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THE 

ENGLISHMAN  AND  THE  SCANDINAVIAN. 


BAl.LANTYNE,    HANSON    AND    CO. 
EDINBURGH   AND    LONDON 


THE  ENGLISHMAN 


ANl) 


THE    SCANDINAVIAN; 


A  COMPARISON  OF  ANGLO-SAXON  AND 
OLD  NORSE  LITERATURE. 


FEEDEEICK   METCALFE,   M.A. 

FELLOW   OF    LINCOLN   COLLEGE,    OXFORD  ; 

TRANSLATOR    OF     "GALLUS"    AND     "  CHARICLES  ; " 

AUTHOR  OF  "the  OXONIAN  IN  ICELAND,"  ETC. 


LONDON: 

TKUBNER    &    CO.,    LUDGATE    HILL. 

1880. 

[  AH  rights  reserved.  ] 


HZ 

M56 


PREFACE. 


The  germ,  or  rather  an  outline  sketch,  of  this  volume  is 
contained  in  a  tractate,  printed  by  the  author  for  private 
circulation  in  the  autumn  of  1876.  This  caught  the 
attention  of  persons  who  read  it,  men  and  women  alike. 
They  were  interested  in  the  subject,  which  in  this  light 
was  comparatively  new  to  them.  Could  not  the  outline 
be  filled  in  and  the  essay  developed  into  a  book  ?  What 
they  wanted  was  an  exposition  of  the  subject — the  cus- 
toms, notions,  language,  and  literature  of  the  two  peoples, 
based  on  the  most  rigid  research,  but  adapted  for  a  wider 
class  of  readers  than  students  only — a  kind  of  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  whole  matter,  but  with  sufficient  depth  and 
colour.  Dry  facts  by  all  means,  but  so  grouped  as  to  catch 
the  fancy  as  well  as  inform  the  understanding.  The  two 
need  not  clash.  The  author  took  the  hint,  and  has  striven  to 
the  best  of  his  ability  to  meet  their  wishes.  The.  result  is 
before  the  reader.  When  the  writer  was  a  boy,  the  days  of 
our  forefathers  seemed  portentously  far  off,  almost  more  so 
than  those  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  In  the  study  of  them,  it 
required,  so  to  say,  a  strong  effort  in  order  to  place  oneself  in 
a  posture  of  mind  suitable  to  the  occasion  :  "  Um  sich  ein 


1331279 


vi  PREFACE. 

zu  denken,"  as  the  Germans  would  say.  To  take  in  and 
comprehend  the  dim  and  the  distant  was  more  of  a  task 
than  a  treat.  Aforetime  and  to-day  seemed  unable  to 
shake  hands  even  in  metaphor.  Our  ancestors  and  our- 
selves appeared  to  have  few  points  of  sympathy  or  con- 
tact. A  master  of  the  ceremonies  was  wanted  to  throw 
down  the  barrier.  For  want  of  this  missing  link,  Anglo- 
Saxon  times,  and  things,  and  thoughts  have  been  voted 
by  most  Englishmen  obsolete  and  abstruse ;  in  fact,  a  bore, 
and  out  of  their  line.  Might  not  this  indisposition  to  culti- 
vate an  intimacy  so  natural  and  improving  be  in  part  due 
to  the  way  of  introducing  the  parties  ?  Was  there  not  too 
much  stiffness  and  formality  in  the  manner  in  which  they 
have  been  presented  ?  It  seemed  as  if  a  few  natural  easy 
words  had  to  be  said  by  somebody,  and  they  were  lacking. 
The  writer  has,  as  far  as  was  possible,  essayed  to  do  this, 
though  he  may  have  failed  in  the  execution.  Familiar 
expressions  may  occur  in  the  work,  which  might  jar  on  the 
nice  ear  of  fastidious  critics.  To  such  he  will  recount  a 
scene  he  once  saw  in  a  court  of  law.  It  w^as  a  suit  be- 
tween an  author  and  a  publisher.  A  frivolous  and  vexa- 
tious witness  emphatically  condemned  the  style  of  a  book, 
much  to  the  wonderment  of  the  judge,  a  Senior  Wrangler 
and  Chancellor's  Medallist.  "  What's  the  matter  with 
the  phrase  ?  "  inquired  his  Lordship.  "  I  consider  it  too 
familiar,  and  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  historic  style." 
"  Humph  !  that's  your  opinion !  Now  to  my  mind  it  is 
good,  strong,  idiomatic  English,  such  as  might  well  ap- 
pear in  a  Times  leading  article."  Whereupon  counsel 
hurriedly  withdrew  the  hypercritical  censor.  The  jury 
would  not  allow  the  judge  to  sum  up,  and  the  author  won 


PREFACE.  vii 

his  suit.  "  The  wOj  3  of  the  wise  are  as  goads,"  and  what 
the  judge  said  stuck  deep  in  the  author's  memor}'.  He 
has  endeavoured  to  treat  the  subject  in  a  free,  uncon- 
strained, natural  manner,  avoiding  anything  like  a  solemn 
and  doctrinaire  tone.  Instead  of  taking  all  things  a\h 
serieux,  he  has  ever  and  anon,  as  Horace  recommends, 
tried  to  temper  the  grave  with  the  gay,  to  enliven  the 
subject  with  illustrations  new  and  old,  to  point  the 
theme  with  novel  applications,  and  thus  to  carry  off 
agreeably  what  might  otherwise  have  proved  heavy  read- 
ing. He  has,  moreover,  abstained — as  being  beyond  the 
aim  and  object  of  the  book — from  all  pretence  at  generali- 
sations and  philosophic  speculations,  about  which  people, 
desirous  of  combining  entertainment  with  instruction, 
often  don't  care  one  farthing.  The  Scandinavians  are 
very  communicative ;  they  have  placed  themselves  before 
us  with  great  minuteness  of  detail.  Unfortunately,  the 
Anglo-Saxons  are  too  reticent  concerning  themselves, 
their  domestic  interiors,  and  the  ways  and  manners  of  the 
sexes  out  of  doors.  In  the  absence  of  any  Anglo-Saxon  Pei- 
thetserus  or  Euelpides,  to  show  us  how  citizens  of  London 
viewed  current  matters  in  those  days ;  of  any  Gorgo  or 
Praxinoe,  any  wife  of  a  burgher  of  Eboracum  chatting  at 
home  under  the  roof-tree  while  the  husbands  are  away,  or 
pushing  through  the  crowd  in  the  streets  at  a  religious 
festival,  with  the  accompanying  adventures,  full  of  natu- 
ral humour, — we  are  compelled  to  glean  scanty  traits  of 
notions  and  manners,  bits  of  mosaic,  as  it  were,  here  and 
there,  and  thus  to  impart  as  much  human  interest  as  may 
be  to  our  theme.  The  author  has  given  prominence  to  any 
touches  of  nature,  any  characteristic  incident,  which  might 


viii  PREFACE. 

make  their  world  and  our  world  more  akin  and  acquainted. 
He  has  tried  to  interview  the  two  races,  the  Anglo-Saxon 
and  his  Scandinavian  brother.  He  has  asked  the  nineteenth- 
century  man  to  turn  aside  and  survey  his  incunabula; 
to  stand  by  the  cradle,  so  to  say,  of  two  great  branches  of 
the  Gothic  family  when  they  were  just  crossing  the  thresh- 
old of  history ;  to  follow  the  young  hopeful  onwards  in  his 
career  through  his  several  ages,  to  listen  to  his  untutored 
words  and  language,  to  take  note  of  his  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings, his  ways  of  looking  at  things,  from  the  days  when 
his  writing  was  runes  scratched  on  wood  or  stone,  to  the 
time  when  he  copied  beautifully  and  cunningly  on  vellum. 
He  has  shown  how  the  Anglo-Saxon  nature  was  some- 
what dull  and  devoid  of  "  go,"  while  the  Scandinavian  was 
just  the  reverse,  far  removed  from  the  lotus-eater,  and 
not  in  the  least  disposed  to  get  behind  the  north  wind  for 
shelter.  He  has  exhibited  them  in  the  infancy  of  their 
faith,  not  so  much  perhaps  stretching  out  their  palms 
to  heaven,  if  haply  they  might  find  the  true  God,  as 
dividing  their  worship  and  belief  indiscriminately  between 
the  god  Thor  and  their  own  might  and  main.  Passing 
from  their  Pagan  days  to  those  of  their  new  Christian 
creed,  he  has  shown  how  it  sat  on  each  people,  loosely 
or  otherwise  ;  picturing,  too,  the  quaint  stopgap,  often 
dashed  with  drollery,  that  intervened  between  Paganism 
and  Christianity,  and  the  way  the  missionaries  looked  on 
the  affair — the  more  pious  of  the  clergy  aghast  at  the 
fatuous  jumble,  while  others  winked  at  it,  or  perhaps  in- 
dulged in  the  same  themselves.  The  Scop  and  the  Scald 
are  here  confronted,  their  social  status,  their  modes  of  song. 
The  Anglo-Saxon,  sober  and  didactic,  sedate  and  subdued, 


PREFACE.  ix 

but  with  a  hiiih  moral  and  religious  idealism  redeemini/ 
the  prevailing  gloom ;  the  Icelander  with  the  poetic  in- 
stinct vibrating  through  his  whole  being  ;  the  one  waver- 
ing on  the  brink  of  emotion,  the  other  plunging  into  its 
inmost  depths ;  submitting  often,  unfortunately,  to  the 
restraint  of  green  withes  and  cords,  the  strait  waistcoat  of 
artificial  poetic  rules,  but  still  a  Samson.  He  has  given 
specimens  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  and  Snorri's  His- 
tory of  the  Kings  ;  the  one  accurate  and  precisely  kept  as  a 
ledger,  the  other  a  history,  if  history  means  recalling  the 
dead  past  and  making  it  speak  for  itself.  He  has  tried  to 
show  how  much  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  revealed  to  us  of  his 
family  life  and  individuality,  and  how  much  the  Scandi- 
navian. Ecclesiastical  and  legal  documents  of  both  races 
have  been  quoted ;  their  stores  of  proverbial  wit  and  wis- 
dom, their  vocabulary,  without  which  our  knowledge  of 
the  meaning  of  our  speech  is  incomplete,  have  each  passed 
in  review. 

The  last  thing  we  discover  in  making  a  book,  says  Pas- 
cal, is  to  know  what  to  put  at  the  beginning.  Tliis  has 
certainly  been  the  present  writer's  experience.  Here  were 
two  things  to  be  treated  of,  neither  of  which  need,  of 
necessity,  precede  the  other ;  except  that  the  Anglo-Saxons 
stand  first  in  history,  and  their  word -hoard  is  older. 
It  was  not,  liowever,  a  case  of  horse  and  cart,  when  to 
put  theone  before  the  other  would  be  absurd  and  a  solecism. 
The  literature  and  language  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the 
Scandinavian,  as  well  as  the  people  themselves,  nationally 
and  individually,  was  the  subject  to  be  discussed,  and  the 
one  branch  of  it  might  be  taken  first,  or  the  other,  with 
almost  equal  propriety  and  convenience.     But  there  were 


X  PREFACE. 

other  elements  in  the  decision.  Scandinavian  literature  is 
very  attractive  in  itself,  very  sparkling,  full  of  verve  and 
energy,  like  the  people  themselves,  and  would  have  made  an 
excellent  head  and  front  to  the  book.  Anglo-Saxon  litera- 
ture, on  the  other  hand,  is  not  so  attractive.  Good,  solid, 
honest  work  it  is,  dignified  and  melodious,  but  of  no  great 
brilliancy.  The  average  John  Bull,  how^ever,  would  not 
have  relished  seeing  the  Scandinavian  put  first,  and  him- 
self postponed.  He  prides  himself  above  all  things  on  being 
an  Anglo-Saxon.  He  vaunts  of  his  pure  Saxon  speech, 
and  delights  to  vapour  about  his  downright  Saxon  character. 
80  John  Bull  comes  first.  As  you  might  say,  "  Business 
first,  pleasure  afterwards."  If  he  will  only  read  the  book 
through,  he  will  perhaps  be  disenchanted  of  his  chauvinis- 
tic illusion  that  he  is  Anglo-Saxon  pure  and  simple,  and 
nothing  if  not  that. 

The  author  is  not  aware  of  any  book  of  the  same  cha- 
racter, instituting  a  comparison  between  the  Anglo-Saxon 
and  the  Scandinavian.  Doubtless  it  abounds  with  imper- 
fections and  shortcomings,  w^hich  he  must  beg  the  reader 
to  be  lenient  with.  The  precious  ore  lay  remote  or  hidden 
deep,  and  it  was  no  light  matter  for  him  both  to  rough- 
hew  and  to  shape  the  material  to  his  purpose. 

Tor  the  rest,  his  best  thanks  are  due  to  Professor 
Stubbs,  who,  in  the  midst  of  incessant  and  engrossing 
work,  has  most  kindly  read  through  the  proofs  for  the 
press. 

Nor  must  he  omit  to  mention  the  name  of  Professor 
C.  linger  of  Christiania,  one  of  the  foremost  of  that  band 
of  Scandinavian  scholars,  distinguished  alike  for  patient 
industry  and   sagacity,  pursuing   knowledge  for  its  own 


PREFACE.  xi 

sake  with  self-denying  simplicity  of  purpose.  To  his 
intimacy  with  that  gentleman  and  Professor  Stephens 
of  Copenhagen  through  many  years,  and  the  encourage- 
ment they  gave  him,  the  author  chiefly  owes  his  own 
interest  in  these  studies. 

Last,  not  least,  he  must  thank  his  two  fair  amanuenses 
who  wrote  out  the  whole  book  for  the  printer. 

Oxford,  March  iSSo. 


CORRECTIONS  AND  ADDITIONS. 

Page  32,  joT  "  Ethelred,"  rtad  "  Ethelbert." 
,,     112,  jor  "  Skorunger,"  read  "  Skorungr." 

,,  121.  The  identity  of  the  supernatural  story  of  Glamr  in  Gretti's 
Saga  with  that  of  Grendel  in  "Beowulf"  was  first  suggested 
to  the  author  by  Mr.  Vigfusson.  As  it  stands  in  the 
Icelandic  tale,  it  is  adventitious,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  real  exploits  of  the  hero  of  it. 

131,  omit  "  on  a  sudden  he." 

1^2,  for  " unmitigated,"  rea(i  "unmixed." 

185,  for  "Oswin,"  read  "Oswiu." 

22.6,  for  "Johnson,"  read  "Johnstone." 

250,  for  "  aitte,"  read  "oitte," 

235,  for  "  Bartholimus,"  read  "Bartholinus." 

258,  for  "  Jon  Finsen,"  read  "Fin  Jonson." 

267,  for  "Sigudrifa,"  7-ead  "Sigdrifa." 

273,  for  "Grami,"  read  "Grani." 

281,  for  "Skidbladnir,"  read  "  Sleipnir." 

300, /o?'  "Drottkvdedi,"  read  "  drottkvaeSi. " 

324,  for  "  Eyrlyggia,"  read  "  Eyrbyggia." 

327, /or  "Eafn,"  read  "Hrafn." 

327,  a/icr  "  survive,"  insert  "long." 

333,  add  Gunlaug's  Saga,  ed.  O  Rygh,  Christiania,  1862. 

371.     Saga  of  Thomas  a  Becket,  ed.  E.  Magnussen,  Eolls  Series. 


COIfTENTS. 

Part  E 

OLD    ENGLISH   LITERATURE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    STUDY    OF   ANGLO-SAXON    REVIVED    BY    ARCHBISHOP    PARKER 
AND    SIR    H.    SPELMAN. 

PAGE 

Archbishop  Parker  rescues  Anglo-Saxon  MSS.  from  destruction — 
Sir  Henry  Spelman  follows  him — His  corresponrlence  with 
Ole  Worm,  the  Danish  antiquary — The  origin  of  family  names 
in  England — The  etymology  of  '  rune ' — Spelman's  glossary 
— His  death,  .......         1-13 

CHAPTEE  II. 

JUNIUS,  HICKES,  AND    SIR   ROBERT    COTTON    HELP   ON    THE    WORK. 

Francis  Junius :  His  industry  in  the  restoration  of  Anglo-Saxon 
learning  —  George  Hickes  :  His  "Thesaurus"  a  complete 
palaeography  of  the  Northern  tongues — Sir  Robert  Cotton  : 
A  great  collector  of  Anglo-Saxon  books — The  net  outcome 
of  their  labours— The  beauty  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  tongue — 
The  earliest  Christians  in  Britain — King  Alfred  translates 
Latin  books  into  Anglo-Saxon— His  "Orosius"^ — The  interest- 
ing original  episode  therein,        .....       14-26 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE  III. 

BEDE  :    niS    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    ANGLES. 

PAGE 

Bede  :  His  addiction  to  Latin  —  His  "Ecclesiastical  History  of 
the  Nation  of  the  Angles  "  —  Its  scope — Tlie  dates  of  the 
conversion  of  tlie  different  parts  of  England — Aidan  and  the 
Northumbrian  Church — The  Italian  Church  forgets  the  in- 
structions of  Gregory— The  different  rules  about  Easter  and 
the  tonsure — The  speech  of  the  Northumbrian  noble — A  jiic- 
ture  of  Paulinus,  the  apostle  of  Lincolnshire — King  Oswald's 
miracles — Aidan  gives  his  horse  to  a  beggar— The  visions  of 
Fursey — Purgatory — Wilfrid's  theoi-y  of  mission-work — The 
miracles  of  John  of  Beverley — The  Yorkshire  love  of  horse- 
racing —  Dryhthelm's  passion  for  cold  water  —  Adamnan's 
"Life  of  Columba,"  ......       27-43 

CHAPTER  IV. 

BEDE's  life  of  ST.  CUTHBERT  AND  OF  THE  ABBOTS  OF  WEAR- 
MOUTH  AND  JARROW  —  ST.  EDMUND,  ST.  SWITHIN,  ST.  NEOT, 
AND    ST.    GUTHLAC. 

Anglo-Saxon  biographies  teeming  with  miracles — Cuthbert :  His 
fondness  for  athletics  —  He  becomes  a  zealous  missionary 
— Some  of  his  presumed  miracles  may  be  explained  in  a  natu- 
ral way — His  visit  to  Coldingham — He  spends  the  night  up 
to  his  neck  in  the  sea — He  is  watched  by  a  monk — A  similar 
incident  in  the  life  of  Columba — Cuthbert  at  Lindisfarne — 
The  refractory  Chapter — He  retires  to  Fame  Island,  but  is 
compelled  by  the  King  and  Archbishop  to  become  Bishop  of 
Lindisfarne — Again  retires  to  Fame — He  is  visited  by  the 
monks — His  austerities  bring  him  to  death's  door — He  dies — 
His  name  a  word  of  power  for  centuries  in  England — His  re- 
mains "translated" — "The  Grave" — St.  Edmund  murdered 
by  the  Danes — St.  Swithin — St.  Neot  spreads  the  Gospel  in 
Cornwall — Asser's  "  Life  of  Alfred  " — St.  Guthlac  in  the 
Fens — The  tale  of  "Wayland  (Weland)  Smith  localised  on  the 
banks  of  the  Welland,     ......       44-66 

CHAPTEE  V. 

THE  LETTERS  OF  ALDHELM,  BONIFACE,  AND  ALCUIN. 

Aldhelm  :  He  becomes  Abbot  of  Malmesbury— His  letter  to  Gerun- 
tius — The  Roman  system  triumphs— His  skill  in  English 
poetry — Boniface,  the  apostle  of  Germany — His  correspond- 
ence— Alcuin :  Is  librarian  at  York — Enters  the  service  of 
Charlemagne — Head  of  the  monastery  at  Tours — His  corre- 
spondence— Warns  the  English  against  the  luxury  of  the  age 
— Tithes — He  is  visited  by  friends  from  England— Dies,  .       67-84 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    LAWS. 

PAOB 

The  Anglo-Saxon  laws  extend  from  Ethelbert  to  the  Conqueror— 
Bot,  or  scale  of  compensation  for  injuries— By  Ina's  laws  a  serf 
forbidden  to  work  on  Sunday— Alfred's  dooms— The  peace  of 
Wedmore— The  Denalagh— Disunion  among  the  Irish— The 
Codex  Aureus— The  ordeal— Coiners— The  "  Parish  "—Forest 
laws— The  condition  of  slaves— A  bishop's  day's  work— Lyke- 
wakes— Morals  of  the  clergy— Penitentials— The  Wer— Charm 
for  barren  land — Cuthbert  and  the  crows,         .  .  .     85-106 

CHAPTER  YII. 

ANGLO-SAXON    CHARTERS. 

Anglo-Saxon  Charters  a  valuable  source  of  information— The  names 
of  boundaries  in  grants  of  land—'  Tun  '  and  '  ham  ' — The  will 
of  Jithelstan  the  Atheling— Ancient  swords— The  sign  of  the 
cross— The  business  habits  of  our  forefathers— A  woman  of 
mettle  —  Swine-feeding  —  Scene  at  the  sick-bed  of  Harold 
Harefoot— The  will  of  Leofric,  Bishop  of  Exeter,        .  .   107-114 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

ANGLO-SAXON    POETRY BEOWULF,    BRUNANBURH,    ETC. 

Anglo-Saxon  poetry — The  epic  "Beowulf"  of  foreign  extraction — 
Fine  passages  in  the  poem— Mxtiiic_accretion.s  in  tlie  Icelandic^ 
Saga  of  Grettir  traceable  to  the  "Beowulf"  legend— Descrip- 
tion of  the  Goda-foss— "The  Gleeman's  Tale"— Odes  on  the 
battle  of  Brunanburh  and  of  Saucourt — Norsemen  in  the 
army  of  Athelstan — Poem  attributed  to  King  Caiivite — "The 
Battle  of  Maldon  "—Earl  Byrhtnoth  a  benefactor  to  Ely,        .   1 15-128 

CHAPTER  IX. 

ANGLO-SAXON    POETRY  CONTINUED — "  JUDITH,"    "ANDREAS," 
"  ELBNE,"    ETC. 

"  Judith  "  conjectured  to  be  by  Csedmon — It  is  a  poem  of  the  highest 
merit— The  story  of  Cajdmon — A  similar  one  to  be  found  in 
Iceland— German  theory  that  the  "  Heliand"  and  "  Caedmon" 
are  by  the  same  author  disproved— Many  transcripts  of  Eng- 
lish poems  made  in  Germany — Beautiful  Irish  MSS. — "  Elene, 
or  the  Findiug  of  the  Cross,"  by  Cynewulf—"  Dream  of  the 
Cross  "  proved  from  the  P>,uthwell  Cross  to  be  by  Caedmon — 
"  Adventures  of  St.  Andrew  "  conjectured  by  J.  Grimm  to  be  by 
Aldhelm— "The  Wanderer"— "The  Exile"— The  Life  of  St. 
Guthlac— In  "  Deor  the  Scald's  Complaint "  reference  is  made  to 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

the  Weland  myth— "  The  Tluin" — Tlie  sombre  tone  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  poetry — "  The  Whale" — The  Gnomic  verses  a  string  of 
proverbial  sayings — Murder  will  out — "  The  Departed  Soul's 
Address  to  the  Body  "  found  in  Icelandic — Alliterations — The 
German  poem  of  ''Gudrun" — Was  there  an  Anglo-Saxon 
Edda? — The  expedient  of  the  missionaries— Their  use  of 
mythic  words — An  old  Shetland  ditty — "  King  Waldere's 
Lay,"         ........   129-159 


CHAPTER  X. 

TjjE    aiVTHOLOGY    OF    GERMANY,    SCANDINAVIA,    AND    ENGLAND 
ALIKE. 

Folklore  attests  this  as  well  as  the  allusions  in  "Beowulf" — The 
Merseburg  charm  recurs  in  Scandinavia — Old  abjuring  formula 
— Aser  worship  in  England  proved  by  the  spell  against  sudden 
stitch,        ........   160-164 


CHAPTER  XL 

"  cleric's    colloquy  " ANGLO-SAXON   WRITERS  SOMEWHAT  VAGUE 

AND    TAME. 

■'.iElfric's  Colloquy"  throws  light  on  the  home-life  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons— Hunters  and  fishermen — Divers  trades — The  various 
lots  of  men — The  game  of  Ttefl — Domestic  manners  of  the  nuns 
— The  Saxon  Chronicle  disappointing — The  origin  of  "  King 
Lear" — Vagueness  of  Anglo-Saxon  writers  as  compared  with 
Scandinavian,        .......  165-175 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    NATIONAL    SITUATION  IN   BRITAIN    DURING    THE    ANGLO-SAXON 

PERIOD. 

The  national  situation  in  Britain  before  and  after  the  departure 
of  the  Komans — The  Saxon  Shore — Precipitate  retreat  of  the 
Komans — The  Celts  fly  from  the  new  invaders  as  one  fleeth 
from  fire — The  sack  of  Anderida  and  victory  at  Mons  Badonicus 
— England  now  seems  to  disajipear  from  view — Procopius's 
description  of  it  as  the  abode  of  souls — Remains  of  Roman 
grandeur  in  the  island  —  Its  great  fertility  —  The  Roman 
Church  succeeds  to  tlie  dominion  of  the  Roman  Empire — 
Latin  learning  overspreads  the  land  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
vernacular— The  Exeter  Codex— National  poetry  discouraged 
by  the  clergy — Many  of  these  in  Alfred's  time  could  not  un- 
derstand the  Church  service,      .....   176-184 


PAGE 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

PILGRIMAGES FALSE     MONASTERIES THE     NORTHMEN  THEY 

SETTLE     DOWN     WITH    THE     ANGLO-SAXONS ANGLO-SAXON     IS 

DEBASED,    BUT    REVIVES    AS    MODERN    ENGLISH. 

The  Northumbrian  Church  submits  to  Rome— Aidan  more  beloved 
than  Paulinus— Rage  for  pilgrimages  to  Rome— Abbot  Ceol- 
frid  dies  on  the  journey— High-born  ladies  join  the  rush— 
Alcuin,  Bede,  and  Boniface  are  all  against  the  movement- 
Various  motives  alleged  for  it— Bede's  letter  to  Archbishop 
Ecgbert  on  the  low  state  of  morals  of  the  clergy  as  well  as 
laity— Boniface  holds  the  like  opinion— England,  priestridden 
and  spiritless,  is  unable  to  cope  with  the  Northmen — "Was 
RoUo  a  Dane  or  a  Norwegian  ?— The  irruption  of  the  Vikings 
—Their  descent  upon  Lindisfarne— With  them  piracy  was  an 
honourable  profession— Their  passion  for  foreign  travel— Our 
naval  heroes  descended  from  them— They  infused  new  blood 
into  England— The  Saxons  and  Northmen  settle  down  ami- 
cably—The Norman  Conquest— The  national  speech  is  de- 
based and  again  revives,  ...•••   185-196 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    SCANDINAVIANS    IN    RUSSIA   AND    THE    EAST. 

Nestor's  Chronicle— Russ,  the  name  of  the  Swedish  immigrants  into 
Russia— They  descend  the  river  Dnieper  to  the  Black  Sea- 
Mentioned  by  Arabian  authors— Their  method  of  interment 
on  board  ship— Illustration  of  this  in  the  museum  at  Chris- 
tiania— Some  of  them  visit  Ingleheim— Their  nomenclature 
of  the  rapids  on  the  Dnieper— Many  Arabic  coins  found  in 
Sweden — '  Ruotsi,'  the  Finnish  appellation  for  Sweden— The 
Varangians  from  Thule  mentioned  by  Anna  Comnena— The 
etymology  of  '  VarangiaUj'  .....   197-202 

CHAPTER  XV. 

A    MEDLEY. 

Anglo-Saxon  considered  philologically  and  grammatically  —  Our 
infinitive  mood— The  sound  of  '  th  '-Anglo-Saxon  cumbrous 
case-endings  well-nigh  abolished  —  Curious  shif tings  in  the 
meaning  of  words— Etymologies  of  words— The  name  lona 
arose  from  a  blunder— Anglo-Saxon  names  for  the  months- 
Alliteration  more  easy  in  Anglo-Saxon  than  in  English- 
Bishop  Lupus's  address— Latimer's  "  Sermon  of  the  Plough" 
— Alliteration  in  the  confessional,  ....  203-212 


CONTENTS. 


ICELANDIC    LI  TEN  A  TUNE. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

THE   REFORMATION   IN   ICELAND. 

PAGE 

Suppression  of  the  monasteries— Bishop  Jon  Areson  firmly  opposes 

the  movement — He  is  beheaded,  ....  213-222 

CHAPTER  II. 

COLLECTORS   AND    COPYISTS    OF   MSS. — ARNE   MAGNUSSON. 

Icelandic  MSS.  rescued  from  destruction  by  private  enterprise- 
Various  copyists— The  fire  at  Copenhagen— The  great  collec- 
tor, Arne  Magnusson — Bishop  Percy  provokes  the  study  of 
Icelandic  literature  in  England— The  poet  Gray  and  the  Kev. 
J.  Johnstone  help  the  movement,  ....  223-228 

CHAPTER  III. 

PROSE  EDDA   AND   ITS   DISCOVERER,  ARNGRIM  JONAS. 

The  discovery  of  the  Prose  Edda  due  to  Arngrim  Jonas — His  cor- 
respondence with  Worm — Who  wrote  the  Edda? — Sir  H. 
Spelman  sends  greetings  to  Arngrim — Arngrim's  death  and 
epitaph— Cardinal  Mazarin's  interest  excited  in  the  Edda,      .  229-235 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE     PROSE    EDDA. 

The  Gothic  deities  of  the  Edda  a  revelation  to  Europe— The  Viilva 
and  the  Valkyrs— Snorri's  main  object  in  composing  the 
Prose  Edda  to  teach  the  art  of  poetry  to  his  countrymen — 
The  "Shield  Lays," 236-239 


CONTENTS.  xix 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   PROSE   EDDA — CONTINUED. 

PAGE 

The  plot  of  "  Gylfaginning  "—The  Aser  and  Asgaard— King  Gylfi  in 
the  lofty  hall— A  new  tale  of  creation— Night  and  day — 
Whence  comes  the  wind? — Odin  or  All-Father — His  son 
Baldr- His  death— Loki,  the  Evil  One— The  earth-serpent— 
Valhalla— The  twilight  of  the  gods— Fenris  wolf  loose— The 
strand  of  the  dead— Palingenesis— The  Ash  Yggdrasil— Droll 
tales  in  the  Edda— Thor's  adventures— The  preface  to  the 
Prose  Edda  an  absurd  jumble, '240-249 

CHAPTER  VL 

THE  POETIC   EDDA. 

Various  meanings  ascribed  to  the  word— The  discovery  of  the 
Kegius  Codex  by  Bishop  Sweinson — The  idea  that  Saemund 
the  Learned  was  the  author  of  the  Edda  has  no  solid  basis — 
The  age  of  the  Eddaic  poems— Their  preservation  by  oral 
tradition  compared  with  that  of  the  Veda  hymns— The 
Solar  Ljod  by  a  Christian  author — The  diiferent  kinds  of 
metre  used  by  the  Icelandic  poets— The  contents  of  the 
Poetic  Edda— The  "  Vtiluspa"  resembles  the  Chaldean  legend 
of  chaos  and  creation— The  "  Grimnismal"— The  earth,  sea, 
and  sky  made  from  the  giant  Ymir— The  apples  of  immor- 
tality stolen  by  Loki— Remarkable  coincidence  between  the 
religion  of  the  Edda  and  other  faiths,  Pagan  as  well  as 
Christian— The  "  "Wessobrunner  Gebet" — Thor's  hammer— A 
catechism  font— Odin  merges  into  All-Father — Grisly  de- 
scription of  Hel— The  sacred  writings  of  India— Recent  theories 
as  to  the  authorship  and  the  date  of  the  Eddaic  poems, .         .  250-264 


CHAPTER  VIL 

HEROIC   EDDA. 

Sigurd,  Brynhild,  and  Gudrun— Brynhild's  jealousy  and  revenge- 
Murder  of  Sigurd— The  suttee  of  Brynhild— The  fierceness  of 
the  Northern  blood— Gudrun  deaf  to  all  consolation— At  the 
sight  of  Sigurd's  corpse  her  tears  flow- Women  true  to  the 
death  — Sigyn  and  Bergthora  —  The  Anglo-Saxon  women 
fair  and  colourless— The  fatal  fascination  of  gold— The 
demon  Fafner— The  Volsungs— The  slaughter  of  an  otter 
considered  a  great  crime— Regin  the  dwarf — The  language 
of  birds- The  question  of  the  nationality  of  the  tale  of 
Sigurd— Points  in  the  story  historically  true,  .         .         .         .26: 


XX  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

OTHER   POEMS   IN   THE   EDDA. 

PAGE 

The  ballad  of  Sigrun  and  Helgi  compared  to  a  Danish  ballad — The 
god  Freyr  in  love — The  origin  of  'honeymoon' — The  song  of 
Thrym  humorous  and  beautiful— The  wedding  banquet — The 
flaming  collar— The  holy  sign  in  Scandinavia  and  the  East,     .  279-283 

CHAPTEK  IX. 

THE   MYTHIC   WORDS   IN   "  BEOWULF," 

The  earth  called  Eormengrund — Thor's  fishing — The  Norns — Eager 
or  the  sea — Ean  and  her  nine  daughters — Wayland  Smith 
— Volundr's  brother,  Egil,  the  prototype  of  Tell — Alfred's 
mistaken  translation  of  a  passage  in  "  Boethius  " — Kegn-heard 
— The  story  of  Sigurd  immortalised  in  the  Kunic  inscription 
on  the  Gowk  Stone —Middan-geard, 284-291 

CHAPTEE  X. 

SAGAS   OF  ICELAND. 

The  minute  personal  details  in  the  Icelandic  Sagas  —  Causes 
of  the  literary  activity  of  the  Icelanders — Literature  will 
germinate  even  in  frost — Snorri's  "  Heimskringla,"  lost  sight 
of  for  some  time,  made  known  by  Clausen — Its  literary  power 
and  historic  value — Its  basis — Thorodd  the  Icelandic  gram- 
marian— Ari  Frodi  and  the  "  Landnama  bok  " — His  authorities 
for  his  History — Snorri's  statement  as  to  his  own  authorities 
— Paulus  Diaconus  and  Jornandes— The  truthfulness  of  the 
Greenland  Chronicle — The  pillar  of  Forres  explained  by  the 
"Flateybok" — Prose  description  of  battles  based  on  the 
words  of  the  Scalds  who  were  eye-witnesses — The  "Biarka- 
mal"  :  Scaldic  circumlocution — Snorri  indebted  to  his  genius 
rather  than  his  education — He  was  deeply  versed  in  poetry — 
His  character — The  battle  of  Svoldr  and  death  of  Olaf 
Tryggvason — Snorri's  predecessors  in  history-writing — The 
fascination  of  his  descriptions — The  murder  of  Hacon  Jarl — 
Snorii  rises  above  the  superstition  of  the  age — Eric  Bloody-axe 
and  Hacon  Athelstan's  foster-son — Gregory's  missionaries 
compared  with  those  of  King  Olaf,         ....  292-307 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THANGBEAND,  THE   MISSIONARY   OF   ICELAND. 

Thangbrand— His  visit  to  England — Sets  about  the  conversion  of 
Norway — His  riotous  living  there  displeases  the  king — Is  sent 
to  convert  Iceland — The  first  baptisms  in  the  island— Romish 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

PAGE 

doctrines  gain  a  footing— Rafn  the  Red's  belief  in  the  efficacy 
of  pilgrimage— Thangbrand  ridiculed  at  the  parliament — 
Makes  short  work  of  his  lampooners— He  slays  a  Berserker— 
Primsigna— Hiallti's  doggrel  on  Frey— Olaf  Tryggvason  in- 
censed against  Iceland — The  great  controversy  at  the  Althing 
— Description  of  the  Law  Hill — Thorgeir  the  Speaker's  sage 
compromise— In  a  few  years  heathenism  discarded,     .  .  308-315 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   EGIL's   saga. 

Egil's  family  hatred  to  Harold  Fairhair— The  contradictions  in  his 
character — "Wrecked  on  the  English  coast— Falls  into  Eric's 
hands — Composes  a  "Drapa"  under  adverse  circumstances — 
Poetic  use  of  the  natural  world  in  Icelandic  poetry  as  in 
Shakespeare— The  victory  of  Bruuanburh  vividly  described — 
Portrait  of  Egil  in  the  presence  of  King  Athelstan — His 
sorrow  for  his  drowned  son— His  meditated  self-destruction 
— "Sonar  torrek "—England  a  mart  for  the  furs  of  Finmark,    316-323 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

OTHER   ICELANDIC  SAGAS. 

The  Northman  at  home— Visiting  his  stables— Surrounded  by  his 
friends  at  Yule— Horse-fights-Wrestling— Thor  and  Elli— 
The  Saetersdal  throw  —  Ball-play  —  The  poet-blacksmith — 
The  women  —  Gudrun  and  Kjartau  —  The  awful  widow 
— Realistic  pictures— Dr.  Todd's  theory  on  the  composition 
of  the  Sagas — Irish  bombast  and  alliteration— Sars  refers  the 
descrii^tive  power  of  the  Saga  writers  partly  to  Irish  culture 
— Importance  of  family  pedigrees  in  Iceland,    .  .  .  324-332 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   GUNLAUG'S   SAGA. 

Gunlaug  betrothed  to  Helga — One  tongue  in  England,  Norway, 
and  Denmark — He  composes  a  poem  in  honour  of  King 
Ethelred  and  slays  a  Berserker — Passes  over  from  London 
to  Dublin — Arrives  at  Upsala,  where  he  quarrels  with  Hrafn 
the  Scald- The  Danish  gold-diggings— Hrafn  in  revenge  courts 
Helga— Gunlaug  again  in  London — Arrives  in  Iceland  too  late 
to  prevent  Hrafn's  marriage  with  Helga — Holmgang  at  the 
Althing^Interview  with  Helga — He  is  treacherously  slain 
by  Hrafn — Helga's  grief — All  these  circumstances  were  fresh 
in  the  people's  memory  when  the  Saga  was  written — Death  of 
Ronald,  the  Orkney  Earl,  .....  333-343 


xxii  CONTENTS. 

ClIArTER  XV. 

THE   SWERRl's   SAGA. 

I'AdE 

8weriir  broxiglit  iip  to  tlie  Cliurch  in  Faro — Lands  in  Norway  and 
competes  for  the  throne — King  John  of  Enghind  his  friend — 
His  striking  qualities  —  Kesemblance  to  Cromwell  —  Carl 
Jonsson,  Abbot  of  Thingore,  wrote  the  Saga  at  the  dicta- 
tion of  Swerrir — The  accounts  of  Swerrir  by  the  English 
Chronicles  inspired  by  his  enemy,  Archbishop  Eystein  — 
Norway  at  the  time  at  the  feet  of  Kome — The  Pope  excommu- 
nicates Swerrir,  but  he  is  crowned  king  notwithstanding — A 
picture  of  the  man  and  of  his  rival,  King  Magnus — Is  he  justly 
branded  as  a  hypocrite  ? — His  speeches  before  the  battle  of 
Ilevold  and  at  the  grave  of  Jarl  Erliiig — His  Birkibeins — He 
dies  like  a  king  in  his  high  seat — Innocent  III.'s  jubilation 
thereupon,  .......  344-354 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

THE   "king's  mirror." 

I'he  "  King's  Mirror  "  not  written  by  King  Swerrir — Graphic  account 
of  early  Arctic  discovery — A  Norse  Lord  Chesterfield— Irish 
wonders — The  origin  of  Yorick  to  be  found  in  this  book — The 
Saga  of  Hacon  Haconson — The  defeat  of  Largs  due  to  the  ele- 
ments—  The  Melrose  Chronicle  errs  —  King  Hacon  dies  at 
Kirkwall — He  is  shown  by  Professor  Munch  to  have  been 
fond  of  literature  and  the  arts  of  peace — The  Faroese  Saga — 
Its  hero,  Sigmuud,  receives  the  fatal  ring — He  gives  off ence  to 
King  Olaf  Tryggvason — He  is  murdered  by  Thorgrim  the  Bad 
— Thrand's  and  Helga's  jumbled  creeds,  .  .  .  355-365 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

HAROLD   HARDRADA   AND  THE  SCALDS. 

Harold  Hardrada  and  his  Scalds — His  adventures  in  the  East — A 
saga-teller  arrives  at  his  court — The  king  becomes  his  patron 
— Stump,  the  son  of  Cat,  recites  poems  by  the  score,  and  is 
taken  into  the  royal  household — The  Njal  Saga — Halgerda's 
thief's  eyes— She  marries  Gunnar  against  the  will  of  his  friends 
— She  embroils  him  with  everybody,  and  is  the  death  of  him 
at  last — Irish  deerhounds  —  The  woof  of  war— Gray's  ver- 
sion of  it,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  3^^-3^9 


CONTENTS.  xxiii 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

ICELANDIC   PROSE   LITERATURE  OF  FOREIGN   EXTRACTION. 

PACE 

The  saga  of  Thomas  a  Becket — "Barlaam  and  Josaphat,"  a  version 
of  the  Greek  legend  of  John  of  Damascus  — An  Eastern 
parable  of  life— The  high  culture  of  the  Norwegian  kings— 
The  vision  of  Duggal  the  Irishman— Purgatory— The  story 
of  Theophilus,  who  sold  himself  to  the  devil — Diter  Bernhard 
— Old  Norse  version  of  Gregory's  Dialogues,     .  .  .  370-380 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

OLD    NORSE    SCALDS. 

Starkadr— Bragi— Song  of  Lodbrog— Thiodolf  and  Hornklofi— "  The 
battle  of  Hafrsfjord" — Harold  Fairhair's  court — The  dirge  on 
Eric  Bloody-axe — "  Hakonarmal " — Death  of  Hjalmar — Her- 
vor  and  Angantyr — The  best  Scalds  natives  of  Iceland,  .  381-393 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  LAWS. 

The  origin  of  Greygoose — Ironside  and  Jonsbook— The  various  sub- 
jects embraced  by  the  Greygoose— The  Gulf  Stream— A  whale 
ashore— Our  word  'law'  is  of  Icelandic  origin — The  law- 
speaker —  Trial  by  jury  :  is  it  derived  from  Iceland? — Court 
leet  and  hustings— The  status  of  the  Thrall— The  "  Rigsmal  " 
—Few  intercede  for  a  slave— Grottisongr— Princess  Herborg 
in  "  Gudrun  " — Dead  men  tell  no  tales,  .  .  .  394-403 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

ICELANDIC   CHARTERS,   ETC. 

The  Archbishopric  of  Hamburg  founded  —  Icelandic  pilgrims  at 
Keichenau — The  "  Liber  Vita;  "  of  Durham — Nicholas  Break- 
spear — The  sale  of  falcons  a  monopoly  of  the  Church— Bull  of 
Innocent  III.— Bishop  Thorlak's  Penitential- The  Bann— 
The  founder  of  Norwich  Cathedral  and  the  poachers— The 
witty  Archdeacon  of  Oxford  on  clerical  celibacy— The  Viking 
in  Rome— Macbeth  absolved— The  Suet  Bishop—"  Diploma- 
tarium  Norwegicum,"      ....••  404-410 


x\iv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIL 

ICELANDIC   WIT   COMPARED   WITH   ANGLO-SAXON. 

PAGE 

Tlie  composition  of  Adam — The  "  Demaundcs  Joyous  " — Who  wrote 
the  poems  ridiculing  the  gods  ? — A  step  from  tlie  sublime  to 
the  ridiculous — J.  P.  llichter's  paradox — The  slanging  dia- 
logue in  the  Harbard's  Lay -^ Odin  and  Thor's  shares  in  the 
slain,  ........  411-419 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

ICELANDIC   WIT   CONTINUED. 

Icelandic  riddles  —  Likeness  between  a  Danish  ballad  and  one 
of  our  Christmas  carols — The  ballad  of  the  "Four  Sisters" — 
"  Captain  Wedderburn's  Courtship"— Features  in  the  ballad  of 
"  Svend  Vonwed  "  reappear  in  the  "  Mabinogion  " — Its  Eddaic 
source — Trougemundslied — Why  the  sea  is  salt^Fenia  and 
Menia,  the  goblin  grinders  — King  Frodi's  end — The  cause 
of  the  Swelkie — Hamlet  traceable  to  an  Icelandic  poem— 
Loki's  bet— The  pound  of  flesh — The  fate  of  Kvasir  a  caution- 
Let  every  man  be  wise  but  not  overwise,  .  .  .  420-428 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

ICELANDIC    PEOVEEBS. 

Icelandic  proverbs  and  Alfred's  proverbs — "The  Song  of  the  High 
One" — Its  reflections  on  friendship — A  string  of  wise  saws — 
A  motto  for  the  Temperance  League — Soft  words  butter  no 
parsnips — Legal  maxims,  .....  429-434 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

ICELANDIC   AND   DANISH   BALLADS. 

Icelandic  ballads  dispense  with  alliteration— German  poets  domi- 
ciled at  the  Danish  court— Theories  on  the  date  of  the  Danish 
ballads  —  Identity  of  Scotch  ballads  and  Northern  songs — 
The  story  of  Gunhilda,  daughter  of  Canute — Explanations  of 
Geyer  and  Grimm  of  the  likeness  between  the  songs  of  the 
two  countries — Jack  and  his  Beanstalk  and  the  Man  in  the 
Moon  appear  in  the  Edda  —  The  mythology  of  the  Eskimo 
mainly  Scandinavian,       ......  43S"439 


CONTENTS.  XXV 

CHAPTEE  XXVI. 

A   MEDLEY. 

PAGE 

English  ■words  and  phrases  which  are  of  Scandinavian  parentage — 
'Fellow,'  whence  derived— The  Boar's  Head  at  Queen's — Drink- 
ing Sconces— Beefsteak  and  dreams — The  Yorkshire  Ridings 
and  Filey  Brigg — The  Calf  of  Man— Carr  and  Scroggs— 
Worsaae,  the  Danish  antiquary — Sir  Hugh  Evans — 'Ran- 
sack ' — Foster-brotherhood,  ...  .  440-450 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

FURTHER   STUDY   OF   WORDS. 

Rita  and  Rista— 'Spick  and  span  ' — The  etymology  of  'fussy  ' — To 
count  noses — Ale  r.  beer — Sir  John  Barleycorn — The  language 
of  the  gods  and  the  language  of  men— Nightmare — "  Alvismal" 
—  The  etymology  of  '  lady,'         .....  451-456 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

RUNES. 

Professor  A.  Munch  thereupon  —  Their  origin  still  a  vexed 
question — Professor  Thorsen  on  Danish  Runic  monuments — • 
Professor  G.  Ste]iliens's  old  Runic  fragments  —  He  believes 
runes  to  be  absolutely  of  Scandinavian,  not  German  origin^ 
Wimmer's  theory  is  opposed  to  this — Bugge's  theory  on  the 
origin  of  runes — His  explanation  of  the  runes  on  the  Forsa 
church  door-ring — English  missionaries  in  Sweden— Helsing 
runes — The  legend  of  the  two  Jotuns — Thorsen's  new  book 
on  non-monumental  runes— The  Runic  MS.  of  the  Scanian 
law — Runes  first  mentioned  by  Venantius  Fortunatus — The 
"  sealed  letters  "  in  Hamlet — Egil's  "  Coronach  " — The  Danes 
wi-ote  the  deeds  of  their  ancestors  on  the  rocks — A  priest  ship- 
wrecked in  Greenland  leaves  a  record  of  bis  sufferings  in  runes 
—  Snorri  Sturleson  warned  by  runes — Tree-runes — Bind-runes 
— Love-runes — A  Jutland  ballad — The  Runic  book  at  Holar 
full  of  black  art— Bede's  curious  story  of  the  captive  whom 
no  fetters  could  bind — Alcuin's  mention  of  the  heathen  phy- 
lacteries worn  by  the  English — Literse  Ephesise — Runes  in 
ordinary  use  in  Dalecarlia  in  Ihre's  time — Rask's  father — 
Three  hundred  runes  on  one  tombstone — Isaac  Taylor's  new 
theory  on  the  origin  of  runes,     .....  457-479 


xxvi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

CONCLUSION. 

I'ACK 

The  power  and  range  of  Old  English  and  of  Old  Norse — The  Scan- 
dinavian pen  very  versatile — Vast  numbers  of  Anglo-Saxon 
writings  may  or  mny  not  have  perished — The  Aureus  Codex 
most  lilcely  written  by  Irish  monks  at  Bobbio— The  Lindis- 
farne  Gospels — Much  in  "Beowulf"  has  a  strong  Scandinavian 
tinge— Aldhelm  gets  a  MS.  cheap — Picture- words  in  the  Old 
Norse — '  Blue-moor '  for  the  sea — Many  features  of  our  natural 
scenery  reappear  in  Scandinavian — Sweyne's  vow — The  god 
Thor  driving  through  the  air — Our  national  character  partly 
derived  from  Scandinavia — Rask's  verdict  on  the  Icelandic 
tongue, ;    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  480-486 


APPENDIX. 

The  fight  of  Ferdiad  and  Cuchulaind— A  mixture  of  prose  and  verse 

like  the  Old  Edda — O'Curry's  works  on  the  ancient  Irish,      .  487-497 

Index,     .........         499 


THE 

ENGLISHMAN  AND  THE  SCANDINAVIAN. 


part   L 

OLD    ENGLISH   LLTERATURE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  STUDY   OF  ANGLO-SAXON   REVIVED  BY  ARCHBISHOP 
PARKER  AND  SIR  H.  SPELMAN. 

In  the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  about  as  little  was  known 
of  Anglo-Saxon  lore  as  of  the  papyrus  rolls  at  Pompeii,  or 
the  terra- cotta  tablets  in  arrow-head  lying  dormant  under 
the  mounds  at  Mmroud.  What  our  forefathers  had 
written  was  clean  forgotten  and  out  of  mind.  It  was  a 
happy  inspiration  which  prompted  that  mighty  collector 
of  books,  Archbishop  Matthew  Parker  (born  at  Norwich, 
1504,  died  1575),  to  rescue  from  present  oblivion  and  near 
impending  destruction  the  monuments  of  our  old  English 
language  and  literature  which  still  survived  in  various 
corners  of  England.  Armed  with  an  order  from  the  Privy 
Council,  his  hue  and  cry  was  pretty  successful,  6700 
volumes  being,  according  to  Strype,^  collected  by  one  of 
his  emissaries,  Batman,  alone.  Never  was  a  law  of 
treasure-trove  passed  to  better  purpose.  It  was  a  measure 
after  Sir  John  Lubbock's  own  heart.     It  came,  too,  in  the 

1  n.  497. 


2  OLD  ENGLISH  LIT  ERA  TURK. 

Yery  nick  of  time ;  for,  says  Bale,^  "  A  great  number  of 
them  that  purchased  the  monasteries  reserved  the  books 

of  those  libraries ;  some  to  serve  their ,  some  to  scour 

their  candlesticks,  some  to  rub  their  boots;  some  they  sold 
to  grocers  and  soapsellers,  and  some  they  sent  over  sea  to 
the  bookbinders,  not  in  small  numbers,  but  at  times  whole 
ships  full,  to  the  wondering  of  foreign  nations."  Foreign- 
ers, however,  need  not  so  greatly  wonder,  for  did  not  an 
Italian,  Polidore  Vergil,  according  to  Strype,  having  got  a 
licence  from  Henry  YIII,  to  search  the  libraries  of  Eng- 
land in  writing  his  history,  after  accomplishing  his  work 
by  the  aid  of  the  books  he  found  therein,  "  pile  those  same 
books  together,  and  set  them  all  on  a  light  fire"? — a  piece 
of  insensate  Vandalism,  which  reminds  us  of  that  "  moun- 
tain heap"  into  which  Archbishop  Zumarraga  collected 
the  picture-written  national  archives  of  Mexico  before 
reducing  them  to  ashes ;  or  of  the  similar  auto-da-fi  of 
Arabic  MSS.  which  Cardinal  Ximenes  perpetrated  in 
Granada  not  many  years  before — symbols  forsooth  of  a 
pestilent  superstition,  and  doomed  as  such  to  be  extir- 
pated !  To  this  timely  raid  of  Parker's  for  the  preservation 
of  ancient  monuments  the  College  of  St.  Benet's,  Cam- 
bridge, owes  her  priceless  collection  of  482  manuscripts, 
the  bequest  of  the  Archbishop,  of  which  Puller  says  that 
it  contains  more  materials  relating  to  the  history  of  this 
kingdom,  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  than  can  be  found 
anywhere  else.  Among  the  spolia  opima  thus  achieved 
was  the  MS.  which  has  every  title  to  rank  first  in  the 
list  of  Saxon  Chronicles,^  the  curious  "  Dialogue  between 
Solomon  and  Saturn,"  ^  and  Alfred's  "  Paraphrase  of  Gre- 
gory's Pastoral  Care."  *  But  besides  collecting,  Parker  at 
once  wisely  resolved  to  multiply  the  scarcest  of  these  old 
books,  and  kept  in  his  employ  a  number  of  skilful  penmen 
to  copy  as  well  as  make  good  deficiencies.     He  also  re- 

^  Lelaiul's  laboryouse  journey  aiid  -    Ed.    Earle,     Oxford,    1865,    B. 

serclie  for  Englandes  antiquities,  given  Thorpe,  lloUs  Series, 

as  a  newe  years  gifte  to  King  Henry  ^  J.  M.  Kemble,  London,  1845. 

VIII.,  enlarged  by  John  Bale.     Lou-  •*  Ed.  Sweet,  London,  1871. 
don,  1549. 


THE  STUDY  OF  ANGLO-SAXON.  3 

vived  the  study  of  Anglo-Saxon  (or,  as  it  is  the  fashion 
nowadays  to  call  it,  '  Old  English '),  by  '  putting  out '  in 
print  several  books  in  that  language.  He  will  always  be 
remembered  for  the  publication  of  the  first  Anglo-Saxon 
book  printed  in  this  country — ^Ifric's  "  Easter  Homily" — 
which  is  chiefly  valuable  for  the  light  it  throws  on  the 
doctrine  of  the  Eucharist  as  held  by  the  primitive  Church 
of  England.  Before  the  doctrine  of  the  real  presence 
gained  a  footing  among  us,  it  was  customary,  as  we  know 
from  Bede's  description  of  the  death  of  Ciedmon  (a.d. 
680),  to  receive  the  consecrated  Eucharist  in  the  hand.^ 
To  him  also  we  owe  the  "  Anglo-Saxon  Gospels,"  edited 
by  Foxe,  not  to  mention  Gildas,  and  our  other  earliest 
historians.  Of  Parker's  immense  industry  there  can  be 
only  one  opinion,  but  his  merits  as  an  editor  have  found 
but  scant  favour  from  the  keen  criticism  of  modern 
investigators.  In  spite  of  his  protestation,^  however,  that 
he  had,  according  to  his  invariable  practice,  not  added  or 
diminished,  interpolations  and  errors  have  been  clearly 
brought  home  to  him  or  his  copyists.^ 

When  the  master-mind  of  Parker  was  removed  by  his 
death,  another  dark  time  seems  to  have  gathered  round 
these  studies,  and  Camden  saw  reason  to  fear  that  "  de- 
vouring Time  would  soon  swallow  up  the  study  of  Anglo- 
Saxon   antiquities."      After   an  interval   of   some   years, 

1  Lingard  (Anglo-Saxon  Church,  ii.  from    St.    Albau's   to    Westminster, 

314)  will  have   it  that  ^Ifric's  Ian-  where  the  manuscript  was  continued 

guage  was  borrowed  from  a  foreigner,  by  other  writers  ;  and  from  the  latttT 

Bertram,  and  that  nothing  like  it  is  portionsof  it  being  the  work  of  amonk 

to  be  found  in  any  Anglo-Saxon  writer  at  "Westminster,  the  entire  work  was 

before  or  since.  attributed   to   one   Matthew  of  that 

^  Preface  to  Asser's  "Alfred,"  1574.  house, — a  mistake  which,  though  de- 

^  It  is  from  Parker,  or  from  Josce-  tected   by   Palgrave   and  apparently 

line  his  secretary,  that  we  trace  the  proved  by  Madden  from  the  original 

story  of  one  Matthew  of  Westminster  copy  of  the  work  which  he  discovered 

being  the  author  of  the  "  Flores  His-  in  the  Chetlmm  Library  at  Manches- 

toriarum,"  when  in  fact  the  existence  ter,  is  perpetuated  in  Ijohn's  edition, 

of  such  a  person  is  doubtful.  Matthew  and  will  no  doubt  die  very  hard,  if  at 

Paris,  the  monk  of  St.  Alban's,  was  all.     Be  it  said,  however,  that  Sir  J. 

authorbothof  the  greater  History  and  Hardy  very  stoutly  contested  Mad- 

of   this    abbreviation,  the  "Plores."  den's  conclusions,   and  the  question 

This  last  was  continued  by  another  cannot  be  regarded  aa  closed, 
hand  down  to  1265,  and  then  removed 


4  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

however,  that  learned  knight  of  iSTorfolk,  Sir  Henry  Spel- 
niau  (born  1561,  died  1641),  ste})ped  upon  the  scene, 
destined  hereafter  to  be  called  by  Whelock  "  heros  litera- 
turie  A.  Saxonicffi."  How  he  found  matters  he  has  himself 
left  on  record  :  "  Paulatim  ita  exhalavit  animam  nobile 
illud  majorum  nostrorum  et  pervetustum  idioma,  ut  in 
universe,  quod  sciam,  orbe  uec  unus  reperiatur,  qui  hoc 
scite  perfecteque  calleat,  pauci  quidem  qui  vel  literas 
noverint."  With  no  grammar  or  dictionary  to  help  him, 
he  set  about  the  study  of  Anglo-Saxon ;  and  subsequently, 
encouraged  by  Usher,  Lord  Keeper  Williams,  Selden,  E. 
Cotton,  and  others,  he  projected  his  Glossary.  In  collect- 
ing materials  for  this  and  his  other  well-known  works, 
he  entered  into  correspondence  with  the  learned  men  of 
Germany  and  Northern  Europe. 

Among  these,  not  the  least  notable  in  those  days  was 
Ole  Worm.  Born  at  Aarhus  in  Jutland,  1588,  he  studied 
medicine  in  Germany.  Thence  proceeding  to  Italy,  he 
frequented  the  famous  anatomical  school  of  Padua,  where 
he  arrived  in  1608,  just  six  years  after  the  great  Harvey, 
who  most  likely  conceived  there  his  first  idea  of  the  circula- 
tion of  the  blood,  had  obtained  the  degree  of  M.D.  from 
that  University.  Journeying  into  Trance,  he  became  the 
personal  friend  of  Isaac  Casaubon  at  Paris,^  which  city  he 
left  on  the  murder  of  Henry  IV.  Subsequently  he  resided 
for  a  year  and  a  half  in  England,  and  visited  Oxford  in 
161 1,  where,  as  his  panegyrist,  Thomas  Bartolinus,  tells 
us,  "  Academioe  Bibliothecam  nulli  in  orbe  secundam  vidit 
simul  et  obstupuit."  He  does  not  seem  to  have  ever 
revisited  Oxford  himself,  but  his  son  became  a  student  of 
the  University,-  where  his  father's  merits  were  duly  re- 
cognised. Antony  Wood  records  that  Walter  Charlton's 
"Chorea  Gigantum,  or  Stoueheuge  Pestered  to  the  Danes" 

1  The  acquaintance  did  not  drop,  student  this  year  and  after  in  Oxford, 
Worm  writes  to  Arngrim  Jonas,  1634,  where,  obtaining  several  accomplish- 
"  I  used  to  talk  familiarly  with  Ca-  ments,  he  became  after  his  return  to 
saubon  twenty  years  ago  in  England."  his  own  country  secretary  to  the  King 

2  "  Peter  Worm,  a  Dane,  son  of  the  of  Denmark."  A.  AVood,  Fasti,  ii. 
great  antiquary,  Olaus  Worm,  was  a  318  (a.d.  1619). 


THE  STUDY  OF  ANGLO-SAXON.  5 

(London,  1663),  was  due  chiefly  to  a  correspondence  between 
the  author  and  Worm,  "  the  great  antiquary  of  Denmark." 
After  his  return  to  Denmark,  Worm  was  appointed  Pro- 
fessor of  Medicine  at  the  University  of  Copenhagen,  1624. 
But  he  by  no  means  confined  his  energies  to  the  study 
of  medicine  and  chemistry.  As  an  antiquary,^  his  fame 
had  become  widely  spread,  and  to  him  Spelman  longs  to 
turn  for  help  in  his  Northern  studies;  but  how  was  he 
to  approach  him  ?  An  opportunity  presently  offers.  A 
tractate  by  Worm  on  an  old  Danish  monument  had  been 
shown  to  him  by  an  attach^  of  the  Danish  Embassy  in 
London,  in  which  Worm  had  sought  to  show  that  family 
names  were  in  use  in  the  North  as  early  as  290  a.d.  The 
knight,  in  a  letter  to  Palpemon  Eosencrantz,  the  Danish 
ambassador  in  London,  replete  with  learning,  not  unmixed 
with  a  spice  of  delicate  banter,  takes  exception  to  this 
statement.  Neither  in  any  English  historian,  nor  in 
Gregory  of  Tours,  nor  in  Paulus  Diaconus,  has  he  ever 
met  with  a  family  name.  "  The  people  of  England,  whether 
Anglo-Saxons  or  Anglo-Danes,  never  used  family  names 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Normans ;  and  in  the  whole  of 
this  country,  which  even  now  abounds  with  Danish  vils 
and  families,  I  have,  after  a  careful  inquiry,  failed  to  dis- 
cover any  instance  of  two  names.  There  is  an  old  story 
extant  in  support  of  this.  A  noble  Norman  lady  refused 
the  offer  of  an  Englishman  because  he  had  only  one  name, 
whereupon  everybody  rushed  into  the  custom  of  the  Nor- 
mans, and  assumed  a  second  name  from  farms,  villages, 
towns  (which  was  a  habit  very  prevalent  among  the 
Normans  as  well  as  the  French),  or  from  endowments  of 
mind  or  body,  or  from  an  office,  magistracy,  handicraft, 
illustrious  deeds,  and  so  forth,  and  left  the  same  to  their 
posterity."  He  goes  on,  "  De  Uteris  Eunicis  plura  cupio  : 
unde  nomen,  quaenam  regio,  quis  populus  ?  "     Pliny  talks 

'  Modern  criticism  acknowledges  in  of    the   translation    into    Danish   of 

Worm  a  man  of  wonderful  capacity  Snorri's  "History  of  the  King,"  begun 

anil    industry.     To   him   belongs  the  by  P.  Clausen,  who  died  before  it  was 

merit  of  briugiiis  out  the  first  edition  finished. 


6  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

of  the  Einnci,^  who,  according  to  modern  authors,  were 
near  the  Frisii,  the  tongue  of  which  people  is  said  to  be 
very  like  the  old  Gothic.  Tlien  Tacitus  in  his  "  Germany  " 
speaks  of  the  '  Sunici,'  where  some  read  '  Eunici.'  Doubt- 
less all  this  enigma  would  be  explained  in  Ole  Worm's 
"  Literatura  Eunica,"  if  he  could  only  get  a  sight  of  it.'-^ 
He  then  gives  a  copy  of  a  Eunic  inscription  on  the  stone 
cross  at  Beaucaster,  also  another  ancient  inscription  from 
Cumberland.  Would  his  Excellency  the  ambassador  send 
these  to  the  great  Mystagogus,  Wormius,  of  whom  he 
hopes  to  become  the  friend  and  correspondent?  This 
letter  was  written  from  London,  xiv.  Calend.  Maj  1629 
old  style,  and  the  correspondence  which  ensued,  and  which 
lasted  till  1640,  is  to  be  found  in  that  delightful  volume, 
containing  one  thousand  and  thirty-four  letters,^  all  in 
Latin,  written  by  or  addressed  to  Worm,  from  many  of 
the  literary  celebrities  of  Europe,  on  all  sorts  of  topics  : 
medicine,  chemistry,  physics,  runes,  Icelandic  MSS., 
the  site  of  Thule,  whales,  narwhales,  nephrite  (jade),  &c. 
Most  of  them  are  couched  in  excellent  Latin,  though 
perhaps  that  of  the  Danish  professor  in  purity  of  style 
surpasses  all  the  rest  of  his  distinguished  and  hetero- 
geneous correspondents.  His  sentences  are  short,  sharp, 
and  vigorous,  as  appears  still  more  fully  when  we  compare 
them  with  the  prolix  periods  of  Cardinal  Mazarin's  erudite 
librarian  Naudteus.  Keen,  clear- eyed  criticism,  quite  in 
keeping  with  the  searching  look  of  the  portrait  heading 
the  book,  is  everywhere  apparent.     While  he  is  learned 

1  Compare  Camden's  gxiess  at  the  of  Fiibolgs  =  men  of  the  bags,  i.e., 

etymology  of  Britain,  viz.,  from  Brith  leathern  bags,  in  which  the  Greeks 

=  painted,   to  which  the  old  Greek  had,  whilst  slaves,  made  them  carry 

rovers  added  iama  (as  in  Mauretania),  burdens   of  earth.      Skene's  "Celtic 

i.e.,  the   land   of   the   painted  men.  Scotland,"   i.  173. 

Modern  Celtic  philologers  derive  the  '^  As  early  as  1561,  D.  Rogers,  Eng- 

word  from  Breit=  cloth;  the  Britons  lisli  ambassador  at  Copenhagen,  had 

pluming  themselves  on  being  clothed,  got  a  copy  of  a  Runic  alphabet  from 

not  sansculotte  savages  like  their  Ibe-  the  Chancellor  Frij's,  which  doubtless 

rian   predecessors   in   parts  of   these  found  its  way  to  Spelman. 

islands,  who  erected  the   Megalithic  ^  Olai    Wormii   Epistolse   Havnise, 

monuments.    These  went  by  the  name  1751. 


THE  STUDY  OF  ANGLO-SAXON.  7 

he  is  never  tedious;  when  brief  he  never  becomes  obscure; 
and  there  is  a  happy  goodhumour  manifest  throughout, 
which  gives  a  relish  to  all  he  says.^    As  with  the  exception 
of  one  letter  by  Spelman,  which  is  printed  in  his  Glossary 
under  the  word  '  Pame/  none  of  this  correspondence  has 
ever  appeared  in  an  English  dress,  we  shall  give  further 
notices  of  it.     In  the  following  July  the  Northern  anti- 
quary replies  to  Spelman  direct,  thanking  him  for  a  copy 
of  his  Glossary  (Part  L),  and  begging  his  acceptance  of  his 
"  Fasti  Danici,"  inviting  the  knight's  candid  criticism ;  for 
indeed  all  this  is  quite  new  ground,  and  he  has  such  an 
infinity  of  other  occupations,  that  it  is  quite  possible  errors 
may  be  found  in  it.     He  next  defends  his  assertion  of  the 
great  antiquity  of  family  names   in  Denmark  by  citing 
Saxo  and  others.     That  family  names  were  not  used  in 
Eno-land  before  the  Conquest  he  is  ready  to  admit,  but 
one  could  not  argue  from  thence  for  a  similar  absence  of 
them  in  the  North.     He  then  proceeds  to  chaff  the  knight 
in  most  elegant  Latin  on  his  ignorance  of  runes — though 
he  himself  was  destined,  as  we  shall  see,  to  be  set  right  by 
him  in  the  next  letter,  even  on  the  origin  of  the  name — 
winding  up  with  most  genuine  expressions  of  delight  at 
this  commencement  of  their  friendship. 

Spelman  having  received  from  Worm  a  sketch  of  his 
forthcoming  "  Literatura  Eunica,"  writes  from  the  Barbican, 
London,  nones  of  May  1630,  "  when  the  epidemic  (plague) 
was  just  beginning,  whicli  may  God  avert."  He  excuses 
the  apparent  temerity  of  an  Englishman  in  venturing  to 
dispute  with  a  Dane  on  tlie  etymology  of  a  Northern  word, 
and  he  does  so  on  the  ground  tliat  "  English  is  quadruply 
allied  to  the  Danish.  First,  through  the  old  Saxons ; 
secondly,  through  the  Jutes  or  Goths,  who  came  over  with 
the  Saxons ;  thirdly,  through  the  Danes  themselves ;  and 

1  One  sentence  in  a  letter  to  Arn-  have  been  a  plain  speaker  when  need- 
grim  Jonas,  referring  to  some  supposed  ful :  "What  would  they  not  attempt, 
spurious  inventions  by  monkish  liands  to  make  the  legends  of  their  saints 
in  a  document  about  Greenland,  indi-  appear  more  probable,  and  to  gain 
cates  Worm,  with  all  his  suavity,  to  greater  credit  for  their  gods  !  " 


8  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

fourthly,  tlirough  the  Norwegians,  who  came  with  the 
Danes,  and  afterwards  with  the  ISTormans."  He  takes 
leave  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  Worm's  conjectures  as  to 
the  origin  of  the  word  'rune.'  '  Eun'r^' ductus  aquarum,' 
and  liun=r'mark  of  the  plough,'  find  no  favour  with  the 
knight ;  who  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  'geryne' ^  =  'res  occulta 
vel  mysterium,'  with  which  he  compares  to  '  roune  one  in 
the  ear ' — an  exptession  then  common  in  the  vernacular — 
had  soon  ferreted  out  the  true  linguistic  affinity  for  '  rune.' 
Eune  then  was  a  mysterious  and  occult  character,  similar 
to  those  of  the  Egyptian  priests  or  the  statue  of  Canopus. 
He  moreover  shows  that  Ulfilas,  the  translator  of  the 
Scriptures  into  Gothic,  was  not  the  inventor  of  runes,  but 
of  the  Gothic  alphabet,  which  was  likewise,  it  is  true,  used 
for  a  sacred  purpose — thus  anticipating  the  dictum  of 
Hickes  in  his  Thesaurus.  To  this  letter,  dated  nones  of 
May,  which  he  only  got  in  the  succeeding  November — let- 
ters for  abroad  being,  in  those  days,  generally  confided  to 
a  private  friend,  who  might  be  delayed  on  the  journey — 
Worm  replies  at  once  in  his  usual  flowing  Latin.  He  at 
once  assents,  with  the  best  grace  imaginable,  to  Spelman's 
etymology  of '  rune.'  "  Nunquam  ejus  f  ui  animi  ut  mordicus 
meas  defenderem  opiniones."  All  he  wants  is  to  elicit 
truth.  He  would  write  more,  but  he  is  prevented  "  infinitis 
negotiis."  This  letter,  sent  by  a  private  hand,  does  not 
reach  Spelman  for  more  than  a  year.  In  his  hurried  reply, 
necessitated  by  the  imminent  departure  of  the  messenger, 
and  by  his  own  carriage  waiting  at  the  door  to  take  him 
into  the  country,  he  rejoices  that  Worm  agrees  with  him 
about  the  word '  rune.'  "  What  you  write  is  most  true,  that, 
in  antiquarian  researches,  your  tongue  and  ours  may  mutu- 

^  '  Heofena  rices  gerynii,"  '  The  niya-  words  bnt  great  mysteries  are  enclosed 

teries  of   the   kingdom   of  heaven;'  in  it.'     By  an  easy  transition  it  came 

Anglo-Saxon,  Matt.  xiii.  ii.     Cf.  the  to  signify  'confidant,'  'bosom  friend.' 

address  in  Old  High  German  to  the  Jarls   and    courtiers    are    the   king's 

heathens     of    the     eighth    century:  'runes,' Prose  Edda,  1,458.  Wifeisher 

'Fohiu    uuort    sint :     uzan     michilu  husband's  rune,  ibid.,  ii.  612;  cf.  M. 

garuni  dar  inne  sint  pivangen'='Few  Casaubon.DeLinguaSaxon  , v. 'round. ' 


THE  STUDY  OF  A. \G  LOS  AX  OX.  9 

ally  help  each  other."  He  has  therefore  been  trying  to  get 
an  old  Danish  or  Latin  vocabulary  and  some  works  on  the 
Danish  laws  and  ancient  rites,  but  hitherto  without  success. 
A  Mr.  Hoel,  secretary  to  Lord  Leicester,  the  British 
ambassador  to  the  court  of  Denmark,  had  promised  to 
convey  a  whole  budget  of  letters  from  Spelman  to  his 
friends  living  '  prope  circulum  Arcticum,'  but  to  Spelman's 
considerable  chagrin,  as  he  writes  to  Worm  from  the  Bar- 
bican, February  14,  1634,  old  style,  he  had  left  them  at 
Hamburg.  "As  for  the  second  part  of  the  Archa3ologia 
(Glossary),  which  theDanish  ambassador  Eosencrantz  drove 
to  my  house  to  inquire  about,  it  cleaves  to  the  shelves,  a 
prey  to  the  moths  and  worms,  and  I  have  not  bestowed  so 
much  as  a  thought  or  an  effort  on  the  printing  of  it.  The 
fact  is,  our  printers  and  booksellers  are  a  bad  lot.  Through 
their  devices  the  first  part,  which  was  printed  at  my  own 
expense,  has  been  a  wreck  and  a  failure,  as  far  as  I  am 
concerned.  But  for  a  whole  six  years  I  have  been  called 
away  from  these  studies  by  the  weighty  duty  his  Majesty 
has  imposed  on  me  of  inquiring  into  the  extortions  and 
illegal  exactions,  both  in  town  and  country,  committed  by 
the  magistrates  and  officials  of  the  kingdom,  as  well 
ecclesiastical  as  civil.  Meantime  I  have  not  forgotten  the 
matter,  and  long  to  bring  out  the  second  part  of  the  work, 
being  moved  thereunto  not  a  little  by  the  kind  letters  of 
yourself  and  many  other  friends.  As  you  write  me  you 
can  hardly  get  hold  of  the  copy  of  the  first  part  which  I 
sent  you,  I  herewith  send  another  unbound  copy,  which 
you  must  take  care  not  to  let  slip  from  your  own  hands. 
Farewell,  and  let  us  both  do  all  diligence  to  foster  our 
friendship."  From  the  above  letter  we  see  that  the  book- 
sellers of  the  days  when  Charles  the  First  was  king  enjoyed 
quite  as  evil  a  report  among  authors  as  they  do  now. 
Worm  in  his  reply,  written  in  the  autumn  of  1634,  offers 
a  suggestion  how  Spelman  may  baffle  the  common  enemy. 
"  In  Belgium  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  meet  with  more 
willing  publishers  than  in  England,  where  they  seem  to  be 


lo  OLD  EXuLISH  LITERATURE. 

pretty  nearly  as  slow-paced  as  here  in  Denmark,  and 
fonder  of  books  that  are  likely  to  be  popular  and  profitable 
to  themselves  than  of  what  is  rare  and  useful."  This  is 
the  very  reason  why  his  own  treatises  on  Gothic  letters 
and  liuuic  monuments  have  never  yet  seen  the  light. 
Iveferring  to  the  Eunic  monuments  from  the  North  of 
England  mentioned  above,  he  expresses  a  hope  that  some 
Selden  woulil  Itring  tlie  powers  of  his  mind  to  bear  on 
these  matters.  In  answer  to  Spelman's  inquiry,  he  informs 
him  that  no  Danish  work  had  ever  appeared  on  the  ancient 
rites  of  the  country.  Of  the  laws  there  were  three  different 
codes :  the  Cimbriccc.,  which  are  in  print ;  the  Sclandicce, 
which  only  existed  in  rare  manuscripts ;  and  the  Scanicce} 
which  are  nearly  out  of  print.  He,  however,  sends  him 
his  own  copy  of  the  last  as  a  present,  together  with  a 
Nomenclator  Danicus,  or  Danish  dictionary  for  the  use  of 
schools.  As  for  the  old  tongue  (Icelandic),  he  was  not 
aware  that  any  vocabulary  of  it  existed.^  Spelman  in  his 
reply  (5  1(\.  Jun.  1635)  explains  the  difference  between 
the  two  methods  of  purgation  of  an  accused  person  among 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  that  called  Corsned^  (or  offa  judicialis), 
and  that  by  panis  Eucharistica ;  and  he  quotes  Canute's 
Ecclesiastical  Laws,  cap.  5,  in  proof  of  his  statement.  The 
Corsned  was  one  of  those  curious  ordeals  once  used  in  this 
land.  If  one  ministering  at  the  altar  was  accused  of  crime, 
a  slice  of  barley  cake  or  cheese  was  given  him  by  a  priest. 
If  he  ate  it  freely  he  was  considered  innocent,  but  if  it 
stuck  in  his  throat  he  was  guilty.  In  the  ordeal  by  water, 
the  accused  had  no  chance  of  escape,  for  if  he  floated  he 
was  pronounced  guilty,  and  if  he  sank,  innocent.     In  the 

1 A  beautiful  Runic  MS.   of  tliese  dictionary   of    Magnus   Olafsson,   an 

last,   six   hundred  years   old   in  the  Icelandic  clergyman,   who   had   died 

oiiiuion  of  Professor  G.  Thorsen  (the  twelve  years  before.     It  was  entitled 

editor),  and  which  formerly  belonged  "  Specimen  Lexici  Runici ;"  and  hence 

to  O.  Worm,  has  recently  (1877)  been  it  was   that   the  word    'Runic'  was 

published    in     facsimile     at    Copen-  applied  to  '  Icelandic' 
bagen.  ^^X^ccoj-Jing  ^^  Ettmiiller= 'Curse- 

-  In  1650  Worm  published  in   the  bite;'     Grimm,     'proof-bite.'       See 

Runic  character   the   MS.   Icelandic  Schmidt,  Anglo-Saxon  Laws,  sab  voce. 


THE  STUDY  OF  ANGLO-SAXOX.  ii 

ordeal  by  hot  iron  or  hot  water,  the  odds  were  quite 
acjainst  him.  This  erudite  epistle  closes  witli  a  pun  on  his 
friend's  name,  "  Vivat  valeat  floreat  quasi  o  \aov  op^io'i." 

On  the  28th  October  1636,  Worm  writes  from  Copenhagen 
with  a  copy  of  his  "  Literatura  Runica,"  and  he  begs  Spelman 
to  tell  him  candidly  if  he  has  committed  any  blunders, 
which  is  quite  on  the  cards,  as  this  field  of  letters  is  an 
entirely  new  one.'-  Of  course  the  old  topic,  the  appearance 
of  the  second  part  of  the  Glossary,  is  not  overlooked.  He 
never  ceases  to  urge,  entreat,  conjure  Spelman, '  per  omnium 
musarum  sacra,'  to  bring  it  out  and  complete  the  work. 
"  People  kept  borrowing  the  first  part,  and  were  devouring 
it  one  after  another."  And  he  winds  up  his  appeal  with, 
"Cave  igitur,  vir  humanissime,  tot  vigilatarum  noctium 
ta3dio,  tot  olidarum  membranarum  foetore,  tot  priscoruni 
voluminum  tricis,  ingenium  te  frustra  fatigasse  dicat  pos- 
teritas."  "  The  King's  Chancellor  begs  me  to  urge  upon 
you  the  necessity  of  no  further  delay.  You  see  how  that 
man  of  lofty  intellect,  Selden,  has  been  snatched  away. 
Who  can  promise  himself  the  morrow  ? "  The  knight  replies 
from  his  house  at  the  Barbican,  July  i,  1638,  thanking  his 
"  dearest  Ole  "  for  his  present.  "  I  am  a  mere  sojourner 
here,  quite  alone  and  solitary,  as  all  my  family  are  in  the 
country  to  escape  the  plague,  if  God  so  will.  You  need 
not  mourn  for  Selden;  he  is  not  dead  but  alive,  and, 
as,  far  as  I  know,  has  never  been  sick.  Meanwhile 
I  was  supposed  by  everybody  to  be  dead,  and  was  so 
announced  by  the  passing  bell;  and  the  same  was  re- 
ported to  the  King,  who  deigned  to  present  me  with  a 
most  splendid  testimony  of  his  munificence  at  this  pro- 
vidential escape  of  mine  from  the  jaws  of  the  grave. 
By  God's  mercy  I  have  escaped  death,  it  is  true,  but 
with  all  my  vital  faculties  shaken  almost  out  of  me, 
especially  my  memory,  which,  however,  I  hope  wiU  never 
fail  in  regard  to  you."     It  is  nearly  a  year,  May  1638, 

1  Johan  Bure  was  the  first  to  awaken  in  the  North  an  interest  in  runes  by 
his  "Rune  kiiusloues  Larospiln,''  Upsala,  1599. 


