr, their ability to achieve tenrporary
guise, is especially stressed and conceived of as a terrible threat. Marriages
to Saami wonten in Old Norse texts alw:rys tllrn ollt to be disastrous. In
Vdtnsdrxla saga 10 a Saanri wonlrn is urvited to tell fortunes according to
the old traditions since such women did not always give bad prophecies, if
treated well. Like the uqlua in ntytirological narratives she is both lbared
and needed, and ciearly defincd to be of anorher kind - rn Vpluspi as
raised by jqtnttr, in the sagas by ethnicity.Along wirh sonre nrore erhnographic notions on their nonradic life, skills in hunting and use of snow
shoes and skies, Saxo tells of how Saanris are known to be able to deceive
the sight of victims by rllusion (V: 13il).
Kins Haraldr of Norway in Haralds -raqa in-s htifiaqm is in raprures over
the 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 rlssrlrcs
rrs thrtt hc fi'cls.rs if-firc burrrs lris skirr. spcllbotrrrtl lrt'rrr:rrrit's tlrc lrc:rrrtifirl
Srr.jritii<)r :uttl lirrge ts ltis loyrrl tltrtit's. ( )nlitr:rry pcoplt"s plt',rs .rlc rrot

A,Lt:dieual

Cult of rlre Vplsi and ()tlrtr Priuatc Rinuls

IrlLtrtuegiae,

()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 and
tlcscribes King C)lafr'-s irrcogniro visit to r renrote farnr in the far north of
Norway.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. The
lcxt states that these people have no knor.vledge about the trtre f,rith.The
locll fertility cerelrony is performed by the people fron the firrnr :rnd,
,rt'r'orcling to the text, the ritual is first introduced, and then continously
Icd, by the fanuer\ witb. The private character and the fernale rctivitv
rrr: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 the
t('\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()ltl). Ilrt'r'nr:rkt'st'vt'nrl rtt'u'suggt'stiorts,strcssittq tlrt'tcxt:rs:t

lilr-orrl krr,,rvlt'rlrit'ol't'r,t'rvrl:rv rt'ligiorr. IIorvcvcr, it is ttot
rrrv irrtt'rrtiorr to l.rkt' l).uI ln tlrt' tlisrtrssiott ,rlrott( lltt' tlt.rt':tttt'r ol'(ltt'
l(.rri Vrgt

Possi[rlc s()u11'('

132

Witchcra_ft and

Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

Tiolld6mr in Early Medicudl

cerenlony and what it is airned at, but only to notice their interpretation of
tlre farnrer'.s wife as a local uqlua w'Lth the ability not only to foresee the
Future, btrt also to rrrake it prosperous.
Actually two rituals are described. First, there is a preservation ceremony
during which the horse phallus is embalmed in a piece of linen-cloth with
onions and herbs. Secondly, there is the daily evening ritual when the
firnrer's wife takes the uplsl out of its coffin and brings it to the firrm
people. They sit together, they all take the uqlsi rn their hands, and each
nrenrber of the household sings an individual verse, kuctdi, to it.The phallus is simultaneously worshipped as a deiry and sacrificed. The cult object
is 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. Fertrlity
powers llke disir have been suggested, as well as the fertility god Freyr, and
Steinsland 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 it

a'gift'to

the mernir.
Disgusted by witnessing this pagan ceremony, the Christian king throws
the rqlsi to the farm dog, which swallows it immediately. King Olafr
reveals his identity and,since the saga is the story of a saint,he converts the
rvhole farrn and the plrtr ends.
Of special interest to the present discussion on trolld6mr is the question
rr.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 to
the actil,ities of auqlua (1981:103f.).The first one is the etymolosical connc'ction between uplr (wand), uqlua and uplsi. They suggest that the uglsi
rnight 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 the
following 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 ofTering that has been destroyed. The lifting up can be plausibly connected to
tlre ability at spi, of foreseeing, with the door serving as a nretaphor for
seeing into 'anotl.rer side'. Like Forbjgrg litil-vglva and the slave gir1, the
worran climbs the tree constrllction as a part of the ritual perforrnance.

When the fanner's wife'.s worship is violently interrupted, her ability to

use her gaze helps her to fulfrl the cerenrony in the way the knowleclgeable airvays can, since they see what is clandestine to others.The divinatory
aspect 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 in
Tiicittrs'rl('('()r.lr)t o1'()errnlrrrir' dcvirr:rti<ln. tlrt' sccr-css Vt'lctlrr is slitl t<l bc
kcpt irr :r lriglr torvcr tirrrr rvlrit lr slrt';rrrsr,vt'r's tltrt'stiorrs (//irl,,ri,rr'-1.r,5)
.

Scdndinayit

133

A third argument could be added to Stei.sland andvoigti in ordcr ro

establislr such a connectiorr between the farrner's wife and uqlur ts the
,'lose link to fertility and sood living condirions. FutLlre prosperity is also

in many activities perforrned by a t,glua.Therc is nothing in the

tcxt indicating any divination of indiviclual futures, rvlrich - as we have
scetr in other texts - is a vital elenrent in ntost -scidr-ritua1s. But collective
Prosperiry is saved by the actions undertaken by the wolrlan in charge of
[)resent

tlrc rituals-

when trying to a,alyse vqka pittr,rany of the sa,re problelrls occur as

rvlrerr discussing the scidr cereurony in Eirik-s sago raudi.ln both cases a1r
t'l:rborate ritual is described and in the corrversion story rn cxotic and
lrcathen context

is constructed in the text, as rvild ancl rerllote

( irecnland. Nevertheless

.rs

the ceremony can be connectcd to a cert.rin pf,tIt'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 hicleous
nuurners of the pagans of the tar north, or it is a plausible n-rodel of local
re 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 or1
tlrc whole very well structured it is very ternpting to read this cletail as an
rrrrlrse 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 the

rrerv religion. Old wonlen in other texts also serve as representatives of
,rrrcient lore.Those two features - age and gencler
were, on the other

lr,rrrtl, r-rot the most iurportant rvhen trying to gair.r public aLlthority ro
slrcrk.What rernained was'corrosive discor-rrse' (Lincoln I991).
'rlre fanrous Buslubean rhat appears in the fifth
chapter of iJd-sa -sa{a oft
llcrrttuds 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 sranz.rs firllow each other, while the two last are anticipatecl by prose inserti.rrs. with its nine verses the text constitutes a Llnique exarnple in olcl
N.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 this
rt tltt' lttttgest ttsc of tltc spcll [rrrrrr in uny sitgu. With rts str()ng worcls r-he
slrt'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 ]rer
rvistlottt. 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

Trolld6nrr in Edrly Mcdieual Scartdinauia

Witdrcrqft and Magic in Europe:The Middle A,qes

tq.t'r.

The knolvledgeable."vor.nan'.s monologue identifies itself by name in the

second stanza, Buslubtt:n,'Br-rsla'-s prayer'.

It

is specifically called brxn,prayer,

a 'uvord common in Christian terrninology, and not galdr, kucedi or anything
else we could easily trarrslate as spell or charnr. Sti1l the poem is emphasized 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 everyrt,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 perwith access to ancient lore and alnrost lost knowledge, tp-fr, appears
again. Both before and after the poem explicit references are made to the
nevn, 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, what
she threatens King Hringr r,vith nrust fall undc'r the category of perforrned
nralevolence. The use of the spoken word in an attelnpt to break fetters
and 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 in

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 encJs
lrcr 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 shame
When you play the uame,
'When
she'.s on her back
But you've lost the knack:
Would you like to hear some more39
(trans. by Pilsson and Edwards 19g5:20(rf.)

sor-r

Ilor"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 her
u,ords known all over the world, which w'ill disgrace the man who rs prepared 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 the
right tirrre or place (the king's bedroorn).There is fbrce and confidence itt
her words and fronr the third verse she lets her powers loose. ln the ftillowing verse Busla gives a catalogr-re of the bacl things that will happen ttr
the king rf her plea is not obeyed. King Hringr will experiencc physicll
pain, 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 wltltl
krro'nvlcclgcublc pcrsorrs:lrc supl)()sc(l to lrc:rblc to irrf]it't orr tltt'il rrpltorrerrts urrtl slrorv sirrtil:tt'itics to tltt' t':rtllogttc's ot'/r,r//r/,irirr ;r[rilitres irr lrtltlrt'
l)()('( ry.