12  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

before  Worm  replies.  No  wonder  at  the  delay.  Apart  from 
the  tardiness  of  the  messenger, — "  a  learned  youth,  and 
modest  withal,  one  Ivar  Bang," — for  the  plague  has  been 
raging  in  Denmark,  and  carried  off  four  thousand  people, 
and  among  them  his  dearest  wife,^  overwhelming  him  with 
grief,  and  so  prostrating  his  mental  vigour  that  he  had 
scarcely  been  able  to  attend  to  his  usual  occupations. 
"  Sed  quid  agam  ?  Voluntati  Divinoe  quis  resistat  ?"  "  The 
wound  is  still  so  fresh  that  I  cannot  touch  it  without  great 
pain ;  but  He  who  inflicted  it  will  provide  the  cure."  With 
this  letter  he  sends  the  knight  a  very  rare  MS.  of  the 
"  Leges  Cimbricce,"  and  also  fifty  copies  of  his  "  Litera- 
tura "  for  Pliilemon  Stephens,  Spelman's  bookseller,  who 
may  send  him  in  exchange  any  English  books  likely  to  be 
of  use  to  him  in  his  studies.  The  barter,  be  it  said,  proved 
exceedingly  satisfactory  to  all,  so  that  Philemon  Stephens, 
at  all  events,  was  not  open  to  the  charge  of  mercenariness 
which  the  knight  had  brought  against  the  London  biblio- 
poles. It  is  refreshing  to  witness  the  generous  feelings 
Spelman  entertained  for  learning,  however  far  away  from 
the  great  world  of  London  it  was  to  be  found.  In  these 
letters  he  constantly  speaks  with  admiration  of  Arngrim 
Jonas,  the  learned  Icelander,  and  author  of  that  magnuTn 
oj)us  the  "  Crymogsea,"  which  first  appeared  in  Hamburg, 
1610,  the  difficulty  attending  its  printing  in  the  North 
being  insurmountable.  Thus  to  a  letter  to  Worm,  4th 
August  1638,  he  adds  the  postscript,  "  If  you  meet  with 
Arngrim  Jonas,  the  Icelander,  greet  him  from  me."  Spel- 
man had  in  this  letter  subscribed  himself  "  ^ger  sed 
cordate  tuus;"  and  now,  23d  August  1639,  in  his  last 
letter  to  his  friend,  he  describes  himself  as  "  worn  out 
with  age,  and  at  the  threshold  of  the  tomb."  He  will 
never  live  to  finish  his  Glossary,  which  was  half  dead, 
half  alive ;  but  meantime  he  begs  Ole  to  accept  his  work, 
"  The  Councils  of  Great  Britain,"  asking  him  to  criticise 

1  Susanna,  daughter  of  Matthew  Janus,  Archbishop  of  Lund,  the  second 
of  his  three  wives.  She  died  of  the  [ilague  at  Roskild,  after  a  premature 
coufinement. 


THE  STUDY  OF  ANGLO-SAXON.  13 

it,  and  also  a  Latin  and  Anglo-Saxon  psalter  by  his  sou, 
and  subscribes  himself  "  Tuus  ex  animo."  Worm  replies 
to  Spelman,  27th  March  1640,  thanking  for  the  Councils, 
a  work  so  near  perfection  "  that  not  even  Momus  could 
carp  at  it ; "  but  he  ventures  to  make  a  few  valuable  notes 
from  his  own  reading.  Eeceiving  no  answer  to  this  letter. 
Worm  writes  to  John  Spelman,  the  knight's  son,  March 
30,  1641,  "fearing  his  letters  had  miscarried,"  or  lest 
"  parenti  humanitus  quid  contigerit."  "  If  the  latter  be  the 
case,  I  shall  feel  most  keenly  the  loss  of  so  great  a  friend. 
But  in  any  case,  pray  see  that  the  second  part  of  the 
Glossary  comes  out  speedily."  Worm's  last  surmise  was 
correct;  the  knight  died  iu  this  year  1641,  and  so  ended  a 
correspondence  so  creditable  to  the  heart  and  head  of  these 
men,  who,  in  their  day,  achieved  so  much  in  the  study  of 
Northern  literature  and  antiquities.  The  interest  of  their 
letters,  which  have  never  appeared  in  this  country,  must 
be  our  excuse  for  any  apparent  digression  we  may  have 
made  from  the  main  object  of  this  part  of  our  work — the 
revival  of  Anglo-Saxon  learning. 

And  what  was  the  fate  of  that  wonderful  work,  the 
Glossary,  in  the  England  of  that  day  ?  It  was  offered  by 
the  author  to  a  publisher  for  the  nominal  price  of  five 
pounds,  but  refused;  and  it  remained  unsold  till  two 
booksellers  (1637)  took  it  off  his  hands.  Within  a  short 
time  of  his  death,  Spelman  showed  his  further  interest  in 
Anglo-Saxon  by  founding  a  chair  ^  on  the  language  at 
Cambridge,  which  was  occupied  successively  by  Whelock 
aud  Somner  (called  by  Hickes  "  pater  Anglo-Saxonicse 
literaturae "),  the  one  the  editor  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  ver- 
sion of  Bede,  1643,  and  of  the  "Anglo-Saxon  Laws," 
Cambrid-e,  1644;  the  other  the  author  of  the  "Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Latin  and  English  Dictionary,"  Oxford,  1669, 
nearly  a  century  after  the  appearance  of  Jilfric's  Homily. 

1  The  funds  failing,  the  chair  feU  into  abeyance,  and  has  only  recently 
been  revived  by  the  munificence  of  the  late  Dr.  Boswurth,  with  Mr.  Skeat 
ai>  professor. 


(     H     ) 


CHAPTEE  II. 

JUNIUS,  HICKES,  AND  SIR  ROBERT  COTTON  HELP  ON 
THE   WORK. 

That  must  be  counted  a  day  of  good  omen  for  the  study 
of  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  kindred  dialects  in  this  country 
when  Francis  Junius,  born  at  Heidelberg,  1589,  arrived  in 
Oxford  for  the  purpose  of  working  in  the  library.  Here 
he  discovered  (says  Grrevius,  the  writer  of  his  Life)  some 
Anglo-Saxon  books  of  great  antiquity,  upon  which  he 
began  to  study  that  language,  which  was  here  greatly 
neglected,  and  spent  much  time  and  labour  to  obtain  a 
true  knowledge  of  it.  In  all,  he  was  thirty  years  in  Eng- 
land, eight  of  which  he  spent  at  Oxford.  The  corre- 
spondent of  Archbishop  Ussher,  of  Hugo  Grotius,  of 
Claudius  Salmasius,  of  Gerhard  John  Voss ;  upright  in 
character,  of  engaging  and  modest  manners,  full  of  anec- 
dote and  humour,  he  was  clearly  a  man  worth  knowing, 
and  he  was  much  sought  after  accordingly.  Vandyke's 
portrait  of  him  in  the  Bodleian  shows  a  capacious  head, 
shaded  by  curly  hair,  thin  face,  and  most  intelligent  eyes ; 
one  could  hardly  have  imagined  that  he  was  capable  of 
such  superhuman  labour.  Eising  at  four,  winter  and 
summer,  he  laboured  at  his  manuscripts  till  one,  when  he 
dined.  At  three  he  again  repaired  to  the  Museum,^  work- 
ing till  eight,  when  he  supped.  He  seldom  appeared  in 
the  streets  of  Oxford,  but  took  his  exercise  "in  area  sub- 
divali"  (a  college  cloister),  now  at  a  walk,  now  at  a  run ; 
and  if  the  weather  was  bad,  '•'  per  omnes  scalas  in  ccenaculo 
ascendendo  valetudinis  tuendi  causa."     Such  was  the  life 

1  The  Bodleian  was  opened  in  1604.     Macray,  Annals  of  Bodleian. 


JUNIUS  AND  OTHERS  HELP  ON  THE  U'OKK.     15 

of  a  student  in  those  days.  But,  as  liis  biographer  explains, 
lie  had  a  formidable  task  before  him ;  great  darkness  pre- 
vailed in  the  domain  which  he  was  exploring.  "  Loca 
peragrabat  avia,  et  tetra  caligine,  necnon  vepribus  et 
dumis  horrida." 

True  there  have  been  men  since  who,  for  hard  literary 
work,  have  surpassed  Junius.  There  was  Balsac,  who  beat 
him  daily  by  two  hours.  He  used  to  rise  at  midnight, 
breakfast  at  eight  in  fifteen  minutes,  work  till  five  p.m., 
when  he  dined,  and  then  to  bed,  and  by  this  means  wrote 
five  volumes  in  forty  days.  But  what  a  difference  in  the 
objects  which  actuated  these  men  !  The  one  worked  from 
a  simple  love  of  learning,  the  other  to  gratify  his  taste  for 
luxury  and  display.  Lane,  the  author  of  the  Arabic  Dic- 
tionary, who  for  some  years  worked  from  breakfast  to  mid- 
night, is  a  fair  parallel  to  Junius. 

After  a  short  stay  in  his  native  land,  Junius  returned  to 
Oxford  three  years  before  his  death,  and  dwelt  in  a  house 
opposite  Lincoln  College,  to  be  near  his  former  pupil.  Dr. 
Marshall,  the  rector,  whom  he  helped  in  his  Anglo-Saxon 
works.  Here,  finding  himself  much  interrupted  by  the 
visits  of  his  many  friends,  with  no  oak  perhaps  to  sport, 
he  removed  to  an  obscure  house  in  Beef  Lane,  where  his 
acquaintance  could  not  so  easily  find  him  out.  Junius 
died  at  Windsor,  at  the  house  of  his  nephew,  Isaac  Voss, 
November  29,  1677,  and  is  buried  in  St.  George's  Chapel, 
with  a  monument  to  his  memory  erected  by  the  University 
of  Oxford.  Besides  writing  a  voluminous  and  learned  work, 
"  De  Pictura  Yeterum,"  he  brought  out  an  edition  of  the 
"  Codex  Argenteus,"  the  very  sight  of  which  costly  relic  threw 
him  into  a  rapture  of  delight :  he  first  edited  the  so-called 
"  Caidmon,"^  and  wrote  a  poly glott  "  Etymologicon  Linguae 
Anglicanaj,"  ^  and  a  "  Dictiouarium  Saxonicum,"  ^  which 
includes  Maeso  -  Gothic  words,  and  Icelandic  words  in 
Runic  characters.     In  the  former  of  these  works  he  cites 

1  Amsterdam,  1655.  2  Edited  by  Lye,  Oxon.,  1743. 

-  On  this  is  based  Lye's  Diet.  Sax.,  London,  1772. 


i6  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

"  nobilissimi  Spelraanni  glo>sarium  "  with  great  respect. 
A  Irauscript  of  Alfred's  translation  of  Boetliius'  ^  "  Consola- 
tions of  Philosophy,"  of  the  King's  translation  of  Gregory's 
"  Pastoral  Care,"  of  Caedmon  and  Orosius,  were  also  among 
his  labours.  These,  with  other  elaborate  compilations, 
written  in  a  beautiful  fair  hand,  ready  for  the  press — a 
miracle  of  accuracy,  considering  the  scanty  appliances  of 
those  days — together  with  his  transcripts  and  many  origi- 
nal vellum  manuscripts,  he  bequeathed,  as  is  well  known, 
to  the  University  of  Oxford.  But  perhaps  it  is  not  as 
well  known  that,  according  to  the  statement  of  a  recent 
critic,  all  our  Anglo-Saxon  dictionaries,  as  far  as  prose  is 
concerned,  are  based  on  Junius'  wonderful  work — dic- 
tionary-makers having  borrowed  from  his  accumulated 
stores  without  acknowledgment  and  without  revision. 
"  Sic  vos  non  vobis." 

We  have  mentioned  three  representative  men  who 
stand  forth  pre-eminently  as  preservers  of  Old  English 
learning  from  utter  extinction. 

But  another  yet  remains  to  be  mentioned,  the  well- 
known  George  Hickes  (born  1642),  servitor  of  St.  John's, 
Fellow  of  Lincoln,  1664;  D.D.  1679,  two  years  after  the 
death  of  Junius:  1683,  Dean  of  Worcester,  but  deprived 
for  refusing  allegiance  to  King  William  III.  It  was 
in  his  impoverishment  and  seclusion  in  London  that  this 
learned  scholar  collected  the  materials  for  his  "  Thesau- 
rus," a  complete  palasography  of  the  Northern  tongues 
and  of  the  literature  of  the  Gothic  tongues,  of  which 
little  was  then  known.  In  this  work,  which  is  a  huge 
storehouse  of  information  to  all  time,^  Hickes,  who  was 

1  The   single  original   SIS.    of   Al-  remains  to  be  found  here  (I.  pt.  iii. 

freil'a    metres    of    lioethius    in    the  p.  99)  is  the  famous  sermon  of  Eishop 

Cotton  Library  was  burnt  up.     For-  Lupus   (alias   ArchUishop    Wulfstan 

timately  .Junius  had  previously  made  of  York),  so  valuable  as  a  picture  of 

a  copy,  which  is  now  in  the  Bodleian,  the  wretchedness  of  the  times  some 

-  Tliesaurus  Grammatico  -  Criticus  three  or  four  years  before  Ethelred's 

et   Archoeologicus,    linguarum    vete-  death   (1016),    which    the   writer   of 

rum  Septeiitrionulium,  Oxon.,  1705.  the  Saxon  Chronicle  whines  over  so 

One    of    the   many   curious  literary  piteously ;  what  with  the  ravages  of 


JUNIUS  AND  OTHERS  HELP  ON  THE  WORK.     17 

a  great  admirer  of  Icelandic,  gives  an  annotated  edition 
of  Eunolph  Jonas'  Icelandic  grammar  and  glossary,  in  his 
preface  to  which  he  tells  Eoger  Sheldon,  who  had  been 
questioning  him  closely — as  to  what  was  that  mysterious 
Eunic  tongue — that  the  tongue  of  the  old  Jutes  and 
Angles  was  the  same,  or  not  much  different  from  what 
is  called  by  writers  the  Danica,  Cimbrica,  Scandica, 
Eunica  lingua,  which  is,  in  fact,  all  one  tongue  with  many 
names ;  the  last  appellation  being  derived  from  the  fact 
that  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  North  used  to  incise 
inscriptions  in  Eunic  letters  upon  their  monuments. 

The  "  Dissertatio  Epistolaris,"  addressed  to  his  friend 
Bartholomew  Shower,  on  the  utility  and  beauty  of  the 
ancient  Northern  tongues,  is  in  itself  a  mine  of  learning 
out  of  which  whole  treatises  have  been  elaborated.^ 
Last,  not  least,  among  the  contents  of  this  work  is 
Wanley's  catalogue  of  all  the  Northern  manuscripts  then 
known  in  England,  which  preserves  its  interest  to  the 
present  day,  although  many  of  the  manuscripts  are  burnt 
or  lost.  Hickes'  work,  imperfect  as  -it  may  be  in  some 
respects,  being  written  at  a  time  when  philology  was  less 
understood,  did  much  to  stimulate  inquiry  and  check  the 
progress  of  popular  indifference  to  these  branches  of 
learning.  Sir  E.  Cotton  also  (b,  1570,  d.  163 1)  for  his 
Anglo-Saxon  charters  alone  is  entitled  to  great  praise. 
While    the    bequeathal    by    Eichard    Gough   to    Oxford 

the  heathen  and  the  miserable immo-  burn,  they  drag  to  their  ships;  we 

ralifcy  and  cowardice  of  the  English,  give,   give."     Here  was  a  man   who 

and  their  treacherous   treatment   of  could    write    like    very    few   Aiiglo- 

their    Saxon   kith   and   kin.      Anti-  Saxons.    Bede  in  his  letter  to  Egbert 

Christ,  says  the  impassioned  preacher,  had  at  an  earlier  period  put  his  finger 

was  indeed   on  earth,  and  the  devU  on  that  plague  spot  of  England,  the 

too  !    Here   also  we  have  notices  of  accumulating  in  the  hands  of  monas- 

the    slave-trade   and    its   results    in  teries  falsely  so  called  of  lands  which 

England ;  these  down-trodden  jieople  ought   to   be    given    to    the    worthy 

joining  the  invaders  when  they  had  a  defenders  of  the  country, 

chance.     "  But  the  upshot  was  this,"  ^  "As  the  father  of  the  study  of  the 

continues  the  Archbishop,   "that  by  Anglo-Saxon   language,   as  a  careful 

God's  permission  the   English   now,  investigator  in  old  Northern  tongues 

for  long,    are  unvictorious,  and  the  and  antiquities,  Hickes  is  immortal." 

mariners  so  strong  that  often,  in  fight,  — Ersch  and  Grubefs  Encyclopedia, 

one  chaseth  ten ;  they  devastate,  they  5m6  voce. 

B 


1 8  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

University,  1809,  of  his  valuable  library  of  Old  Northern 
literature,  worked  in  the  same  direction. 

What  Spelman  had  done  in  the  seventeenth  century 
for  Cambridge,  in  the  foundation  of  an  Anglo-Saxon 
chair,  was  achieved  with  more  permanent  success  by 
Dr.  Eawlinson  in  1755  for  the  University  of  Oxford. 
Subsequently  the  appearance  of  Grimm's  "  Deutsche 
Grammatik,"  ^  and  of  E.  Eask's  "  Angel  Saksisk  Sprog- 
laere,"^  set  up  a  new  standard  of  philological  criticism, 
which  quite  eclipsed  all  previous  insular  conceptions 
in  that  department.  No  time  was  lost  by  our  modern 
English  philologers  in  making  us  acquainted  with  the 
new  lights  thrown  on  the  Anglo-Saxon  language  from 
abroad.  Of  these,  Kemble  perhaps  has  done  more  than 
any  other  Englishman  to  make  us  acquainted  with  the 
remains  of  Anglo-Saxon  literature  and  the  genius  of 
Anglo-Saxon  institutions.  Next  to  him  Thorpe  will  always 
be  known  as  the  editor  of  "  Beowulf,"  of  "  Apollonius,"  of 
"  Cffidmon,"  ^Ifric's  Homilies,  of  the  Ancient  Laws  of 
England,  of  the  five  parallel  Chronicles,  under  the  Master 
of  the  Eolls,  &c.,  &c.,  and  as  the  translator  of  Eask's 
Grammar,  of  Lappenberg's  "  Anglo-Saxons,"  and  of  Pauli's 
"  Alfred;"  while  Wright,  Bos  worth,  and  others  have  helped 
to  bring  us  more  abreast  of  the  foreigners. 

But  what  has  been  the  net  outcome  of  the  labours  of 
Parker,  of  H.  Spelman,  of  Junius,  of  Hickes,  not  to  mention 
Lambarde,  and  Camden,  and  Cotton — almost  as  successful 
a  collector  of  Anglo-Saxon  books  as  Parker,  his  field  of 
operations  being  the  bookstall  and  the  private  hands  into 
which  the  MSS.  had  passed  on  the  plunder  of  the  monas- 
teries— Gibson  and  others  ?  They  have  rescued  and  made 
intelligible  to  us  the  records  of  our  early  history.  Had  it 
not  been  for  Parker  and  his  coadjutors,  those  fast  perishing 
memorials  of  our  island  might  have  perished  altogether. 
We  know  from  occasional  allusions  in  later  writers  that 

1  Grimm,  first  edition,  1819  ;  second  edition,  1822. 
-  Stockholm,  1817. 


JUXIUS  AND  OTHERS  HELP  ON  THE  WORK.     19 

there  were  once  sources  of  our  history  which  do  not 
now  exist.  Aldhelm  was  styled  by  Alfred  the  prince  of 
native  poets,  but  all  his  ballads  in  the  vernacular  have 
disappeared,  while  his  pedantic  Latin  effusions  have  come 
down  to  us.  Henry  of  Huntingdon's  graphic  and  spirited 
narrations  are,  with  good  cause,  thought  to  be  owing  to 
his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  old  songs  of  the 
people.  Surely  it  was  the  monks  as  well  as  the  Danes 
who  wrought  their  destruction ;  for  was  it  not  a  main 
charge  against  Dunstan  by  the  clerical  bigots  that  he 
was  fond  of  pagan  poems,  "  avita3  gentilitatis  vanissima 
carmina  "  ? 

Would  that  King  Alfred  had  caused  those  national 
songs  about  his  ancestors  to  be  copied  down,  w^hich  at  an 
early  age,  as  Asser  tells  us,  he  committed  to  memory, 
and  to  which  he  was  never  tired  of  listening !  Infinitely 
more  entertaining  they  than  all  the  lucubrations  inter- 
preted by  him  of  Gregory,  Orosius,  and  Boethius !  Had 
there  been  a  man  of  Parker's  advanced  intelligence  and 
energy  living  in  earlier  days,  the  world  would  not  now 
have  to  deplore  the  loss  of  that  precious  collection  of  old 
ballad  literature  which,  according  to  the  reliable  tes- 
timony of  his  secretary,  Eginhard,  "  the  man  of  little 
stature  and  large  mind,"  the  great  Frank  Emperor  caused 
to  be  collected,^  and  which  the  dotard,  Louis  the  Pious, 
would  not  even  read,  but  carelessly  permitted  to  perish 
— poems  which,  while  they  caught  hold  of  the  fancy, 
would  doubtless  have  been  rich  with  domestic  and  his- 
toric traits  of  that  Teutonic  race  from  which  we  are 
partly  sprung.  But  this  is  only  a  thrice-told  tale,  an 
experience  of  many  lands,  which  has  made  early  his- 
tory what  the  Frenchman  called  it,  nothing  but  a 
falle  convenue.  "  Would,"  exclaims  Cicero  (Brutus,  xix.), 
"  we  had  the  old  ballads  of  which  Cato  speaks ! " 
He  is  here  alluding  to  the  statement  of  Cato  the 
Censor  that  many  ages  before  his  time  (in  the  second 

1  Einhardi  Vita  Caroli  Magni,  29.     Pertz. 


20  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

Punic  War)  there  were  ballads  in  praise  of  illustrious 
men,  which  it  was  the  fashion  for  the  guests  at  a  banquet 
to  sing  in  turn  to  the  sound  of  the  pipe.  Pity  these 
ballads  are  gone,  which  might  have  thrown  so  much  light 
on  modern  Eoman  excavations !  But  then  Macaulay's 
lays  would  never  have  seen  the  light. 

Again,  the  Saxon  Chronicles,  jejune  though  they  be, 
yet  by  the  very  changes  in  the  vernacular  as  centuries 
went  on,  and  different  writers  took  up  the  tale,  guarantee- 
ing the  innate  truth  and  fidelity  of  the  record  of  passing 
events, — had  these  humble  records  perished  amid  the 
ravages  of  the  Danes,  or  in  the  cold  shadow  of  the 
Norman  aristocracy,  what  a  history  of  these  isles  we 
should  have  had  from  a.d.  597,  the  date  of  the  landing 
of  St.  Augustine,  to  1066,  the  landing  of  William  !  Tradi- 
tion would  have  done  little  for  us,  for  tradition  in 
England,  with  all  its  stir  and  turmoil,  and  in  quiet 
Iceland,  where  even  now  the  natives  will  recite  whole 
Sagas  by  heart,  were  two  very  different  things.^ 

Or  had  the  homilies  and  other  religious  treatises  of 
.iElfric,  pronounced  by  Sweet  to  be  the  most  perfect 
model  extant  of  pure  simple  literary  English  of  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eleventh  century  perished — whether  the 
author  was  Archbishop  of  York  (died  105  i),  or  of  Canter- 
bury (died  1006),  or  the  Abbot  of  Eynsham,  does  not 
greatly  matter,^ — we  should  have  never  seen  his  beauti- 
ful exposition  of  the  parable  of  the  labourers  in  the 
vineyard.  We  should  have  been  indebted  to  Rome,  not 
only  for  the  conversion  of  Saxon  England,  for  which  she 

1  When  Professor  Keyser  was  in  miracle  of  Europe.  WLataquickener 
Iceland,  he  listened  to  an  old  lady  to  their  memories ! 
reciting  "Njala"  by  the  page  to-  ^  "Homilies,"  edited  by  Thorpe; 
gether ;  and  he  verified  the  accuracy  see  vol.  ii.  p.  267,  that  for  Easter 
of  her  memory  by  the  volume  in  his  Day.  He  also  translated  into  Anglo- 
hand.  See  Metcalfe's  "Oxonian  in  Saxon,  with  abridgments  and  omis- 
Iceland,"  p.  185,  for  a  similar  case.  sioiis,tliePentateuch,  Joshua,  Judges, 
As  Hickes  rightly  observed  some  hun-  and  portions  of  the  books  of  Kings, 
dred  and  eighty  years  ago,  "  The  Esther.  Job,  Judith,  and  Maccabees, 
tongue  of  these  people  is  almost  the  The  Pentateuch  has  been  edited  by 
same  as  of  yore."    It  is  the  linguistic  the  late  Professor  Greiu. 


JUNIUS  AND  OTHERS  HELP  ON  THE  WORK.     21 


has  our  thanks  (without  prejudice,  however,  to  the  share 
Ireland  and  Wales  may  have  had  in  our  earlier  conver- 
sion and  civilisation),  but  also  for  a  description  of  what 
our  primitive  faith  was ;  to  Eome,  not  as  she  was  in 
Gregory's  time,  but  what  she  became  in  later  days,  when 
the  lust  of  power  and  wealth  and  worldly  importance 
and  the  adoration  of  saints  and  the  bribes  of  sinners,  and 
that  sore  temptation,  the  fatuity  of  the  multitude,  had  so 
altered  her  that  her  best  friends  would  not  know  her 
acrain-i  Had  Saxon  Enc^land  known  the  end  from  the 
beginning,  spiritually  begotten  though  she  was  of  Eome, 
she  would  have  been  less  effusive  and  gushing  in  her 
respect  and  regard  for  her  parent,  less  anxious  to  slip  the 
collar  on  her  own  neck — the  pall,  for  instance  (see  Alcuin, 


1  Parts  of  Britain,  inaccessible  to 
the  Komans,  had  been  evangelised  by 
208  A.D.  Tertullian  is  our  warrant. 
What  happened  before  that  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  say.  Was  Claudia,  men- 
tioned by  St.  Paul  (Tim.  ii.),  the 
Claudia,  wife  of  Pudens  (Mart.  iv. 
13),  and  identical  with  the  beautiful 
English  lady  of  that  name  (ibid.,  xi. 
53),  whom  British  tradition  calls 
Gladys?  If  so,  there  were  British 
Christians  in  Britain  in  St.  Paul's 
time,  A.D.  68.  Bede  expressly  tells 
us  that  King  Lucius  of  Britain  sent 
messagers  to  Pope  Eleutherius,  A.D. 
156,  asking  to  be  admitted  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  that  he  and  his  people 
were  evangelised  accordingly.  But  this 
story,  palmed  upon  Bede,  was  clearly 
hatched  at  Rome,  and  that  after  a 
very  long  incubation — three  hundred 
years  or  more  (Haddan  &  Stubbs' 
"Councils,"  &c.,  p.  25).  More  reli- 
able is  Bede's  story  that  on  St.  Aiig- 
ustine's  arrival,  A.D.  598,  he  found 
outside  of  the  walls  of  Canterbury  a 
chapel  dedicated  to  St.  Martin,  built 
during  the  Roman  occupation.  And 
further,  his  statement  that  King 
Ethelbert,  when  converted,  permitted 
Augustine  and  his  followers  to  build 
and   repair  churches   in    all  places, 


points  to  an  earlier  Christianity  down 
south  (Bede,  i.  26).  Most  likely 
Christian  emigrants  reached  this 
island  from  Southern  Gaul  just  after 
the  fierce  persecution  in  Lyons  and 
Vienne,  A.D.  177.  British  bishops — 
Eburius  of  York,  Restitutus  of  Lon- 
don, and  Adelphius,  probably  of 
Lincoln,  i.e.,  representatives  of  the 
three  chief  cities  of  Romano-Britain 
— were  at  Aries  Synod  in  314.  So 
much  for  British  Christianity  as  a 
settled  Church  during  the  Roman 
period.  Subsequently  it  seems  gradu- 
ally to  have  succumbed.  Its  fir.st 
resuscitation  in  the  North  seems  to 
have  been  due  indirectly  to  St.  Pat- 
rick, born  A.D.  393,  near  Dumbarton, 
in  the  British  principality  of  Strath- 
clwyd,  and  the  founder  of  the  Irish 
Church  about  A.D.  430,  who  drew  his 
teaching  and  ordination  from  the 
Gallic  and  not  the  Roman  Church. 
In  563  the  monastery  of  lona,  an  off- 
shoot from  Ireland,  was  founded  by 
St.  Columba,  more  than  thirty  years 
before  the  arrival  of  St.  Augustine 
in  Britain.  From  lona  Columba 
carried  the  torch  of  Christianity 
to  Pagan  Northumberland  (Anglo- 
Saxon  Chronicle,  565)  ;  and  an  eccle- 
siastical community  on  the  model  of 


22  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERA  TURK. 

k.v>.  780),  that  symbol  of  suLinission  to  Eome,  which 
she  had  very  much  ado  to  get  rid  of  in  after  days. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  four  Gospels^  might 
not  have  come  down  to  us.  "VVe  do  not  refer  to  the  two 
Northumbrian  glosses  —  the  so-called  Lindisfarme  and 
Rushworth.  Such  vivid  passages  as,  e.g.  (St.  Matt,  vii.), 
the  parable  of  the  house  on  the  sand  and  the  house  on 
the  rock  would  not  have  challenged  our  attention  and 
admiration.  Scarce  an  Englishman  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury had  a  notion  how  his  simple  forefathers  voiced  their 
w^orship  of  the  Supreme,  what  a  beautiful  word  they  had 
in  '  Haelaud,'  the  Healer,  for  Him  whom  we  call  the 
Saviour ;  w^hat  concrete  force  there  lay  in  '  Wuldor,'  a 
word  connected  with  the  Gothic  '  vuljjus,'  and  with 
'  Uller/  the  name  of  the  snow-bright  winter  god  of  the 
North,  which  has  long  since  given  way  to  the  romance 
'  glory.'  '  Invit '  =  '  inward  sense/  may  be  understood 
by  a  child,  whereas  for  the  English  equivalent,  '  con- 
science,' he  requires  a  dictionary,  and  for  '  Pharisees,' 
acquaintance  with  Hebrew,  when  '  sunder-halga,'  i.e,., 
'  separated  from  others  by  holiness,'  bears  its  meaning  on 
its  face.  '  Patriarch '  may  be  a  very  good  word,  but  it 
is  mere  Greek.  Why  should  it  have  superseded  the 
venerable    '  hehfader '    of    our   early   tongue  ?      What   a 

the  Celtic  Church  w.as  established  at  of   Mayo,    "A  great  light  of  know- 

Lindisfarne,   whence  it  passed  later  ledge  has  gone  out  from  you  to  divers 

southward  to  other  parts  of  England  parts  of  our  country.'' 

not  under  Saxon  sway  or  conforming  1  London,  1571,  with  dedication  to 

to  the  customs  of  the  Roman  Church.  Queen  Elizabeth  by  Eoxe,  the    m.ar- 

In  the  fifth  century  St.  Perran  and  tyrologist,    under     the     auspices    of 

St.  Petroc,   both  Irishmen,   invaded  Archbishop  Parker.     The  edition  in 

us  in  the  far  west,  and  converted  the  4to,  by  Dr.  Marshall,  rector  of  Lin- 

l^eople  of  Cornwall,  so  that   Ireland  coin,   Dordrecht,   1665,  with  Junius' 

or  Scotia  bore  no  mean  part  in  the  Gothic  version.      Anglo-Saxon    Gos- 

conversiou  of  Britain.    This  is  further  pels,  Thorpe,  1842.    The  Anglo-Saxon 

attested  by  a   MS.    at  St.   Gall,  the  and  Northumbrian  versions  (Lindis- 

work  of  Dubduin,  an  Irishman,  which  fame   and  Eushworth),   synoptically 

celebrates  the  praises  of  those  many  arranged,  begun  bj'  Kemble  in  1858  ; 

Irish  saints,  "  Semina  qui  vitae  Anglo-  the    last    three    Gospels     by   Skeat, 

rum  sparsere  per  agros "  (Report  on  Cambridge  University  Press  ;  a   tri- 

Rymer's  "  Foedera,"  App.  A.,  p.  92).  umph  of  editorial  labour  and  accu- 

So  Alcuin  writes  to  monks  iu  county  racy. 


JUNIUS  AND  OTHERS  HELP  ON  THE  WORK.     23 

volume  of  instruction  there  lay  in  a  single  word,  '  dned- 
bot  '  =  '  deed-boot,'  '  amendment  of  our  ways,'  which 
modern  English  obscured  into  '  repentance,'  a  term  to 
which  your  average  Englishman  will  be  found  to  attach 
very  little  practical  and  active  significance.  Again,  our 
"  strain  at  a  gnat "  forsakes  the  meaning  of  the  original 
Greek,  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  version,  "  ge  drehniag 
aweg  "  (ye  drain  (strain)  away  the  gnat),  does  not  (Matt, 
xxiii.  24).  Surely  there  is  something  more  than  senti- 
ment at  stake  in  these  matters. 

Had  it  not  been  for  Parker  and  others,  that  interview 
between  Abbot  Gregory  and  the  fair-haired  Angle  slave 
boys,  which  led,  when  he  became  Pope,  to  his  sending 
missionaries  to  their  heathen  home,  would  not  have  been 
told  us  in  the  Saxon  tongue. 

The  great  similarity  between  Anglo-Saxon  and  English 
ought  to  encourage  beginners  in  our  early  tongue.  Take 
the  passage,  St.  Luke  iii,  "  And  his  fan  is  in  his  hand," 
&c.  Here  is  the  Anglo-Saxon,  almost  word  for  word  the 
same :  "  And  his  fan  ys  on  his  handa,  and  he  feormaS  (to 
farm  =  cleanse)  his  bernes  flore,  and  gaderag  his  hwaete 
into  his  berne ;  haet  ceaf  he  forbsernS  on  unacwencedlicum 
fyre."  No  better  witness  is  wanted  to  the  beauty  and 
power  of  Anglo-Saxon  than  the  fact  that  Gray's  "  Elegy," 
the  widest  known  of  all  our  poems,  is  Saxon  throughout, 
in  its  words,  its  alliterations,  its  homely  music,  and  staid 
earnestness. 

But  for  Parker,  the  Bodleian  Library  would  not  pos- 
sess that  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  Gregory's  "  Dialogues, ' 
attributed  by  Asser  to  Werfrith,  Bishop  of  Worcester, 
written  at  a  time  apparently  when  the  language  was  at 
its  best,  which  hitherto  has  remained  unpublished.^  So 
also  but  for  him  the  "  Pastoral  Care "  of  Pope  Gregory, 
with  its  translation  by  King  Alfred,  sometimes  word  for 
word,  as  he  explains  in  the  preface,  sometimes  the  mean- 

'  An  Icelandic  version  of  these  "  Heilagra  Manna  Sogur,"  C.  Unger 
Dialogues   has  recently  appeared  in    (i.  179),  Chriatiania,  1877. 


24  OLD  ENGLISH  LLTERA  TURE. 

ing  of  a  whole  sentence  given,  might  never  have  reached 
us,  although  this  very  preface,  with  the  similar  one  pre- 
lixed  to  the  King's  version  of  Boethius,  affords  us  one  of 
our  most  satisfactory  glimpses  into  the  character  of  our 
great  King.  Here  we  have  the  true  Pater  Patrice,  only 
solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  his  countrymen,  and  work- 
ing honestly  in  their  behalf,  quite  content  to  submit  to 
the  drudgery  of  a  translator  if  he  can  elevate  the  character 
of  the  clergy  and,  through  them,  of  his  people.  He  intends, 
he  says,  to  send  a  copy  of  this  book  to  all  the  bishops  in 
his  land.  And  well  he  might,  for  "  few  priests  on  this 
side  the  Humber,  and  not  many  beyond  it,  could  under- 
stand the  ritual  in  English,  or  translate  a  letter  from 
Latin  into  their  native  tongue."  This  "  Pastoral  Care  " 
and  the  translation  of  Orosius  —  Bede  copied  whole 
chapters  from  it — are  the.  only  works  of  Alfred  preserved 
in  contemporary  manuscripts.^  The  latter  book,  the  work 
of  the  Spanish  presbyter  Orosius,  the  friend  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, Bishop  of  Hippo,  a  Latin  history  of  the  world  on 
Christian  principles,  was  very  popular  in  those  days. 
But  it  is  uninteresting  enough,  its  chief  feature  being  the 
way  in  which  the  author  retorts  on  those  who  inveigh 
against  Christianity,  by  showing  how  much  better  things 
were  now  than  in  the  times  of  heathenism.  What  gives 
the  work  an  interest  not  its  own  is  the  sudden  interpola- 
tion by  Alfred,  without  any  preface,  of  two  narratives  of 
travel,  the  one  by  Ohthere,  a  native  of  Haligoland  in  the 
north  of  Norway,  of  a  coasting  voyage  of  discovery  to  the 
White  Sea  and  Biarmaland ;  the  other  up  the  Baltic,  by 
Wulfstan,  starting  from  the  old  town  of  Hedaby  or 
Sleswig.  Tlie  two  narratives  only  fill  up  about  five  pages, 
but  the  bit  of  real  life  in  them — so  simple,  so  pithy,  and 
direct,  so  refreshing  after  the  pompous  phraseology  and 
artificial  reflexions  of  the  Spaniard — is  worth  infinitely 
more  than  all  his  volume  put  together.  The  notices  of 
the  Finmark  coast  and  of  the  Quains,  the  account  of  the 

1  Gregory's  "Pastoral  Care,"  by  H.  Sweet,  Introd.,  p.  xxi. 


JUNIUS  AND  OTHERS  HELP  ON  THE   WORK.     25 

curious  burial  customs  of  the  Esthonians,  and  of  the  rise 
in  the  price  of  horses  in  consequence,  are  quite  unique. 
The  two  navigators  throw  a  light  on  points  of  contem- 
porary manners  and  geography  to  be  found  nowhere  else. 
Ohthere,  the  Norwegian,  was,  if  the  dates  can  be  properly 
adjusted,  very  likely  one  of  the  great  men  of  Norway, 
driven  thence  by  the  tyranny  of  Harold  Harfager  after 
the  knock-down  blow  to  the  freedom  of  the  petty  states 
by  his  signal  victory  at  Hafursfiord.  He  then  became 
attracted  to  England  by  the  fame  of  King  Alfred,  to  whose 
court  he  attached  himself  as  one  of  his  gesiSas  or  com- 
rades, and  who  would  therefore  be  Ohthere's  Hlaford. 

A  distinguished  historian  has  stated  that  Alfred  fore- 
stalled our  own  age  in  sending  expeditions  to  explore  the 
Northern  Ocean.  This  inference  can  hardly  be  made  from 
the  text  of  Orosius.  Ohthere  tells  the  King  that  he  once 
started  up  north,  partly  from  motives  of  curiosity,  to  find 
out  how  far  the  land  lay  northwards,  and  partly  and 
chiefly  for  the  walruses  (hors-hvaelum),  which  have  teeth 
of  very  costly  bone  :  some  of  which  teeth  he  brought  to 
the  King.  This  /  extraordinary  voyage,'  as  it^has  been 
called  by  another  writer,  sinks  into  nothing  in  comparison 
with  the  Swede  Gardar's  discovery  of  Iceland,  860,  with 
that  of  Greenland,  877,  and  that  of  America,  by  North- 
men, centuries  before  Columbus. 

But  we  must  give  the  reader  a  paragraph  or  two  from 
Wulfstan : — 

"  There  is  a  custom  among  the  Esthonians,  tliat  when 
any  one  is  dead  he  lies  in  the  house  unburnt  with  his 
relations  and  friends  for  one  month,  sometimes  two ; 
and  the  kings  and  other  great  men  so  much  longer  as 
they  have  more  wealth.  Sometimes  it  is  half  a  year 
that  they  remain  unburnt,  and  lie  aboveground  in  their 
houses  ;  and  all  the  while  that  the  corpse  is  in  the  house 
it  is  the  fashion  to  have  drinking  and  sports  till  the  day 
tliey  burn  it.  Then,  the  same  day  that  they  carry  it  to 
the  pile,  tliey  divide  the  property  that  is  left,  after  the 


26  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

driiikiug  and  the  sports,  into  five  or  six,  sometimes  more, 
parts,  according  to  the  value  of  it.  Then  they  lay  the 
largest  part  about  a  mile  from  the  homestead,  then  another, 
then  a  third,  until  it  is  all  laid  within  the  mile  ;  and  the 
last  portion  must  be  nearest  to  the  dwelling  where  the 
dead  man  lies.  Then  shall  be  assembled  all  the  men  who 
liave  the  swiftest  horses  in  the  country  to  the  distance  of 
five  or  six  miles  from  the  property.  Then  they  all  run 
towards  the  property ;  then  comes  the  man  who  has  the 
swiftest  horse  to  the  first  and  largest  portion,  and  so  each 
after  other,  untU  the  whole  is  taken,  and  he  takes  the 
least  portion  who  gets  that  which  is  nearest  the  dwelling. 
And  then  each  one  rides  away  with  the  property  and  they 
may  have  it  all ;  and  for  this  cause  swift  horses  are  uncom- 
monly dear.  And  when  all  his  wealth  is  thus  distributed, 
they  carry  him  out  and  burn  him  with  his  weapons  and 
raiment.  And  chiefly  they  spend  the  whole  wealth  of 
the  deceased  by  the  dead  man's  lying  so  long  in  the 
house,  and  for  that  they  lay  on  the  way  that  which  the 
strangers  run  to  and  take." 

All  honour  to  Alfred  for  the  way  in  which  he  resolutely 
assays  to  rehabitate  the  vernacular.  Pity  he  had  nobody 
at  his  elbow  to  hint  to  him  that  Latin  literature  had 
something  more  worth  translating  than  Boethius  and 
Orosius.  As,  however,  he  frequently  inserts  matter  of 
his  own,  and  himself  penned  the  prefaces  to  three  of  his 
translations,  we  are  not  left  without  the  means  of  seeing 
that  his  style  was  clear  and  forcible.  The  loss  of  his 
'  day-book,'  mentioned  by  Malmesbury,  leaves  a  hiatus, 
vol  de  dejlendus,  in  our  knowledge  of  the  King  and  his 
character. 


(      27      ) 


CHAPTEE  III. 

BEDE  :   HIS  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  ANGLES. 

But  before  continuing  our  list  of  Anglo-Saxon  works 
saved  to  us  by  Parker,  perhaps  it  will  be  best  to  begin  at 
the  beginning  and  say  something  about  English  writers 
before  Alfred,  whether  they  wrote  in  the  vernacular  or 
not.  Bede  of  course  stands  foremost  (born  672  or  6"]},, 
died  735).  He  was  one  of  that  bright  galaxy  of  pious, 
learned,  and  energetic  men  who,  each  in  their  several 
vocations,  contributed  to  make  Northumbria  during  the 
seventh  century  the  famous  abode  of  learning  and  religion. 
While  that  other  great  Northumbrian,  the  splendid  Wil- 
frid, was  ever  on  the  move  revealing  the  wonders  of 
foreign  art  in  connection  with  religion,  and  spreading 
abroad  learning  and  culture,  Bede  was  content  to  keep  at 
his  monastic  home  and  move  the  world  with  his  pen. 
Born  in  the  vicinity  of  Wearmouth,  he  entered  the 
monastery  at  the  age  of  seven  as  chorister,  and  passed 
thence  to  the  sister  foundation  at  Jarrow,  where  he 
dwelt  all  his  days  hard  at  work.  "  It  %Vas  my  constant 
delight  either  to  learn  or  teach  or  write  "  (H.  E.  A.,  v.  24). 
But  though  thus  preoccupied,  he  did  not  neglect  to  set  a 
good  example  to  the  brethren  in  his  conscientious  attend- 
ance on  public  worship.  "  Bede,  our  master  and  your 
patron,  used  to  say,  '  I  well  know  angels  visit  the  congre- 
gations of  the  brethren  at  canonical  hours.  What  if  they 
should  not  find  me  there  with  the  rest  ?  Will  they  not 
say.  Where  is  Bede  ?  why  comes  he  not  with  his  brethren 
to    the  prescribed  prayers  ? ' "    (Alcuin's   Epistles,    844). 


28  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Assisted  most  likely  in  his  study  of  Latin  and  Greek 
by  the  successors  of  Theodore  and  Adrian,  he  would 
doubtless  ransack  the  many  literary  treasures  brought 
chiefly  from  liome  and  stowed  away  in  the  twin  monas- 
teries of  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow,  and  the  result  was 
the  ripest  scholar  of  the  time.  None  more  illustrious 
in  the  history  of  literature  and  science  is  to  be  found  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  Anything  from  his  pen  was  eagerly 
sought  for  abroad  as  well  as  at  home.  '  Send  me  that 
tractate  of  Bede's,'  was  the  constant  request  of  the  learned. 
His  treatises  on  chronology  and  astronomy  are  more  clear, 
comprehensive,  and  accurate  than  those  of  his  contem- 
poraries or  immediate  successors.  Skilled  in  the  theory  of 
music,  he  was  no  trifling  mathematician.  In  fact,  had  an 
encyclopaedia  been  started  in  those  days,  Bede  must  have 
written  every  article.  But  it  is  as  a  divine  that  he  is  pre- 
eminent. In  the  list  of  thirty-seven  works  written  by 
him  which  he  appends  to  his  History,  at  least  thirty  are 
of  a  theological  character.  Good  use  indeed  must  he 
have  made  of  his  opportunities.  That  he  was  able  to 
construct  a  history  at  all  is  a  marvel.  It  was  but  the 
other  day,  so  to  speak  (a.d.  626),  that  the  Ptoman  mis- 
sionary Paulinus  had  effected  the  renaissance  of  Chris- 
tianity in  Pagan  Northumbria,  and  with  his  departure 
darkness  must  have  crept  again  over  the  land.  But  must 
we  not  believe  that  from  the  days  of  the  Scot,  Columba 
(565),  and  his  mission  to  the  Picts,  a  protoplasm  of  cul- 
ture and  Christian  light  had  always  been  alive  in  the 
North,  which  further  developed  after  the  Scots  (634) 
began  their  episcopal  government  of  Northumberland  in 
the  person  of  Aidan.  Or  rather  we  know  that,  long  before 
Bede,  many  English  resorted  to  Ireland  for  study  and 
instruction  (H.  E.,  iii.  27). 

He  was  a  light  in  a  dark  place ;  the  lamp  of  the  Church, 
as  Boniface  said  (Monumenta  Moguntina,  p.  181),  when 
she  was  groping  along  blindly  with  uncertain  step.  A 
signal  testimony  to  his  erudition  is   offered  by  Iceland, 


BEDE  AND  HIS  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.     29 

which  spoke  of  him  as  '  FroSi,'  the  learned.  In  the  pre- 
face to  the  "  Landnamabok  "  or  history  of  the  colonisation 
of  Iceland,  Ari  FroSi  (born  1067,  died  1148)  states  that 
Bed,e,  who  died  more  than  a  hundred  years  before  the 
Northmen  set  foot  in  Iceland,  talks  of  it  under  the  name 
of  Thule  ;  and  he  conjectures  that  Bede  must  have  got 
his  information  from  the  Papte  or  Irish  monks,  Culdee 
eremites,  who  visited  Iceland  long  before  the  Norwegians, 
and  disappeared  again,  leaving,  however,  traces  of  their 
visit  in  Irish  books,  bells,  and  croziers,  which  were  found 
in  the  north-west  of  the  island.^ 

The  solution  of  the  question  why  so  godly  a  man 
came  to  be  called  'venerable,'  and  not  'saint,'  after 
his  death,  is  given  in  an  Icelandic  MS.  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  A  clerk  wished  to  compose  his  epitaph,  he 
got  as  far  as  "  Hac  sunt  in  fossa,"  but  could  not  manage 
to  introduce  '  sanctus '  into  the  rest  of  the  hexameter. 
Soon   after   he   visited   Bede's   tomb,    and   sure    enough 

1  Here  tlien  we  have  traces  of  that  is  on  the  Like,  whom  I  seek  to  hurt, 

Ireland  said  to  have  been  known  as  the  but  in  vain.     I  sought  to  damage  his 

Isle  of  Saints  and  of  learning  as  early  net,  but  I  was  foiled.  He  never  sleeps, 

as  the  fifth  century.     From  hence  is-  and  is  always  guarded  by  the  emblem 

sued  men  like  St.  Gall,  585,  St. Colum-  of  prayer.'     The  saint  hearing  these 

banus,  about  612,  St.  Kilian,  680,  St.  words,   at    once   crossed   himself   all 

Fridolin,  the  patron  saint  of  Glarus,  round  by  way  of  safeguard,  and  cried, 

compassing   sea   and   land  to  spread  '  In  Christ's  name  I  bid  you  vanish 

Christianity.      Of   these  men    wrote  and  hurt  no  one  in  this  place. '     Then 

Alcuin  (Ep.  p.  714),  "  In  ancient  times  he  at  once  made   for  the  shore  and 

most   learned  men  used  to  go  from  told  his  abbot  what  he  had  heard." 

Ireland  to  Britain,  Gaul,  and  Italy,  —  Pertz,  Moii.  Germ.   Historica  (anno 

to  the  great  profit  of  the  Churches  of  610),  ii.  7.     To  the  ear  of  the  enthu- 

Christ. ''   Lotus  here  describe  an  inci-  siast  at  supreme  crises  of  human  fate 

dent  in  their  Swiss  mission.    St.  Gall  such  notes  have  often  sounded.    Such 

was  once  fishing  with  a  net  in  the  was  that  agonised  cry,  "  Great  Pan  is 

silence  of  the  night  when  he  heard  the  dead  !  "  heard  in  tlie  reign  of  Tiberias 

spirit  from  the  top  of  the  mountain  on  that  loue  isle  in  the  Ionian  Sea. 

calling  to  the  spirit  of  the  lake,  '  Kise  Such  that  mysterious  "Let  us  depart 

and  help  me!      The  strangers  have  hence!"  proceeding  from  the  Holy  of 

come  and  ejected  me  from  my  temple.'  Holies  when  Titus  was  advancing  to 

(Saints  Gall  andColumbauus  had  been  the  siege  of  Jerusalem.    So  Cuculain, 

breakingthree  gilded  idols  worshipped  borne  aloft  on  his  fairy  chariot,  an- 

by  the  natives. )  '  Come  and  help  me  to  nounced  to  weeping  Evin  the  coming 

turn  them  out  of  the  land.'   The  spirit  of  the  Christian. 
of  the  lake  answered,  'Lo!  oncofthem 


30  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

there  was  the  line  complete  "  Hac  sunt  in  fossa  Bedae 
venerabilis  ossa."  This  tale  is  somewhat  varied  in  the 
Mariusaga,  65  i  (Unger,  Christiania).  It  greatly  resembles 
a  legend  in  the  Flateybok,  i.  214,  told  of  a  Scald. 

Bede's  great  work,  written  by  him  731,  is  the  "Ecclesi- 
astical History  of  the  Nation  of  the  Angles  :  "^  a  name  which 
he,  a  native  of  Anglian  JSTorthumbria,  and  born  during  the 
predominance  of  that  state,  applied  to  the  whole  of  Eng- 
land. It  is  derived  from  original  and  valuable  materials, 
and  abounds  with  facts  otherwise  unknown,  and  a  number, 
of  traditionary  anecdotes  and  bits  of  verbal  information 
from  the  mouths  of  different  individuals.  Such  were 
Albinus,  Abbot  of  Canterbury,  who  sent  Nothelm  to  Eome 
to  search  the  Papal  archives  for  information;  Daniel,  Bishop 
of  the  West  Saxons,  who  enlightened  him  on  his  part  of 
the  island ;  and  the  monks  of  Lastingham,  near  Whitby 
(iii.  23).  Abbot  Esi  was  his  authority  about  the  eastern 
counties;  while  Bishop  Cunebert  and  others  of  credit 
informed  him  about  Lindsey.  Eor  Northumbria  there  was 
no  lack  of  reliable  people  whom  he  consulted.  All  these 
sources  he  seems  to  have  drawn  upon  with  honest  careful- 
ness and  impartiality.  As  for  the  earliest  portion  of  the 
book,  he  copies  some  portions  straight  from  Eutropius, 
Orosius,  and  Gildas.  His  history  cannot  be  considered  as 
representing  the  general,  much  less  the  political,  history  of 
the  people  for  whom  he  wrote.2  But  such  was  the  badge 
of  the  whole  tribe  of  media3val  historians  ;  they  were 
always  special  and  local.  Secular  matters  he  doubtless  was 
acquainted  with,  but  they  were  not  in  his  line.  Moreover, 
Bede's  History  has  another  drawback.  It  is  written  in 
Latin,  which,  with  no  claim  to  purity  and  elegance,  is 
nevertheless  free  from  the  pedantic  affectations  of  Aid- 
helm,  the  upholder  of  learning  in  the  South  of  England. 
Not  that  he  was  a  mere  Latiner.     He  could  quote  with 

1  Venerabilis  Bedse,    Hist.    Eccles.  "-  Hardy,   Descriptive  Catalogue  of 

Gentis  Anglorum  rcens.     J.  Steveu-  Materials    for    British     History,    p. 

son.     Londiui,    1838.     Moberly,   Ox-  xiii. 
ford,  1869, 


BEDE  AND  HIS  ECCLESL4STICAL  HISTORY.     31 

approbation  the  laws  of  Ethelbert,  written  in  Anglo-Saxon 
(H.  E.,  ii.  5).  He  cited  a  snatch  of  an  old  ballad  on  the 
death  of  King  Oswald  near  Oswestry.  He  turned,  as  he 
says,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  Creed  into  the  vernacular  for 
the  use  of  the  idiotse,  or  clergy  ignorant  of  Latin  (Epist. 
ad  Ecgb.,  p.  211);  and,  as  we  learn  from  the  affecting 
letter  of  Cuthbert,i  in  his  last  moments  he  sang  bits  of  old 
Saxon  religious  hymns,  "  in  which  literature  he  was  well 
skilled ;  "  such,  for  instance,  as  that  one  concerning  the 
fearful  severance  of  soul  and  body,  which  ran  thus : — 

"  Before  his  need-faring  (death)  none  can  he 
More  careful  than  lie  should 
In  reflecting  ere  his  exit 
On  his  soul,  whether  good  or  evil 
At  his  death-day  will  be  doomed." 

This  addiction  to  Latin  somewhat  denationalised  Bede. 
What  would  Livy's  countrymen  have  thought  had  his 
History  been  composed  in  Greek  ?  What  should  we 
Englishmen  have  deemed  of  Scott  or  Macaulay  had 
they  written  in  Latin,  even  though  their  Latin  miglit 
savour,  like  that  of  Bede,  of  the  refined  influence  of 
Virgil  ? 

But,  putting  aside  this  defect,  Bede's  work  must  ever  be 
the  pride  and  rejoicing  of  England,  as  being  a  monument 
of  literary  power  when  literary  power  was  rare.  His  last 
work  was  no  doubt  a  translation  in  Old  Northern  English 
of  St.  John's  Gospel,  the  last  verse  of  which  he  penned  just 
before  he  died.  But  surely  this  is  slender  ground  for  the 
assertion  made  by  some,  that  he  tried  to  render  English  the 
literary  language  of  England. 

His  History  does  exist,  it  is  true,  in  an  Anglo-Saxon 
dress,  the  free  translation  attributed  to  King  Alfred,  but 
which  could  not  have  seen  the  light  till  some  century  and 

1  When  he  died,  all  bis  worldly  among  his  friends.  Truly  an  admir- 
goods  consisted  of  pepper,  napkins,  able  character,  simple,  self-denyiug, 
and  incense,    which    he   distributed    affectionate. 


32  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERA  TURE. 

a  half  after  Bede's  death.  Over  and  above  the  linguistic 
loss  there  is  another  and  a  real  one.  The  writer  in  a 
foreign  tongue  can  never  give  his  nicer  shades,  whether  of 
feeling  or  thought.  The  native  aroma  is  exhaled  and  lost. 
For  the  rest,  we  may  be  assured  that  to  the  best  of  his 
ability  he  employed  the  materials  before  him  conscien- 
tiously and  with  fidelity.  In  proof  of  this,  we  may  state 
that  he  wrote  a  work  called  "  Eetractationes,"  to  correct 
errors  in  his  previous  writings.  Through  Bede  only  our 
forefathers  learned  all  about  their  conversion  from  Eome, 
and  the  order  in  point  of  time  in  which  the  various  parts  of 
England  received  the  gospel ;  how  Christianity  ebbed  and 
flowed  throughout  the  country  till  at  last  Paganism  and  the 
British  Church  were  alike  overborne  by  the  mighty  tide 
setting  in  from  Eome  ;  how  Kent  received  it  first,  a.d.  597, 
owing  greatly  no  doubt  to  the  fact  that  its  king,  Ethel- 
red,  had  a  Christian  wife  from  over  sea ;  the  East  Saxons, 
in  604,  apostatising,  however,  on  the  death  of  their  king, 
Saberct,  and  not  recovered  till  653  ;  how  ISTorthumbria  was 
gained  over,  627;  how  Lincolnshire  renounced  Paganism 
in  628  at  the  teaching  of  PauKnus ;  how  the  AVest  Saxons, 
called  by  Bede  "  Paganissimi "  (iii.  7),  were  converted,  635, 
by  Birinus,  who  had  been  consecrated  bishop  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Milan ;  how  Mercia,  which  longest  resisted  the 
Christian  teachers,  succumbed  in  656  ;  and  Sussex  was  first 
converted  by  Bishop  "Wilfrid  in  681  ;  and  how  the  Nor- 
thumbrian Church,  which  at  its  first  conversion  received  the 
Eoman  use,  on  the  death  of  Edwin  went  to  pieces,  and  was 
restored  by  King  Oswald,  but  upon  the  Scotch  model,  like 
many  other  Eoman  Churches  in  Britain.  To  aid  him  in  his 
enterprise  the  King  sent  for  Aidan  from  lona  (H.  E.,  iii.  2), 
where  he  himself  had  learned  Christianity  in  his  exile. 
Aidan  was  a  bad  hand  at  Saxon,  and  so,  when  he  preached, 
the  King  acted  as  his  interpreter,  "  a  very  beautiful  spec- 
tacle" (iii.  31).  Aidan,  says  Bede,  was  a  man  of  kindness, 
Xjiety,  and  moderation.  "  He  was  zealous  towards  God, 
but  not  fully  according  to  knowledge."     In  fact,  he  and 


BEDE  AND  HIS  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.     33 

his  successors  at  Lindisfarne  adhered  to  the  more  ancient 
rule  about  Easter  and  the  tonsure,^  and  being  now  virtually 
the  ecclesiastical  heads  of  England  north  of  the  Humber, 
the  Eoman  teaching  of  course  went  to  the  wall.  But  the 
usa<2;es  of  lona  and  Lindisfarne  grew  out  of  favour,  and  the 
memorable  synod  at  Whitby,  664,  rehabilitated  Eoman 
Christianity  as  taught  by  Paulinus.  On  this  occasion,  in 
spite  of  the  sturdy  arguments  of  Bishop  Colman,  the  ultra- 
montane Wilfrid  triumphed,  and  his  discomfited  antago- 
nists retired  to  lona ;  and  thus  British  Christianity  was 
squared  on  the  Procrustes  bed  of  Eonie,  and  the  Celtic 
Church,  the  purer  and  more  self-denying  of  the  two,-  sub- 
ordinated to  the  Apostolic  See — a  state  of  subjection  which 
was  further  consummated  by  the  despatch  from  Eome, 
four  years  later,  of  the  Greek  monk,  Theodore,  who  became 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  But  much  of  this  was  achieved 
by  Eome's  usual  methods.  She  persecuted  all  gainsayers 
to  the  bitter  end.  Even  St.  Augustine  carried  matters 
with  too  hicrh  a  hand  in  his  dealings  with  the  British 
Christians.  In  her  zeal  for  conformity  the  Italian  Church 
forgot  the  instructions  of  the  great  and  tolerant  Gregory. 
But  leaving  these  and  other  grand  historic  features  of  the 
work  to  the  researches  of  the  student,  let  us  rather  cull 

1  Bede,  iii.  25.  Up  to  the  Council  knew  nothing  of  the  new  -  fangled 
of  Nice  the  practice  of  the  British  tonsure,  which  had  meantime  come 
harmonised  with  that  of  the  Roman  into  fashion  in  Rome.  It  cLiimed  to 
Church.  The  most  ancient  Roman  be  derived  from  St.  Peter,  and  oc- 
table  for  Easter  tallies  precisely  with  cupied  the  crown  of  the  head,  while 
the  British  Easter.  From  the  Coun-  the  Irish  or  more  primitive  style  of 
oil  of  Nice  up  to  the  middle  of  the  tonsure,  said  by  its  adversaries  to  have 
fifth  century,  the  Britons  agree  with  come  from  Simon  Magus,  was  marked 
Rome  in  its  gradual  divergence  from  by  aline  drawn  over  the  forehead  from 
that  of  Alexandria  and  the  East,  aris-  ear  to  ear  in  the  form  of  a  large  semi- 
ing  mainly  from  the  use  of  different  circle,  the  hair  behind  being  allowed 
lunar  cycles.  But  in  458  the  Roman  to  grow  naturally.  Columbanus  and 
Church  changed  its  rule,  and  the  his  followers  startled  the  Continentals 
British  Church,  owing  to  its  long  not  a  little  by  his  old-fashioned  ton- 
isolation,  was  unaware  of  the  novel  sure.  He  claimed  the  right  to  follow 
method  of  keeping  Easter  brought  the  Irish  Church  in  these  matters.  See 
over  by  Augustine.  Another  red  rag  in  Reeves'  "  Adamnan,"  Haddan  and 
Rome's  eyes  was  the  tonsure.  Owing  Stubbs,  i.  152. 
to  the  same  cause,  the  British  Church 


34  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

from  it  here  and  there  bits  likely  to  interest  the  general 
reader,  premising,  however,  that  the  first  chapter  describes 
England  as  it  was  then — its  vines  and  its  corn  and  cattle ; 
the  fishes  in  the  sea  and  in  the  rivers ;  the  tin,  iron,  lead, 
and  silver  in  its  mines.  To  talk  of  this  History  and  not 
to  mention  the  famous  chapter  xiii.  of  the  second  book, 
would  be  to  give  the  play  of  "Hamlet"  without  the  Prince  of 
Denmark.  It  is  the  account  of  the  conversion  of  the  Pagan 
King  Edwin  of  Northumbria  in  627,  and  the  speech  of  one 
of  his  notables  at  the  supreme  controversy  upon  the  re- 
spective merits  of  the  one  true  God  and  His  counterfeits, 
where  a  woman,  the  King's  spouse,  Ethelberga,  alias  Tata, 
daughter  of  Ethelbert,  had,  as  in  the  case  of  the  conversion 
of  Kent,  a  good  deal  to  do  with  the  final  decision :  an  old 
story,  we  see — 

"When  love  can  teach  a  moiiarcli  to  "be  wise, 
And  gospel  light  first  dawned  in  Boleyn's  eyes." 

This  speech  was  clearly  that  of  a  man  whose  mind  owed 
its  culture,  not  to  book  learning,  but  to  the  poetic  fancies 
of  the  minstrel;  interesting,  moreover,  as  the  first  recorded 
specimen  of  British  parliamentary  eloquence.  "Man's 
present  life  upon  earth,  when  compared  with  the  uncer- 
tain future,  is  to  my  mind  somehow  thus :  When  you  sit 
at  supper,  0  King,  in  winter-time,  with  the  fire  blazing  in 
the  middle  of  the  hall,  and  all  is  warm  within  while  rain 
and  snow  are  raging  without,  in  comes  a  solitary  sparrow, 
entering  by  one  door  and  presently  passing  out  at  another. 
While  it  stays  in  the  hall  it  is  secure  from  the  winter's 
storm,  but  anon  it  returns  to  whence  it  came  and  vanishes 
from  thy  sight.  Just  so  the  life  of  man  appears  for  a 
little  while ;  but  of  its  past  and  future  we  know  nought. 
Wherefore,  if  this  new  doctrine  can  give  us  any  more 
certitude  about  this  matter,  I  vote  for  its  adoption." 
What  a  true  picture !  The  poor  shivering  sparrow — 
sparrows,  we  see,  did  frequent  men's  houses  in  England 
a  thousand  years  ago,  as  they  did  in  Palestine  goodness 


BEDE  AND  HIS  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.     35 

knows  how  long  before — rushing,  as  birds  will  do  in  the 
blustering  night,  towards  the  light  revealed  to  it  by  the 
opening  of  the  hall  door;  forthwith  aghast  at  the  blaze 
and  the  din  of  the  hall,  and  fluttering  hither  and  thither 
till  it  finds  a  place  of  exit  and  is  seen  no  more.  The  com- 
parison of  this  bird's  lot  and  ours,  that  is  a  piece  of  homely 
poetry  which  goes  straight  to  its  mark.  It  makes  us  feel 
we  should  have  liked  to  have  had  speech  with  that  man ; 
yes,  and  we  are  delighted  with  an  author  who  could,  out 
of  his  abundant  material,  select  an  incident  so  simple  and 
telling  to  illustrate  his  narrative.  The  picture,  which 
succeeds,  of  the  Saxon  Coifi,^  converted  by  the  preaching 
of  Paulinus,  and  riding  lance  in  rest  to  the  destruction  of 
the  heathen  altar  at  Goodmanham,  will  recall  to  the  Ice- 
landic student  similar  iconoclastic  doings  in  Norway, 
where  Christianity,  however,  found  much  less  favourable 
material  to  work  upon  than  among  the  more  tractable 
Saxons.  The  short  tale  of  the  conversion  of  Lincolnshire 
by  Paulinus  (a.d.  628),  told  to  Bede  by  Deda,  a  most  vera- 
cious monk  of  the  monastery  of  Partney,  has  a  special 
interest  from  the  realistic  portrait  of  the  great  missionary. 
"He  used  to  relate  that  Paulinus  was  a  man  of  tall 
stature,  somewhat  bent,  \vith  black  hair,  lank  face,  a 
curved  very  thin  nose,  with  a  venerable  and  awful  look  " 
(H.  E.,  ii.  16). 

And  the  anecdote  of  this  same  King  Edwin  is  no  less 
interesting,  viz. : — "  In  his  reign  so  profound  a  peace 
reigned  in  Britain  that,  as  the  proverb  ran,  a  woman  Avith 
a  newly-born  baby  might  have  gone  through  the  whole 
island  on  foot  without  molestation."  ^  But,  after  all,  this 
might  only  have  been  an  echo  of  the  much  more  ancient 

^  A  nickname  for  c6f  (=  Is.  akafr),  ^  "  The  Lay  of  Grotti ;  or,  The 
'bold,'  'strenuous.'  Can  our  slang  Mill  Song."  The  contemporary 
'cove'  be  a  descendant  of  Coifi?  Our  author  of  the  "  AVar  of  the  Gaudhill 
forefathers  affected  nicknames.  The  with  the  Gaill"  (cap.  Ixxx.),  de- 
sons  of  Saberct,  king  of  East  Anglia,  scribes  the  universal  peace  that  pre- 
ciilled  their  defunct  father  'Saba'  vailed  in  Ireland  during  the  reign  of 
(H.  E. ,  ii.  5).  Others  derive  it  from  King  Brian  Borumha  (died  1014)  in 
coibhi  —  helpful.  these  terms :— "  A  lone  woman  might 


36  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERA  TURE. 

mythological  tale  in  Snorri's  "  Skaldskaparmal,"  cap.  43, 
of  King  Frogi's  peace,  and  how  it  came  to  an  end.  King 
FroSi  was  a  powerful  king,  who  is  said  to  have  ruled  in 
Denmark  about  the  Christian  era.  In  those  Saturnian 
days  "  no  man  injured  another,  though  he  might  chance 
to  meet  his  father's  or  brother's  murderer  in  freedom  or  in 
fetters.  Then  there  was  no  thief  or  robber,  so  that  a  gold 
ring  long  lay  untouched  on  Jalanger  heath."  Bede  tells 
another  tale  about  this  king.  "  So  much  did  he  consult 
the  convenience  of  his  people,  that  in  many  places,  for 
the  refreshment  of  travellers,  he  erected  fountains  at  the 
public  cross-ways,  near  which  he  suspended  brazen  cups 
on  poles,  which  nobody,  either  out  of  great  fear  or  great 
love  of  the  king,  dared  to  touch  except  to  drink  out  of  " 
(ii.  16).  So  that  we  see  the  public  fountain  movement 
is  not  so  modern  as  some  people  imagine. 

Was  a  more  miraculous  cure  ever  heard  of  than 
that  effected  by  the  mere  dust  of  the  spot  where  the 
young  King  Oswald  of  Northumberland  fell  at  Maser- 
field ! — one  of  the  five  monarchs  slain  by  the  ferocious 
Penda.  "  It  chanced  that  a  horseman,  not  long  after  this 
monarch's  death,  rode  by  the  place,  when  his  horse  sud- 
denly made  a  dead  stop,  bent  its  head  to  the  earth,  foamed 
at  the  mouth,  and,  as  its  pain  became  intense,  was  on  the 
point  of  falling.  The  rider  leaped  down,  and  strewing 
some  straw  about,  began  to  await  the  hour  when  his  steed 
would  get  better  or  die.  The  animal  in  its  agonies  kept 
rolling  about  till  it  came  to  the  spot  where  that  famous 
monarch  died,  when  on  a  sudden  it  ceased  from  its  mad 
contortions,  .  .  .  rose  up  at  once,  and,  with  all  the 
appearance  of  being  perfectly  well,  began  greedily  brows- 
ing on  the  herbage  around  "  (iii.  9), 

"  This  was  merely  the  offspring  of  chance,"  exclaims 
some   Judffius    Apella.      Then  listen  and  be  convinced. 

have  walked  in  safety  from  Torach  Glandore,  co.  Cork),  i.e.,  through 
(i.e.,  Tory  Island,  in  Donegal)  to  the  wliole  length  of  Ireland,  carrying 
Cliodhna  (a  rock  in  the  harbour  of    a  ring  of  gold  on  a  horse-rod." 


BEDE  AND  HIS  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.     37 

How,  to  wit,  the  deceased  monarch's  queen,  when  once 
staying  at  Bardney  Abbey,  now  a  railway  station  a  few 
miles  east  of  Lincoln,  gave  to  that  venerable  lady,  the 
Abbess  Edilhilda,  who  came  to  see  her,  a  modicum  of  the 
dust  which  had  been  scraped  from  the  spot  where  the  said 
king's  soap-suds  used  to  be  cast  out  of  his  bed-chamber 
window.  The  Abbess  stored  it  up  in  a  little  box.  Not 
long  after,  a  stranger,  who  had  called  at  her  abbey  and 
received  a  good  supper,  went  to  bed  and  was  suddenly 
seized  with  a  fit  of  '  the  blue  devils,'  or  rather,  as  he 
foamed,  gnashed  his  teeth,  writhed  his  body,  he  gave 
every  sign  of  being  possessed  by  the  devil  himself.  A 
servant  immediately  ran  to  arouse  the  Abbess.  Up  she 
got,  and,  accompanied  by  a  single  female  attendant,  went 
to  the  men's  quarter,  and  called  out  a  presbyter  to  accom- 
pany them.  On  reacliing  the  patient,  the  priest  began 
exorcising  with  all  his  might,  but  his  efforts  were  of  no 
avail.  What  was  to  be  done  ?  In  this  strait  the  Abbess 
bethought  herself  of  the  powder,  and  at  once  despatched 
a  female  to  fetch  the  box.  With  this  she  entered  the 
apartment  where  the  sufferer  writhed  in  agony.  Imme- 
diately on  her  entrance  he  became  silent,  sank  down  his 
head,  and  composed  his  limbs  to  slumber.  "  Conticuere 
omnes,"  says  the  historian,  in  Virgilian  vein,  "  intentique 
ora  tenebant."  Those  around  looked  on  in  silent  amaze- 
ment. After  about  an  hour  the  sufferer  sat  up,  gave  a 
great  sigh,  and  in  reply  to  the  anxious  questionings  of  the 
bystanders  said,  "  When  this  lady  entered  the  apartment 
with  the  box,  all  the  evil  spirits  left  me"  (iii.  1 1). 

The  tale  Bede  tells  us  (iv.  24),  in  his  History  of 
Coedmon,  how  that  when  the  rustics  of  the  North  Eiding 
were  at  the  ale-bench,  the  fiddle  (cithara)  passed  round  in 
order,  and  each  one  sang  his  song  to  its  accompaniment, 
surely  whets  our  curiosity  to  know  what  the  songs  were 
about;  certainly  they  were  not  of  a  grave  cast.  Bede 
distinctly  says  they  were  sung  "  Isetitise  causa."  Perhaps 
songs    of   Ingald,  an  epic   hero   in   Beowulf,  which  the 


38  OLD  ENGLISH  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

monks  of  Lindisfarne  used  to  sing  after  supper,  and  were 
reprimanded  by  Alcuin  for  so  doing  (Mon.  Ale,  357). 
"William  of  IMalmesbury  mentions  these  profane  songs. 

We  may  here  observe  that  in  the  so-called  Alfred's 
Anglo-Saxon  version  of  Bede  the  impromptu  verses  of 
the  heaven-made  poet  are  given  in  Anglo-Saxon.  But 
whether  these  are  the  actual  words  of  the  cowherd,  or  a 
metrical  paraj)hrase,  or  retranslation  from  the  Latin  text, 
which,  Bede  himself  confesses,  gives  the  sense  and  not  the 
order  of  the  words,  is  a  moot-point.^  Be  it  remembered 
that  the  poem  of  Ceedmon,  as  it  is  called,  is  quite  another 
thing  centuries  after  the  date  of  the  poet. 

When  we  read  anecdotes  like  the  following,  one  seems 
to  regret  that  no  charity  organisation  society  was  at  work 
in  those  days.  "  King  Oswin  was  tall  and  handsome,  of 
pleasant  address  and  attractive  manners,  and  open-handed 
to  rich  and  poor  alike.  He  gave  Aidan  the  priest  a  first- 
rate  horse,  in  order  that  he  might  cross  the  rivers,  or  use 
it  wherever  there  was  need,  although  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  journeying  on  foot.  Shortly  after  he  encounters  a 
beggar  who  asked  for  alms.  He  immediately  descended 
from  his  horse,  and  made  the  beggar  a  present  of  it, 
royally  caparisoned  as  it  was "  (iii.  14).  The  King 
naturally  resented  this,  and  took  the  holy  man  to  task 
for  giving  to  such  a  person  so  valuable  an  animal. 
Certainly  in  this  age  such  an  act  would  be  justly  looked 
on  as  absurd,  but  the  duties  of  Christianity  were  in  those 
times  somewhat  misunderstood,  to  the  encouragement, 
doubtless,  of  much  idleness  and  imposture.  But  it  must 
be  remembered  that  those  were  days  when  a  man  who 
deserted  his  wife  and  family  and  went  touring  it  to  Eome 
was  thought  to  be  doing  a  most  meritorious  act. 

The  visions  of  Fursey,  who  had  arrived  in  England,  ^-i^-i^, 
must  have  been  of  a  very  striking  character,  for  we  are 

1  Wanley's  Catalogue,  p.  287,  prints  initial  lines  in  the  old  Northumbrian 
from  the  margin  of  a  MS.  of  Bede's  dialect.  These,  therefore,  probably 
Latin   History  of  the  year  737  the    are  the  ipsissima  verba  of  the  poet. 


BEDE  AND  HIS  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.     39 

told  that  when  narrated  by  that  holy  man  himself,  it 
made  an  auditor  sweat  as  if  it  were  the  dog-days,  although 
it  was  really  midwinter,  the  earth  hound  with  ice,  and  he 
wearing  at  the  time  quite  a  light  suit  of  clothes  (iii.  19). 
An  incident  of  a  somewhat  ugly  look  is  recorded  in  one 
of  this  saint's  visions.  In  company  with  an  angel  he 
approached  close  to  a  very  fierce  fire,  when  the  unclean 
spirits  immediately  pitched  at  him  one  of  those  wdiom 
they  were  engaged  in  burning,  and  who,  coming  in  con- 
tact with  him,  burnt  his  shoulder  and  jaw,  leaving  a  mark 
never  to  be  erased.  The  guardian  angel  pitched  back  the 
man,  but  not  before  Fursey  recognised  him  as  one  who, 
just  before  he  died,  made  him  a  present  of  his  cloak.  The 
enemy  cried  out,  "  Don't  repel  one  whom  you  formerly 
took  charge  of.  You  got  this  sinner's  goods,  why  not 
partake  of  his  punishment."  The  angel  resolutely  stood 
up  in  defence  of  Fursey,  but  said  aside  to  him,  "  It  is  all 
your  fault ;  if  you  had  not  received  the  money  of  this  man, 
who  died  in  his  sins,  you  would  not  have  had  a  part  of 
his  punishment"'  (iii.  19).^  Fursey  here,  inadvertently  as 
it  were,  draws  back  the  coverings  from  a  very  sore  spot  in 
Popish  history. 

In  a  book  like  Bede's,  abounding  in  miracles  and  visions, 
a  circumstantial  vision  of  the  abodes  of  the  saved  and  the 
lost  and  of  purgatory  was  to  be  expected  ;  and  such  is  to 
be  found  at  v.  12,  which  is  written  with  considerable 
fervour  of  style  and  description.- 

Touching  the  five  years'  work  of  Bishop  Wilfrid  among 
the  South  Saxons,  after  his  quarrel  with  King  Ecgfrith 
and  deposition  from  the  bishopric  of  Northumbria,  Bede 
relates  one  thing  as  having  paved  the  way  towards  the 
conversion  of  the  people  of  Sussex,  a.d.  681,  viz.,  that 
in  a  time  of  great  scarcity  he  caused  "  both  their  souls 
and  bodies  to  rejoice"  by  teaching  them  how  to  catch  fish, 

1  See  Tungulus  or  Duggal  in  Icelandic  Part. 

'^  See  "  Monumenta  Moguntina,"  an  account  of  similar  visions  seen  by  a 
monk  of  Weulock. 


40  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERA  TURE. 

wliicli  abounded  in  the  rivers  and  on  the  sea  coast  of  the 
county.  Their  piscatorial  skill  extended  hitherto  only  to 
catching  eels,  but  he  caused  all  their  eel-nets  to  be 
collected  and  cast  into  the  sea  for  a  draught,  which  was 
most  successful,  three  hundred  and  three  fishes  of  divers 
kinds  being  captured,  which  were  distributed  in  three 
equal  portions  among  the  poor,  the  net-owners,  and  the 
missionaries  (iv.  13).  Assuming  this  alleged  ignorance  of 
fishing  to  be  a  fact,  which  seems  almost  incredible,  the 
anecdote  becomes  interesting  in  these  days  when  the 
question  is  much  disputed  whether  Christian  missions  to 
the  heathen  should  be  preceded  by,  accompanied,  or 
succeeded  by,  teaching  them  the  arts  of  civilisation.  Dr, 
Livingstone,  in  a  conversation  with  the  present  writer, 
certainly  inclined  to  making  trade  go  hand  in  hand  with 
the  teaching  of  Christianity  in  Africa,  a  theory  which 
seems  suited  to  our  composite  requirements,  and  in  con- 
nection with  which  we  may  quote  the  words  of  a  colonial 
bishop :  "  In  the  eyes  of  Pagan  savages  a  display  of  the 
arts  of  civilisation  almost  takes  the  place  of  the  miracles 
wrought  in  the  days  of  founding  Christianity."  The 
anecdote  related  by  Wilfrid's  biographer,  Eddius,  the 
Eipon  man,  the  choir-master  of  the  Northumbrian 
churches,  about  the  wreckers  in  this  same  county,  who 
assailed  the  Bishop  when  his  ship  was  stranded  on  their 
shore,  it  being  their  wont  to  make  slaves  of  all  ship- 
wrecked mariners,  and  slay  them  if  they  resisted,  is  a 
much  more  probable  affair.  Here,  too,  we  see  the  first 
glimpses  of  a  custom  which  has  only  recently  been  sup- 
pressed in  these  isles. 

The  state  of  medical  science  in  that  age  is  aptly  illus- 
trated by  our  historian  (v.  3).  A  nun  called  Qucenburg, 
in  a  Yorkshire  monastery,  had  been  bled  in  the  arm 
(phlebotomata  est  brachio) ;  she  had  returned  to  her 
studies,  when  the  arm  swelled  to  such  a  size  that  it  could 
scarcely  be  clasped  by  two  hands,  and  she  seemed  at  the 
point  of  death.     At  this  juncture  John  of  Beverly,  one  of 


BEDE  AND  HIS  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.     41 

the  greatest  miracle-workers  that  these  isles  ever  had, 
chanced  to  arrive.  He  was  told  about  the  unfortunate 
damsel,  with  the  entreaty  that  he  would  use  his  miraculous 
powers  in  her  behalf.  Being  an  adept  in  medicine,  he 
inquired  when  she  was  bled,  and  on  the  Abbess  informing 
him  that  it  was  on  the  fourth  of  the  moon,  he  blamed  her 
severely  for  her  ignorance.  "  I  remember,"  added  he, 
"  Archbishop  Theodore  of  blessed  memory  said  that  bleed- 
ing at  that  time  was  highly  dangerous,  when  both  the 
lio-ht  of  the  moon  and  the  flood  of  the  ocean  are  on 
the  increase."  ^  It  is  needless  to  say  that  he  cured  the 
patient  at  once. 

The  following  shows  that  in  Yorkshire  the  passion  for 
horse-racing  is  not  of  yesterday.  Once  on  a  time  the  said 
Bishop  John  was  riding,  attended  by  his  chaplain,  Here- 
bald,  afterwards  Abbot  of  Tynemouth,  and  other  youths, 
chiefly  of  the  laity,  when  they  came  upon  a  flat  piece  of 
turf.  "  Would  your  reverence  allow  us  to  have  a  gallop?" 
was  their  submissive  request.  "  Yes,  if  you  wish,"  was 
the  reluctant  reply ;  "  all  of  you  except  Herebald ;  he  must 
stay  beside  me."  But  as  the  steeds  thundered  by,  it  was 
too  much  for  the  chaplain,  "  lascivo  superatus  animo  non 
me  potui  cohibere,"  as  he  expressed  it  in  after  years.  Un- 
fortunately when  in  full  career  his  horse  put  his  foot  on 
a  loose  stone  covered  with  grass,  and  fell  with  his  rider, 
who  broke  his  thumb  and  the  suture  of  his  cranium,  and 
vomited  blood.  But  what  of  that  ?  John  passed  the 
night  in  prayer,  applied  his  hand  to  the  wound,  and  finally 
spat  in  the  patient's  face,  a  method  of  treatment  which 
enabled  him  to  mount  his  horse  the  next  day  (H.  E.,  v.  6). 
But  John's  powers  by  no  means  ceased  with  his  death,  for 
is  it  not  recorded  by  Folcard,  his  biographer,  that  a  French 
fratricide,  who  wore  for  penance,  like  Pascal  in  later  times, 
an  iron  girdle,  once  arrived  at  Beverly,  and  on  entering 
the  minster  crack  went  the  girdle  ;  nay,  the  author  was 
present  and  heard  the  report  (11 70-1 180). 

^  See  Eede's  curious  tractate,  "  De  PLlebotomia." 


42  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

Some  readers  may  be  interested  in  the  following: — 
"  Drylithelm^  the  monk  had  a  cell  just  over  the  river 
Tweed.  Into  this  he  used  constantly  to  descend,  and 
stand  fixed  like  a  statue,  with  the  water  sometimes  up  to 
his  loins,  sometimes  his  neck.  After  the  bath  he  never 
changed  his  wet  dress,  but  let  it  dry  on  his  body.  On 
one  occasion,  when  the  river  was  frozen,  he  broke  the  ice 
and  plunged  into  the  water.  '  I  wonder,  brother,'  said  the 
bystanders,  '  how  you  can  possibly  endure  such  cold/ 
Dryhthelm  replied,  for  he  was  a  man  of  a  quiet  and 
simple  turn,  '  I  have  known  it  colder.'  And  when  they 
said,  '  It  is  quite  extraordinary  that  you  lead  so  austere  a 
life,'  he  rejoined,  'I  have  seen  austerer'"  (v.  12).  The 
old  "  Cyclolytes  "  Club  doubtless  had  a  fancy  portrait  of 
this  bather  in  all  weathers  suspended  in  their  room  of 
meeting. 

But  we  must  turn  to  graver  matters.  As  we  have  seen 
above,  the  true  time  of  calculating  Easter  was  in  the 
early  days  of  Roman  Christianity  a  moot-point  discussed 
with  great  heat  between  the  Scottish  (Irish)  Church, 
which  held  one  rule,  and  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  held 
another.  It  is  not  a  little  interesting,  then,  to  be  informed 
by  the  author  (v,  15)  how  the  Irishman  Adamnan,  Abbot 
of  lona,  and  author  of  the  "  Life  of  St.  Columba,"  after 
a  long  residence  in  the  kingdom  of  Northumbria,  sailed 
to  his  native  country,  and  converted  the  people  to  the 
Roman  rule,  A.D.  703.  It  was  this  same  monk  that  wrote 
the  work  on  the  geography  of  the  East  from  the  descrip- 
tion, by  word  of  mouth  and  on  waxen  tablets,  of  the 
Erankish  bishop,  Arculphus,  who,  on  his  return  from 
Palestine  at  the  end  of  the  seventh  century,  had  been 
wrecked  on  the  western  shores  of  Britain  (ibid.).  "What 
makes  Arculph's  narrative  about  the  holy  places  especi- 
ally interesting  is  the  picture  of  Bethlehem,  Golgotha,  &c., 
as  they  were  less  than  seven  centuries  after  the  year  of 
redemption.     This  work  of  Adamnan  probably,  together 

^  Corrupted  in  Anglo-Saxon  Chron.,  693,  into  Brihthelm. 


BEDE  AND  HIS  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.     43 

■with  the  Later  Vikings'  expeditions  eastward,  helped  to 
pave  the  way  for  those  Eastern  pilgrimages  which  eventu- 
ated centuries  after  in  the  Crusades,  one  of  the  mightiest 
factors  in  the  work  of  European  civilisation. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  what  Bede's  famous  His- 
tory is  like.  It  was  meet  that,  though  written  in  a  foreign 
tongue,  this  national  book  should  be  noticed  thus  at  length; 
for,  in  fact,  with  the  exception  of  that  remarkable  work, 
our  "  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,"  and  of  Ethelweard's  Latin 
"  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,"  ^  which  closes  with  the 
last  year  of  Eadgar's  reign,  975,  with  a  few  Latin  monastic 
chronicles — e.g.,  those  of  Ely,  Eamsey,  and  the  "  Historia 
de  Dunelmensi  Ecclesia,"  635-1096,  attributed  to  Simeon 
of  Durham,  much  of  which  comes  from  Bede — it  is  all  that 
is  left  to  us  of  regular  history.^ 

1  Printed  in  Saville,"Scriptore.s  post  Church  of  York,"  vol.  i.)  to  be  "an 

Bedam."   London,  1596.    The  original  invaluable  and  almost  unknown  evi- 

MS.  burnt  with  the  Cotton  Library.  dence  for  the  reigns   of   Edgar  and 

-  Add  to  these  an  anonymous  Latin  Ethelred."   Eddi's  "  Life  of  Wilfrid  ;"' 

"Life    of    Oswald,    Archbishop    of  two    Lives    of    Dunstan,    edited    by 

York,"     pronounced     by     Professor  Stubbs  ;  and  Abbo's  "  Life  of  St,  Ed- 

Stubbs  (see  Raines'  "History  of  the  mund  "  (see  next  chapter). 


(     44     ) 


CHArTEE   IV. 

BEDES  LIFE  OF  ST.  CUTHBERT  AND  OF  THE  ABBOTS 
OF  WEARMOUTH  AND  J  ARROW — ST.  EDMUND,  ST. 
S  WITHIN,   ST.    NEOT,    AND   ST.    GUTHLAC. 

But  there  is  anotlier  source  of  information  upon  Anglo- 
Saxon  times  which  in  no  little  degree  fills  up  what  regular 
history  fails  to  supply — we  mean  biographies,  chiefly  of 
saints.  Sometimes  they  are  the  only  source  whence  in- 
formation upon  points  of  much  moment  can  be  derived. 
Not  only  are  these  interesting  in  a  historical  point  of  view, 
but  they  also  abound  with  much  curious  information  of 
another  sort.  In  them  we  find  descriptions  of  character 
for  which  we  search  in  vain  in  the  more  dignified  pages  of 
the  professed  historian.  lieferences  are  made  here  to  the 
manners  and  customs,  the  dress,  amusements,  and  super- 
stitions, the  agriculture  and  political  economy,  the  arts 
and  sciences,  the  society  and  the  literature  of  our  ances- 
tors; and  it  may  be  affirmed  that  there  is  scarcely  a  legend, 
how^ever  absurd,  from  which  some  information  may  not  be 
gleaned. 

But  although  these  biographies  form  so  important  a  link 
in  the  chain  connecting  the  past  w^ith  the  present,  they 
abound  in  dross  which  must  be  separated  from  the  true 
ore.  For,  be  it  remembered,  these  Middle -Age  writers 
moved  in  fetters.  Superstition  held  them  in  its  iron  grip. 
In  the  simplest  concerns  of  life,  where  we  look  for  natural 
causes  to  explain  events,  they  dragged  in  the  supernatural, 
and  thought  it  impious  to  do  otherwise.  A  murrain  or  a 
famine,  with  the  Anglo-Saxon,  was  a  direct  judgment  of 


BEDES  LIFE  OF  ST.  CUTHBERT.  45 

Heaven ;  while  with  the  modern  it  would  be  referred,  like 
commercial  distress,  to  spots  in  the  sun  or  some  other 
physical  phenomena.  The  author  of  "  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream "  did  not,  like  Bede,  profess  to  be  writing  history 
when  he  ascribed  the  plague  of  waters  to  a  quarrel  between 
the  wayw^ard  rulers  of  the  fairy  world.  Still  it  is  often 
hard  to  say  whether  the  inditers  of  these  Anglo-Saxon 
lives  of  saints  meant  what  they  wrote  to  be  understood 
symbolically  or  as  matters  of  fact,  or  as  sober  certainties 
veiled  under  poetic  imaginings,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
"  Pilgrim's  Progress."  The  whole  matter,  perhaps,  was 
regulated  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand.  Eooted  in 
Paganism,  the  craving  for  miracles  was  fed  by  the  Chris- 
tian priests,  and  grew  by  what  it  fed  on.  In  their  zeal  for 
spreading  the  gospel,  they  poured  the  new  wine  into  old 
vessels,  and  it  savoured  perilously  of  the  cask. 

Bede's  great  work  abounds,  as  we  have  seen,  with  notices 
of  the  lives  of  holy  men.  But  he  also  wrote  regular  bio- 
graphies— e.g.,  that  of  St.  Cuthbert — both  in  prose  and 
verse.  Both  of  these  have  been  preserved.  Before  having 
it  transcribed,  he  sent  it  to  Lindisfarne  to  be  overhauled 
by  the  brethren  and  the  mistakes  amended ;  so  that  we 
have  here  a  veritable  narrative  of  the  saint's  life.  Eesolved 
to  bid  adieu  to  the  world,  the  soldier  of  the  cross  betook 
himself  to  Melrose,  and  became  a  monk  there  under  the 
virtuous  Abbot  Boisil.  Later  he  joined  the  community  at 
Eipon,  from  which  place  he  and  his  companions  were 
eliminated  to  make  way  for  Wilfrid  and  his  friends,  who 
adhered  to  Eome  in  the  great  question  of  the  day  as  to 
how  to  compute  Easter.  On  Boisil's  death  Cuthbert  suc- 
ceeded him  at  Melrose,  from  whence,  after  an  abode  of 
many  years,  he  was  transferred  to  Lindisfarne  as  prior. 
When  he  had  passed  some  years  as  the  active  head  of  this 
church,  he  resolved  to  seek  the  devil-haunted  seclusion  of 
the  barren  rock  at  Fame.  Here  he  hoped  to  go  on  from 
strength  to  strength,  and  so  to  gain  nearer  glimpses  of  the 
Deity.  But  he  was  not  permitted  to  rest  in  his  retreat ; 
for  in  684  a  synod,  presided  over  by  Archbishop  Theo- 


46  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

(lore,  and  at  which  King  Ecgfrid  was  present,  elected  him 
unanimously  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne.  It  was  in  vain  he 
said  "  Nolo  Episcopari,"  and  meant  it.  The  King  would 
take  no  refusal ;  and  he  and  Bishop  Trumwin,  and  a  host 
of  great  folks,  lay  and  clerical,  rowed  over  to  Earne  and 
with  tears  in  their  eyes  forced  the  mitre  on  the  reluctant 
anchorite.  A  hazardous  translation,  considering  his  ante- 
cedents ;  and,  in  fact,  two  years  later  we  find  him  again 
in  Earne.     But  we  are  anticipating. 

Cuthbert  was  not  naturally  an  ascetic.  As  a  boy  he 
was  fond  of  a  joke  or  a  good  howl  when  playing  with 
other  boys.  Agile  he  was  in  all  his  limbs,  expert  beyond 
his  age  in  jumping,  running,  wrestling,  and  all  muscular 
exercises ;  indeed  not  a  lad  of  the  district  could  compete 
with  him.  But  before  he  grew  to  man's  estate  he  put 
away  these  childish  things.  And  the  occasion  of  it  was 
this :  Cuthbert  was  one  day  at  his  favourite  resort,  the 
wrestling-ring,  with  a  crowd  of  boy  hero-worshippers 
eagerly  admiring  him  as  he  twisted  his  limbs  like  a  very 
Python.  At  this  moment  a  small  boy,  about  three  years 
of  age,  pushed  into  the  crowd,  and,  with  that  preternatural 
gravity  and  unction  supposed  to  be  peculiar  to  a  Scotch 
revival,  rebuked  him  for  his  grotesque  contortions  of  the 
body  and  his  too  great  love  of  fun  and  frolic.  "  Eudge  ! " 
laughed  Cuthbert.  On  which  the  small  boy  threw  himself 
to  the  earth  and  bedewed  his  face  with  tears.  "  How  can 
you,"  at  last  he  sobbed  convulsively,  "how  can  you,  most 
revered  priest  Cuthbert,  act  in  a  manner  so  unbecoming 
your  exalted  destiny  ? "  &c.,  &c.  Upon  which  Cuthbert 
from  that  moment  ceased  to  indulge  in  childish  sports,  cut 
his  wisdom-teeth  on  the  spot,  and  forthwith  went  home 
with  an  old  head  grown,  mushroom-wise,  upon  young 
shoulders,  notwithstanding  all  adages  to  the  contrary 
(Vit.  Cuth.,  p.  50).  Let  us  here  take  note  that  the  love 
of  wrestling,  so  characteristic  of  Cumberland  and  the  ad- 
joining counties,  is  not  a  fashion  of  yesterday. 

We  now  see  Cuthbert  fairly  embarked  on  his  noble 
mission  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  Nortli.     Terrible 


BEDE'S  LIFE  OF  ST.   CUT H BERT.  47 

epidemics,  we  know,  used  to  make  the  sparse  population 
still  sparser  in  those  days.  Thus  in  661  a.d.,  when  he 
was  still  at  Melrose,  Cuthbert  catches  the  distemper  then 
prevalent,  apparently  the  plague,  for  he  had  a  tumour 
on  the  groin,  which  ate  inwards  almost  to  the  intestines. 
But  he  is  cured  by  the  prayers  of  the  brethren,  and  is 
presently  about  again,  with  his  boots  on  his  feet  and 
his  stick  in  his  hand.  The  lower  orders  were,  of 
course,  terribly  alarmed  at  these  visitations,  and,  although 
nominally  Christians,  had  recourse  to  necromancy  and 
amulets  fastened  to  various  parts  of  the  body  (incan- 
tationes  vel  alligaturas).  '  Flectere  si  nequeo  Superos 
Acheronta  movebo  ;'  notwithstanding  that  Cuthbert,  some- 
times on  horseback,  sometimes  on  foot,  went  all  round 
the  country  rebuking  their  superstition.  He  would  thus 
be  absent  from  home  a  week  or  a  month  on  a  stretch, 
visiting  out-of-the-way  places  in  the  mountains,  where 
no  teacher  had  ventured  before,  being  deterred  by  the 
dangers  of  the  path  or  the  abject  poverty  of  the  rustics. 
In  those  days,  whenever  a  missionary  appeared,  the 
country  folks  flocked  in  crowds  to  hear  him,  Cuthbert 
especially,  whose  face  was  so  full  of  angelic  love  and 
penetrating  insight,  that  the  mere  look  at  it  made  people 
confess  the  innermost  thoughts  of  their  heart  (cap.  g). 

One  day,  while  preaching  in  a  hamlet,  he  became 
aware  of  the  approach  of  the  old  enemy,  bent  on  seduc- 
ing the  minds  of  the  hearers;  so  he  determined  to  be 
beforehand  with  him,  and  observed  parenthetically,  "  Now, 
dearly  beloved,  as  often  as  the  mysteries  of  heaven  are 
preached  to  you,  give  great  heed  to  the  discourse,  lest  the 
devil  distract  your  attention,"  after  which  he  resumed  the 
thread  of  his  sermon.  On  this  the  enemy  set  fire  to  the 
adjoining  house,  and  presently  flames  were  seen  flitting 
through  the  whole  hamlet.  Instantly  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  audience,  excepting  a  few  whom  the  preacher 
managed  to  hold  back,  rushed  away  to  extinguish  the 
flames;  but  all  to  no  purpose,  until   Cuthbert's  prayers 


48  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERA  TURE. 

made  the  '  fantastic  flames '  vanish  into  thin  air.  The 
solution  of  the  miracle  is  not  far  to  seek.  The  fire  was 
clearly  a  will-o'-the-wisp  or  ignis  fatuus,  generated  from 
the  marshy  surface  of  the  ground  (13). 

The  miraculous  sustentation  of  the  prophet  by  the 
ravens  in  the  Old  Testament  was,  of  course,  repeated 
midaiis  mutandis  for  the  benefit  of  men  so  saint-like  as 
Cuthbert.  One  day  he  was  particularly  sharp  set  for  a 
meal,  having  forgotten  to  take  food  with  him  when  he 
started  on  his  journey,  and  no  house  was  visible  for  miles. 
"  That  eagle  flying  yonder,"  said  the  saint  to  the  boy  with 
him,  "  can,  if  God  wills,  supply  us  with  meat.  But  stay  ! 
he  has  alighted  on  the  river  bank  yonder.  Go  and  see 
what  he  has  got."  Presently  the  lad  returned  with  a  big 
fish,  which  the  bird  had  just  caught  in  the  river.  "  Not 
so,"  said  the  saint ;  "  we  must  share  and  share  alike  with 
this  minister  of  the  Lord."  Whereupon  he  pulled  out 
his  knife,  sliced  the  fish  in  twain,  and  sent  one  to  the 
bird,  and  made  a  hearty  meal  of  the  other  (ib.  y^)-  Then 
we  have  another  anecdote  related  to  Bede  by  Brother 
Ingwald  of  Wearmouth,  a  most  veracious  witness  (cap.  5). 
One  morning  late  in  the  autumn  the  saint  stopped  to 
refresh  not  so  much  himself  as  his  weary  steed.  "  Pray, 
alight,  father,  and  take  somewhat  to  eat,"  said  the  good 
woman  of  the  house,  "No,"  was  his  steadfast  and  re- 
peated answer;  "this  is  a  fast- day,"  although  the  matron 
told  him  that  there  was  not  a  vestige  of  a  house  to  be 
seen  on  the  road  all  day.  Towards  evening,  seeing  that 
he  would  not  be  able  to  get  to  his  journey's  end  that 
day,  he  made  for  a  miserable  shieling  used  in  summer  by 
the  shepherds,  but  now  altogether  deserted.  Fastening 
his  horse  outside,  he  collected  for  him  a  bundle  of 
hay,  blown  off  the  roof  by  the  wind.  This  done,  the 
saint  betook  himself  to  his  hour  of  prayer  and  praise, 
in  the  middle  of  which  he  perceived  that  his  horse  had 
got  his  nose  aloft,  and  was  pulling  down  the  thatch, 
along  with  which  he  saw  a  linen  cloth  fall  to  the  earth. 


BEDE'S  LIFE  OF  ST.  CUTHBERT.  49 

Having  duly  completed  liis  religious  exercises,  he  went 
out  and  discovered  wrapped  up  in  the  cloth  half  a  loaf, 
quite  warm,  and  some  meat,  enough  for  one  meal.  Giving 
thanks  to  Heaven  for  the  miracle,  the  saint  forthwith 
shared  the  bread  with  his  horse,  who  devoured  it  with 
as  much  relish  as  his  master  (Vit.  Cuth.,  p.  58).  In  the 
former  anecdote  we  learn  incidentally  that  once  on  a 
time  the  osprey  might  be  seen  shooting  down  like  a 
falling  star  into  the  lone  rivers  of  England,  and  emerging 
thence  with  captive  fish  in  his  talons ;  while  in  the 
latter  the  interesting  fact  comes  out  that  in  those  days 
the  people  of  the  North  of  England,  like  the  natives  of 
jSTorway  now,  had  chalets  {tuguria)  in  the  hills,  where 
they  abode  during  the  summer  along  with  their  flocks 
and  herds,  returning  home  with  them  on  the  approach  of 
winter.  Discarding  the  Avarmth  of  the  bread,  we  should 
say  it  was  part  of  the  solitary  shepherd's  weekly  provi- 
sions, which,  on  his  return  thither  later  from  another 
chalet,  he  would  sorely  feel  the  want  of. 

Like  Dryhthelm,  Cuthbert  was  at  times  smitten  with 
a  great  love  of  cold  water.  When  on  a  visit  to  Ebba,  the 
Abbess  of  Coldingham  ^  in  Berwickshire,  he  used  to  steal 
out  in  the  dead  of  the  night,  and  absent  himself  for 
hours.  The  curiosity  of  one  of  the  monks  being  excited, 
he  stealthily  followed  him.  Descending  to  the  sea,  which 
was  close  by,  the  saint  waded  into  it  up  to  his  neck,  and 
for  hours  kept  singing  psalms  to  the  music  of  the  waves. 
On  the  approach  of  dawn  he  issued  from  the  water,  and 
knelt  down  to  pray  on  the  shingle,  when  two  quadrupeds, 
commonly  called  lutrse  {i.e.,  otters^),  came  out  of  the 
deep,  and  began  warming  his  feet  with  their  breath  and 

1  Eighteen    years    later,    679,    the  an  otter  that  Hreidniar's  son  was  slain 

place  was  destroyed  by  fire,  a  judg-  by  Loki  (Prose  Edda,  i.  352),  the  iirst 

ment  on  the  levity  of  the  nuns  (H.  seed   of   that   never-ceasing    crop   of 

E.,  iv.  25).  greed  and  slaughter,  the  theme  of  the 

-  What  if  this  story  be  a  waif  of  the  Volsung  story.  jElfric  must  be  mis- 
old  mythology,  and  these  otters  of  taken  when  he  says  in  his  sermon  on 
human  origin  ?    It  was  in  the  form  of  St.  Cuthbert  that  they  were  seals. 


50  OLD  EXGLISH  LITERATURE. 

drying  them  with  their  fur ;  after  which,  having  whisked 
a  blessing  out  of  him,  they  retired  to  their  native  element, 
while  he  returned  with  the  dawn  to  the  monastery.  All 
this  was  witnessed  by  '  Peeping  Tom,'  who,  afraid  to  go 
home,  lay  among  the  rocks  half  dead  with  fear.  At  last 
he  sneaked  back  to  his  cell,  threw  himself  at  Cuthbert's 
feet,  and  implored  his  forgiveness.  This  was  granted  on 
one  condition,  viz.,  that  he  should  never  reveal  the  secret 
to  mortal  man  as  long  as  Cuthbert  lived — a  vow  which 
the  other  religiously  kept  {ib.,  lo),  so  he  must  have  out- 
lived the  saint.  Some  of  the  features  of  this  tale  seem 
borrowed  from  a  like  incident  in  the  life  of  St.  Columba, 
who  predeceased  Bede  by  138  years,  as  he  died  a.d.  597 
(Eeeves'  Adamnan,  p.  219).  There,  too,  the  culprit  is  let 
off  on  undertaking  not  to  reveal  what  he  had  seen  in  the 
saint's  lifetime.  Intrusive  curiosity  sometimes  got  off  less 
easily.  When  Columba  was  at  Drum  Fionn,  he  borrowed 
a'  book  from  St.  Finian,  the  Abbot,  which  he  copied  by 
night  in  the  church  by  the  light  of  the  fingers  of  his 
other  hand.  The  Abbot,  anxious  about  his  vellum,  sent  a 
messenger  to  the  church,  who  peeped  through  the  keyhole 
and  saw  the  saint  writing  by  the  light  of  his  luminous 
hand.  But  while  so  engaged,  a  pet  crane,  which  had 
followed  Columba  into  the  building,  drew  nigh  to  the  door, 
and  putting  his  bill  to  the  hole,  pecked  out  the  observer's 
eye  (ib.,  226).  Columba,  be  it  said,  used  to  recite  the 
Psalter  every  night  immersed  in  cold  water.  In  due  time 
Cuthbert  was  transferred  to  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne, 
founded  635  by  Aidan,  the  Celtic  monk  of  lona,  and  con- 
verter of  Bernicia.  It  was,  in  sooth,  no  bed  of  roses,  but 
that  he  did  not  covet.  Exceedingly  gentle  in  his  manners 
and  address,  there  lurked  within — as  is  not  unfrequent 
with  such  exteriors — a  most  indomitable  will,  that  could 
successfully  cope  with  the  sternest  opposition :  the  old 
energy  this,  but  in  another  shape,  which  made  him  a 
victor  in  the  wrestling-ring.  Now  Cuthbert  was  a  follower 
of  the  new  or  straitest  monastic  rules,  while  the  monks  of 


BEDES  LIFE  OF  ST.  CUTHBERT.  51 

Lindisfarne  inclined  to  the  older  and  less  austere.  It  can 
be  easily  imagined,  therefore,  that  tliey  would  have  rather 
Lad  times  of  it.  They  liked  to  slumber  through  the  night 
undisturbed,  and  have  besides  their  midday  siesta.  But 
he  seems  to  have  had  a  \Yay  of  poking  them  up  in  their 
sleep,  to  their  great  discontent.  At  such  times  he  reviled 
their  pusillanimity,  saying  he  for  his  part  liked  to  have 
his  sleep  broken,  as  he  at  once  got  up  and  busied  himself 
in  useful  occupations.  Not  unfrequently  the  matter  was 
discussed  in  chapter,  and  so  irate  were  the  fraternity,  that 
they  would  proceed  to  the  fiercest  abuse  of  their  Head ; 
on  which  he  would  suddenly  rise  and  dismiss  the  meeting 
with  the  blandest  look  imaginable.  Next  day,  however, 
he  would  return  to  the  charge,  as  if  he  had  encountered  no 
opposition  whatever,  and  by  these  tactics,  often  persisted 
in,  he  eventually  gained  the  day,  and  beat  his  opponents 
(ib.,  16).  Apropos  of  the  above-mentioned  old  and  new 
monastic  rules,  we  need  not  be  astonished  that  in  those 
early  days  of  Christianity  in  England,  when  everything 
ecclesiastical  was  invested  with  novelty,  in  the  absence, 
moreover,  of  any  intelligent  public  opinion  on  politics, 
social  matters,  or  anything  whatever,  all  the  minutise  of 
monkery  and  ritual  filled  so  vast  a  space  in  the  eyes  of  the 
dramatis  personse,  if  not  of  the  general  population.  What 
the  monks  and  nuns  were  to  eat,  drink,  and  avoid,  what 
dress  they  should  wear,  let  alone  vestments  and  their 
presumed  symbolism  of  doctrine,  was  always  a  burning 
question.  Cuthbert  himself  would  have  no  colours,  but 
a  habit  of  the  natural  hue  of  the  sheep. 

But  the  vis  iiurticc  which  a  body  of  monks  could  oppose 
to  the  reforming  tendencies  of  their  Head  would  vex  his 
ardent  spirit  more  than  enough — more  than  even  he,  with 
all  his  readiness  to  court  opposition  for  religion's  sake, 
would  in  the  long-run,  and  as  years  advanced,  feel  disposed 
to  face.  And  so,  having  had  enough  of  Lindisfarne  and 
its  monks,  he  retired  with  a  good  grace  to  that  desolate 


52  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

iglet — tliey  gave  it  out  for  no  other  reason  but  to  acquire 
increased  perfection — to  end  his  days  in  seclusion  (c.  i6). 
The  abode  which,  by  the  help  of  the  brethren,  he  had  con- 
structed for  himself  on  the  rock  was  surrounded  by  a  lofty 
agger,  so  as  to  exclude  the  sight  of  everything  but  the  sky 
overhead.    The  monks  from  Lindisf arne  occasionally  visited 
him.     At  first  he  used  to  wash  their  feet,  then  he  would 
talk  with  them  through  an  open  window,  and  subsequently 
the  window  was  closed,  and  only  the  sound  of  his  voice 
heard,  the  speaker  being  invisible.     Whereas  formerly  he 
loved  cold  water,  he  seems  now  to  have  had  a  fit  of  hydro- 
phobia, so  that  he  would  keep  his  boots  or  gamashes  on 
for  a  year  together,  and  never  washed  his  feet  except  at 
Easter  (c.  1 8).     But  in  the  Middle  Ages  dirt  and  sanctity 
were  often  closely  allied,  at  least  in  this  life ;  witness  the 
condition  of  Becket's  underclothing  when  he  came  to  be 
laid  out.    Compelled  by  a  king  and  archbishop,  he  emerged 
from  this  living  tomb  to  become  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne. 
But  apparently  he  was  unable  to  bear  the  strain,  for  in  two 
years,  after  working  several  miracles,  e.g.,  curing  a  man  of 
the  plague,  and  turning  water  into  wine,  he  returns  to 
Fame.    By  constant  kneeling  a  callus  was  formed  on  both 
tibias,  and  by  increased  austerities  he  reduced  himself  to 
semi-starvation.     Under  these  circumstances  the  odour  of 
his  sanctity  spread  far  and  wide,  and  people  flocked  from 
all  parts  of  England  to  the  island  to  receive  from  him  con- 
solation and  advice.     The  mighty  preacher,  the  winning 
missionary,  were  in  their  eyes  nought  compared  with  the 
wonder-working  hermit. 

But  no  man  is  accounted  a  prophet  by  his  neighbours, 
and  so  it  proved  here.  The  Lindisfarne  monks  turned  up 
their  noses,  and  no  wonder,  at  his  frugal  fare.  One  day  a 
party  of  them  rowed  across  to  the  island,  to  whom,  after 
imparting  much  ghostly  counsel,  together  with  his  blessing, 
he  said,  as  he  returned  to  his  cell  in  the  rock,  "  You  had 
better  take  some  food  in  the  guest-house  before  you  return. 


BEDE'S  LIFE  OF  ST.  CUT H BERT.  53 

There  is  an  auca  ^  there  hanging  against  the  wall ;  boil  it, 
and  eat  it  for  your  dinner."  They,  however,  had  taken 
care  to  bring  eatables  with  them,  and  did  not  care  to 
touch  the  bird.  After  their  repast  they  betook  themselves 
to  their  boat,  but  a  sudden  tempest  arose  and  prevented 
their  return.  Seven  mortal  days  did  it  continue,  and 
very  miserable  they  were ;  but  their  act  of  disobedience, 
on  account  of  which  they  were  really  suffering  imprison- 
ment, did  not  once  occur  to  them.  On  the  seventh  day 
the  saint,  whom  they  had  frequently  gone  to  see  in  his 
retreat,  loudly  complaining  of  their  detention,  came  to  see 
them,  and  professedly  to  console  them.  No  sooner  did 
he  enter  than  he  clapped  eyes  on  the  untouched  wildfowl. 
"  Why,  you  have  never  eaten  the  auk,  as  I  bade  you. 
What  wonder,  then,  the  sea  would  not  let  you  go !  Boil 
it  as  quick  as  ever  you  can,  and  eat  it,  and  then  the  sea 
will  go  down."  At  once  they  obeyed  his  orders,  and  no 
sooner  did  the  pot  begin  to  boil  than  the  sea  ceased  to  do 
so.  The  monks,  however,  did  go  through  the  ordeal  of 
swallowing  the  auk.  Their  wry  mouths  may  be  easily 
imagined.  Whereupon  they  embarked,  and  returned  home 
with  a  mixture  of  joy  and  shame.  This  miracle  was  told 
Bede  by  that  most  venerable  presbyter  of  the  same 
monastery,  Cynewulf  (c.  36).  The  inhabitants  of  St.  Kilda 
are  perhaps  the  only  subjects  of  Great  Britain  who  would 
now  eat  auks.  But  such  food  was  quite  of  a  piece  with 
the  meagre  fare,  not  to  say  with  the  filth  and  the  discom- 
fort, of  an  Anglo-Saxon  dwelling.  Up  to  676  A.D.,  when 
Bede  tells  us  Benedict  Biscop  introduced  French  makers  of 
glass  into  England,  that  "  art  was  there  hitherto  unknown  " 
(Vit.  Benedict,  c.  5).  And  even  these  artificers  were  im- 
ported for  the  purpose  of  making  sacra  vasa  for  the  churches 
rather  than  to  glaze  the  windows  of  men's  dwellings.  It 
must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  saint  lived  a  life 

^  "A  goose,  or  any  bird"  (Du-  easily  caught  by  the  hand?  —  Isl. 
cange).  May  we  not  conjecture  an  '  alkr,' — a  dish  much  more  in  keeping 
'  auk,'  the  common  food  of  Faro,  and    with  Cuthbert's  larder  than  a  goose. 


54  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURK. 

of  idleness.  It  was,  in  fact,  by  the  labour  of  his  own  hands 
that  he  managed  to  exist.  In  those  da5^s  the  monks  were 
by  no  means  the  idle  drones  of  later  times.  The  stalwart 
and  genial  Eosterwini,  once  minister  of  King  Ecgfrid,  but 
who  adopted  the  religious  life  and  became  an  abbot,  used, 
Bede  tells  ns  in  one  of  his  best  passages,  "  to  winnow  and 
grind  corn  just  like  the  other  monks,  milk  the  sheep  and 
the  cows,  and  join  in  the  work  of  the  bakehouse,  the 
garden,  and  the  kitchen  with  the  utmost  readiness  and 
Inlarity.  Nay,  when  he  visited  other  monasteries  he  at 
once  turned  a  willing  hand  to  any  work  going  forward, 
whether  it  M-as  driving  the  plough,  forging  iron,  liandlinrr 
the  fan,  and  so  forth ;  while  he  ate  the  same  meals  and 
used  the  same  dormitory  as  the  others  till  within  two 
days  of  his  death  "  (ib.,  c.  8). 

Eeturn  we  for  a  parting  look  at  Cuthbert  in  his 
retirement.  If  the  secrets  of  his  prison-house  could  be 
revealed,  sharp  and  sore  must  have  been  the  searchings 
of  that  emotional  heart ;  hard  to  bear  the  passive  nihilism, 
self-imposed,  into  which  the  man  of  high  spirit,  the  ener- 
getic athlete,  the  man  who  had  traversed  the  Northern 
hills  as  no  missionary  had  cared  to  do  before,  who  had 
swayed  others  by  his  eloquence  and  converted  by  his 
miracles,  had  now  subsided.  The  old  Adam  would  crop 
np  in  spite  of  him.  Chassez  le  naturcl,  il  revient  ait  galop. 
The  tale  above  shows  that  his  love  of  authority,  his  claim 
to  implicit  obedience,  had  not  yet  deserted  him.  Further 
traces  of  his  chagrin  at  the  refractoriness  of  his  quondam 
monks  are  visible  when  he  was  near  his  end.  "  I  have 
met  with  much  contradiction  from  the  brethren,  and  I 
know,"  said  he,  "  that  to  some  my  life  has  seemed  con- 
temptible ;  but  when  I  am  dead  you  will  see  what  I  was, 
and  that  my  teaching  was  not  to  be  despised."  Abbot 
Herefrid  of  Lindisfarne,  who  went  over  to  see  the  lonely 
anchorite  in  his  last  sickness,  gave  a  circumstantial  ac- 
count of  it  to  Bede.  He  was  not  permitted  to  stay,  but 
dismissed  by  Cuthbert  with  the  simple  request  that  he 


BEDE'S  LIFE  OF  ST.  CUT H BERT.  55 

might  be  buried  close  by  his  oratory,  with  his  face  towards 
the  east.  Uneasy  about  the  sufferer,  the  good  Abbot  was 
no  sooner  back  at  Lindisfarne  than  he  assayed  to  return, 
but  was  prevented  by  a  storm,  lasting  five  days  and  nights. 
He  then  crossed  over,  and  found  Cuthbert  close  upon  his 
end,  but  his  mind  still  harping,  even  in  death,  on  his 
ruling  idea.  "  Beware,"  said  he,  "  of  celebrating  Easter 
at  the  wrong  time  or  living  not  according  to  the  regular 
Catholic  rule."  He  then  received  the  viaticum,  and,  with 
eyes  and  hands  lifted  to  heaven,  departed,  March  20,  a.d. 
687.  It  being  night  when  he  passed,  the  news  was  flashed 
across  the  water  by  two  lighted  candles.  The  watchman 
at  once  espied  the  signal,  and  reported  it  to  the  brethren, 
who  were  assembled  singing  a  nocturnal  mass.  Uncon- 
sciously they  had  commended  his  soul  to  his  Maker. 

The  true  verdict  of  a  coroner's  inquest  in  these  days 
upon  the  transaction  would  undoubtedly,  out  of  Ireland, 
run  pretty  much  thus  :  "  Died  of  an  envenomed  ulcer  in 
the  foot  and  other  disorders,  aggravated  by  wilful  self- 
neglect,  want  of  proper  nursing,  or  all  nursing,  and  of  the 
common  necessaries  of  life ;  the  deceased  having,  in  fact, 
subsisted  for  five  days  on  one  or  two  bits  of  onion,  being 
all  alone  at  his  own  request,  and  unable  to  move  from  his 
seat."  His  adversaries  (concertatores)  mightily  plagued 
him,  as  he  told  Herefrid,  during  these  five  days.  How, 
tlie  Abbot  dared  not  ask.  Alas  !  poor  Cuthbert !  Surely 
they  were  not  those  evil  spirits  which,  before  his  arrival  in 
Fame  Isle,  were  reputed  to  invest  it ;  not  such  the  spirits 
which  tormented  him,  but  rather  the  demons  of  man's  own 
device — demons  of  cold,  and  hunger,  and  thirst,  punishing 
]iim  worse  than  ever  they  did  poor  hunger-bitten  Tom  in 
"  Lear."  So  much  for  counsels  of  perfection,  or  rather 
so  much  for  the  mistaken  ideas  of  the  age  in  which  he 
lived  !  Far  be  it  from  us  to  carp  at  the  self-denying  energy, 
the  burning  devotion,  of  this  early  missionary,  whose  per- 
suasive tones  had  once  thrilled  the  dead  hearts,  all  stark 
and  stiff,  of  those  men  of  the  Northern  wilderness,  awaken- 


56  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

ing  in  tliem  a  responsive  echo  as  erst  the  first  beams  of  the 
morning  snn — so  Egyj^tian  legends  told — drew  unearthly 
music  from  the  hard  granite  statue  of  the  city  in  ruins. 
Alas  for  the  greatness  and  littleness  of  man  !  They  do 
Avith  tlie  bright  light  from  above  what  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
did  with  a  ray  of  the  sun.  He  got  it  into  a  dark  room, 
distorted  it,  broke  it  up  into  a  mass  of  many  colours,  and  its 
pure  whiteness  was  gone.  Instead  of  one  plain  gateway  into 
the  kingdom,  they  construct  all  sorts  of  byways  and  doors. 
St.  Cuthbert's  way  was  voluntary  sepulture  in  a  penal 
settlement  of  his  own  choice.  The  vision  itself  of  heaven 
becomes  blurred  and  obscured,  the  foundation  of  topaz  and 
amethyst  changed  into  wood  and  stubble.  Had  he  lived 
in  the  days  when  the  tale  of  spiritual  bricks  was  grown  too 
big  to  bear,  and  Teutonic  Europe  groaned  for  a  Moses,  he 
might  have  figured  grandly  at  some  Council  of  Constance 
or  Diet  of  Worms.  Had  he  lived  in  our  day,  he  might, 
like  a  Selwyn,  have  gone  forth  to  the  Isles  of  the  Pacific 
to  renew  primitive  experiences  in  perils  of  water,  in  perils 
in  the  wilderness,  in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in  cold 
and  nakedness.  Much  of  this  he  did  undergo,  but  scarcely 
in  a  field  of  congenial  labour.  Few  were  the  sheaves  he 
brought  with  him  in  the  work  at  Lindisfarne  ;  and  in  the 
end  he  wore  his  heart  out  in  cutting  blocks  with  a  razor, 
in  correcting  obtuse  monks,  rebuking  false  brethren,  and 
finally  shutting  himself  out  from  the  sight  of  his  fellow- 
men.  And  yet  who  shall  say  that,  though  the  man  was 
thus  unnaturally  self-effaced,  the  spectacle  was  not  one  of 
those  many  forces  which  kept  the  great  stone  rolling  in 
Northumbria  and  gradually  wrought  out  the  end  in  view  ? 
The  sight  of  the  anchorite  macerating  the  flesh  even  unto 
death  in  his  lonely  hermitage,  and  thus  setting  the  seal 
to  his  work,  would  take  the  ignorant  by  storm.  The  scene 
of  his  sufferings  w^as  hallow^ed  for  all  time,  and  no  sooner 
was  he  gone  than  another  tenant  succeeded.  Brother 
Odilwald  of  Eipon.  Cuthbert's  name  must  have  been  a 
word  of  power  for  centuries  in  Britain,     That  anecdote  of 


BEDE'S  LIFE  OF  ST.  CUTHBERT.  57 

Malmesbiiry  (ii.  4)  proves  it.^  "VVho  was  it  that  appeared 
to  England's  future  greatest  king  when  he  Lay  hidden  in 
the  impenetrable  lagoons  of  Somerset,  revolving  in  his 
mind  the  ways  and  means  of  liberating  his  people  from  the 
Danes  ?  It  was  in  this  supreme  moment  of  Alfred's  life 
that  popular  imagination  made  St.  Cuthbert  come  to  him  in 
a  vision,  foretelling  his  coming  victory  and  exaltation. 

A  word  more.  Some  may  say  that  the  above  sketch 
does  scant  justice  to  Cuthbert.  Let  them  turn  to  the 
Biography.  It  contains  forty-six  chapters  in  aU.  Of  these, 
about  six  or  seven  give  the  real  features  of  his  life.  They 
must  be  our  main  authority  in  an  estimate  of  the  saint. 
All  the  remaining  chapters  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  pro- 
bability and  relate  miracles.  These  are,  of  course,  mere 
padding,  of  no  solid  value.  And  yet  the  miracles  recorded 
must  not  shake  our  belief  in  the  truth  of  the  other  parts 
of  the  recital ;  nay,  rather  they  serve  to  corroborate  it ; 
for  if  no  miracles  had  been  thrown  in  by  the  monks  when 
the  belief  in  miracles  was  general,  we  should  have  been 
inclined  to  view  the  work  with  suspicion,  and  no  genuine 
picture  of  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  day,  but  as  the 
result  throughout  of  cooking.^ 

As  it  is,  the  miracles  of  Cuthbert  are  few  compared  with 
those  of  Columba,  whose  Life  by  Adamnan  is  quite  a  glut 
of  wonders. 

1  Cf.  Hist,  i.,  Trausl.  St.  Cuthb.,  The  King,  warned  by  a  soldier  for- 

cap.   i.      It    is   this    same   historian,  marly  in   Olaf's   service,  shifted   his 

and  not  Asser,  who  relates  the  story  tent. — Oaedhill  and  Galll,  282. 

of    Alfred    masquerading   as   a   min-  ^  To  those  who  plead  for  the  possi- 

strel,   and  so   gaining  free  access  to  bility  of  these  miracles  on  tlie  occa- 

the  Danish  camp,  meanwhile  learn-  sion    of    England's    conversion,    one 

ing  their  plans.     It  is  not  mentioned  word.     How  about  Africa,  and  New 

in  the  most  ancient  Saxon  accounts.  Zealand,  and  Australia  in  the  present 

Indeed,  it  sounds  more  like  a  Scan-  day  ?     The  work  before  the  niission- 

dinavian  than  a  Saxon  story,  an  echo  aiies  is  stupendous,  and  yet  they  per- 

of  which  has  reached  us  in  the  tale  form  no  miracles.   W'hy  ?  The  '  hulls- 

of    King    Estmere,    who    adopted   a  eye'  of  sifted  evidence  and   modern 

simihir  disguise.    A  story  was  current  enlightenment   is   flashed    full   upon 

of  Olaf  Cuaran  entering  Athelstan's  them,  and  any  so-called  miracle  would 

camp  disguised  as  a  harjicr  two  days  be  at  once  subjected  to  the  test. 
before   the    battle    of    Erunanburh. 


58  OLD  ENGLISH  Lrrr.KATURE. 

The  Lives  of  the  Abbots  of  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow  were 
also  written  by  Bede.  On  the  business  habits  of  Benedict 
Biscop,  and  his  five  journeys  to  Rome,  from  which  he 
never  returned  empty-handed  —  such  pilgrimages  had  a 
real  meaning  and  excuse — bringing  books,  architects,  and 
makers  of  glass-windows,  we  need  not  comment,  beyond 
saying  that  while  pilgrimages  were  often  fraught  with  evil 
and  disaster  to  his  compatriots,  male  and  female,  his  seem 
to  have  redounded  to  his  own  credit  and  the  advantage  of 
his  country.     He  died  685. 

Eosterwini,  and  his  laborious  simplicity,  have  been 
already  referred  to.  His  bones,  like  those  of  Cuthbert  ^ 
and  Abbot  Sigfrid,  were  in  due  time  translated  (Vit. 
Abbatum,  c.  20).  In  fact,  all  through  those  ages  a  body- 
snatching  epidemic  seems  from  time  to  time  to  have 
invaded  the  monasteries.  Whether  it  was  to  raise  money, 
or  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  their  existence  by  an  exciting 
function,  or  to  give  a  prestige  to  this  or  that  monastery — as, 
e.g.,  Canterbury  employed  the  possession  of  Wilfrid's  bones 
as  an  argument  for  its  superiority  over  York — or  to  add  a 
feather  to  the  cap  of  some  notable  abbot,  no  ecclesiastic 
of  any  eminence  was  safe  in  his  grave.  Talk  of  dis- 
jecti  membra  poetcs !  Why  the  members  of  a  defunct 
saint,  after  being  once  removed  from  their  first  resting- 

1  Exhumed  1 104  in  the  presence  of  clothed  him  all  with  new  clothing, 
Simeon  of  Durham.  There  is  a  strange  and  took  from  him  his  old  clothes: 
narrative  in  an  Anglo-Saxon  charter  some  I  left  there,  and  some  I  have 
addressed  by  Eadwine  the  monk  to  here."  The  ivory  comb  and  silver  scis- 
jElfsige,  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  sors  found  in  tlie  saint's  coffin,  1104^ 
1015-1032.  "I  lay  within  my  cell  are  perhaps  further  evidence  of  the 
about  noon-tide,  when  St.  Cuthbert  good  monk's  method  of  gratifying  a 
appeared  to  me.  At  this  I  was  very  spiritual  freak  (Thorpe,  Diss.  A.,  p. 
blithe,  and  went  to  my  Abbot  ^If-  821).  It  does  not  exactly  appear 
wine  and  prayed  him  that  I  might  go  where  the  saint's  body  then  rested, 
north  to  the  saint.  But  Jilfwine,  Attended  by  a  chosen  few,  it  was  re- 
my  abbot,  refused.  On  this  I  took  my  moved  in  the  Danish  troubles  from 
own  counsel,  and  went  thither,  and  Lindisfarne,  and  performed  any 
Bishop  ^gelwiue  received  me  with  amount  of  peregrinations  before  it 
worship ;  and  God  and  the  saint  was  finally  enshrined  at  Durham, 
granted  me  that  I  washed  him,  and  See  the  published  account  of  its  re- 
combed  his  head  with  a  comb,  and  opening  by  Dr.  Raine. 
sheared  his   head   with   shears,    and 


ST.  EDMUND.  59 

place,  were,  as  we  know,  often  scattered  to  the  four  winds 
of  heaven,  to  be  gaped  at  and  applied  to  the  lips  as  if  they 
were  live  coals  from  the  altar  of  the  Eternal.  But  this 
relic-mongering  was  a  two-edged  tool :  witness  the  droll 
irony  of  Eldebert  the  heretic  from  Gaul,  who,  to  the  mighty 
confusion  of  Boniface,  gave  parings  of  his  nails  and  locks 
of  his  own  hair  to  the  Germans  to  adore  along  with  the 
correlative  relics  of  St.  Peter.  Shakespeare's  anathema, 
"  Cursed  be  he  that  moves  my  bones,"  ^  would  have  availed 
but  little  against  these  "  resurrection-men."  The  author  of 
that  extraordinary  Anglo-Saxon  fragment,  "  The  Grave," 
reckoned  without  his  host  when  he  sang  that  nobody  would 
care  to  look  into  the  dead  man's  grave.^ 

"  Thine  house  is  not  loftily  timbered, 
It  is  unhigh  and  low  wherein  thou  dost  lie  ; 
The  heel- walls  are  low,  the  side  walls  also, 
The  roof  it  is  built  full  nigh  to  the  breast. 
Thus  shalt  thou  dwell  in  mould  full  cold  ; 
Dimly  and  darkly  fouleth  the  hole, 
Doorless  the  house,  and  dark  within, 
Where  thou  art  caged,  and  Death  has  the  key. 
Loathly  is  the  earth-house,  grim  to  dwell  in. 
Where  thou  shalt  lodge,  shared  by  the  worms. 
Thus  art  thou  laid  ;  thy  friends  they  do  loathe  thee  ; 
Friends  none  hast  thou  that  will  fare  to  thee, 
That  ever  will  look  (and  see)  how  the  house  likes  thee, 
That  ever  will  undo  for  thee  the  door 
And  after  thee  descend  ;  for  soon  art  thou  loathly 
And  hateful  to  see,  for  soon  is  thy  head 

Of  locks  bereaved 

Of  thy  hair  all  the  fairness  is  gone. 

None  with  the  finger  will  clasp  it  or  stroke  it. 


Another  English  saint,  the  odour  of  whose  sanctity 
brought  much  gain  to  the  monastery  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds, 
named  after  liini,  was  Edmund,  son  of  King  Alcmund, 

1  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  the  purpose  of  deterring  possible  dis- 

sun,  this  kind  of  bugbear  among  the  turbers  of  the  tombs, 
rest.     In  a  graveyard  at  Athens,  dat-         "  Thorpe,  Analecta,  second  edition, 

ing   from   before   the  days   of  Sylla,  p.  153,  from  the  edge  of  a  Saxon  ho- 

similar  strong  anathemas  are  used  for  mily  book  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 


6o  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

who  ascended  the  tlirone  of  East  Anglia,  855,  being  then 
fourteen  years  old.  It  is  hard  to  say  which  stood  fore- 
most in  popuLar  veneration,  he,  or  St.  Cuthbert,  or 
St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury.  Thorpe  (Analecta,  p.  119) 
prints  a  homily  in  the  dialect  of  East  Anglia  detailing 
his  martyrdon).  It  is  founded  on  the  narrative  of  his 
sword-bearer,  who  witnessed  the  transaction.  Dunstan 
repeated  it  to  Abbo  of  Eleury,  who  wrote  a  Latin  account 
of  it  still  extant;  of  this  the  homily  is  a  translation. 
There  are  versions  of  it  extant  in  pure  Anglo-Saxon 
(Hardy,  526-538).!  The  Danes,  we  read,  tried  to  make 
the  captive  king  renounce  Christianity,  but  in  vain. 
Upon  this,  after  transfixing  him  with  spears  till  they 
looked  like  the  quills  of  the  porcupine  (yles  burstse),  they 
cut  off  his  head  and  hid  it  in  some  thick .  bramble  bushes. 
Some  time  after,  people  sent  in  quest  of  it  kept  crying 
out,  "  as  folks  are  wont  to  do  who  often  traverse  the 
woods,  'Where  art  thou  now,  my  mate?'  when  the 
head  answered,  '  Here,  here,  here  ! '  and  kept  doing  so  till 
the  searchers  came  to  the  call ;  when  lo  !  and  behold,  there 
was  a  grey  wolf  with  the  head  in  his  two  claws,  protect- 
ing it  from  the  wild  beasts,  and  not  daring  for  the  fear  of 
God,  though  he  was  hungry,  to  taste  of  it."  This  excellent 
wolf  followed  them  with  the  head  (we  presume  in  his 
mouth),  just  as  if  he  were  a  tame  beast,  till  they  came  to 
the  town,  when  he  turned  back  and  went  to  the  wood 
again.  The  head  was  at  once  applied  to  the  trunk,  which 
lay  in  the  church,  when,  marvellous  to  relate,  the  two 
joined  together  (just  like  the  toy  of  our  infancy  with  the 
loadstone  inside),  and  the  only  mark  of  the  decapitation 
was  something  like  a  silken  thread  passing  round  the 
neck ! 

St.  Swithin,  born  800,  died  863,  would  doubtless  have 

^  One  MS.  is  in  the  Public  Library  the  Bodleian.     Another  (Harl.  2278), 

at  Cambridge.     It  is  of  the  eleventh  ornamented    with    over    a    hundred 

or  twelfth    century,    and    given   by  limnings,  is  said  to  have   been  pre- 

Parker.     The  "Life  and  Acts  of  St.  sented  to  Henry  VL    by   the   poet 

Edmund,"  by  J.  Lydgate,  is  now  in  himself. 


ST.  SWITHIN  AND  ST.  NEOT:  6i 

dropped  out  of  all  popular  recollection  in  these  isles  but 
for  the  legend  connecting  him  with  the  weather.  But  he 
was  among  the  not  least  conspicuous  people  of  his  day  as 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  Chancellor  of  King  Alfred's  father, 
Ethelwulf,  and  probably  the  chaperon  of  the  youthful 
prince  on  his  first  visit  to  Pope  Leo  IV.  at  Eome,  853. 
A  number  of  Latin  Lives  crammed  with  his  miracles,  but 
at  the  same  time  throwing  light  on  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  age,  show  what  an  impression  he  made 
upon  the  folks  in  the  monasteries  (Hardy,  i.  pt.  2,  p.  513). 
One  life  in  hexameters,  3600  lines  long,  was  commended 
by  Leland  as  the  best  Latin  poetry  of  the  time  in 
England. 

But  what  is  more  to  our  purpose,  is  an  account  of 
the  saint  in  the  vernacular  in  a  folio  of  the  eleventh 
century,  Miracula  S.S.  Saxonice  (MS.  Cott.  Jul.  E.  vii.),i 
which  contains  forty-four  leaves  (Hardy). 

St.  Neot,  another  worthy  of  Alfred's  days,  is  said,  but 
on  very  suspicious  authority,  not  only  to  have  started 
the  original  idea  of  the  foundation  of  the  University  of 
Oxford,  but  to  have  himself  filled  a  professorial  chair 
there.  He  survives  to  us  in  several  Lives  full  of  legendary 
matter,  the  most  ancient  of  those  now  extant  being  a 
sketch  in  Anglo-Saxon  in  the  British  Museum  (Duffus 
Hardy,  p.  5  39).  It  is  printed  in  Gorham's  "  History  of 
Antiquities  of  Eynsbury  and  St.  Neots,"  and  was  pro- 
bably first  written  a.d.  986.  Born  in  the  early  part  of  the 
ninth  century,  St.  Neot  renounced  the  world  for  the  life 
of  a  monk.  His  fame  attracted  many  to  Glastonbury  to 
profit  by  his  instruction.  Averse  to  notoriety,  he  retired 
to  a  secluded  valley  in  Cornwall,  where  he  abode  for 
seven  years,  after  which  he  paid  seven  visits  to  Eome. 
By  the  advice  of  the  Pope  he  returned  to  Cornwall  to 
spread  the  gospel,  and  founded  a  monastery,  of  which  he 
became  abbot,  at  the  desolate  spot  where  the  Cornish  St. 

^  Three  leaves  of  tliis  Life  (from  another  defective  MS.  copied  from  a 
commou  source)  have  been  jjriuted  by  Professor  Earle. 


62  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

Neots  now  stands,  about  ten  miles  from  the  convent  of 
St.  Petroc  (Bodmin).  In  tliis  monastery  the  present  Life, 
which  omits  all  the  miracles  elsewhere  recorded  of  him, 
was  very  likely  read  as  a  homily.  Another  Life  dates 
from  after  the  Conquest.  It  attributes  many  miracles  to 
the  saint,  which  are  represented  in  the  ancient  stained- 
glass  windows  of  the  present  church.  His  daily  diet  was 
a  fish,  one  out  of  two  swimming  in  a  pool  close  at  hand, 
yet  there  was  always  a  miraculous  quorum  of  two  the 
next  day.  St.  Neot  being  sick,  his  over-ofiicious  attendant 
caught  two,  boiling  one  and  broiling  the  other.  The  saint, 
witli  much  presence  of  mind,  had  one  of  them  thrown 
back  into  the  water,  and  prayed  until  two  were  seen 
swimming  as  before.  The  deer  which,  on  his  oxen  being 
stolen,  drew  the  plough,  and  whose  descendants  bear  the 
mark  of  the  yoke  "  to  the  present  day ; "  his  remarkable 
feat  of  impounding  in  a  ring  of  moor  stones  those  obsti- 
nate crows  whom  he  had  to  "tent"  in  the  cornfield, — 
these  and  other  events  in  the  saint's  life  may  here  be 
seen  depicted. 

In  another  Life  it  is  recorded  that  some  time  after  his 
burial  the  saint  appeared  to  the  sacristan,  and  ordered 
him  to  remove  his  remains  elsewhere.  He  was  translated 
accordingly,  and  found  a  resting-place  at  the  other  place, 
called  after  him  St.  ISTeots,  in  Huntingdonshire.  The 
reader  can  believe  as  much  or  as  little  of  these  records 
as  he  pleases.  What  has  given  them  an  interest  not 
their  own  are  the  anecdotes  here  preserved,  true  or  not 
true,  of  King  Alfred.^ 

But  while  glancing  thus  rapidly  at  Anglo-Saxon  bio- 
graphical works,  we  must  not  omit  the  well-known 
biography  of  Alfred  {Gesta  Alfredi),  written,  with  now 
and  then  an  exception,  in  commonplace  Latin,  which  goes 

1  In  one  Life  of  St.  Neot  the  saint  who  appeared  to  the  King  and  aided 

is  seen  leading  the  forces  of  Alfred  to  liim  in  his  deliverance.     The  story  of 

battle.      According  to  Malniesbury  it  the  cakes  first  appeared  in  the  Life  of 

was  not  St.  Neot  but  St.  Cuthbert  St.  Neot. 


ASSER:  ST.  GUTHLAC.  63 

under  the  name  of  Asser,  the  Welshman,  Bishop  of  Sher- 
borne. The  German  school  generally  have  been  content 
to  accept  the  work  as  contemporary  and  authentic ;  and 
Alfred's  latest  biographer,  Pauli,  inclines  in  that  direction. 
While  the  book  is  believed  in  by  most  historical  critics, 
others  affirm  that  what  we  know  of  the  facts  of  Alfred's  life 
is  not  of  early  authority,  but  on  a  par  with  those  romances 
put  together  by  later  monkish  compilers,  such  as  even 
Bede,  with  all  his  wisdom,  was  content,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  retail  as  absolute  truth.  The  former  part,  they  assert, 
is  merely  a  translation  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle, 
and  the  latter  part,  containing  legendary  matter,  could  not 
have  been  written  in  Alfred's  time,  but  is  probably  the 
work  of  a  monk  who  collected  some  of  the  numerous 
traditions  about  Alfred  current  at  the  end  of  the  tenth 
century,  and  published  the  work  under  the  name  of  Asser. 
The  much-cherished  stories  of  his  mother  Osbursra,  the 
Jute,  having  enticed  him  to  read  by  the  promise  of  the 
old  illuminated  book  of  Saxon  ballads,^  or  the  burning 
of  the  cakes,^  &c.,  so  dear  to  Englishmen,  rest  on  the 
authority  of  Asser's  narrative. 

Lettered  East-Anglians  are  doubtless  well  acquainted 
with  Bede's  description  of  Ely  (iv.  19)  in  the  year  695, 
as  a  region  containing  about  six  hundred  families,  resem- 
bling an  island  surrounded  either  by  marshes  or  water, 
which  abound  in  eels,  and  whence  its  name.  "  ISTomen  ab 
anguilla  ducit  insula  nobilis  ilia."  But  for  an  admirable 
description  of  the  look  of  the  Fens  in  those  days  we  must 
refer  to  the  Life  of  St.  Guthlac,  the  hermit  of  Croyland, 
originally  wTiten  in  Latin  by  Felix  of  Croyland  about 
A.D.  730,  and  subsequently  translated  into  Anglo-Saxon  in 
the  tenth  century.  "  There  is  in  Britain  a  fen  of  immense 
size,  which  begins  from  the  river  Granta,  not  far  from  the 
city  which  is  named  Grantchester.  There  are  immense 
marshes,  now  a  black  pool  of  water,  now  foul  running 
streams,  and  also  many  islands,  and  reeds,  and  hillocks, 

^  Asser,  474,  480.  2  g^.  Neot's  Life. 


64  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

aud  thickets;  and  with  manifold  windings  wide  and  long 
it  continues  up  to  the  North  Sea.  When  the  aforesaid 
man,  Guthlac  of  blessed  memory,  found  out  this  unculti- 
vated spot  of  the  w^ild  wilderness,  he  was  comforted  with 
divine  support,  and  journeyed  forthwith  by  the  straightest 
way  thither.  And  when  he  came  there,  he  inquired  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  land  where  he  might  find  himself  a 
dwelling  in  the  waste.  Whereupon  they  told  him  many 
things  about  the  vastness  of  the  wilderness.  There  was 
a  man  named  Tatwine,  who  said  that  he  knew  an  island 
especially  obscure,  which  oft-times  many  men  had  at- 
tempted to  inhabit,  but  no  man  could  do  on  account  of 
manifold  horrors  and  fears,  and  the  loneliness  of  the  wide 
wilderness,  so  that  no  man  could  endure  it,  but  every  one 
on  this  account  had  fled  from  it.  When  the  holy  man 
Guthlac  heard  these  words,  he  bade  him  straightway  show 
him  the  place,  and  he  soon  did  so  :  he  embarked  in  a 
vessel,  and  they  went  both  through  the  rough  fens  (pa 
rugan  fennas)  till  they  came  to  the  spot  which  is  called 
Crowland ;  this  land  was  situated  in  the  midst  of  the 
waste  of  the  aforesaid  fen,  very  obscure,  and  very  few 
men  knew  of  it  but  the  man  who  showed  it  to  him,  as 
no  man  ever  could  inhabit  it  before  the  holy  man  Guthlac 
came  thither,  on  account  of  the  dwelling  of  the  accursed 
spirits  there."  ^ 

The  author's  skill  in  limning  is  attested  thus  by  an  old 
writer :  "  If  a  painter  would  pourtraite  devils,  let  him  paint 
them  in  his  colours  as  Felix  the  olde  monke  of  Crowland 
depainted  the  bugges  in  his  verses,  and  they  will  seem 
rifrht  hel-hounds."  It  would  be  curious  to  know  whether 
Hellfire  Breughel,  v/ho  lived  not  long  after  the  above  was 
written,  ever  saw  the  "  Vita  St.  Guthlaci "  printed  in  the 
"  Acta  Sanctorum  Ordinis  S.  Benedicti."  But  besides  the 
interest  attaching  to  this  picture  of  the  physical  features 
of  that  wild  district  in  those  days,  this  matter  of  the  evil 
spirits  has  very  probably  a  mythic  solution  of  even  greater 

1  St.  Guthlac,  by  Goodwin,  London,  1S48. 


THE  LEGEND  OF  WE  LAND.  65 

interest.^  The  marshy  river  whicli  ran  past  the  hermit's 
retreat  was  called  by  its  oldest  English  name,  '  Welandes 
Ea'  (in  Latin,  Aqua  de  Weland),  Weland's  river,  now  the 
river  Welland ;  the  vowel  having  been  corrupted  into  a 
short  one.  Here  then  we  find  localised  the  tale  of  the 
famous  smith  so  well  known  in  England,  and  which  King 
Alfred,  in  his  mistranslation  of  Boethius'  "  Consolations  of 
Philosophy,"  alludes  to."^  In  the  primitive  tradition  (the 
"  Lay  of  Volundr,"  in  the  old  Edda),  he  was  hamstrung 
and  "  set  on  a  holm."  This  island  prison  in  the  grand 
and  gloomy  old  poem  would  be  desolate  enough  with  this 
Northern  Prometheus  brooding  over  liis  wrongs,  "  with 
weariness,  and  pain,  and  winter-cold  for  his  companions."  ^ 
This  is  one  of  those  mythic  legends  which  had  taken  so 
fast  a  hold  on  the  vulgar  imagination  that  they  became 
attached,  not  to  one  spot,  but  to  several,  as,  indeed,  in 
their  origin  they  belonged  not  to  Scandinavia  merely,  but 
to  the  whole  Teutonic  race,"*  just  as  the  place  of  Siegfrid's 
slaying  w^as  pointed  out  in  Sweden,  in  Norway,  and  in 
Germany,  No  wonder  the  sapient  rustics  looked  on  such 
a  spot  as  the  abode  of  horrors  and  uninhabitable.  But  it 
was  precisely  the  place  for  a  person  of  Guthlac's  blessed 
stamp.  As  a  child  he  never  gave  the  least  trouble,  always 
did  what  he  was  bid,  took  no  pleasure  in  those  vain  things 
which  lads  generally  like,  such  as  idle  talk,  &c.  Nay, 
even  the  song  of  birds  had  no  charms  for  him.  Judges  of 
character  might  possibly,  on  hearing  this,  anticipate  that 
such  a  boy  would  not  have  fathered  so  good  a  man  as  we 
are  told  he  did.  The  feathered  tribe,  however,  did  not 
reciprocate  Guthlac's  aversion,  for  did  it  not  befall  one 
day  that  a  worthy  brother,  Wilfrid  by  name,  came  to 
visit  him,  and  while  they  were  comparing  their  spiritual 
experiences,  two  swallows  suddenly  flew  into  the  ancho- 


1  "  Two  Leaves  of  Bang  "Waldere's  ^  Deor  the  Scald,  1. 7  (Exeter  Book). 
Lay,"  by  Professor  G.  Stephens,  p.  *  Keysir,  "  Efterladte  Skrifter," 
41.     Copenliiigen,  i860.  152,  considers  Voluudr  to  be  a  per- 

-  Chap.  xix.  Bonification  of  craft  or  skill. 

E 


66 


OLD  EXCLISn  LITERATURE. 


rite's  abode,  settled  on  Lis  shoulders  after  the  manner  of 
Odin's  ravens — very  possibly  this  legend  is  an  adultera- 
tion from  the  Northern  mythology — commenced  singing, 
perched  familiarly  on  his  breast,  then  on  his  arms  and 
knees,  when  the  holy  man  at  once  cited  Scripture  to  prove 
that  he  who  leads  a  life  far  from  the  men  of  this  world, 
even  the  wild  animals  draw  nearer  to  him.^  (Vide 
"  Metrical  llistoiy  of  Guthlac") 


1  The  legendary  Irish  saints  often 
mention  their  familiarity  with  birds. 
When  a  flock  of  cranes  destroyed 
the  ci-ops  in  his  neighbourhood,  St. 
Ailbhe  sent  his  man  to  fetch  them, 
who  soon  returned  driving  the  birds 
before  him  like  a  flock  of  sheep. 
1'hat  night  they  were  penned  up  by 
the  saint ;  next  day  he  released  them 
with  his  blessing.  "  The  Voyage  of 
Brendanus "  abounds  with  marvel- 
lous bird-stories.      The  Lincolnshire 


antiquarian  will  call  to  mind  St. 
Hugh  and  his  jiet  birds,  from  the 
"  Burneta "  to  his  swan.  But  he 
was  no  Anglo-Saxon,  and  could  com- 
bine with  a  deeply  devotional  spirit 
a  love  for  the  inferior  animals. 

' '  He  prayeth  well  who  loveth  well 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast ;  " 

or  something  like  it,  must  have  been 
his  rule. 


(     67     ) 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    LETTERS    OF  ALDHELM,  BON  J  FACE,    AND    ALCUIN. 

The  private  correspondence  of  distinguished  men,  wher- 
ever to  be  had,  in  any  age  or  country,  is  sure  to  be  a  use- 
ful contribution  to  the  history  of  manners,  customs,  and 
ways  of  thinking.  Witness,  for  instance,  the  letters  of 
Cicero  and  Pliny  the  younger.  In  this  department  the 
Anglo-Saxons  are  not  to  seek.  But  here,  as  elsewhere, 
the  man  is  partly  tongue-tied.  Latin  supersedes  the  ver- 
nacular. He  writes,  thinks,  and  speaks  in  a  language  not 
his  own. 

Let  us,  as  earliest  in  point  of  time,  first  mention  Aid- 
helm,  said,  but  incorrectly,  to  have  been  a  nephew  of 
Ina,  king  of  the  West  Saxons.  His  Life  was  written  by 
William  of  Malmesbury,^  as  he  considered  Bede's  account 
of  him  did  not  do  him  justice.  He  was  born  about  656 
and  died  709.  In  his  early  years  he  was  a  disciple  of  the 
monk  Maildulf,  the  Scot,  who  opened  a  schopl  and  founded 
a  monastery  at  Bladunum,  afterwards  called  Maildulfs- 
bury,  the  modern  Malmsbury.  He  afterwards  went  to 
Canterbury,  where  he  was  taught  Greek  by  Archbishop 
Theodore  and  Adrian,  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's  monas- 
tery. On  the  death  of  Maildulf,  Aldhelm  was  made  Abbot 
of  Malmsbury  (675-705).  Numerous  pupils  flocked  to 
him,  not  only  from  Ireland  and  Scotland,  but  also  from 

1  Printed  in  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  ii.     See  "  Gesta  Pontificum,"  Rolls  Series. 


68  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Gaul.  He  was  a  man  of  lofty  stature,  and,  though  a  monk, 
fond  of  ladies'  society.  Four  years  before  his  death  he 
became  Bishop  of  Sherborne.  Whatever  his  antecedents 
may  have  been  in  early  days,  we  find  him  in  later  life  a 
firm  adlierent  of  the  Eomau  as  against  the  Scottish  rule, 
especially  as  regards  the  time  of  keeping  Easter  and  the 
fashion  of  the  tonsure.  Indeed,  he  was,  while,  abbot,  de- 
puted by  a  formal  synod  to  draw  up  an  epistle  on  this 
subject — called  by  Bede  "liber  egregius"  (v.  i8) — and 
wherein  he  combats  the  pestilent  doctrines  of  the  Scots 
and  forcibly  advocates  conformity.  The  document,  whicli 
may  be  founl  at  length  in  Jaffa's  "Monumenta  Mogun- 
tina,"  p.  24,  is  addressed  to  King  Geruntius  of  Cornwall 
and  the  clergy  of  Devon. 

Simon  Magus  and  his  connection  with  the  Scotch 
tonsure  of  course  figures  here  in  the  forefront.  He  next 
touches  on  the  schismatical  keeping  of  Easter,  which  he 
calls  a  yet  "  crudelior  animaruin  pernicies."  The  gulf 
that  separates  the  two  rival  communions  is  next  graphi- 
cally described.  He  has  heard  that  beyond  the  estuary 
of  the  Severn  there  are  priests  of  the  Demetai  (Cardigan- 
shire) pluming  themselves  on  their  own  personal  purity 
of  conversation,  and  holding  our  Church  in  great  abhor- 
rence. They  join  neither  in  the  prayers  of  our  Cliurch 
nor  in  our  communion ;  nay,  rather  tlian  partake,  they 
hurl  the  remnants  of  the  feast  of  charity  to  voracious 
dogs  and  unclean  pigs,  and  the  vessels  used  thereat  they 
purify  by  sand  or  ashes.  Neither  will  they  offer  the  kiss 
of  fraternal  charity;  and  if  any  of  the  Catholics  go  to  reside 
among  them,  tliey  refuse  to  associate  with  them  till  after 
they  have  undergone  a  forty  days'  penance.  No  doubt 
the  old  British  Church  had  a  deep-rooted  antipathy  to  the 
Saxons  and  everything  belonging  to  them.  But  Aldhelm's 
picture  was  perhaps  overdone.  Later  researches  seem  to 
refute  the  charge  brought  against  them  of  not  trying  to 
convert  their  Saxon  invaders.     It  was  only  shortly  before 


THE  LETTERS  OF  ALDHELM,  ETC.  69 

the  arrival  of  the  Italian  mission  that  Theonas,  Bishop  of 
London,  and  Thadioc,  Bishop  of  York,  fled  from  their 
Sees,  according  to  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  fable,  accepted 
bj  Eaiue.  By  this  energetic  remonstrance,  well  reasoned 
out  according  to  the  Eoman  view  of  the  matter,  Aldhelm 
won  over,  says  Bede,  many  Britons  subject  to  the  West 
Saxons  to  the  Catholic  celebration  of  Easter.  Thus  a 
Scot  (j\Ion.  Mogunt.,  34)  writes  to  Aldhelm  begging  to  be 
instructed  by  him  in  the  faith;  and  more  especially  is 
he  moved  to  do  this  because  "  Aldhelm  was  himself  at 
Ilome^  (a.d.  687-701),  and  was  brought  up  by  a  pious 
man  of  the  Scottish  race  (Maildulf),"  and  was  there- 
fore, of  course,  fully  acquainted  with  both  sides  of  the 
question. 

And  thus  by  unyielding  pertinacity  the  Pope  had  his 
will.  But  "  quantum  mutatus  ab  illo  Hectore."  How 
different  he  was  from  the  great  Gregory,  whose  special 
charire  to  Augustine  was,  "  Do  not  stickle  for  Eome  a  la 
mode.  The  customs  of  different  Churches  are  diverse. 
Select  from  each  Church  what  is  pious,  religious,  and  right" 
(Bede,  i.  27).  Little  by  little  the  primitive  British  Church, 
of  as  lofty  aims  and  high  endeavours,  as  pure  and  pious  as 
that  of  Eome,  succumbed.  The  current  of  controversy  sub- 
sided, or  rather  stagnated,  and  all  became  serene;  but  at  the 
same  time  surely  the  old  Church  lost  her  elasticity  and  much 
of  her  vigorous  life.  In  things  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  poli- 
tical, divergences  of  opinion  will  often  prevent  rot.  Look  at 
Spain  of  to-day,  with  her  boasted  unity  of  faith  and  absence, 
ai^ong  the  masses,  of  all  culture,  moral  and  intellectual,  to 
be  convinced  of  this.  Had  things  gone  otherwise,  and  had 
Eome  failed  to  reduce  all  England  to  her  own  dead  level, 
thus  engendering  an  atmosphere  fruitful  of  many  unwhole- 

^  While    there,    liis   chasuble   was  popular  odium,  and  post  hoc,  if  not 

one   day   suspended    on   a   sunbeam,  propter  hoc,   obtained  a  Papal   EuU 

]'.y  assisting  at  a  miracle  he  rescued  conferring  privileges   on   bis  beloved 

I'ope  Sergius  I.  from  an  outburst  of  Malniesbury.     Ibid.,  p.  370. 


70  OLD  ENGLISH  IJTERA  TURK. 

some  abominations,  the  great  cleansing  out  of  a  later  age 
might  perhaps  never  have  been  wanted.  England  would 
not  liave  enjoyed  the  homely  wit  of  AVilliam  Langlaud, 
the  politer  sarcasm  of  Chaucer,  or  the  fearless  invective  of 
Wycliffe,  expressions  of  the  national  consciousness,  diverse 
indeed  in  method,  but  one  in  end  and  aim — the  downfall 
of  sacerdotalism.  So  that,  after  all,  the  alien  pressure  of 
Itonie  was  a  blessing  in  disguise — a  blessing  which  tarried 
long,  but  came  at  last.  It  lent  the  Anglo-Saxon  genius 
a  force  which  he  needed.  "Merses  profundo  pulchrior 
evenit."  But  we  are  losing  sight  of  Aldhelm  as  an 
author.  His  biographer  tells  us  that  amid  his  graver 
studies  he  did  not  neglect  verse ;  and  that,  citing  Alfred 
as  his  authority  for  it,  nobody  of  his  day  in  England  was 
his  match  in  writing  English  poetry,  and  a  song  of  his 
was  still  sung  in  Malmesbury's  time,  four  hundred  years 
after  his  death,  in  the  streets  of  England  —  Carvien 
triviale. 

The  rational  excuse  for  so  great  a  man — the  author, 
moreover,  of  a  poem,  "  De  Laudibus  Virginitatis,"  in  imita- 
tion of  Sedulius,^  that  poet  of  world-wide  celebrity — in- 
dulging in  such  "  trivialities,"  was  that  he  endeavoured 
thereby  to  catch  the  ear,  and  so  gradually  to  obtain  a 
hearing  for  his  doctrines  among  the  semi-barbarous  Saxons. 
Indeed  Malmesbury  (Gesta  Pontificum,  p.  281)  relates  the 
very  interesting  anecdote  that  Aldhelm  used  after  service 
to  fix  himself  on  a  bridge  just  in  the  way  of  the  country- 
people,  and  begin  singing  ballads  familiar  to  their  ears, 
gradually  gliding  into  hymns  :  "  inter  ludicra  verbis  scrip- 
ture insertis."  It  has  been  generally  supposed  that  all  he 
composed  in  the  vernacular  had  vanished.  Jacob  Grimm, 
liowever,  has  started  the  conjecture,  upholding  it  by  cogent 
reasoning,  that  the  noble  Anglo-Saxon  poem,  "  Andreas," 
which  teems  with  real  poetry — Christian  in  name  and 
outward  form,  but  savouring  much  of  the  old  pagan  ballad 
— is  the  genuine  work  of  Aldhelm,  and  that  he  wrote  it  at 

^  Bede,  V.  18. 