35

Soon I shall dart

Close to your heart
With poison snakes
to gnaw yor-rr breast:
I)eafen your ears,

what begins as a plea ends as a cllrse. The introductory prose gives sotne
interesting details about the character of Busla. No really negative words
are used, but her skills are apparently conceived of as ambiguous old-time
lore,

.l

lrr the following prose the king is very upset and atenlpts to attack Br_rsla
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 cannot
r 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 the
Irr.wledgeabie when unfavourable lvords are uttered. Thus, in this case
rr.tlring can hinder the forceful words uttered bv Ilusla. She continues and
lrt'r' threats escalate. All kinds of supernatural beings are let loose according
rr, 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.

r'ith physicai

'lrr

that case, I'11 have to deal u.ith yor-r further,' said llusra. Then she
strrrtcd recitins the so-called 'Syrpa verses'which hold the nrost powerlirl 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 lulflllecl
tlrt'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. kirrg
r',1\'('s tl[). Ncxt tllry tltt'1rt'isottt't-s,rti'tt'lt':tst'rl rrrrtl tlr<. li,llorvirrg r'lr:rPtt'rt( (()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

Troild6mr in Early Medieyal Scandinauia

Neither equiprlrent nor symbols are mentioned in tsuslubtrn.The

text colrcerltrates entirely on the spoken word. It is nrost likely that the
poerr-r existecl as an individual text which the saga author rnade use of in a

Dorbjqrn and his Fostermother Fighting thc Outlau., Crettir

business.

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 other
Eddic poenrs. A conrparison could be made between Buslubcen and the
second Old High Gernran Mersebr.rrg Charrn. Both texts are constrlrcted
in terrns of a direct confrontation.The speakers are directly adclressing the

sollrce of trouble.There seerns to be a certain psychology ir.r the conviction

that there are bc'lrefits ir-r facing a complicated situation with direct speech
es a counteraction. Busla is threatening and plays with the double nature of
trolld|mr.With its clivergent possibilities she cannot only release the prisoners, 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 far

nrore frequent in the sagas than actual divination rituals. A certain pattern
appears in connection r,vith these actions of performed malevolence.There
is always a sender, i.e. the person who performs or acts, who has the
knorvledse 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 plot
and the narrative strateliy not to reveal the cause of the rnisfortune until
nruch later in the text" The sender always r-nakes use of an instrunrent to
ahieve the goal. It can be the spoken word: a song, a fornrula or some kincl

of spell. Most ofter-r it ir.rvolves an act, elaborate or simple, or even a full ritttal. Some texts nrention the use of concrete objects, like blood or a piecc
olwoocl. Signs and syrnbols like runes can be included.The intricate question of the use of the runes rnust be discussed in this context.The senderls
use r>f the instmrnent(s) airrs at a result. Sornething nrust be changed irr
favour of the person who initiates the perfonrance, not necessarily thc
sender. Flor.vever, it nrust be renrenrbered that sirlilar rituals were used ftrr
gaining 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 lll
the 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 tlrc
t'otttlit ts :rr.' :rlrl'.rvs lrrt itl itr tlre [11v1.

137

An eiaborate story of performed rnalevolence can be read in Grettis saga

one of Grettir'.s enemies, Forbjgrn Qngull, wants revenge
,rrrd the reward for killing the outiaw Grettir. Despite the fact thar Grettir
ls 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,. And
l'orbjern is also fully aware of the fact that he cannot overcome Grettir'.s
srcater 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 away
lirrnr 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 to
lr.rve been of great knowledge in her younger da.vs, and describecl as
liplkunnig njqk og margkurutig mjpk, perhaps rhe mosr frequent terms ro
r Irrrracterize knowledgeable people. Her age nrakes her a representative of
,rrrcient traditions and lore. The text relates her explicitly to the old relir1i.n, in contrast to the new custol11s. Dorbjern is making use of his fosterTu and onwards.

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 is

rt':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 insrructr.,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 Dorbjprn
rnrrst follow the o1d woman's advice exacrly. Alter a long time Duridr
r((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 the
Ir,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 will
rr,t lre-an easy victory, the fosternrother can foresee, ancl he must be prel,.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 has
tlrt'c:rp:tcity to cttttc.lttct a firrrrr of nrclrtal X-rly.Aftcr hcr observuticlns slrc
r,rr) stirte tlrrrt they rlrc str()ug, [rtrt rvitlrotrt lrrck, /r,rrrrirrq joltttsir, i.e. rvitltout
It,tttritt.qit.'l'ltcrc:rfter sltt' is 1r11'1r;11't'.i t,r r'orr6-orrt tlrcrrr. Witlr lll tlris p6rver
Irrl irrlirnrltiorr slrt' l:rys ( irt'tti' rrrtlt'r-ir ( rrrs(' tlr:rt rv.r-ks ,rs ,r
P1i.1lj1.1j1y;1 1yflroy1, 1lr.' [r;rl,rrrr't' of'norvt.r' rr'rll, lr.rrrr,.,.:

138

W'itchcrdft dnd Mdgir

in

Europe :Tlrc Middle Ages

'Now I curse yoLl, Grettir, to be deprived of all favour, all endowments

and fbrtune, all defence and wisdonr, the t.uore so the lor-rger you live. I
trust 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, Sipl
ok grc-fd,but also all possibilities of help and wisdonr. Frotn Grettir'.s answer
we can gather that he knows that he has lost: 'No lvords have ever unsettled nre more than those that she spoke.'aa His reaction against the old
woman 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 her
spoken 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 sitnilarity
between Grettir's behaviour against Durid and tl.re custom of stoning persons accused of trolldtSmr to death. The conflict with the knorvledgeable
trlnrs out to be a vital part of this plot too, only it ntust be noted that this
tinre 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>orbjqrn
still thinks he has r.nade a lool of hinrself, e:Iger as he is for imnrediate
results. Nevertheless, a lclng tinre passes before the old wolran nrakes her
second irlove - the ritual. Since she is severely rnjured in her leg she is carried down to the beach, r,vhere her actior.rs are carefully described:

He did as she recluestecl, and when she reached the shore she hobbled
along by the sea as if follor.ving directions,until she carne to a tree lying
ther: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 it
over for her. The underside looked burnt and rubbed down. She nrade
them scrape a flat sudace where the tree had been rubbed, then took
her knife and carved runes into the root, stneared them with her blood
and recited spells. Then she walked backwards and withershins around
it, 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,'and
nray it harm Clrettir in every *"y.''+5
The olcl wonran is consistently obeyed and the young nran is loyally giving
her assistance. Clandestine forces are guiding the fbstertnother. Her ttlovenrents 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 to
lrlrrid, 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 perform an elaborate ritual.'was the snrearing of blood iomething spectacular
to the saga audience, as it is to a modern reader? was it . *ry
making
"r
the christian audience understand how cruel the pagan rituals were?
It is an elaborate performance, well prepared in several stages. Duridr is
probably operating with a piece of wood that has previously been used for
trolld6mr. The fosternlother uses her sensitiviry
,rrak.r no
"rd blood, the over-hasry
nloves. Her instruments are the wood and her own
carving of
runes and her spell, the spoken word. She sends a tangible object agalnst
tl.re victim. She is the performer, the mediurn, through *t i.t the wishes of
the assigner are sent, although Dorbjgrn is ignorant of ho* and why he has
to rely on her. Some texts stress the importance of physical contact when
trclld\mr is performed, such as vatnsdela saga 44 r"h.r. Dorkell can make

lris enenry qpeechless at the pingby

touchini him with a spdkrna'swand. In

the text discussed rhe nroment of touch seems to be the iurningpoint for
cvents to so in a new direction.
Powerfi.rl forces are let loose and the results are bound to be quickly evitlcnt. Grettir twice tries to avoid contact with the piece of wood, having a
sense 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 a
wcak and vulnerable target for his enernies. Duridr's deeds have fulfilled
rvhat Grettir's mother had foreseen in her dreams ancl warned her son
rr[rout.