THE  LETTERS  OF  ALDHELM,  ETC.  71 

the  instance  of  Ine  and  liis  queen,  ^delburg  (Andreas,  IL). 
Others,  perhaps  with  more  probability,  contend  for  Cyne- 
wulf  as  its  author.  A  metrical  paraphrase  of  Psalms 
51-150  (ed.  Thorpe,  Oxon.  1835)  has  also  been  ascribed  to 
Aldhelm. 

It  only  remains  to  mention  that  many  miracles  were 
wrought  at  his  sumptuously-jewelled  tomb  at  Malmes- 
bury.  Numerous  pilgrims  resorted  thither  on  his  festival 
day,  to  the  no  small  gain  of  the  inhabitants.  But  by  the 
end  of  the  eleventh  century  the  spell  began  to  flag.  The 
augurs  smiled,  or  rather  the  proletariat  mobbed  the  devo- 
tees, and  grinned  forth  bits  of  low  wit  (ibid.,  438). 

Another  letter-writer  was  Boniface,  otherwise  Wynfrid, 
born  A.D.  670.  Commissioned  by  Gregory  II.i  to  convert 
the  Pagans,  he  became  Archbishop  of  Mayence,  an  office 
which  he  held  for  thirty-six  years,  and  was  murdered  at 
Dockum  by  Pagan  Frisians,  755,  an  event  which  cut  all 
Christian  England  to  the  heart.  He  was  the  greatest,  if 
not  the  first  in  point  of  time,  of  that  long  line  of  English 
missionaries,  ending  in  Grimkel,^  Bishop  of  Trondjem,  the 
right-hand  man  of  St.  Olaf,  who,  starting  with  Friesland, 
carried  the  light  of  Christianity  southwards  through  Ger- 
many to  the  confines  of  Italy,  and  northwards  through 
Denmark  to  beyond  the  Malar  Lake  and  the  Bay  of 
Trondjem.  We  have  the  excellent  Daniel,  Bishop  of 
WintoUj^  bidding  Boniface  God-speed,  and  giving  him 
curious  hints  how  to  go  to  work  with  the  Pagan  Saxons 
in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel ;  e.g.,  "  If  they  say  this 
world  never  had  a  beginning,  but  existed  from  ever- 
lasting, ask  them  who  governed  it  before  the  gods  were 
born,  and  how  could  they  subject   it  to   their  dominion 

1    Monumenta    Moguntina,    p.    62  2  "writhout  doubt  he  was  consecrated 

(Jaffo:  Berlin,  1866).    Bishop  Grandi-  bishop  in  England.    Adam  of  Bremen 

son,    temp.     Edward    III.,    in     his  mentions   the   fact   that    he    accom- 

"LegenJa,"  states  that  he  was  a  native  pauied  Olaf  to  Norway  (Keyser). 

of  Crediton.     But  there  is  no  earlier  ^  Monumeuta  Moguntina,  p.  72. 
authority  for  this. 


12  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

when  it  subsisted  before  them  from  everlasting.  How 
was  the  first  god  or  goddess  born  ?  do  they  still  go  on 
breeding?  If  they  don't,  when  did  they  cease  to  do 
so,  and  why  ?  If  they  still  generate,  the  number  of 
gods  must  be  infinite.  Again,  are  these  gods  to  be  wor- 
shipped for  the  sake  of  temporal  or  eternal  prosperity  ? 
If  they  say  temporal,  then  ask  them  in  what  respect  the 
pagans  are  better  off  in  temporals  than  the  Christians  ? 
Now,  if  the  gods  are  omnipotent  and  just,  they  will  not 
only  reward  those  who  worship  them,  but  j:funish  those 
w^ho  contemn  them.  Why,  then,  don't  they  punish  the 
Christians,  who  are  throwing  down  idols  and  seducing 
people  from  their  worship  all  the  world  over  ?  Instead  of 
this,  the  Christians  possess  vineyards  and  oliveyards,  and 
leave  to  the  pagans  and  their  gods  nothing  but  regions  of 
cold  and  barrenness.  Along  with  these  arguments,  we 
must  deliver  little  delicate  side-thrusts  at  their  supersti- 
tions as  compared  with  the  Christian  dogmas ;  but  with 
the  utmost  blandness,  so  as  to  confound  rather  than  irri- 
tate them."  Then  we  have  Boniface  taking  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  Pope  Leo  (a.d.  722),  and  imprecating  on  him- 
self the  doom  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  if  he  in  any  way 
breaks  it.^  We  have  Gregory  II.  commending  Boniface 
to  Charles  Alartel,  the  saviour  of  Europe  from  the  Saracens, 
as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  to  the  people  of  Germany  and 
the  nations  east  of  the  Ehine.  Amidst  these  grave  and 
anxious  occupations  the  missionary  keeps  up  a  regular 
correspondence  with  female  friends  at  home  and  abroad. 
One  lady,  an  abbess,  he  tries  to  dissuade  from  her  fancy 
of  going  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Eome.  Leobgitha  inflicts  upon 
him  some  Latin  hexameters  of  her  own  composition.  His 
great  skill  in  the  laws  of  metre,  attested  by  a  pupil  of  his,^ 
doubtless  led  her  to  invite  his  criticism.  To  Eadburga, 
Abbess  of  Thanet,  who  has  consoled  him  with  many  gifts, 
he  prefers  the  request  that  she  will  copy  out  for  him  the 

^  Monumenta  Moguntina,  p.  76.  2  Y\i\A.,  p.  242. 


THE  LETTERS  OF  ALDHELM,  ETC.  73 

Epistles  of  St.  Peter,  written  in  letters  of  gold.^  Possibly 
she  used  for  this  purpose  the  gold  pen  which  LuUus  the 
deacon  had  sent  her.^  The  spiritual  confidences,  by  the 
by,  of  exalted  ladies  must  at  times  have  been  somewhat 
puzzling  to  him ;  e.g.,  that  effusive  epistle  of  Egburg  (M. 
M.,  63).  In  the  midst  of  her  desolation,  the  love  of  him 
is  as  a  flavour  of  honeyed  sweetness  in  her  bowels  ; 
though  defrauded  of  the  bodily  sight  of  him,  she  con- 
tinually clasps  his  neck  with  sisterly  embraces.  She  pre- 
fers him  to  all  of  the  male  sex.  Not  so  much  does  the 
shipwrecked  mariner  long  for  port  or  the  parched  fields  for 
the  showers  as  she  does  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  her  Wynfrid. 
The  new  missionary,  like  Augustine  in  England,  finds 
himself  confronted  with  various  difficulties  in  his  ministry 
among  the  Saxons  and  Thuringians,  and  propounds  to 
the  Pope  a  string  of  knotty  questions.  Some  of  them 
have  already  been  baptized  by  Pagans,  or  they  don't 
know  whether  they  have  already  been  baptized  or  no. 
In  such  cases  what  was  to  be  done  ?  The  answer  is, 
"  Baptize  them."  ^  Again,  as  to  eating  horse-flesh.  This 
his  Holiness  pronounces  to  be  impure  and  execrable. 
He  had  no  easy  work  of  it,  for  later  on  (a.d.  746)  he  is 
taken  to  task  by  the  Pope  for  re-baptizing  some  persons 
whom  a  priest,  ignorant  of  Latin,  had  baptized  in  nomine 
Patria  instead  of  in  nomine  Fatris.  Also,  if  any  one  has 
slain  his  mother,  brother,  or  sister,  he  is  not  permitted  to 
receive  the  body  of  our  Lord,  except  as  a  viaticum  on  his 
decease.*  A  letter  of  Pope  Gregory  III.,  circa  y^?>,  to  the 
bishops  of  Bavaria,^  shows  him  to  be  sorely  exercised  by 
the  advent  in  those  parts  of  Britons  whom  he  classes  with 
"  false  heretics."  These  were  very  likely  the  Irish  mission- 
aries, with  the  wrong  Easter  and  diabolic  tonsure — the 
gnat  magnified  by  Eome  into  a  very  camel — though  some 
of  these  Scots,  as  Sampson,  were  really  unsound  in  matters 

1   Monumcnta    Moguntina,    p.    99.         -  Ibid.,  p.  214.         *  Ibid.,  p.  93. 
Headers  will  think  of  the  "Codex  Ar-         •*  Ibid.,  p.  93.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  103. 

gcnteus"  and  the  "Codex  Aureus." 


74  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

of  graver  import.^  We  have  (p.  107)  Boniface,  servant  of 
the  Apostolic  See,  asking  all  England  to  pray  for  the 
conversion  of  the  Saxons.  Much,  indeed,  did  he  require 
support,  for  he  was  withstood,  not  only  by  the  Pagans, 
but  by  those  of  his  own  household ;  for,  as  we  find  in 
a  letter  from  Pope  Zacharias,  a.d.  744,  one  Aldebert,  a 
priest  of  not  very  correct  life,  had  ventured  to  put  up 
crosses  and  oratories  in  the  fields  for  the  people  to  worship 
at  instead  of  the  public  churches.  "  Small  blame  to  him!" 
Whitfield  would  perhaps  have  said.  But  he  did  not  stop 
here.  He  had  his  nails  and  hair  reserved  for  worship 
along  with  St.  Peter's  relics.  Luther  would  have  cried 
"  Bravo  !  "  Further,  this  schismatic  consecrated  churches 
and  invoked  eight  angels,  or  rather  demons,  in  his  prayers 
— Uriel,  Eaguel,  Tubuel,  Michael,  Adinus,  Tubuas,  Sabaoc, 
Simiel  (=  Samiel,  who  is  so  prominent  in  Weber's  opera 
of  "  Der  Preischiitz  ") — whereas  the  Church  only  knew  of 
three,  Michael,  Gabriel,  and  Kaphael. 

Another  priest,  Clement,  had  a  concubine  and  two 
daughters  by  her,  and  still  claimed  to  be  a  priest ;  hold- 
ing this  to  be  according  to  the  Old  Testament,  which 
said  it  was  lawful  for  a  man  to  marry  the  wife  of  his  de- 
ceased brother."  But  the  chief  dead  fly  in  the  pot  of  oint- 
ment to  Roman  nostrils  was  his  doctrine  that  Christ,  when 
He  descended  into  hell,  liberated  all,  thus  abolishing  pur- 
gatory—  Rome's  special  rotten  borough.  Boniface  had 
put  both  of  them  in  prison.  His  Holiness  praises  the  step 
he  has  taken,  and  the  two  heretics  are  afterwards  solemnly 
condemned,  excommunicated, and  anathematised  by  a  synod 
of  twenty-five  bishops  at  Rome. 

Not  the  least  interesting  in  the  collection  is  a  Latin 
letter  by  one  of  Bede's  disciples,  Abbot  Gutberct,  of  Wear- 
mouth  and  Jarrow,  to  Archbishop  Lullus  of  Mayence 
(Mon.  Mogunt.,  p.  300).  Herewith  he  sends  the  prose  and 
verse  books  on  Cuthbert  by  Bede.  It  had  been  so  dread- 
fully cold  this  winter  that  the  copyist  could  not  write 

1  Monumenta  Moguntina,  p.  189.  ^  ibid.,  p.  133. 


THE  LETTERS  OF  ALDHELM^  ETC.  75 

more  just  now.  At  the  same  time  he  thanks  the  Arch- 
bishop for  a  piece  of  silk  sent  by  him  to  enwrap  the  re- 
mains of  Bede,  apparently  as  a  return  for  a  present  of 
twenty  knives  and  another  skin  gown,  sent  by  him  to  the 
Northumbrian  six  years  before.  "  All  the  race  of  Angles," 
he  continues,  "  ought  to  thank  God  for  giving  the  nation  a 
man  so  wonderful,  so  endowed  with  various  gifts,  so  moral 
as  Bede."  The  love  of  this  worthy  abbot  for  his  monas- 
tery comes  out  in  the  letter.  The  Archbishop  had  sent  the 
old  man  a  piece  of  thick  stuff  to  keep  out  the  cold,  but  he 
won't  have  it,  not  he.  He  has  given  it  to  clothe  the  altar 
of  St.  Paul  at  Jarrow,  under  whose  protection  he  has  lived 
forty-six  years.  He  also  begs  the  Archbishop  to  look  out 
for  a  man  skilled  iu  making  glass  vessels;  and  to  send  him, 
at  the  same  time,  a  citharista,  to  play  on  '  the  rote.'  ^  He 
has  a  rote,  but  not  an  artist.  Had  the  workmen  brought 
from  France  by  Benedict  Biscop,  6^6,  left  no  successors  in 
their  craft  ? 

Not  the  least  interesting  of  the  letters  is  one  written 
about  747  to  King  Ethelbald  of  Mercia,  warning  him  to 
reform  the  dissolute  morals  of  England,  if  he  w^ould  not 
have  such  a  judgment  overtake  him  as  had  fallen  on  the 
Spaniards  and  Burgundians  through  the  Saracenic  inva- 
sion. In  Old  Saxony,  he  says,  a  girl  who  breaks  the  law 
of  chastity  is  compelled  to  hang  herself,  and  is  then  burnt. 
Sometimes  an  army  of  women  assembles  and  flogs  her 
through  the  villages,  and,  tearing  off  her  garments  to  the 
waist,  punctures  her  body  with  their  knives,  a  fresh  band 
of  flagellants  ever  reinforcing  each  other  till  they  leave 
her  for  dead.  Even  the  Wends,  the  foulest  and  worst  of 
races,  set  so  much  store  by  marriage,  that  a  woman  whose 
husband  dies  refuses  to  survive  him,  and  is  burnt  on  the 
same  pile  as  her  husband. 

Wlrile  busy  in  Germany,  Boniface  ever  kept  a  watchful 
eye  on  the  state  of  the  English  Church.  How  matters 
fared  there  is  clear  from  his  letter  to  Archbishop  Cuthbert 

1  For  a  description  of  the  rote,  see  O'Currj's  "  Mauners  and  Customs  of 
Ireland." 


76  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

of  Canterbury,  a.d.  748.  With  a  passage  from  it,  especially 
interesting  to  Englislimcn,  we  will  close  tliis  notice : — "  I 
hear  that  in  England  drunkenness  is  a  vice  of  only  too 
common  occurrence ;  and  the  bishops  not  only  do  not  pro- 
hibit it,  but  get  drunk  themselves,  and  make  others  drunk 
by  pressing  big  bowls  upon  them.  ...  A  vice  this  is 
which  is  a  specialty  of  Pagans  and  of  Englishmen,  neither 
Eranks,  nor  Gauls,  nor  Lombards,  nor  Romans,  nor  Greeks 
being  addicted  to  it"  (Monuni.  Mogunt.,  p.  210). 

As  the  chief  object  of  this  work  is  to  give  extracts 
from  Anglo-Saxon  works,  Alcuin,  albeit  pronounced  by 
Malmesbury  to  be,  after  Bede  and  Aldhelm,  the  most 
learned  of  Englishmen,  would,  strictly  speaking,  have  no 
place  here,  for  nothing  of  his  in  the  vernacular  survives. 
But  he  tilled  in  his  day  far  too  great  a  place  in  the  public 
eye,  not  only  of  England,  but  of  the  continent  of  Europe, 
to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  Born  at  York,  of  noble 
family,  about  735,  the  year  in  which  Bede  died,  he  was 
brought  up  there  by  the  monks  (Monumenta  Alcui- 
niana,  ed.  Jaffe,  p.  249),  and  in  due  time,  on  the  retire- 
ment of  Archbishop  Albert,  was  intrusted  by  him  with 
the  care  of  the  school  and  library.  His  poem  in  Latin 
hexameters,  some  1700  lines  long,  entitled  "Versus  de 
Sanctis  Eboracensis  Ecclesi?e,"  and  first  rightly  ascribed 
to  Alcuin  by  Gale,  places  before  us  those  great  luminaries 
of  religion  and  learning  in  the  North  of  England,  together 
with  glimpses  of  the  localities  adorned  by  their  presence, 
while  at  the  same  time  we  learn  some  particulars  about 
the  writer.  Alcuin  also  wrote  a  Latin  history  of  St. 
Wilibrord,  the  first  Apostle  of  Friesland  (died  738).  But 
it  is  in  his  correspondence,  amounting  to  more  than  three 
hundred  letters,^  that  we  get  a  picture  of  the  man  and  his 
age.  Very  interesting  are  these  letters  on  many  accounts. 
The  man  of  taste,  the  polite  scholar,  the  schoolmaster, 
as  contradistinguished  from  those  pioneers  of  Christianity 

1  Edited  by  Canisius,  1601,  Quercetanus,  1617,  Mabillon,  1685,  Frobenius, 
1777,  and  best  by  Jaffe,  with  his  poem  and  Life  of  Willibrord,  "Monumenta 
Alcuiniana,"  Berlin,  1873. 


THE  LETTERS  OF  ALDHELM,  ETC.  -j-j 

in  Germany,  the  missionaries,  in  whose  wake  lie  followed, 
the  preceptor  of  Charlemagne  and  counsellor  in  his 
efforts  to  civilise  his  subjects  here  appears  before  us. 
The  fights  of  the  Western  warriors  with  the  Saracens, 
Charlemagne's  expeditions  against  the  Frisians,  Saxons, 
and  warlike  Huns  (Avari),  who  in  788  had  burst  into 
Italy  and  Bavaria,^  appear  upon  the  canvas. 

Alcuin  had  been  dispatched  by  Archbishop  Eanbald, 
the  successor  of  Albert,  to  Eome  (Vita,  p.  17).  On  his 
return  he  met  Charles,  the  greatest  monarch  of  his  age, 
at  Parma,  a.d.  781,  who  begged  him  to  return  to  France 
on  the  completion  of  his  mission.  Well  aware  of  his 
own  educational  deficiencies  and  the  ignorance  of  his 
subjects,  Charles's  discerning  mind  saw  that  here  was 
the  very  man  of  whom  he  stood  in  need,  and  invited 
him  to  leave  England  and  become  his  minister  of  public 
education,  giving  him  at  the  same  time  two  abbeys  as  a 
retaining  fee.  Alcuin,  having  obtained  the  permission 
to  do  this  from  his  superiors  in  England,  ecclesiastical 
and  civil,  where  he  remained  for  a  season,  accepted  the 
offer,  and  eventually  became  head  of  the  monastery  of 
Tours,  A.D.  796,  and  factotum  of  the  great  emperor, 
leaving  a  gap  in  England  not  to  be  filled  up,  and  this 
in  spite  of  his  friends'  entreaties  to  him  to  return.^  See 
his  letter  to  Offa,  King  of  Mercia  (Jaffu,  p.  290).  And 
one  can  hardly  wonder  at  the  step  he  took  when  one 
considers  the  insecure  state  of  his  country  in  those  days, 
and  the  comparative  quiet  to  be  enjoyed  at  the  court  of  the 
triumphant  emperor.     But  though  armed  with  great  autho- 

1  His  ultimate  victory  over  these  Bede,  that  most  learned  presbyter, 
people  was  by  no  means  a  barren  one.  who,  after  Gregory,  was  the  most  skil- 
Tlie  treasure  brouc;ht  to  Aquisgranuin  ful  commentator  on  the  Scriptures. 
(Aix-la-Chapelle)  on  the  occasion,  cou-  — Monumcnta  Carolina,  632.  Again, 
sisting  of  gold,  silver,  aud  silk,  filled  Notker  Teutonicus,  the  chief  repre- 
fifteen  waggons.  sentative  of  theological  and  classical 

2  The  monk  of  St.  Gall  says,  "Alcuin  learning  in  Germany  in  tlie  tenth  ceu- 
came  to  Charlemagne,  who  received  tury,  speaks  of  Alcuin  as  without  a 
him  willingly.  He  was  accomplished  rival  in  profane  and  sacred  lore,  while 
in  all  the  Scriptures  above  men  of  as  a  grammarian  he  left  Donatus  and 
modern  times,  as  being  a  disciple  of  Priscian  far  behiud.— i/cr^e,  132. 


yS  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

rity,  he  essentially  continued  to  be  what  ho  was  by  nature 
— a  gentleman.  His  lofty  altitude  did  not  induce  glaciation. 
The  way  in  which  he  keeps  up  old  friendships  with  those 
whom  he  outstripped  in  the  race  of  life  proclaims  him 
clearly  to  have  had  nought  of  one  main  feature  of  your 
'  creeping  climber '  in  his  composition.  There  M^as  an  abid- 
ing vein  of  kindly  humour  in  the  man  which  ever  and  anon 
«rops  up.  Sallies  of  wit  and  shrewd  common  sense  break 
through  the  stiff  rampart  of  erudition,  and  a  fountain  of  sen- 
sibility and  affection  wells  up  from  under  the  dead  weight  of 
court  etiquette  and  sacerdotal  gravity.  In  his  familiar 
correspondence  he  delights  to  assume  the  nom.  de  plume  of 
'Flaccus,'  or  Tlaccus  Albinus '  (p.  199),  w^hile  the  great 
personages  his  correspondents  must  perforce  unbend  and 
submit  to  be  styled  by  some  fanciful  sobriquet.  He 
feels  he  can  get  at  their  hearts  better  when  he  does  this. 
Thus  Charlemagne  appears  as  '  his  most  sweet  David ; ' 
Bishop  Higbald  is  Speratus ;  Eiculf,  Archbishop  of  May- 
ence,i  becomes  the  '  pastoral  swain,'  Damoetas ;  his  pupil, 
Hrabanus,  head  of  the  seminary  at  Fulda,  is  Maurus; 
and  his  exceedingly  dear  friend  Arno,  Bishop  of  Salzburg, 
Aquila,  '  most  beloved  bird  of  all  birds  on  alpine  heights,' 
while  Alcuin  subscribes  himself  with  due  humility  as 
'the  anser  with  strident  voice'  (ibid.,  445)  Gundrada, 
sister  of  the  Abbot  of  Corvey,  is  Eulalia  (Jaffe,  685),  and 
the  Abbess  ^dilberga,  daughter  of  Offa,  King  of  Mercia, 
whom  he  bids  soar  to  heaven  on  wings  of  charity  and 
chastity,  is  transformed  into  Eugenia. 

1  An   interchange    of    presents    is  conundrum  :  a  beast  had  entered  his 

continually  going  on  between  Alcuin  doors   having   two   heads   and   sixty 

and  his  male  and  female  correspon-  teeth,  and  yet  he  was  not  alarmed, 

dents  —  charming    courtesies    which  but  pleased  at  its  appearance,  for  it  is 

do  credit  to   all   concerned.     Some-  not  of  elephantine  size  but  of  Ebur- 

times  the  reception  of  such  a  proof  nean  beauty.    Cf.  his  facetious  verses 

of  affection  leads  Alcuin  to  perpetrate  to  one  Cuculus,  p.  237.     The  Anglo- 

a  joke.     Thus  DamcBtas  sends  him  a  Saxons    were   fond   of   riddles.     See 

comb   of  ivory,    a  novelty  in   those  those   by   Cynewulf    in    the   Exeter 

days,   though   bone  combs  were  not  Book,   whicli  are  full  of   grace  and 

rare    in    prehistoric  times.      In   his  true  poetry. 
letter  of  thanks  he  encloses  a  poetical 


THE  LETTERS  OF  ALDHELM,  ETC.  79 

But  though  his  hands  were  doubtless  pretty  full  of 
Charles's  affairs,  secular  and  spiritual,  it  is  clear  that  the 
old  haunts  of  his  youth  in  Northumbria  always  held  a 
warm  place  in  his  heart,  and  that  he  never  ceased  to  be 
anxious  for  the  spiritual  wellbeing  of  the  Church.  His 
letters  to  Bishop  Higbald  and  the  monks  of  Lindisfarne, 
who  had  escaped  massacre  when  the  Danes  had  murdered 
many  of  the  brethren  and  despoiled  and  profaned  the 
monastery  of  St.  Cuthbert,  a  place  more  venerable  than 
any  in  Britain,  are  among  the  best  known.  He  condoles 
with  them  in  their  distress,  but  bids  them  beware  of 
drunkenness,  and  gormandising,  and  avarice.  "  Besides," 
adds  he,  "  you  are  not  the  only  sufferers.  Almost  all 
Europe  has  been  devastated  by  the  Huns  and  Goths  with 
fire  and  sword,^  but  the  Holy  Church  shines  like  a  star." 
He  gives  them,  too,  a  piece  of  practical  advice,  viz., 
to  make  interest  with  Charlemagne  about  getting  the 
captives  ransomed  from  the  heathen.  The  monks  of 
Wearmouth  and  Jarrow,  where  the  great  Bede  had  lived 
and  died,  are  also  bid  by  him  to  take  warning  from  the 
fate  of  St.  Cuthbert's  Church.  "Mind  and  observe  a 
regular  life,  such  as  Benedict  (died  703)  and  Ceolfrid  pre- 
scribed for  you.  Often  read  over  the  rule  of  Benedict, 
and  explain  it  in  Anglo-Saxon  (JafFe,  p.  198).  You  live 
on  the  coast  which  is  exposed  to  the  first  assaults  of  the 
desolating  plague.  Amend  your  ways.  The  words  of  the 
prophet  (Jer.  i.  14)  have  been  fulfilled,  'Out  of  the  north 
all  ills  break  forth.'  Imitate  Bede,  who  was  so  studious 
and  renowned  while  on  earth,  and  now  also  in  heaven. 
Let  the  youths  attend  to  the  praises  of  the  Heavenly  King, 
not  dig  foxes  out  of  their  burrows  or  pursue  the  winding 
mazes  of  hares."  So  he  writes  to  Hechstane  the  presbyter, 
"  When  the  soul  is  hurried  to  judgment,  what  will  drunken- 
ness, carnal  luxury,  pomp  of  vestments,  rings  on  fingers, 
gold  in  purse,  profit  you?"  But  Alcuin  flew  at  higher 
game  than  lowly  monks.     JEthelved,  King  of  Northumber- 

^Mon.  Alcuin.,  p.  190,  Jaflfe.     Cf.  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  A.D.  793. 


So  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Luul,  and  liis  great  men  are  exhorted  {i.e.,  well  wig^ed) 
about  the  paramount  duty  of  a  virtuous  life  in  face  of 
recent  calamities  (ibid.,  i  So),  such  as  have  never  occurred  to 
Britain  for  350  years.  From  the  king  downward  the  land 
has  been  full  of  heinous  sins  since  the  days  of  ^If  wald  ; 
adultery,  avarice,  rapine,  wrested  justice.  Think  too  of 
your  luxurious  habits  and  the  way  in  which  you  imitate 
the  pagans  in  tlie  tonsure  of  the  beard  and  hair !  Obey 
the  priests  of  God.  It  was  clearly  a  judgment  of  Heaven. 
That  shower  of  blood  which  fell  in  the  preceding  Lent  on 
the  roof  of  St.  Peter's  Church  at  York  was  clearly  a 
presage  of  what  was  to  befall  (ibid.,  182).  Specially  does  he 
warn  Bishop  Higbald,  in  a  letter  written  after  June  793, 
to  indulge  in  sobriety,  not  inebriety ;  his  apparel  suited  to 
his  grade  and  not  conformed  to  the  vanity  of  the  age. 
Better  to  adorn  his  soul  with  good  manners,  than  pamper 
his  poor  body.  It  is  this  same  Bishop  whom  he  urges 
four  years  later  to  let  the  words  of  God  be  heard  at  the 
table,  not  a  citharista ;  sermons  of  the  fathers,  and  not 
carmina  gentilium  ;  for  what  has  Ingald  (mythic  hero,  see 
Beowulf)  to  do  with  Christianity  ?  The  Northern  monks, 
we  see,  could  not  refrain  from  passing  round  the  old 
national  ballad  after  their  dinner,  and  smaU  blame  to 
them.  Alcuin's  words  must  indeed  have  been  a  power  in 
England  when  he  could  write  to  ^thelhard,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  '  Esto  pater,  non  mercenarius,  rector,  non 
subversor.'  And  he  goes  on  (Jaffe,  p.  206), '  Gildas  tells  us 
how  the  Britons  lost  their  country  through  the  avarice  and 
rapine  of  the  chiefs,  the  injustice  of  the  judges,  the  sloth 
of  the  bishops,  and  the  luxury  and  immorality  of  the 
people.  Again  he  warns  Eanbald  the  Second  on  his  becom- 
ing Archbishop  of  York  (331)  to  avoid  the  pomp  of  the  age, 
luxury  of  food,  variety  of  vestments,  not  to  keep  company 
with  drunkards :  his  companions  must  not  pursue  the  fox 
over  the  plain,  but  ride  along  with  him  singing  psalms  in 
sweet  modulation.  And  (338)  he  urges  this  prelate  to 
have  always  by  him  Gregory's  "Pastoral  Care,"  for  it  is  a 


THE  LETTERS  OF  ALDHELM,  ETC.  8i 

mirror  of  pontifical  life,  and  an  antidote  to  the  wounds 
inflicted  by  the  devil.  Well  might  Alcnin  speak  thus 
plainly,  for,  as  he  says  (373),  the  servants  of  God  in  the 
monasteries  live  like  laymen  and  not  like  monks.  The 
pill  administered  to  the  prelate  must  doubtless  have  been 
hard  to  swallow,  but  Alcuin  gilded  it  by  getting  him  the 
honour  of  the  pallium  from  Pope  Leo  III.,  the  consecrated 
lamb's- wool  symbol  of  submission  to  Eome  (ibid.,  3  5  8).  Of 
course  the  hat  went  round  in  England  on  these  occasions. 
Sometimes  the  king  or  the  people  could  not  see  it.  Thus 
Coeuulf,  King  of  the  Mercians,  sent  this  same  Pope  only 
125  mancusses,^  whereupon  Leo  wrote  to  "his  very  ex- 
cellent son  Coenulf,"  a.d.  797  (ibid.,  363),  that  he  expected 
yearly  not  less  than  365  mancusses,  as  per  agreement 
between  King  Offa  and  the  blessed  Peter,  holder  of  the  keys 
of  heaven.  It  was  only  a  step  we  see  from  the  mundane 
to  the  celestial.  Well  might  there  be  a  saying  among  us, 
"  England  was  the  Pope's  ass :  it  bore  all  the  burden  he  chose 
to  lay  on  it."  But  England  had  no  monopoly.  Witness 
the  grotesque  print  which  appeared  in  Nuremberg  in  A. 
Durer's  time,  which  went  by  the  name  of  Pabstesel,  '  Pope's 
ass.'  Quaint  Thomas  Fuller,  had  he  been  versed  in 
modern  Stock  Exchange  phraseology,  might  have  said 
here,  "  The  Papal  stool  was  always  '  bulling '  the  market, 
and  operating  for  the  rise  in  its  commodities." 

In  another  way  Alcuin  did  not  forget  to  mix  a  due  quan- 
tum of  the  duke  with  the  acre.  He  sends  his  dear  Symeon 
(this  same  Eanbald)  a  little  wine  to  comfort  his  friends  at 
York,  also  100  pounds  of  tin  alloy  to  cover  the  belfry. 

Besides  being  self-constituted  director-general  of  reli- 
gious matters,  and  corrector  morum  in  England,  Alcuin 
seems  to  have  performed  the  same  function-  through  the 
leno-th  and  breadth  of  Charles's  dominions.  Here  we  have 
him  exhorting  King  Pepin  of  Italy  (ibid.  343)  to  chastity, 
there  the  monks  of  Salzburg  to  diligence  and  regularity 

1  Mancns-lth  of  a  pound.  No  mancus  has  ever  been  found  :  it  is  thought 
theiefore  not  to  be  a  coin,  but  an  expression  of  value. 

F 


82  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

(ibid.,  382),  now  combating  the  pernicious  heresy  of  the 
Spaniard  Felix,  whom  lie  confronted  before  Charles  and 
utterly  annihilated  (559).  We  find  him  acting  as  father- 
confessor  to  exalted  abbesses,  interceding  effectually  for 
captives  with  Charles,  condoling  with  a  mother  who  has 
lost  her  son,  and  with  the  Emperor  himself  on  the  death 
of  his  queen,  Liutgard  (533).  Again  we  find  him  promising 
Charles  (421)  to  be  his  Tyrtseus  and  send  him  a  military 
hymn.  Alas !  that  it  no  more  exists.  A  version  of  the 
'  Wacht  am  Rheiu '  of  those  days  would  be  interesting.  In 
one  letter  he  mentions  his  Commentary  on  St.  John,  which 
he  dedicates  to  Gisla,  Charles's  sister,  while  in  another  he 
gives  the  Emperor  lessons  in  astronomy.  It  is  not  a  little 
interesting  to  find  him  borrowing  books  from  York,  begging 
Abbot  Angilbert  of  St.  Pdquier  near  Abbeville  (627)  to 
lend  him  Jordanes'  or  Jornandes'  ''  Historia  Gothorum," 
and  asking  Eichbode,  Archbishop  of  Treves,  for  Bede's  tract 
on  Tobit.  But  amidst  his  abstruse  studies  his  mind  was 
always  greatly  occupied  with  the  removal  of  the  stumbling- 
blocks  to  the  advance  of  nascent  Christianity  in  Germany. 
One  of  the  leading  questions  of  the  day  was  how  best  to 
reconcile  the  claims  of  God  and  Csesar.  The  new  converts, 
in  fact,  expected  to  be  taught  gratis,  imagining  that  the 
missionaries,  though  unprovided  with  scrip  or  purse,  would 
be  able  to  exist  somehow,  or  perhaps  not  caring  to  ask  any 
questions  about  it.  In  this  strait  they  had  recourse  to 
the  source  of  revenue  prescribed  of  old — tithe — which  at 
once  excited  the  bile  and  shook  the  faith  of  the  barbarians. 
We  see  that  the  '•  parson's  nose  tickled  by  a  tithe  pig's 
tail  in  his  sleep "  was  a  standing  joke  against  the  cloth, 
not  to  say  rebuke,  long  before  the  days  of  Elizabeth. 
But  how  were  the  clergy  to  exist  unless  the  laity  con- 
tributed some  sure  and  fixed  quantum  to  their  support  ? 
If  they  did  not  '  live  of  the  gospel,'  the  alternative  was 
starvation.  Alcuin  recommends  the  by-hook-or-by-crook 
method  of  getting  on  for  the  present.  The  converts  were 
to  be  gradually  accustomed  to  the  new  order  of  things. 


THE  LETTERS  OF  ALDHELM,  ETC.  83 

Charlemague  having  triumphed  over  the  Huns,  a.d.  796 
and  anxious  about  their  conversion  to  Christianity,  dis-, 
patches  Arno,  Bishop  of  Salzburg,  on  this  errand.  Here- 
upon the  Bishop  and  the  Emperor  are  warned  by  Alcuin 
against  levying  tithes  (ibid.,  301,  308),  a  measvire  to 
which  even  faithful  Christians  were  averse.  Tithes  had 
alienated  the  Saxons  from  the  faith.  So  don't  lay  down 
a  hard  and  fixed  rule  about  collecting  tithes  from  house 
to  house  in  the  first  instance.  Later  on,  the  full  tale  may 
be  enforced.  "  Be  gentle  with  them,"  he  says  :  "  Infantilis 
astas  lacte  est  nutrienda  ue  per  austeriora  proecepta  fragilis 
mens  evomat  quod  bibit."  In  a.d.  796  he  writes  enthusi- 
astically to  the  Emperor  (ibid.,  344)  of  the  schools  he  has 
established  at  Tours.  "  To  some  he  is  ministering  the 
honey  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  to  others  the  old  wine  of 
ancient  discipline,  others  he  will  commence  feeding  with 
the  apples  of  grammatic  subtlety.  He  has  become  all 
things  to  all  men  for  the  profit  of  Holy  Church  and 
the  glory  of  the  empire.  In  the  heyday  of  his  life  he 
sowed  the  seed  of  learning  in  Britain,  now  in  its  evening 
he  ceases  not  to  sow  in  France."  Still  the  polite  scholar 
of  York  must  have  laboured  invitd  Minervd.  It  was  but 
uphill  work,  for  he  writes  to  Charles,  799  (ibid.,  457), 
"  Although  I  make  but  little  progress,  still  I  figlit  daily 
with  the  dullards  of  Tours."  And  at  a  later  period,  as  old 
age  with  its  increasing  infirmities  drew  on,  he  asks  per- 
mission to  finish  his  days  in  retirement  at  Eulda,^  a  pro- 
position to  which  Charles  would  not  listen  for  a  moment. 
Alcuin  was  far  too  useful  and  distinguished  a  personage 
to  let  slip.  Occasionally  he  would  pay  the  old  man  the 
honour  of  a  personal  visit.  At  one  of  these  he  even  con- 
sulted him  as  to  which  of  his  sons  he  should  make  his 
successor.     Doubtless  friends  from  Britain,  or  promising 

1  A  place  for  which  he  seems  to  has  sent  the  monks  wherein  to  en- 
have  an  especial  affection  as  tlie  last  velop    the    remains    of    the   martyr 
resting-])lace  of  Boniface.    One  of  his  (Jaffe,  656). 
letters  mentions  a  pallium  which  he 


84  OLD  ENG  L  IS  II  LITER  A  TURE. 

voutlis  provided  witli  letters  of  recommendation,  would 
often  call  at  the  monastery  of  Tours,  the  one  just  to  see 
an  old  intimate,  the  other  hoping  perhaps  through  his 
influence  to  obtain  preferment.  This  was  by  no  means 
relished  by  his  Gallic  entourage.  Thus  one  Aigulf,  a 
presbyter,  one  day  knocks  at  the  gate  and  overhears  the 
monks  say  (he  understood  their  talk,  though  they  were 
not  aware  of  it),  "  Here  is  another  Briton  or  Scot  come 
to  see  that  Briton  within.  The  Lord  deliver  this  monas- 
tery from  those  fellows  !  Like  bees  to  their  queen,  so  they 
all  come  swarming  about  him"  (Vita,  25).  And  so  he 
passed  his  days.  In  801  he  writes  he  is  quietly  waiting 
at  St.  Martin's  till  the  voice  should  come  :  "  Aperi  pulsanti, 
sequere  jubentem  et  audi  judicantem"  (ibid.,  624).  At 
last  the  peaceful  end  of  a  varied  and  busy  life  arrives, 
"Migravit  Albinus  levita  Christi,  14  Kal.  June  804,"  i.e., 
ten  years  before  his  friend  and  patron  Charlemagne. 


CHAPTEE   VI. 


THE   LAWS. 


But  there  are  still  works  to  be  added  to  our  list  which, 
but  for  Parker  and  men  of  like  conservative  genius,  might 
have  disappeared.  It  has  been  said  that  the  laws,  the 
romances,  and  the  newspaper  press  of  a  country,  indicate 
the  state  of  its  civilisation  in  any  given  age.  The  last,  of 
course,  was  non-existent  in  those  days,  and  of  romances,  as 
we  shall  see,  there  is  mighty  little  extant  for  us  to  judge 
by;  but  of  laws  there  is  no  lack.  The  "Anglo-Saxon 
Laws,"  edited  first  by  W.  Lambard,^  then  by  A.  Whelock, 
by  Wilkins,^  then  by  Thorpe,^  and  now  in  a  more  correct 
text,  and  accompanied  with  a  capital  antiquarian  glossary, 
by  Schmidt,*  throw  as  interesting  and  important  a  light 
as  can  be  imagined  on  the  early  institutions  of  this  land. 
If  in  the  statute-book  all  great  movements,  political, 
religious,  and  social,  are  reflected,  if  personal  transactions 
between  individuals  from  age  to  age  are  therein  treated 
and  adjusted  according  to  the  views  prevalent  at  the  time, 
then  in  the  laws  of  the  Saxons,  as  far  as  they  remain  to 
us,  in  the  code  of  Ethelbert  of  Kent  (circa  600),  of 
Wihtred  (699),  in  the  laws  of  Ine  of  Wessex  (before  694), 
in  the  'Dooms'  of  Alfred  (embodying  a  selection  from 
the  jurisprudence   of   his   predecessors),  in   the  laws   of 

^  '^  Apxatovo/ila,    sive    de    priscis  ^  "Ancient   Laws,"   kc,   London, 

Anglorum  Legibus,"  London,  1568.  1840  ;    cf.     "  Monumenta    Historica 

-  "  Leges  Anglo-Saxonicae,"  by  D.  Britanuic-B." 

Wilkins,  London,  1721.  *  Leipzig  (second  edition),  1858. 


86  OLD  ENGLISH  LJTERATURE. 

Edward  the  Elder,  &c.,  and  in  the  sensible  la^ys  of  Canute, 
the  latter  approaching  to  the  character  of  codes,  we  have 
the  very  bone  and  marrow  of  the  whole  matter,  as  far  as 
the  social  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  is  concerned.    Still 
those  laws  make  up  the  history  only  to  a  certain  extent ; 
they  may  be  the  skeleton,  but  they  are  not  the  flesh  and 
blood,  any  more  than  would  be  the  presentments  of  grand 
juries,  which,  according  to  a  recent  ingenious  writer,  would 
afford  a  good  basis  for  the  history  of  our  country.     True, 
modern  critics  pronounce  the  Anglo-Saxons  to  have  been 
very  obtuse  in  legal  matters,  to  have  had  no  grasp  of 
the  subject,  and  unable  to  organise  it  scientifically.     Yet, 
notwithstanding,  no  other  branch  of  the  Teutonic  race  has 
bequeathed  to  us  such  a  rich  treasure  of  legal  documents 
illustrating  its  early  period  of  development  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxons.      Besides  the   laws,  extending  over  a  space   of 
five  hundred  years,  with  no  break  in  the  continuity  from 
Ethelbert  to  the  Conqueror,  there  are  several  very  ancient 
private   ecclesiastical   documents   full   of  supplementary 
information  upon  the  legal  usages  and  the  social  customs, 
&c.     While  dwelling  on  the  fact  that  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
laws  lie  to  a  great  extent  the  foundations  of  the  English 
constitution  and   of    English  law,   the   Germans    further 
point    with    pride   to    the    fact    that,    although    on   the 
Continent  German  law  became  supplanted   to  a  certain 
extent  by  the  Eoman  law,  in  England  the  Anglo-Saxons 
stuck  to  the  legal  principles  of  the  parent  stock ;  so  that  it 
has  been  said  English  law,  even  later  than  the  Normans, 
is  more  German  than  German  law  itself.^     Being  couched 
in  the  very  earliest  extant  German  dialect,  of  course  these 
laws    solve  for  the  German    legal    antiquarians    many  a 
knotty  point  in  the  barbarous  Middle- Age  Latin.     At  the 
same  time  the  Germans  are  so  gracious  as  to  allow  that 
the  old   Scandinavian   and   Erisian   legal   documents  do 
throw  some  light  on  these  matters. 

Any  attempt  at  a  detailed  description  of  these  laws  as 

1  Schmidt,  preface. 


THE  LAWS.  87 

bearing  on  the  growth  of  the  constitution  is  of  course  out 
of  the  scope  of  this  work,  and  it  has  been  already  done 
by  others.  It  will  be  more  to  our  purpose  to  dip  into 
them  here  and  there,  if  perchance  by  so  doing  we  may 
place  before  our  readers  something  illustrative  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  England,  the  state  of  the  country,  and  the  customs 
of  the  people.  "We  may  here  note  that  the  rhythmical 
quantity  and  alliteration  still  visible  in  our  judicial 
formulae,  &c.,  will  find  their  true  origin  and  explanation 
in  Anglo-Saxon,  if  not  in  Old  Norse ;  for,  as  Mr.  Thorpe 
observes,  this  is  a  feature  common  to  all  branches  of  the 
Teutonic  race. 

The  laws  of  Ethelbert  (according  to  Bede,  fourth  king 
of  Kent  after  Hengist)  only  consist  of  ninety  short  heads. 
Of  their  genuineness  there  can  be  no  question.  Bede 
himself  (ii.  5)  mentions  the  fact  of  their  promulgation  in 
English  by  Ethelbert.  They  accurately  fix  the  punish- 
ment to  be  inflicted  in  case  of  damage  done  to  person  or 
property  according  to  his  exact  degree  and  rank.  There 
was  the  b6t=  the  compensation  to  the  injured  party,  as 
damages  for  the  wrong  sustained,  and  also  the  wite,  or 
penalty  claimed  by  the  crown.  Holy  Church's  rights 
were,  of  course,  looked  well  after.  If  any  man  stole  from 
a  bishop,  he  had  to  pay  an  elevenfold  recompense  (cap.  i) ; 
while  in  the  case  of  a  mere  cleric  the  compensation  was 
threefold  only.  Surely  it  was  an  Anglo-Saxon  hierarch 
who  said  to  the  waiter  at  a  diocesan  dinner,  "  Waiter,  the 
room  is  close ;  open  the  window  behind  the  minor  canon." 
An  assault  upon  the  servant  of  an  earl  cost  the  offender 
twice  as  much  as  if  it  was  a  ceorl's  domestic.  Not  only 
liad  each  man  his  exact  price  or  value,  according  to  his 
rank  and  degree,  to  be  paid  to  his  heirs  and  assigns  if 
taken  off,  but,  as  was  the  case  among  all  Teutonic  races, 
every  member  of  his  body  was  exactly  appraised,  after  the 
fashion  of  your  modern  Accidental  Insurance  Company. 
To  seize  a  man  by  the  hair  was  a  luxury  that  cost  the 
offender  four  sceattar=  nearly  four  shillings  of  our  money 


88  OLD  ENGLISH  IJTERA  TURE. 

(sec.  II).  Violent  dentistry  cost,  in  case  of  its  being  the 
four  front  teeth,  six  shillings  each ;  the  next  to  them,  four 
shillings ;  the  next,  tliree,  and  the  rest  one  shilling  each. 
To  cut  off  a  man's  foot  involved  a  penalty  of  fifty  shillings ; 
his  great  toe,  ten  shillings.  The  shooting  (fore)  finger  cost 
eight  shillings  ;  the  gold  finger  (ring-finger),  six  shillings  ; 
the  little  finger,  eleven  shillings,  this  being  doubtless  con- 
sidered a  greater  injury  to  the  personal  appearance  than 
the  loss  of  another  finger.  In  the  same  way  a  black 
bruise  outside  the  clotlies  cost  thirty  sliillings,  but  inside 
them  ten  shillings  less.  A  blow  on  the  nose  with  the 
fist  (whether  the  blood  was  drawn  or  not  is  not  specified) 
cost  the  offender  three  shillings,  indicating  those  boxing 
proclivities  said  to  be  peculiarly  characteristic  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon.  Offences  with  the  tongue  met  with  due 
punishment. 

In  the   laws  of   Kings  Hlothar  and   Eadric  of   Kent 
(circa  680)  we  have,  "  Whoever  calls  another  mansworn  ^ 
(perjured)  in  another  man's  flat  (house),  or  addresses  to 
him  any  other  such  scandalous  language,  let  him  pay  one 
shilling  to  the  owner  of  the  flat,  six  shillings  to  the  man 
he  abused,  and  twelve  shillings  to  the  king"  (11).     The 
idea  of  an  Englishman's  house  being  his  castle  further 
comes  out  in  the  enactment  (13),  that  if  a  man  draws  his 
sword  at  a  drinking  bout  without  using  it,  he  must  pay 
the  master  of  the  house  a  shilling,  and  to  the  kino-  twelve 
shillings.     That  Church  and  Eoyalty  had  already  become 
peers  in  the  days  of  Wihtra^d,  king   of   the  Kenters,  is 
clear  from  the  enactment  that  the  fine  for  the  violation  of 
the  mundbyrd  (protection)  of  the  king  and  of  the  Church 
is  the  same,  viz.,  fifty  shillings.     Holy  Church,  neverthe- 
less,  had   peccant   ministers.     "  If   a   priest   breaks   the 
seventh   commandment,   or   neglects   to   baptize   a    sick 
person,  or  is  so  drunken  that  he  is  unable  to  do  it,  let 
him  be  suspended  during  the  bishop's  pleasure  "  (6).     "  If 

1  This  word  has  nothing  to  do  with  '  mau '  or  '  to  mean,'  but  is  from  A.S. 
'  Mau,'  Is.  '  meiu  '  —  injury. 


THE  LA  WS.  89 

a  tonsured  man  goes  loafing  about  in  search  of  hospi- 
tality, let  it  be  granted  to  him  once,  but  not  of tener,  unless 
he  has  permission  "  (7).  In  those  days  the  word  of  the 
bishop  and  the  king  (note  the  sequence)  was  irrefragable, 
without  oath.  A  priest  might  purge  himself  of  accusa- 
tions by  standing  at  the  altar  in  his  vestments  and  saying, 
"  Veritatem  dico  in  Christo,  non  mentior;"  but  a  churl  in 
order  to  do  so  had  to  get  four  of  his  class,  and  all  of  them 
must  swear  by  the  altar. 

The  laws  of  Ine,  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  the  friend 
of  Boniface,  the  patron  of  Aldhelm,  who,  according  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  abdicated  and  retired  to  liome,  726, 
contain,  in  seventy-six  heads,  enactments,  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical, bearing  manifest  traces  of  the  finger  of  a  church- 
man— said  in  the  preface  to  be  Eorcenwald,  made  Bishop  of 
London,  675  :  e.g.,  "  If  a  serf  work  on  Sunday  by  his  lord's 
behest,  let  him  be  free,  and  his  lord  pay  a  fine  of  thirty 
shillings.  But  if  the  serf  work  without  his  knowledge,  let 
him  suffer  in  his  hide  (be  flogged),  or  in  a  pecuniary  com- 
mutation "  (3).  The  disturbed  state  of  the  country  in  his 
day,  and  the  precautions  necessary  against  possible  spies 
from  the  bordering  kingdoms,  come  out  forcibly  in  a  law 
like  this,  which  also  occurs  in  Wihtrsed  (28)  :  "  If  a 
man  from  afar  or  stranger  go  off  the  highroad  through 
the  woods,  and  does  not  cry  out  or  blow  a  horn,  he  is  to 
be  tried  as  a  thief,  either  to  slay  or  let  go"  (20).  This 
reminds  one  of  the  state  of  things  said  to  have  existed 
in  Yorkshire  at  the  close  of  the  last  century.  Scene — 
suburbs  of  some  little  town.  Stranger  approaches.  A 
rough  observes  him  and  addresses  another  rough.  "  Dost 
thee  knoa  that  chap?"  "  Noa.  Dost  thee?"  "  Noa." 
"  Then  wang  a  stoan  at  his  head."  Stranger  falls  to  the 
earth.  Roughs  exeunt.  A  very  effectual  provision  was 
made  against  trespass  as  follows :  "  If  a  beast  break 
through  hedges,  and  its  owner  won't  or  can't  keep  it  in, 
and  anybody  meets  it  on  his  field,  he  may  take  and 
slaughter  it,  and  the  owner  may  have  its  fell  and  flesh, 


90  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

but  nothing  more  "  (42).  The  multitude  of  pigs  that  were 
fattened  in  the  forests  would  not  add  to  the  charms  of 
these  sylvan  solitudes.  Special  fines  are  imposed  here  on 
trespasses  upon  other  people's  mast.  In  44  the  size  of  a 
tree  is  described  as  one  under  which  thirty  swine  can 
stand.  When  we  read  (58)  that  the  worth  of  an  ox-tail 
is  one  shilling,  the  thought  at  once  occurs  that  the  soup 
must  have  come  very  expensive ;  but  the  enactment  refers 
to  the  cutting  off  the  tail  of  the  animal  maliciously  or  by 
accident.  In  these  laws  of  Ine  we  discern  the  inequality 
before  the  law  between  the  Saxon  and  the  older  inliabi- 
tants  of  the  country — a  striking  testimony  to  which  is  the 
fact  that  '  Wealh '  or  '  Wylisc '  (originally  = '  Welsh  '),  be- 
came later  synonymous  with  '  slave.'  ^ 

Alfred  prefaces  his  '  Dooms  '  with  the  Jewish  decalogue 
and  the  Mosaic  law.  Cap.  5  secures  to  every  church 
consecrated  by  a  bishop  the  right  of  asylum  to  a  fugitive 
for  seven  nights,  if  he  can  manage  to  hold  out  without 
food  for  that  time ;  and  anybody  who  violates  this  is 
pronounced  to  be  a  breaker  of  the  king's  peace — an  offence 
of  great  magnitude.  If  the  neighbours  want  the  use  of 
the  church,  they  are  to  guard  the  fugitive  in  another 
building,  with  no  more  doors  in  it  than  the  church.  By 
cap.  8  tlie  abduction  of  a  nun  involved  a  payment  of  120 
shillings,  half  to  the  king,  half  to  the  bishop  and  the 
proprietor  of  the  church  to  whom  she  belonged.^  One  of 
Alfred's  laws  (12),  on  the  penalties  for  setting  fire  to  the 
forest,  indicates  the  price  of  wood  in  his  times.  "The 
fine  for  each  great  tree  is  five  shillings,  and  for  all  others, 
whatever  their  number,  five  pennies ;  besides  a  mulct  of 
thirty  shillings  to  the  crown."  He  who  stole  a  foal  or  a 
calf  got  off  with  a  shilling  (ibid.,  16).  The  owners  of 
savage  dogs  had  it  not  all  their  own  way.     If  such  a  dog 

1  Athelstan,  vi.  6,  §  3.  build  churches.    The  bishop  bestowed 

2  Mixed  motives,  pious  zeal,  or  the  patronage  of  the  new  church  on 
vanity,  or  ambition,  or  a  desire  to  tlie  founder.  Hence  simoniacal  prac- 
conciliate  the  favour  of  Heaven,  led  tices  arose.  Theod.  Capit.,  Thorpe, 
people  in  those  days  (as  in  these)  to  ii.  73  ;  Kemble,  ii.  420. 


THE  LA  IV S.  91 

tore  or  bit  a  man,  the  penalty  fixed  Ly  Alfred  (23)  \ras  six 
shillings  the  first  offence,  for  the  second  twelve  shillings, 
and  for  the  third  thirty  shillings,  and  afterwards  the  full 
value  of  the  man  each  time.  It  was  quite  necessary  to 
have  stringent  rules  about  these  animals,  for  mad  dogs 
were  not  wanting,  at  least  there  is  an  Anglo-Saxon  re- 
ceipt for  the  bite  of  a  mad  dog.  Indeed  there  is  a  letter 
extant  from  Pope  Zacharias  to  Boniface,  the  Apostle  of 
Germany,  A.D.  751,  ordering  animals  that  have  been  bitten 
by  rabid  wolves  and  dogs  to  be  kept  separate  least  they 
should  infect  others,  or  if  few,  to  be  buried  (Mon.  Mogunt., 
p.  223). 

No  less  than  thirty-five  chapters  (44-77)  are  devoted 
to  appraising  the  damage  to  the  several  parts  of  a  man's 
body — an  index  this  of  the  constant  state  of  assault  and 
battery  in  which  the  Anglo-Saxons  lived  at  home,  exclu- 
sive of  fights  with  the  Danes. 

Last,  not  least,  among  the  laws  of  Alfred,  we  have 
(Schmidt,  2d  ed.  p.  106)  the  provisions  of  that  celebrated 
compact,  '  Alfred  and  Guthrum's  Peace,'  ^  made  between 
the  Saxon  king  and  the  king  of  the  Danes,  after  the 
latter  had  been  thoroughly  beaten  in  the  battle  of 
Ethandune  (878)  -  by  the  men  of  Somerset,  Wiltshire,  and 

1  Kemble  (Saxons,  ii.  218)  was  of  father  doing  what  all  godfathers  are 

opinion     that    this    agreement    was  supposed  to  do  from  that  day  to  this, 

drawn   up    at   AVedmore    just   after  and  long  before  that— making  hand- 

the  battle.      But  Schmidt  (xxxviii. ),  some  presents  to  his  stalwart  godson. 

pointing  to  its  provisions,   seems  to  In  882  Aschloh,  near  Maestricht  on 

prove  satisfactorily  that  it  must  be  of  the    Meuse,    witnessed    the    equally 

later  date.      Like  all  great  victories  sudden    conversion  of   Godfred,   the 

over  the  heathen  in  those  days,  that  leader  of  the  Flanders  Vikings,  when 

of  Wedmore  witnessed  so-called  con-  Charles    the    Fat    stood    godfather. 

versions  to  Christianity  by  wholesale.  Steenstrup,  Vikingetogene,  204. 

Guthrum  with   thirty  of  his   chiefs  2  Poor  France  and  Flanders  were 

were  baptized  at  Princes  Island,  and  not  long  in  feeling  the  effects  of  it. 

paradedabout  in  their  whitebaptismal  Their   rivers  were    soon   alive   with 

garments   for  eight  days — Guthrum  fresh  swarms  of  Vikings,  whose  oc- 

having  King  Alfred  for  his  '  gossip,'  cupation  was  for  the    time   gone   in 

and    changing    his  name    to  Athel-  England.     JOthandune  is  supi)osed  to 

Stan.    "What  feasting  there  was    for  have  been  on  the  high  ground  near 

twelve  days  long  at  that  royal  manor-  Alfred's   Tower,   on   the   borders   of 

Louse  !     Aud  then  we  have  the  god-  Somerset  and  Wilts. 


92  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

Hants,  with  Alfred  leading  them  in  virtue  of  the  previous 
agreement  come  to  at  Ecgbryte's  Stone  the  seventh  week 
after  Easter.  What  a  narrow  escape  England  had  of 
being  un-Saxonised  from  the  shores  of  the  North  Sea  to 
the  confines  of  Wales,  becomes  at  once  apparent  from 
the  terms  of  this  document.  Herein  is  given  up  to  the 
Danes  all  the  country  east  of  a  line  running  from  the 
Thames  up  the  river  Lea  to  its  source,  thence  west  to 
Bedford,  and  along  the  Ouse  to  Watling  Street,  that  great 
Roman  road  stretching  right  across  England  through 
Mercia  to  Chester.  This  was  the  so-called  Denalagh. 
Further,  the  subjects  of  each  dominion  are  forbidden 
under  severe  penalties  to  cross  the  frontier,  even  for 
purposes  of  trade,  without  a  previous  exchange  of  hos- 
tages (5). 

Contrast  with  the  united  front  opposed  by  Alfred's 
subjects  the  conduct  of  the  Irish  chieftains  under  similar 
circumstances  (830-855),  when  the  [N'orthern  Philistines 
were  upon  them.  To  fish  in  troubled  waters  was  their 
motto.  Their  country's  danger  was  the  signal  for  gratify- 
ing clan  jealousies  and  lust  for  plunder.  The  same  year 
that  the  Vikings  harried  Armagh,  the  Irish  King  Concho- 
bar  plundered  the  cattle  of  the  monastery.  Feidhlimidh, 
King  of  Cashel,  instead  of  leading  his  men  against  the 
Vikings,  fell  upon  the  monastery  of  Clonmacnois.  King 
NiaU  invades  Leinster,  and  compels  the  inhabitants  to 
take  Bran  for  their  king.  And  the  same  year  the  men 
of]  Ulster  put  Keneth,  Mall's  son,  to  death,  whereupon 
NiaU  plunders  Meath.i  No  wonder  that  the  Vikings 
(836)  beset  the  country  on  all  sides  and  pressed  forward 
to  its  very  centre.  So  much  for  Irish  patriotism  in  this 
great  crisis  of  her  history.  But  what  of  her  religion, 
the  pure  faith  of  the  Island  of  Saints,  inherited  from  St. 

^  Wars  of  Gaedhill,  p.  xliv.     But  of  every  individual   member  of  the 

tliere  was  another  inherent  source  of  clan,  and  the  voice   he   had    in    all 

weakness  in  the  Irish  warfare  against  matters  of  war.     Ibid. ,  p.  cxviii. 
the    foreigner  —  the     independence 


THE  LA  IVS.  93 

Patrick  and  Columba  ?  She  would  surely  stick  to  that. 
All  her  people,  from  Cape  Clear  to  Malin  Head,  would 
not  be  behind  those  Sassenach  neighbours  who  enforced 
Christian  baptism  on  Guthrum  and  his  followers.  Yet 
how  dark  the  prospects  of  Christianity  were  in  England 
in  those  days  comes  out  in  the  will  of  Alfred^  the  Ealdor- 
man,  about  the  same  date,  bequeathing  property  to  Christ 
Church,  Canterbury,  for  Alfred's  soul,  and  adding  the 
proviso,  "  as  long  as  baptism  may  be,  and  it  may  be 
obtained  in  the  land,"  which  seems  to  contemplate  the 
possible  recurrence  to  heathenism  under  the  Danish 
scourge.  Out  of  her  own  mouth  let  Ireland  be  judged. 
"  It  came  to  pass  at  this  time  that  many  people  gave  up 
their  Christian  baptism  and  joined  themselves  to  the 
Norwegians  (Lochlanns).  They  plundered  Armagh  and 
carried  off  its  treasures,  though  some  repented  and  made 
restitution."^  Nor  is  this  the  only  case  recorded  in  the 
Irish  annals  of  her  sons  turning  renegades  at  that  period 
of  sorest  need,  foretold  of  old  in  verses  like  these  ^ — 

"  Gentiles  shall  come  over  the  soft  sea  ; 
They  shall  confound  the  men  of  Erinn  ; 
Of  them  there  shall  be  an  abbot  over  every  churcli, 
Of  them  there  shall  be  a  king  over  Erinn. 
There  shall  be  of  them  an  abbot  over  this  my  chnrch, 
Who  will  not  attend  to  matins  ; 


1  It  was  this  same  Alfred  and  his  alive  to   the    great   money  value   of 

wife  Werburg  who  gave  to  Canter-  these    beautiful     MSS.,    and     often 

bury  the  "  Codex  Aureus,"  a  beauti-  carried  them  off   to    await  ransom, 

ful  specimen  of  Keltic  art,  purchased  Thus  in  843  they  took  a  great  Bible 

by  them  of  some  Vikings,  and  which  from  the  Basilica  at  Nantes,  which, 

has  recently  been  published  in  fac-  however— the  robbers  having  subse- 

simile   by   a   Norse    clergyman,    Mr.  quently   come  to    blows    about    the 

lielsheim  (Christiania,  1878).     He  is  spoil— fell  into  the  hands  of  a  cap- 

tlie  first  to  show  that  the  Latin  text  tive.     Martene,  Thesaurus  Aneedot., 

of  it  was  the  old  Itala  and  not  the  iii.  852 ;  Steenstrup,  v.  245. 

vulgata.      The  MS.  must  have  been  2  Three   Fragments,    ed.    O'Dono- 

written  in  Ireland  at  the  end  of  the  van. 

sixth  century,  or  at  the  beginning  of  ■*  Todd,  Introd.  Gaedhill,  xliv.,  ib. 

the  seventh  at  Bobbio  in  Italy,  where  cxcv.     '''' Country  was  at  that    time 

St.  Columbanus  had  founded  a  monns-  (1014)  in  Ireland  an  unknown  seuti- 

tcry.    The  Vikings  soon  became  fully  ment." 


94  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Williout  pater  and  without  credo  ; 
Without  Irish,  but  only  foreign  language."  i 

But  we  must  resume  our  legal  jottings.  The  laws  of 
Atbelstan  (became  king  924  or  925,  died  940)  are  the 
great  authority  for  that  extraordinary  institution  of  the 
Middle  Ages,^  '  ordeal '  —  the  decision  of  God ;  for  this 
alone  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  in  Anglo-Saxon.  Here 
we  have  the  three  several  methods  duly  set  forth— the  hot 
iron,  the  cold  and  boiling  water,  and  the  corsnaed  or 
'  proof  bite,'  which  last,  if  we  remember,  Spelman  dis- 
cussed with  Worm — a  test  most  likely  restricted  to 
spiritual  persons.^  How  the  suspected  person  ever 
escaped  from  the  Scylla  and  Charybdis  which  threatened 
him  seems  a  mystery,  unless  by  the  beneficent  collusion 
of  the  priest.  In  fact,  it  seems  to  have  been  an  ecclesi- 
astical hocus-pocus  throughout.  The  three  days'  previous 
fasting  on  bread  and  water,  salt  and  herbs,  the  church, 
the  service,  the  adjuration,  the  manipulation  of  the 
ordeal,  all  appertained  to  the  priest;  and  he  doubtless 
would  take  care — and  small  blame  to  him,  but  rather 
praise — to  hedge  matters  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  so 
that  the  guilty  should  not  escape,  and  Holy  Church  should 
at  any  rate  pass  unscathed  and  unsullied  through  the 
function.  The  heating  of  the  hot  iron,  to  be  carried  by 
the  accused  nine  feet,  or  the  heating  of  the  water  in  an 
iron,  bronze,  leaden,  or  earthenware  pot,  and  the  bobbing 
the  hand  into  the  boiling  fluid  in  search  of  the  stone 
therein,  would  be  a  comi-tragic  spectacle  of  a  highly 
sensational  character.  But  for  classic  effect,  perhaps  the 
other  ordeal  by  water,  when  the  culprit  was  first  stripped, 

1  Gaedhilljii.  The  pseudo-abbot  was  mentioned  iu  the  "  Antigone  "  of  So- 

Turgesius    (Thorgils),   who  evidently  i^hocles,  264. 

aimed  at  what  tlie  Danes  would  have  ^  There  is  a  sensible  ami  humane 

liked  to  have  effected  in  England —  letter  (a.d.  886-889)  by  Pope  Stephen 

the  suppression  of  Christianity  and  VI.  to  Liutbert,  Archbishop  of  May- 

the  restoration  of  Paganism.  ence,  counselling  him  not  to  use  the 

-  That  it  existed  in  various  shapes  test  of  hot  iron  and  boiling  water  to 

at  a  very  early  period  is  certain  ;  cf.  parents  who  had  overlaid  their  infant 

Numbers  v.  23.      Ordeal  by   fire  is  children  and  suffocated  them. 


THE  LA  WS.  95 

then  kissed  the  Gospels  and  the  crucifix,  was  then 
sprinkled  with  holy  water,  and  then  plunged  into  the 
cold  water,  while  the  priest  droned  out  in  Latin,  "  If  this 
man  is  guilty,  float  him  ;  if  innocent,  sink  him  !  "  would 
surpass  all  the  other  methods.  The  enduring  impression 
made  on  the  national  mind  by  these  rites  is  evidenced  by 
such  phrases  as  '  sink  or  swim,'  doubtless  a  reminiscence 
of  the  last  ordeal,  while  '  going  through  fire  and  water ' 
is  of  the  others.^ 

A  modern  "  smasher "  may  congratulate  himself  that 
he  does  not  live  in  the  days  of  King  Athelstan,  for  lie 
would  certainly  (ii.  14)  have  lost  his  hand  without  the 
possibility  of  redemption,  which  hand  was  then  placed 
over  the  shop-door.  Stringent  measures  were  adopted  to 
put  down  a  crime  which  it  is  clear  was  very  prevalent, 
for  we  learn  from  another  statute  that  the  authorities 
were  sometimes  accomplices  in  these  frauds.  If  detected, 
they  suffered  the  like  penalty.^  He  who  falsely  accused 
another,  to  the  detriment  of  his  person  or  property,  was 
equally  well  provided  for :  he  forfeited  his  tongue  or  paid 
the  wer  (value)  of  the  injured  party  (Canute,  16).  The 
meaning  of  our  genuine  old  Saxon  word  to  '  wed '  ==  to 
covenant,  comes  out  strongly  in  that  law  of  King 
Edmund's  (Schmidt,  p.  391)  on  the  betrothing  a  woman. 
A  mass  priest  of  course  officiates  at  the  wedding  and  joins 
the  pair  together  with  God's  blessing. 

The  sixth  canon  of  King  Edgar  reads  a  wholesome 
lesson  to  certain  clergy  of  the  present  day,  serving  to 
remind  them  that  '  parish '  is  a  territorial  and  not  a  con- 
gregational term.  It  runs  thus :  "  We  ordain  that  no 
j)riest  encroach  on  another  priest  in  any  of  those  things 
that  belong  to  him ;  neither  in   his  church,  nor  in   his 

1  Most  likely  the  drowning  man  abounded.  For  instance,  at  Canter- 
was  tied  by  a  cord  and  dragged  out  bury  under  Athelstan  there  were 
if  innocent.  See  Athelstan,  ii.,  iii.,  seven  moueyers ;  but  half  a  ceu- 
&c.  See  also  note  on  ordeals  by  tury  later  it  was  ordered  that  no 
Spelinan.  nian   might   have   a  mint    save    the 

-  lu    the     tenth    century     mints  king. 


96  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

parish    ('  scriftscir,'    literally    '  sliriftsLire '),   nor    in    his 
guild." 

Unhiscopad  (ib.,  1 5)  =  unconfirmed,  points  to  the  rite  of 
confirmation  in  England  having  from  early  times,  and  not 
as  in  Norway,  been  performed  by  bishops  only.  Canon 
26  enacts  that  the  church  is  devoted  to  God's  service 
and  nothing  else.  There  is  to  be  no  idle  talking  or  idle 
deeds  or  drinking  there,  and  no  dog  or  swine  is  to  enter 
the  churchyard  if  it  is  possible  to  prevent  it.  Canon  24 
enacts  that  no  one  is  to  be  buried  inside  the  church 
unless  during  life  he  was  a  good  Christian.  What 
King  Edgar  and  his  bishops  would  have  said  to  Non- 
conformists being  buried  in  churchyards  can  only  be 
surmised. 

A  curious  commentary  on  the  state  of  the  country  in 
Canute's  time  is  afforded  in  21  :  "  Every  man  above  twelve 
years  of  age  is  to  swear  that  he  will  not  be  a  thief  or  the 
accomplice  of  thieves;"  which  is  further  illustrated  by 
29 :  "  If  a  man  meet  a  thief  and  let  him  go  of  his  own 
accord  without  crying  out,  he  is  to  pay  the  wer  of  the 
thief,  unless  he  can  clear  himself  of  all  evil  design." 
When,  by  the  advice  of  his  Witan,  Canute  ordained  (74) 
"that  a  widow  should  not  marry  again  within  twelve 
months  of  her  husband's  decease,  under  the  penalty  of 
losing  her  dowry  (morgen-gyfe)  if  she  did,"  it  might 
appear  to  us  an  intolerable  interference  on  his  part  with 
the  liberty  of  the  subject;  but  at  all  events,  the  rule 
evinced  a  delicacy  of  feeling,  not  to  say  sound  views  on 
the  due  constitution  of  society,  worthy  of  all  commen- 
dation. 

Thank  your  stars,  ye  poachers,  ye  did  not  live  in 
Canute's  days,^  when  to  hunt  a  beast  of  the  forest  till  it 
panted  was  punished,  in  case  of  a  freeman,  by  a  fine  of  ten 

1  Einhard,  the  secretary  of  Charle-  Church  of  the  Blessed  Martyrs  Mar- 

magne,  intercedes  on  one  occasion  for  cellinus   and  Peter  (Men.  Carol.,  p. 

two  poachers  in  the  imperial  forest  470).     Canute's  forest  laws,  however, 

who  were  too  poor  to  pay  the  fine,  are  not  genuine,  at  least  in  their  pre- 

and    had    taken    sanctuary    at    the  sent  shape. 


THE  LA  WS.  97 

shillings ;  in  a  man  of  lower  rank,  with  a  fine  of  twenty 
shillings ;  in  a  serf,  by  a  sound  flogging.  But  if  it  was  a 
'  royal  beast,'  the  serf  was  outlawed.  An  early  instance  of 
encouraging  a  taste  for  sailoring,  which  was  somewhat 
behindhand  in  his  Saxon  subjects,  is  found  in  that  law  of 
Athelstan's  time :  "  If  a  man  has  passed  the  sea  three 
times  at  his  own  expense,^  he  shall  be  worthy  of  that  free- 
dom which  is  called  thegenship," — a  very  sensible  addition 
to  the  requisites  for  that  office  found  elsewhere,  viz.,  five 
hides  of  land,  a  church  and  kitchen,  and  a  bell-house.  No 
more  Christian  sentiment  is  to  be  found  in  any  laws  than 
in  the  second  head  of  Canute's  secular  ordinances :  "  We 
ordain  that  Christian  men  shall  not  be  put  to  death,  nor 
God's  handiwork  and  His  own  purchase,  for  which  He  paid 
so  dearly,  be  destroyed  for  all  too  little  a  cause."  No 
less  creditable  is  the  statute  against  selling  a  Christian 
(slave)  out  of  the  kingdom,  or  at  least  into  a  heathen  land. 

Except  in  the  laws,  where  have  we  any  full  or  accurate 
information  about  the  condition  of  the  slaves,  who  formed 
a  majority,  or,  as  some  say,  three-fourths  of  the  popula- 
tion, and  who  could  only  find  a  refuge  from  the  cruelty  of 
their  masters,  and  oftener  of  their  mistresses,  in  the  laws 
of  the  country  which  protected  them,  since  tliey  them- 
selves had  no  constitutional  or  political  right,  and,  like  a 
chattel,  were  bought  and  sold  at  the  will  of  their  owner  ? 
Nevertheless,  they  appear  to  have  "  had  Sunday  to  them- 
selves ;  "  for  in  Wihtrajd  (^^)  we  find  (according  to  Schmidt's 
proposed  reading),  "  If  a  hireling  (esne),  by  his  master's 
orders,  does  any  menial  work  from  sunset  on  Saturday 
till  the  eve  of  Monday,  his  master  is  to  pay  him  eighty 
shillings." 

Such  was  their  condition  in  serfdom.  But  better  be 
serfs  and  under  the  protection  of  some  lord  than  be  out- 
laws and  liable  to  be  slain  by  anybody  (Laws,  Athel- 
stan),  for  such  was  the  position  of  those  who  were  help- 

^  "Be  his  iigeuum  krafte,''  wliicli  may  also  mean  iu  his  own  'craft'  or 
vessel. 

G 


98  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERA  TURK. 

loss  and  poor,  and  liad  nobody  to  be  answerable  for  them. 
Trnly  a  miserable  dilemma  to  be  placed  in. 

No  doubt  the  death  of  the  lord  would  often  do  great 
things  for  them.  A  well-known  picture  by  Armitage 
exliibits  a  scene  of  this  kind,  where  some  of  the  serfs  are 
being  set  free.  In  a  letter  by  Wynfrid  (Boniface)  we 
find  {Monumenta  Moguntina,  p.  59)  a  monk  of  Wenlock 
in  a  trance  descends  to  the  regions  below.  Here  he  sees 
a  poor  girl  who,  while  in  life,  ground  in  a  mill.  One 
day  she  had  set  eyes  on  a  brand-new  distaff,  beautifully 
carved,  and  had  stolen  it.  Hence  her  present  position, 
which  was  a  matter  of  great  glee  to  five  malicious  spirits. 
Further  on  the  monk  sees  also  the  unhappy  soul  of  a 
certain  brother  recently  departed,  to  v^hom  he  had  minis- 
tered the  last  offices,  and  who  had  charged  him  before  he 
died  to  urge  on  his  born  brother  to  manumit  this  very  girl 
for  the  good  of  his  soul,  she  being  the  common  property 
of  the  two.  Erom  motives  of  avarice  the  survivor  had 
left  his  last  request  unfulfilled,  and  the  deceased  vehe- 
mently reproaches  him  for  his  neglect.  Columba  was 
more  conscientious.  He  refused  to  become  foster-father 
of  the  Scottish  king  except  at  the  price  of  freedom  to  a 
poor  Irish  slave. 

Attestations  of  these  manumissions  have  been  found  in 
the  fly-leaves  of  copies  of  the  Gospels  and  Missals,  many 
also  in  the  Exeter  MS.  mentioned  elsewhere.  Thus  one 
Walter  frees  Atheluv  over  his  father's  corpse  for  the  re- 
demption of  his  father's  soul  and  his  own  (Thorpe,  632). 
The  altar  of  St.  Petroc,  i.e.,  of  the  church  at  Bodmin,  was 
the  scene  of  many  of  these  happy  liberations.  Several  are 
recorded,  some  in  Latin,  others  in  Anglo-Saxon,  which 
took  place  there  in  the  tenth  or  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century.  Such  names  of  slaves  as  Morhad,  Gurient, 
Hincomhal,  Telent,  and  Gryfyith,  indicate  pretty  clearly 
that  Celts  supplied  the  staple  of  these  unfortunates. 
Such  perorations  to  a  will  as  "  May  God  blind  him  who 
sets  this  writing  aside ! "  would  secure  their  freedom  effec- 


THE  LAWS.  99 

tuallv.  But  the  spontaneous  humanity  of  individuals  no 
doubt  often  befriended  them.  Of  this  there  are  numerous 
proofs. 

In  William  the  Conqueror's  Laws,  §  iii.  15  (Schmidt, 
356),  he  prohibits  the  sale  of  a  man  out  of  the  country  ;  and 
in  the  case  of  full  manumission,  the  owner  must  deliver 
liim  by  the  right  hand  to  the  vice-comes  in  full  comitatus, 
proclaim  him  publicly  free,  show  him  open  doors  and 
roads,  and  give  him  a  lance  and  sword,  and  so  he  is  free. 

Modern  bishops,  in  the  conflict  of  opinions  now  current 
about   their   true    functions,  will  be  curious  perhaps   to 
know,  if  they  do  not  know  it  already,  how  men  looked  on 
these  questions  in  Anglo-Saxon  days.     In  the  "  Institutes 
of  Polity  "  they  will  learn,  among  other  things,  that  bishops 
are  beadles  (bydelas),  which  means,  however,  not  our  im- 
posing functionary,  but  '  messengers  ' — preachers.      Woe 
to  them  if  they  "  mutter  with  their  jaws  (clumiath  mid 
ceaflum)  when  they  should  speak  aloud  (clypian)."     By 
the   by,  this  word   to   'clepe,'  once   so   common  —  {e.g., 
"Theyclepe  us  drunkards" — Hamlet) — has  entirely  dis- 
appeared from  the  language,  having  been  displaced  by  to 
'call,'  either  in  the  sense  of   to  'cry  aloud,'  as  here,  or 
'to  summon.'     An  instance   this   of   those  many  Norse 
words  which  have  superseded  the  Saxon.     Among  other 
parts  of  a  bishop's  day's-work — daeg-weorc  (viii.) — he  had 
to  attend  to  the  daily  services,  seven  in  number — uhtsang 
(nocturnes  or  lauds),  primsang  (prime),  undernsang,  from 
nine  till  twelve,  then  middag-,  non-,  even-,  and  niht-sang ; 
likewise  to  wash  the  feet  of  the  poor.     "  For  this,"  said  a 
very  busy  bishop  to  the  present  writer,  "  we  really  have  no 
time."     Besides,  a  bishop  had  to  learn  and  practise  some 
handicraft  as  well  as  a  priest  (Edgar's  Canons,  11);   and, 
2-)er  contra,  the  duties  of  the  laity  are  expressly  stated, 
Thus  it  is  enacted,  '•'  Every  man,  from  the  same  craft  where- 
with he  provides  his  body's  needs,  shall  provide  for  that 
of  his  soul  also,  which  is  better  than  his  body"  (ii.  432), 
i.e.,  he  must  see  that  the  clergy  are  not  starved.    Upon  the 


loo  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

^^'hole,  the  laity  seem  to  have  been  pretty  well  taxed. 
First  there  was  the  plough-penny  fifteen  nights  after 
Easter,  and  the  tithing  of  the  young  at  Pentecost,  and  of 
the  fruits  of  the  earth  at  Omnium  Sanctorum,  and  Rome 
money  on  St.  Peter's  Day,  and  church-scot  at  Martinmas 
(ibid.,  54),  &c. 

What  church-wakes  might  degenerate  into  is  clear  from 
Canon  28,  which  prohibits  drink  and  enforces  praying  on 
those  occasions.  Lyke- wakes  must  also  have  been  a  won- 
drous jumble  of  heathendom  and  Christianity.^  ^Ifric's 
Canon  35  orders  "  that  if  a  priest  is  bidden  to  such  cere- 
monies, he  is  to  forbid  the  heathen  songs  of  the  laity" 
(would  that  we  had  some  of  them  !)  "  and  their  loud 
'  cheahchetungs,'  ^  nor  to  eat  or  drink  in  the  room  where 
the  corpse  lies."  Pity  that  nobody  from  Iceland  was  by 
to  present  us  with  a  picture  of  the  scene !  The  dead  man 
stretched  out  without  any  breath  in  his  body,  and  the 
friends  and  relatives  piping  and  '  cheachchetunging '  till 
there  was  very  little  breath  left  in  theirs ;  the  tonsured 
priest  in  his  sober,  well-appointed  suit  contrasting  with 
the  motley  garments  of  the  revellers,  rebuking  the  ill- 
timed  mirth,  and  refusing  the  proffered  refreshments  with 
ill-concealed  hunger  and  thirst  of  countenance,  having 
probably  toiled  thither  on  foot  for  many  a  weary  mile. 
This  bit  of  old  national  custom  is,  in  fact,  left  to  our 
imagination. 

The  sacramental  calic  (chalice)  is  to  be  of  cast  metal, 
'  gegoten,'  not  of  wood,  'treowen'  (41).  But  in  ^Ifric's 
canons  (22),  calic  and  disc  to  be  wrought  of  'clsenum  an- 
timber '  (of  pure  material). 

Canon  58  of  Edgar  (a.d.  957)  runs  thus  :  "  A  priest  must 

1  The  agreement  come  to  at  two  the    human    body    proscribed ;    also 

British   synods  between   Hadrian  I.  Pagan     fashions     in    dress,    slitting 

and  Kings  Offa  and  Cynewulf  (a.d.  horses' ears  and  docking  their  tails  (!), 

786)  throws  a  light  on   the   dogged  and,  what   was   worse,    eating   their 

pertinacity   with   which   the    people  flesh  (Monunienta  Alcuiniana,  p.  155). 

clung    to    the    heathenish    customs.  -  Bosworth  :   "rebuking." 
Here  we  find  painting  and  cicatrising 


THE  LAWS.  loi 

not  be  a  singer  of  songs  at  the  ale-bench  (ealu-scop),  nor 
in  anywise  play  on  an  instrument  (gliwige)  by  himself  or 
before  others  ;  but  he  must  be,  as  becomes  his  calling, 
wise  and  worshipful."  Again,  Canon  64  forbids  a  priest  to 
hunt,  hawk,  or  play  at  tables,  but  to  play  on  his  books,  as 
beseemeth  his  calling.  But  those  in  higher  places  wanted 
restraints  quite  as  much  as  their  subordinates,  as  is  clear 
from  the  letters  of  Boniface  and  Alcuin. 

In  the  Ramsey  Chronicle,  a  Saxon  bishop,  who  wishes 
to  get  some  land  cheap  out  of  a  Dane,  resolves,  most  un- 
episcopally,  to  effect  his  purpose  by  making  the  thirsty 
soul  drunk.  So  the  bout  is  continued  till  long  after  dinner, 
and,  if  we  remember  rightly,  with  complete  success. 

The  description  of  a  princely  secular  monk  in  France  in 
the  ninth  century  indicates  that  our  neighbours  were  no 
better.  "  He  went  about  in  a  military  cloak  with  a  sword. 
He  kept  a  multitude  of  hounds,  went  hunting  daily,  was 
a  first-rate  shot  at  birds  with  a  bow,  and  was  ignorant  of 
letters"  (Pertz,  i.  284;  Kemble,  ii.  45). 

Going  still  farther  back,  we  have  evidence  sufficient  as 
to  the  state  of  things  in  this  country. 

"  It  was  the  public  talk,"  wrote  Bede  to  Ecgbert  (p.  4), 
"  that  some  bishops  serve  Christ  in  such  wise  that  they 
have  not  a  single  follower  of  any  continence  or  religion  at 
all ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  men  given  up  to  laughing,  jocu- 
larity, tables,  revelries,  drunkenness,  and  such  like,  and 
who  daily  feed  their  bellies  with  banquets  rather  than 
their  minds  with  heavenly  sacrifices." 

In  the  ecclesiastical  laws,  and  more  especially  in  the 
various  penitentials  ^  prescribing  penalties  for  divers 
ofiences,  much  light  is  thrown  on  the  early  position  of 
Christianity  in  this  realm,  when  darkness  was  gradually 
dispersing,  though  there  was  long  yet  to  wait  for  anything 

1  For  the  text  of  the  chief  English  foreign,    see    Stubbs    and    Haddan, 

Penitentials,  with  a  lucid  account  of  "Councils,"    &c.,    i.    ix.    sqq.,    and 

their  complicated  literary  history  and  iii.  175  and  413. 
their  various    editors,    English    and 


I03  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

like  clear  daylight.  As  for  the  morality  of  both  clergy 
and  laity,  as  revealed  iu  these  documents,  it  is  best  to  say 
nothing.  But  in  another  point  of  view,  they  throw  some 
curious  light  on  religious  matters.  Heavily  weighted,  in- 
deed, must  the  consciences  of  those  poor  puzzled  heathen 
converts  have  been  ;  for  the  Christianity  current  was  fre- 
quently a  curious  mixture  of  the  false  religion  and  the 
true.  Nay,  the  very  missionaries,  as  "we  have  printed  else- 
where, like  the  Jesuits  in  the  East  many  centuries  after, 
would,  for  convenience'  sake,  often  engraft  slips  of  the  new 
faith  on  remains  of  the  ancient  stock.^  They  constructed, 
so  to  say,  a  sort  of  temporary  jury-mast,  to  keep  the  ark 
of  the  Church,  '  sola-cymba  salutis,'  afloat  in  those  danger- 
ous, unknown  seas,  exposed  to  Pagan  storms.  It  was  with 
this  object,  no  doubt,  that  they  winked  at  the  popular 
regard  for  the  old  times,  places,  and  observances,  whatever 
kings  and  bishops  might  enact  to  the  contrary.  The 
'■  Confessionales  "  of  Theodore,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
668-690,  and  of  Egbert,  Bishop  of  York,  734-766,  about 
a  century  later  than  St.  Cuthbert,  show  the  state  of  things 
subsisting  in  England.  If  any  one  sacrifices  in  a  little 
degree  (m  iiarvis)  to  devils,  let  him  fast  one  year;  if  he 
sacrifices  a  good  deal  {in  viagnis),  ten  years.^ 

Again,  whoever  burns  corn  at  a  place  where  a  man  died 
for  the  good  of  the  survivors,  let  him  fast  five  years  (Theo- 
dore and  Egbert).^ 

(Ihid.)  If  a  woman  sets  her  daughter  over  the  house 

1  Thus  an  old  "catechism  font"  of  tree;  or  witchcraft,  sacrifices,  or  such 

Scandiuavia  exhibits  the  god  Thunor  like  jiractices.     It  may  be  said,  how- 

and  his  exploits,  which  the  catechist,  ever,  that  much  of  the  superstition 

with  the  rustics  all  round  him,  would  then  extant  was  due  to  the  incorpo- 

improve  for  their  edification.     "Thu-  ration  of  so  many  Northmen  into  the 

iior  Carved  on  a  Scandinavian  Font  jjopulation,   who  were  Christians   in 

of  about  the  Year  looo,"  Dr.  G.   Ste-  little  but  in  name. 

jdieus,  London,  1878.  *  It  is  to  be  hojied  that  the  f asters 

-  King  Canute   long   after    enacts  were  allowed  a  sufficiency  of  fish-diet. 

a   special  statute   (Schmidt,    p.   273)  The  people  of  London  were  great  con- 

against  worshipping  of  heathen  gods,  sumers  apparently  of  this  esculent, 

or  the  sun  or  the  moon,  fire  or  flood,  In  Ethelred's  "  Instituta  Lundoiiiae," 

water-wells  or  stones,  or  any  kind  of  g  2,  mention  is  made  of  the  men  of 


THE  LA  WS.  103 

or  in  the  oven  (a  kind  of  '  passing  through  the  fire  to 
Moloch'),  in  order  to  cure  her  of  a  fever,  let  her  fast 
five  years — an  ordinance  repeated  in  the  Penitential  of 
Bartholomew,  Bishop  of  Exeter,  1161  (Reliquise  Antiquae, 
p.  280). 

Whoever  uses  auguries  and  false  divinations,  or  makes 
vows  to  a  tree  or  anything  except  the  Church,  let  him  be 
excommunicated,  whether  lay  or  cleric ;  or  let  the  cleric 
undergo  penance  for  three  years,  the  laic  for  two  years. 

Those  who  wear  diabolic  phylacteries  (charms),  or  who 
do  honour  to  Jupiter,  or  calculate  the  kalends  of  January 
as  the  Pagans  do,  a  cleric  to  do  penance  five  years,  a  laic 
three  years. 

Here  we  see  cropping  up  in  a  somewhat  amusing 
shape  that  principle  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  law,  the  valua- 
tion of  a  man  and  the  imposition  of  a  penalty  according 
to  his  rank  and  station.  "  The  wer  (here  taken  out  in 
fasting)  was  the  penalty,"  says  liosworth,  "  by  which  his 
safety  was  guarded  and  his  crimes  prevented  and  punished. 
If  he  violated  certain  laws,  it  was  his  legal  mulct ;  if  he 
were  himself  attacked,  it  was  the  penalty  inflicted  on 
others.  Hence  it  became  the  measure  and  mark  of  a  man's 
personal  rank  and  consequence,  because  its  amount  was 
exactly  regulated  by  his  condition  in  life." 

Prom  the  last  we  see  that  stray  clergy  were  addicted  to 
sorcery.  But  what  is  the  following  but  chartered  sorcery, 
l^ure  and  simple,  with  full  benefit  of  clergy — the  way  to 
restore  fertility  to  land  rendered  sterile  by  witchcraft  or 
sorcery  ? 

"  Take  by  night,  before  it  is  dawn  "  ^  (for  then  the  power 

Rouen,  who  came  to  Bylynsgate  'cum  blood.  A  saving  clause  used  to  be 
vino  et  craspice.'  This  latter  was  a  introduced  whereby  the  offender,  if  of 
very  fat  kind  of  whale,  which  was  weakly  constitution,  might  commute 
caught  in  great  quantities  by  tlie  ex-  his  fasting  for  so  many  masses,  ac- 
pert  Northmen.  The  toll  was  six  cording  to  a  regular  tariff, 
shillings  for  a  large  ship,  and  the  ^  "Anglo-Saxon  Leechdoms," Cock- 
twentieth  part  of  the  fish,  ayne,  vol.  i.  p.  399.  Thorpe,  "Ana- 
But  there  was  another  method  of  lecta,"  p.  117,  printed  from  unique 
escape    for    poor   human   flesh    and  MS.  in  Cotton  Library. 


104  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

of  witchery  ceased),  "  four  pieces  of  turf  from  four  sides  of 
the  land.  Then  take  oil,  honey,  and  barm,  and  the  milk 
of  all  tlie  cattle  on  the  land,  and  a  bit  of  every  tree  grow- 
ing there  except  hard  beam,  and  a  bit  of  every  principal 
herb  except  burr ;  pour  on  these  holy  water,  then  sprinkle 
thrice  the  place  where  the  turf  grew,  repeating  these  words 
thrice,  '  Crescite  {i.e.,  increase),  multiplicamini  {i.e.,  multi- 
ply), et  replete  terram  {i.e.,  and  replenish  the  earth),  in 
nomine  Patris,'  &c.  Say  paternoster  an  equal  number  of 
times  ;  then  carry  the  turf  to  the  church,  and  let  the  mass 
priest  sing  four  masses  over  it,  the  green  side  turned  to- 
w\ards  the  altar ;  and  then  carry  the  turf  before  sunset  to 
the  place  they  came  from  ;  and  have  ready  made  of  juniper 
tree  four  crucifixes,  and  write  on  each  end  Mattheus, 
Marcus,  Lucas,  and  Johanneo.  Lay  the  crucifix  down  in  the 
hole,  and  say,  'Crux,  Mattheus;  crux, Marcus ;  crux,  Lucas  ; 
crux,  Johannes.'  Then  take  tlie  turf  and  place  it  thereon, 
repeating  nine  times  the  word  '  Crescite'  and  Pater  noster. 
Then  turn  to  the  east,  and  make  an  obeisance  nine  times, 
and  say  these  words — 

'  Eastward  I  stand, 
Mercies  I  beg : 
I  beg  the  great  God, 
The  mighty  Lord, 
I  beg  the  holy 
Guard  of  heaven  ; 
I  beg  earth 
And  high  heaven, 
And  the  true 
Sancta  Maria, 
And  the  lofty  mansion, 
That  I  may  this  enchantment,^ 
By  the  favour  of  the  Lord, 
Utter  with  my  teeth, 
With  firm  mind. 
Awaken  the  fruits 


1  The  very  word  used,  '  gealdor '  (Is.  Galdor),  is  a  heathen  term  =  enchant- 
ments, used  of  the  Egyptian  enchantments,  Exod.  vii.,  and  of  Circe  to  her 
pigs. 


THE  LA  \VS.  105 

Unto  us  for  worldly  use, 
May  fill  the  earth 
With  firm  belief,  '  "  &c. 

After  thrice  turning  to  the  east,  a  prostration  on  the 
earth,  sundry  litanies  and  sanctuses,  a  benedicite  pro- 
nounced with  arms  outstretched,  &c.,  the  chief  personage 
in  this  ceremonial  takes  some  unknown  seed  from  alms- 
men, gathers  all  the  ploughing  instruments  together,  places 
on  the  beam  incense,  fennel,  consecrated  soap  and  conse- 
crated salt ;  then  he  is  to  take  the  seed,  set  it  on  the 
plough,  and  say — 

"  Arch,  arch,  arch  ! 
Mother  of  earth, 
Grant  to  thee,  the  omnipotent. 
Eternal  Lord, 
Fields  growing 
And  flourishing, 
Fructifying 
And  strengthening,"  &c. 

Furthermore,  on  turning  the  first  sod,  one  is  to  say — 

"  Hail  to  thee,  earth. 
Mother  of  men  ! 
Be  thou  growing 
In  the  bosom  of  God, 
Filled  with  food 
Fur  the  use  of  man,"  &c. 

Very  probably  the  whole  of  this  ceremony  and  the  spell 
itself  are  survivals  of  heathendom  with  slight  alterations. 
The  '  archmother '  looks  very  like  the  goddess  Freyja,  the 
Northern  Ceres.  In  the  Scandinavian  sagas  we  have  con- 
stant references  to  solemn  sacrifices  to  ensure  a  year  of 
plenty.  When  the  first  sod  of  a  railway  is  turned  with 
religious  ceremonies,  we  are  really  following  in  the  wake 
of  our  heathen  progenitors.  So  our  Christmas  holly  is  a 
reminiscence  of  the  feasting  booths,  adorned  with  ever- 
greens, which  the  Pagan  Anglo-Saxons  set  up  at  Yuletide 
in  the  neighboitrhood  of  their  temples. 

We  have  siven  above  a  Ions  formula  for  making  earth 


io6  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

fertile,  but  St.  Cuthbert  cut  the  affair  much  shorter.  When 
those  naughty  birds  alighted  on  his  barley-field,  and  were 
getting  it  all  up  as  fast  as  they  could,  he  addressed  them, 
"  Why  do  you  touch  the  corn  which  you  did  not  sow  ? 
I'erhaps  you  have  more  need  of  it  than  I.  If  you  have 
God's  permission  to  do  it,  go  on ;  but  if  not,  away  with 
you,  and  cease  to  injure  what  is  not  your  own."  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  the  whole  flock  flew  away  and  never 
came  again.  Nay,  more :  those  crows  who  pulled  the 
thatch  off  the  cell  of  the  brethren  to  build  their  nests,  on 
being  expostulated  with  by  Cuthbert,  flew  away,  it  is  true, 
but  came  to  the  saint  three  days  after,  with  drooping 
feathers  and  hanging  heads,  as  he  was  digging  in  his 
garden — the  very  picture  of  that  penitent  '  Jackdaw  of 
Piheims,'  drawn  to  the  life  by  Cruikshank — and  signified 
their  contrition,  as  well  as  birds  could,  asking  his  forgive- 
ness. He  granted  it ;  whereupon  two  of  the  culprits 
brought  him  a  large  piece  of  swine's  fat,  which  the  holy 
man  used  often  to  show  to  the  brethren  who  visited  him, 
and  gave  them  some  of  it  to  grease  their  boots,  with  many 
wise  observations  on  the  bright  example  of  humility  and 
obedience  which  these  birds,  naturally  so  proud,  set  to 
mankind  (Cuthb.,  c.  20). 

Let  us  observe,  lastly,  that  it  is  chiefly  from  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  laws  we  obtain  trustworthy  information  on  the 
status  of  the  fair  sex,  which,  upon  the  whole,  seems  to 
have  been  verv  tolerable. 


(     I07     ) 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

AXGLO-SAXON    CHARTER'S. 

But  another  source  of  information  about  the  Saxons, 
and  a  most  reliable  one,  is  still  to  be  mentioned — the 
charters,  and  wills,  and  other  like  documents.  In  some 
of  these  deeds  we  discern  the  foundation  laid  of  a  court 
and  aristocracy  by  the  gesiSas  (comrades)  of  a  warlike 
leader,  from  whom,  in  reward  of  their  services,  they  re- 
ceived gifts  of  horses,  of  arms,  and  jewels,  and  lands ;  a 
custom  for  which,  besides  these  papers,  the  testimony  of 
Tacitus  is  equally  decisive.  Here  we  have  grants  of  land 
by  royal  personages,^  to  the  aggrandisement  of  the  lords, 
the  ruin  of  the  free  cultivators,  the  encouragement  of 
brigandage,  and  the  impairment  of  the  national  defences. 
For  be  it  noted  this  land  was  often  carved  out  of  the 
national  stock  (folkland),  and  became  private  property 
(bocland),  instead  of  being  only  a  life  tenure;  the  upshot 
being  a  state  of  things  more  ruinous  to  the  country  than 
all  the  Northern  invasions,  and  paving  the  way  for  Canute's 
and  the  Conqueror's  easy  victories.  In  Kemble's  volume, 
if  we  don't  see  how  the  folkmot,  or  muster  of  the  freemen 
of  the  country,  gradually  became  converted  into  a  repre- 
sentative assembly  of  popular  councillors,  yet  the  powers, 
functions,  and  composition  of  the  witenagemot  are  iu 
some  degree  ascertainable.  Cod.  Dip.,  1019,  shows  us 
that  the  proceedings  of  the  witan  commenced  with  divine 

1  DiplomatoriumAnglo-Saxonicum,  Thorpe,  1865,  the  earliest  document 
•J.  M.  Kemble,  1839,  sqq.  Diplo-  in  whicli  is  by  Ethelbert,  kiug  of 
matorium   Anglicum  ^Evi  Saxouici,     Kent,  A.D.  605. 


loS  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

service  and  a  profession  of  adherence  to  the  Catliolic 
faith.  Nay,  "  every  charter  in  the  book,  which  is  not 
merely  a  private  will  or  a  private  settlement,  is  the 
genuine  act  of  some  witenagemot,  and  we  thus  possess  a 
long  and  interesting  series  of  records,  enabling  us  to  fol- 
low the  actions  of  Saxon  parliaments  from  the  very  cradle 
of  our  monarchy."  These  documents  are  often  prefaced 
by  a  Latin  exordium,  ridiculous  for  its  pedantry  and 
bombast,  which  savours  of  Byzantine  influence — a  taste 
for  the  Greek  language  having  first  been  introduced  into 
England  with  the  school  of  Archbishop  Theodore  at  Can- 
terbury. Such  is  the  preface  ^  to  a  will,  dating  28th  May 
934,  which,  perhaps,  amounts  to  '  In  the  name  of  God, 
Amen.'  The  document  ends,  however,  in  sober  Saxon. 
Another  charter  by  King  ^thelred,  in  the  same  high 
falutin  tone  by  way  of  preamble,  gives  a  concise  history 
of  the  creation,  temptation,  and  expulsion  of  Adam  from 
Paradise.  Here  we  find  a  reference  made  to  the  '  quadri- 
formis  plasmatum  materia,'  the  four  different  substances 
which  went  to  the  making  of  our  first  parents,  and  which 
forms  one  of  the  riddles  in  "  Solomon  and  Saturn,"  here- 
after to  be  mentioned. 

Then,  again,  observe  the  names  of  the  boundaries  in 
grants  of  land,  which,  whatever  the  language  of  the  docu- 
ment itself,  are  generally  in  the  vernacular.  Some  hill, 
stream,  remarkable  tree,  well,  sepulchral  tumulus,  fox 
earth  (foxhyl),  otter's  lair  (oteres  sceaga),  beaver's  burn, 
salmon  pool,  serve  to  bring  before  us  the  features  of  the 
country. 


1  As  a  fair  specimen  we  will  quote  or  a  Lilly  afterwards.     But  perhaps 

it:    "Summopere,    festinandum   est  ^Ethelstan's  grant  to  the  monks   at 

ad   amoena  indicibilis   Lretitise   arva,  Malmesbury    Abbey     (935)     outdoes 

ubi   angelicse    ymnidicaj   jubilationis  everything  else  in  the   stilted   pom- 

organa,  mellifluaque  vernantium  ro-  posity  of  its  preamble.     Well  might 

sarum   adoramina  a  bonis  beatisque  Malmesbury  say  of  the  Anglo  Saxons, 

naribus  inestimabiliter  dulcia  capiun-  "  pompatice     dictare     solent "     (De 

tur,  sinequecalce  auribus  clivipparum  Pontiff.,  v.).    Many  of  these  charters 

suavia  audiuntur."   We  are  reminded  are  mere  monkish  fabrications, 
here  of  the  coxcombry  of  a  Stanihurst 


ANGLO-SAXON  CHARTERS.  109 

The  '  wolf's  pit,'  in  a  charter  of  Edward  the  Confessor, 
conveying  lands  near  Braintree,  illustrates  the  ancient 
fauna  of  Essex. 

Here  is  quite  a  picture  in  a  description  of  boundaries. 
"  Along  the  fence  (hagan)  to  the  head  of  Tyrwen's  '  slade,' 
along  the  Thorngrove  over  Husseburne  to  Godsdene,  .  .  . 
along  the  fence  to  the  bottomless  pit,  right  on  to  Eaven's 
Dene,  to  the  old  maple  south  of  Tuta's  mere,  .  .  .  round 
the  gore  to  the  withy  tree,  thence  to  the  hoar  apple- 
tree." 

One  calls  to  mind  the  battle  of  Ashdown.  "  There  stood 
on  the  spot,"  says  Florence  of  Worcester,  copying  from 
some  older  source  which  he  does  not  mention,  "  a  solitaiy 
thorn-tree,  of  stunted  growth  (I  have  seen  it  with  my 
eyes),  round  which  the  hostile  armies  engaged  with  loud 
cries." 

A  still  higher  interest  attaches  to  the  boundaries  with 
names  derived  from  mythological  personages,  which  supply 
us  no  trifling  links,  as  Kemble  says,  in  the  chain  of  evi- 
dence, showing  that  the  mythology  current  in  Germany 
and  Scandinavia  unquestionably  prevailed  to  a  great  extent 
in  England  also. 

Then  again  the  sealtara  hroc,  the  brook  of  the  Salters, 
reminds  us  of  what  a  passage  in  the  Colloquy  of  ^Ifric 
still  more  directly  brings  before  us,  that  the  meat  in 
those  days  was  generally  eaten  salted  during  half  the 
year,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  keeping  the  cattle  fit 
for  food  in  the  winter.  The  names  of  artificial  bound- 
aries enable  us  to  glance  at  the  private  life,  as  it  were, 
of  the  people,  their  mode  of  agriculture,  their  trades, 
as  apparent  in  their  quarries,  mines,  mills,  weirs,  and 
enclosures.  In  these  documents,  besides,  w^e  have  the 
name  '  tun,'  denoting  in  England,  as  in  Old  Nosse,  '  the 
enclosure,'  the  homestead,  and  '  ham,'  as  an  adjunct  to 
names  of  places,  '  the  home,'  the  thing  which  surrounds, 
protects :  the  most  sacred  of  all  the  words  by  which  the 
dwellings  of  men  are  called;   a  name  from  which  also 


no  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

'  haeraed,'  the  most  intimate  relation  between  the  sexes, 
originates.^ 

A  will,  that  of  JEthelstan,  the  Atheling,  son  of  King 
Etlielred  (between  1012-1016),  is  particularly  interesting 
from  the  variety  of  bequests  to  his  friends.  To  one  he 
leaves  the  sword  with  the  silver  hilt  wrought  by  Wulfric, 
and  the  golden  belt,  and  the  'drenc  horn  Se  ic  set  Sam 
hirede  gebohte  on  Ealdan  mynstre,' — the  drinking-horn 
which  I  bought  of  the  family  at  Old  Minster  (Winchester), 
Then  we  have  a  trumpet  cased  witli  silver,  and  a  sword 
that  Offii  the  king  had,^  and  also  a  malswurd,  inlaid  sword 
(Is.  mala-sax),^  and  a  mouse-coloured  steed,  and  one  day's 
food  yearly  to  the  fraternity  of  Ely.  They  also  by  a  will 
of  Eadgar's  got  yearly  ten  thousand  eels,  which  from  olden 
days  had  accrued  to  the  king  within  the  isle  for  military 
service  from  the  folk  of  Wells  (Thorpe,  242).  So  again 
Wulfred  of  Sempringham  provides  them  every  year  two 
tuns  of  bright  ale  and  ten  measures  of  Welsh  ale.  And 
"let  him  give  every  year  to  the  lord  of  the  church  a 
horse  and  thirty  shillings,  and  one  niglit's  entertainment, 
fifteen  measures  of  bright  ale,  five  measures  of  Welsh  ale, 
and  fifteen  sesters  of  mild  ale."  To  keep  the  ecclesiastics 
warm  during  their  potations.  Abbot  Ceolred  further  enacts 
(a.d.  852)  that  Wulfred  shall  every  year  provide  sixty 
fothers  of  wood,  and  twelve  fothers  of  pit  coal,  and  six 
f others  of  faggots  (Thorpe,  104). 

^  Cf.  Thorpe,  558.  smith,  Weland,  is  commemorated  in 
-"Was  this  the  weapon  with  which  he  "Horn  Childe" — 
had  poor  Ethelbert of  East  Angliatrca-  "  It  is  the  make  (mate)  of  Miming, 
cherously  decapitated  at  liis  strong-  Of  all  swords  it  is  king  ; 
hold,   Sutton  Walls,  near  Hereford  ?  And  Weland  it  wrought, 
Offa  died  794.    So  that  this  sword  was  Bittefer  it  hight." 
more  than  two  centuries  old  !    But  old  '  Such  a  weapon   as  Sigurd  (alias 
swords  were  quite  the  rage.   Hrunting  Gunnar)  on  his  nuptial  night  laid  he- 
Beowulf's  sword  was  treasured  from  tween  himself  and  his  Valkyr  bride, 
old,    and    when   it   failed,    the   hero  Brynhild    (Sigurda-kviSa,  iii.  4.  ;  of. 
catches  up  a  Jutish  weapon,  on  which  Judith  xi. )  "  Maeled  swyrd,"  Is.  mahi- 
was  a  Runic  inscription,  showing  that  sax,    i.e.,    sword    with   inlaid   blade, 
it  was  the  work  of  antediluvian  giants,  such  as  are  now  found  in  the  Danish 
The  dexterity  of  the  famous  sword-  tumuli. 


ANGLO-SAXON  CHA  R TERS.  1 1 1 

Xot  that  the  clergy  were  mere  recipients  of  victuals. 
Far  from  it.  Jewels,  cups,  rings,  caskets,  coins,  tapestry, 
vestments,  were  the  trifles  thrown  into  their  coffers,  along 
with  markets,  forests,  fisheries,  mines,  flocks  and  herds. 
But  they  were  a  very  useful  class  ^  in  many  ways.  The 
State  knew  their  value,  and  rewarded  them  well,  on  the 
understanding  doubtless  that  they  must  eventually  dis- 
gorge some  of  the  plunder.  Thus  Bishop  Theodred  of  the 
Londoners  leaves  a  heriot  to  his  lord,  to  wit,  two  hundred 
marks  of  red  gold,  two  silver  cups,  four  horses,  the  best  he 
has,  two  swords,  the  best  he  has  (Cod.  Dip.,  937).  Did 
the  king  use  these  himself  or  submit  them  to  the  hammer, 
or  how  ? 

The  sign  of  the  cross  in  witnessing  documents  we 
find  universal ;  and  from  them  we,  or  at  least  the  un- 
lettered among  us,  retain  it  to  this  day.  The  inviolability 
of  whatsoever  had  this  mark  upon  it  had  been  decreed  by 
a  council.  But,  as  Kemble  remarks,-  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  an  older  heathen  feeling  did  not  lurk,  at  first, 
under  this  symbol :  whether,  in  short,  such  a  mark,  coin- 
ciding as  it  did  with  the  hammer  of  Thor  or  Thunor,  the 
true  heathen  symbol  in  all  contracts,  may  not  have  been 
held  as  binding  among  the  Saxons,  even  before  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity.  Again,  in  these  days,  when,  as  if 
in  life  Englishmen  were  not  disputatious  enough,  dead 
people  insist  upon  being  interred  in  the  parish  churchyard, 
but  not  by  the  clergyman  of  the  parish,  it  is  interesting  to 
lift  up  the  pall  from  the  coffin  of  those  days,  and  hear 
what  the  Anglo-Saxons  did  and  thought  in  these  matters 
(Cod.  Dip.,  1289). 

The  business  habits  of  our  forefathers  come  out  in 
documents  such  as  the  declaration  of  Queen  Eadgifu 
about  her  land  at  Couling  (a.d.  960).  Her  father  had 
borrowed  money  on  some  land  of  one  Goda :  subsequently 
being  about  to  set  out  for  the  wars,  "  he  was  unwilling 

1  Kemble,  ii.  495.  -  Cod.  Dip.,  i.  94,  introduction. 


112  OLD  ENGLISH  L  ITER  A  TURE. 

to  go  without  having  paid  off  the  thirty  pounds,  and 
bequeathed  the  land  to  his  daughter  by  document."  He 
fell  in  battle,  when  Goda  pretended  the  mortgage  was  not 
paid.  The  suit  instituted  by  the  lady  went  on  with  vary- 
ing fortunes  through  two  or  three  reigns  (Edward,  Athel- 
stan,  Eadgar),  much  like  a  modern  Chancery  suit ;  and  on 
the  land  in  question  being  adjudged  to  her,  she  seems  to 
have  thought  it  best  to  get  rid  of  it  altogether,  and  be- 
queathed it  in  solemn  form  to  Christ  Church,  Canterbury, 
for  the  good  of  her  soul,  imprecating  a  curse  on  any  one 
who  should  seek  to  alienate  it  from  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities.^ 

But  there  are  also  touches  of  sentiment  apparent  in 
these  wills.  Thus  a  lady  leaves  her  female  friend  Ethel- 
flted  all  the  things  that  are  unbequeathed  in  her  testa- 
ment, "such  as  books  and  such  little  things,"  and  she 
believes  she  will  be  mindful  of  her  soul. 

That  the  strong-minded,  mettlesome  woman  of  Scandi- 
navia (Skorunger)  was  not  wanting  in  England  appears 
from  a  charter  dating  1036,  in  the  days  of  our  Scandina- 
vian King  Canute.2  At  a  shiremoot  at  ^gelnoth's  Stone, 
whereat  was  present  on  the  king's  errand  Tofig  Prud,  who 
was  clearly  a  Northman,  one  Eadwine  complains  that  his 
mother  kept  back  from  him  some  land  that  belonged  to 
him.  Three  Thanes  are  accordingly  despatched  forthwith 
to  the  lady  at  her  residence,  and  they  questioned  her  on 
the  matter.  Whereupon  she  was  bitterly  incensed  against 
her  son,  and  repudiated  the  claim.  Further,  she  called 
the  wife  of  Thorkil  the  White,  her  kinswoman,  and  said, 
"  I  give  to  her  not  only  my  land,  but  my  gold  and  garments 
and  robes,  and  all  that  I  own,  after  my  day."  As  who 
should  say,  '  I  cut  off  Eadwine  with  a  shilling,'  or  rather 
nothing.  Likely  enough  his  mother,  whose  name  is  not 
given,  was,  like  Thorkil  the  White,  to  judge  from  his  name, 
of  Northern  lineas^^e. 

1  Thorpe,  201.  2  ibij.^  335, 


ANGLO-SAXON  CHARTERS.  X13 

The  extent  to  which  swine-feediug  was  carried  is 
clear  from  the  will  of  Alfred  the  alderman,  mentioned 
above,  who  bequeaths  two  thousand  pigs  to  his  wife, 
along  with  certain  lands,  if  she  holds  the  saime  in  celi- 
bacy. He  quaintly  adds  that  she  is  to  give  a  hundred 
swine  to  Christchurch,  Canterbury,  for  him  and  his  soul. 
That  hundreds  of  unbitted  "  wild "  and  "  forest "  horses 
then  roamed  about  is  clear  from  Thorpe,  539,  548.  In 
those  days,  when  the  land  was  all  like  Exmoor  now, 
cattle-stealers  of  course  abounded.  One  case  is  recorded 
near  Fonthill,  where  the  culprit  is  detected  by  a  scratch 
on  the  face  from  a  bramble  which  he  encountered  in  his 
flight.  King  Canute  (ibid.,  317)  deposits  the  kingly  crown 
from  his  head  on  Christ's  altar  at  Canterbury,  and  grants 
to  the  same  monastery  the  haven  of  Sandwich,  with  all 
the  landings  and  dues  on  both  sides  of  the  stream,  who- 
ever the  owner  of  the  land  may  be,  from  Pepperness 
to  Marfleet  as  far  as  a  taper  sex  (halberd)  can  be  thrown 
from  a  ship  afloat  when  it  is  full  flood  upon  the  land. 
This  was  a  case  of  '  foreshore '  with  a  vengeance.  But 
the  rights  of  the  monks  went  farther.  "  If  tliere  is 
aught  in  the  great  sea  without  the  haven,  as  far  as  the 
sea  at  the  utmost  recedes,  and  yet  the  length  of  a  man 
holding  a  pole  in  his  hand,  and  stretching  himself  as 
far  as  he  can  reach  into  the  sea."  The  monks  had 
also  half  the  jetsam  and  flotsam  brought  to  Sandwich, 
before  it  became  choked  up  and  turned  into  dry  land. 
Harold  Harefoot  subsequently  seized  Sandwich  from  the 
monks,  but  he  w^as  not  destined  to  keep  it.  They  bided 
their  time,  which  came  in  1038  (ibid.,  p.  339).  The 
King  lay  sick  at  Oxford,  and  Tancred  the  monk,  and 
others  of  his  cloth,  are  Hitting  about  the  sick-room, 
holding  a  brief,  no  doubt,  from  their  dispossessed  friends 
at  Canterbury,  Tancred  and  Co,  told  the  King  that  he 
had  greatly  sinned  in  taking  anything  from  Christ- 
church,  Canterbury,  which  his  predecessors  had  given 
thereto.     "  At  this  speech  the  king  as  he  lay  all  black- 

H 


1 14  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERA  TURK. 

enod  said  that  it  was  never  by  his  rede  or  deed  that 
Sandwich  was  taken  away."  It  is  needless  to  add  that 
the  Canterbury  folk  got  all  their  privileges  back  again. 
Land  so  granted  was  secured  by  fearful  imprecations 
on  any  one  who  violated  the  grant  of  it.  Such  a  person 
"  after  his  accursed  departure,  may  he  ever  lie  in  the 
bottomless  pit  of  hell,  and  burn  in  everlasting  fire  with 
the  devil  and  his  angels,  ever  without  end,  unless  before 
his  departure  he  makes  atonement "  (King  Eadgar's  grant 
to  Winchester,  963 ;  Thorpe,  317). 

Among  the  miscellaneous  charters  (Thorpe,  428)  we 
have  an  interesting  will  of  Leofric  (io5o-io73\  Bishop 
of  Exeter.  After  a  recital  of  the  property  herewith 
bequeathed  to  the  cathedral,  of  the  burnished  roods, 
the  little  silver  neck-roods,  the  great  Christ's  books,  the 
vestments,  the  coverlets,  the  hangings,  candlesticks  and 
censers,  the  hung-up  bells  and  the  hand -bells,  the 
homilies  and  hymn  books,  &c.,  we  come  upon  "  a  book  of 
Boethius  in  English"  (clearly  Alfred's  translation),  and 
"  a  mickle  English  book  about  divers  things,  wrought 
song- wise,"  which  can  only  allude  to  the  famous  "  Codex 
Exoniensis,"  discussed  elsewhere. 

And  with  this  we  will  close  our  stray  samples  of  these 
instructive  documents. 


(     115    ) 


CHAPTER  A'lII. 

ANGLO-SAXON  POETRY. — BEOWULF,   BRUNANBURH,   ETC. 

TuRX  we  now  to  Anglo-Saxon  poetry.i  With  the  excep- 
tion of  Scandinavia,  no  other  people  of  Europe  has  left  such 
a  stock.  First  and  foremost  comes  "  Beowulf,"  a  poem 
upwards  of  6000  lines  in  length,  which  in  epic  breadth 
surpasses  anything  extant  from  those  times,  whether 
the  offspring  of  Scandinavia  or  England.  But,  remark- 
ably enough,  while  Snorri  constantly  cites  or  alludes  to 
the  poems  of  his  countrymen,  Beowulf  is  nowhere  men- 
tioned by  any  Anglo-Saxon  author,  which  seems  to  cor- 
roborate the  idea  that  originally  it  was  not  an  indigenous 
production.  At  all  events,  it  is  unlike  any  extant 
specimen  of  Anglo-Saxon  poetry,  excepting,  perhaps 
Andreas  or  Elene.  The  date  of  its  composition  has  been 
much  debated.  By  Conybeare  it  was  thought,  in  its 
present  shape,  to  be  the  work  of  the  bards  about 
Canute's  court.  The  leading  incidents  of  the  plot 
are  as  follows :  —  Beowulf,  the  son  of  Ecgtheow  and 
prince  in  Scania  (South  Sweden),  hearing  how  for  twelve 
long  years  King  Hrothgar  and  his  people  in  North 
Jutland  had  been  mightily  oppressed  by  a  monster, 
Grendel,  resolves  to  deliver  him,  and  arrives  at  Hart 
Hall,  the  Jutish  palace,  as  an  avenger.  During  the 
night  the  monster  appears  in  the  hall,  where  the  warriors 
lay  on  bed  and  bolster  upon  the  floor,  and  after  devour- 
ing a  man-at-arms,  steps  towards  the  couch  on  which 
lay  Beowulf  all  on  the  alert,  and  makes  a  grip  at  him, 
but  soon  finds  he  has  caught  a  tartar.     A  desperate  tussle 

1  See  Grein,  "  Bibliothek  der  Angelsiichsischen  Poesie  mit  Glossar,"  now 
out  of  print,  which  embraces  the  whole  subject. 


1 1 6  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

ensues,  the  upshot  of  which  is  that  Grendel  retreats  to 
his  fen-shelter  minus  an  arm,  which  had  been  torn  off 
by  Beowulf.  The  following  night  the  mother  of  Grendel, 
in  revenge  for  her  son's  mortal  wound,  carries  off  an  old 
friend  of  Hrothgar's,  ^schere.  He  follows  her  to  her 
liiding-place  beneath  the  dread  waters  of  the  bottomless 
lake,  and  after  a  hand-to-hand  encounter,  where  the 
result  hung  long  in  the  balance,  destroys  both  mother 
and  son,  the  devil  and  his  dam.  Towards  the  close  of 
the  poem  the  epic  continuity  is  broken  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  new  character,  Wigiaf ;  and  when  the  interest  of 
the  story  has  culminated,  there  is  the  anti-climax  of  a 
fight  between  Beowulf  and  the  fire-dragon.  Nevertheless, 
in  this  great  poem  there  are  passages  of  much  vivid 
simplicity  and  beauty :  e.g..  Canto  v.,  where  Beowulf  and 
his  men,  witli  their  stout  shields,  grey  sarks,  and  visor 
helms,  march  along  the  stone-varied  street  to  the  hall  of 
Hrothgar,  and  are  received  by  old  and  hairless  chiefs ;  or 
line  2649,  where  Hrothgar  speaks — 

"  Ask  not  after  happiness  ; 
Sorrow  is  renewed 
To  the  Danes'  people, 
^schere  is  dead, 
Yrmenlaf's 
Elder  brother, 
The  partaker  of  my  secrets 
And  my  counsellor, 
Who  stood  at  my  elboAV 
When  we  in  battle 
Our  mail  hoods  defended, 
When  troops  rushed  together, 
And  boar-crests  crashed. 

"  Ever  should  an  Earl  be 
Valiant  as  ^schere. 
Of  him  in  Heorot 
A  cunning  fatal  guest 
Has  become  the  slayer. 

Now  the  hand  lies  low 
Which  was  good  to  you  all 
For  all  your  desires." 


BEOWULF.  \\^ 

Take  again  the  hiding-place  of  Grendel's  mother.  Each 
night  is  seen  fire  beneath  tliat  flood,  over  which  hangs  a 
barky  grove.  Should  some  poor  stag,  close  pressed  by  the 
hounds,  chance  to  reach  this  spot,  he  will  rather  resign 
his  life  upon  the  shore  than  plunge  into  the  horrid  pool 
(1.  2731).  This  beautiful  touch,  perhaps  the  most  beau- 
tiful in  the  poem,  and  worthy  of  the  author  of  "As 
You  Like  It,"  if  due  to  a  monk,  does  him  infinite  credit. 
Throughout  the  poem  it  is  easy  to  point  out  what  parts 
belong  to  the  old  heathen  legend  and  what  are  due  to 
a  Christian  paraphrast.  In  Canto  xxxviii.,  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  dragon's  cave  with  its  treasure,  "  the  old  work 
of  the  giants,"  and  the  fainting  Beowulf,  with  the 
mysterious  light  that  shot  within  the  scene,  are  after  the 
manner  of  the  author  of  "  Vathek"  (1.  5505) — 

"  Saw  then  the  bold  thane 
Treasure  jewels  many, 
Glittering  gold 
Heavy  on  the  ground, 
Wonders  in  the  mound 
And  the  worm's  den, 
The  old  twilight-flyer's, 
Bowls  standing  ; 
Vessels  of  men  of  yore 
With  the  mountings  f'aH'n  off. 
There  was  many  a  helm 
Old  and  rusty, 
Armlets  many 
Cunningly  fastened. 
He  also  saw  hang  heavily 
An  ensign  all  golden 
High  o'er  the  hoard, 
Of  hand- wonders  greatest, 
Wrought  by  spells  of  song, 
From  Avhich  shot  a  light, 
So  that  he  the  ground-surface 
Might  perceive, 
The  wonders  overscan." 

Such  imaginative  forms  of  thought  as  the  above  would 
thrive   to   perfection   iu    a  weird  laud   like   Iceland,  so 


1 1 8  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

different  in  her  suggestiveness  from  the  less  stimulating 
landscape  of  England.  And  accordingly,  if  we  examine 
"  Beowulf  "  along  with  the  "  G-rettisaga,"  said  to  have  been 
written  down  from  an  ancient  tradition  by  the  nephew  of 
Snorri,  Sturla  Thordarson  (died  1284),  we  find  a  striking 
resemblance  between  the  deeds  of  Beowulf  the  Goth — 
'  moncynnes  m£egenes  strengest '  (the  strongest  of  mankind 
in  might),  who  had  in  his  hand-gripe  the  power  of  thirty 
men  (1.  764),  who  beat  ignominiously  the  champion 
swimmer,  Brecca — and  of  Grettir  the  Strong,  the  great 
Icelandic  hero,  who  swam  miles  for  his  life,  which  we  will 
proceed  to  trace. 

A  real  man  was  this  Grettir,  like  Beowulf,  but  in  whose 
history  there  is  much  mythical  accretion.  He  lived  early 
in  the  eleventh  century,  and  was  a  notable  Scald. 

Long  had  the  farm  of  Thorald,  in  Shadow  Dale,  one  of 
those  dreary  recesses  of  Vasdal  in  North  Iceland  (which 
we  once  visited),  been  haunted  by  the  powers  of  darkness, 
till  at  last  it  got  into  such  evil  repute  that  poor  Thorald 
was  at  his  wits'  end  even  to  get  a  cowherd.  In  this  strait 
he  goes  to  the  Althing,  and  meets  with  a  big  fellow  with 
large  staring  blue  eyes  and  hair  of  a  wolf-grey,  who  came 
from  Sweden.  True,  the  very  sight  of  him  gives  Thorald 
quite  a  start,  but  a  talk  ensues,  and  the  stranger — his 
name  is  Glamr — agrees  to  come  in  the  autumn  to  be 
cowherd  in  Shadow  Dale.  Glamr  "  likes  ghosts,  they 
would  make  the  place  less  dull."  In  due  time  the  new 
shepherd  arrives.  He  was  shrill  and  deep-voiced.  When 
he  called,  the  cattle  huddled  together  in  a  trice;  there 
were  no  stragglers.  At  Christmas  Glamr  would  not  go 
with  the  other  folks  to  the  church,  which  was  near.  He 
was  no  friend  to  psalm-singing,  not  he,  neither  would  he 
fast  on  Christmas  Eve,  notwithstanding  the  good  housewife 
begged  him  to  do  so.  He  cared  nought  for  those  supersti- 
tions, he  could  not  see  that  things  were  any  better  now 
than  when  folks  were  called  heathens.  Eearing  to  put 
him  out  of  humour,  there  was    something  so  loathly  in 


GRETTISAGA.  119 

liis  looks,  the  dame  give  him  his  food ;  and  having  eaten 
his  full,  he  sallied  forth.  During  the  day  the  voice  of  the 
cowherd  was  heard  from  time  to  time.  The  weather  was 
dark  and  gusty,  and  as  the  day  advanced  grew  worse. 
At  evening  Glamr  did  not  come  home.  Next  morning  a 
search  was  made  for  him.  The  cattle  w^ere  found  strayed 
about  in  the  bog  in  a  sorry  plight,  while  some  had  gone 
off  to  the  fells.  After  a  long  search,  they  find  marks  of  a 
struggle,  the  soil  and  stones  torn  up,  drops  of  blood,  and 
the  trail  of  footsteps  as  big  as  the  bottom  of  a  cask.  Not 
far  off  lay  Glamr's  corpse,  as  blue  as  Hel,  and  swelled  as 
big  as  a  bullock.  In  vain  did  they  try  to  get  it  down  to 
the  church ;  they  brought  it  to  the  edge  of  a  gill,  but  no 
farther  would  it  go.  Another  day  the  priest  went  with 
them,  but  this  time  the  body  was  not  to  be  found.  After- 
wards they  went  without  the  priest,  and  lit  upon  the 
body,  and,  to  make  short  work  of  it,  buried  it  on  the  sj)ot. 
Not  long  after  people  became  aware  that  Glamr  ^  did  not 
lie  quiet.  Those  who  chanced  to  catcli  a  sight  of  him 
lost  their  reason.  Many  fled  from  the  dale.  Thorald's 
daughter  died  of  sheer  fright,  the  cattle  got  lamed,  and 
another  cowherd  who  took  the  place  was  found  with  his 
back  broken  on  the  stone  in  the  cow's  'boose.'  What 
gave  a  touch  of  the  grotesque  to  this  horrible  glamoury 
was  the  way  in  which  the  monster  used  to  bestride  the 
roof-tree  at  night,  and  shake  the  whole  house,  setting  all 
inside  a-quaking. 

Ever  ready  for  a  deed  of  derring-do,  Grettir,  like 
Beowulf,  visits  the  haunted  house.  The  first  night  his 
horse  is  killed  in  the  stall.  The  next  night,  like  Beowulf, 
he  watches  in  the  hall,  in  spite  of  the  expostulations  of 
the  master.  He  would  so  like  to  have  a  sight  of  the 
fellow  who  did  his  horse  to  death.  The  place  he  chooses 
for  his  watch  is  a  chair  just  opposite  the  sleeping  berth  of 
Thorald,  with  a  goat-skin  rug  tlirown  over  him.  A  light 
burned  in  the  hall. 

1  Identical  with  Scotch  (jJamour,  which  shows  that  the  legend  of  Glamr 
was  common  to  Iceland  and  our  neighbours  beyond  the  Tweed. 


ICO  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATUIZE. 

Half  the  night  was  sped,  wlien  a  monstrous  head  is 
pushed  through  the  doorway,  and  in  comes  Glanir,  stoop- 
ing, and,  when  he  gets  inside,  stands  erect  with  his  head 
touching  the  roof.  Grettir  hay  still  and  moved  not. 
I'resently  the  sprite  catches  at  the  rug,  and  tugs,  and 
gives  a  second  tug,  and  then  a  third  with  both  hands, 
which  brought  Grettir  to  his  legs,  and  between  them  the 
rug  was  torn  asunder.  Fierce  was  the  struggle.  The 
monster  tried  his  utmost  to  drag  Grettir  out  of  the  hall, 
and  Grettir  did  his  utmost  to  prevent  him,  all  the  furni- 
ture being  smashed  to  bits  in  the  fray.  But  do  what  he 
would  the  goblin  had  the  best  of  it,  and  was  pulling 
him  out  of  the  house,  when  Grettir  suddenly  '  ran  in,'  got 
him  by  the  middle,  and  spurning  against  the  earth-fast 
threshold  stone,  by  a  supreme  effort  threw  Glanir  neck 
and  crop  out  of  the  door,  himself  uppermost.  Clouds 
kept  passing  over  the  moon,  with  here  and  there  an 
opening,  and  as  Glamr  fell,  the  light  shone  through  one 
of  these  openings,  when  Grettir  saw  such  a  ghastly  glare  ^ 
fixed  upon  him  as  never  faded  from  his  sight  ever  after. 
For  the  moment  he  sank  powerless,  and  his  life  lay  be- 
tween this  world  and  the  next.  But  shortly  recovering 
from  his  swoon,  he  drew  his  dagger,  and  gave  the  finishing 
stroke  to  his  antagonist. 

Much  later  on  in  the  story — and  not  as  in  the  Saxon 
epic,  where  Beowulf  dives  into  the  lake  directly  after  the 
murder  of  iEschere — Grettir  descends  by  a  rope  into  the 
depths  of  the  Godafoss,^  and  in  a  cavern  under  the  fall 

1  "From  his  eyes  (Grendel's)  shot  grees,  and  issues  from  a  rugged  defile 
most  like  flame  a  horrid  light,"  Beo-  of  singular  grotesqueness.  The  tor- 
wulf,  1460.  rent  has  in  some  places  scooped  out 

"He  seizes  the  warrior  as  he  lay,"  caves   in   the   trap-rock,    faced  with 

1499-  skew-arches,  which  would'have  done 

"He  found  in  the  stranger  a  stronger  honour  to  any  rail  way  con  tractor.  The 

gripe  than  his  own,"  1510.  rocks  seemed  determined  not  to  be 

"The  mead-benches  are  smashed  in  outdone  by  the  doings  of  the  water, 

the  struggle,"  1555.  '  If  you  can  roar,  I  can  scowl.    If  you 

2  For  a  description  of  this  ghastly  can  cut  capers,  I  can  cut  faces.'  Un- 
spot,  see  "Oxonian  in  Iceland,"  by  sightly  shapes  were  there,  glouring 
the  present  writer,  p.  142  : —  among  those  rifted  chasms  ;  omnium 

"  The  broad  river  contracts  by  de-    gatherum  monsters,  writhing  over  the 


GRETTISAGA.  121 

fights  with  the  spirit  of  the  water  and  slays  him,  as 
Beowulf  did  the  monster.  The  resemblance  between 
these  two  stories  at  once  appears ;  but  there  is  one  word 
in  the  account  of  the  latter  contest  which  completely 
identifies  Grettir  with  Beowulf.  The  water-troll  assails 
him  with  a  weapon  "  which  people  called  a  heptisax,"  a 
strange  sort  of  weird  dagger,  and  which  therefore  required 
a  particular  explanation.  This  is  the  very  name  of  the 
Mftecl  sword  (hseft-mece)  with  which  Beowulf  attacks 
Grendel's  mother,  and  the  A^ord  never  occurs  again,  I 
believe,  in  any  Icelandic  author. 

So  much  for  the  value  of  words  as  elucidating  and 
connecting  ancient  legends.  The  saga  itself  in  its  present 
form,  as  is  seen  from  internal  evidence,  was  not  written 
down  till  about  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  When, 
if  we  pursue  it  to  its  source,  was  this  legend  of  Beowulf 
borne  back  to  Scandinavia  and  Iceland?  At  the  same 
time,  do  we  not  discern  some  of  the  germs  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  poem  in  the  Icelandic  poems  themselves  ? 
Beowulf,  for  instance,  perishing,  after  he  had  slain  the 
monster,  by  its  venom,  looks  like  a  reference  to  the  Edda 
myth  of  Thor  dying  by  the  poison  of  Midgardsorm,  when 
the  monster  was  already  slain. 

surging  abyss  ;  sheaves  of  basaltiform  passage    from  the  upper    river-bed, 

trap,  some  butt-end  to  wards  the  water,  aud  through  the  dam,   from  a  hole 

some  inclined,  some  perpendicular,  or  in  the  face  of  which  it  bursts  forth, 

gathering  to  a  point  like  fan-tracery,  instead  of   over  it ;   and   two  other 

The  cause  of  all  this  chaos  is,  that  the  bodies  of  water,  resolved  by  hook  or 

water-sprite,  or  the  river  if  you  will,  by  crook  not  to  be  left  behind  in  the 

has  been  bridled  by  a  curb  of  stone,  race,  have  mined  a  short  cut  deeper 

which    provokes    him    into    leaping  still,  and  are  seen  leaping  out  in  furi- 

bodily  into  a  circular  pool,  over  which  ous  frolic  bj'  posterns  still  lower  down 

two  Trolls  keep  watch  and  ward.  the   wall.      '  Postica  falle  clieutem,' 

"  In  the  centre  of  the  semicircular  a  weird  scene,  rendered  perTiaps  more 

barrier  is  a  grassy  rock.     On  its  right  supernatural   by  the  absence   of   all 

one  vast  stream  makes  a  swoop  clean  trees  to  soften  and  veil  its  ghastly 

over  a  dimly-seen  cavern,  while   on  features  ;   add  to  which,  the  moun- 

its  left  the  water  is  scattered  in  a  tains  in  front,  in  reality  of  no  great 

continuous   chain   of    beautiful  per-  height,  look  dimly  huge,  quite  sky- 

pendicular  falls.     One  of  these,  as  if  high,    through    tlie    fog,    which   has 

impatient  of  control,  and  averse  to  suddenly  enwreathed  them,    rolling 

waiting  for  its    turn,    has    actually  up  from  the  Northern  Sea." 
tunnelled  for  itself  a  slantindicular 


132  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Tlie  "  Fight  at  Finnesburg,"  recounting,  perhaps,  one  of 
Hengist's  exploits,  is  apparently  a  fragment  of  a  lost  epic  ; 
as  also  "  The  Scop,  or  Gleeman's  Tale."  The  gleeman  ap- 
pears under  the  imaginary  name  of  Widsith,  the  far- 
travelled  man,  who  has  seen  much,  and  "  can  therefore  sing 
and  tales  recite."  He  relates  that  he  was  in  the  service  of 
Ahild  in  Anglia,  and  visited  the  court  of  the  Gothic  King 
Eormanric,  who  reigned  over  the  Visigoths  in  Italy,  460 ; 
and  he  also  mentions  Attila,  who  died  453;  so  that,  if  he 
and  his  adventures  are  not  a  fiction,  he  must  have  been 
contemporary  with  .Guthere,  the  Burgundian  king,  of 
Nibelung  renown.  Indeed,  he  tells  us  he  received  from 
him  a  present  in  reward  of  his  song.  Like  King  Alfred's 
friend,  Ohthere,  the  minstrel  had  visited  the  Fins  of  the 
North.  He  had  been  among  the  Picts  and  Scots,  changing 
the  scene  to  Italy,  Egypt,  Palestine,  &c.  Like  men  of  his 
calling,  he  has  roamed  through  many  lands,  and  he  has 
always  found  great  people  very  glad  to  hear  their  praises 
sung,  and  to  pay  well  for  it.  For  instance,  Eormanric  pre- 
sented him  with  a  bracelet,  a  very  heavy  one  too,  which 
on  his  return  home  he  gave  to  his  patron  in  return  for  a 
bit  of  land.  We  see  that  he  was  much  better  off  than  his 
brother,  the  minstrel  of  the  Exeter  Book,  and,  as  such,  the 
tone  of  his  poetry  is  joyous  and  elated.  In  its  present 
shape,  the  poem  is  supposed  by  Conybeare  to  be  a  rifa- 
cimento  of  fifth-century  work.  Then  we  have  in  the 
Chronicle,  937,  the  celebrated  epinicion,  the  "Battle  of 
Brunanburh,"  where  King  Ethelstan  of  Wessex,  grandson 
of  Alfred,  met  Anlaf  (or  Olaf)  Cuaran  ^  and  his  father-in- 
law,  Coustantine  of  Dublin,  who  had  entered  the  Humber 
with  615  ships,  and,  by  the  help  of  St.  Cuthbert,^  beat 
them,  and  became  king  of  England.  This  battle  is  de- 
scribed in  one  of  the  best  Icelandic  sagas,  that  of  Egil, 

1  Cuaran  is  an  Irish  word  =  a  sock,  Olaf  quitted  Ireland  and  went  on  a 

a  saudal,  a  shoe  fastened  with  thongs,  pilgrimage   to   lona,   where   he   died 

Being  worsted  in  the  battle  of  Tara  (War  of  the  Gaedhill,  p.  cl.). 

(980),   against  Malachi,  king  of   Ire-  -  Hist.  Trauslat.  S.  Cuthberti,  iv. 

laud,  where  he  lost  his  sou  Kagnall,  17. 


BATTLE  OF  BRUNANRURH.  123 

where  the  site  is  called  Vinheidi.  The  battle  is  conjec- 
tured by  Skene/  though  high  authorities  dissent,  to  have 
been  fought  at  Aldborough,  on  the  Ouse,  near  which  are 
three  '  devil's  arrows,'  or  monoliths  of  great  size. 

"  This  year  2  King  Atlielstan,  lord  of  earls, 
Giver  of  rings  among  the  warriors,  and  eke  his  brother, 
Edmund  AtheHng,  lifelong  renown 
Gained  in  the  tight,  with  the  edges  of  their  swords, 
At  Brunanburh.     They  clave  the  wall  of  shields  ; 
They  hewed  the  war-shields,  output  of  hammers, 
These  sons  of  Edward  ;  as  was  to  them  congenial, 
From  their  ancestors,  that  they  in  combat  oft, 
'Gainst  all  comers,  defended  their  land, 

Their  hoards,  and  their  homes.    The  foemen  cringed  (crouched); 
The  Scotch  people,  the  shipmen, 
Fated,  fell ;  the  field  streamed 
With  warriors'  blood  what  time  the  sun  rose 
At  morning-tide,  the  mighty  star 
Glided  over  earth,  the  candle  bright  of  God, 
The  eternal  Lord,  until  the  noble  creature 
Sank  to  his  setting.     There  many  a  warrior  lay 
Of  those  Northern  men,  pierced  by  the  spears. 
Shot  over  the  shield  ;  many  Scotsmen  eke, 
Weary,  war-sated.     The  AVest  Saxons 
The  livelong  day  with  choice  troops 
Pressed  on  the  track  of  the  loathed  race  ; 
They  hewed  at  the  runagates  fierce  from  behind, 
With  falchions  just  whetted.     The  IVIercians  refused 
The  hard  hand-play  to  none  of  the  foemen 
That  with  Olaf  over  the  weltering  waves 
On  the  ship's  bosom  had  sought  the  land, 
Fey  to  the  fight.     There  lay  five 
Young  kings  on  that  battle-stead, 
Slain  with  the  sword  ;  so  seven  eke 
Earls  of  Olaf — foes  without  number, 
Shipmen  and  Scots.     There  was  the  Norse  chief 
Put  to  the  rout ;  needs  must  he  fly 
To  the  stem  of  his  ship.     With  a  little  band 
He  shoved  his  ship  afloat.     The  King  departed, 
On  the  fallow  flood  he  saved  his  hfe. 
Eke  the  aged  one  escaped  by  flight 

'  Celtic  Scotland,  p.  358. 

-  Munch, ' '  Chronicon  Manniae, "  p.  38,  fixes  938  as  the  date;  the  Chronicle,  937. 


124  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

To  his  kin  in  the  North.     Constantiiie, 

The  hoar  war -hero,  he  need  not  vaunt 

Of  the  wecUock  of  swords.     He  was  shorn  of  his  mates, 

Eeft  of  his  friends  on  the  trysting-place, 

Shiin  in  strife  ;  and  he  left  his  son 

On  the  shuighter-phace,  mashed  to  pieces, 

Though  young  in  war.     Needed  not  boast 

That  grizzly-lock'd  warrior  of  the  dash  of  bills, 

That  old  deceiver ;  not  he  nor  Olaf  neither. 

With  their  armies'  relics  they  needed  not  to  laugh, 

As  though  they  had  the  best  of  it  in  the  work  of  death. 

In  the  rush  of  banners  on  the  battle-stead, 

The  meeting  of  javelins,  the  tryst  of  men, 

The  clash  of  weapons  wherewithal  they  played 

On  the  slaughter-ground  against  the  sons  of  Edward. 

Hied  them,  the  Northmen,  in  their  mailed  barks — 

Remnant  of  spears — on  the  sounding  sea, 

O'er  the  deep  water,  Dublin  to  seek. 

Back  to  their  country,  cowed  in  mood. 

ISo,  too,  the  brothers,  both  together, 

The  King  and  the  Atheling,  sought  their  country — 

The  land  of  the  West  Saxons— flushed  with  victory. 

They  left  behind  them,  to  share  the  carcases, 

The  dusky-robed,  swart  raven, 

With  horny  web,  and  the  dun-coated, 

White-tailed  earn,  to  gorge  on  the  carrion, 

Greedy  war-hawk,  and  that  grey  beast 

The  wolf  of  the  wold.     Never  was  more  carnage 

Ever  yet  on  this  island 

Of  men  cut  down,  before  this, 

With  the  sword-edge — as  far  as  the  books  tell  us, 

The  ancient  sages — since  from  the  East  hither 

Angles  and  Saxons  came  up  on  land, 

O'er  the  broad  seas  Britain  sought, 

When  proud  war-smiths  overcame  the  Welsh 

Earls,  eager  for  glory,  gat  hold  of  the  land.''^ 

1  In  "lleliquiee  Antiquae,"  ii.  179,  He  alone  mentions  the  tale  of  Canute 
is  a  metrical  fragment  in  Latin  of  this  and  the  tide.  With  all  his  rhetoric, 
poem,  very  corrupt,  and  evidently  he  loved  the  old  simple  poetry  and 
copied  down  by  an  ignorant  scribe,  legends.  JIacaulay,  who  held  Anglo- 
Appended  to  it  is  a  tirade  in  Latin  Saxon  andOldNurthern  poetry  equally 
prose,  apropos  to  this  great  exploit,  cheap,  remarks: — "The  exploits  of 
abounding  in  such  names  as  David,  Athelstan  were  commemorated  by  the 
Goliath,  Pharaoh,  &c.  Henry  of  Anglo-Saxons,  and  those  of  Canute  by 
Huntingdon  is  our  only  chronicler  the  Danes,  in  rude  poems,  of  which  a 
who  attempts  a  version  of  this  poem,  few  fragments  have  come  down  to  us." 


BA  TTLE  OF  BR  UNA  NB  URH.  125 

This  poem  will  certainly  hold  its  own  with  another 
hymn  of  victory,  where  Ludwig  III.,  king  of  the  West 
Franks,  routed  the  Vikings  of  the  Seine  at  Saucourt,  half- 
way between  Abbeville  and  Eu,  August  3,  881.  It  is  said 
to  have  been  composed  by  Brother  Hucbald,  a  monk  of 
Flanders,  died  930,  and  runs  on  for  some  sixty  lines : — 

"  God  caused  heathen  men 
To  come  over  the  sea. 
The  Franks  to  remind 
Of  their  manifold  sins. 
Some  of  them  were  slain 
And  others  were  saved  ; 
Those  who  'd  liv'd  bad  lives 
Much  affliction  endured,"  &c. 

In  this  strait  the  Almighty  summons  Ludwig : — 

"  Ludwig,  my  king, 
Go  help  my  folk  ; 
The  Northmen  have  them 
So  hard  bested." 

Obedient  to  the  call,  he  raised  the  war-banner  and  rode 
in  search  of  the  Northmen,  and  before  long  encounters 

them. 

"  The  king  he  rode  bold, 
Sang  a  holy  song. 
And  all  sang  together 
'  Kyrie  Eleison.' 
The  song  it  was  sung. 
The  fight  was  begun  ; 
Blood  rose  for  joy 
To  the  cheeks  of  the  Franks. 
Each  battled  full  hard, 
Like  Ludwig  none 
So  snell  and  so  keen — 
'Twas  his  nature,  I  ween. 
Some  he  cut  with  the  sword, 
Some  pierced  with  the  spear  ; 
In  the  hands  of  his  foes 
He  poured  forth 
So  bitter  a  drink, 
They  wearied  of  life. 


126  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Then  praised  be  God's  might 
That  Ludwig  prevailed  ; 
And  praised  be  all  saints 
That  the  fight  lie  won." 

But  after  all,  tlie  fight  at  BrunanLurli  is  not  to  be  com- 
pared for  grandeur  to  the  Icelandic  poem  on  the  death 
of  King  Eric  Bloody-axe  (941)/  or  the  Spaedom  of  the 
Norns  in  Brian's  Battle  (10 14),  parts  of  which  last  not 
long  since  were  still  remembered  in  the  original  in  the 
Orkneys.  Both  of  these  poems  we  purpose  giving  in 
their  proper  place  hereafter.  Professor  Earle  ascribes 
the  song  of  Brunanburh  to  Cyneweard,  Bishop  of  Wells, 
whom  he  conjectures  to  have  been  poet-laureate  of  the 
day  and  son  of  Cynewulf,  the  author  of  "Elene."  Saxon 
it  is  in  speech,  doubtless,  but  may  we  not  question 
whether  it  is  altogether  Saxon  in  origin  ?  whether,  though 
tlie  hands  may  be  the  hands  of  Esau,  the  voice  is  not 
Jacob's  voice?  In  the  army  of  Athelstan  were  several 
hundred  Norsemen  and  Icelanders,  the  very  pink  and 
flower  of  her  nobility,  men  who  had  bearded  Harold 
Fairhair  and  his  son  Eric,  and  to  whose  signal  bravery 
it  was  due  that  when  Alfgeir  had  fled  from  the  field, 
the  fortunes  of  Athelstan  were  retrieved,  and  the  field 
of  Brunanburh  won.  Such  were  Thorolfr  and  his  brother 
Egil.  Now  Egil  was  a  famous  Scald.  After  the  battle, 
says  the  Egil  saga  (cap.  55),  he  composed  an  epic  (Drapa) 
in  honour  of  Athelstan's  victory,  for  which  the  king 
presented  him  with  two  gold  armlets,  each  of  which 
weighed  a  mark  (=  half  a  pound),  besides  a  costly 
mantle  which  he  himself  had  worn.'^  The  presence  of 
such  a  man  at  court  must  have  had  a  strong  poetic 
influence  on  the  Saxon  bards.  What  if  he  had  some- 
tliing  to   do    with   this   pcean  of   victory !      He   was  in- 

1    Fagrskinna    (Christiania,    1847),  part  ii.  of  this  work, 

p.    16,    imitated    by    Eyvind    Skal-  -  The  author  of  the  saga  falls  into 

(iasiiiller,  ib.  p.  22.     Cf.  Hornclofe's  one  error, — be  kills  Olaf,  whereas  he 

poem  ou  the  battle  of  Hafursfiord  in  escaped. 


BATTLE  OF  MALDON.  127 

deed  an  improvisatore,  which  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  not, 
as  far  as  we  know,  unless  it  be  Csedmon ;  and  he  must 
have  been  far  above  all  his  contemporaries,  for  a  legend 
was  invented  to  account  for  his  skill.  Had  they  been 
such,  we  should  surely  have  had  better  stuff  handed 
down  to  us  than  that  rhyming  impromptu  fathered  upon 
King  Canute  by  the  street  ballad-singers  of  the  twelfth 
century,  but  which  is  no  more  his  than  were  Chatterton's 
poems  composed  by  the  monk  Thomas  Eowley. 

"  Merie  sungen  Se  muneclies  binnen.  Ely 
Tha  Knut  cliing  reu  ©terby  ; 
RoweS,  knites,  noer  ge  land, 
And  here  we  Ses  muneches  sang." 
i.e.,  "  Merry  the  monks  sang  at  Ely 
As  steer'd  by  Knut  the  king  ; 
Row,  row  me,  my  men,  near  the  land. 
Let  us  list  to  the  monks'  sweet  song." 

— Hist.  Ellens  (1166-69). 

The  "  Battle  of  Maldon  "  is  a  spirited  fragment  with  the 
ricrht  ring  about  it,  albeit  the  author  most  probably 
was  one  of  the  cowled  fraternity.  Byrhtnoth,  a  Northum- 
brian by  birth,  was  a  great  benefactor  to  Ely.  Hence 
the  Ely  Chronicle  (494)  naturally  mentions  his  death, 
A.D.  991.  He  is  there  described  as  eloquent  of  speech, 
of  robust  strength,  and  commanding  stature.  Above  all, 
he  honoured  Holy  Church  and  its  ministers,  and  applied 
to  their  use  the  whole  of  his  piatrimony;  and  so  he  is 
not  without  a  vates  saccr.  But  for  the  industry  of  that 
busy  antiquary  Hearne,  who  had  transcribed  the  only 
known  MS.  of  it,  which  perished  in  the  fire  of 
the  Cottonian  Library,  1731,  this  poem  would  have 
been  lost  to  us.  It  describes  the  way  in  which  EarP 
Byrhtnoth,  King   Athelstan's   man,    goes    down    on   the 

1  Ealdornian,     anglice    Alderman,  or  leader).     He  was  judicial  head  of 

The  proi^er  signification  of  the  title  the  county,  and  leader  of  the  levy  en 

in   those   days  is  a   long   story.     In  masse.     He  was  equal  in  blood  of  the 

rank  he  stood  next  to  the  king.     As  king,  and  could  intermarry  with  his 

leader  of  the  army  he  was  literally  family.     He   was   appointed   by  tlie 

'  Hcretoga '  (Germ.  '  Herzog '  =  duke  crown  with  the  assent  of  the  higher 


128  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

banks  of  the  Blackwater  before  the  redoutable  Olaf  Tiy- 
gvassoii  (Chronicle,  993,  where  he  is  called  Unlaf  or  Anlaf), 
who  had  invaded  England  with  390  ships.  An  envoy 
comes  from  the  Vikings  with  the  cool  request  for  rings,  as 
a  method  of  buying  off  the  invader  and  stopping  the  rush 
of  arms.i  Up  starts  Byrhtnoth,  brandishing  his  slender 
spear,  and  tells  the  messenger  the  only  tribute  they  shall 
have  will  be  the  javelin  and  the  sword-point ;  grim  battle 
shall  decide  between  them.  Noteworthy  are  some  signs 
of  Scandinavian  influence  in  this  South  Saxon  poem. 

The  freebooters  are  several  times  called  '  vikings,'  as 
well  as  '  mariners,'  a  peculiarly  Norse  word.  The  battle 
phalanx  is  interchangeably  '  vihaga '  and  also  '  scyldburh  ' 
=:  '  a  wall  of  shields,'  the  last  being  the  well-known  term 
in  the  sagas  for  an  old  battle  array.  '  Drengr '  =  '  soldier,' 
'  plucky  fellow,'  and  '  grid '  =  '  peace,'  '  truce,'  are  likewise 
choice  exotics  from  the  same  soil.  '  Point '  and  '  edge  '  is 
a  collocation  common  to  Anglo-Saxon  and  Danish,  while 
'  Oder  twega '  ~  '  one  or  the  other,'  i.e.,  '  death  or  ven- 
geance,' sounds  very  Icelandic. 

nobles,  and  generally  held  office  for  Charles  the  Bald  paid  them  (a.D.  860) 

life  (Keuible,iii.  145).  "With  the  advent  five  thousand  lbs.  silver;  in  866,  four 

of  the  Danes  the  naine  remained,  but  thousand  lbs.;  and  .again,  877,  they  got 

denoted  a  much  lower  class  than  the  five  thousand  lbs.  more,  and  so  on ;  or 

princely  officers  who  had  previously  rather,  much  more  was  subsequently 

borne   the  title.     Gradually  the  old  obtained   (Hincmar).      Thus   in  883, 

title    ceased    altogether,    except    in  twelve  thousand  lbs.  of  silver  were 

cities,  where  it  denotes  an   inferior  paid  to  Sigfred  on  the  condition  that 

judicature,  as  at  the  present  day  ;  a  the   Vikings  left  Neustria  at  peace 

set  of   officers  certainly  not  elevated  for  twelve  years.    But  upon  the  death 

iu  character  by  the  Reform  Bill.  of  Carloman,  12th  December  884,  they 

1  Fabulous  sums  had  been  extracted  at  once  returned  and  claimed  another 

by  the  marauders  from  the  silly  kings  twelve  thousand  from  his  successor, 

across  the  Straits  of  Dover.     The  re-  on  the  plea  that  the   compact  only 

suit  was  natural.     They  returned  and  referred    to  the  late  king's    lifetime 

permanently    occupied  the   countr}^  (Steenstrup,"Normannertiden,"2o8). 


(       129      ) 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

AiVGLO-SAXO.V  POETRY  {CONTINUED.) — JUDITH, 
ANDREAS,    ELENE,   ETC. 

One  of  the  most  considerable  pieces  of  Anglo-Saxon  poetry 
remaining  to  us  is  "  Judith,"  a  poem  of  the  highest  merit 
and  most  finished  style,  composed  in  twelve  cantos,  of 
which  the  first  eight,  and  all  the  ninth  but  a  few  lines, 
are  lost.  The  author  is  unknown,  but  is  conjectured  by 
Stephens  to  have  been  Csedmon.  The  heroine  is  here  a 
damsel  (meowle),  and  not  the  widow  of  the  Apocrypha, 
whose  husband  "  died  of  a  sun-stroke  in  the  barley-har- 
vest." We  first  meet  with  her  on  the  eve  of  the  great 
banquet  which  Holofernes  gave  on  the  fourteenth  day 
after  her  arrival  with  her  abigail.  Nothing  can  exceed  the 
descriptive  power  in  this  poem — the  great  vessels  brimful 
of  wine  borne  along  the  benches,  the  courtiers  enjoying 
themselves,  the  brutal  Holofernes  laughing  and  yelling  in 
his  lust,  drenching  himself  with  wine  the  livelong  day 
imtil  he  became  giddy,  and  his  lords  in  the  same  plight. 
The  maiden  with  braided  hair  (wunden  lokke),  loaded  with 
jewels,  adorned  with  rings,  led  by  the  attendants  to  the 
tent  where  their  master  was  resting  after  his  debauch, 
with  a  golden  fly-net  hung  before  it,  so  that  he  might  see 
any  one  who  approached.  They  rouse  him  and  liand  over 
the  maiden.  Strong  in  the  faith  of  God,  the  victim  shrinks 
not  a  moment  from  her  self-imposed  task,  draws  a  finely- 
tempered  sword,  and,  with  a  short  prayer,  approaches  the 

I 


I30  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

'  warlock,'  the  inebriate  sleeping  brute,  seizes  him  fast  by 
his  hair,  and  with  two  strokes  smites  off  the  head  of  the 
heathen  hound.  It  rolls  upon  the  floor,  and  she  slips  it 
into  a  bag,  w^hich  her  pale-cheeked  maid  had  in  readiness. 
His  headless  carcase  still  lay  on  the  bed ;  "  his  spirit  goes 
to  the  abyss,  the  hall  of  serpents  (wyrm-sele),  to  live  for 
ever  in  the  dark  home  devoid  of  hope."  The  deed  being 
done,  she  draws  breath  again.  "  There  is  more  room  in  her 
bosom."  After  a  night-tramp  she  arrives  at  the  gate  of 
Bethulia,  where  dwell  the  children  of  her  people.  The 
news  of  her  arrival  soon  spreads  through  the  city.  The 
excitement  is  prodigious.  Jews  throng  to  the  gates,  men 
and  women,  in  heaps,  in  flocks,  and  thousands.  The 
commotion  is  at  its  height  when  the  damsel,  all  gold- 
adorned,  unwraps  the  gory  head,  and  bids  the  people  stare 
at  it.  She  then  urges  them  to  march  forth  to  battle  at 
daybreak.  So  said,  so  done.  We  hear  the  tramp  of  the 
warriors  as  they  step  forth,  bearing  their  linden  shields 
before  their  breasts,  clad  in  mail  and  helmet,  keen  to  the 
conflict  bearing  their  banners,  din  their  bucklers,  loudly 
resounding.  Then  follows  a  description  of  the  onslaught 
of  the  Hebrews  and  Pagans,  all  conceived  in  the  tone  of 
the  ballad  poetry.  We  have  the  '  ash-play.'  The  arrows 
are  '  war-serpents  ; '  the  '  lindens  '  (the  bucklers  made  of 
the  wood  of  the  linden)  are  hewn  in  pieces,  the  '  shield- 
fence  '  is  broken.  Most  of  the  Assyrians  are  slain  in  the 
battle  (fet  specce).  Literally,  they  get  '  the  sack.'  Judith 
becomes  possessed  of  all  Holofernes'  valuables,  and  the 
piece  closes  with  an  ascription  of  praise  to  Him  "  who 
shaped  the  wind  and  the  lift,  the  heaven  and  vast 
earth." 

The  poem  is  a  good  deal  in  the  tone  of  that  noble  piean, 
"  In  Jewry  is  God  known,"  &c.  There  is  no  pause  in  the 
story ;  it  advances  with  breathless  haste  till  the  victory  is 
won.  The  onward  march  sounds  actually  in  our  ears. 
The  rhythm  keeps  time  with  the  incidents  portrayed. 
Never  was  war  painted  more  to  the  life  ;  and  then  enter, 


C.-EDMON.  131 

as  in  "  Credmon  "  ^  and  in  the  battle  of  "  Brunanbiirh,"  those 
beasts  indispensable  to  the  poet,  in  monkish  eyes  savour- 
ing of  the  devil,  but  in  the  animal  mythology  of  the  Pagans 
looked  on  rather  as  the  supernatural  fellows  of  man :  the 
lank  wolf;  the  wan  raven,  eager  for  his  prey,  followed  by  the 
earn,  tawny-coated,  humid  of  feather,  horny-nebbed,  greedy 
of  food,  and  screeching  the  note  of  war.  jSTo  mere  para- 
phrase in  the  fashion  of  Caidmon's  other  production  (if  it 
be  indeed  Csedmon),  it  often  travels  out  of  the  record,  and 
in  a  manner  truly  original,  while  the  setting  is  quite  of 
home  production.  Greatly  is  it  to  be  regretted  that  it  is 
only  a  fragment,  the  torso  only  of  the  fine  original. 

Of  the  Anglo-Saxon  poets  scarcely  any  are  known  by 
name,  while  the  names  and  pieces  of  many  Icelandic  scalds 
have  come  down  to  us.  A  notable  exception  is  Csedmon, 
the  poet  just  mentioned — the  Anglo-Saxon  Milton,  as  he 
has  been  called,  from  the  grandeur  of  his  description  of  the 
fallen  angels ;  indeed  Milton,  who  had  possibly  been  made 
acquainted  with  Csedmon  by  his  friend  Junius,  resembles 
him  a  good  deal  in  "  Paradise  Lost."  He  was  the  neat- 
herd of  "Whitby  Abbey  for  more  than  twenty  years  in  the 
second  half  of  the  seventh  century.  Like  the  herdman  of 
Tekoa,  who,  though  no  prophet,  nor  yet  a  prophet's  son, 
became  inspired  from  heaven,  on  a  sudden  he  caught  his 
poetic  afflatus  on  the  instant."^ 

1  "  Around  them  screamed  quently   to   repair   thither  with    his 

The  fowls  of  war,  fiock,  spending  the  night  on  the  cairn. 