There are both sirnilarities and differences when Duridri deeds are com1r;rred to the seidr performed by Irorbjgrg litil-uqlua on Greenland. The
srrnre 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 ceremony
lirr the benefit of an individual and her kin, an affair of interpersonal and
rrrtcrfamily 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 from

l.,t.t'do'la -sarra (ch.35fr.). It differs fronr tl-re account i-t Eir{ks saga rauda in
r,'vcrrrl irrteresting rnatters.The trolldtirur is perfon.ned by male piactitioners
I.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 other
lltt'tttt's rtrt' ilr fot'rrs. It rclls ol'lrort, I(otkcll ;rrrrl Iris f;rrtrily his wife ancl
l\\() 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 together
in these rituals and how they are treated as a group, not primarily as individuals. The succession of knowledge is evidently conceived of as kept
within the fanrily, to give a flavour of uninterrupted transmission. In some
sense Kotkell himself takes the lead as head of the family, but there is no
obvious gender division in the performances expressed in the text. No
action is commented on as unmanly or with any equivalent terrn, but
rather as immoral and, above all, foreign. The family is said to be from the
Hebrides and to be newcomers to Iceland.'When introduced, these people
are given a description with negative connotations: 'all of them skilled in
witchcraft fmjqkfiqlkunnigl and accomplished magicians lmestu seidmen )'.16
Their foreign origin is emphasized in the episode and ethnicity serves here
very clearly as a marker of otherness (Sayers 1992:133ff.). Soon they are
involved in local conflicts and Kotkell is offering the family's skills as a way
of establishing allegiances in the new place. The family is said not to work
particularly hard to support itself, which might indicate that they were also
suspected of using their abilities and trollddmr knowledge to gain prosperity
without hard labour. Such abilities are labelled'magical rnilk theft'in later
Scandinavian fblklore and were literary and iconographic motifs on the
Continent during the Middle Ages. In the Christian context both theological discourse and more didactic anrbitions to explain the origins of evil
were focused on the devil as a character. Such a figure could be used to
visualize the sum and substance of the message existentially and ontologically as well as mythologically. The very existence of devils and demons
was constantly confirmed by the Church in sermons, ceremonies and
iconography. The attributes of these creatures that were irnpressed during
the process of Christianization and further on during the Middle Ages
have their origin in ancient Greece and the NearEast.All over Europe the
Christian mission could identifli the demonized gods with the devils and
fiends with cloven hoofs, tails and horns. Many stories, motifs and themes
in the Old Norse literature are adaptations from a widespread Continental
corpus of texts and pictures.
-fhe Laxddd text does not give any details of the ceremonies,but rather
a striking and detailed picture of the conflict pattern behind thenr. First,
the fanriiy members are accused of theft and of being knowledgeable, pi6;fnadr okJjqlkynig,and are condemned to outlawry. However, there is never a
fornral trial at the Alpingi, since Kotkell and hrs farnily imrnediately take up
the struggle against the accusation by performing -seidr with dramatic cor.rsequences. Kotkell raises a seidhlallr and the whole fanrily gets Lrp to sing

gdldr songs. As a result a stornl arises and causes the death of Kotkell'.s
antagonists at sea.The fanrily uses the scidlldllr, ar.r object of obscure cc>nstrlrction th:rt is also nrentionccl in l:iriks stqa rrltr)rr,.rS tlrcir collcctivc
ctlttil.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 the
whole fanily with a direct and fatal effect.
This trolld\mr acrion leads to an escalation of the conflicr and people in
the area want rhe Kotkell family killed (ch. 36). once again the family

make use of local conflicts just as they are used themselves by people in the
* in transactions between the families:

neighbourhood

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

For the second time the family performs a seidr ceremony together. The
song is said to be very beautiful but also strange. It is directed towards a
certain person, who understands the purpose and therefore forbids his
people to leave the house during the night. But to the young son of the
house the sounds of the seidr are irresistible and he walks out ;f the house
only to fall dead irnmediately. This is quite similar to what happened to
Fidrandi in ltidranda pdttr,who was enticed out of the house anJ kiled by
the d{sir. ln Laxdela s4g4 norhing is said about which powers or beings
actually kiil the boy - just that the sounds of the rorg horrr the Kotkells
overpower him. The scene - with the foreign family singing outdoors in
the night, while the local people have entrenched therruelves inside the

farmhouse - is a powerful image of the contrast between outside and

inside, of being part of society and in a double meaning standing outside it
(ch.37).This situation corresponds more than in any other deslription of
seidr to the mythological struggle berween aggressive destruction and cosmological order, between the misfits and the settled.
After the death of the boy, full revenge is inevitable. Kotkell and his wife
are soon found and sroned to death. That place is thereafter called
Skrattavardi, a derivation from skratti and seidrskralfi, other related terms for
people of knowledge and destructive powers. The burial-mounds of such
persons could be dangerous, as the Laxdela saga tells further on in another
context (ch.76). A very pious christian woman is disturbed during her
,ightly prayers and when the floor is opened on the recommenclation of a
returning dead:

u,der the ground they found bones, which were brackened a,d
horrible, along with a chest pendant and a large magician'"s staff
lseidstafr
nrikilll. People therr dc'cided that a prophetess ruusr have been buried
here luq>lulti<)i,:r prophctcssls sravel.J"he bones wcre urovecl to a relllote
pllcc 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 completely 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 extraordinary knowledge lead to a spiral of conflicts with violent deaths and great
anger among the local people.The final revenge and the punishments of the
Kotkel family are undertaken by the local people without any formal trial.
No general classification of seidr can be made according to the temrinology in use, since only a vague distinction as to the intention of the rituals is adopted as a narrative tool by the saga authors. Still, cornpared to
Eiriks saga rauda 4 there are some similarities of interest, even if the purpose
of the acts are entirely di{Ierent. In both texts the scenes of the seidr
cerernonies are focused on the singingon the hjallr,bot there is no technical information. Obviously the equipment is of less interest than the power
and 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 or

worse'I find it reasonable to deal with the positive aspects of trolld\rur and
seidr in a briefer part at the end. There are fewer Old Norse texts focusing
on healing (Dutsois 1999:93ff .),but on the other hand there is more comparable material from the Continent. Among these protective practices we
will not frnd any descriptions of grand rituals or elaborate cerenronies,
merely modest acts of protection against what wrre conceived as trolld|mr
assaults. In this catelory of rejecting diffuse negative influence I also
include different attempts to achieve relief from physical and mental disease. Seeking to arouse or subdue love follows basically the same pattern.
Stories of trolld6mr attacks do not always end with the person aimed at
being harmed; they are in most cases followed by apotropaic acts and rituals concerned with revealing the sender and the source of the assault.Thesccounteractions were based on the same nlethods and theories as the pri*
mary attack. One way was to attempt to harm the attacker'.s ternporary
body in order to accomplish an analogous injury on his or her ordinary
body. This visible mark had a triple function. It was a punishrnent, it
revealed the guilty parfy to the public and finally the counteraction servccl
as a cure and the trolld1nrr attack was obstructed (l\atrclverc 1993:173ff.,
1995).lllness and nrischicf were conceivecl to bc scnt 6rlru otrtsidc, lbllowing 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'as
Margaret clunies Ross calls thern (1990: 221).They forrn long lists oicapa-

lrilities and of knowledge attainable after training and strt[gle . Hiuainit

tcrnpts 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 old
I lish Gernrarr versions as well) and the better part of ihe poen, consists
of
stunzas on the knowledge of runes and the art of carving and chanting
tlre,r (Andersson .l980: u1fr., 101ff.).The introductory prose tells of how
tlrc 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, and
tlr.rks the hero for re-scuing her fro,r her deep sieep by giving him the
I.rrg catalogue of useful runes, that is healing iorrgr. accolainf to Anne
I Ici,rich,'Sigurd'.s encounter with her can be viewed as the finillpisode of
lris vouthful educarion'(19it6:115).Two of rhe stanzas (4, 1l) refei directly
t. healing practices, while the others are either nlore general or speak of
vrctory, revenge etc. Before chanting the runes the wonian offers Sigurdr a
lrtrrrr of nread, which gives strength to his ,re,rory, ninnisuel.g, and pro,rises
rvrsclo,r,,righry spells and healing ha,ds.s1 Then he is readylo learn:
'Limb-runes you nlust know if you want to be a healer
and know how to see to wounds;
on bark they nrust be cut and of the tree of the wood
on those whose branches bend east.,52
(trans. by Larrington 1996:168)
lrr ()lcl Norse literature nrany things harmful to the individr_ral body, to
lrrr 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 "clistincIr'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.
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

,lt't

t;rrnr

144

Witchcraft anrl Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

anirnals. The same type of verses and spells are found in large numbers in
later Scandinavian folklore. The Anglo Saxon charms also give r-nany
examples 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 explicit
ainr of some Eddic galdr songs. Not only Odinn but also Freyja can be
associated with curative processes. Probably it is Freyja who speaks in
Fjqlsuinnsmii 49 where an interesting intermingling of healing and sexual

longing emerges:
Long I waited
on Lyfaberg
day on day I waited for you;
now it has happened,
that

Tiolld6mr in Early Medieual

reward given to the seidr performers.