Greedy  of  battle,  It  constantly  came  into  his  mind  that 

Dewy  feathered,  he  should  like  to  compose  a  dirge  on 

Over  the  Ijodies  of  the  host,  the  deceased  ;  but,  being  no  poet,  he 

The   dark   chooser  of  the   slain  never  could  get  further  than  "Here 

(raven)  ;  lies  the  scald."     One  night  as  he  lay 

The  wolves  sung  harping   on  the    old    string  he  fell 

Their  horrid  even-song  asleep,  when  he  saw  the  cairn  open, 

Jn  hopes  of  food  ;  and  a  tall  stately  man  issue  from  it, 

The  reckless  beasts,"  &c.  who  came  and  stood  over  him,  and 

told  him  that  if  he  could  manage  to 

^  The  legend  of  Csedmon  reappears  remember  a  poem  of  eight  lines  which 

mutatis  mutandis  in   Iceland  in  the  he   was   about  to  recite,  he  should, 

tenth  century.     Thorleif  Jarlaskald,  though  no  poet,  be  one  at  once.    For- 

who  had  been  murdered  at  the  insti-  tunately,  on  awaking,  he  remembered 

gation  of  Hacon  .larl,  lay  buried  in  a  them,    and   became  a  famous  scald, 

cairn  near  the  Hill  of  Laws.    A  shep-  The  cairn  on  which  he  slept  had  been 

herd,  Hallbiorn  by  name,   used  fre-  his  Parnassus  (Flateybok,  i.  214). 


133  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Bede,  who  tells  liis  story,  cites  us  only  a  few  lines  of 
the  introduction  of  his  original  religious  poem,  and  these 
merely  in  a  Latin  translation.  But  Wanley  (Cat.,  p.  287) 
gives,  from  the  edge  of  a  MS.  of  Bede's  "  Latin  History  " 
of  the  year  737,  an  old  Northumbrian  version  of  these 
lines,  which  are  most  likely  Csedmon's  ijosissima  verha,  as 
they  closely  agree  with  Bede's  translation  of  them.  The 
long  poem  now  extant  under  the  name  of  "Csedmon"  is  of 
much  later  date,  and  is  probably  a  South  English  ren- 
dering of  the  original,  written  in  the  old  ISTorthumbrian 
dialect.  A  confident  discovery  has  been  made  recently 
in  Germany,  that  the  author  of  the  "Heliand"^  and  of 
"  Cwdmon  "  are  one ;  in  fact,  that  our  "  Caedmon  "  is  a 
translation  of  a  German  original.  Professor  G.  Stephens 
of  Copenhagen  has  apparently  demolished  this  assump- 
tion, and  turned  tlie  tables  on  the  German  by  asserting, 
with  proofs  to  back  it,  that  the  "Heliand"  itself  is  merely 
a  transcript  or  translation  of  an  old  English  original.  It 
is  entirely  English,  he  argues,  in  form  and  spirit  and  colour- 
ing. It  is  only  Saxon  in  virtue  of  a  slight  trans-dialecta- 
tion.  The  first  evangelisers  of  Germany,  the  Culdee  and 
Celtic  missionaries,  were  influenced  by  the  culture  and 
traditions  of  lona  and  Lindisfarne,  and  therefore  Kelto- 
Anglic.  Then  came  the  distinctly  English  Eomanizing 
missions  under  Wynfrid  and  his  followers,  who  by  their 
influence  rapidly  Christianized  and  Piomanized  large  sweeps 
of  the  Teutonic  lands.  These  meii  took  with  them  stores 
of  books,  many  of  which,  in  Latin  transcripts,  were  made 
in  Germany  by  themselves  or  their  disciples.     Even  now 

1  A  far  inferior  German  poem  was  Mayence,  still  exists,  wherein  he  states 

Otfried's  "Christ,"  composed  about  that  the  ears  of  holy  men  being  dis- 

A.D.  865,  some  thirty  years  perhaps  quieted  by  the  obscene  songs  of  the 

after  the   "  Heliand,"  by  the  monk  laity,   he  had  been  asked  by  certain 

of  W^eissenburg.     But  in  one  respect  brethren,   notably  by    an    excellent 

invaluable.     Alliteration  is  here  sue-  matron,  Judith,    to   write    out   part 

ceeded    by    the     musical    principle,  of  the  Gospels  in  Theotisc,  that  the 

rhyme,   which  has  prevailed  to  the  singing  of    it   may   be    an   antidote 

present  day.     A  letter  by  the  aiithor,  to    the    other   (Epistl.   Mogunt.,   p. 

A.D.  865,  to  Liutbert,  Archbishop  of  328). 


ELENE.  133 

great  numbers  of  MSS.  written  iu  England,  or  copied 
from  such,  exist  in  German  libraries.  Some  of  them,  as, 
for  instance,  a  MS.  at  St.  Gall,^  contain  the  English  Eunic 
alphabet.  Among  the  books  so  taken  would  be  "  Cted- 
mon"  in  its  original  old  Northern  English,  the  oldest 
verse  in  our  mother-tongue.  It  is  not  likely  that  a 
great  and  gifted  Church  (like  that  of  England)  would 
enrich  itself  by  translating  a  piece  by  a  barbarian  convert 
in  one  of  her  mission  stations  abroad,  i.e.,  producing  from 
"  Heliand "  what  we  call  "  Ctedmon."  ^  As  a  proof  of 
the  English  origin  of  the  "  Wessobrunn  Prayer,"  Stephens 
points  to  two  Anglo-Saxon  Eunic  characters  which 
occur  in  the  MS.,  viz.,  the  bind-rune  ~|  for  '  and,'  which 
mark  Grimm  (Deutsche  Euner,  p.  134)  expressly  says 
is  an  English  mark,  and  also  %,  "  gi,"  which  occurs  four 
times. 

But  there  is  another  poet  who  stands  revealed  as  the 
author  of  several  poems  by  means  of  Eunic  acrostics 
on  his  name  inserted  therein  —  Cynewulf.  Such  is 
"  Elene,  or  The  Finding  of  the  Cross."  In  this  poem 
the  mother  of  Constantine — whom  legend,  one  of  the 
busiest  of  pedigree-hunters,  makes  out  to  have  been  a 
British  princess — journeys  to  Jerusalem,  and  by  the  help 
of  one  "  well-wise  in  songs,  crafty  of  word,  whose  name 
was  Judas,"  finds  three  crosses  buried  in  Mount  Calvary, 
"  twenty  foot-measures  deep."  The  real  cross  is  discerned 
by  its  touch  raising  a  dead  man  to  life,  which  the  two  others 
fail  to  do.     This  marvellous  event  is  generally  assigned 

1  In   this    same    monastery    there  these  precious  specimens  of  ancient 

were  at  tlie  end  of  the  ninth  century  Celtic   caligra^jhy.     King    Athelstan 

twenty  codices  written  Scotice,  i.e.,  sent  an  embassy  to  the  Swiss  monas- 

in   the    Irish    style,    either   brought  teries,  and  concluded  a  friendly  al- 

from  Ireland  or  copied  at  St.  Gall,  liance  with  that  of  St.  Gall. 

INISS.    of   this   kind   were   so   highly  -  Others  reason  thus  : — Supposing 

prized  from  their  beautiful  workman-  the  so-called  Csedmon  to  be  of  the 

shiij,  that  the  Emperor  Charlemagne  age  of  Alfred,  it  might  contain  some 

was   very   thankful  to  get  one  as  a  German-Saxon  forms  introduced  by 

present.      In   Appendix    A.    to    tlie  Alfred's  Corvey  scholars  and  akin  to 

Keport     on     Khymer's     "Foedera,''  the  "  Heliand." 
there  are  some  beautiful  facsimiles  of 


134  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

to  tlio  year  a.d.  326.  Judas  is  afterwards  baptii^ed,  and, 
under  the  name  of  Cyriacus,  made  Bishop  of  Jerusalem. 
There  are  several  fine  passages  in  this  poem.  The  Emperor 
Constantine,  be  it  observed,  poses  as  a  Gothic  king ;  his 
head  is  covered  with  the  national  'boar-shaped  helm.' 
His  rencontre  with  the  Huns  is  thus  described : — 

Tlie  trumpets  saiij,' 

Loud  before  the  liosts; 

The  raven  rejoiced  in  the  work  ; 

Dewy  feathered, 

The  eagle  watched  their  marcli, 

The  war  of  the  fierce  men  ; 

Tlie  Avolf  uplifted  liis  song, 

The  denizens  of  the  forest. 

Then  was  ch^sh  of  shields 

And  crush  of  men  ; 

Hard  hand-swing 

And  crash  of  armies  ; 

After  the  arrows'  course 

The  first  encountered. 

They  broke  the  wall  of  shields, 

They  plunged  the  bill, 

The  bold  in  battle  tlironged  ; 

Then  was  the  banner  upreared, 

An  ensign  before  the  crowds, 

A  golden  helmet. 

The  javelin  flashed 

Hot  in  the  battlefield. 

Fled  at  once 

The  people  of  the  Huns  "  (1.  109). 

Upon  this  tlie  Emperor  commands  Helena  to  go  in 
search  of  the  true  cross,  a  vision  of  which  had  given  him 
the  victory.  She  embarks  with  her  mailed  warriors  on 
the  Wendelste  (the  Mediterranean) : — 

"  Bound  for  Holy  Palestine, 
Nimbly  we  brushed  the  level  brine  ; 
All  in  azure  steel  arrayed, 
O'er  the  wave  our  M'eapons  played." 


DREAM  OF  THE  CROSS.  135 

The  Anglo-Saxon  poet  puts  it  thus : — 

"  Never  heard  I  before  or  since 
That  on  the  ocean  stream 
A  lady  led 
Upon  the  sea-street 
A  fairer  power. 
There  might  he  see, 
Who  beheld  the  journey, 
Break  over  the  bath-way, 
The  sea-wood  rejoice, 
Under  the  swelling  waves 
The  sea-horse  play. 
The  wave-tioater  wade  "  (1.  240). 

Now,  at  the  end  of  "Elene,"  line  2512,  in  the  "  Vercelli 
Codex,"  1  the  letters  of  the  poet's  name  are  thus  given  in 
succession,  with  references  to  one  who  was  once  "high 
placed  in  hall  a  welcome  guest,"  got  gifts  of  "  dappled 
gold "  for  his  minstrelsy,  but  was  now  in  exile  and  dis- 
grace. In  this  same  poem  reference  is  made  to  the 
"  Dream  of  the  Cross,"  which  must  therefore  be  also  his. 
It  opens  thus,  though  slightly  abbreviated,  in  Kemble's 
version : — 

"  Lo  !  I  the  costliest  of  dreams  will  relate. 

That  met  me 

In  the  middle  of  the  night. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  I  saw 

A  wondrous  tree 

Led  through  the  sky 

Enveloped  in  light, 

Brightest  of  beams ; 

All  that  beacon  was 

Surrounded  with  gold  and  gems. 

All  the  angels  of  tlie  Lord  beheld  it, 

Fair  through  the  firmament. 

That  was  no  malefactor's  gibbet  ; 

Strange  was  the  tree  of  victory. 

And  I,  stained  with  sins. 

Wounded  with  my  guilt, 

lA    MS.    discovered    in    1832    by  Report  on  Rymer's  "  Foedera,"  by  the 

Professor  Blum  in  the  library  of  the  authority    of   the   Comniiasiouers   of 

Chapter  at  Vercelli,  and  printed  under  Public    Records.       Edited    for    the 

the   care  of  Thorpe   as  Appendix  to  Jilfric  Society  by  Kemble,  1843. 


136  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Saw  the  tree  of  glory, 
Adorned  Avitli  hangings, 
Pleasantly  shine, 
Ornamented  -with  gold. 

I  was  all  oppressed  with  sorrow  ; 
Terrified  I  was  at  the  fair  sight. 
I  saw  the  hastening  beacon 
Change  both  in  hangings  and  hue  ; 
At  times  it  was  damped  with  Avet, 
Soiled,  with  running  of  blood. 
At  times  adorned  with  treasure. 

Until  I  heard 

That  it  gave  a  sound, 

These  words  to  speak  began  : 

'  It  was  long  ago. 

Yet  I  remember  it ; 

That  I  was  cut  down 

At  the  end  of  a  wood. 

Stirred  from  my  sleep  ; 

Then  men  bore  me  on  their  shoulders, 

Until  they  set  me  up  upon  a  mountain. 

There  saw  1  the  Lord  of  mankind 

Hasten  with  mighty  power 

That  He  might  mount  upon  me. 

I  then  dared  not  there 

Against  the  Lord's  command 

Bow  down  or  break  in  sunder. 

I  might  all 

His  foes  have  felled  ; 

Nevertheless  I  stood  fast. 

Then  the  young  Hero  made  ready. 

That  was  Almighty  God, 

Firm  and  steadfast  of  mind. 

He  went  up  upon  the  lofty  cross. 

Courageous  in  the  sight  of  many, 

Since  there  He  would  redeem  mankind. 

I  trembled  there  when  the  champion 

Embraced  me. 

But  I  dared  not  bow  down  to  earth. 

Fall  on  the  ground  ; 

But  I  was  compelled  to  stand  fast. 

A  cross  was  I  reared  ; 

1  uplifted  the  Mighty  King, 


DREAM  OF  THE  CROSS.  137 

The  Lord  of  the  Heavens  ; 

They  pierced  me  with  dark  nails  ; 

The  wounds  are  visible  upon  me  ; 

They  reviled  us  both  together. 

I  was  all  wet  with  blood 

Poured  from  the  Man's  side 

After  He  had  sent  forth  his  spirit. 

I  saw  the  Lord  of  Hosts 

Hardly  serv^e. 

Darkness  had 

Covered  Avilli  clouds 

The  corjjse  of  the  Euler  ; 

The  bright  splendour, 

Shadow  invaded, 

Wan  under  the  welkin. 

All  creation  wept ; 

They  lamented  the  fall  of  their  king. 

Christ  was  on  the  cross, 

But  thither  hastening, 

Men  came  from  afar 

To  the  Noble  One. 

I  beheld  it  all ; 

I  was  cast  down  with  sorrow. 

There  they  took  Almighty  God  ; 

They  lifted  Him  off  the  heavy  torment  ; 

Tlie  heroes  left  me  there, 

Standing  covered  with  steam  ; 

I  was  all  wounded  with  arrows  ; 

They  laid  Him  down  limb  weary  ; 

They  stood  at  the  head  of  His  corpse  ; 

Then  began  they  to  sing  over  Him  a  mournful  song. 

The  poor  people  at  eventide. 

Then  began  they  to  fell  us 
All  to  the  ground  ; 
They  buried  us  in  a  deep  pit, 
But  me  the  servants  of  the  Lord 
Discovered  there. 

They  adorned  me  with  gold  and  silver  ; 

Now  niayest  thou  hear, 

My  dear  man, 

That  I  the  work  of  criminals 

Have  endured  ; 

But  now  the  time  is  come 


138  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

That  men  on  earth, 

Far  and  wide, 

Honour  me, 

And  all  this  great  creation 

Prays  to  this  sign.'  " 

But  after  all,  Cynewulf  was  not  the  author  of  the  origi- 
nal poem,  but  only  of  the  modernised  tenth-century  ver- 
sion, just  as  Dryden  modernised  Chaucer.  Several  lines  of 
the  original  poem  are  engraved  in  runes  on  the  Ruthwell 
Cross  which  stands  near  Annan  in  Dumfriesshire.  They 
were  deciphered  by  J.  M.  Kemble,  and  on  being  compared 
with  some  lines  in  the  Vercelli  poems,  discovered  later, 
proved  to  be  almost  the  same ;  and  to  leave  no  doubt  as 
to  the  original  authorship,  Coedmon  is  actually  named  on 
tlie  cross  as  the  author  :  "  Cadmon  me  made."  ^ 

Tlie  name  of  Cynewulf  again  occurs  in  the  legend  of 
"  Juliana,"  a  martyr  story,  based  on  the  Bollandist  Acta 
S.  Juliana?.  The  Phcenix  in  the  "  Exeter  Codex,"  -  which 
is  most  likely,  as  nearly  all  the  rest  of  the  book  by  the 
hand  of  Cynewulf,  is  merely  an  expansion  of  the  Latin 
poem  bearing  that  name  attributed  to  Lactantius.  Tlie 
description  of  the  happy  land  in  the  East  where  the 
fabled  bird  dwells  is  quite  delicious.  Isaiah,  and  the 
Apocalypse,  and  the  Saturnian  age  of  Virgil,  have  contri- 
buted their  choicest  bits  to  fill  out  the  imagery.  The 
"  Adventures  of  St.  Andrew,"  a  poem  which  is  likewise  to  be 
found  in  the  "  Vercelli  Codex,"  is  attributed  by  J.  Grimm,^ 
from  the  epic  forms  it  contains,  to  Aldhelm,  who  died 
709.  Its  source  is  an  apocryphal  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  in 
Greek  (ibid.,  xvii.),  a  language  which  was  well  understood 
by  learned  Anglo-Saxons.  But  the  poem  abounds  with 
references  to  the  old  Pagan  mythology.     The  mysterious 

1  Stephens,  Runes,  ii.  419.  tell  you  even  now,  in  regretful  tones, 

-  The  precious   gift    to  his   cathe-     that — 

(Iral  of  Leofric,  first  Bishop  of  Exeter,  . -r^-    1  1    j.  j. 

.         ,     r,  1    ,  ■  ,       J-  Kirdon  was  a  market-town 

after  the  See  was  moved  thither  from  n.^,        x?     t.  1  > 

,.  ....,,..  \\  hen  Exeter  was  a  vuzzy  down. 

Crediton,   1050.     A  facsimile  of  it  is 

in   the   British   Museum,   edited   by        ^  Andreas  und  Elene,  von  J.  Grimm 

Thorpe,  1842.     The  Creditouiaus  will     (Cassel,  i8^o),  p.  li. 


ADVENTURES  OF  ST.  ANDREW.  139 

skipper  wlio  gives  Andrew  a  berth  on  board  his  boat  to 
the  land  of  the  Mermedonians,  reminds  us  of  Odin,  who 
in   popular   legend  often  acted  the  part  of  a  disguised 
ferryman.     So  when  the  wounds  inflicted  on  Andreas  by- 
day  are  cured  by  night,  we  think  of  the  Northern  Hiad- 
ning  battle,  where  the  dead  warriors  each  morn  renew  the 
combat.     Many  other  glimpses  of  old  Northern  mytho- 
logy are  visible  here  to  those  who  can  read  between  the 
lines.     The  descriptions  of  a  storm  and  of  winter,  of  the 
wolf  howling  as  he  presages  the  battle,  and  the  eagle  and 
raA'en  with  dewy  wing  following  on  the  trail  of  the   foe 
and  screaming  their  death-song  (so  in  "Judith"  and  "Bru- 
nanburh"),  betoken  the  hand  of  one  who  knew  how  to  infuse 
into  a  religious  theme  the  freshness  and  truth  of  the  old 
national  ballad.     Indeed,  the  whole  character  of  the  lan- 
guage and  poetry  in  both  "  Elene "  and  "Andreas,"   in 
Grimm's  opinion,  seem  to  point  to  their  having  been  com- 
posed about  the  same  time  as  our  present  "  Beowulf,"  i.d., 
soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century.  If  the  writer 
of  the  two  poems  could  rise  so  high  when  fettered  by  a 
foreign  subject,  what  might  he  not  have  achieved  had  he 
given   his   genius   free  scope  in  some   domestic  theme ! 
Others  conjecture  Cynewulf  the  author,  as  we  have  seen, 
of  "  Elene  "  and  of  most  of  the  poems  in  the  Exeter  Book. 
The  cj[uestion  then  arises  who  Cynewulf  was.     Kemble  ^ 
suggests  Cynewulf,  Abbot  of  Beterborough,  died  1014.    For 
it  is  to  the  eleventh  century,  and  not  to  the  eighth  or  old 
epic  period,  he  refers  the  poem.     The  archaic  words  and 
mythic  images  he  regards  as  the  traditional  peculiarity  of 
Anglo-Saxon  poetry.    Nowhere  is  the  stubborn  nationality 
of    our  forefathers    more  thoroughly  shown   than  in  the 
way  these  epic  forms  continued  to  assert  themselves  in 
spite  of  the  so  much  over-prized  book-learning  and  the 
ultramontane  feelings  which  mastered  their  prose. 

1  Kemble,    Vercelli    Codex,    1843  he  seem  to  have  been  a  minstrel  by 

(jElfric   Society).      But   this   lianlly  profession,  who  being  disgraced  and 

tallies  with  the  autobiographical  hints  exiled,  turned  religious  poet, 
which  the  poet  supplies.    Kather  does 


140  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERTURE. 

Line  7 38,  a  storm  : — 

'•  Then  was  vexed, 
Excited  the  whale-lake  ; 
The  horn-fish  phxycd, 
Gh)de  through  the  ocean, 
And  the  grey  mew 
Circled  round,  greedy  of  slaughter. 
The  weather-candle  darkened, 
The  winds  waxed. 
The  waves  ground  together, 
The  streams  stirred, 
The  roi^es  creaked, 
AVet  with  waters. 
Water-terror  stood 
With  the  might  of  troops." 

Line  2512 : — 

•'  Snow  bound  the  earth 
With  winter  casts. 
Cold  grew  the  storms, 
With  hard  hail  showers, 
And  rime  and  frost. 
The  hoary  warriors, 
Locked  up  the  dwellings  of  men, 
Tlie  settlements  of  the  people. 
Frozen  were  the  lands, 
Witk  cold  icicles 
Shrunk  the  water's  might ; 
Over  the  river  streams 
The  ice  made  a  bridge, 
A  pale  water-road." 

Line  2981  reminds  us  of  the  cave  of  Grendel's  mother 

in  "  Beowulf"  : — 

"  He  saw  by  the  wall 
AYondrous  fast 
Upon  the  plain 
Mighty  pillars, 
Columns  standing, 
Weather-worn, 
The  antique  work  of  giants. 

Hear,  thou  marble  stone, 
Now  let  from  thy  foundation 
Streams  bubble  out  ! 
There  was  no  delay 


THE   WANDERER.  141 

More  than 

That  the  stone  split  open, 

The  stream  bubbled  forth, 

And  flowed  over  the  grovmd. 

The  foaming  billows 

At  break  of  day 

Covered  the  earth. 

The  sea-flood  increased, 

"Waxed  the  water's  power." 

But  the  most  consideralDle  extant  lyric  poem,  not  on  a 
religious  subject,  and  which  is  very  likely  a  bit  of  the 
same  poet's  autobiography,  is  the  "  Wanderer."      The  fol- 
lowing is  a  sample  of  it  from  Thorpe's  version  : — 
"  Him  an  exile's  track  awaits. 

He  remembers  the  hall  retainers 
And  receipt  of  treasure  ; 
But  pleasure  all  has  fixllen. 

"\^nien  sorrow  and  sleep 

At  once  together 

A  poor  solitary 

Often  bind, 

That  seems  to  him  in  mind 

That  he  his  lord 

Embraces  and  kisses, 

And  on  his  knee  lays 

Hands  and  head. 

As  when  he  ere  at  times, 

In  former  days, 

His  gifts  enjoyed. 

Then  wakes  again  ; 

The  friendless  mortal 

Sees  before  him 

Fallow  ways, 

Ocean  fowls  bathing, 

Spreading  their  wings, 

Eime  and  snow  descending 

With  hail  mingled." 

Looking  at  the  transitoriness  of  this  dark  life,  the  wise 
man  will  say  : — 

"  Where  is  the  horse,  where  is  the  man  ] 
Where  is  the  treasure-"! ver  \ 


142  OLD  ENGLISH  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

Wliere  are  the  festive  sittings  %  ^ 
AVliere  are  the  joys  of  the  hall  ? 
Alas  !  bright  cup  ! 
Alas  !  mailed  warrior  ! 
Alas  !  chieftain's  splendour  ! 
How  the  time  has  passed, 
Has  darkened  under  veil  of  night, 
As  if  it  had  not  been  !  " 

The  "  Exile,"  who  dwells  alone  in  the  cavern  under  the 
oak  tree,  weary  of  the  dim  dells  and  the  high  downs, 
laments  in  the  same  doleful  key,  but  the  lay  contains 
snatches  of  pathetic  beauty.  Another  poem  in  the 
Exeter  Book,  p.  107,  thought  from  the  style  to  be  by 
Cyiiewulf,  is  the  Life  of  St.  Guthlac,  based  on  the  Latin 
prose  Life  by  Felix  of  Croyland,  and  of  which  we  have 
given  an  account  above.  It  is  many  hundred  lines  in 
leiigth.  Two  angels  compete  for  the  saint's  soul — a  good 
one,  who  spoke  of  heaven,  a  bad  one,  who  urged  him  to 
join  a  meeting  of  robbers;  but  the  fiend  is  put  to  flight. 
By  the  help  of  his  good  angel  he  overcomes  all  the 
malice  of  the  imaginary  foe.^     Though — 

"  The  torments  were  intense, 
Grim  the  ministers. 

They  brought  liim, 
In  wrathful  mood, 
The  glorious  Champion, 

1  All  this  might  have  been  -written  And  some  are  taken  from  me. 
many    generations    later.       Charles  All  are  departed ! 

Lamb,    the   Londoner   of    the   nine-  All,  all  are  gone,  the  old  familiar 
teenth   century,  wrote  much  in  the  faces  ! " 

same  tone  : —  "  Half  the  misery  of  life  is  said  to 

"  I  have  been  laughing,  I  have  been    \^    ^'^''''^-     ^^i*^^   ^'^^^^   high-strung 

carousin"  devotees   it   was   nearer   the   whole. 

Drinking    late,   sitting  late,   with     '^^^^^  ^^""^  *^^    architects   of   their 

my  bosom  cronies.  °^'"  misery.    To  Oswald,  the  founder 

All,  .all  are  gone,  the  old  familiar    °^   i'amsey   Church,    the    devil  was 

£,^gg(,i  present  in  everything,  in  the  baaing 

of  sheep,   the  barking  of   dogs,   the 

braying  of  asses,  the  roaring  of  lions, 

How  some   they   have    died,    and    the  grunting  of  pigs,  the  noise  of  the 

some  they  have  left  me,  people. 


ST.  GUT H LAC.  143 

The  holy  housel  Child, 

To  hell  door, 

Into  that  dire  house 

Down  under  earth's  foundations, 

Depths  profound  "  (p.  135). 

But  he  answers  them — 

"  Ye  are  faith-breakers, 
Thus  ye  in  exile 
Long  have  lived 
With  flame  for  drink, 
Dark,  deluded, 
Of  heaven  deprived. 
From  joy  cast  down. 
To  death  consigned"  (p.  139.) 

He  dwells  tlius  fifteen  years  in  the  waste,  consorting 
with  wild  beasts,  the  world  despised ;  still  he  had  some 
slight  satisfactions.  "  Sweet  the  birds'  song,  the  earth 
liowery,  cuckoos  announced  the  year"  (ibid.,  p.  146). 
He  now  falls  sick,  but  his  courage  was  steadfast.  He  is 
visited  every  day  by  a  disciple,  Beccel  (p.  200),  who  dwelt 
near.  On  the  seventh  day  the  saint  dies.  Of  course 
sweetest  odours  issue  from  his  mouth,  fragrant  as  the 
plants  in  summer-tide.  His  disciple  takes  boat  and  goes 
to  Guthlac's  sister  with  the  news  : — 

"  Hastened  the  ocean  wood 
Light,  hurrying  its  course, 
The  water-horse  sped  rapidly, 
Laden  to  the  hithe, 
So  that  the  floater  of  the  surge 
After  its  ocean  play 
Spurned  the  sandy  land, 
Ground  against  the  gravel." 

On  his  arrival  he  tells  her  how  "  the  broken  bone-house  " 
is  at  rest,  while  "  the  part  of  glory  "  is  "  in  the  light  of 
God." 

"  Deor  the  Scald's  Complaint,"  another  of  these  curious 
lyric  poems,  is  remarkable  for  being  interspersed  at  inter- 
vals with  a  regular  burden.  It  makes  reference  to  the 
legend  of  Weland,  whom  King  Mdad  bound  with  a  thong  : 


14+  OLD  EXGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Avhile  in  tlie  old  Edda  he  faros  harder,  the  King  severing 
the  tendons  of  his  knees.  Thorpe,  on  the  principle  that 
tales  gain  by  transmission,  thinks  the  Anglo-Saxon  poem 
the  older  of  the  two. 

The  "  Piuin,"  which  might  have  been  the  work  of  a  Saxon 
poet  as  he  looked  on  the  ruins  of  Bamborough,  or  some 
stately  castle  scathed  by  the  Danes,  is  highly  picturesque 
but  lamentably  imperfect.  It  is  pitched  in  the  key  of 
"  The  Moated  Grange."  In  English  the  piece  loses  mucli 
from  the  exclusion  of  alliterations,  which  it  is  difficult  to 
retain  : — 

"  "WondroiTS  is  this  wall  stone  ; 

The  Fates  have  broken  it, 

Have  burst  the  burgh  place. 

Perishes  the  work  of  giants  ; 

The  roofs  are  fallen, 

The  towers  tottering, 

The  hoar  gate-towers  despoiled  ; 

Rime  on  the  lime, 

Shattered  the  battlements, 

Riven,  fallen, 

Under  the  Eotnish  race. 

The  earth-grave  has 

Its  powerful  workmen  ; 

Decayed,  departed. 

Fallen  are  the  hard  of  gripe. 

Bright  were  the  burgh  dwellings. 

Many  its  princely  halls, 

High  its  steepled  splendour  ; 

There  was  martial  sound  great, 

]\Iany  a  mead-hall 

Full  of  human  joys, 

Till  obdurate  fate 

Changed  all  that. 

They  perished  in  wide  slaughter  ; 

Came  pernicious  days, 

Death  destroyed  all 

Their  renowned  warriors. 

Therefore  these  courts  are  dreary. 

Where  manv  a  chief  of  old. 


THE  SEA-FARER.  I45 

Joyous  and  gold-bright, 

Splendidly  adorned, 

Proud,  and  with  wine  elated, 

In  warlike  decorations  shone, 

Looked  on  treasure,  on  silver, 

On  curious  gems, 

On  luxury,  on  wealth, 

On  this  bright  burgh 

Of  a  broad  realm." 

But  all  has  perished  in  the  stream  of  flame. 

A  capital  instance  of  the  chapfallen  tone  of  some  of  the 
Ano-lo-Saxon  poems,  as  contrasted  with  the  buoyant,  exult- 
ing strain  of  the  Icelandic  scalds,  is  to  be  found  in  "  The 
Seafarer,"  albeit  it  is  tinctured  with  much  of  lyric  beauty. 
Had  it  been  less  fragmentary,  this  abject  state  of  mind 
would  very  likely  have  stood  out  more  conspicuously. 
None  of  that  laying  one's  hand  familiarly  "  on  the  ocean's 
mane,"  and  careering  through  the  storm — like  an  Ariel  or 
a  Lapland  witch — that  one  encounters  in  the  Northern 
Muse  !  Tlie  teller  of  "  the  true  tale"  recounts  how  the  fell 
rolling  of  the  waves  has  often  drenched  him  at  the  anxious 
night-watch ;  how  his  feet  were  pierced  with  cold,  bound 
with  frost ;  how  his  heart  was  hot  with  care.^  Hunger, 
the  sea-wolf's  rage,  tore  him  within.  When  winter  came, 
and  hail  fell  on  the  earth,  coldest  of  grains,  he  was  hung 
o'er  with  icicles.  He  who  enjoys  life  in  cities,  elate  and 
wine-flushed,  with  misfortunes  few,  hardly  can  believe 
what  he  felt.     In  fact,  it  was  a  case  of — 

"  Ye  gentlemen  of  England,  who  live  at  home  at  ease, 
How  little  do  ye  think  of  the  dangers  of  the  seas !" 

Only  that  it  is  always  "  De  profundis,"  the  voice  seems  to 
come  from  the  very  trough  of  the  sea. 

"  No  man  living,  be  he  ever  so  good,  but  he  must  feel 
fear  on  a  sea- voyage.     He  has  no  mind  for  the  sound  of 

1  Care  may  bring  a  chilly  feeling  to  friend  (Guthlac,  xii.  39),  was  simi- 
yonrmodem  Englishman,  but  it  made  larly  affected  on  the  saint's  death, 
the  heart  of  the  Seafarer  "}iot"  People  seem  to  have  altered  psycho- 
within  him.  Sorrow  comes  to  the  logically,  as  well  as  in  constitution, 
boil  in  "Beowulf."    Beccel,  Guthlac's    since  those  days. 

K* 


146  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

tlie  harp,  not  even  for  the  receipt  of  rings,  nor  for  the 
charms  of  woman.  He  thinks  of  nought  else  but  the  roll- 
ing of  the  waves  and  the  ice-cold  sea  as  he  wanders  over 
the  whale's  home."  ^  Then  why  go  to  sea  at  all  ?  There 
is,  fortunately,  one  little  bit  of  ornithology,  throwing  a 
momentary  light  on  the  utter  gloom  of  the  whole  piece. 
Be  it  noted  here  that  there  is  generally  but  scant  mention 
of  birds  of  any  kind  in  Anglo-Saxon  works,  or  indeed  of 
animals  of  any  sort,  except  the  stock  figures,  the  eagle, 
hawk,  raven,  and  wolf  ("the  grey  one").  To  one  bird, 
however,  the  phcenix,  which  has  by  common  consent  be- 
come tabooed  as  a  figure  in  English  poetry,  a  whole  poem, 
as  we  have  seen  above,  is  dedicated.  But  here  this  forlorn 
seafarer  at  times  in  his  distress  makes  "  a  pastime  of  the 
gannet's  ^  cry,  and  the  song  of  the  swan,  and  the  'huilpe's'^ 
note.  For  men's  laughter  he  listens  to  the  song  of  the 
sea-mew."  Towards  the  close  this  piece — like  many  of 
the  others — diverges  into  a  train  of  moral  and  pious 
reflection.  Another  poem  in  the  Exeter  Book  is  "The 
Whale,"  which  is  most  likely  a  paraphrase  from  the  Latin. 
The  ocean-floater,  while  resting,  is  taken  by  seafarers  for 
an  island.  They  fasten  their  high-prowed  ships,  their 
sea-horses,  to  it. 

"  Him,  haply  slumbering  on  the  Norway  foam, 
The  i^ilot  of  some  small  night-founder'd  skiflf, 
Deeming  some  island,  oft,  as  seamen  tell, 
With  fixed  anchor  in  his  scaly  rind. 
Moors  by  his  side  under  the  lee,  while  night 
Invests  the  sea  and  wished  morn  delays." 

So  far  Milton.  But  the  Anglo-Saxon,  following  his  well- 
informed  authority,  carries  us  on  to  the  fatal  catastrophe. 
The  seafarers  mount  on  the  supposed  land,  encamp,  and 
kindle  a  fire.  Annoyed  at  the  liberty  taken  with  him, 
"the  guileful  beast"  suddenly  goes  down,  ship  and  all, 

1  The  Seafarer,  p.  308.  3  xhe  authorities  are  in  the  dark 

2  "When  they  (the  gannet  or  solan  about  this  bird,  so  called  from  its  cry. 
goose)  rise  in  the  air,  they  stun  the  Was  it  the  willock,  as  the  guillemot 
are  with  their  noise"  (Bewick).  is  called  on  our  eastern  coasts? 


GNOMIC  VERSES.  147 

into  the  abyss,  "  the  hall  of  death."  ISTo  tub  or  tubs  thrown 
overboard  will  satisfy  him.  "  So  is  the  way  of  the  devils  ; 
they  deceive  the  virtuous,  and  sink  them  into  groundless 
fire,  misty  gloom."  Again,  this  fish  has  another  property. 
When  hungry,  the  water-rager  opens  his  wide  blubber  lips, 
whence  issue  pleasant  odours :  much  like  at  the  entrance 
to  a  tavern,  we  should  suppose.  The  little  fishes,  attracted 
by  it,  swim  eager  in,  when  around  his  victims  he  crushes 
together  his  grim  gums.  The  portcullis  being  down,  the  fate 
of  the  prisoners  may  be  readily  imagined.  "  So  the  accursed 
one  shall  hereafter  engulf  in  hell's  latticed  doors  those 
who  here  sought  the  body's  pleasure  only."^  A  similar 
bit  of  natural  history  is  recounted  in  that  remarkable 
twelfth-century  book,  written  in  Norway,  the  "  Speculum 
Eegale."-  The  first  recorded  instance  of  whale-fishing 
we  are  acquainted  with  is  that  told  in  the  old  Edda, 
"  HymiskviSa,"  21,  where  Hymer  succeeds  in  booking- 
two  of  these  monsters ;  while  Thor  had  finer  sport  still, 
playing  the  earth  serpent  himself  a  considerable  time, 
though  eventually  he  lost  him. 

In  the  Exeter  MS.  (333)  we  have  what  are  called 
"  Gnomic  Verses,"  a  string  of  proverbial  sentences,  often 
mere  truisms,  which  are  conjectured  to  have  been  anterior 
to  the  first  migration  of  the  Teutonic  tribes  to  this  island. 
Like  the  "  Havamal,"  in  the  Edda,  they  were  an  oral 
embodiment  of  the  current  wisdom  of  the  people  on  social 
and  other  topics.  Singular  to  relate,  woman's  love  is 
nowhere  described  in  extant  Anglo-Saxon  poetry.  But, 
natheless,  in  the  metrical  sayings  we  find  evidence  that 
these  Anglo-Saxons,  though  so  sedate  and  slow,  must,  like 
other  folks,  have  been  liable  to  lose  their  heads  when 
overtaken  by  the  tender  passion;  for  one  sentence  runs, 
"  Lovers  require  a  leech."  ^  Domesticity  was  clearly  much 
prized  in  those  days,  for  we  read — 

^  Cf.  "A  Bestiary,"  in  the  Early  English  Text  Society's  Series,  edited  hy 
Morris. 
-  Kongespeilet,  p.  32,  Christiania,  1848.  •*  Gnomic  Verses,  p.  336. 


I4S  OLD  EyCLISH  LITERATURE. 

"A  rambling  woman  scatters  words  ; 
A  man  thinks  of  her  with  contempt, 
Oft  her  cheek  smites."  ^ 

That  tlie  acquisition  of  a  wife  was,  in  the  earliest  states 
of  society,  very  much  an  affair  of  sale  and  barter,  at  least 
in  the  upper  classes,  is  clear  from  "A  king  shall  with 
cattle  buy  a  queen,  with  cups  and  bracelets."  There  is 
also  here  a  pleasant  glimpse  of  life  in  Friesland,  imported, 
doubtless,  by  one  of  the  Saxon  settlers  in  these  isles : — 

"  Dear  is  the  welcome  guest 
To  the  Frisian  wife, 
When  the  ship  is  come, 
And  her  hnsband  to  home, 
Her  own  provider  ; 
And  she  calls  him  in, 
Washes  his  squalid  garment, 
And  gives  him  new  raiment. 
'Tis  pleasant  on  land  to  him 
Whonr  his  love  awaits."  ^ 

The  origin  of  our  common  proverb,  "  Murder  will  out,"  is 
perhaps  to  be  sought  in  "  Who  seeks  to  conceal  murder 
must  bury  it  underground ; "  ^  and  this  device  even  some- 
times fails,  as  that  treacherous  thane,  Thunor,  had  good 
reason  to  know,  who  murdered  the  two  young  orphan  rela- 
tives of  his  master,  Egbert,  and  hid  them  under  his  high 
seat,  when  a  magic  light  revealed  the  crime,  as  it  did  in 
the  case  of  St.  John  Nepomuk.  After  so  flagrant  an 
iniquity,  we  need  not  wonder  that  the  earth  opened  be- 
neath Thunor  and  swallowed  him.*  Such  sayings  as  "  A 
friendless  man  takes  wolves  for  his  comrades ;  full  oft  the 
comrade  tears  him,"  pictures  the  wild  state  of  the  country 
in  the  early  days,  long  before  the  days  of  Leofric,  first 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  the  whilome  owner  of  this  precious 
Codex.  The  passion  for  gambling  with  the  dice,  so  ab- 
sorbing as  "  to  make  sorrow  glide  away  and  men  forget 
this  miserable  world,"  is  also  noted  in  this  ancient  work. 

1  Gnomic  Verses,  p.  337.  "  Ibid.,  p.  339.  3  Ibid.,  p.  340. 

•*  Anglo-Saxon  Leechdoius,  iii.  423. 


DEPARTED  SOUL'S  ADDRESS  TO  THE  BODY.  149 

lu  conclusion,  we  may  observe,  however,  tliat  this  poem, 
nnlilce  much  of  the  "  Havamal,"  must  in  its  present  shape 
date  from  Christian  times ;  for  in  it  we  read,  "  Woden 
wrought  idols,  but  the  Almighty  the  spacious  heaven." 

The  "Departed  Soul's  Address  to  the  Body"  (Cod. 
Exon.,  367)  ^  is  by  no  means  open  to  the  charge  of  vague- 
ness, so  true  of  much  that  is  strictly  Anglo-Saxon.  The 
subject,  however,  was  not  exclusively  Anglo-Saxon,  but 
one  very  common  in  mediaeval  times.  The  departed 
(condemned)  soul  visits  the  body  every  seventh  night 
during  a  period  of  three  hundred  years,  and  bitterly  does 
it  upbraid  its  quondam  yokefellow. 

"  Gory  dust ! 
Why  didst  thou  torture  me  ? 
Foulness  of  earth, 
Thou  art  all  rotting, 
Likeness  of  clay. 
Thou  wert  in  food  luxurious 
And  with  Avine  sated  ; 
In  splendour  thou  didst  need, 
And  I  was  thirsty  for 
God's  body. 
Spirit's  drink. 

Thou  art  not  now  dearer 
To  any  living, 
To  any  one  as  mate, 
Than  the  swart  raven, 
After  that  I  alone  from  tliee 
Passed  out. 

May  not  now  take  thee  hence 
The  red  ornaments. 
Nor  gold,  nor  silver, 
Not  any  of  thy  goods  ; 
But  here  shall  abide 
The  bones,  stripped  bare, 
Torn  from  the  sinews. 


1  A  prose    Icelandic  dialogue   be-  It  dates  from  the  middle  of  the  four- 

tween    the    soul    aud    the    body    is  teenth  century,  and  is  a  free  transla- 

printed  in  "  Heilagra  m  jina  sogur,"  tion  of  cap.  26,  "  Pliilippi   Gaulteri 

i.  465,  ed.  linger,  Chvistiania,  1877.  Moralium  Dogma." 


,5o  OLD  ENGLISH  LirKRATURE. 

And  tliee  thy  soul  sluill, 

Against  my  will, 

Oft  seek, 

Insult  with  words, 

As  tliou  hast  wrought  for  me. 

Therefore  for  thee  'twere  better 

That  thou  wert  at  the  beginning 

A  bird, 

Or  a  fish  in  the  sea, 

Or  a  beast  of  earth  ; 

Yea,  though  thou  wert  of  wormkinds 
The  worst." 

Tlie  horror  now  culminates — 

"  The  head  shall  be  laid  open. 
The  hands  disjointed. 
The  jaws  distended, 
The  gums  rent, 

The  sineM's  shall  be  sucked  dry, 
Tlie  neck  gnawed. 
Fierce  worms 
The  ribs  shall  tear, 
Sliall  drain  out  the  carcase  in  swarms 
Thirsty  for  corruption.^ 

Gifer  hight  the  worm 

(Whose  jaws  are 

Than  needle  sharper), 

He  sets  to 

First  of  all 

In  that  earth  cavern  ; 

He  the  tongue  tears  asunder, 

And  the  teeth  pierces, 

And  the  eyes  eats  through, 

Up  in  the  head, 

And,  as  for  a  feast, 

Clears  the  way  for  other." 

The  worm  hight  Gifer,  i.e.,  Sir  Greedy,  reminds  us  of 
'  my  lady  worm '  keeping  court  in  those  tongueless  skulls 

1  "  I  have  said  to  corruption,  Thou  art  my  father ;  to  the  ■worm.  Thou 
art  my  mother  and  my  sister,"  Job  xvii.  14.  "The  worm  shall  feed 
sweetly  on  him,"  ib.  xxxiv.  20. 


ALLITERATION.  151 

turned  up  by  the  spade  of  the  facetious  clowns  in  the 
Danish  cliurchyard.  In  the  Anglo-Saxon  the  scene  is  too 
harrowing.  It  lapses  into  the  foul  and  revolting  without 
mitigation.  Shakespeare,  in  the  homely  wit  and  quaint 
moralizings  of  the  rustics,  has  thrown  a  grim  humour  over 
the  charnel-house  (the  object  of  which  might  be  to  act  as 
a  foil  to  the  impending  fight  in  the  grave-hole),  but  which 
has  surely  not  made  the  sad  lesson  of  frail  mortality  a  whit 
less  telling  and  incisive.  He  approaches  nearer  the  tone 
of  the  older  poet  when,  in  order  to  describe  all  that  is  most 
loathsome  on  this  earth,  he  makes  Juliet  say — 

"  Or  shut  lue  nightly  in  a  charnel-house, 
O'er-covered  quite  -with  dead  men's  rattling  bones, 
With  reeky  shanks  and  yellow  chapless  skulls  ; 
Or  bid  me  go  into  a  new-made  grave, 
And  hide  me  with  a  dead  man  in  his  shroud, — 
Things  that,  to  hear  them  told,  have  made  me  tremble." 

In  the  original  Anglo-Saxon,  the  grimness  of  the  worm 
banquet,  how  they  crept  in  and  crept  out,  their  probing, 
and  tunnelling,  and  sapping  of  the  fallen  citadel  of  life, 
is  intensified  by  the  alliterations.  Those  early  Teutonic 
tongues,  and  the  Celtic  also  to  a  much  greater  degree,^ 
revelled  in  this  trick  of  speech,  and  with  great  effect ; 
not  only  in  solemn  legal  formularies,  in  spells  of  horror, 
and  in  the  flights  of  the  poet,  but  also  in  ordinary  de- 
scriptions ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  in  those  centos  of 
folk- wisdom,  common  proverbs,  the  jingling  repetition  of 
letters  at  the  beginning  or  elsewhere  in  a  word  heightened 
the  effect.  And  the  language  readily  lent  itself  to  the 
device.  But  it  is  not  so  now^  Many  words  liave  dis- 
appeared which  we  once  had.  The  burial  service,  for 
instance,  and  that  for  a  wedding,-  striking  as  these  are, 

1  See  "Gaedhill  andGaill,"p.  158.  nesse    and    in    bele ;    to  be  bonere 

-  In  the   York    Manual  we   have,  (gentle)    and    buxom    (obedient)    in 

"  I,  M.,  take  thee,  N.,  to  my  wedded  bedde  and  at  the  borde,  tyll  dethe  us 

housbonde,  to  have  and  to  liolde  fro  departhe,    if    holy    chyrclie    it    wol 

this   day   forwarde,    for    better,    for  ordeyne,   and  thereto  I  plight   thee 

wors,  for  richer,  for  poorer,  iu  syke-  my  troathe."— iI/a«/Le?^  341. 


152  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

wtuilJ  luive  been  more  striking  then.  Those  were  the 
days  when  '  rich  and  poor '  were  '  welig  and  Wfedl ; '  to 
'  bequeath  and  devise '  was  '  becwiedan  and  becwailan ; ' 
'  life  and  property,'  '  feorh  and  feo ; '  '  might  and  renown ' 
were  'maht  and  mairS;'  'food  for  the  worms'  was 
'wyrmum  wist.'  to  'insult  with  words ; '  'wemman  wor- 
dum.'  But  since  then  much  has  happened.  Alliteration 
has  become  an  anachronism.  And  the  poet  who  should 
attempt  at  this  time  of  day  to  galvanise  into  life  again 
this  defunct  limb  of  his  art  may  behold  his  own  probable 
fate  in  that  of  Eogers,  the  last  word  of  whose  polished  line, 
'•  So  up  the  tide  of  time  I  turn  my  sail,"  was  at  once  con- 
verted into  '  tail '  by  irreverent  critics. 

Some  twenty  pages  of  the  Exeter  Book  are  occupied 
by  riddles,  many  of  them  very  curious.  To  one  of  these 
the  name  of  Cynewulf  is  attached,  whence  most  of  the 
rest  are  ascribed  to  him.^ 

But  the  generality  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  poems,  as  before 
hinted,  have  the  sober  and  sombre  touch  about  them 
so  characteristic  of  the  people.  '  All  joy  is  darkened. 
Hence,  vain  deluding  joys  !  worldly  vanities,  avaunt !'  A 
perpetual  Lent  seems  to  brood  over  their  spirit.  There  ia 
hardly  a  spark  about  them  of  dithyrambic  fire.  They 
excite  our  curiosity  as  to  what  the  lost  specimens  are  like, 
but  we  cannot  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  Anglo-Saxon 
poet,  as  he  was  inferior  in  position  ^  to  the  old  Northern 
scald,  so  was  he  in  poetic  fervour,  in  vigour  of  genius,  in 
culture  of  imagination,  no  match  for  his  Northern  brother. 
If  the  Scandinavian  poets  indulged  in  far-fetched  conceits, 
it  was  at  all  events  in  vigorous  vernacular :  they  sinned  not 
tamely  and  in  a  foreign  tongue,  as  did  Anglo-Saxon  Latin 


^    "Leo,  quae  de  ipso  Cynewulfus  ordain  that  no  priest  be  a  singer  over 

tradiderit,"  Halis,  1857.  ale  (ealuscop),  nor  in  any  wise  be  a 

-  That  among  the  Saxons  the  pro-  gleeman  (glivige)  by  himself,  or  with 

fession  of  Scop  or  poet  was  below  that  other  men  ;  but  be,  as  beseemeth  his 

of  the  Northern   scald,  seems  to  be  calling,  wise  and  worshii)ful."    The 

jittested  curiously  in  the  old  canon  of  signification  given  by  Bos  worth  of  'ealii 

King  Edgar,  cited  elsewhere.     "We  scop,' 'brewer, 'is  sufiSciently  amusing, 


HO  RANT  OF  TENEMARK.  153 

poets, — e.g.,  AlJhelm,  m'Iio,  tliougli  in  his  early  days  capable 
of  so  much  better  things,  indulged  later  in  clumsy  com- 
pounds, strained  metaphor,  stilted  rhodomontade,  enigmati- 
cal methods  of  expression,  and  could  think  of  nothing  but 
trying  his  poetic  wings  in  the  newly-acquired  learned 
tongue,  to  the  neizlect  of  the  noble  vernacular  and  home 
scenes.  Horace's  eulogy  on  the  Eoman  poets  will  not 
apply  to  such  : — 

"  Nee  minimum  meruere  decus,  vestigia  GrEeca 
Ausi  deserere  et  celebrare  domestica  facta." 

It  is  not  a  Saxon,  but  a  Dane,  Horant  of  Tenemark, 
who  in  "Gudrun"  (381)  sings  so  sweetly.  When  he 
begins,  all  the  birds  in  the  wood  cease  their  song,  the 
beasts  of  the  forest  cease  to  feed,  the  insects  among  the 
trees  and  the  fishes  in  the  sea  intermit  their  restless 
motion,  the  w^orkmen  forget  their  tasks,  the  sick  believe 
they  are  well ;  and  the  singer  wins  the  maiden  he  had  been 
sent  for,  Hilda,  the  daughter  of  the  Irish  king.  In  the 
"  Dialogue  of  Solomon  and  Morolf,"  of  the  twelfth  century, 
Solomon's  wisdom,  Absalom's  beauty,  and  Horant's  music 
are  mentioned  on  a  par  as  the  things  to  be  desired  above 
all  others.  In  the  battle  of  the  singers  on  the  Wartburg, 
"Wolfram  von  Eschenbach  is  compared  to  Horant.^ 

We  have  passed  in  review  most  of  the  principal  sources 

1  Cf.  Preface  to  " Gudrun "  by  K.  in  "  Deor  the  Scald's  Complaint" 
Bartsch.  This  tale  of  "Gudrun,"  with  (Exeter  Book,  p.  379),  where  Horant 
a  change  of  names,  is  to  be  found  in  is  transmuted  into  Heorrenda.  De- 
the  Skaldskaparmal,  50,  where  occurs  veloped  out  of  a  germ  common  to 
that  striking  legend  of  the  renewal  of  the  Northern  and  German  races,  this 
the  battle  day  by  day  through  the  myth  was  carried  by  wandering  min- 
Tiocturnal  witchery  of  Hilda,  the  strels  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  in- 
Helen  of  the  war  (HjaSninga  vetr).  terior  of  Germany,  and  so  on  to 
[So  in  the  very  early  Irish  poem  the  Austria,  where  it  was  shaped  into  a 
fight  between  Cuehulaiud  and  B'erdiad  lyric  epic  by  a  gifted  poet  of  the 
(O'Curry,  iii.  415)  the  combatants  twelfth  century.  He  must  have  seen 
renew  the  strife  day  by  day.]  The  the  sea,  so  true  is  his  description  of  it. 
story  existed  as  a  ballad  in  Shet-  A  model  for  his  works  was  not  far  to 
land  in  the  eighteenth  century.  It  was  seek.  Little  more  than  a  generation 
commemorated  by  Bragi  in  the  song  before,  a  poet  had  put  together  the 
of  Kagnar  Lodbrok  (Edda,  ib.).  Saxo  Nibelungen  Lied  out  of  the  story 
has  an  account  similar  to  the  Danish  of  Sigurd  and  the  fall  of  the  Bur- 
one,  and  there  are  traces  of  the  saga  guudians. 


J  54  OLD  ENGLISH  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

(if  ouv  infoniKition  respecting  the  Saxons:  their  Chronicle, 
their  version  of  the  Scriptures  and  other  sacred  writings, 
tlieir  hiws,  their  testamentary  and  other  documents,  and 
tlieir  poems.  We  may  also  mention  a  work  of  romantic 
character,  "  Apollonius,"  from  tlie  Latin,  on  which  Shake- 
speare based  his  "Pericles,  Prince  of  Tyre,"  and  which 
also  appeared  in  an  Icelandic  dress.  It  is  assigned  in  its 
present  form  to  the  early  part  of  the  eighth  century. 

Of  course  our  business  can  only  be  with  the  bird  in  the 
hand,  leaving  the  bird  in  the  bush  to  shift  for  itself. 
Things  non-apparent  must  of  necessity  be  treated  for  the 
most  part  as  things  non-existent.  Great  authorities,  we 
are  aware,  have  persistently  affirmed  that  there  is  every 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  best  specimens  of  Anglo-Saxon 
literature,  and  those  most  worth  preserving,  have  come 
down  to  us.  Others,  again,  have  asserted  the  contrary.^ 
Take  ancient  national  poetry,  for  instance.  They  argue 
that  those  who  have  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear  may, 
apart  from  the  old  national  epic,  "  Beowulf,"  and  the  Scop's 
Tale,  and  the  Fight  of  Finnesburh,  detect  signs  not  to  be 
mistaken  of  a  great  field  of  epic  poetry.  The  Scald's 
Lament,  in  the  Exeter  Book,  they  say,  points  to  the 
former  existence  of  Anglo-Saxon  Edda  songs,  the  w^ork 
of  our  most  gifted  bards,  sung  in  the  halls  of  our 
mightiest  chieftains.  Further,  this  school  of  early  song 
AA-as  destroyed  by  various  causes.  The  Italians  and 
other  foreigners,  in  alliance  with  the  great  ecclesiastical 
interest,  jealous  for  their  Latin,  would  naturally  have  the 
main  hand  in  the  extirpation  of  our  mother-tongue  in  its 
most  popular  shapes.  In  this  respect,  at  all  events,  they 
acted  very  differently  from  the  people  in  Iceland,  where 
the  oldest  heathen  lays  and  fables  were  happily  rescued 
by  Christian  priests,  whereby  alone  we  have  some  toler- 

1  Such  people  will  quote  an  account  raries,  and  the  few  fragments  remain- 

of    the    martyrdom    of    St.    Ulfade  ing  were  carefully  collected  by  Dun- 

(Hardy,   Materials,  xxxiv.),  wherein  stan.     Cf.  "Gaedhill  and  Gaill, "  and 

we  read  that  the  Danes  during  many  Malmesbury. 
years  made  havoc   of   monastic  lib- 


MYTHIC  WORDS   USED  BY  THE  CLERGY.       155 

aLle  notion  of  the  religion  of  our  Pagan  ancestors — infor- 
mation vouchsafed  from  no  other  quarter  whatever.  That 
canon  of  Edgar's  (18),  which  in  one  breath  proscribes  the 
indulgence  in  Pagan  songs  and  decries  games  on  Sundays, 
speaks  volumes  for  the  possible  fate  of  this  poetry  in 
England.  Next  this  old  poetic  literature  yielded  to 
another  influence.  It  was  kidnapped,  and  its  features 
so  altered  and  disguised  as  not  to  be  recognisable.  It 
was  supplanted  by  Christian  poetical  legends  and  Bible 
lays,  produced  in  rivalry  of  the  popular  lays  of  their 
heathen  predecessors.  Finding  that  the  people  would 
listen  to  nothing  but  these  old  lays,  the  missionaries 
affected  their  spirit  and  language,  and  borrowed  the  words 
and  phrases  of  heathenism.  They  remind  one  of  the 
clergyman  presented  to  the  living  of  Broek  in  Holland, 
who  finding  that  his  parishioners  thought  of  nothing  but 
washing  and  scrubbing  and  cleaning,  and  would  listen 
to  nothing  else,  in  his  first  sermon  described  the  future 
bliss  as  a  continuation  and  more  thorough  gratification  of 
their  sublunary  tastes.  "  They  would  be  scrubbing  and 
washing,  and  washing  and  scrubbing  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen."  By  this  device  he  caught  the  ear  of  his  parish- 
ioners when  every  one  before  him  had  failed.  Anglo- 
Saxon  missionaries,  men  like  Aldhelm,  skilled  in  music 
and  song,  adopted  the  same  expedient. ^  They  embarked 
in  the  same  train  with  their  future  converts,  but  presently 
shunted  into  a  siding.  They  stood  at  the  cross-roads  and 
bridge-ends  on  Sundays,  and  seemingly  started  singing  a 
heathen  ditty,  a  lay  abounding  with  words  and  phrases 
of  the  oldest  heathen  poetic  terminology,  and  insensibly 
passed  into  strains  of  a  more  serious  nature.  The  great 
enemy  of  man,  hitherto  described  as  a  '  roaring  lion  ' — 
an  animal  quite  beyond  the  personal  experience  of  the 
natives — became  in  the  mouth  of  the  Christian  poet  or 
preacher  a  '  werewolf,'  and  at  once  they  were  all  attention; 
for  a  chord  of   interest  had  been    struck,  and  they  be- 

1  Malmesbury,  "Gesta  Pontificum,"  p.  281,  KoUs  Series. 


1 56  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

thoiiiiht  them  of  that  old  wide-spread  belief  of  their 
forefathers,  viz.,  that  there  were  people  who  could  change 
into  wolves  for  a  time  and  forsake  the  abodes  of  men. 
At  a  later  period,  when  the  shrewd  Canute  at  the  Council 
of  Winchester,  Christmas,  1018,  promulgated  his  weighty 
ecclesiastical  code,  he  knew  of  no  more  striking  appella- 
tion for  the  devil  than  '  se  wod  freca  werewolf '  =  '  the 
fierce  devouring  werewolf  (i.  26).  In  one  of  the  most 
impassioned  parts  of  Lupus'  ^  sermon,  describing  the 
abject  state  of  England,  what  with  foes  without  and 
within,  Danish  invaders,  and  Anglo-Saxon  traitors  and 
cowards,  he  exclaims,  "  Here  in  England  are  witches  and 
valkyrs,"  a  reference  sure  to  be  popular  in  the  extreme. 
Or  the  feast  of  Belshazzar  might  be  the  theme,  and  the 
poet  would  sing  of  the  '  runes '  upon  the  wall.  All 
those  supernatural  and  magical  powers  attributed  to 
'  spell-runes '  would  at  once  come  vividly  into  their 
minds.  We  have  proofs  of  this  method  of  attracting 
popularity  in  some  of  the  metrical  pieces  that  have  sur- 
vived. In  "  Judith,"  for  instance,  which  only  exists  in  a 
tenth-century  version,  but  which  is  conjectured  to  have 
been  the  work  of  Csedmon  in  the  seventh  century,  war  is 
called  '  Hild,'  a  mythological  name  for  the  Northern 
Bellona ;  while  the  slayer  of  Holofernes  is  '  elfin  '-bright. 
So  again  in  the  "  Dream  of  the  Cross  "  there  are  half-veiled 
allusions  to  the  beliefs  of  heathendom,  curious  contrasts 
between  the  Edda  and  the  Bible.  The  dying  Christ  is 
wounded  like  Baldr  with  missiles  (strselum),  and  all 
creation  w'eeps  at  his  death.^  He  hangs  on  the  '  gallows- 
tree,'  the  M^ord  wdiich  Ulfilas  himself  used  of  the  cross. 
But  still  more  remarkable  is  the  way  in  which  Odin  has 
passed  from  the  Edda,  and  lives  on  still,  though  they 
know  it  not,  in  the  mouths  of  the  North  Shetlanders.     In 

1  Arclibisbop  of  York,  1002-1023.  Norway  and  Iceland.      See   Flatey- 

-  Hence  Stephens  and  others  have  Lok,    i.    214,    for  the    parallel  myth 

been  led  to  assert  that  these  Northern  about  Csedmon's  and  Halbjorn's  sud- 

myths   belonged  to  Northumbria  in  den  supernatural  inspiration, 
the  seventh  century  as   well    as   to 


RE-APPEARANCE  OF  OLD-WORLD  TERMS.     157 

the  "Hiivamal"  (138)  Odin  mentions  a  mysterious  passage 
in  his  early  life  when  he  was  suspended  on  the  world 
tree,  Vingameid  or  Yggdrasil : — 

"  I  wot  that  I  hung 
On  the  wind-rocked  tree, 
Wounded  with  spear, 
And  to  Odin  offered 
Myself  to  myself, 
On  that  tree 
Of  which  none  knows 
From  what  root  it  springs." 

The  religious  ditty  of  Shetland,  recently  discovered  by 
Mr.  Blind,  runs  thus — 

"  Nine  days  he  hung  fra  da  riitless  tree, 
For  ill  wis  da  folk,  in  giid  wis  he  ; 
A  bliidy  maet  wis  in  his  side. 
Made  wi  a  lance,  'at  wid  na  hide. 
Nine  lang  nichts  i'  da  nipping  rime 
Haeng  he  dare  wi'  his  naked  limb  ; 
Some  de  leuch, 
Bit  iddens  gret.''  ^ 

We  have  seen  above  (p.  138),  how  in  "Andreas,"  as 
well  as  in  "Elene,"  Pagan  mythology  reappears.  When 
the  poet  invested  his  Bible  story  in  such  familiar  old- 
world  terms  as  this,  he  w^ould  at  once  take  the  auditors 
by  storm.  These  children  would  imbibe  the  wormwood 
commended  to  their  lips  by  the  honey  on  the  goblet 
rim. 

We  have  mentioned  above  the  only  remains  we  had  to 
show,  until  within  a  recent  period,  of  the  mass  of  legen- 
dary heathen  epic  presumed  to  have  existed  in  Engl'and. 
But  in  1 860  Professor  Werlauf  discovered  in  the  Copen- 
hagen National  Library  two  stray  leaves  of  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  MS.  which  Stephens  thinks,  looking  at  the  language 
and  the  writing,  must  have  been  a  transcript  made  at  the 
close  of  the  eighth  or  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  of 
an  original  poem,  composed  not  later  than  the  beginning 

^  See  "  Niueteentb  Century'"  fur  June  1S79. 


1 58  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

or  middle  of  the  eiglith  century.  On  examination  it 
appears  to  be  a  portion  of  a  mythical  poem  on  the  exploits 
of  Theodoric,  afterwards  called  Amaling,  i.e.,  of  the  race 
of  Amal  the  Goth,  who  became  gradually  confounded 
Avith  the  historical  Tiieodoric  of  Verona,  one  of  those 
Mild,  dim  traditions  of  heroes  connected  with  the  infancy 
of  all  the  Northern,  Gothic,  Germanic,  and  Scythian 
races — stories  full  of  life,  of  horror,  of  beauty,  which  lived 
side  by  side  with  the  Anglo-Norman  and  Kymric  cycles 
of  legends  about  Charlemagne  and  his  peers,  about  King 
Arthur  and  his  round  table;  romances  which  are  preserved 
in  that  delightful  story  book  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
the  "  Theodoric's  or  Vilkina  Saga."  One  of  the  episodes 
of  this  cyclus  relates  to  King  Walther  of  Aquitaine,  and 
to  it  this  interesting  fragment  is  conjectured  to  belong. 
A  fine  version  of  the  tale,  notwithstanding  certain  clerical 
and  classical  affectations,  is  to  be  found  in  a  Latin  hexa- 
meter poem  of  the  tenth  century,  the  work  of  a  German 
ecclesiastic,  and  probably  translated  from  an  old  German 
epic.  The  plot  is  as  follows : — Attila  and  his  victorious 
Huns  compel  Alphere  of  Aquitaine  to  deliver  up  to  him 
his  son,  Walter  Stronghand,  whose  youthful  love  had  long 
been  fixed  on  Hiltgund,  daughter  of  Henrich  of  Burgundy, 
who  was  likewise  a  hostage  wdtli  the  Hun  king.  Eventually 
Walther  rises  into  high  favour  with  Attila,  and  becomes 
his  chosen  general.  At  a  great  banquet  given  by  Walther 
he  manages  to  intoxicate  the  Huns,  and  escapes  with  the 
beauteous  Hiltgund  and  the  choicest  of  Attila's  treasures 
while  they  are  sunk  in  drunken  slumber.  His  swift 
steed  carries  the  pair  over  hill  and  dale,  and  he  is  drawing 
near  to  his  own  country,  when  he  is  basely  attacked  by 
(Junthar,  king  of  the  Franks,  and  eleven  other  stalwart 
swordsmen,  unable  to  resist  the  attraction  of  the  knight's 
gold-hoard.  A  deadly  combat  ensues,  described  with 
great  splendour  in  these  Latin  hexameters.  The  fidelity 
of  Hiltgund,  who  acts  as  the  page  and  guard  and  butler 
of    her   sore-pressed   lover,  is  very  toucliingly  dwelt  on. 


KING  WALDERES  LA  Y. 


159 


Walther  slays  ten  of  the  foes,  only  one  at  a  time  being 
able  to  assail  him  in  his  impregnable  mountain  cave.  At 
last,  when  the  king,  the  damsel,  and  the  knight  alone 
survive,  and  all  of  them  wounded,  peace  is  made.  The 
hero  enters  his  own  land,  is  mated  with  the  partner  of  his 
hazardous  flight,  and  in  due  time  succeeds  to  the  throne 
of  his  father.  Here  the  Latin  version  breaks  off  with  the 
remark  that  it  could  tell  much  more  of  Walther's  later 
exploits,  but  not  a  word  on  the  subject  occurs  in  other 
writers.  In  this  fragment,  however,  of  119  lines  more  is 
told  us,  and  with  a  breadth  of  treatment  which  makes  Mr. 
Stephens  conjecture  that  it  is  part  of  a  great  epic,  say  some 
8000  lines.^  Like  in  "  Beowulf,"  expressions  occur  here 
which  indicate  that  the  poem  had  been  retouched  by  a 
Christian. 

1  '•  Two  Leaves  of  King  Waldere's  localised  in  England  at  Attleburg  in 

Lay,"  by  G.  Stephens  (Copenhagen,  Norfolk,  as  is  evidenced  by  a  romance 

i860),   who  draws   attention   to  the  of   King   Atla    of    East   Anglia  still 

fact  that  the  name  of  Atli  (Attila)  existing, 
was    from    a    very    ancient    period 


(     i6o    ) 


OHAPTEE  X. 

THE   MYTHOLOGY   OF  GERMANY,    SCANDINAVIA,   AND 
ENGLAND    ALIKE, 

Some  might  adduce  the  epic  of  "  Beowulf, "^  with  its  scat- 
tered bits  of  mythology,  as  a  proof  of  Germany  and  Scan- 
dinavia having  possessed  the  self-same  mythus.  This 
would,  of  course,  involve  the  preliminary  question  whether 
"Beowulf"  is  at  root  German  at  all,  and  not  rather  a  plant 
of  Scandinavian  soil  later  acclimatised  in  Anglo-Saxon 
England.  Then,  as  Germany  has  no  Edda,  is  there  any 
evidence  to  show  that  German  and  Scandinavian  hea- 
thenism worshipped  the  same  gods  ?  That  there  was 
a  stock  of  heroic  mythus  common  to  both  peoples  is  clear 
from  the  corresponding  traditions,  that  of  the  Mbelungs 
and  that  of  the  Volsungs,  the  hero  of  both  beins  the 
mythic  Sigurd  or  Sigfried. 

Again,  much  of  that  which  has  been  called  the  last 
echoes  of  a  forgotten  mythology — we  mean  the  folklore 
and  popular  superstitions — is  often  very  similar  in  Germany 
and  Scandinavia,  as  has  long  ago  been  substantiated  by  the 

1    Professor    Stephens    interprets  font  before  which  the  priest  took  his 

'Gastbona'   (line   356,    Thorpe)    the  stand,   and  point  to  the  discrowned 

'bane  of  the  spirits,' of  the  god  Thor,  deity  as  the  Spartans  woukl  to  the 

the  bane  of  the  Trolls  ("  Thunor  the  drunken  Helot,  by  way  of  caution  to 

Thunderer,"  Copenhagen,  1878).  This  his  simple  hearers.     '  Don't  believe  in 

tract,  by  the  way,  describes  a  unique  Thor  and  his  hammer,  but  in  Christ 

Scandinavian    font   of  granite,    date  and  His  cross.     Resist  the  evil  spirits, 

about  1000  A.D.,   whereon  is  carved  as  did  the  fabled  Thor  ;  battle  an  you 

the   god   Thor  putting   to  flight  the  list,  but  with  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 

powers  of  darkness.     In  those  early  not  for  the  one-eyed  Odin,  but  for 

days,  when  Paganism  was  in  the  air,  Allfather  and  for  Christ.'     Professor 

when  the  language  teemed  with  Pagan  Thorsen   figures  a  stone   whereon  is 

words  and  phrases,  the  rude  sculptor  the  Runic  inscription,  '  Thor  bless  this 

would  carve  the  exploded  gods  on  the  stone.' 


ANGLO-SAXON  POE TR  V.  i6i 

Grimms  and  others.  And  thougli  no  German  Edda  exists, 
still  bits  of  mythological  poetry  at  times  will  crop  up,  A 
lucky  find  in  this  direction,  with  which  we  may  compare 
that  in  Shetland  by  Mr.  Blind  (see  p.  156  a7ite),  was  the 
High  German  poem  of  the  ninth  or  tenth  century, discovered 
by  Waitz  at  Merseburg  some  years  ago,  which  runs  thus 

in  English : — 

"  Phol  and  Woden 
Went  to  the  wood  ; 
Then  was  of  Balder's  colt 
His  foot  wrenched  ; 
Then  Sinthgunt  charmed  it, 
And  Sunna  her  sister  ; 
Then  Frua  charmed  it, 
And  VoUa  her  sister  ; 
Then  Woden  charmed  it, 
As  he  well  could  ; 
As  w^ell  the  bone-wrench. 
As  the  blood-wrench. 
As  the  joint-wrench, 
Bone  to  bone, 
Blood  to  blood, 
Joint  to  joint, 
As  if  they  were  glued  together." 

The  verses  refer  to  some  incident  in  Balder's  life,  of 
which  no  record  exists  elsewhere.  Here  Balder  appears 
under  the  name  of  Phol.  Erua  is  Erigg,  tlie  wife  of  Odin, 
while  Volla  is  the  Northern  Eulla. 

Now  this  very  charm  was  recited,  with  many  crossings 
and  mutterings,  by  an  old  crone  to  Asbjornsen.^  And 
from  Scandinavia  it  passed  to  Scotland. 

"  The  Lord  rade 
And  the  foal  slade  ; 
He  lighted 
And  he  righted  : 
Set  joint  to  joint, 
Bone  to  bone, 
And  sinew  to  sinew. 
Heal  in  the  Holy  Ghost's  name."  ^ 

^  Folkesagen,p.  45. 
-  11.  Ch.ambers,  Popular  Illiynies  of  Scotland,  p.  37,  edit.  1842. 

L 


1 62  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

lUit,  alas  !  how  shrivelled  and  shrunken  is  the  German 
])alder — Ciosar's  dust  stopping  a  l)ungholc !  A  poor  spell  to 
mend  a  ricked  leg — or  at  least  this  is  all  that  remains  of 
their  15alder.  Turn  for  a  moment  to  the  Northern  beauti- 
ful l)alder  myth — Balder,  perfect  type  of  manly  beauty  and 
moral  excellence,  adored  alike  by  gods  and  men,  and  kept 
from  all  harm  like  Dornroschen ;  invulnerable,  indeed, 
except  to  that  mistletoe  arrow  pointed  at  him  by  the 
malicious  spirit  of  evil.  Balder  is  slain.  The  envoy  sent 
by  the  gods  to  bring  back  the  desire  of  their  eyes  from 
Hel,  the  chilly,  cheerless  abode,  fails  in  his  object  from 
the  obstinacy  of  that  tearless  hag  who  was  Loki  in  dis- 
guise. Balder's  wife  too,  Nanna,  inconsolable  for  his  loss, 
perishing  on  the  same  funeral  pile  !  Was  this  tale  too 
loftily  and  tenderly  imagined  for  the  dull  wits  of  the 
Saxons  ?  or  was  the  myth  early  swallowed  up  in  the 
popular  mind  by  the  realities  of  Calvary  ?  Of  the  worship 
of  Tlior  (Anglo-Saxon  Thunor,  the  God  of  Thunder)  among 
the  Germans  there  is  only  one  direct  piece  of  evidence  in 
an  old  abjuring  formula.  "  I  renounce  all  the  works  and 
words  of  the  devil,  of  Thunair,  Woden,  and  Saxnot,  and  of 
all  the  fiends  that  are  their  associates."  Saxnot  appears 
once  in  the  genealogy  of  the  kings  of  Essex  as  son  of 
Woden  (Lappenberg,  England,  i.  288).  Another  evi- 
dence of  the  worship  of  Tyr,  Odin,  Thor,  and  Freyja,  the 
Di  Majores  of  Scandinavia,  in  Germany  also,  is  contained 
in  the  names  of  four  days  of  the  week  common  to  both 
nations,  though,  as  Thorpe  points  out,  Woden's  name  does 
not  occur  in  any  High  German  dialect  as  that  of  the  fourth 
day  of  the  week.^ 

But  after  all,  it  is  perhaps  from  the  prohibitions  against 

1  The  Icelandic  Bishop  John   al-  day,  instead  of  OSinsdagr),  fimtadagr 

tered  the  names  of  the  days  of  the  (=  fifth   day,    instead  of   forsdagi), 

week  in  order  to  abolish  all  recollec-  fiistudagr  (  =  fast-day,  instead  of  frya- 

tion  of  the  heathen  gods  Odin,  &c.,  so  dagr),    laugardagr    (=  washing-day). 

that  they  were  Sunnadagr,  nianadagr,  But  in  Norway  the  heathen  names 

})ri(5iadagr  (=  third   day,  instead  of  were  retained, 
tysdagr),  miSvikudagr  (—mid-week- 


THE  MYTHOLOGY  OF  GERMANY,  ETC.  163 

German  heathenism  contained  in  the  laws  and  decrees  of 
councils  that  we  get  the  best  information  on  the  subject. 
Such  is  a  catalogue  of  the  heathen  practices  forbidden  at 
the  Council  of  Lestines,  in  the  diocese  of  Cambray  (a.d. 
543),  where  not  only  the  worship  of  Woden,  Thor,  Frey,  but 
also  all  the  usual  machinery  of  sorcery  and  witchcraft  are 
mentioned,  &c.  (see  "  Anglo-Saxon  Laws,"  quoted  above). 
Giants  and  elves  were  as  much  objects  of  superstition  in 
Germany  as  in  Scandinavia. 

Of  Aser- worship  in  all  its  minutiae  there  must  have  been 
plenty  in  these  isles.  Many  curious  reminiscences  of  it 
are  scattered  about  in  the  "  Book  of  Leechdoms,"  edited  by 
Mr.  Cockayne.  That  genuine  bit  of  rude  poetic  heathenism 
(ibid.,  iii.  53,  and  "  lieliquiaj  Antique,"  ii.  237),  the  spell 
against  sudden  stitch,  is  alive  with  valkyrs,  and  Aser,  blast- 
ing the  sufferer  with  witch-arrows  as  they  sweep  by  hurt- 
ling in  the  air.  '  Heme  the  Hunter '  in  "  The  Merry  Wives 
of  Windsor"  comes  of  the  same  ghostly  stock.  Vilipenders 
of  folklore  would  do  well  to  remember  how  Shakespeare 
at  once  perceived  its  value  and  penetrated  into  its  inner 
meaning. 

SPELL   AGAINST   SUDDEN   STITCH. 

"  Loud  were  they,  lo  !  loud, 
"When  over  the  hill  they  rode  ; 
They  were  of  stout  mood 
When  over  the  land  they  rode  : 
Shield  thee  now,  thou  mayst  save  this  nithling. 
Out,  little  spear,  if  herein  it  be  ! 
He  stood  under  the  linden  broad, 
Under  a  light  shield. 
Where  the  mighty  witch  wives 
Their  main  strength  proved, 
And  yelling  sent  their  darts. 
In  return  I'll  send  them  another 
Flying  feathered  bolt  from  the  front  against  them. 
Out,  little  spear,  if  herein  it  be  ! 
Sat  the  smith,  he  sledged  a  sword. 
Little  iron,  wound  sharp  ! 
Out,  little  spear,  if  herein  it  be  ! 
Six.  smiths  sat, 


1 64  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

Slaniijhter  spears  they  ■wrought. 

Out,  spear,  not  in,  spear, 

If  herein  there  be  of  iron  a  bit ; 

A  witches'  work 

It  shall  melt, 

If  thou  wert  on  fell  shotten, 

Or  wert  on  flesh  shotten, 

Or  wert  on  blood  shotten, 

Or  wert  on  limb  shotten. 

Never  let  be  thy  life  a-teased. 

If  it  were  an  ^sir  shot, 

Or  it  were  an  Elfin  shot, 

Or  it  were  a  witches'  shot, 

Now  will  I  help  thee. 

Here's  this  to  cure  ^sir  shot, 

Here's  this  to  cure  Elfin  shot. 

Here's  this  to  cure  witches'  shot  ; 

I  will  help  thee. 

Fled  Thor  to  the  mountain  ; 

Hallows  he  had  two. 

May  the  Lord  help  thee  ! " 

Then  take  the  knife  and  put  it  into  liquid. 


(     i65    ) 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

yELFRlds    COLLOQUY — ANGLO-SAXON    WRITERS   SOME- 
WHAT   VAGUE   AND    TAME. 