A particular aspect of healing through spells is the aid given to women

at childbirth (Mundal and Steinsland 1989: 104f.; Morris 1993: 7gtr.).
sigdr{;fumil 9 mentions what are called bjargriltTar, rLtnes rhat can help at
delivery. It is interesting to note that Sigrdrifa's advice in the long catalogue of charms is directed to a man.The stanza relares to help,healing and
strength in general.
'Helping-runes you must know if you want to

No man should carve runes

unless he can read them well;
nlany a n1an goes astray
around those dark letters.
On the whalebone I saw
ten secret letters carved,
from them the linden tree [i.e. wornan]
took her long hair.5a
(trans. by Scudder 1()97 143)

assist

and 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)

halls.53

The verb ffia is not very common in Old Norse, but in later Scandinavian
languages it is quite frequent and forms several compounds like /r75a and
lAuja in association with trollddmr and healing. The iatter form is used by
Christian writers before and after the Reformation as a broad ternr for ali
kinds of paganism and superstition. In Old Norse the nouns taufr and ly.f
can reGr to knowledge of healing, but are mostly used in their negative
meaning of damage or destruction.
Egik saga Skalla-Cr{mssonar 72 gives a lucid example of the process of
action and counteraction in a healing procedure per{ornred by Egill himself. A young woman is laid up in bed, weak and feeble, due to runes cut
against her. She is described as the victim of a rejected suitor, who had
failed in his attempt to handle the runes. Instead of raising love he had
caused her illness. Apparently the knowledge of rune carving was not easily accessible. Due to his sufficient knowledge, Egill finds the runes, cut on
a fish-bone, in the woman'.s bed and immediately burns it. Thereafter, as a
confirmation of the faiiure of the unskilled carver, Egill sings:

145

New runes, apparently more powerful, are cut by Egill and the young
wonlan is freed from her paralysing weakness. Egill is said to be generously
rewarded by the family, in the sarne manner as the direct piyment or

I anticipated,

my lover, you have come to nry

(trans. by Robertson 1991:84)

Scandinauia

There is a distinct physical contact between the helper and the wonran in
need. 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 get
help from the disir, but it seems that the powerful spoken word couldte
accompanied by some kind of ceremony in favor,rr of these protective

fbrtility deities. Not only the female disir were challenged. In

oddrrinargritr other nrythological beings are addressed by oddnin
when trying to help with delivery pains. It can be noted that the old
Norse text mentions the vrrtir. Like the disir this is a group of a collective character, living nearby the farmhouse under familyJiki conditions,
but not exclusively female. In later Scandinavian folklore there is a grear
number of legends telling of females from the 'little people' coming to
help women in childbed. Along with the vrttir od&rin asks the gldclesses

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 that
t'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 a
wise rrrarr,:rrrd stcl-r thrcc tirrrcs <lvcr thc grlrvc,:rrrtl thcrr sly thcsc worcls
thrcc tirrrcs:

146

Trolld6mr itt Enrly lllcdieyol Scartdhmvitt

Witclrcrqft and l4dgic in Europc:The L/tiddlc Ages

will. As in the later nredieval ballads rvith their abducted brides

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)

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|mr
and runes are ttsed to rru'eaketr her:

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

lewdness and frenzy
and unbear:rble desire;
thus I can rub that off, as I carved that on,
if there is need of this.'s8
(trans. by

and

for rape. Saxo tells

of how C)dinn punishes a reluctant youllJ 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 first
supernatural category to be given a nanle in Old Norse literature. The
ternl is etymologically related to the Indo-European root *tnr,'to crush',
which is nrost interesting considering the actions ascribed to it in some
texts.The nar(l ts a transfornred and dissuised hunran being and, in contrast
to other nrore 'collective'beings, acts purposefully as an individual, often
erotic irnplications.The srorv of kingVanlandi'.s painful death is told
"vitl.r
in three different early texts, all part of the legendary history of theYngiing
tirmily. Tl-re kings all suller nrysterious deaths, each one rtrore astounding
than the previous. (Krae 1991:1t)21.,l93f.;Rausing 1993).The third stanza
tn Ynglingatal is the shortest and earliest version of the events, focusing on
rhe nronrent of dearh, when a denron tramples on :rnd stiflesVanllndi. No
re:lson is given rn this text for the conflict between Vanlandi and the
t{enron. The being attacking the king is spoken of in the fen'rinine and
given three significant nalnes: 'she' is called 'creature of trolld\mi, (uitta
lrr'tfr),'night strlrggle' Qrimhildr) and nrdra, and her dernonic ortgin, trollkttnd.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 abaniloned his wifb Drifa anrl did not keep his promise of a pronrpt retlrrn to
lrer in Finl.rnd.Therefore, Drifa asked the seidAona Huldr to perfornr -scidr to
rrrrkeVanlandi 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, and
rvhenVanlandi in Sweden feels a sudden Lrrge to go to Finland his company
try to stop hinr. Tlrey inrmecliatelr, sltspect the Finns.('(r But king Vanlandr
lirlls 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 texts
rrterrtion the narne martt, whch in later Scandinavian folklore is also a
rnrue for a heing assclciated r,,ith lustful wonlen mking revclrge on reluctiu)t nlen (l{audvere 1993, 1995). Conrponents vital to ,?r.ir,, texts over
lrtrrrdreds oltye'ltrs are already nranifest in the story of kingVanlancli, includirrs 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 tclltl)()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.
Zauberberg

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 giving legirinracy to the following three lines. The latter way of reading the
teit would indicate a rather obvious sinrihritv with the fortnulaic elements of Eddic song tradition.
Trolld6mr and

motif this is nrore or

117

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 it
is prtt .r r1ri,.'sti6n oFlxrr.rsiug lovc, btrt of brr':rkirrg tlorvtt tItc ()tllcl'l)('rs()ll's

tu

less a nretaphoric image

148

Trolld6mr in Early Medieval Scandinauia

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe :The Middle Ages

Tiolld\mr could serve as an effective weapon in love conflicts and be the

cause 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.). As
discussed in the first chapter, the knowledgeable woman can attack Korm6kr
from a far distance and in a temporary guise.The saga has a complicated plot
of conflicts, power, loyalties - and love. When D6rveig utters the harsh words
that the young man will never enjoy his beloved Steinger6r,61 Kormlkr
immediately strikes back verbally:'You will have no say whatever in that, you
evil woman.'62 The verb rdda is used with the same significance here in the
context of a curse as it is in connection with divination rituals. FIe cannot
change what is once uttered and he does not have the abi1iry to compete
with F6rveig's extraordinary insights. And as the following chapter in the
saga recounts, Kormikr wins Steingerdr's hand, but fails to appear at the
marriage, and she rnarries another man.
ln Busluben we noticed that a strong threat from the knowledgeable
woman was her power over the king's sexual abilities. Several stanzas in the
Eddic 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 young
maidens and rnake hirnself attractive (161ff.).Arousing love perhaps sounds
sweet, but when Odim is praising his own sedr.rctive po*.iit is in a harsh
and rough tone:

I know a sixteenth if I want to have all

a clever wornan's heart and love-play:

I can turn the thoughts of the white-armed woman

and change her mind entirely.
I know a seventeenth, so that scarcely any
young 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 influence

over 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: poerrr
Helgakuida Hjgruardssonar 15 where the hcro Atli is irrvolved in l verbal
duel with thc giruitcss Hrirrrgcr<)r.'l'lrc torrt'is vcry rrgurcssivc rrrrtl wc c;rrr

149

note that the metre is the same as in Hiuamll's catalogue of spells. He

praising hinrself for har-rnting night riding hags, kueldridur'.