But  in  all  thess  works  we  fail  to  get  the  insight  we  long 
for  into  the  character  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  personally  and 
in  the  aggregate.  "  Beowulf  "  is  really  no  exception,  for 
the  poem  is  generally  reputed  to  be  of  Swedish  origin :  the 
hero  starts  from  Gottenburg,  and  the  scene  is  laid  in  Jut- 
land, the  most  northerly  point  of  which,  the  Scaw,  across 
the  Cafctegat,  lies  about  sixty  miles  due  west  from  the 
]nouth  of  the  Gotha  river;  though  the  heathen  poem 
would  possibly  suffer  a  considerable  change,  greatly  to 
its  detriment  in  a  poetical  sense,  in  the  hands  of  its  old 
English  editor,  apparently  some  Christian  monk.  More- 
over, ^he  scene  is  laid  in  the  halls  of  the  great,  and  not 
among  the  walks  of  everyday  life. 

There  is,  however,  a  little  work  which  does  incidentally 
five  us  some  curious  information  about  the  material  side 
of  home-life  among  the  Saxons,  the  well-known  "  Collo- 
quium "  of  ^Ifric,  compiled  not  indeed  to  tell  Englishmen 
in  after  days  something  that  they  wanted  to  know%  but  to 
teach  Saxon  boys  the  Latin  tongue, — a  tongue,  as  we  have 
seen,  of  which  the  Saxons,  owing  probably  to  their  great 
original  error  in  permitting  the  Church  services  to  be  in 
Latin,  were  all  too  fond. 

The  school  to  which  we  are  introduced  in  this  dialogue 
must  have  been  a  sort  of  Saxon  'night-school,'  designed 
not  only  for  boys,  such  as  the  acute  little  chorister,  who 
won't  tell  any  tales  about  his  mates  in  the  choir,  and  the 
amount  of  flogging  they  daily  incurred  for  their  misdeeds, 
but  also  for  backward  scholars  of  a  more  advanced  age. 


1 66  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

^^'e  have  hero  a  ploughman,  a  shepherd,  a  cowherd  (but 
curiously  enough  no  swineherd),  some  huntsmen  (huntan), 
fishermen,  fowlers,  chapmen,  shoemakers,  salters,  and  a 
haker,  who  are  all  seized  with  an  equal  thirst  for  classical 
attainments.  The  ploughman  relates  how  he  goes  out  at 
dawn  (daegraed)  with  his  oxen — he  dare  not  stay  at  home 
whatever  be  the  weather — and  goes  on  ploughing  all  day, 
^vith  no  company  but  a  boy  to  urge  the  oxen  with  a  goad 
(gad-isene),  who  is  now  hoarse  with  cold  and  shouting. 
And  that  is  not  all ;  when  he  gets  home,  he  has  to  feed 
and  water  his  oxen  and  clean  out  their  stalls, — all  which 
duties,  as  well  as  lying  out  at  '  the  Lord's  fold,'  a  long  way 
from  the  homestead  in  the  dark  winter  months,  were  in 
those  days  among  the  burdens  of  the  vassal  and  cottier, 
though  his  bit  of  land  raised  him  above  the  serf.  But  the 
worst  of  all  is,  the  speaker  here  is  not  free.  Then  there 
is  the  shepherd,  who  drives  the  sheep  afield  early  in  the 
morning,  and  stands  by  them  with  the  dogs  all  day,  in 
heat  and  cold,  for  fear  the  M^olves  should  devour  them  • 
and  he  takes  them  back  to  the  stalls,  and  milks  them 
twice  a  day,  and  he  makes  the  cheese  and  the  butter,  and 
is  faithful  to  his  lord.  Then  there  is  the  oxherd,  who  is 
watching  the  cattle  all  night  in  the  leas,  for  fear  of  thieves. 
But  here  comes  a  hunter,  in  the  king's  service  too,  who 
braids  his  nets,  and  sets  them  in  a  suitable  spot,  and  then 
urges  his  dogs  to  drive  the  wild  animals  into  the  net 
unawares.  But  he  has  anotlier  way  of  taking  them;  he  pur- 
sues them  with  swift  dogs  (swiftum  hundum).  He  catches 
harts  and  boars,  and  deer  and  roe-deer,  and  sometimes 
hares,  in  this  manner:  he  has  not  been  hunting  to-day  for 
it  is  Sunday.  Yesterday  he  stuck  (of  stikode)  a  boar, 
driven  to  him  by  the  dogs.  Hunters  must  not  be  timid, 
for  there  are  many  wild  beasts  in  the  woods.  What  he 
catches  he  takes  to  the  king  his  master,  who  clothes  him 
well,  and  feeds  him,  and  sometimes  gives  him  a  horse  or 
an  armlet  (beah),  to  make  him  more  keen  in  his  craft. 
Then  there  is  a  fisherman,  who  also  tells  his  tale :  how  he 


JELFRICS  COLLOQUY.  167 

gets  into  his  boat,  and  lays  bis  nets,  or  bis  line,  or  bis 
baskets  (spyrtan)  in  tbe  river,  and  wbatever  they  catch  he 
takes ;  tbe  unclean  fish  be  throws  away.  What  fish  does 
he  catch  ?  Eels,  and  pike,  and  eel  pouts  (a?le  putan),  and 
trout,  &c.  Sometimes  be  fishes  in  tbe  sea,  and  catches 
crabs,  lobsters,  plaice,  flounders,  salmon,  and  herring,  &c.^ 
He  should  not  like  to  catch  whales ;  it  is  a  dangerous 
thing.2  jjq  prefers  going  to  the  river  with  his  boat  to 
going  in  company  with  a  number  of  ships  whale-fishing,^ 
for  the  whale  with  one  blow  may  sink  the  ship  and  kill 
him  and  his  companions,  although  many  do  go  whale- 
fishing  with  impunity.  Then  there  is  a  fowler,  who 
catches  birds  with  nets,  with  bird-lime,  with  snares,  with 
traps,  with  whistling,  and  sometimes  with  a  hawk,  which 
he  can  train  himself.  He  has  two  sorts  of  them,  a  large 
and  small  kind.  In  winter  they  feed  him  and  themselves 
both ;  in  the  spring  he  lets  tbe  old  ones  fly  to  the  forest, 
and  in  the  autumn  he  takes  their  young  and  trains  them. 
Many  people  do  keep  the  old  ones  all  through  the  summer, 
but  he  can't  afford  the  expense  and  trouble  of  their  keep. 
The  next  person  interrogated  is  the  merchant,  who  sails  to 
foreign  parts,  sometimes  gets  wrecked,  scarcely  escaping 
alive  (unea|}e  cwic  setberstende).  He  brings  back  pell 
(satin),  and  silk,  and  gems,  and  gold,  and  dyes,  and  w^ine, 
and  oil,  and  ivory,  and  brass,  and  tin,  and  brass  vessels 
(mffistlinge),  and  sulphur,  and  glass.  Then  there  is  the 
shoemaker  (who  is  clearly  a  currier  also) ;  he  makes,  besides 
shoes  and  boots,  leathern  hose  and  leathern  bottles,  and 
bridle-reins  and  harness,  and  holsters  and  travelling  bags. 
Then  there  is  the  Salter,  a  trade  of  vast  consequence  in 

1  Weirs  were  often  a  prime  source  Bishop   of    Worcester,   leased    forty 

of  subsistence  to  the  country  people,  acres  of  land  and  a  fishery  for  three 

Then,  for  the  rent  to  the  landlord,  lives  to  one  Leofenoth,  on  condition 

in   one   case    recorded   it   was  every  he  delivered  yearly  on  Ash  Wednes- 

second  fish,  besides  every  uncommon  day,   during  the    bishop's   residence, 

fish  worth  having :    sturgeons,    por-  fifteen  salmon,  and  those  good  ones 

poise,  herring,  or  sea-fish  ;  and  no  fish  (Cod.  Dip.). 

was  to  be  sold  away  when  the  lord  is         -  See  "  The  Whale,"  cited  above, 
in  residence.     But  some  tenants  had         ^  "  Capiuntur  et  balten*,"  H.  E., 

a  fishery  on  very  easy  terms.    Eadulf,  i.  5. 


i68  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

tliose  days  of  salt  flesh  ^  and  salt  fish,  and  he  is  quite 
aware  of  it.  The  baker  boldly  asserts  that  without  his 
loaves  at  table  people  would  loathe  their  food.  "By  it 
I  strengthen  man's  heart  (heortan  mannes  gestrangie)." 
Tliis  points  to  the  clerical  calling  of  the  author  of  this 
Dialogue.  The  cook  next  steps  to  the  front  and  magnifies 
his  office :  without  him  they  would  eat  their  worts  green 
and  their  flesh  raw,  and  have  no  good  sauce ;  indicating  to 
us  that  the  culinary  art  had  not  advanced  among  the 
Saxons  beyond  plain  roast  and  boiled.  "  But  who  are  those 
other  intending  scholars  ? "  asks  the  pedagogue.  First 
comes  the  smith  (smi]?),  who  makes  ploughshares,  goads 
for  the  farmer,  hooks  for  the  fisherman,  his  awl  for  the 
shoemaker,  and  for  the  tailor  his  needle  (seamere,  nsedl). 
Then  comes  the  carpenter  (treowyrta),  who  makes  houses, 
and  boats,  and  all  sorts  of  vessels :  nobody  could  do  with- 
out his  craft.  "  How  so,"  puts  in  the  smith,  "  you  who 
cannot  drive  one  hole  (jjyrl)  without  my  art?"  &c.  "A 
truce  to  your  dissensions,"  exclaims  a  geheata,  a  sort  of 
wise  friend,  a  counsellor,  w^ho  appears  to  have  joined  the 
conference ;  "  let  us  have  no  quarrelling,  but  let  us  peace- 
fully meet  as  usual  at  the  farmer's  (possibly  the  school 
might  be  held  on  his  premises),  where  we  have  food  for 
ourselves  and  fodder  for  our  cattle ;  and  I  give  this  advice 
to  all  workmen,  to  ply  their  craft  (crteft)  diligently,  for  he 
who  leaves  his  craft,  his  craft  will  leave  him,  whether  he 
be  priest,  or  monk,  or  churl,  or  soldier,  or  whatever  he  is ; 
for  it  is  a  loss  and  a  shame  for  a  man  not  to  wish  to  be 
that  which  he  is  and  that  which  he  ought  to  be."  In 
sooth,  a  piece  of  homely  wisdom,  with  the  record  of 
which  we  will  now  take  leave  of  these  worthy  craftsmen. 
]hit  there  is  still  one  other  comj)osition  which  affords 

1  In  olilen  times  salt  meat  was  tlie  bably  different  trades  occupied  differ- 

rule,    fresh   the   exception  ;    so  that  ent  quarters,  because  we  meet  with 

salters  were  very  important  function-  Fellnionger,      Fleshmonger,      Horse- 

aries.     Next  to  nothing  is,  unfortu-  monger,  Tanner,  Salter,  and  Billiter 

nately,  known  of  the  local  distribution  (i.e.,  Bellfounder)  Streets. 
of  the  Anglo- Saxou  town.     Most  pro- 


MANNERS  OF  OUR  FOREFATHERS.  169 

glimpses  into  the  manners  and  habits  and  notions  of  our 
forefathers  during  a  period  when  our  knowledge  about 
them  is  extremely  vague  and  scanty.  It  is  a  fragment  in 
the  Exeter  Book  on  the  '  Various  lots  of  men '  and  the 
parts  they  play ;  many  indeed  of  anything  but  a  happy 
kind.  One  the  wolf  eats,  the  hoary  heath-stepper,  and  his 
mother  his  death  shall  mourn.  One  dies  of  hunger,  one 
by  the  spear.  One  falls  from  a  tree,^  and  hovers  aloft 
wingless  till  he  falls  to  the  earth.  One  rides  on  the 
curved  gallows  till  the  raven  takes  his  eyes,  the  sallow- 
coated,  and  tears  him  lifeless,  and  he  can't  defend  himself 
againt  the  robber  of  the  air.  Anotlier  perishes  by  fire. 
This  man  lets  his  tongue  wag  too  much  at  the  mead- 
bench  and  loses  his  life  in  a  drunken  brawl,  and  men 
deplore  "  the  mead-mad  "  drinking.  ^  But  we  have  the 
per  contra  (by  God's  allotment),  the  man  brave  in  war ; 
another  who  is  a  good  shot  with  bow  and  spear ;  to  this 
man  is  given  skill  at  tables,^  cunning  at  the  parti-coloured 
board.  One  is  wonderfully  skilled  in  the  goldsmith's 
art,  and  decorates  a  powerful  noble,  and  gets  broad  lands 
for  his  p)ains.  One  makes  men  merry  at  the  drinking 
bench  (as  a  gleeman).  One  sits  with  a  harp  at  his  lord's 
feet;  another  tames  the  wild  hawk  and  trains  him, 
teaches  him  with  his  little  gaffles  till  the  Welsh  bird 
becomes  docile.  But  now  the  author  sinks  into  moral- 
ising commonplace.  The  poem  on  the  "  Endowments  and 
Pursuits  of  Men  "  is  apparently  by  the  same  author. 

Other  scraps  afford  us  insight  into  nooks  and  corners 
of  Anglo-Saxon  life ;  such,  for  instance,  is  the  "  Domestic 

1  As  the  shepherd  did  whose  soul  Saxonremainswe  meetwiththechess- 

was  seen  going  to  heaven  by  St.  Cuth-  player  in  the  abstract  and  irapalpa- 

bert.    See  Life  of  St.  Cuthbert,  c.  34.  ble.     Not  so  in  Icelandic.     Gunlaug 

-  To  those  various   ills   to   which  and  Helga  play  at  tables  and  make 

liuman  flesh  is  exposed  we  might  add  love  at  the  same  time.    King  Canute's 

'■  tlie  evil  eye"  ("  eagenabearhtm  "),  game   with   Ulf    in   Koeskilde,   a.d. 

mentioned  in  a  like  enumeration  in  1027,    ended    in   the     death    of   the 

"  Beowulf,"  3537.     Cf.    Grimm,    D.  latter.     The  spaces  were  alternately 

M.,  p.  1053.  of  gold  and  silver  in  Frithiof's  game 

"  Tiefl  was  a  game  like  draughts ;  with  Bjorn. 
it    also   simified   chess.      In   Anglo- 


I70  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

]\Ianners  of  the  Nuns."  ^  They  are  never  to  be  idle, 
never  to  keep  any  animal  but  a  cat,  never  to  eat  in  com- 
}iany,  for  they  are  dead  to  the  world.  One  has  heard  of 
the  dead  speaking  with  the  quick,  but  never  of  their 
eating  with  them.  Next  the  skin  they  shall  not  wear 
linen  except  it  be  of  harde  and  greate  heorden,^  i.e.,  of 
hemp  or  flax  refuse.  She  is  not  to  wear  hair  nor  hedge- 
liog,  nor  beat  herself  therewith,  nor  with  leaded  scourge, 
nor  bloody  herself  with  holly  or  with  the  briars,  without 
the  leave  of  the  confessor.  Their  shoes  to  be  large  and 
warm ;  but  in  summer  they  have  leave  to  walk  and  sit 
barefoot.  After  this  we  need  not  wonder  that  rings  and 
brooches  and  gloves  are  tabooed.  Their  occupation  is  to 
shape  and  sew,  and  mend  church  clothes  and  poor  men's 
garments.  They  are  not  to  send  letters  nor  receive  letters, 
nor  write  without  leave.  They  are  to  have  their  hair 
cut  (i-dodded)  every  year  fifteen  times,  and  let  blood 
four  times,  and  oftener  if  necessary.  After  this  last 
operation,  for  three  days  they  are  not  to  do  anything 
that  is  grievous  to  them,  but  they  are  to  talk  to  their 
servants,  and  cheer  themselves  with  moral  tales.  After 
all  this  insanity, "  Wash  ye  if  needful  as  often  as  ye  will," 
is  as  refreshing  as  a  tub  after  a  mud-bath.  Eeceipts  for 
the  cure  of  maladies  also  indicate  the  class  of  diseases 
prevalent.  Ophthalmia,  adder  bites,  wounds  by  violence, 
are  conspicuous.  But  the  remedies  are  of  the  most  futile 
character,  with  quantum  suff.  of  superstition,^  as  we  have 
seen  above  in  the  remedies  for  bewitched  land. 

The  impartial  student  of  Anglo-Saxon  lore  —  a  ver- 
nacular historical  school  like  the  Scandinavians  they 
never  seem  to  have  had  * — if  he  be  not  carried  away  by 


1  Reliquise  Antiquse,  vol.   ii.  p.  5.  sage,'  .as  the  Icelanders  called  him— 

No  doubt  of  ancient  date,  but  here  iu  who  died  735,  had  written  in  his  own 

a  later  shape  of  the  thirteenth  century,  tongue  !     Then  we  might  have  known 

-  'Hards  '=tow  in  Lincolnshire.  what  the  English  of  that  day  reaUy 

3  Anglo-Saxon    Leechdoms,     Coo-  was.    A  little  echo  of  it  lingers  in  the 

kayne.  inscription  on   the   Ruthwell   Cross, 

■*  Would thatBede—'hinnfrodi,'' the  and  in  those  five  lines  improvised  by 


THE  SAXON  CHRONICLE  DISAPPOINTING.     171 


the  patriotic  entliusiasm  which  led  a  revered  Saxon 
scholar  to  affirm  that  the  Chronicle  ^  is  the  most  valuable 
original  composition  extant  in  any  language,  must  confess 
tliat  it  is  disappointing.  True,  it  may  compare  with  any 
similar  work  of  its  age,  if  such  exist,  but  that  is  not  saying 
much.  In  the  country  of  the  blind  the  one-eyed  man  is 
king.  Critics  liave  apologized  for  the  lack  of  attractive 
details  by  explaining  that  it  is  merely  a  book  of  annals, 
not  a  history ;  but  when  once  or  twice  the  spell  is  broken 
and  a  real  historic  interest  is  given  to  the  narrative — as, 
for  instance,  when  Egbert's  grandson,  Alfred,  after  many 
ups  and  downs,  makes  head  against  the  Danes,  and  his 
exploits  are  recorded  with  abundant  life  and  vigour — they 
point  with  rapture  to  the  fact.  This  seems  rather  like 
running  with  the  hare  and  hunting  with  the  hounds. 
But  generally,  if  we  discard  an  unduly  optimist  tone  in 
our  judgment,  must  we  not  admit  that  there  is  a  some- 


Betle  just  before  his  death,  somewhat 
in  the  spirit  of  those  verses  of  the 
dying  Roman  emperor. 

1  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  by  Benja- 
min Thorpe,  Rolls  Series.  Two  Anglo- 
Saxon  Chronicles,  by  J.  Earle,  M.A., 
Oxford,  1865.  Down  to  981  this  work 
is  supposed  to  have  been  compiled  and 
•written  by  Archbishop  Plegmund  of 
Canterbury,  one  of  Alfred's  learned 
men,  in  whose  reign  copies  of  it  were 
distributed  among  certain  religious 
houses.  It  was  continued  from  time 
to  time  by  different  writers  until  the 
break  up  of  the  language  in  the  middle 
of  the  twelfth  century.  But  surely 
there  is  no  proportion  observed  in  it. 
The  demise  of  a  worm  or  death  of  a 
giant  are  recorded  in  the  same  breath 
and  with  like  emphasis.  The  entire 
entry  in  671  is,  "  Here,"  i.e.,  this  year, 
"was  the  great  mortality  of  birds." 
678,  "  The  great  comet  appeared,  and 
Bishop  Wilfrid  was  driven  from  his 
bishoprick  by  King  Ecgferth.'  The 
entry  at  690  is  a  fact  worth  narrating  : 
"  O  si  sic  omnia  !  Archbishop  Theo- 
dorus  died,  and  Beorhtwald  succeeded 


to  the  bishoprick.  Before  were  Ro- 
man bishops,  since  English  bishops.  " 
Again,  the  description  of  the  death  of 
Cynewulf,  755,  is  so  real  and  natural 
that  it  seems  to  have  been  slipped  in 
by  accident.  773,  "  A  red  cross  ap- 
peared in  the  heavens  after  sunset, 
and  the  Mercians  fought  with  the 
men  of  Kent  at  Otford,  and  wonder- 
ful snakes  were  seen  in  the  land  of 
the  South  Saxons."  889,  "This  year 
no  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  except  Alfred 
the  king  sent  two  lepers  with  letters." 
But  independently  of  this  vestry -book 
style,  rigorous  critics  say  the  dates  are 
not  always  to  be  relied  on,  especially 
from  878  to  896.  Thegreatdefeatof  tlie 
Vikings  in  Friesland  was  884,  not  885  ; 
and  Pope  Maximus  dies  884,  not  885 
(Steenstrup,  "  Vikingetogene,"  74). 
Again,  strangely  enough,  it  sometimes 
makes  the  English  conquer  but  the 
Northmen  to  retain  possession  of  the 
field.  Not  unlike  this  the  way  in 
which,  in  the  Frankish  chronicles, 
the  Christians  triumph,  but  appar- 
ently with  not  the  slightest  result 
(ibid.,  354). 


172  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

tiling  wanting  generally  in  the  extant  works  of  the  Saxon 
pen,  an  absence  of  tilling  up  the  outlines,  which  makes 
those  days  somewhat  vague  in  their  import,  bald  and 
unsatisfying  in  their  presentment  ?  We  should  like  to 
l)e  more  intimate  with  our  Saxon  forefathers ;  we  do  not 
quite  know  what  manner  of  men  they  were.  But  few  of 
the  personages  on  the  stage  step  forward  to  the  foot- 
lights that  we  may  have  a  good  look  at  them.  "They 
come  like  shadows,  so  depart."  We  want  more  sharply- 
drawn  marks  of  identity,  more  firmness  and  definiteness 
of  conception,  a  more  vivid  exhibition  of  their  human 
characteristics.  A  few  homely  and  natural  touches  will 
picture  primitive  manners  to  the  life,  but  this  quality 
^Ye  generally  seek  for  in  vain  in  extant  Anglo-Saxon 
writers.  In  Latin  Lives  of  the  Saints  this  is  less  the  case. 
There  is  much  more  colour  in  Bede's  "Lives  of  the  Abbots" 
than  in  all  the  five  books  of  his  History.  To  speak  broadly, 
they  had  little  of  Bunyan  or  Boswell  in  them.  And  yet 
those  monks  who  were  selected  in  each  monastery  to  draw 
up  the  annals  of  each  reign  were  doubtless  the  pick  of 
the  fraternity,  men,  too,  who  had  the  best  Latin  writers 
before  them  for  their  models.  What  did  that  man  look 
like ?  Was  he  tall  or  short?  Of  what  fashion  were  his  wife 
and  daughters — 'his  people,'  in  the  slang  phrase  of  the 
day  ?  These  points  it  seldom  occurred  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
writer  to  mention.  Was  it  because  Anglo-Saxon  history 
was  lost  and  forgotten  in  Shakespeare's  days,  or  because 
what  was  extant  was  so  colourless  and  vague,  that  he 
whose  genius  found  materials  in  all  lands,  who  could 
press  into  his  service  early  Scotch  history  and  British 
legend,  totally  ignores  Anglo-Saxondom  ?  ^    Such  a  remark 

1  Others  will  have  it  that  "  Ina,  thinke  one  day  it  would  come  to  passe 
king  of  the  West  Saxons,  had  three  that  she  should  affect  another  man 
daughters,  of  whom  he  demanded  on  more  fervently,  meaning  her  husband, 
a  time  whether  they  did  love  him,  who,  being  made  one  flesh  with  her, 
an<l  so  would  do  all  their  lives  above  she  was  to  cleave  fast  to.  One  re- 
all  others.  The  two  elder  swore  ferreth  this  to  the  daughters  of  Leir." 
deeply  they  would.  The  youngest  — Remaines  Concernitifj  Britain,  by 
but  the  wisest  told  her  father  she  did  M.  N.  {i.e.,  Camden),  London,  1614. 


ANGLO-SAXON  WRITERS  VAGUE.  173 

as  that  recorded  by  Snorri  as  made  by  the  gigantic  Harokl 
Hardrada,  just  before  the  battle  of  Stamford  Bridge,  about 
the  personal  appearance  of  Harold  Godwinson,  "  He  was  a 
little  man,  but  he  sat  firmly  in  his  stirrups,"  does  not  find 
its  parallel  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  from  end  to  end.^ 

The  breezy  downs  of  Berkshire,  with  their  precipitous 
slopes,  which  Alfred  must  have  scrambled  up  when  a 
lad;  or  the  Yorkshire  wolds  and  woodlands,  with  their 
wild  undulating  glades — as  yet  sacred  to  tlie  Saxon 
dryads,  and  unpolluted  by  the  deposit  of  chimney-stalks 
or  the  breath  of  the  steam  monster — what  a  treat  it 
would  have  been  to  have  had  them  mapped  out  before  us  ! 
True,  Alcuin,  in  his  Latin  poem,  mentions  the  plain  of 
York,  with  the  Ouse  rich  in  fish,  winding  among  the 
fertile  meadows,  and  the  hills  and  woods  and  habita- 
tions which  adorned  the  landscape,  and  the  multitude  of 
foreigners  who  resorted  to  Eboracum.  But  we  should 
have  liked  to  have  seen  a  little  more  of  the  granges,  and 
the  strongholds,  and  the  cottages  dotted  here  and  there, 
and  the  people  inside  them — an  Anglo-Saxon  Baucis  and 
Philemon,  with  "  their  homely  joys  and  destiny  obscure," 
and  the  way  they  were  quite  put  out  by  a  visit  to  their 
cottage  of  the  "  quality ; "  some  Yorkshire  Pyramus  and 
Thisbe,  with  their  course  of  true  love  all  unsmooth;  a 
Penelope  waiting  her  husband's  return  from  the  long 
voyage.  Bede  describes  Ely  as  containing  about  six 
hundred  families  and  abounding  in  eels,  but  that  is  all. 
The  monk  Eelix  was  more  explicit.  Bede  dilates  also  on 
Drythelm,  standing  heron-like  in  the  Tweed  at  Melrose, 
and  the  otters  drying  Cuthbert's  legs  on  the  seashore  at 
Coldingham.     AYe  would  fain  have  beheld  fair  Tweed  in 

1  No  le-Js  graphic  an  account  is  in  is  that  big  man  in  a  blue  kirtle  and 

the  Fagrskinna,  by  another  unknown  beautiful  lielmet?  "  asked  Harald  the 

hand.     Harald  Sigurdson,   the   Nor-  English  king.      "That  is  the  king  of 

■wegian  king,  rode  a  black  horse  with  the  Northmen,"  answered   his  men. 

a  white  blaze  (blesottr)  on  his  fore-  "A  fine  fellow,"  was  the  reply,  '"and 

head.     The  horse  fell  and  threw  his  with   the  look   of   a  leader  ;   but   it 

rider,  who  cried  out,  "  A  fall  is  lucky  seems  as  if  his  good  luck  had  deserted 

at  starting  "(Icelandic  proverb).  "Who  him." 


174  OLD  ENGLISH  LI TERA  TURE. 

spate,  with  salmon  nisliing  up  iu  their  hundreds,  and  the 
peasants  trapping  the  otters,  whose  skins  made  such  warm 
garments  for  the  monks.  In  sooth,  the  people  when  they 
got  Latinized  seem  to  lose  their  dramatic  faculty.  But 
was  not  this  partly  due  to  their  antecedents  and  sur- 
rounding's ?  Did  not  education  and  the  circumstances 
into  which  they  were  thrown  contribute  not  a  little  to 
the  want  of  directness  and  vivid  force  which  marks 
Anglo-Saxon  literature  ?  Did  not  its  character  reflect  the 
progress  of  their  history  ? 


We  fear  that  patriotic  devotees  at  the  shrine  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  literature  will  think  of  the  writer  of  the  above  as 
of  one  sitting  in  the  seat  of  the  scorner,  guilty  of  scanda- 
lum  magnatum,  lese  majesty  to  the  national  Clio.  It  may 
he  that  we  have  overshot  the  mark ;  but  extremes  beget 
extremes.  When  the  pendulum  swings  immoderately  in 
one  direction  it  is  liable  to  do  so  in  the  other.  Unduly  to 
extol  anything  is  to  provoke  comparisons.  The  sterling, 
solid  qualities  of  Anglo-Saxon  literature,  the  steady  per- 
tinacity shown  in  registering,  year  by  year  for  a  thousand 
years,  things  great  and  small  referring  to  or  not  referring 
to  these  isles,  none  will  gainsay ;  but  to  magnify  this 
unique  exploit,  as  some  have  done,  tempts  one  to  exclaim 
with  Benvolio — 

"  Compare  her  face  with  some  that  I  shall  show, 
And  I  will  make  thee  think  thy  swan  a  crow. 
Tut !  you  saw  her  fair,  none  else  being  by, 
Herself  poised  with  herself  in  either  eye  ; 
But  in  those  crystal  scales  let  there  be  weighed 
Your  lady-love  against  some  other  maid, 
And  she  shall  scant  show  well  that  now  seems  best." 
The  other  "  fair  "  is  Scandinavian  literature,  a  sketch  of 
which  we  shall  essay  to  give.     But  how  compare  works  so 
removed  in  point  of  time  as  Anglo-Saxon  and  Scandinavian 
literature  ?    True  there  is  no  Scandinavian  MS.  before  1 200. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  some  three  hundred  years 
after  England  had  been  in  a  great  measure  converted  to 


LOOK  ON  THIS  PICTURE,  THEN  ON  THAT.      175 

Clnistianity,  and  become  acquainted  with  Itoman  letters 
and  with  Eoman  culture,  ancient  and  modern,  Scandi- 
navia was  still  Pagan,  with  no  Southern  culture ;  and 
Eunic  listings  were  all  her  artificial  appliances  for  pre- 
serving historic  facts.  But  though  not  written  down  on 
material  tablets,  there  was  an  unwritten  literature  existing 
among  the  Northern  barbarians,  begotten  of  their  genius, 
full  of  life  and  warmth,  stamped  indelibly  on  their  minds, 
which,  as  soon  as  ever  they  had  the  means  of  bringing 
it  before  the  world,  issued  forth — like  Minerva  from  the 
head  of  Jupiter — in  a  great  measure  in  its  present  bodily 
shape.  Ari  Frodi,  born  1067,  i.e.,  contemporary  with  the 
consolidation  of  Christianity  in  Iceland,  was  the  first  we 
know  of  who  put  his  Scheda3  on  paper,  and  showed  them  to 
Bishop  Thorlak  and  Priest  Siemund,  and  these  are  no 
contemptible  annals ;  and  later  on,  in  another  work,  the 
"  Landnama  Bok,"  he  recorded  the  sailing  to  Iceland 
of  Ingolf,  A.D.  870,  and  its  settlement,  while  Snorri's  His- 
tory (born  1 178)  begins  with  Halfdan's  reign,  841,  i.e., 
events  contemporary  with  Alfred.  But  does  any  one  sup- 
pose that  Snorri's  interesting  narrative  was,  as  the  Ger- 
mans would  say,  "  Aus  der  luft  gegriffen,"  or  evolved  from 
his  inner  consciousness  ?  No  ;  he  only  shaped  the  verses 
sung  by  Bragi,  Hornklofi,  and  Thiodolf  in  the  ninth  century, 
by  Egil,  Eyvind,  and  Kormak  in  the  tenth  century,  and 
the  still  more  ancient  oral  traditions  of  his  ancestors,  told 
by  the  seniors,  repeated  daily  by  the  members  of  the 
family,  lisped  by  the  juniors,  and  the  result  is,  such  as  we 
have  it,  his  wonderful  "  Heimskringla."  And  he  was  only 
one  of  the  many  wdio  handled  the  pen  of  the  ready  writer. 
Compare  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicles,  say  from  755  to 
1 100,  with  the  "  Heimskringla  "  and  the  oldest  family  sagas, 
or,  in  fact,  Anglo-Saxon  literature  with  old  Norse  generally, 
and,  in  spite  of  our  being  Anglo-Saxons,  we  must  fain  ex- 
claim :  If  this  is  Pygmalion's  statue  in  all  its  pale  inanimate 
l>eauty,  tliat  is  the  statue  warmed  into  flesh  and  blood, 
with  the  breath  of  life  and  motion  breathed  into  its  nostrils. 


(     176     ) 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    NATIONAL    SITUATION    IN    BRITAIN    DURING     THE 
ANGLO-SAXON   PERIOD. 

We  have  now  gone  through  the  chief  literary  productions 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons ;  but  before  leaving  the  subject  and 
entering  on  a  consideration  of  old  Northern  literature,  it 
will  be  as  well  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  locus,  in  quo,  to 
look  at  the  people  and  their  position,  the  when,  and  the 
how,  and  the  where  of  their  earliest  literary  efforts.  Let 
us  go  back  somewhat  in  point  of  time,  and  take  a  brief 
survey,  by  the  scanty  light  afforded  us  in  the  books,  of 
the  national  situation  in  Britain  during  the  Anglo-Saxon 
period.  Long  before  the  date  449,  when  those  epic  heroes 
Hengist  and  Horsa  are  made  by  Bede  to  appear  on  the 
historic  scene,^  the  shores  of  England  had  doubtless  been 
a  considerable  object  of  attraction  to  that  confederation  of 
tribes — Frisians,  Angles,  and  others — who,  under  the  gene- 
ral name  of  Saxons,  inhabited  the  northern  coasts  of  Ger- 
many, from  the  Cimbric  Chersonese  to  the  Ems,  if  not  the 
Rhine.  "  The  silver  streak  "  in  those  days  was  no  security 
against  invasion.     By  degrees  their  successive  visits  to  the 

1  The  country  about  Grannona  in  Skene,  "  Celtic  Scotland,"  p.  151.  So 
Gaul,  where  the  Saxons  had  estab-  Neunius  calls  the  Firth  of  Forth, 
lished  regular  settlements,  was  called  Frisian  Sea,  ibid.,  191.  So  also  Pal- 
Saxon  Shore  ;  so  by  analogy  we  may  grave  and  Kemble.  But  weighty 
infer  that  the  territory  extending  authorities,  as  Guest,  Stubbs,  and 
from  near  Portsmouth  to  the  Wash  Freeman,  differ.  See  "  Norman  Con- 
and  northwards  bore  the  same  name,  quest,"  i.  10.  Their  view  is,  that 
not  because  it  was  exposed  to  the  the  Saxon  shore  was  not  so  called  as 
ravages  of  the  Saxons,  but  because  being  occupied  by  the  Saxons,  but  as 
they  had  made  settlements  there.  —  being  exposed  to  their  ravages. 


BRITAIN  IN  THE  ANGLO-SAXON  PERIOD.      177 

east  coasts  of  this  island  would  result  in  fixed  settlements, 
and  at  length  in  the  establishment  of  that  '  littus  Saxoni- 
cum/  ill-omened  sound  in.  the  ears  of  the  Eomans,  which 
served  as  a  foint  cCapinii  for  the  incursions  of  the  barba- 
rians into  the  interior  of  the  island.  The  Emperor  Valen- 
tinian's  general,  Theodosius,^  did  succeed  in  driving  the 
Saxons  to  the  Orkneys,  a.d.  369,  but  before  long  they 
had  returned  to  their  usual  haunts.  The  Teutonic  tribes 
knew  perfectly  well  how  the  ground  lay.  They  had  only 
to  peg  at  it,  and  they  must  win.  Their  kinsmen  on  the 
Continent  would  doubtless  report  to  them  the  state  of 
things  southward  at  the  heart  of  the  Koman  Empire.  The 
Vandals,  their  blood  relations,  were  pressing  it  hard. 
Alaric  and  his  Goths  were  ready  to  dash  at  its  vitals.  At 
last  came  that  ugly  sack  of  imperial  Eome  by  the  Goths 
in  410,  which  warned  the  Eomans  in  Britain  to  contract 
their  feelers,  and  would  doubtless  only  make  the  Teutons, 
who  had  been  hovering  so  long  on  their  outskirts,  redouble 
their  efforts  to  expel  them  from  the  country.  The  end 
came  at  last.  Nine  years  later,  418,  the  Eomans  retired 
from  this  pleasant  isle  never  to  return,  falling  back,  in 
the  first  instance,  on  their  possessions  in  Gaul.  They 
went  clear  away,  '  bag  and  baggage,'  with  their  legions 
and  their  legates,  pretty  much  as  the  lively  fancy  of  a 
distinguished  statesman  pictured  the  disappearance  from 
Europe  with  its  bimbaslies  and  Bashi-bazouks  of  the  Otto- 
man power.  Nay,  so  precipitate,  according  to  the  Saxon 
Chronicle,  was  the  retreat  of  the  Eomans,  that  finding  it 
impossible  to  carry  off  with  them  all  the  hoards  of  gold 
which  they  had  collected  together,  "  they  buried  some  of 
it,  that  no  man  might  ever  find  it  again."  - 

The  Eomans,  then,  were  off  the  scene.  All  that  remained 
between  these  Teutons  and  the  coveted  riches  of  Britain 
were  the  Celts  and  British  provincials  of  various  bloods 

1  Ammianus    Marccllinus,    xxviii.    3;    Claudian,    Cons.    Hon.,    iv.    32; 
Skene,  100. 

-  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  418. 

M 


178  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

left  by  the  Ilomans  as  tenants  in  possession.  If  tliey 
wanted  help  to  turn  these  people  out,  help  was  soon  forth- 
coming. The  news  of  the  Eoman  departure  had  been 
borne  to  the  Frisian  coast,  and  their  vessels  were  presently 
seen  in  tlie  ofTing.  Adventurers  kept  constantly  arriving 
from  the  mainland,  some  of  them  with  the  ostensible 
object  —  so  the  legends  say  —  of  helping  the  islanders 
against  those  ever-recurring  marauders,  the  Picts,  who 
dwelt  beyond  the  northern  wall,  but  in  reality  to  share  in 
the  spoil  of  Britain.  Some  of  these  descents  on  the  coast 
are  recorded,  and  their  dates  profess  to  be  fixed  by  the 
Chronicle  ;  but,  of  course,  the  genuine  details  of  the  Ger- 
man conquest  are  lost  in  obscurity.^ 

But  whatever  the  real  names  of  those  personages  to 
whom  the  Chronicle  fits  the  equine  names  Hengist  and 
Horsa,  tradition  related  that  when  the  British — many  of 
them  doubtless  only  half-castes  between  a  Eoman  and  a 
Celt — measured  their  strength  with  the  invaders,  they  were 
always  beaten.  They  fled  from  Kent  to  London,  but  the 
foe  kept  treading  close  on  their  heels.  In  473  the  Saxons 
again  beat  them  and  took  enormous  booty ;  and  so  fright- 
ened were  the  Celts,  denationalized,  down-trodden,  and 
cowed  by  long  Roman  oppression,  that  "  they  fled  from 
the  Angles  as  one  flieth  from  fire."  -  The  sack  of  Ande- 
rida  (Pevensey)  and  slaughter  of  all  that  dwelt  therein  by 
Ella  and  Cissa,  491,  seems  to  have  put  the  coping-stone  to 
the  business  in  that  district.  So  it  went  on  for  years,  the 
British  now  and  then,  as  at  Mons  Badonicus,  a.d.  492, 
gaining  a  victory  over  the  invaders,^  till  by  584  we  find 
the  Teutons  had  pressed  the  Celts  onwards  to  the  banks 
of  the  Severn.  East  Anglia  had  become  Anglicized  by  a.d. 
520.  The  barbaric  tribes  had  now  regularly  settled  in  the 
most  fertile  parts  of  the  country,  the  more  civilized  Chris- 
tian Romano-Britons  having  been  crowded  out,  and,  with 

1  Kemble,  Anglo-Saxons,  i.  22.  simile  ;  but  it   is  not   found   in  the 

-  Worshippers  of  the  Saxon  Chro-     Laud.  M^i. 
nicle  will  poiut  to  this  as   a  grand        ^  Bede,  i.  i6. 


BRITAIN  IN  THE  ANGLO-SAXON  PERIOD.      179 

one  or  two  exceptions,  they  became  confined  to  the  moun- 
tains of  Wales  and  Cumberland  and  remote  parts  of  Corn- 
wall. What  happened  to  the  Britons  in  Deira,  the  country 
between  the  Humber  and  the  Tees,  is  not  clear.  York 
received  its  Saxon  name  of  Eoforwic  later,  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixth  century.  It  was  not  till  a.d.  616 
that  Elmet,  a  district  in  the  West  Eiding,  with  Leeds  for 
its  centre,  submitted  to  the  Teutons.  A  strange  state  of 
things  now  supervened  in  these  islands.  Eoman  civiliza- 
tion, such  as  it  was,  soon  faded  away.  In  spite  of  their 
long  tenure,  the  Eoman  language  never  struck  deep  root. 
Britain,  cut  off  from  the  common  life  of  the  Western 
nations,  and  allied  to  them  by  no  community  of  interests, 
seems  to  become  quite  isolated  and  to  relapse  into  its  pris- 
tine barbarism.  It  was,  at  all  events,  quite  ignored  by  the 
rest  of  Europe,  retiring  somehow  into  the  recesses  of  the 
Western  Ocean.  This  rendered  it  possible  for  Procopius^  in 
the  sixth  century  to  give  to  the  folks  in  Constantinople  that 
wonderful  account  of  Britain  as  a  sort  of  insular  Valhalla, 
which  ]\Iacaulay  has  so  picturesquely  introduced  in  his 
"History  of  England."  Nay,  even  Gildas,  himself  of  Bri- 
tish descent,  divides  Great  Britain,  like  Procopius,  into 
islands ;  while  Jornandes  (De  Eebus  Geticis,  c.  ii.),  like 
Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  gravely  asserts  that  Britain  is  in 
so  sluggish  a  sea  that  it  does  not  easily  yield  to  the 
oars  or  swell  with  the  wind.  The  Saxons,  in  fact,  with 
a  natural  tendency  to  the  heavy  and  inert,  savouring  of 
their  original  seat  among  the  mud-flats  of  the  Lower  Elbe 
and  Ehine,  seem  to  have  lost  their  old  dash  and  daring. 

1  Lib.  iv.  c.  20.     AVlien  the  Gallic  barkation,  as  it  was  of  the  heathen 

ferryman,  after  an  hour's  row,  arrived  Saxons  and  the  Christian  Augustine, 

svith  his  ghostly   jwssengers  on   the  It    was   called,    says    Soliuus    (A.D. 

shore    of    Britain,    these    forthwith  600),  Tlianatos  (=  death),  because  if 

stepped  ashore,  and  a  ceitain  voice  was  a  snake  was  brought  there  it  died, 

heard  pronouncing  the  names  of  the  Had  tliis  name  'Tlianatos'  anything 

passengers  and  describing   their  dig-  to  do  witli  the  origin  of  the  legend  ? 

nities.  Just  so  in  the  "  Eriksmal"the  Claudian  had  referred  to  it  two  cen- 

iiame   and  style    of   the  new-comers  turies  before  Procopius,  so  that   its 

are  duly  proclaimed.      Thanet    was  roots  lay  far  back  in  the  ages, 
doubtless   the  place  of  their  disem- 


i8o  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

Unlike  those  irrepressible  Northerners,  who,  later  on, 
continually  come  to  the  fore,  making  themselves  a  name 
all  over  Europe,  the  Saxons,  after  winning  the  day  and 
turning  out  the  Ikitons,  must  have  lapsed  into  inglorious 
ease ;  they  became  sluggish  and  sensual,  the  requisite 
fillip  to  their  moral  energies  being  gone,  and  whatever 
of  power  still  remained  being  frittered  away  in  home 
dissensions.  They  had  dropped  into  a  berth  not  the  best 
suited  for  the  conservation  of  national  energy.  Such 
marrow  and  fatness,  such  snug  pleasant  quarters,  as 
Britain  provided  for  them,  would  prove  a  very  Capua 
to  those  once  hardy  bands.^ 

The  Eoman  bath  and  the  Roman  portico,  the  remains 
of  wdiich  in  after  days  Alcuin  mentioned  with  pride,  had 
infected  the  Britons  with  a  love  of  luxury  (Agricola, 
xxi.).  These  were  still  to  be  seen  in  the  land ;  ^  what  if 
they  exercised  a  similar  enervating  influence  on  the  new- 
comers ?  Not  that  the  settlers  stuck  to  the  Romano-colonial 
and  British  cities  left  ready  for  their  residence,  but  with 
no  lack  of  people  still  in  them  to  be  slaves  to  the  con- 
querors.    Quite  the  reverse.     True  to  the  national  instinct 

^  Saxon    Chronicle,    449,      "  Jjaes  transhipped    into    river     boats    and 

landes  cysta."     "  So  productive  is  it  carried  up    the  Ehine."     And  that 

in  fruit,  and  so  fertile  in  pastures,  its  productiveness  had  not  fallen  off 

so  rich  in  metals,  and  valuable  for  its  in     the    days     of     Charlemagne    is 

contributions    to  the   treasury,   sur-  evinced   by   his  saying  that   Britain 

rounded  on  all  sides  with  abundance  was  the    storehouse  and   granary  of 

of  harbours  and  an  immense  line  of  the  whole  Western  world, 

coast."      Thus   speaks  Eumenius    of  "  That  sumptuous  cofBn  of  white 

Britain   in   the  third  century   (Pan.  marble,    beautifully    carved,    which 

Const.  C.  C.  9-19).     So  much  had  it  the  brethren   of   Ely   discovered    at 

improved  during  a  century  and  a  half  the  ruined  city  of  Grantchester,  and 

of   quiet   and   prosperity   under    the  in   which  they   deposited  the   relics 

Provincial    Britains,    that   the    corn  of  jEtheldritha,  Abbess  of  Ely,  many 

grown  on  the  island  was  more  than  years  later,  was  one  of  the  striking 

was  wanted  for  home   consumption,  survivals  of  ancient  Roman  magnifi- 

According  to  Ammianus  (xviii.  2),  a  cence  (Bede,   H.   E.,    iv.    cap.   xix.). 

good  deal  of  corn  was  exported  from  The  poor  lady  had  died  of  a  big  red 

Great  Britain  at  a  very  early  period,  tumour  under   the   jaw,    which   she 

("Annona  Britannis  suetatransferri."  looked  upon  a-;  a  fit  punishment  for 

Cf.  Zosimus,  iii.  5).     "  The  Emperor  her  youthful  vanity  in  wearing  huge 

Julian  (a.d.  358)  sent  eight  hundred  necklaces  of  pearl  and  gold, 
vessels  to  Britain  for  corn,  which  he 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  i8i 

for  ruralizing  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  they  would  soon 
surge  out  of  the  towns,  after  giving  them  a  little  house- 
warming,  and  retire  to  congenial  country  quarters.  They 
preferred  airing  themselves  within  their  mark,  where  they 
could  drink  their  beer,  the  makings  of  which  they  had 
raised  in  their  own  cornfield  ("  humor  ex  hordeo  aut 
frumento,"  Tacit.  Germ.  23),  and  eat  their  fill  of  ox,  sheep, 
and  sw^ine ;  taking  care  to  meet  out  their  two  loaves  a 
day  to  each  of  their  slaves.^  From  this  thick  cloud  under 
which  they  seem  to  have  vegetated,  "  the  world  forgetting 
by  the  world  forgot,"  as  learned  authors  will  have  it,  they 
once  more  emerged,  when,  by  the  arrival  of  the  Eoman 
missionaries  in  the  island,  Anglo-Saxon  Britain  was  swept 
into  that  great  system  from  which  streamed  most  of  the 
intellectual  light  of  the  then  civilised  world.  The  Eoman 
Church  now  gradually  succeeded  to  the  dominion  of  the 
Eoman  Empire.  Early  Celtic  Christianity,  which  had 
been  well-nigh  sw^amped  by  the  inrush  of  the  desolating 
Saxon,  but  by  degrees  recovered  itself,  nay,  later  on, 
gained  much  of  England  back  to  the  faith  on  the  relapse 
of  Eoman  converts,  by  degrees  succumbed.  The  arts 
which  polish  life  throve  under  the  influence  of  the  Eoman 
mission.  Its  functionaries,  with  that  impressive  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  worship  ever  cherished  by  Eome, 
w^ould  quite  take  the  shine  out  of  the  old  ruder  British 
worship.  The  grand  Eoman  episcopal  system  would  accus- 
tom people  to  a  more  sustained  central  exercise  of  secular 
authority,  and  besides  paving  the  way  for  the  foundation 
of  the  English  constitution,  would  lead  to  a  new  point  of 
approach  between  English  and  foreign  courts.  Eor  a 
time  Eome's  influence  would  be  one  of  unmitigated  good. 
But  it  was  overdone.  The  swaddling-clothes  wrapped 
round  the  infant  uncommonly  tight  were  kept  on  all  too 
long.  The  limbs  of  the  convert  became  stiffened.  Then 
came  the  leading-strings,  which  the  natives  found  it 
difficult  to  shake  off,  conducive  perhaps  to  an  improved 

1  Solomon  and  Saturn. 


1 82  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

morality — though  some  people  would  greatly  doubt  this — 
hut  not  to  vivid,  independent  thought  or  original  concep- 
tion.   The  Church  may  for  ages  have  supplied  the  cohesive 
power  to  the  divided  nation,  might  repress  the  violence 
of  the  strong,  might  befriend  the  poor,  sow  the  seeds  of 
freedom,  inculcate  a  respect  for  authority,  improve  agri- 
culture, introduce  a  knowledge  of  the  arts,  educate  the 
people,  but  they  laid  a  heavy  hand  on  society.     It  was  a 
goodly  tree  to  look  at,  with  far-extending  branches,  but 
there  was  a  cold  shadow  about  it,  chilling  in  the  extreme. 
Theodore  and  Adrian  might  found  schools  of  learning 
among  their  converts  in   the    seventh  century,   but   the 
learning  was  almost  entirely  of  an  exotic  character  and 
couched  in  a  classic  tongue.     Take  as  an  illustration  of 
the  Latinizing  propensities  the  poetical  catalogue  given 
by  Alcuin,  the  librarian  of  the  library  of  the  Church  of 
York,  which  is  a  fit  commentary  on  the  extent  to  which 
the  country  from  Kent  to  JSTorthumbria  had  yielded  to 
this  foreign  deluge.     The  works  of  Jerome,  Hilarius,  Am- 
brose, Augustine,   Basil,  Cassiodorus,  Orosius,   Boethius, 
Pliny,  Aristotle,  Cicero,  Prudentius,  Fortunatus,  Lactan- 
tius,  and  the  more  ancient  poets,  Virgil,  Statins,  Lucan, 
&c.,  are  mentioned,  as  well  as  the  grammarians  Probus, 
Donatus,  Priscian,  &c.     There  are  here,  it  is  true,  some 
of    the    foremost   names     of    ancient     classic    learning, 
the  study  of  which,  rightly  pursued,  would  have  given 
to  our  countrymen  a  correct  and  pure    standard.      But 
unfortunately  that  happened  in  Britain  which  had  hap- 
pened in  Ptome;   the  best  authors,  such  as  Virgil,  were 
decried,    even  by    scholars  like   Alcuin,    as  the    authors 
of  lies,   and  the   fables   of    the   Gentiles   were   tabooed. 
Instead   of   them,  the   early   Christian   poets   were   pre- 
ferred  (Wright,   Biog.    Lit.,  p.  42).     IMust   we    not  pro- 
nounce empliaticaUy  that  all  this  was  not  the  pabulum 
for  a  healthy  adult  ?     We  see  in  the  catalogue  nothing 
about  indigenous  production  in  the  vernacular.     Not  one 
pennyworth  of  bread  to  all  that  sack.     No  intimation  of 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  183 

home  genius  is  anywhere  apparent.  The  mental  habits 
of  the  people  became  saturated  with  the  prevailing  colour 
of  their  teachers'  solemnity  and  dulness.  The  domestic 
infant  was  overlaid  and  crushed  by  an  alien  intruder. 
When  Anglo-Saxons  did  write  in  their  own  tongue,  it 
smacked  of  Italy  and  book-learning.^  They  reminded  one 
of  the  old  Eoman  stage-players,  wlio  wore  masks,  whereby 
their  voices  were  rendered  more  sonorous,  but  at  the 
same  time  more  monotonous  and  unsympathetic.  Again, 
Exeter  Cathedral  Library  consisted  mostly  of  hymns, 
theology,  and  translations  of  Scripture,  but  later  it  pos- 
sessed one  token  of  happier  augury,  viz.,  the  collection  of 
Anglo-Saxon  poetry  now  called  "  Codex  Exoniensis." 

We  should  have  liked  to  have  had  something  more 
about  the  everyday  routine  of  national  life,  with  its 
varied  scenes  and  homely  sympathies,  the  commonplace 
and  familiar  side  of  human  affairs,  as  appealing  to  their 
"  business  and  their  bosoms,"  instead  of  this  mass  of 
learning — grand  legacy  no  doubt  of  ancient  Greece  and 
Eome,  destined  in  after  days  to  be  the  very  fountain- 
head  of  the  highest  national  culture,  but  "  caviare  to  the 
general,"  to  whom  the  genuine  produce  of  extinct  peoples 
in  dead  languages  or  debased  imitations  thereof  were  all 
one.  Edifying  reading  beyond  doubt  those  many  devo- 
tional and  religious  treatises,  and  satisfying  the  highest 
wants  of  our  nature  ;  but  not  all  its  wants,  as  the  monks 
opined.  The  true  complement  to  this  mental  nourishment 
was  what  the  Anglo-Saxons,  like  all  people  in  the  early 
stages  of  their  existence,  delighted  in — the  national  ballad, 
the  foundation  of  all  history  ;  and  these  the  clergy  in  Eng- 
land as  in  Germany,  like  so  many  Iconoclasts,  did  all  in 
their  power  to  discourage,  and  so  "  repressed  their  noble 
rage,  and  froze  the  genial  current  of  the  soul."  -     ^^y,  the 

1  All   Europe   in   tliose   days    was  culi.'     He  snubbed  the  chief  poet  of 

tarred  with  the  same  brush.  Ulster  in  his  first  liue  of  a  laudatory 

-  "The     advent     of     Christianity  hymn.  .  .  .  St.  Patrick  and  his  pupils 

ruined  the  bards  of  Erin.  ...  St.  Col-  were  very  illiterate ;  while  in  the  same 

umba  speaks   of  them   as    '  Homun-  age  Durac  Mac  Ua  Luhair,  chief  poet 


i84  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

very  i>iiests  themselves,  how  fared  the  study  of  Latin 
witii  tlieiu  ?  We  mean  the  rank  and  file,  not  the  few  great 
lumiiiarios  wlio  graced  England.  Bede  himself  tells  us 
that  in  his  time  many  a  priest  could  not  say  the  mere 
Church  formulae,  and  he  turned  them  into  English  for 
them.  Nay,  from  an  anecdote  (H.  E.,  v.  6)  we  learn  that 
some  of  them  could  not  baptize  a  child  without  a  blunder. 
Poor  fellows !  they  did  not  understand  Latin,  and  they 
were  forbidden  under  penalties  to  sing  the  old  native 
ballads  for  their  amusement.  Their  wits  became  addled. 
Things  did  not  improve  later  on.  The  Latin  rage  at  last 
stood  convicted  as  a  delusion  and  a  snare,  and  fell  into 
discredit  and  decay.  So  much  so,  that  Alfred,  in  his 
preface  to  the  "  Pastoral,"  expresses  his  astonishment  that 
his  countrymen  had  written  Latin  books  and  had  not  left 
translations  of  them ;  for  even  priests  could  scarcely  trans- 
late the  Church  service,  and  learning  was  in  his  days  so 
much  at  a  discount  in  England,  that  whereas  foreigners 
resorted  to  England  for  learning  in  times  past.  English- 
men now  had  to  go  abroad  for  learning.  So  much  for  the 
state  of  mental  culture  in  Britain  among  our  teachers,  for 
the  fitness  of  whom  Pome  was  responsible.^  Neither  was 
this  barbarism  due,  as  some  fondly  imagine,  to  the  Danish 
invasion ;  for  Alfred  says,  "  I  called  to  mind  how  I  saw, 
before  it  was  all  spoiled  and  burnt,  that  the  churches 
throughout  the  whole  English  nation  stood  filled  with 
treasures  and  with  books,  and  also  with  a  great  multitude 
of  God's  servants,  yet  they  reaped  very  little  of  the  fruit 
of  those  books,  because  they  could  understand  nothing  of 
them,  because  they  were  not  written  in  their  own  native 
tongue." 

of  the  King  of  Leinster,  composed  two  Archbishop  of  York,  first  printed  by 

niiignificent  Irish  poems,  bold,  glow-  Stubbs  and  Haddan,  "  Charters,"  iii. 

ing,  energetic."  —  0' 6 rady,  History  of  615,   indicates  into  what  a  cloud  of 

Ireland,  p.  xv.  ignorance  and  superstition  some  clergy 

'  The   letter   of  Bishop  Egred  of  had  sunk  in  the  North  of  England. 
Lindisfarue  (a.d.   830)  to   Wulfsige, 


(     i85 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

PILGRIMAGES — FALSE  MONASTERIES THE  NORTHMEN 

THEY  SETTLE  DOWN  WITH  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 
— ANGLO-SAXON  IS  DEBASED,  BUT  REVIVES  AS 
MODERN  ENGLISH. 

Let  us  pursue  the  subject  for  a  space.  The  Saxons  pro- 
per had  been  well  shepherded  by  Eome.  The  Angles  of 
Xorthumbria,  the  spiritual  progeny  of  Columba,  had  to 
follow  suit  and  submit  to  Eoman  rule,  no  latitude  being 
allowed  to  them  in  matters  of  faith  and  practice — no  give- 
and-take,  so  as  to  establish  a  mochis  vivendi  amono;  the  rival 
.communions.  "  Aut  disce,  aut  discede."  Theodore's  ordi- 
nance had  settled  the  matter.  "  A  person  ordained  by  a 
bishop  of  Scots  or  Britons,  who  are  not  sound  about 
Easter  and  the  tonsure,  must  be  confirmed  again  by  a 
Catholic  bishop."  Their  King  Oswin,  under  the  threat  that 
he  would  be  infallibly  excluded  by  St.  Peter  from  heaven 
if  he  continued  unsound  about  Easter  and  the  tonsure, 
gave  up  the  contest  at  Whitby  Synod ;  and  Colman,  their 
bishop,  seeing  that  he  and  his  sect  were  despised,  retired 
to  Ireland.  This  was  a.d.  664.  And  yet  these  men  were 
of  pure  and  blameless  life,  thought  ever  of  their  souls  and 
not  of  the  world,  and  what  money  they  got  from  the  rich 
they  gave  it  to  the  poor  ;  and  so  greatly  were  they  beloved, 
that  if  a  priest  showed  himself  in  a  hamlet,  tlie  people 
thronged  to  him  to  hear  the  word  of  life  (Bede,  iii.  26).  The 
Scot  Aidan  left  a  sweet  savour  in  the  country,  which  the 
Italian  Paulinus  failed  to  do.  With  the  triumph  of  the 
Eoman  system  a  superior  ecclesiastical  organisation  may 
have  been  introduced,  the  basis  of  our  English  constitution, 


iS6  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

l»ut  with  the  elhnination  of  the  Scotch  element  religion  was 
maimed  in  its  spirituality.  The  lloman  paralysis  spread 
to  the  Northern  border.  Not  long  after,  the  whole  nation 
of  the  Picts  stood  corrected  by  their  own  confession, 
hugged  their  chain,  and  rejoiced  at  being  subjected  to 
the  Eoman  discipline  (ib.,  v.  21).  The  Scots  soon  ceased 
to  vex  the  English,  and  in  731  many  Northumbrians  of 
all  classes,  whole  families,  in  short,  preferred  monastic  vows 
to  military  pursuits. 

A  few  words  here  on  the  pilgrimages  from  Britain  to 
Home.  Men  like  Benedict  Biscop  and  Wilfrid  had  repaired 
thither  half  a  century  before ;  the  latter,  as  Bede  says,  be- 
cause he  was  dissatisfied  with  the  Scottish  rule,  and  wanted 
to  study  the  ultramontane  ritual.  But  there  was  reason  in 
this  case  ;  and  whenever  they  went  thither,  they  never  came 
l)ack  empty,  always  bringing  with  them  something  in  the 
shape  of  art  or  learning  to  elevate  and  improve  their  coun- 
trymen^ (Vitse  Abb.).  But  the  matter  assumed  a  different 
complexion  when  aged  men  like  the  ex-abbot  Ceolfrid  must, 
forsooth,  go  trudging  to  Eome  with  eighty  followers  (a.d. 
716),  himself  dying  on  the  road  at  Langres,  after  tottering 
about  a  hundred  and  fourteen  days,  while  his  deluded  atten- 
dants were  left  in  piteous  case,  unable  to  speak  a  strange 
language  and  utterly  perplexed.  No  wonder  some  of  them 
resolved  to  go  home  at  once  and  give  up  the  business.  So 
young  Offa,  son  of  an  East  Saxon  king,  in  his  wisdom 
found  nothing  better  to  do  than  leave  wife,  relations,  and 
lands,  and  embrace  the  life  of  a  monk  at  Eome,  a.d.  709. 
The  lady  doubtless  thought  otherwise : — 

"  Wisdom  !  to  leave  liis  wife,  to  leave  liis  babes, 
His  mansion  and  bis  titles,  in  a  place 
Fioiu  wlience  himself  does  fly  \     He  loves  us  not, 
He  wants  the  natural  touch." 

The  companion  of  his  journey,  and  also  of  his  monastic  life, 

'  Let  us,  however,  never  forget  that  under  an  interdict.     Wilfrid  was  the 

"Wilfrid  brought  us  one  fatal  legacy  first    Englishman  who    api^ealed    to 

of  his  journey  to  Rome — Pope  Aga-  Rome, 
tho's   threat   to   place    Northumbria 


riL  GRIM  A  GES.  1 87 

was  another  king,  Coinred  of  the  Mercians,  a. p.  709.  But 
Ctedwalla,  king  of  Wessex,  had  preceded  them,  abdicating 
and  going  to  Eome  to  finish  his  days,  A.D.  689,  and  Ina 
followed  in  726.  In  short,  the  rage  (Beda,  v.  7)  became 
universal  throughont  England,  and  to  be  compared,  in 
fact,  to  the  crusading  craze  of  a  later  age.  High-born 
ladies  joined  in  the  stampede,  being,  like  the  rest,  seized 
with  this  dance  of  St.  Vitus.  Boniface  was  not  a  little 
exercised  by  this  phenomenon.  He  was  not  the  man 
to  be  taken  in  by  such  myths  as  that  on  Guthlac's 
sister,  Pega's,  arrival  at  Eome,  all  the  bells  of  the  city 
started  ringing  of  their  own  accord ;  and  if  they  did,  aii 
bono?  Knowing  what  he  did  of  the  too  frequent  result, 
he  cannot  recommend  his  correspondent,  "  superior  to  all 
others  of  her  sex,"  the  Abbess  Bucge,  to  carry  out  her 
intended  journey.^  The  chief  reason  for  these  peregrina- 
tions, alleged  by  the  Abbess  Eangyth  (a.d.  732)  to  Wynfrid 
(Boniface),  is  "  to  get  pardon  of  her  sins,  like  many  others 
have  done."  ^  Alcuin  in  one  of  his  letters  delicately  hints 
to  an  abbess,  afflicted  with  a  similar  whim,  that  she  had 
better  let  it  alone.  Bede  himself  did  not  believe  in  it,  as 
may  be  gathered  from  his  facetious  interpretation  of  the  old 
monogram  on  the  Eoman  monuments,  S.P.Q.E.,  "  Stultus 
populus  quserit  Eomam."  Straws  will  show  which  way  the 
wind  blows. 

Boniface  was  behind  the  scenes,  and  his  letter  to  Cuth- 
bert.  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  a.d.  748,  is  conclusive. 
He  urges  him  to  forbid  English  nuns  going  to  Eome  in  a 
formal  synod.  Not  a  city  in  Lombardy.  France,  and  Gaul 
but  what  had  witnessed  the  deplorable  results  of  these 
pilgrimages.  It  was  a  scandal  and  a  stain  on  the  whole 
English  Church.^ 

Kemble,  363,  attributes  this  passion  for  the  Eoman  tour 
to  the  deep  earnest  conviction  and  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
and  love  of  truth  of  this  nation.     As  we  have  seen,  other 

1  Moiiumenta  Moguntina,  p.  236.  -  Ibid.,  p.  70. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  208. 


iSS  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

forces  nmst  liave  Leon  at  work.     Self-seeking,  too,  at  times 
came  into  play.     Thus  Charlemagne,  iu  a  letter  to  Offa, 
king  of  Mercia,  a.d.  796,  is  willing  to  give  every  facility 
to  foreign  pilgrims  to  lionie.     They  are  free  to  come  and 
go ;    but  he  hears  that  among  them  are  people  who  go 
thither  not  for  religion's   sake,  but  in  order  to  smuggle 
{fraudulenter  negotiari)}      It  is  the  old  tale.      Cucullus 
non  facit  monachum.      Neither  does  the  tonsure,  what- 
ever its  mode,  the  true  man  of  God.     "He  (the  youth 
Wilfrid)  had  not  yet  received  the  tonsure,  but  he  had  the 
ornaments  of  meekness  and  obedience,  which  are  greater 
than  the  tonsure,"  shows  what  Bede  in  his  heart  thought 
of  the  matter  (H.  E.,  v.  19).     What  the  multiplication  of 
the  priests,  all  shaven  and  shorn  according  to  one  type,  did 
for  the  country,  is  pretty  clear  from  the  very  plain  speak- 
ing of  Bede  to  his  friend  Ecgbert  on  his  becoming  Arch- 
bishop of  York.     He  has  heard  that  "there  were  many 
villages  among  the  mountains  or  in  the  thick  forests  where 
for  years  together  the  face  of  a  bishop  was  never  seen  to 
confirm,  or  of  a  priest  to  teach,  the  true  faith  and  explain 
the  difference  between  a  bad  and  a  good  action."     "  Some 
of  the  bishops  w^on't  preach  or  confirm  gratis,  and,  what  is 
worse,  having  got  their  offerings  from  the  faithful,  they 
contemn  the  ministry  of  the  Word.     The  old  root  of  all 
evil  is  the  cause  of  this  degeneracy  of  the  clergy— the  love 
of  money."     But  what  was  worse,  members  of  the  laity,  to 
escape  secular  services,  by  giving  bribes  to  the  king,  under 
the  pretence  of  erecting  monasteries,  got  hold  of  territories 
where  they  might  more  easily  live  in  idleness  and  gratify 
their  lusts,  assembling  at  these   spots   a  herd  of  monks 
banished  from  the  true  monasteries,  or  monks  of  their  own 
manufacture,  who  led  quite  a  secular  life  within  the  walls, 
surrounded  by  their  wives  and  children  ;  and  this  to  the 
exclusion  of  soldiers  who  defended  the  kingdom.     They 
exemplified,  says  Bede,  the  proverb  that  '  wasps  can  make 
cells,  but  they  store    up  therein  not  honey,  but  rather 
poison.'     Here,  then,  as  everywhere,  we  discern  the  trail  of 

1  Monumenta  Moguntina,  p.  286. 


FALSE  MONASTERIES.  rSg 

that  false  system  which,  wherever  it  has  passed,  has  some- 
how never  failed  to  leave  behind  it  national  idleness, 
impotence,  and  degradatioD.  And  all  this  when  Eoman 
Christianity  was  fresh,  and  had  hardly  had  time  to  grow 
callous.  As  with  the  priest,  so  with  the  people.  They 
were  both  stamped  with  the  same  brand.  The  community 
at  large,  for  good  or  for  evil,  took  their  colour  from  their 
teachers,  who,  if  they  were  steeped  in  Eoman  learning, 
were  not  averse  to  Eoman  vices. 

l^^iat  Boniface,  that  man  of  saintly  life  and  great 
worldly  experience,  thought  about  the  fast  waxing  de- 
generacy of  the  clergy,  may  be  gathered  from  the  saying 
attributed  to  him.  "  In  olden  times  there  were  golden 
prelates  and  wooden  chalices,  but  in  his  time  there  were 
wooden  prelates  and  golden  chalices."  So  stirred  was  his 
spirit  within  him  at  hearing  of  the  state  of  things  in 
England,  that  he  writes,  a.d.  748,  from  Germany  to  Cuth- 
bert.  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  about  it.  He  would  no 
longer  play  the  part  of  a  dumb  dog.  To  think  that  the 
laity,  princes  or  their  retainers,  dared  to  seize  on  monas- 
teries and  themselves  play  the  abbot !  Our  forefathers 
would  have  called  such  people  sacrilegious  robbers,  homi- 
cides of  the  poor,  wolves  of  the  devil.^ 

A  population  reared  under  such  auspices,  all  the  spirit 
of  manliness  and  of  free  intellectual  play  priest-ridden  out 
of  them,  were  hardly  the  men  to  cope  with  that  irresistible 
rush  of  Pagan  adventurers  that  was  soon  to  burst  on  the 
land,  flaming  amazement  and  destruction  from  Dan  to 
Beersheba,  from  Sheppey  to  Lindisfarne,  and  round  Cape 
Wrath  to  the  Sudreys  and  Ireland.  And  so  it  was  that, 
when  the  Northmen  began  to  ravage  the  island  in  787,  tlie 
people  were  as  a  body  altogether  changed,  slow,^  and  sub- 

1  Monumenta  Moguntina,  p.  2og.  trious  and  great  name  of  Saxon  origin 

-  Nay,  this  inertness  seems  to  liave  throughout  our  history.     They  were 

become  engrained  in  the  hreed,  if  we  characterised    by    Kingsley    as    the 

are  to  believe  the  very  strong  asser-  female,  and  the  Scandinavians  as  the 

tion  of  a  recent  writer,  that,  with  few  male,  of  the  English  stock, 
exceptions,  there  is  hardly  an  illus- 


190  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

si'quently  slower  as  time  wore  on,  and  they  were  served 
by  the  Danes  as  they  of  yore  served  the  Ceks. 

We  altogether  miss  in  them  the  quickness  of  the  native 
Northman,  whose  motto  was  '  keep  moving.'  That  old  tale 
in  the  Chronicle  of  Tours  of  the  answer  given  by  Eolf  to 
King  Charles,  when  called  upon  to  kiss  the  monarch's  foot, 
'  Xe  se,  bigotli,'^  '  Catch  me  at  it,  by  Thor ! '  photographs  the 
race.  Mincing  matters  or  picking  phrases  did  not  jump 
with  their  humour,  still  less  being  put  upon  in  any  shape 
or  form. 

This  sturdy  spirit  of  independence,  heritage  from  our 
Northern  and  not  our  Saxon  ancestry,  has  permeated  Eng- 
lish veins  through  and  through,  and  flows  on  still.  A  not- 
able instance  this  of  the  conservation  of  energy  in  nations 
as  well  as  in  physics  and  pliilosophy.  No  wonder  the 
Saxon  Liturgy  admitted  a  new  clause,  "  A  furore  Norman- 
norum,  libera  nos."  No  wonder  Charlemagne  wept  as  he 
foresaw  what  this  people  would  do  to  his  people  in  the 
latter  days,  viz.,  nothing  more  nor  less  than  bring  about, 
in  combination  with  other  forces,  the  break  up  of  his  un- 
wieldy empire,  torn  as  it  was  by  internal  dissensions,  now 
one  province,  now  another  bidding  for  the  pirates'  help. 
Did  not  St.  Liudger,  the  Frisian  missionary,  have  a  dream 
wliich  he  narrated  with  tears  in  his  eyes  to  his  sister, 
wherein  he  beheld  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun,  which  he 
interpreted  as  a  presage  of  the  irruption  of  the  Northmen  ? 
Was  not  their  approach  heralded  by  fearful  prodigies, 
which  territied  the  wretched  nation  of  the  Angles,  inas- 
much as  horrid  lightnings  and  dragons  in  the  air  and 
flashes  of  fire  were  often  seen  glancing  and  flying  to  and 

1  Truly   a   chip   of   the  old  block,  perforce  '  gang  ; '  and  that  the  earlier 

"  His  father  was  a  man,"  says  Dudo,  Viking  expeditions  to  France  and  the 

"who  would  never  bow  the  neck  to  colonization  of  Normandy  proceeded 

any  one."      The  latest  theory  abcmt  from  Denmark.     Steenstrup,  "  Nor- 

this  Kollo  is  that  he  was  a  pure  Dane  maiinertiden,"  Copenhagen,  1876,— a 

and  no  Norwegian  ;  that  Rollo  is  not  proposition  which  he  reasserts  witli 

identical  with  the  Norwegian  Ganger  emphasis    in    "  Vikingetogene    mod 

Kolf,  who  was  too  tall  to  ride  the  Vest  i  det,  gde^  Aarhuudrede,"  1878. 
small  horses  of  the  countrv,  and  must 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  NORTHMEN.  191 

fro,  which  signs  indicated  the  great  famine  and  the  terrible 
and  unutterable  slaughter  of  multitudes  which  ensued  ?  ^ 
Were  they  not  like  stinging  hornets,  or  rather  fierce 
wolves,  plundering,  tearing,  killing,  not  only  sheep  and 
oxen,  but  priests  and  Levites,  monks  and  nuns  ?  Such 
was  the  language  of  Simeon  of  Durham  about  the  attack 
on  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne,  a.d.  793.  It  was  in  832,  accord- 
ing to  the  Chronicle,  that  the  heathen  men  first  overran 
the  isle  of  Sheppey.  But  if  the  matter  be  carefully  looked 
into,  we  shall  be  inclined  to  take  the  monkish  accounts 
cum  grano.  It  has  been  well  observed  by  a  powerful 
writer  that  the  descriptions  given  by  clerical  authors  of 
these  Vikings — the  tales  fit  to  make  one's  hair  stand  on 
end  about  the  wild  ferocity  of  their  leaders — can  hardly 
be  reconciled  with  the  readiness  with  which  they  assumed 
the  culture  and  religion  of  the  foreigner ;  w^hile  their 
talent  for  military  discipline  and  strong  sense  of  personal 
freedom  by  no  means  chime  in  with  the  notion  of  their 
being  utter  barbarians.  It  must  be  conceded,  also,  that 
there  are  redeeming  features  in  the  picture  of  the  locust 
flight.  It  is  mainly  to  the  Vikings  that  so  mucli 
of  England  became  united  under  Alfred.  The  internal 
dissensions  in  the  kingdom  of  Northumbria,  and  the  ad- 
vantage taken  of  them  by  the  Northmen,  taught  us  a 
lesson  of  unity.  It  was  from  these  same  maritime  rovers 
that  we  and  all  Europe  learnt  the  strength  and  the  weak- 

1  Pertz,  3,  ii.  412,  757,  758,  Anglo-  quite  unprotected.    Nay,  monasteries 

Saxon  Chronicle,  793.     Charlemagne  and  rich  ecclesiastical  buildings  were 

sailed  with  his  fleet  from  Flanders  to  reared   close   to   the   shore,   or   even 

Rouen   in   800,  and   in   811   went  to  upon  islands  quite  open    to   attack: 

Boulogne   to  inspect   his    new   navy  e.g.,  Lindisfarne,  lona.  Peel,  Rechru, 

(Einhard).  and  Noirmoutiers,   at  the  mouth  of 

Not  tliat  these  Hyperboreans  were  the  Loire.  The  sight  of  these  places, 
utterly  unknown  among  us  before,  or  the  news  of  them,  awoke  in  the 
As  peaceful  traders,  some  of  them  quiet  merchantmen  that  fierce  cupi- 
had  paid  sporadic  visits  to  England,  dity  and  love  of  adventure  inherited 
or  had  been  seen  by  us  in  Friesland  from  the  blue-eyed  Kafirs,  their  fore- 
and  Flanders.  But  the  claws  were  fathers  on  the  eastern  slopes  of  tlie 
under  the  velvet  then.  Nobody  Hindoo  Cush.  'Naturarecurrit.'  The 
dreamt  of  the  transformation  scene  sight  of  the  mouse  reveals  the  cat  lurk- 
impending.     And  so   the   coasts   lay  ing  under  the  form  of  a  bride. 


192  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

iiess  of  a  coast-line.  It  was  their  adventurous  sail  up  the 
Seine  and  siege  of  Paris,  and  its  brave  defence,  which  led 
to  its  becoming  the  capital  of  France.^ 

Besides,  these  A^iking  fellows  took  quite  a  different  view 
of  aflairs  from  the  good  folks,  dwelling  under  their  own 
vines  and  fig-trees,  wliom  they  harmed.  To  sweep  the 
seas  in  quest  of  plunder,  to  make  a  sudden  descent  on 
the  coast,  drive  the  cattle  down  to  the  strand,  and  have  a 
wholesale  slaughtering  of  them  (strand-hogg),  was  to  them 
no  disgrace  whatever — 

"  Antonio  never  yet  was  thief  or  pirate." 

On  the  contrary,  with  these  Northmen  piracy  was  a  per- 
fectly honourable  jjrofession,  quite  as  much  as  it  was  some 
forty  centuries  before,  when  a  Nestor  would  chat  with  his 
stranger  guests  after  a  good  supper,  and  ask  them  what 
might  be  the  object  of  their  cruise  over  the  '  watery  paths  :' 
was  it  a  mere  yachting  excursion,  or  were  his  gentlemen 
visitors  upon  some  sterner  work,  scuttling  of  ships  and 
cutting  throats.^  These  Northmen  evidently  took  their  cue 
from  their  great  hero  Odin,  the  Northern  Hermes,  one  of 
whose  names  was  Gangleri,  the  gangrel  carl,  who  travelled 
far  and  wide  in  search  of  wisdom.  Indeed,  if  Wilhelmus 
Gemmeticensis  and  "Wace,  who  follows  him  (Eoman  de 
Piou,  V.  2 1 2),  be  true,  when  the  population  became  too  thick 
from  polygamy,  these  Scandinavians  were  selected  by  lot 
and  packed  off  to  the  frontier.^  This,  in  fact,  brought 
Hengist  to  England,  as  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  tells  us. 
The  manifest  germ  this  of  our  British  recourse  to  emigra- 
tion. But,  from  whatever  cause,  they  were  all  agog  for 
foreign  travel :  everywhere  gaining  a  knowledge  of  the 
world  and  a  livelihood — whether  honestly  or  not,  it  did 
not  matter.  "What  made  the  typical  man  of  craft  and 
enterprise  in  old  times  so  acute  ?  what  but  his  knowledge 

1  Sars,   Udsigt    over    den    Norske  ^  Cf.   Jornandes,   Muratori    Scrip- 

Historie,  Christiania,  1873.  tores,  I.  i.  193  B  (c.  4) ;  Steenstrup,  i. 

-  Homer's  Od.,  iii.  70.     Cf.  Tliucy-  202. 
dides,  i.  5;  Csesar,  De  Lell.  Gall.,  vi.  23. 