'Atli I'nr called, atrocious I shall be to

I am nrost hostile to ogresses;

is

yoLl,

I've often stayed at the dew-washed prow

and tornrented night-riding witches lkueldridur)'

.('5

(trans. by Larrington: 126)

Knowledgeable wornen and sexualiry was a theme that recurred in later

Christian literature. ''When fernale sexuality conles to the fore, it is usually
in a demonic or "Otherworld" context, explicitly or implicitly connected
to the pagan past', Margaret Cormak writes in her discussion of sex and
the supernatural in Icelandic saints'iives (1992:228). Cunning wonren and
their abilities became an inrage of the sedtictive power of the devil. The
conrbination of unrestrained lust and tntlld6mr in the writings of witchhunters centuries later, as well as of clergyrnen, continued to solxe extent
ir-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 give
tlescriptions of more or less eiaborate rituals perforrned in an attenlpt to
:rchieve knowledge of otherwise hidden matters.To some extent the deeds
of the gods seern to have formed a prototype for the understanding of the
origin and effect of trolldtimr. In sagas some historical and contemporary
individuals were conceived to have the extraordinary skills to conduct
stch trolld|nr rituals. Knowledge was sought from the outside, from
s()Llrces that could be destructive of the social order. The demonic beings
of the realm of the giants are often involved, as if knowledge could not be
lvith harmony only or be fully operative unless also i.n contact rvith
rlisharmony.

The .luridical and political decisions of the plnl meetings were acconl1,:rnied by lil6t offerings perfbrmed according to the established custom of
society, sldr. While bl6t was conducted among influential men, that is, by
tlre godi in local society, -seidr seems to have taken place less formally at
l,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 perforrners
w()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:rtc
tltc 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 and
harm, sometimes on behalf of a person other than the performer. On the
other hand, from tirne to time the saga texts stress that the knowledgeable
were invited to perform divination rituals, seidr. Insight into the conditions
of the forthcoming year was a fornr of knowledge that was eagerly sought
after. Seidr and related ceremonies could also be seen as private fertiliry rituals in accordance with the needs of a rural sociery.
Vital pre-Christian conceptions can be observed in rnuch later documentation of Scandinavian folk beliefs and folk medicine as regards both
form and content.The authority of skilled persons'use of the spoken word
for destruction or healing is apparent over a long period of tinre. In popular discourse this was not explicitly expressed as an opposition against the
Church (although clergymen after the Reforrnation definrtely regarded it
as such) but as a way of handling rnore or less clandestine powers.
Cornpared to the world of the Norsemen very little is known about the
ritual practices of other Germanic peoples on the Continent. When it
comes to trolld6mr, there are no texts comparable to the Eddas or the sagas.
FIowever, correspondences can be observed with Old High German and
Anglo-Saxon poetry, especially in the use of charms and spells. Not only in
rletrics and form, but also in content and ideology, this corpus shows
striking similarities wrth different Old Norse modes of expressing trust irr
the power of the spoken word. Many of the Continental spells combinc
uttering with bodily nlovenlents in a way that is familiar front
Scandinavian traditions.

The knowledgeable could also use their special knowledge to perfornr

to bring injury and misery to others. [n this perspectivc
trolld\mr was malevolent performance as a strategy of handling difficult situations. Most protective actions taken to avert trolls and illness follow thc
same pattern: both actions and speech directly face the source o{ trolldtimr
using parallel motions. Aiming back was the only way of defence.
As expressed in the literature, trolldimr was acted out in rituals and forrnalized speech as well as in paradigmatic nrythological narratives. A thircl
mode of expressing the complex conceptions of knowledge, destructiott

CHAPTER

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 were
cxplicitly allotted for trials. The rules for these events represent a circunrstlntial process of formalization, when a local conflict was to be solved in
lrublic. Any accusation or other issue should always be brought to public
krroweldge in due time before negotiations could start. Since the code of
Ir,ruour is so visible as an irnportant matter in the saga texts. it is interesting
to 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 always
Iollowed by revenge or legal proceedings; rather, the spontaneous revenge
rvrrs in some cases conceived to be a praiseworthy deed.
The Old Norse texts reveal several different strategies regarding people
rvlro were sr,rpposed to perform trollddmr and cunning deeds. Some of them
rvcre dealt with directly, while others faced formal trials. The cases were
tlrcrl treated like any other criminal case and followed an established set of
rrrles. Compared to other aspects of social organization the sources provide
tlrc modern reader with quite a lot of useful information.

ceremonies

and healing was the interplay between accusations and trials.

The Oral LautThdition

lrr corrtrast to trolld|mr, the concept of law was a cortlllonly accepted and
rrsctl abstract ternt. Tiadition recounts that law was brought to Iceland
lrorrr Norway with some of the first settlers, landnimsmenn (Fix 1993b).

llro early laws of the Norsemen were orally transmitted and are only
l.rrown as echoes in the first written legal documentation, Crigis, and in
rlr(' 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 a
rrrrxctl collection of lcg:tl rtranrrscripts oltthe so-callecl Icelandic colulrlorlrvt',rltlr (Fix 1993u).'['lrc tcxts wclc brought toscthcr in l flrst conrl.rouncleci
lor n1 t,"r1r'tps us crrrly ;rs tlrt' lrrtt' twclftlr ('cntrrry,:rrrtl cxprcss thc lcgal cotle
lr()nr tltc titttc ol tltt's:r1,,,rs. Ilowt'vt'r, tlrt'llrtto':rirrr lrt rllrys p:rst rvlrilc tlrc

t52

Tro11d6mr in Early Medieual

Witchuqft and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

Scandinauia

the lawspeaker held a special position with responsibility

proper preservation and transmission of the law and tradition.

153

for

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 religion. No obvious distinction was made between trollddmr deeds, divination, healing or bl6t o{ferings.These acts were all conden-rned as pagan.
There was a reciprocal relationship between the introduction of written
culture and other important social and cultural changes in Scandinavia.
The dcvcloprnent of kingdonrs and territorial states was parallel to that of
state 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 strengthened
Scandinavia'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

years,

Denmark.

group 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 negotiations, decisions and trials (Sandvik 1993). It was an opportuniry to solve
Iocal conflicts and disputes and a time when agreenlents were confirmed
lry oaths.Very few conflicts involved only individuals.At the ping the male
lrcad 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 of
tlrc neighbourhood. The etymology of the title of the leader godi (frorn
q,,t),'god') hints at an original religious interpretation of a position that in
tlre 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 petrificalr()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 in
rr'lrrtion to his pingmenn.It was a relationship of a contractual character that
lroth 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

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 ill
Iceland. A certain idealizing romanticism flavours the accounts of tinrc
past, but based on the conviction that a social order existed from thc
beginning. l\egions were ruled by local chieftains, godar.The relationship
between 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 parties 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 latcr
Middle Ages - but local agreements with a more or less explicit coltlrcction with a general assembly for the whole island. I)espite other nlrtjor
changes, the sociai organization of the law remained to a large extent rlll(l
for 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 :ttttl
rccited tlrc l;r'nv;rt.joirrt rrrt't'tirrgs of'tlrr',grrr)rtr. Illt'ttt'tl lirr:t pt'riotl of-tltrt'c

the

The Alpingi, the general annual assembly, was the foremost uni$,ing
political factor in the absence of state authority.According to tradition the
institution was founded in 930 and meetings were held for a few weeks
cvery summer. The legendary history of the foundation of the Alpingi
gives the original number of chieftains as thirry-six. A special area with no
permanent buildings was reserved for the assembly. It was a clearly defined
social space fbr the leading members of sociery as well as a gendered space
since women could generally not speak befbre the Alpingi. The nreetings
r.vere certainly not of a purely legal character, but of religious, social and
cconomic importance too. The Alpingi was an important opportuniry for
trading. It was also a tirle when political power was negotiated and agreenrents of different kinds were made. Long after the establishment of the
( lhurch and national legal codes, this kind of multipurpose meeting kept
rts relevance for local social life all over Scandinavia. A legislative assembly
:rlso rnet on these occasions, constituted by the most prominentgodar.This

,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 lrlore
rv.'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 Slrrlrrils
nrru'tlt'r'irr l2-ll.l)trirrri tlrrs |t'riorl tll('.(()()()r() wt'rt'rttlt'tl by orrly l fi'w

154

Trolld5mr in Early Medieual

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

Scandinauia

155

sometimes consist of only a few sentences, being part of a web of gossip

and slander.

supposed to have been settled.

Something Has Happened

'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 exalnple of the indisputable interconnection between law and religion. In Old
Norse 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 - from
the private to the public arena - was tuade visible.
Paul Connerton's wide definition of a ritual, discussed above, has proved
to 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 ecouonric
characteristics of the ping be n-rade? lf rituals are not limited to specific
beiief systems the definition could also cover rnajor upheavals like
Christianization or the introduction of Latin written culture.
The Old Norse trials seem to have been rule-governed acitivities where
certain steps were stipulated. The proceedings of the trial had a symbolic
character and the situation was clearly limited in time and space. Both rituals and trials are necessarily occasional, although ntostly regular.They are
defined by their relation to everyday life and to the nrainstream, in comparison to which they stand out as events of special importance.The roles
for participants in rituals and trials were colttnlonly knorvn and easy to
recognize.
sagas, accusations of trolld\mr are spoken of nruch nrore often than
trials
and penalties. Suspicious speech was often used as defamation
actual
threat
and
did not necessarily lead to any legal proceedings in the texts.
or
Ian
Miller writes: 'sorcery accusations in the sagas frequently
Williarn
reactions
to untimely death or illness', and continues further on:
as
appear
'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.resotiations 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'c
infitrrrr:rl t>rrcs.'f[rc llrttcr :tK' rrrrrt'lr rrrorc r'()nlnl()r) tltlttt tltt' tirrlltt'r ltlttl

In the

The most elaborate narrative in the sagas of a fornral trial against a person
suspected of per{orming trolldt5mr can be read ir.r Eyrbygqla saga 16.In relation
to the rest ofthe corpus this text nrust be regarded as an exception because
of its length and details.The sequence is focused around guilt, responsibiliry
and punishrlent. It suggests a given set of legal rules and a social organization 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 by
trolldtimr and one woman is under suspicion.The erotic implications of the
trttlld6mr practices in chapters 15 and 16 that cause youni Gunnlaugr bodily harr-n have been discussed above.The intrigue focuses around the struggle between two wonlen with contradictory attitudes towards their
trolld|mr skills.These two knowledgeable wolllen do not:rct exclusively on
tlreir own but on the periphery of other major fandly conflicts.This confir: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 goodkroking 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 to
bc mdrgkurnrlg,'knowing a lot', and is shown to be willing to pass on her
irrsights 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 manrrcrs and lack of qualities: 'She asked him whether he was going to
Mivahlid [Geirridr\ placel again "to stroke the old wotnan's groin" '.67
[-or the young nran the antagonism between the wornen leads to disastt'r; he is found unconscious and severely wounded in the nrorning, after
tryirr* to travel on his orvn during the nieht. From a legal point of view
tlrcrc is an incident antl l victinr, ancl behincl hinr a whole fanrily.The local
rrrtcrprctati<rn is th:rt (itrrrrrl:ru{rr is l.rurt by trolld6nr.lJr-rt there are no witr)('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 to

Mlvahlid 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 Geirridr
was accused of being a shapeshifter, a night-riding hag. Frorn the characterization 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 proceedings 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: 'lt
was a means of proof chiefly used in cases where a greater degree of public
interest 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 thc
conflict, since the saga states'neither Snorri norlArnkell could give a decision in the case because of their kinship with the plaintiff and the defendant'.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 stallahringr, 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 announccrnents were surrounded with ritual activities. The conflict was solved fi>r
ever.

Spreading gossip concerning seriotts luatters was certainly not an hollourable thing to do and the chapter closes with a harsh remark:'Snorri antl
Dorbjqrn's case was quashed, which brought thern dishonour.'7o The nrisuse of the spoken word was considered a rrajor crinre attd only dishontltrr
could 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 both

cases the question of guilt was the focus and all activities were aimed at
finding out the identity of the guilty party. }\evenge was not only a question of stating a righteous punishment; the revealed guilt also threw light
on a whole chain of events.But social space for operations in both formal
and 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 had
caused young Gunnlaugr's iryuries; it only freed the wrongly accused
party. It was the responsibility of the relatives to find the guilty party. The
search for the night hag leads to an informal trial against Katla at Holt in
chapter 20. The false rumours had turned out to be a failure, and instead
had added shame to an already disliked farnily. Katlat son Oddr was
involved in other despicable conflicts in the area.-When his antagonists
come to take revenge, his mother makes use of her extraordinary knowledge and makes him invisible.These tricks of hers are the beginning of her
surrender. The enemies only see a distaff, a goat, and the third time they
con1e, a hog, and the revengers become suspicious that Katla is manipulatine their sight with her cunning abilities. At this point in the escalating

conflict 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 complny searching for Oddr has increased by one person:' "That will be the
rroli, Geirridr, coming with therr,'said Katia,'and simple illusions fsjinhuerfirrg, i.e. deceiving of sightl wrll not be enough now." '71 Knowledgeable
rrnd sensitive as she is, Katla feels that this time things mrght go in a direction 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 the
r'('vengers that all his trouble is due to his evil-minded mother. The
r1'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 that
rvil[ bc the case."'72 As always in the sagas the curse will later ttlrn out to
lrc 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 revengers
lill tlrc s:rrnc rolr':rs tll('witn('sst's irr u lirrrrr:rl trill. llrrt befirrc shc is killcc'l
slrt' 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

Trolld6rnr in Early Medieual

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 enenries. Katla is stoned to death and the chapter ends:'The news quickly
travelled everywhere, but no o11e thought it was sad. And so the winter
passed by'.73The sagas nlay be laconic, but they are certainly not neutral in

their 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 Hebredian
fanrily was accused of theft and -fi7lkyngl because they gained prosperity
without any seeming effort, which irnplied the use of trolld6mr. The
episode starts as if a formal trial is going to take place. An old woman
stands behind the accusation but it is her son who is the formal actor' As a
man 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 outlawry for life lskigangr).74
Ski,qqangr figuratively speaking nleant that the person was doomed to walk
the 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 very

serious crirne as trolldimr is suspected, a feature which agrees r,vith the later
Christian 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.The
fatal storm is followed by the incident when Hrtitr's young son is killed by
seidr 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 to
get 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- Ntl
comments are made on this except that the place is natrled after the incident. 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 ['lc
lr'lso t:rkcs thc opportturity t() l;ry rr t'trrsc. rrlIrtr'<)i, rttr ltis crtt'tttics.'llvctrts

Scandinauia

159

to have proved how effective was his curse'is the short comsaga.76 Hallbjqrn's destructive gaze and the powerful words in
his mouth show him fighting not only to the end, but even later still. He
is, as planned, drowned by the revengers. However, the sea does not keep
his body and washes the corpse ashore. Hallbjqrn has no peace and shows
himself to the living and causes trouble as a revenant.The conflict goes on
from the other side of the grave. As noted befbre, no sharp distinction can
be made between the livrng and the dead when it comes to action and
counteraction in trolld6mr cases.
The last surviving member of the Kotkell family, Stigandi, remains free
for some tinre. He is condemned in public as an outlaw, but manages to
keep away. The saga calls hirn iltile,qumadr, which has associations in two
different directions - socially with outlawry, and ritually with being
thotrght of as a performer of utilegd/ittisata and -seidr. In both meanings he
belongs to the wilderness outside sociery. In either aspect he had no
expectations of protection frorn anyone. A seidr performer and an outlaw
could 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 they
graze. She is forced by nreans ofviolence to betray Stigandi: D6rdr had her
threatened to try and find out thc truth. When suitably frightened, the
wonran revealed that a man calne to her, "a large man, and handsome, he
seenred to me." '77 The harshness of the conflicts is shown in these few
sentences and rvhen Stigandi is finally captured, while resting with his
woman. The sarne procedure takes place as with the execution of his relatives. The revengers are afraid that Stigancli will cause the same damage
with his fatal gaze as did his brother, and are very careful when they put
the skin bag over his head. But this tirne there is a small slot in the head
are thought

ment in the

bag and the gaze of the -seidmadr causes the surrounding land to ianguish

if

as

whirlwind has passed:

There was a tear in the sack through which Stigandi could see the slope
opposite. It was a fertile brt of land, green w'ith grass, but suddenly it was
as if a tornado struck it. The land was transformed and never again did
grass grow there. It is now called'the Fire-Site'.78

llere we find another exan-rple of a place given its name after trolld|nu
incidents; nan-ring the lanclscape preserved menlory. The place nar.ne here
ttrnctions in the sanre way as a nronLlnrent of stone. Stigandi is finally
stoned to cleath. An outlaw hacl no nrore pr()tection, either socially or
lcgally, 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:rkcs
tlrcrn 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 with
trollil|mr.The latter is a critical point since the formal trial dernanded evidence 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 hauntings 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,consecrate *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 of
trolliltlmr 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
Grettir was contmissioned by his enemies. Like many other
r.urrt,
"gri,-rrt
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 of
trolld\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 little
'19t36: 115).
interesilo those competing with that household' (Miller
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 had
overcome Grettir with sorcery fulorningarl"'.81 It is not the killing of Grettir
that has brought the case before the Alpingi, but the use of gerningar. Not
even against an outlaw rs trolld6mr regarded as acceptable behaviour.
The proceedings of the Alpingi are described in chapter 84. Qngull
clainred a reward for killing an outlaw, as custorrl stipulated. Instead, it was
decidecl 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 perform
tntllddmr. As a consequence, Qngull was now deerned an outlaw himself
and 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 knou4edgeable nren,-fo rneski wnenn.
Several of the episodes referred to above irnply a 'contact zone' where
old and new norms were amalgamated. The trial constitr.rted a 'spatial and
ternporal copresence', as discussed by Mary Louise Pratt (1992:7). The

introduction of r,vritten Christian laws into the early Scandinavian kingdonrs in one way rnarks the end of this essay. The Continental Christian
lesal traditions brought changes to the procedures of law and justice along
r,vith the influence of Mosaic and canonic law. Local traditions of legal
lt.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.The
rndical changes and differences must have worked together for a long tinre
rn 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 of
trolld|mr could serve as serious defamation. The victims of trolld|mr coold
bc 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 giving
tlitli:rent fornrs of penalties and as in the saga texts the terminology varies
irr 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 Srvedish
l),ildlagen rrrentions wornen\ use of nails and hair as instrunrents for evil
,lceds, and the older l3orgarpingt law from Norway speaks of men sitting
out 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 Christianiry
lrrrt c:urne'as a result of increasecl social clistance, that is, with the developrrrt'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 organis.rtrorr of tlrc (lorrrrrrorluvt',rltlr, tlrcsc clrlrrgcs bcirrg thc rcstrlt of inherent
t 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 into
clemons, 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

No/es

they were evil but real. But now a new theological entify wes

existed added;the devi1.

Chapter

I.
Bibliographical

The most recent selteral introcluction to

llotc

r.rnless notecl otherrvise.To avoici confusion, hor,vever, f<rnns of

nanles are standardizecl in the translations. Origin:rl texts are refc'rred to bv
cl'rapter nunrber (sagls) or stanzas (verse). lt should be notecl that nrrnuscript

Poetic Edda),

Errg/ish are Margaret Clunies Rossls

or 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.
est:rblish such a distinction have been nrlcle. For Katherine
Morris (1c)93) this difterence constitutes thc' basis lbr her str-rdy.

2. Attenrpts to
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 of
secret sexual deviance, spite, lieresy, and occult dmgerous powers were conrbined. Everything significarlt about the Enropean rvitch rv:rs occult, hicidcn,
urrknorvablc by orclinary rtteans.'

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.
(19138) covers rrticles and lnonoJohn Lindor.vs bibliography Scantlinduiarr l4ytlrcloa:',
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
'l'ltc l\tctit lldda (1996)'
study are taken fronr (larolync L:rrrinston\ tr:rttsletiott <':f
'l'ltt Oorttplttc,Srl(rt-s o/
fi'tttrt
Arrthony Frglkels olSlot'ris ljrirl,r,:rncl nl()st sitqil text
k(l(ytd(ts. v<tl 1-5 (1997). All of tlresc tr:rrrslutiorts
rcfi'rcttr'es to trrrtllt'r l't':ttlitlq.

lrt' rit'lt ilt toltttttt'tlt:trics

lttttl

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 (henceforth CSI), and olEclclic versc lrom the trurslatiol olLarrington (sec uncler

O1d Norse lnythology and religion in

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-

Tians. Scudder,The Conrplete Srgas of the lcelanclers

1.

Hiuamil 142

llirnar nrunt pir frnna oc rlclnr stlfl,

nripc st6ra stafi,
nrigc stinna steft,
er fidi finrbulpnh'
oL g()rd() tirrlcgirr

oc reist hroptr rquna.

5. For lleneral overviews on Scantlinavian lirlk beliefs

translated to English see Lindow 1978; Kvidellnci

acconrpanicd by tcxts
nrrc'l Schnrsclorl l9illJ;
Sirrrpson l9lJt3, md with special enrphasis <tn trolldirnr. Alvcr 1971r, b; Alvcr

lntl 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

lr.rl,, r rrrr, l:t'ipt:r t1r,r'r)r',

,'l.t
ttt, ttt lt,'l,lt t'tttt rttit.
lr,t',t,
Jr.11111

7.

NIolc.r

Witch.crafi and Magic in Europe:The Middle Ages

164

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:tr
villar vega, engi hendi n6 hitti sitt inni, fyrr en pler reka Eirik konung ok
Gunnhildi 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, ok
segja per formlla penna ailan.

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.

13

M6dur ord
ber

pi, mBgr, hedan,

ok 1it P6r i br16sti btia;

iilgn6ga heill
skaitr"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 ziholztdu 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

ec it fi6rda' ef m6r $'rdar bera

boglirnorr:

ka'n

bgnd
svi ec gel, at ec ganga t-ui,
sPrettr nl6r affotom floturr,
enn afhgndonr haPt.
Trans. ar.rd ed. Grendon 1909: 177 ,414:
Ic rnE on pisse g,vrde bellice, arrd on godes helcle bebeode
at

wid

par-re slra slege,

gryre,
wid dane Jryl11l1l:In
rvid dane micelau egsan, pe bid eghwam ltd,
and wid eal p:et hd, pe into lancl frre '

wr<) pane sdra stice,

12.

firrrrril:r 6k

Ii'r- st't

t'k trpp rri<)str,rttg. ,rk srrv ck

D:idan konra meyiar, nargs vitancli,

stendr;

prilr, 6r peim sr, er und polli

Urd h6to eina, at)raVerdandi

sc6ro 1 scidi -, Sculd ina l:ridio;

prr lpg lqgdo, prr lif kuro
l/+

tl

alda 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 orpit
fyrir valfalli
riG reidisky,

rignir bl6di;

ni

er fyrir geirum
grir upp kominr.r

vefr verpj(rdar.
er prr vinur fylla
raudunr vepti
Randv6s bana.

Sji er orpinn vefr

yta pgrmunr
ok hardkl6adr
hgtlurrr nrJt)lt.l.

I: 113f.

rrlrlti svi:'l

Vqhrspi 19-20
Asc veit ec standa, hcitirYggdrasill,
hlr badrnr, ausinn }rvitaauri;
padan koma dpggvar, prrs i dala falla,
stendr iE yfir, grcrnn, (Jrdar bmnni.

eru dreyrrekin
dqrr at skgptunr,

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

Tra1s. Scr-rclcler, (.',S/

165

Irt'ssLr

rrit)i :i lrqrrrtl

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

166

Nbtes

Witchcraft and Magic in Europc:The Middle Agas

large playing field, and the woman (especially the divorced or widowed
woman) sr-rfhciently ambitious and sufEciently endowed with money :rnd
power seerns not to have been especially hinderecl by notions of maie :rnd

1.5. Hiuarnil 155

Dat kann ec ip tir"rnda, elec s6 tirnridor

leice lopti 1:
ec svh vittnc, at Peir vi11ir fara
sinna heint hama,
sinna

Chapter

heirl

ferrrale nature' (Clover 1993: 369).

huga.

16. 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\lli

3; Vigd-Clums sa,qa 12. Severai other texts are of interest and sotne of
t[e1r u,ill be discussed in rvhat follows. For a rnore or less cotuplete catalogue of
texts relevant to -vrir)r see Dillnrann 19U7. Generrl discussiotrs on -icldr Striinlblck

soqn krakd

1935; 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.

Ynglitrga -saga 7: Odirrn skipti hgluum. Li pi bikrinn sem sofitrn eda

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 hverjl

20. Snorri,
claur)r,

leid. er hrn vi1di.

21

Sigrdrilinill 13
Husritnar scalttt kunna, ef pir vilt hveriom vera
ucc)svinuari gutua;

of r6d, prr of reist,

unr tmgr)i Hroptr',
peinr
legi, er lekicl hatbr
af

prr
prr

or lr.rusi Hcr,lJrruptrit
oc 6r horni Hodclrofhis.'
22 Snorri, Yn,qlingLt sqqaT:;rt eigi p6tti karlrnprlnutn skanlnrlaust vid
var gydjunum
23

Srrorri,

21

Lokascnrn 21'.

lt

f;rrl, ok

ipr6tt.
7: Vhru peir n:est honum ttur allan fr6dieik ok fq)lkyrilrgi.

kennc'l su

Ynglingd.sa.qa

'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.'

167

'( )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

2(r. The chapter has been interpreted lroni rnany points of view. For sonrc inrptrr-1991:
tant studics of the various approaches, see Strcinrbrick 1935; Pilsson
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 hon
hafbi staf i hendi, ok var 5 knappr; hann var birinn nred messinsu ok settr
steinunr ofan um knappinn; hon hatti um sik hnj6skulinda, ok var l.lar I
skj6dupungr mikill, ok variiveitti hon par i tgfr sin, pau er hon purfti til
fr6dleiks 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.rdakona, en f6 kenndi Halldis, 6stra nrin, rn6r 1 islandi pat kvrdi, er hon
kalladi Vardlokur. (Manuscripts vary betrveen uardl okkur and uar dlo kur.)
Dag Stronrbick rvrites: 'Varr)lokkur syftar pi den speciella sins, sorn anvinclcs for
att iterkalla den schamanerandes sj:il till den i extatisk utrnattning liggande kroppen'(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
.11

kallaclar viru splkonur ok spidu m6nnunr aldr. Irvi budu rnenn pcim ok
gerdu 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 um
I'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 Irtirrg
orr^l ok ill,lr:ru s,'rrr krrstrrrrrn rrriirrrrtrrrr t'r'[r.rrllcys:r i rrrrrrrrri.rt lr.rf,r.

168
38

Nolc-s

Witchmft dnd Magic in Europe:The MiddleAges

Trarrs. Pllsson and Edwards 206. Bd-sa sdga ok Hcrrauds 5, st. 4:

Svi skal ek pjarnra

p6r at brj6sti,
at hjarta pitt

hoegorrrr.tr grrrgi.
err eyru pin
aldregi hevri
ok augu pin

17. 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.'
4it Tians. Kunz, CS/5: 53. I-axdtrla sa,ga36: F6r Dorleikr ni 5 fund landseta sirrrr.r,

ok Grirnu, ok bad pau eera npkkurn hlut, pann er Hrfti v:tri

svivirding at. bau t6kr"r undir petta l6ttliga ok kvldusk pess vera albirin.
49. Trans. Kunz, CSI 5:177. Laxdela saga 7(t: Far ftndusk undir bein; pau virtr
bll ok illi1ig; par fannsk ok kinga ok seidstafr mikill. D6ttusk nrenn pi vita, rt
par mundi verit hali vqluleidi ngkkut.Vlru pru bein fcrrd langt i brott, par
Kotkels

sem sizt var rnannn ve!]r.

irthverf sniist.

39.

Trarrs. Pllssorr and Ecllvards 206f . R6sa saga ok Hcrrauds 5, st. 7:

50

hlsrti

i ha{blru;
pri .krl pcr stinn:r
sem

synu verra,
en ef pir vilt vid mel,jar
nlanns ga1l1n1an hafa,
villi't pir pa v.'g.rrirrs:
ec)a viltu pulu lengri?
40 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.
41
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'.
13 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, r
pvi meir. sem l.lir lifir lengr.
11. Trans. Scudder, CS1 II: 169. Crettis saga78 ok vid engi ord hefir m6r meir

brugdit en pessi.
45. 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 vrri
visat 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 r6tinni
ok 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
46.

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 irrir
rrrt'strr st'ir'\nrt'tut.

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?

56 P6r i hvilu
sern i hlhneldi,

en i

169

51

52

53

Sigrdrilimill:

'nril oc manvit gefit ocr rrrcrom tveim

oc 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

54

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 talkni

tiu launstafi ristna,

pat hefr lauka lindi
langs o[rtregr fcngit.
55

Si.qnlr{fum,il 9:

'lJilrqrirnar scaltu kunna, ef fir birrrgl vilt

or'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.'

Tlolld6mr in Early Medieual Scandinauia

pi

57.

pl

6il.

fuldir ni6r ftir af hqnclotn.'

Trans. and ed. (lrendon 19(],9:207:

69.

Wid lrtbyrde.
hire cilcl nGclan ne rll:epl, gange t6 gewitenes mannes birgenne, ancl strppe ponne priwa pi byrgenne, ancl cwepe ponne prirva pis

SA r.r''ifiI:rn, s6

7o

w<>rc'l:

t6 b6te pire lipan htbyrde,

lris r.116 t6 b6te pdre sr'vc\ran swrrtbyrde,
Dis nr6 t6 b6te plre lit)an lanrbyrde.

Dis nr6

71.
72

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,

59.
60.
(tl

62.

73.

ef goraz par{:rr Pcss.'

Hulclr also appears in cl'rapter 1'1 and is then called t ugluaSnorri, Yn,qlirrya sa.qa 13: at vera rnyndi fqlkynngi Finna i $'si hans.
KLtrntiks saga 5: pir skalt Steir.rgerr)rr aldri nj6ta.Trans. McTurk, CSI I: 1U7:
'you will never enjoy Steingerdr\ love.'
Trans. McTurk, CSl I: 187. Konniks saga 5: Dvi n'rantu ekki rli1a, in vinda ker-

74.

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.
75. 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 etrgnalag hans ekki gott.
Trarrs. Kunz, CSIV: 54. I-axdela sagd 37,

ling.

63. Hiuamil

1,61:

Irat kann ec ip scxtlnda, ef ec vil ins

hafa ged dt oc ganran:
hugi ec l'rverfi hvitarn.rri kono
oc sny ec hennar qllom sefa.

svitrtra ttrrt-ts

Dat kann ec ip siauti;inda, at nric mun seitlt firraz

ip rtranunu:r man.

64. Ilirbar<)slitid

65.

er ec v6lta P:tr

Ilcl,qakui dn Hj qruardssonar

frl

verour.'

1,5:

'Atli

ec heiti, atall scal ec p6r vera,

nrigk eni ec silionr grxnrastr;
irrgan stalir ec I'refi oPt biit

ok

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.

Mjpk pykkir petta atkv:r:r)i

:'r lurfir

hrinit.

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 cr
mikill,' segir hon,'ok synisk n'r6r v:rnligr.'
7lJ. Trarrs. Kunz, CSIV:55. Laxdela.sa.qa 38: ok getr Stigandi s6t gdmnr nrcgirr i
hlidina; par var fagrt landsleg ok graslodit; en pvi var likast, sern hvirtllvirrtlr
komi at; sneri um jgrdunni, svi at aldregi sidan kom par gr:rs upp. lr:rr hcitir
77.

Trans. Kunz,

nr-l

2{l:

'Miclar tnatrv6lar ec halba vid nryrcridor

pl

I42. Eyrhygqla saga 7(t'. en hon spurdi, hvlrt hann rtlar

enn i Mlvahlid *'ok klappa um kerlingar nlrann?'
Trans. Quirrn, CSIV: 143. Eyrltygqla sagd L6'. Detta vlr um stefnudaga reid
Irorbjern i Mivahlid ok steftdi Geirridi um pat, hon vrri kveldrida ok hon
hefdi vaidit r.neini Gunnlaugs.
Trarrs. Quinn, CS1 V: 143. Eyrbyg4la saga 16: en hvirrgi peira Snorra n6
Arnkels p6tti bera rrega kvidinn f,irir hleyta sakar vid scekjanda ok
varnaradilja.
Trans. Quinn, CSIV: 143. Eyrbygqla saga 1.6:6nyttisk mllit fyrir leim Snorrrr
ok 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 cisi
g6da m6dur, en eigi hlytr hann af pvi illt af m6r, at ek vilda lrat; en pat vtri
vili 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 lrfrrsaman 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

67. Trans. Quinn, CSIV:

56. Odtlnirnrgritr 9:
'Svi hillpi P6r hollar vettir,
Frigg oc Freyia oc fleiri god,
senr

171

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 untunn

vcrit.

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 lr
v:r'r'kir troll ttp.