THE  NORTHMEN.  193 

of  mankind  picked  up  in  travel  ?  '  Multorum  mores 
hominum  vidit  et  urbes.'  It  was  this  same  spirit  of 
adventure  that  sent  Naddod,  and  Leif,  and  Eric  the  Ked, 
and  Ingolf,  and  Ohthere,  gadding  about  northwards  even 
to  Labrador  and  Massachusetts.  It  is  from  them  our 
Frobishers  and  Drakes,  our  Parrys  and  Franklins,  and 
Rajah  Brookes,  are  lineally  descended.  No  marvel  they 
had  skilful  scalds  to  sing  of  their  deeds :  no  marvel  the 
Saxons  had  not,  and  went  to  Iceland  for  the  commodity, 
where  it  was  almost  a  drug.  With  them  to  attempt  was 
to  succeed,  in  whatever  line  they  chose,  whether  as  navi- 
gators, colonists,  legislators,  conquerors,  historians,  poets. 
In  Spain  to  the  very  gates  of  Hercules;^  in  Italy,  in  Eussia, 
and  down  to  the  Golden  Horn,  making  many  a  mother 
pale  at  their  very  name;  in  France  acquiring  dominion 
and  royal  alliances  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  assimilat- 
ing, as  no  mere  brutal  barbarians  could  possibly  have  done, 
in  a  short  time  all  the  stronger  features  of  French  charac- 
ter and  civilization;  in  England  transfusing  new  blood 
into  the  body  social  and  political,  administering  a  tonic  to 
a  frame  massive  and  strong,  but  letliargic  and  deficient  in 
vital  energy,  thus  leavening  the  torpid  elements  of  the 
Saxon  nature,  and  making  a  mark  in  the  land  never  to  be 
effaced.     Granted  they  burnt  or  plundered  the  libraries, 

1  Njorva  Sund.      An  Arab   writer  lated  the  heathen."    But  no,  he  was 

tells  us  how  they  were  first  descried  not  yet  out  of  the  wood.     The  Arabs 

approaching   Lisbon   in  August   844,  had   cried    '  Victory '   too   soon.      In 

and  how  "the  sea  looked  as  if  it  was  859-861  the  Vikings  returned  under 

full  of  dark  red  birds."     They  subse-  Hasting  and  the  sons  of  Lodbrog,  and 

quently  laid  siege  to  Seville,  but  in  approached  the  mouth  of  the  Guadal- 

the  Arabs  they  at  last  found  they  had  quivir,  but  were  beaten  off ;  on  which 

caught  a  Tartar  :  a  people  united  to  they  made  for  Algeziras,  and  burnt 

expel  the  foreign  enemy,  and  not  at  the  great  mosque.     They  then  sailed 

all  like  the  sleepy  and  divided  govern-  through  Gibraltar  Straits   and  made 

nients  of  France.     So  they  must  fain  a   descent   on   Morocco.     After  this 

retire   from    the  land,  giving  a  Par-  they  plundered  the  Balearic  Islands, 

thian  blow  to  Lisbon  on  their  retreat  and,  wintering  on   an  island  at  the 

northwards,    and    "  from   tliat  time  mouth   of    the   Rhone,   ravaged  the 

they  disappeared  from  Spain;"  while  towns  on  the  Italian  coast  the  next 

tlie  Emir  Abderahman  wrote  to  Tan-  spring.     Of.    Steeustrup,    "  Viking. 


Tier  to  inform  his  co-religionists  that,     erne,"  287  sqq. 
''thanks  be  to  God,  he  had  annihi- 


]if 


194  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

ami  rang  the  last  knell  of  that  learning  which,  for  one 
huiulred  years  after  Bede,  made  England  facile  princeps 
among  the  nations  of  Europe  in  the  world  of  letters,  yet 
tlicy  instilled  into  the  North  some  portion  of  that  poetic 
originality  which  has  never  left  it.i  But  at  length  the 
invaders  and  invaded — the  Saxons  and  the  ISTorthmen — 
after  varied  fortunes,  settled  down  peaceably  side  by  side, 
the  fiercer  race  of  the  two  agreeing  to  embrace  Christi- 
anity ;  and  by  intermarriage,  and  neighbourhood,  and  the 
mollifying  effects  of  time,  animosities  subsided,  and  the 
Danish  and  Saxon  tongues,  both  dialects  of  one  wide- 
spread language,  were  blended  together.  But  a  sudden 
catastrophe  upset  everything.  The  Eagnarok^  of  the 
Conquest  prostrated  and  engulphed  people  and  tongue  in 
one  common  ruin. 

The  tongue  had  held  on  tenaciously  for  some  three 
centuries,  influenced  doubtless  over  all  England  by  its 
sprightly  sister  of  Scandinavia,  nay,  superseded  by  her 
in  the  north  and  east.  Now,  however,  on  the  entrance 
of   the   Normans,   the    Latin    tongue   was   introduced   a 

1  Roughly    speaking,   the    various  news  from  at  least  three  quarters  of 

nations  of  the  North  are  held  by  some  the  world  ?     Many  geographical  trea- 

modern  antiquaries  to  have  selected  tises  are  known  to  have  perished,  but 

each  for  itself  a  pet  quarry  to  swoop  there   is   one   by  Abbot   Nicholas  of 

upon  :  e.g.,  the  Danes  mainly  chose  Thingeyri,  who  returned  home  from 

England,  the  Norwegians  Ireland,  the  his   travels  1154,  being  an  itinerary 

Swedes  Russia.     Steenstrup,  i.  325.  through    Germany   to   Rome,  which 

But  the  Northmen  were  not  idle  contains   intei-esting   facts.      But   as 

in  the  acquisition  of  a  knowledge  of  early  as  815  we  find  pilgrims  visiting 

foreign  parts  quite  apart  from  buc-  the   monastery  of  Reichenau  in  Ba- 

caneering.  varia.      Of.   Werlauf,    Symbols    ad 

Poets  visiting  foreign  kings ;  mer-  Geograph.  medii  sevi  ex  Monument, 

chants   in   the   Baltic   and    Mediter-  Islandd. 

ranean;  traders  in  Britain  and  Gaul;  "  The  twilight,  which   for   a  time 

navigators    to    countries    under  the  hid  the  gods  of  Asgard,  when  the  evil 

pole  ;  soldiers  of  fortune  in  the  East ;  deities  prevailed.   '  Ragnarokr '  is  the 

and  besides  these,  youths  frequenting  word  used  in  the  prose  (i.e.,  Snorri's) 

the  universities  of  Erfurth,  Cologne,  Edda.     It  turns  out,  however,  to  be 

and  Paris ;   clerics  employed  by  the  a  mere  corruption  of  a  similar  word, 

ever-active  Roman   Curia;    pilgrims  '  rok,' which  does  not  mean  '  gloom' 

to   Rome,  Compo.stella,  Canterbury,  (cf.    English    'reek'),   but    'doom.' 

and  Jerusalem, — who  will  doubt  that  Cleasby's  Diet.  s.  v. 
these  men  brought  back  with  them 


DECA  V  OF  ANGLO-SAXON  TONGUE.  195 

second  time  by  foreign  ecclesiastics,  and  flourished  among 
US  till  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  along 
with  it  Latin  in  its  modern   shape    of   Norman.     From 
these  causes  our  old  national  speech  became  gradually 
debased  as  a  written  and  cultivated  language.     Look  at 
the  Saxon  Chronicle,  which  is  continued  to  1 155,  to  be 
convinced  of  this.     To  what   a   pitch  of   degradation  it 
gradually  sinks !     The   text   becomes  a  poverty-stricken 
tatterdemalion,  with  no  majesty  of   form   or  comeliness 
of  carriage,  laggard  and  pitiful  in  the  extreme.     When  a 
monarch  is  dethroned,  the  sooner  he  discards  an  affecta- 
tion of  his  former  self,  the  travesty  of  better  days,  the 
better.     A  long  dusk  succeeded,  broken  at  intervals,  it  is 
true,  by  lights  of  dimmer  ray.     Such  were  the  poems  of 
Layamon  and  Orm,  the  "Brut"   (circa  1205),  with   its 
versified   legends  of   British   history, —  the   "Ormulum" 
(circa  121 5),  a  metrical  narrative  of  the  Gospels,  reflec- 
tions, it  may  be,  of  a  glory  long  set,  serving  too  well  to 
show  that   the   sceptre   has  departed   from  the   ancient 
speech.     The  dialect  of  these  poems  is  generally  called 
semi-Saxon.      The   "  Owl   and    the    Nightingale "   (circa 
1280)  may  be  'an  exquisite  idyll,'  but  it  is  an  idyll  in 
the   Dorsetshire  dialect.      Our   straining  eyes  at  length 
discern  the  end  of  the  gloom.     Eobert  of  Gloucester  (circa 
1300)  came  to  the    front  with   his  poem,  in  which    he 
laments  that  though  low  men  still  hold  to  English   (it 
being   only    preserved    in   the    scattered   dialects),    yet, 
unlike   any    country   in    the    world,   England   spoke  in 
foreign  speech,  and  unless  a  man  spoke  French  he  was 
little    regarded.      So    the   proverb   arose,   "  Jack   would 
be  a  gentleman  if   he  could  speak  any  French."     That 
was   the  language  of   literature  and   of   the   court,   and 
practically  of  law — a  state  of  things   which  ceased  and 
determined  in  1 362,  that  memorable  date  when  English 
was  reinstalled  in  its  natural  rights  and  established  as 
the  language  of  the  courts  of  law ;  and  so  we  at  length 


196  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

behold,  after  the  long  life-aiid-death  struggle,  the  survival 
of  the  fittest. 

"  Graiciii  capta  iVrum  victorem  cocpit." 

]a)  !  a  new  fabric  rises,  the  like  of  which  the  world  never 
saw — the  modern  English  tongue,  fit  exponent  of  the 
thoughts,  the  will,  the  ailections  of  that  composite  strain 
bred  of  the  Eoman,  the  Celt,  the  Saxon,  and  jSTorthman, 
and  the  Northinan  once  removed;  a  tongue  less  melo- 
dious perhaps  than  its  nearest  ancestor,  but,  for  saying 
what  we  want  to  say,  whether  it  be  poet,  philosopher, 
historian,  or  statesman,  never  perhaps  surpassed. 


(    197    ) 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  RUSSIA  AND  THE  EAST. 

We  have  talked  of  Scandinavians  visiting  Eussia  and 
Constantinople.  So  interesting  a  section  of  their  history 
is  this,  that  we  will  pause  awhile  and  tell  our  readers 
something  more  about  it,  although,  strictly  speaking,  it 
belongs  rather  to  Part  II.  In  the  first  document  about 
early  Eussia  by  the  monk  Nestor  (died  about  1 115),  we 
read  that  the  Swedes  (Euss  or  Varangians)  having 
become  the  dominant  class,  apparently  on  the  Finnic 
shores  of  the  Baltic,  were  invited  by  the  Slavonians  about 
862  to  settle  in  Eussia,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the 
internal  s'rife  of  the  country — a  movement  which  led  to 
the  first  foundation  of  the  Eussian  state.^  The  account 
he  gives  has,  doubtless,  a  good  deal  of  that  mythicism 
which  surrounds  the  similar  legend  about  Vortegern 
calling  in  the  Saxons  on  a  like  emergency.^  But  be 
this  as  it  may,  we  find  from  a  variety  of  evidence, 
linguistic,  archaeological,  and  historical,  that  these  people, 
under  the  name  of  '  Euss,'  not  long  after  that  date 
permeated  the  interior  of  Eussia  and  reached  the  shores 
of   the    Euxine.^      Besides    the    above    native    chronicle, 

1  "The  German  race  is  the  great  characteristic  that  they  always  at- 
manly  generating  principle.  .  .  Even  tacked  by  sea,  on  their  native  ele- 
in  Russia  the  German  Varangers  had  ment.  Widukind  in  Pertz,  iii.  419. 
to  arrive  to  compress  the  loose  mass  "  Were  they  not  following  the  old 
into  a  state."  A  dictum  which  well  road  which,  according  to  tradition, 
expresses  the  superb  self-conceit  of  the  Goths  in  the  second  century  took 
the  Prussian  Chancellor,  who  ignores  in  their  passage  from  the  North  to 
the  Scando-Goths  altogether.  See  the  regions  of  the  Euxine,  viz.,  up 
Dr.  Buscli's  "  Prince  Bismark."  the  Vistula  and  down  the  Dnieper, 

2  Greek,    'Rhos;'    Scandinavian,  the  great  river  Borysthenes  of  Hero- 
'Roer,'   i.e.,    'boatmen,'   it  being  a  dotus? 


198  OLD  ENGLISH  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

two  literatures  have  especially  thrown  light  on  the 
subject — that  of  the  Byzantine  empire  and  that  of  the 
Arabs.  In  865  these  people,  having  reached  the  sources 
of  the  Dnieper,  descended  that  river  and  appeared  witli 
two  luindred  vessels  before  the  capital  of  the  Eoman 
empire.  Of  this  expedition  of  865,  Johannes  Diaconus 
(Chronicum  Venetum,  viii.  c.  4)  relates  that  the  Northmen 
came  with  tliree  hundred  and  sixty  vessels,  where,  it  is 
evident,  his  Northmen  are  the  Ehos  of  the  Greeks.  Two 
sermons  by  the  Patriarch  Photios  exist  ^  giving  an  account 
of  this  expedition.  Another  expedition,  this  time  of  two 
thousand  ships,^  appeared  in  907  before  the  capital,  and 
were  only  bought  off  by  an  enormous  ransom.  In  913 
they  appeared  in  the  Caspian  Sea  with  a  fleet  of  five 
hundred  ships,  each  containing  a  hundred  men. 

But  it  was  not  merely  as  pirates  and  warriors  that  the 
Euss  came  in  contact  with  the  Greeks :  trade  and  barter 
were  no  less  their  object.  For  their  Northern  furs,  slaves, 
and  money  they  got  gold  and  silver  and  costly  stuffs,  such 
as  '  pell,'  whatever  that  was,  probably  '  brocade.'  The 
Arabian  author,  Ibn  Dustah^  (c.  a.d.  912),  gives  us  some 
interesting  particulars  about  them.  "  The  Euss  attack  the 
Slaves  by  ship.  .  .  .  When  a  son  is  born  to  any  one  of 
them,  the  father  throws  a  sword  at  him,  saying,  '  I  do  not 
leave  thee  any  property  ;  thine  is  only  what  thou  gainest 
with  the  sword.'  The  men  wear  gold  bracelets.  They  do 
not  exhibit  boldness  on  horseback,  but  undertake  all  their 
expeditions  and  attacks  in  ships.  When  a  man  of  quality 
dies,  they  put  into  the  same  tomb  with  him  his  clothes 
and  his  gold  bracelets,  and  a  quantity  of  victuals  to  eat, 
and  coins."     Another  Arab,  Ibn  Padhlan,*  describes  the 

1  Photii    Ejn.stolse,  ed.  R.  Monta-  brothers  of  the  Baltic  had  laid  siege 

cubius,  Londini,  1651.  to    Constantinople,    the    capital    of 

-   Among    the    many   possibilities  Eastern    Christendom.      Steenstrup, 

that  worked  in  the  brain  of  the  Vik-  287. 

ings   was  that  of  one  day  making  a  »  St.  Petersburg,  1823,  4to. 

descent  on  Rome,  the  headquarters  *  Ibid, 
of  Western  Christianity,   like  their 


FOUNDA  TION  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  STA  TE.        199 

funeral  of  a  Euss  chieftain.  The  corpse  was  placed  on 
board  ship  with  his  swords  and  the  bodies  of  several  vic- 
tims, among  others  two  horses.  Then  the  ship  was  set  on 
fire  and  reduced  to  ashes.  ^  It  is  mentioned  by  Prudentius, 
Bishop  of  Troyes,  that  in  839  a  party  of  these  people 
came  to  Ingleheim  with  a  letter  from  the  Greek  emperor 
Theophilus  to  Louis  the  Pious  of  Germany.  They  were 
called  Euss,  and  they  stated  that  they  were  Swedes.- 
Liudprand,  Bishop  of  Cremona,  963,  who  had  been 
twice  at  Constantinople  as  ambassador  from  King  Beren- 
garius  II.  and  the  Emperor  Otho  L,  also  mentions  them 
and  their  King  Inger^  (a  Scandinavian  name),  as  having 
come  to  Constantinople  with  more  than  a  thousand  vessels. 
But  we  have  linguistic  evidence  of  great  interest  in  the 
ninth  chapter  of  the  work  of  Constantine,  "  Porphyroge- 
nitus  de  Administratione    Imperii,"  written   about  950. 


1  Not  unfrequently  the  ship  on 
which  the  dead  were  placed  was  laid 
under  a  tumulus.  Thus  after  his  vic- 
tory over  Gunhilda's  sons  at  Kastar- 
kalv,  Hacon  ordered  the  captured 
ships  to  be  drawn  ashore,  the  slain  to 
be  laid  on  them,  and  earth  and  stones 
were  heaped  on  the  top.  Tumuli 
opened  in  Norway  and  Sweden  have 
corroborated  these  accounts  ;  but  in 
most  cases  the  buried  ship  had  crum- 
bled into  almost  nothing.  In  1871  a 
tumulus  was  opened  on  a  branch  of 
the  river  Glommen,  in  the  parish  of 
Tune,  so  celebrated  for  its  ancient 
Runic  stones,  and  a  ship  exhumed  in 
a  very  fair  state  of  preservation.  The 
keel,  which  was  43^  Norwegian  feet 
long,  was  of  a  single  piece  of  wood, 
and  quite  undamaged.  The  breadth 
amidships  was  over  13  feet.  Along 
the  bottom  was  a  square  beam  of  oak 
across  five  ribs  in  the  middle,  and  a 
still  hirger  log  over  it,  with  a  square 
hole  driven  through  each,  in  which 
the  stump  of  the  fir  mast  was  still 
standing.  A  rudder  of  the  same  wood 
also  lay  across  the  vessel  behind  the 
mast.      Near  this  lay  some  unburut 


bones,  the  remains  of  the  deceased 
and  of  his  horse,  fragments  of  a  carved 
saddle,  and  snow-skates.  So  that  he 
might  choose  his  own  method  of  loco- 
motion to  Valhalla,  either  in  his  own 
shi]>,  dispensing  with  Charon's  bark, 
on  horseback,  or  on  snow-shoes.  So 
after  the  battle  of  Bravalla,  Sigurd 
Ring  ordered  the  body  of  the  fallen 
Harold  Hildetand  to  be  driven  into 
the  mound  on  his  chariot.  The  horse 
was  killed,  and  Sigurd  then  had  his 
own  saddle  buried  in  the  mound, 
"that  Harold  might  choose  whether 
he  would  ride  or  drive  to  Valhalla." 
Here, then,  is  a  vessel  of  the  youngirou 
age,  or  Viking  period,  i.e.,  from  about 
700  till  a  little  over  1000  A.D.  Most 
likely  it  was  used  along  the  coast, 
being  too  small  for  long  voyages 
across  the  main.  It  is  preserved  at 
the  Royal  Museum  in  Christiania. 
With  the  exception  of  another  disco- 
vered in  Denmark,  it  is  the  only  ex- 
tant specimen  of  the  kind. 

2  Tertz,  Mon.  Ger.  Hist.  Script.,  i. 

434- 

3  Ibid.  iii.  331. 


200  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

He  tells  us  that  these  Scandinavians  used  to  cross  over 
Northern  Eussia  and  row  down  the  Dnieper,  meeting  near 
Kiev,  Here  their  number  was  considerably  augmented  by 
new  boats,  for  which  materials  had  been  floated  down  the 
lakes  and  rivers  from  the  woods  in  Slavonia.  They  sailed 
from  Kiev  in  June,  and  passed  in  company,  for  the  sake 
of  mutual  aid,  the  long  series  of  rapids  upon  the  Dnieper, 
which  extend  for  some  fifty  miles,  a  little  below  the 
town  of  Yekaterinoslav.  He  then  gives  in  Scandinavian 
(Paxriari),  as  well  as  in  Slavonian,  the  names  of  these 
rapids,  such  as  "  Holm  force,"  "  The  yelling  force,"  "  The 
swallow  fall,"  "  The  laughing  water."  Here,  then,  we  have 
linguistic  proof  positive  to  back  the  historical  evidence 
that  these  Rhos,  these  rowers,  so  apt  and  hardy  when 
afloat,  so  out  of  their  element  on  land,  who  gave  these 
poetical  names  to  the  fierce  cataracts — their  playfellows, 
or  foes  as  it  might  chance,  from  youth  upwards — were  our 
irrepressible  Scandinavian  friends.  But  what  a  sight  it 
must  have  been,  these  dexterous  Northmen,  as  they  will 
now  do  in  Russian  Lapmark,  shooting  the  rapids,  some 
smashed  in  the  attempt;  putting  their  galleys  now  on 
wheels  over  the  portages,  now  launching  them  again,  and 
careering  on  to  the  fabulous  East,  the  land  of  gold,  and 
silver,  and  wines !  The  names  of  the  men,  too,  in  the 
chronicles,  after  a  little  scouring,  come  out  of  pure  Scandi- 
navian metal.  Rurik  is  nothing  but  '  Hroerekr ; '  Olga  = 
'  Helga  ; '  Oskold  =  '  Hoskuldr,'  household  names  in  the 
Scandinavian  sagas.  In  two  treaties  between  these  Russ 
and  the  Greeks,  of  the  years  912,  945,  the  plenipotentiaries 
of  the  former  have  all  Scandinavian  names.^  But  what  is  the 
meaning  of  these  wonderful  expeditions  ?  Let  us  endeavour 
to  explain  it  by  the  light  of  the  book  quoted  below.  Shut 
up  for  centuries  within  their  own  frontiers,  progressing 
in  arts  and  culture,  such  an  increase  of  the  Scandinavian 
population  must  have  gradually  taken  place  as  left  them 

1  Ancient  Russia  and  Scandinavia  :  Three  Lectures  delivered  at  Oxford  by 
Dr.  Vilhelm  Thomson,  1877. 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  STATE.        20 r 

no  resource  but  that  of  sallying  forth,  sword  in  hand,  to 
win  for  themselves  a  new  sphere  of  action  and  a  new  home 
under  the  leadership  of  this  or  that  petty  king.  The  increas- 
ing centralisation  of  political  power  would  make  them  long 
for  an  excuse.  Elbow-room  or  breathing  space  they  would 
have  by  fair  or  foul  means.  And  so  as  merchants  or 
marauders  they  went  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer, 
now  making  a  pop  visit,  now  settling  down  and  founding 
kingdoms.  Two  w^ays  were  open  to  them — westwards 
across  the  ocean,  or  eastwards  by  the  '  Austrvegr/  the 
eastern  passage,  i.e.,  across  the  Baltic  through  Eussia.  The 
former  current  was  chiefly  composed  of  Danes  and  Nor- 
wegians, the  latter  of  Swedes,  who  from  time  immemorial 
had  frequented  the  lands  beyond  the  Baltic,  and  with  the 
maritime  population  of  which  they  had  from  immigration 
become  connected  by  blood  and  language.  The  sagas 
point  in  many  passages  to  the  lively  intercourse  which 
subsisted  between  the  two  countries,  an  intercourse  only 
to  be  explained  by  blood  relationship.  But  in  them  the 
foundation  of  the  Paissian  state  passes  unnoticed. 

From  the  Baltic  lands,  Esthonia,  and  Finland,  they 
would  have  spread  through  Eussia  (Gargariki),  Novgorod 
(Holmgard),  southward.  But  now,  owing  to  the  above- 
mentioned  causes,  the  movement  southward  set  in  with 
redoubled  energy,  with  or  without  the  leave  of  the  Sla- 
vonian population  of  the  interior.  Battles  were  fought, 
for  many  Swedish  Eunic  stones  tell  of  warriors  who  "  fell 
in  battles  in  the  East "  under  Ingvar  and  other  leaders. 
Another  substantial  proof  of  these  Eastern  expeditions  is 
the  finds  of  coins  brought  from  Byzantium  through  the 
interior.  Thus  20,000  Arabian  coins  have  been  found  in 
Sweden,  dating  from  698  to  1002,  though  far  the  greater 
part  of  them  are  from  between  800  and  955.  The  central 
point  of  trade  seems  to  have  been  Gotland,  where  13,000 
coins  have  been  already  discovered.  So  again  in  the  in- 
terior of  Eussia  Western  coins  have  been  found  in  barrows 
over  chiefs,  Anglo-Saxon,  for  instance — part,  very  likely, 


202  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TURE. 

of  the  Danageld  which  used  to  be  wrung  from  the  cowed 
Anglo-Saxons.  Every  fresh  discovery  of  coins  and  works 
of  art  is  likely  to  throw  additional  light  on  this  subject. 

A  further  link,  if  any  were  wanted,  in  the  proof  of  the 
identity  between  the  enterprising  Ehos  of  the  Greek 
authors  and  the  Swedes  is  found  in  the  present  Finnish 
appellation  for  Sweden,  '  Euotsi  =  Norse,  '  Eors-folk,'  i.e., 
rowers  or  watermen. 

We  must  not  omit  to  state  here  that  in  the  Byzantine 
writings  mention  is  made  also  of  the  famous  Varangians, 
a  Scandinavian  word  of  disputed  meaning.-^  The  first 
record  of  them  is  1034.  The  learned  and  literary  Princess 
Anna  Oomnena  (loSi)  speaks  of  the  "Varangians  from 
Thule,"  "  the  axe-bearing  barbarians,"  in  opposition  to  a 
division  of  the  native  army.  Originally  they  were  chiefly 
Swedes  who  served  in  the  army  of  the  Greek  emperors. 
Harold  Hardrada,  whom  Harold  slew  at  Stamford  Bridge, 
served  in  this  corps.  But  Englishmen,^  who  had  been 
driven  from  home  by  the  Norman  conquest,  and  Danes  also 
enrolled  themselves  under  the  same  banner.^  Varangian 
denotes,  then,  Scandinavian,  more  particularly  the  Swedes  ; 
and  the  Baltic  is  called  by  an  Arabian  writer,  Al-Biruni, 
'  the  Varangian  Sea.'  About  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century  the  stream  _of  reinforcements  from  Scandinavia 
to  the  East  fails,  for  the  conditions  which  had  given  the 
first  impulse  to  these  expeditions  had  ceased.  The  com- 
plete establishment  of  Christianity  had  given  an  entirely 
new  aspect  to  social  life  in  the  North.  The  cultivation  of 
their  own  home  resources  claimed  the  attention  of  the 
people.  The  sun  of  the  Vikings  is  now  set,  and  some  ten 
years  later  Varangians  are  mentioned  for  the  last  time  as 
subsidiaries  in  the  Byzantine  army.* 

1  Some  think  it  ='vsering'=' con-  ^  jj^ratori,     v.     584    (1724);     cf. 

federate  ; '  while  others  would  derive  Duffus  Hardy,  "  Materials  for  British 

it     from     '  vajri  '  =  '  shelter  : '      the  History,"  i.  xl. 

Swedes  being  denizens   or  metoeci  in  •»    Muralt,    Chronographie    Byzan- 

liussia  and  the  East.  tine,  p.  627. 

-  Saxo-Grammaticus,    part  i.   616 ; 
cf.  Xott,  Uberr.,  p.  61. 


(      203       ) 


CHAPTEE  XV. 


A    MEDLEY. 


Hitherto  our  business  has  been  mainly  with  the  Saxon 
people  and  their  literature.  But,  philologically  and  gram- 
matically considered,  their  tongue,  of  course,  teems  with 
interest  to  an  Englishman.  Without  a  knowledge  of  it, 
the  beauty  and  full  meaning  of  our  own  is  only  half 
revealed.  Let  us  glance  slightly  at  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject in  an  omnium  gatherum  chapter.^  Take  our  infinitive 
mood.  Where  did  we  get  the  '  to  '  before  the  verb.  There 
is  no  '  to '  before  the  Anglo-Saxon  infinitive.  But  side 
by  side  with  '  lufian,'  to  love,  there  was  another  form,  the 
gerundial,  or  dative  of  the  infinitive,  or  whatever  it  may 
be  called,  to  which  a  '  to '  was  prefixed,  e.g.,  '  to  lu- 
fianne '  =  to  love.  The  new  English  tongue  dropped  the 
infinitive  proper,  except  when  coupled  with  an  auxiliary 
verb,  and  instinctively  caught  up  this  gerundive  with 
its  preliminary  '  to,'  and  discarded  as  surplusage  the 
characteristic  '  ne.'  Many  years  later  the  terminal 
'an'  disappeared,  and  the  result,  a  mixture  of  two 
different  forms,  is  the  infinitive  'to  love.'  The  Anglo- 
Saxons  had  positively  no  future  tense,  either  as  the  pro- 
duce of  inflection,  as  among  the  Greeks  and  Eomans,  or  by 
the  calling  in  of  an  auxiliary  verb.  But  the  speakers  of 
modern  English  being  thoroughly  alive  to  the  difference 
between  promise  and  performance,  between  the  bird  in 
hand  and  the  bird  in  the  bush,  were  not  long  in  supplying 
the  deficiency  in  the  language  by  employing  'shall'  and 

'  See  inaugural  lecture  at  Cambridge  by  Professor  Skeat. 


204.  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERA  TURE. 

'  will '  to  form  a  simple  future.  Like  the  Scandinavians, 
too,  we  have  done  away  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  (and 
German)  prefix  to  past  participles,  and  no  trace  of  it 
perhaps  remains,  except  such  forms  as  '  y-clept : '  a  clear 
wain.  Instead  of  troubling  ourselves  with  a  distinction 
between  '  ye  will '  (ge  willa]))  and  '  will  ye '  (wille  ge),  we 
are  quite  content  to  use  the  form  '  will '  only.  Surely  it 
was  an  unmitigated  good  to  get  rid  in  common  parlance  of 
these  and  many  other  like  superfluities,  when  the  meaning 
of  a  sentence  was  capable  of  being  made  equally  plain  in 
a  shorter  and  more  expeditious  manner.  But  h,  to  express 
our  sharp  'th'  (as  in  'thin'),  and  S,  our  soft  'th'  (as  in 
'  this '),  might  have  been  advantageously  retained.  Not 
that  we  would  venture  to  decide  that  these  respective 
characters  did  originally,  as  some  assert,  represent  those 
respective  sounds.  Indeed  it  is  held  by  some  philologers 
that  the  sound  of  the  sharp  'th'  was  unknown  to  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  and  consequently  the  old  original  rune  h 
was  soft.  Again,  it  is  well  worth  while  to  note  the  dis- 
appearance of  words  and  phrases  from  our  tongue  which 
were  very  prevalent  in  Saxon,  owing  to  chance,  or  perhaps 
to  the  operation  of  linguistic  laws  with  which  we  are 
imperfectly  acquainted ;  the  very  thing  that  happened  in 
Horace's  time,  and  for  which  the  only  explanation  he 
offers  is  '  custom.'  Take  the  word  '  swySe,'  which  occurred 
constantly  in  Saxon,  but  which  has  vanished,  and  is 
replaced  by  what  is  really  a  French  adjective, '  vrai,'  I 
mean,  '  very.'  The  '  deserts  idle '  of  Milton  is  first  ap- 
preciated when  we  discover  that  in  Anglo-Saxon  times 
'  idel '  meant  '  vacuus,'  empty. 

'  Fetill,'  the  embroidered  belt  of  the  alderman  ( =  duke), 
is  gone  with  the  much  to  be  regretted  worthy  who  wore  it, 
except  that  in  the  Eastern  counties  we  meet  with  '  fettle,' 
i.e.,  '  up  to  the  mark,'  quasi  '  with  loins  girt,'  and  also  as  a 
verb.  There  was  a  grand  old  Gothic  word,  '  veihs,'  sacred 
— cf.  the  verb  in  '  veihnai  namo  Jjin,'  =  '  hallowed  be  thy 
name,'  and  the  German  '  weihen,'  =  'to  consecrate,'  whence 


A  MEDLEY.  205 

'  weiclibild,'  i.e.,  district  defined  by  sacred  sign  or  mark. 
Tliis  word  appears  as  a  prefix  to  tlie  holy  burg  in  Jutland, 
Vi-borg,  and  in  Market  Weighton,  near  wliich  was  God- 
mundingliam,  with  its  idol  temple.  In  Saxon  it  was '  wig,' 
whence  '  weofod,'  an  altar ;  but  it  was  superseded  by '  halig,' 
a  younger  word  derived  from  '  hal '  =r  '  whole,  sound/  and 
then  '  holy.'  Why  is  the  verb  '  cwegan '  all  gone  but  its 
imperfect  'quoth,'  which  is  nearly  obsolete,  while  'speak'  and 
'  say '  continue  ?  In  this  connection,  why  should  we  retain 
the  convenient  Anglo-Saxon  genitive  adverbial  form,  'needs' 
{e.g.  in  '  I  must  needs  go '),  while  we  have  rejected  another 
genitive  word,  '  willes,'  '  willingly '  ?  Tlie  negative  form, 
'  nyllan '  =  '  ne-willan  '  =  '  to  will  not,'  has  escaped  by  the 
skin  of  its  teeth,  lingering  on  still  in  our  antiquated  '  will 
he,  nill  he.'  Again,  'lie  bith  nydwyrhta  hfes  h3  he  mis- 
deth '  =  literally,  'he  is  a  need-doer  of  that  which  he 
misdoes,'  is  a  compacter  phrase  than  '  that  which  he  does 
wrong  he  does  not  willingly  but  of  necessity.' 

Our  Saxon  forefathers  were  not  content  with  a  simple 
negation.  They  must  have  two.  The  new  written  lan- 
guage wisely  got  rid  of  the  lumber.  The  old  way  still 
survives  in  the  dialects  :  '  Don't  ax  me  no  questions,  and 
I'll  tell  thee  no  lies.' 

No  doubt  the  Saxon  period  had  a  greater  liberty  in  the 
arrangement  of  words,  the  inflections  indicating  the  sense 
and  regimen  ;  but  then  the  inflections,  however  interesting 
in  reference  to  the  history  of  the  language,  and  adding, 
perhaps,  to  the  music  of  the  sentence,  were  a  long-winded 
affair  after  all,  and  much  less  practical  than  our  method 
of  well-nigh  abolishing  cumbrous  case-endings,  while  the 
meaning  is  marked  by  the  position  of  the  word,  its  prece- 
dence or  sequence,  by  the  auxiliaries,  and  the  small  par- 
ticles. And  hence,  while  the  sententious  Saxon  was  at 
the  beginning  of  his  lengthy  statement,  we  have  got  to 
the  end  of  it  by  a  plainer,  simpler,  and  shorter  process. 
Interesting  as  is  Saxon,  and  admirably  fulfilling  its  mission, 
the  bursting  thoughts  of  a  modern  Englishman  would  have 


2o6  OLD  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

l)oen  (luite  sniothciL'd  in  its  prolix  seiitcnces  and  uu\Yioldy 
top-hampcv. 

A«;niii,  how  useful  and  interesting  is  Anglo-Saxon  in 
supplying  the  etymology  of  our  language  and  illustrating 
its  caprices.  Not  many  of  us  can  parse  the  second  word 
in  tlie  sentence,  '  woe  worth  the  day.'  It  is  in  reality  an 
Anglo-Saxon  leaving  (weorgan,  Is.  verga  —  '  to  become '), 
which  has  got  embedded  in  the  old  poetic  language.  The 
parentage  of  our  'but'  is  first  ascertained  by  reference  to 
Anglo-Saxon,  where  butan  =  be-utan  =  '  by-out,'  i.e.,  '  ex- 
cept.' It  is  almost  the  same,  in  fact,  as  our  'without,' 
which  we  use  not  only  as  a  preposition,  but  also  in  the 
sense  of  '  unless.'  Our  '  among '  must  be  compared  with 
the  Anglo-Saxon  ' on-gemong '  ==  'into  the  crowd  of.' 
A  curious  shifting  of  meaning  is  seen  in  the  word 
'  holm,'  which  in  Anglo-Saxon  =  '  sea,'  while  in  Icelandic 
it  only  =  '  island : '  a  sense  which  survives  among  us 
in  local  names,  such  as  '  Steepholme.'  The  Anglo-Saxon 
'  langsom '  meant  '  lasting,'  but  in  modern  German  it  = 
'  slow.'  Our  '  fear '  is  from  Anglo-Saxon  '  fser '  =  '  terror, 
danger.'  But  the  Scandinavian  '  far '  signifies  neither 
terror  nor  danger,  but  '  evil,'  '  passion,'  '  mischief.' 
Take  '  world ; '  it  is  the  Saxon  '  woruld,'  the  etymology  of 
which  becomes  still  more  apparent  by  comparing  it  with 
the  Icelandic  '  verold '  =  '  the  age  of  men,'  from  '  verr '  = 
a  man,  and  '  old  '  =  '  age.'  And  talking  of  man,  '  whose 
breath  is  in  his  nostrils,'  we  have  in  the  last  word, '  nostrils,' 
an  instance  of  a  common  word  of  which,  perhaps,  only  a 
score  or  two  people  in  the  country  know  the  full  etymo- 
logy, viz.,  '  nos-]jirl,'  where  '  J)irl '  is  the  hole  pierced 
through,  as  'Turl'  is  the  passage  in  Oxford  pierced 
through  from  Broad  Street  to  'the  High' — an  explana- 
tion which,  however,  is  called  in  question  by  local 
antiquaries.  At  first,  one  does  not  see  the  full  force  of 
our  proverb,  '  The  more  haste  the  worse  speed,'  for  '  haste ' 
and  '  speed '  arc  pretty  much  the  same  thing  in  English  ; 
but  in  Saxon,  '  sped '  :=  '  wealth,  prosperity.'      And  now 


_A  MEDLEY.  207 

Tve  see  the  meaning :  '  This  man  is  in  too  much  of  a  hurry 
to  succeed.'  So  the  saying,  '  With  your  leave,'  or  '  By 
your  leave,'  is  not,  as  many  peo^jle  suppose,  an  otiose 
repetition,  but  means  '  against '  (Anglo-Saxon  wis.  I.  ve5), 
or  '  with  your  leave,'  '  will  you,  nill  you.'  There  is  not 
a  nation  on  earth  that  takes  things  so  much  in  earnest 
as  the  English ;  but  few  of  them  know  how  suitable  the 
etymology  of  the  word  '  earnest '  is  to  their  cantankerous 
disposition.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  'yearn,'  as  the 
dictionaries  tell  you.  In  Anglo-Saxon,  e.g.,  in  the 
Conqueror's  laws,  '  ornost '  or  '  eornest '  ■=  '  duel.'  In 
Icelandic  the  word  also  occurs,  but — n  having  become  as- 
similated— as  '  orrust  '  =  '  war.'  To  say  nothing  here  about 
the  etymology  of  '  war,'  it  at  all  events  suggests  '  victory  ' 
or  '  conquest,'  thoroughly  Romance  words,  that  in  Chau- 
cer's day  had  ousted  from  the  language  the  good  old 
'  sigor.'  This  survives  in  German  '  sieg,'  and  has  never 
died  out  in  Scandinavia.  That  '  sir '  is  the  last  trace  of 
this  old  English  word  seems  too  good  to  be  true.  The 
Anglo-Saxon  '  wig  '  and  Icelandic  '  vig '  =  '  war,'  and  the 
corresponding  verb,  '  vigan,'  are  but  poorly  represented  in 
'  wigging '  a  witness,  i.e.,  '  blowing  him  up,'  an  expression 
which  many  people  no  doubt  derive  from  the  counsel's 
wig.  All  that  remains  of  '  tawian '  =  '  to  beat,'  is  found 
in  East  Anglian  '  to  tew '  =  '  to  knock  about.'  It  is  only 
through  Anglo-Saxon  we  learn  that  the  enigmatical  '  all 
to  break  his  skull '  of  Judges  means  '  thoroughly 
smashed  it,'  and  that  '  evil  will  at  Zion '  =  '  against 
Zion.'  Our  '  lich  '='  gate '  (or  corpse-gate)  is  from  Anglo- 
Saxon  '  lig,'  Icelandic  '  lik,'  which  last  word,  however  = 
'  a  body,'  not  only  in  Mr.  Mantalini's  sense,  but  also  one 
up  and  doing.  In  Iceland  there  was  a  regular  word  for 
a  dead  body,  viz.,  '  nar '  (Goth.  naus).  Hence  takes  its 
name  the  narhwal,  Icelandic,  '  niihval '  =  '  unicorn  fish,' 
which  an  old  Icelandic  writer  says  is  so  called  because 
whoever  eats  its  flesh  dies  (Spec.  Eegale,  30).  When 
we   talk  of  '  to  cringe,'  the  fawning  sycophant  at  once 


2o8  OLD  EXCLISH  LITERATURE. 

occurs  to  us ;  Imt  m  tlio  "  ]5attle  of  Brunanburh"  and  the 
"  Battle  of  JMalilon  "  '  criiigau '  is  said  of  men  who  fell  in 
fair%lit.  It  is  only  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  'steopan  =  to 
'  bereave,'  that  we  see  the  true  meaning  of  the  first 
svllahle  of  'step-child,'  i.e.,  'bereft.'  Now  and  then 
Saxon  words  elucidate  obscurities  in  other  languages,  e.g., 
the  German  'slindfluth'  (tlie  Deluge)  is  popularly  sup- 
])osed  to  be  the  'sin  ilood.'  The  first  syllable,  however, 
is  nothing  but  the  Saxon  adverb  'sin'  =  'semper,'  'uni- 
versal,' as  in  '  sincaldu '  =  '  frigus  permagnum,'  and  '  sin- 
grene  '  =  '  evergreen  ; '  so  that '  siindtluth '  is  the  '  universal 
Hood.'  A  widow  owes  her  '  weeds '  to  Anglo-Saxon  ;  nay, 
she  has  a  monopoly  of  a  dress  wliich  once  meant  apparel 
generally,  e.g.,  in  the  proverbs,  Exeter  Book,  '  him  syleth 
va^de  nive'  =  'gives  him  new  clothes.'  Anglo-Saxon 
has  another  important  function;  it  makes  apparent  the 
whims  and  fancies  in  which  language  will  sometimes  run 
riot.  Our  word  '  island,'  where  did  it  get  that  s  ?  The 
answer  is,  from  'isle.'  But  whence  came  its  second 
syllable, '  land '  ?  The  answer  is,  from  '  ig-land,'  Anglo- 
Saxon  =  '  island.'     In  the  Herefordshire  adage — 

"  Blessed  is  the  eye 
That's  between  Severn  and  Wye," 

'  Kye'=:I.  'ey.'  We  see  that  our  word  is  a  hybrid,  manu- 
factured irregularly  out  of  a  French  and  Saxon  one. 
Apropos  of  island,  the  present  name  of  a  celebrated  island, 
lona,  is  a  mere  blunder.  Adamnan  calls  it  loua  or  Jova, 
an  adjective  in  feminine,  suband.  'insula,'  i.e.,  'Hy.' 
Tlie  scribes,  by  turning  u  into  %  changed  it  into  lona.^  , 
In  such  words,  again,  as  '  songstress  '  and  '  sempstress,' 
the  French  termination  is  quite  otiose;  'songster'  and 
'  sempster  '  being  Anglo-Saxon  feminine  forms  to  begin 
with  (though  the  more  ancient  form  of  the  noun  feminine 
is  in  en),  just  like  '  spinster'  is;  which,  by  good  luck,  was 
let  alone,  and  is  retained  by  us  in  her  original  dress,  if 

^  Ileeves'  Adamn.,  259. 


A  MEDLEY.  209 

WQ  can  only  providentially  keep  her  in  that  becoming 
costume.  It  is  curious  that  in  Saxon,  as  well  as  Icelandic, 
the  ordinal  number,  the  second,  does  not  exist,  and  is 
represented  by  '  ojjer '  (Is.  '  annarr  ')  =  '  the  other.'  The 
etymology  of  our  '  eleven  '  appears  from  A.-S.  '  end-lufon,' 
coupled  with  I.  '  ellifu,'  Goth.  '  ainlif.'  Eemoving  excre- 
scences, we  have  '  enluf '  or  '  ainluf.'  The  suffix  -Zz/ cognate 
with  Lith.  -lika  =  decern.  So  Prof.  Skeat,  Etym.  Diet., 
J.  Kok  ("The  Dialect  of  South  Jutland," p.  100)  makes  D. 
'  elleve '  =  '  one  left,'  i.e.,  '  one  over  ten,'  from  I.  '  lifa,'  to 
be  left.' 

Our  early  Anglo-Saxon  forefathers  (Bede,  De  Mensibus) 
had  their  own  peculiar  names  for  the  months.  Thus  they 
called  March  HrtedemonaS  (from  an  extinct  Anglo-Saxon 
goddess,  Hreda)  =  '  fierce  month,'  reminding  us  of  Mr. 
Tennyson's  "  roaring  moon ;  "  while  their  name  for  April 
was  EostremonaS^  from  another  goddess,  Eostra,  in  whose 
name  we  discern  our  Christian  Easter,  jMay  was  called 
hrymylce  =  '  three-milk  month.'  So  fat  were  the  meadows 
that  the  milch  kine  came  three  times  a  day  to  the  pail.^ 
At  one  time  the  Scandinavians  were  like  to  have  had 
their  week-days  diiierently  named  from  all  their  European 
relations.  Bishop  Jon  (died  1121),  in  his  zeal  for  the 
extirpation  of  every  heathen  recollection,  altered  the 
names  of  the  week  into  '  second  day,'  '  third  day,'  &c., 
pretty  much  like  the  revolutionary  Frenchmen  changed 
the  names  of  the  months  to  suit  the  then  prevalent  ideas. 
We  call  the  last  day  of  the  week  '  Saturday,'  but  not  so 
the  Scandinavians.  With  them  it  was  '  Laugardagr,' 
washing-day,  the  day  appointed  by  law  for  washing  and 
cleaning.  This  washing  had  a  religious  cliaracter,  and  came 
from  a  remote  heathen  age.  In  the  Hist.  Eliensis  (Gale, 
p.  547)  we  are  told  of  the  Northmen  that  'habebant  con- 
suetudinem  sabbatis  balneare ; '  which  ceremony,  together 

1  Charlemagne  nair.ed  the  months  afresh  in  his  own  vernacular,  "they 
having  hitherto  borne  names  partly  Latin,  partly  barbarous"  (Einhard, 
Vit.  Car.  Ma^'n.,  c.  29). 

0 


2 , o  OLD  ENGLISH  LITE E A  TUEE. 

\s'\\\\  their  solemn  liair-comLing  on  tliat  day,  set  the 
Saxons  a  wondering  ;  at  all  events,  it  spoke  for  the  superior 
refinement  of  '  the  heathen.'  May  not,  by  the  way,  our 
institution  of  cropping  close  the  hair  of  a  convict  be  a 
reminiscence  of  ancient  days  when  long  hair  was  the 
si«Tn  and  ornament  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  ? 

The  Anglo-Saxons,  as  we  have  said  elsewhere,  were  very 
fond  of  alliteration  in  all  its  varieties,  especially  in  poetry. 
When  the  martial  song  was  sung,  these  alliterative  words 
were  musically  emphasised,  the  company  joining  in  by 
striking  their  swords  upon  their  shields,  or  by  uttering 
hollow  sounds  into  the  concave  side  of  them,  a  custom 
mentioned  by  Tacitus.  There  was  a  noble  simplicity  and 
grandeur  about  the  strain  which  enthusiasts  compare  to  the 
sound  in  the  tree-tops  of  some  dark  forest  struck  by  the 
evening  wind.  It  is  difficult  nowadays  to  form  anything 
like  a  true  idea  of  the  imposing  effect  thus  produced. 
Most  of  the  attempts  to  reintroduce  this  sort  of  verse 
have  failed ;  as,  for  instance,  Eiickert's  "  jBoland  der  i^ies 
am  Nathans  zu  B?'emen."  The  right  tone  seems  more 
nearly  caught  in  the  lines  of  Fouque's  "Thiodolph,"  be- 
ginning "Weit  in  Weinberg."  But  the  spirit  has  fled 
which  created  these  natural  sounds,  and  all  attempts  to 
recreate  them  must  degenerate  into  mere  empty  form  and 
artifice.  Alliteration  in  modern  England  is  well-nigh 
forgotten,  or  has  become  dwarfed  into  mere  orthoepic 
tests  for  the  young,  e.g.,  'Peter  Piper  picked  a  peck  of 
pickled  pepper,'  or  '  Pound  the  rugged  rocks  the  ragged 
rascals  ran."  Before  it  fell  out  of  use,  it  would  most 
likely  get  torn  to  tatters :  notably  on  the  stage,  as  is  clear 
from  the  hit  Shakespeare  deals  it  in  his  prologue  to  that 
tragic  interlude  in  "  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  " — 

"  Whereat  with  blade,  with  bloody,  blameful  blade, 
He  bravely  broached  his  boiling,  bloody  breast." 

The  Anglo-Saxon  language  was  far  richer  in  poetical 
appliances  for  this  sort  of  verse  than  the  modern.     Por 


A  MEDLEY.  211 

instance,  there  were  a  great  many  different  expressions 
for  one  word,  e.g.,  '  man.'  The  language,  too,  was  equally 
rich  in  adjectives  full  of  plastic  signification.  Many  words 
that  permitted  this  alliteration  have  disappeared  altogether 
from  our  tongue. 

Bishop  Lupus  in  his  rousing  address  exhibits  instances 
of  this  alliteration  with  good  effect.  He  couples  together 
'  stric '  and   '  steorfa,'  =  sedition  and  plague ;  '  here '  and 

*  hunger,'  =::  army  (of  the  Danes)  and  famine  ;  '  stalu '  and 

*  qualu,'  =  robbery  and  murder ;  '  hoi '  and  '  hete,'  =  slander 
and  hatred  ;  '  dered  Searle,'  =  damaged  severely.  Though 
in  the  equivalent  of  '  rypera  reaflac,'  =  rapine  of  reivers, 
and  '  bryne '  and  '  blodgyte,'  =  burning  and  blood-spilling, 
we  are  still  able  to  retain  alliteration. 

As  late  as  15  th  January  1548,  it  was  a  keen  and  telling 
weapon  in  the  trenchant  hand  of  a  Latimer.  Those  "  un- 
preaching  prelates  "  who  heard  his  sermon  that  day  deli- 
vered in  the  shroudes  of  St.  Paul's  Church  in  London  must 
have  winced  not  a  little  as  they  heard.  "  They  are  so 
troubled  with  lordly  living,  they  be  so  placed  in  pallaces, 
couched  in  courtes,  ruffeling  in  their  rentes,  dauncing  in 
their  dominions,  burdened  with  ambassages,  pomping  of 
their  paunches,  mouching  in  their  maungers,  moyling  in 
their  gay  manors  and  mansions,  and  so  troubled  with 
loitering  in  their  lordshippes  that  they  cannot  attend  to 
it  (preaching)  "  ("  Sermon  of  the  Plougli "). 

In  legal  formulas  the  Anglo-Saxon  people  were  quite  as 
much  addicted  to  this  artifice,  which  was  no  doubt  intended 
as  an  aid  to  the  memory.^  It  was  a  method  also  in  vogue 
in  the  North,^  and  was  probably  a  survival  from  very 
ancient  times.  In  the  Canons  of  Edgar  (9)  we  have  this 
alliteration  or  love  of  repetition  run  mad,  so  to  say,  in  the 
form  of  confession,  but  which  is  not  reproducible  in  Eng- 
lish.    "  I  confess  the  sins  of  my  body  in  fell  and  flesh,  in 

1  So  in  the  charters,  'sac'  and  'soc,'  'strand'  and  'stream,'  'tol'  and 
'team.'    Thorpe,  245. 
-  Cf .  Gragas,  i.  206,  formula  for  makiug  a  truce. 


2 1 2  OLD  ENGLISH  LITER  A  TUEE. 

bono  and  sinew,  in  tlie  veins  and  the  gristle,  in  the  tongue 
anil  in  the  lips,  in  the  gums,  in  the  teeth,  and  in  the  hair, 
in  overvthing  soft  and  everything  hard,  wet  or  dry."  Here 
we  are  reminded  of  the  form  used  in  excommunication, 
equally  explicit  to  the  very  last  jot  and  tittle,  and  which 
the  auilior  of  "  Ingoldsby  "  has  immortalised  in  his  "  Car- 
dinal." 

In  the  above  pages  we  have  endeavoured  to  show  gene- 
rally what  the  Anglo-Saxon  literature  is  and  what  it  is 
not,i  and  have  hinted  how,  philologically  and  grammati- 
cally, it  bears  upon  English.  We  have  not  attempted  to 
treat  the  subject  exhaustively,  but  rather  in  a  popular  and 
suggestive  form.  Having  by  this  time  got  a  fair  notion 
of  how  much  Anglo-Saxon  literature,  language,  and  cus- 
toms bear  upon  these  things  in  modern  England,  the 
reader  will,  if  he  so  list,  address  himself  to  the  further 
prosecution  of  the  study.  Those  who  have  neither  oppor- 
tunity nor  inclination  to  venture  further  will  have,  at  all 
events,  acquired  a  certain  amount  of  information,  we  hope 
interesting  and  instructive,  though  necessarily  fragmentary 
and  incomplete.  And  we  may  promise  the  reader  that 
the  value  of  this  will  be  greatly  enhanced  by  a  study  of 
our  Second  Part.  Every  step  taken  in  the  field  of  Ice- 
landic literature  will  throw  fresh  light  on  what  has  been 
already  said,  and  to  Icelandic  we  shall  therefore  now  turn. 

1  Semi-Saxon  with  its  Layamon  and  Ormulum  does  not  enter  into  tlie 
scoiie  of  this  inquiry. 


Part   3IL 

ICELANDIC    LITERATURE. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

THE   REFORMATION  IN  ICELAND SUPPRESSION  OF   THE 

MONASTERIES CONSEQUENT  DISPERSION  OF  MSS. 

We  have  seen  above,  in  the  First  Part  of  this  work,  how 
Archbishop  Parker,  with  others,  rescued  from  destruction 
the  almost  forgotten  remnants  of  Anglo-Saxon  learning 
which  still  survived  in  England  in  his  day  after  the 
destruction  of  the  monasteries.  In  Iceland,  where  the 
literary  activity  had  been  wonderfully  fertile,  a  vast  quan- 
tity of  old  vellum  MSS.  was  stored  in  these  establish- 
ments, mementoes  of  that  past  Augustan  age.  But  the 
voice  of  Luther  began  to  be  heard  in  this  distant  isle, 
conveyed,  doubtless,  in  heretical  tracts  and  treatises  by 
German  traders  from  Hamburg.^  Jon  Einarson,  rector  of 
Skalholt,  who  had  secretly  read  some  of  these  publications, 
ventured,  one  Candlemas  Day,  under  the  very  nose  of 
Bishop  Ogmund,  to  call  invocation  of  saints  idolatry. 
But,  worse  still,  another  clerk,  Gizur  Einarson,  whom  the 
Bishop  had  sent  to  school  at  Hamburg  at  his  own  expense, 
heard  Luther  and  Melancthon  preach  at  Wittenberg,  and 
came  back  to  Iceland  a  staunch  Lutheran,  to  the  intense 
disgust  of  his  patron.  Meantime,  one  Didrik  of  Minden, 
a  German  by  descent,  who  had  for  some  years  been  fac- 

1  Kcyser,  Norske  Kirkes  Historic,  p.  847. 


2 1 4  ICE  LA  NDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

totum  of  the  Danisli  authorities  in  Iceland,  thought  he 
iiii;^'ht  as  well  follow  the  lead  of  his  royal  master,  Christian 
III.,  in  Denmark,  and  set  about  despoiling  the  religious 
houses  in  the  island  on  his  own  account.  The  Augustinian 
Ahbey  of  Vido  was  his  first  quarry.  The  inmates  were 
packed  off,  and  their  goods  and  chattels  appropriated. 
This  took  place  May  25,  1539,  which  was  Whitsunday. 
He  next  started  off  for  the  monasteries  of  Thykkvabo  and 
Kirkiubo,  breathing  out  threatenings  against  the  unfortu- 
nate monks.  On  the  road  it  occurred  to  him  to  turn  aside 
and  pay  a  visit  to  Ogrnund,  the  Bishop  of  Skalholt,  who 
was  now  blind.  Loading  the  aged  prelate  with  insults,  he 
boasted  to  him  that  he  could  take  all  Iceland  with  six 
men.  The  soft  answers  of  the  old  man  failed  to  turn  away 
the  wrath  of  the  spoiler,  who  only  became  more  violent, 
liouring  out  a  torrent  of  the  vilest  abuse  in  German.  At 
this  juncture  a  noise  was  heard  outside.  It  was  the 
Bishop's  nearest  tenants,  who  had  got  word  from  his 
assessor  to  come  to  the  rescue,  and  had  beset  all  the 
approaches  to  the  apartment  where  Didrik  sat  carousing, 
liesistance  availed  not,  and  the  whole  band,  leader  and 
all,  fell,  save  a  boy  of  twelve,  August  10,  1539.  The 
Bishop  swore  he  was  not  privy  to  the  transaction,  which 
seems  to  have  been  strictly  true.  But  shortly  after,  the 
old  man,  now  eighty  years  of  age,  was  surprised  in  his 
bed,  and,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  his  attached  and 
aged  sister,  set  upon  a  horse  and  carried  off,  thinly  clad 
and  in  cold  weather,  to  the  coast,  after  being  cajoled,  by 
false  promises  of  liberty,  out  of  his  gold  and  all  his  valu- 
ables. He  was  then  carried  off  to  Denmark,  and  died  the 
next  year  at  Soro.  Charges  of  complicity  in  this  transac- 
tion and  of  base  ingratitude  to  his  old  patron,  and  appa- 
rently not  without  reason,  w^ere  brought  against  Gizur 
Einarson,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  see  of  Skalholt.  At 
heart  he  was  a  Eeformer,  but  the  stiff-necked  Icelanders 
still  stuck  to  the  old  faith,  and  the  new  one  made  but 
little  progress. 


THE  REFORM  A  TION  IN  ICELAND.  1 1 5 

A  great  liindrance  to  tlie  Eeformation  had,  it  is  true, 
"been  removed  in  Bishop  Ogmund,  but  in  Jon  Areson,  the 
Bishop  of  Holar  in  the  iSTorth,  it  had  a  much  more  formid- 
able and  potent  antagonist  to  contend  with.  A  staunch 
Papist  in  all  but  the  matter  of  celibacy,  which  he  had 
practically  scouted  when  yet  a  priest,  living  in  open  con- 
cubinage with  Helga  Sigurd's  daughter,  by  whom  he  had 
five  sons  and  two  daughters,  he  nevertheless  thought  it 
best  for  the  present  to  profess  much  respect  for  the  royal 
ordinances  proclaiming  the  establishment  of  the  Eefor- 
mation. Gizur,  his  episcopal  brother  of  Skalholt,  on  the 
other  hand,  did  what  he  could  in  the  contrary  direction, 
doing  away  with  Eomish  observances  whenever  he  could. 
Not  far  from  Skalholt  stood  a  wayside  cross,  by  the  mouth 
of  the  Olve  river,  which  was  the  object  of  much  supersti- 
tious veneration.  It  stank,  consequently,  in  the  nostrils 
of  the  Eeforming  Bishop.  In  February  1 548  he  rode  to 
the  spot  and  had  the  cross  pulled  down.  On  his  home- 
ward ride  he  was  seized  with  illness,  took  to  his  bed,  and 
died  in  a  month — a  signal  instance,  of  course,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Eomanists,  of  the  just  judgment  of  God.  Mean- 
while news  of  the  victory  achieved  over  the  Protestants 
by  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  in  the  preceding  April  (1547) 
at  Miihlberg  had  reached  Jon  Areson,  and  he  was  embol- 
dened to  throw  off  the  mask.  He  at  once  wrote,  it  is  said, 
to  the  Emperor,  begging  him  to  send  an  expedition  to  Ice- 
land from  the  Netherlands.  He  also  wrote  to  the  then 
Pope,  Paul  III.,  August  7,  1548,  asking  for  counsel.  The 
former  letter  miscarried.  To  the  latter  he  received  an 
answer  the  following  year,  dated  8th  March,  encouraging 
him  to  resist  King  Christian  III.'s  introduction  of  the 
Eeformation  into  the  island.  This  Papal  rescript  came  in 
the  nick  of  time.  Sooth  to  say,  at  this  very  moment,  the 
sturdy  upholder  of  the  old  faith  needed  moral  as  well  as 
physical  support ;  for  only  a  few  months  before  the  new 
Protestant  Bishop  of  the  Southern  See,  Skalholt,  returned 
to  the  island  from  Denmark  with  a  royal  letter  proclaim- 


2 1 6  ICEL  A  XDIC  LITER  A  TUBE. 

iug  Jon  Arcson  an  outlaw.  Yerily  it  was  an  occasion  to 
be'made  the  most  of.  All  the  priests  and  clerks  of  the 
diocese  were  summoned  to  the  cathedral  of  Holar  to  hear 
the  Papal  letter  read,  while  Bishop  Jon,  standing  before 
the  altar  in  his  most  gorgeous  vestments,  crosier  in  hand 
and  mitro  on  his  head,  thanked  God  and  the  Pope,  and 
vowed  he  would  die  rather  than  betray  either  the  one 
or  the  other.  As  good  as  his  word,  he  had  the  letter 
translated  into  the  vernacular  and  distributed  about  the 
country,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  clergy  resolutions  were 
agreed  to  for  the  suppression  of  the  new  "  idolatry."  That 
autumn  Bishop  Jon,  learning  that  his  brother  prelate, 
]\Iartin  of  Skalholt,  was  on  a  visitation  on  the  borders  of 
his  own  diocese,  secretly  despatched  a  hundred  armed  men, 
who  succeeded  in  surprising  the  Bishop  and  carrying  him 
away  captive. 

Previous  to  this,  Bishop  Peter  Plade  of  Seeland,  in 
Denmark,  had  written  to  Bishop  Jon  Areson,  urging  him 
to  submit  to  the  King,  and  telling  him  that  it  was  vain  to 
expect  help  from  his  friend.  Pope  Paul  III.,  as  he  was 
dead,  and  before  another  Pope  was  elected  Jon  might  be 
dead  too.  To  this  friendly  advice  the  Bishop  paid  no 
regard.  Xay  more,  he  resolved  to  meet  his  adversaries 
face  to  face,  and  journeyed  to  the  Althing  with  four  hun- 
dred armed  men.  With  such  a  force  he  carried  everything 
before  him,  and  succeeded  in  deposing  the  speaker,  and 
placing  his  own  son.  Are,  in  his  stead.  Thence  he  made 
a  swoop  upon  Skalholt;  and  when  the  garrison  showed 
signs  of  resistance,  put  the  captive  Bishop,  whom  he  had 
with  him,  in  front  of  his  men  as  a  mark  to  their  missiles, 
and  so  caused  them  to  surrender.  During  his  stay  he  re- 
consecrated the  cathedral,  which  he  pronounced  deiiled  by 
the  Protestant  worship,  and  he  had  Bishop  Gizur's  corpse 
dug  up  and  buried  outside  the  churchyard,  as  the  corpse 
of  a  heretic.  He  then  held  a  meeting  of  the  clergy,  and 
had  himself  proclaimed  lawful  administrator  of  the  dio- 
cese; and  he  finished  up  his  thoroughgoing  proceedings 


THE  REFORM  A  TION  IN  ICE  LA  ND.  1 1 7 

witli  the  consecration  of  a  priest  in  the  church,  after  the 
approved  Eomish  fashion.  He  then  made  a  round  of  the 
western  coast,  visiting  monasteries,  routing  out  the  Danish 
officials  who  had  snugly  ensconced  themselves  therein, 
reconsecrated  churches,  and  returned  to  his  episcopal  seat 
at  Holar,  saying  he  had  now  got  all  Iceland  under  him 
save  a  boor's  son  or  two,  alluding,  doubtless,  to  his  great 
opponent,  the  captive  Bishop's  brother-in-law,  Dade  Gud- 
mundson,  who  was  of  low  birth,  but  the  most  powerful 
person  in  Western  Iceland,  notwithstanding  his  being 
under  the  ban  of  Jon  Areson.^  He  next  placed  the 
Church's  ban  on  Gisle  Jonson,  priest  of  Seladal,  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  a  married  man,-  an  offence  of  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  prelate  was  equally  guilty ;  but  the 
real  cause  of  his  ire  was  that,  on  his  own  deposition,  he 
ascertained  Gisle  Jonson  was  nominated  by  the  King  to 
succeed  him. 

The  Bishop's  sons  did  not  all  of  them  approve  of  their 
father's  proceedings.  Sigurd  the  priest  kept  aloof  entirely. 
Are  often  said  he  knew  his  father  was  in  the  wrong,  but 
he  did  not  like  to  desert  him  in  his  old  age ;  while  Bjorn, 
on  the  other  hand,  egged  him  on  still  farther  along  the 

1  An  anecdote  is  related  hereanent  lak,  born  1133,  i.e.,  just  forty-five 
which  illustrates  the  old  Icelaudic  years  after  the  death  of  Dunstan,  on 
saying,  that  when  people  are  slander-  his  return  to  Iceland  from  a  six  years' 
iiig  or  gossiping  about  a  person  behind  residence  in  Paris  and  England,  medi- 
his  back,  he  hiccoughs  every  time  his  tated  marriage  with  a  rich  and  noble 
name  is  mentioned.  The  same  day  widow.  Unluckily,  or  luckily,  for 
that  the  Bishop  fulminated  the  ex-  the  latter,  the  night  before  he  iu- 
communication  against  Dade,  the  lat-  tended  to  propose  to  her,  he  was 
ter  was  seized  with  a  violent  fit  of  warned  in  a  dream  not  to  do  so,  and 
hiccough,  when  he  observed,  "  About  ever  after  he  remained  a  bachelor 
me  is  the  word,  when  I  am  not  at  the  (Hist.  Ecclesiast.,  p.  288).  Nay,  in  the 
board."  year  1179,  we  find  him  formally  pro- 

2  Liberty  of  lawful  marriage  to  the  mulgating  the  edict  of  Archbishop 
clergy,  and  the  legitimisation  of  their  Eistein  enjoining  celibacy  on  the 
offspring,  was  at  last  conceded  by  clergy  (ibid.,  i.  112),  a  law  never 
King  Christian  III.,  in  a  rescript,  accepted  by  the  clergy.  They  were 
dated  Copenhagen,  St.  Gall's  Day,  quite  ready  to  attend  to  Papal  pre- 
1551.  Cf.  Finni  Johannei  Historia  cepts  about  shaving  their  beards  and 
Kcclesiastica  Islandica,  vol.  ii.  p.  308.  clipping  their  hair,  so  that  the  lobes 
Long  had  this  matter  been  a  bone  of  of  the  ears  might  be  visible  ;  abstain 
contention  in  Iceland.  Even  St.  Thor-  from  gaudy  colours  in   their  dress 


:iS  'ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

slippery  path  of  fanaticism  and  ambition.  And  thus  he 
kept  on  his  course,  spite  of  threats  and  warnings,  till  an 
abvss  opened  in  front  of  him  from  which  there  was  no 
retreat. 

Dade  Gudmundson,  whom  lie  regarded  as  his  sole  re- 
maining foe  of  any  note  in  the  island,  he  now  determined 
to  crush  at  one  powerful  stroke.  With  ninety  armed  men 
he  marched,  29th  September  1550,  to  Saudafell,  a  country- 
house  belonging  to  Dade,  but  which  was  claimed  as  his 
own  property  by  Are,  the  son  of  the  Bishop.  But  Dade 
came  to  the  rescue  with  a  larger  force,  and  beset  the  place 
in  spite  of  the  lire  of  the  Bishop's  men.  He  offered  those 
inside  liberty  to  depart  unharmed,  which  was  refused  by 
the  Bishop.  Presently  the  Episcopalians  retired  to  the 
church  close  by,  closely  pressed  by  the  besiegers.  They 
managed,  however,  to  make  good  their  entrance,  and  bar- 
ricaded themselves  inside.  But  not  for  long ;  and  on  an 
entrance  being  effected  by  Dade  and  his  men,  the  Bishop  was 
seen  standing  in  front  of  the  high  altar  in  full  pontificals, 
the  consecrated  wafer  in  one  hand,  an  image  of  the  Virgin 
in  the  other.  But  in  Dade's  fierce  followers  the  sight 
failed  to  inspire  awe.  The  Bishop  had  acted  too  much 
like  a  Viking  to  escape  the  fate  of  one.  In  his  ambitious 
violence  his  sanctity  had  collapsed.  One  profane  fellow 
threw  himself  on  the  unfortunate  prelate,  and  with  ex- 

an<l  so  on  (Kcyser,  Norske  Kiike) ;  were,  by  the  end  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
but  when  they  were  forbidden  niatri-  tury,  brought  under  this  detestable  re- 
inony,  this  was  the  addition  to  the  striction,  and  knuckled  down  to  Rome 
burden  that  broke  the  camel's  back,  in  the  long-run  in  everything  great 
They  resented  the  order  as  an  in-  and  small,  notwithstanding  cases  of 
fringemeut  of  their  natural  rights  ;  individual  resistance.  Dunstan  long 
and  the  country  sustained  them,  and  had  the  discredit  of  backing  up  the 
marry  they  did,  like  good  honest  Popes  in  these  celibatic  encroach- 
fellows  ;  and  Isleifr  and  his  brother  ments  on  his  brother  clerics  (see  Mil- 
bishops  and  clergy,  .and  their  succes-  man) ;  but  he,  like  Henry  VIII.  and 
sors  to  the  d,ays  of  the  Reformation  others,  has  been  whitewashed,  in  this 
and  after,  were  the  fathers  of  happy  case  most  justly,  of  the  charges  made 
families  born  in  wedlock.  Nought  against  him,  and  it  has  been  proved  by 
such  can  suruly  be  predicated  of  our  Stubbs  that  "he  vindicated  clerical 
Anglo-Saxon  clergy,  who,  with  the  mnrriage  .against  the  Popes  "("Memo- 
Romish  clergy  of  the  rest  of  Europe  rials  of  S.  Dunstan,"  cxviii.,  Stubbs). 


THE  RE  FORM  A  TION  IN  ICE  LA  XD.  2 1 9 

treme  violence,  like  tlie  men  of  Brennns  did  on  the  Con- 
script Fathers,  and  dragged  him  out  of  the  church,  and  he 
was  sent  forthwith,  together  with  his  two  sons,  under  a 
strong  escort  to  Snakedal.  A  court  was  set  three  weeks 
later,  at  which  the  liberated  Bishop  Martin  and  the 
Danish  commissary.  Christian,  were  present,  and  it  pro- 
nounced the  memorable  '  Doom  of  Snakedal,'  to  wit,  that 
the  Bishop  and  his  sons  were  lawful  prisoners.  The 
prisoners  were  then  removed  to  Skalholt,  and  a  council 
was  held  to  determine  what  was  next  to  be  done.  Opi- 
nions were  divided,  and  the  deliberations  lasted  for  several 
days.  The  Danish  commissary,  fearing  an  attack  from  the 
Bishop's  friends  in  the  North,  was  averse  to  being  his  jailor. 
AVhat  was  to  be  done  ?  "  Do ! "  exclaimed  one  of  the 
inquisitors,  Priest  Jon  Bjarneson,  "  why  the  axe  and  the 
earth  will  make  all  safe."  The  words  fell  upon  willing 
ears,  and  after  a  show  of  opposition  on  the  part  of  Dade 
and  others,  the  death  of  the  captives  was  resolved  on  with- 
out any  regular  trial.  The  Bishop  now  saw  what  his  own 
'  unbounded  stomacli '  and  the  evil  counsels  of  others  had 
brought  him  to.  Still  he  retained  his  firmness.  Of  his 
sons,  Bjorn  behaved  pitifully ;  but  his  other  son,  Are,  as 
usual,  carried  himself  calmly  and  courageously.  The  three 
were  placed  in  separate  cells,  but  allowed  to  see  each  otlier 
occasionally :  and  on  the  last  day  of  their  life  received  the 
"  body  of  God  "  from  the  hands  of  Bishop  Jon. 

On  Friday  the  7th  November,  a  simple  block  was  erected 
in  the  courtyard  of  the  palace  at  Skalholt,  at  which  stood 
a  man  fetched  from  Bessastad,  axe  in  hand.  Arii,  the  son, 
strode  first  to  the  place  of  execution,  with  a  constancy 
which  never  left  him.  He  had  been  offered,  it  M'as  said, 
free  pardon  if  he  would  swear  never  to  seek  revenge,  but 
lie  refused.  Taking  leave  of  Bishop  Martin  and  Dade, 
who  stood  by,  he  knelt  down  and  stretched  his  head  on 
the  block,  and  it  was  severed  at  a  blow.  Bjiirn  was  next 
led  out,  and  as  he  laid  his  head  on  the  block  kept  exclaim- 
ing in  piteous  accents,  "  My  poor  little  children  ! "     In  his 


220  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

extroinity  of  fear  he  screwed  neck  and  shoulders  close 
Uvether,  and  it  was  not  till  the  fourth  blow  that  he  was 
decapitated.  Between  each  blow  he  is  said  to  have  cried 
for  mercy.  The  old  Bishop  came  next.  He  was  offered 
his  life.  "  No,"  said  he ;  "  they  have  followed  me  well, 
and  I  will  follow  them."  As  he  passed  Dade,  he  offered 
to  release  him  from  the  interdict  he  had  placed  on  him. 
"  Interdict ! "  retorted  Dade,  "  thou  canst  see  no  more  trace 
of  interdict  on  me  than  on  thyself."  At  the  block  he 
kneeled  and  said  in  Latin,  "  Lord,  into  Thy  hands  I  com- 
mend my  spirit."  His  shoulders  were  much  bent  from 
age,  and  it  was  not  till  the  fifth  or  sixth  blow  that  his 
head  was  separated  from  his  body.  After  lying  exposed 
for  some  hours,  the  bodies  were  at  last,  at  the  prayer  of 
some  humanely-disposed  persons,  removed  and  buried  in 
the  churchyard  behind  the  choir. 

So  fell  the  last  Popish  Bishop  of  Iceland,  betokening,  in^ 
his  resistance  to  the  new  order  of  things  and  in  the  un- 
ruffled calmness  of  his  end,  the  blood  that  ran  in  his  veins. 
He  had  children  who  had  enough  of  their  father  and  the 
old  Northern  strain  about  them  to  determine  on  a  blood 
revenge.  His  daughter,  Thorun,  a  bigoted  Eoman  Catho- 
lic, and  a  woman  of  a  high  and  vengeful  spirit,  equipped 
some  of  the  Northern  people  with  arms  on  their  road  to 
the  great  south  country  iishing-gathering  that  Christmas. 
Hither  came,  among  the  rest,  Christian,  the  Danish  com- 
missary, and  at  the  first  opportunity  he  was  set  upon  by 
the  emissaries,  and,  after  a  long  resistance,  a  lad  of  Tho- 
run's  despatched  him  by  forcing  a  spear  under  his  coat  of 
mail  and  up  through  his  bowels.  So  fell  the  chief  doomer 
of  the  Bishop,  hated  by  most  people. 

The  next  30th  March,  thirty  men,  accompanied  by  three 
priests,  suddenly  arrived  at  Skalholt,  and  demanded  of 
Bishop  Martin  permission  to  disinter  the  three  corpses, 
and  he  dared  not  refuse  the  request.  The  bodies  were 
taken  up  with  the  utmost  haste,  and  placed  in  coffins 
brought  for  the  purpose.     Arrived  at  Holar,  all  the  cathe- 


THE  REFORM  A  TION  IN  ICELAND.  221 

dral  bells  rang,  responding  to  the  bells  attached  to  each 
coffin,  and  a  number  of  clergy  stationed  outside  conducted 
the  cavalcade  into  the  church,  where  the  three  were  buried 
with  great  pomp.  They  were  looked  upon  as  saints,  and 
many  people,  blind,  or  affected  with  other  disorders,  pressed 
forward  to  touch  the  coffins,  and  apparently  received  a 
cure. 

Shortly  after  two  Danish  men-of-war  appeared  off  the 
coast,  and  Sigurd,  the  Bishop's  son,  who  had  been  elected 
to  succeed  him,  thought  it  best  to  subside  into  private  life, 
and  thus  the  old  Eoman  Church  of  Iceland  fell,  and  the 
Eeformed  Church  took  its  place,  a.d.  1551. 

The  adherents  and  relations  of  the  Bishop  were  on 
the  whole  treated  with  clemency,  but  most  of  the  valu- 
ables belonging  to  the  cathedral  lucre  escheated  to  the  King 
and  carried  off  to  Copenhagen.  When  the  present  writer 
visited  the  place,  a  few  hangings  in  cunning  needle- 
work were  the  sole  memorials'  of  the  pomp  and  state  of 
this  Icelandic  compound  of  Wolsey  and  Becket.  The 
memory  of  the  Bishop  is  held  in  honour  to  this  day 
among  the  Icelanders.  The  first  families  in  the  island 
count  it  a  great  distinction  to  be  of  his  stock.  Nor 
has  it  escaped  remark  that  of  Iceland's  later  bishops, 
five  of  Skalholt  and  three  of  Holar  were  descended  from 
him.  Possessed  of  fine  natural  gifts,  Jon  Areson  was  of 
a  thoroughly  ungovernable  spirit.  He  was  just  the  man 
to  play  the  part  of  a  great  potentate  in  those  days.  Fond 
of  splendour,  hospitable,  munificent,  proud,  and  energetic, 
he  was  every  way  calculated  to  win  the  admiration  of  his 
countrymen.  Not  a  whit  behind  Bishop  Ogmund  in 
worldly  ambition  and  love  of  rule,  he  was  inferior  to  him 
in  intellectual  acquirements  :  not  so,  however,  in  the  force 
of  his  understanding.  A  poor  Latin  scholar,  he  was  an 
excellent  poet,  perhaps  the  very  best  of  his  day,  and,  like 
the  old  Scalds,  ever  ready  with  some  metrical  effusion 
when  occasion  requii-ed.    In  the  society  of  intimate  friends 


J  :  :  ICE  LA  NDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

lie  was  cheerful  and  jocose,  but  in  ordinary  life,  and  in  the 
business  of  his  calling,  he  could  display  a  dignity  in  keep- 
ing with  his  high  office.^  His  chief  adversary,  Dade,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  held  in  no  such  regard;  and  when, 
some  years  later,  1563,  he  died  of  a  cancer  in  the  face,  it 
was  regarded  by  his  cotemporaries  as  a  judgment  from 
Heaven. 

1  Kevser,  Den  Norsko  Kirkes  Hist.,  p.  845. 


(      223      ) 


CHAPTER  II. 

COLLECTORS  AND  COPYISTS  OF  MSS. — ARNE  AIAGNUSSON. 

We  have  given  in  the  preceding  chapter  a  leaf  out  of  tlie 
history  of  the  Icelandic  Eeformation,  not  only  for  its  own 
romantic  interest,  but  in  order  to  show  how  matters  began 
to  fare  with  the  monasteries,  the  chief  receptacles  of  old 
Icelandic  learning.  Of  course  all  the  MSS.  were  scattered 
abroad  or  destroyed,  pretty  much  as  had  happened  in 
England  a  few  years  before ;  but  with  this  difference,  that 
there  was  no  Archbishop  Pai'ker  empowered  by  royal 
mandate  to  rescue  literary  remains  from  destruction. 
What  was  done  for  the  immense  stock  of  Icelandic  MSS. 
was  due  to  private  intelligence  and  enterprise.^  It  was 
not  till  1600,  some  fifty  years  after  the  suppression  of 
the  monasteries  in  Iceland  (in  Norway,  where  they  were 
never  popular,  they  were  suppressed  twenty  years  earlier), 
that  a  new  intellectual  life  began  to  be  awakened. 

Oddr  Einarson,  Bishop  of  Skalholt,  a  wise  and  learned 
man,  was  the  first  to  set  about  making  collections  and 
copying  the  old  documents  found  there.  His  collection 
of  deeds  and  diplomas  is  the  best  extant,  thougli  the 
originals  are  lost.  A  little  later,  Arngrim  Jonas  began 
rummaging  out  of  their  various  hiding-places  all  over  the 
island  the  stray  MS.  treasures,  and  acquiring  everything 
he  could  lay  his  hands  on.  A  taste  at  once  commenced 
for  making  paper  copies  of  the  old  vellums  which  turned 
up.  One  of  the  most  industrious  of  these  copyists  was 
Jon  Gizurarson  (died  1648),  brotlier  of    Bishop  Brynjolf- 

1  Biskupa  SiJgur,  p.  viii. 


2  24  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

son.  A  nnnilior  of  his  autograph  copies  are  still  in 
existence.  ]Iis  contemporary,  Bjoni  of  Skardsa,  a  most 
conscientious  and  trustworthy  person,  got  hold  of  a  great 
number  of  old  MSS.  Bishop  Thorlak  Skulason,  who  lived 
about  the  same  date,  was  the  first  to  collect  and  copy 
those  most  interesting  biographies,  the  Lives  of  the  Ice- 
landic Bishops  from  a.d.  1056  to  1330  (Biskupa  Sogur), 
some  of  which  were  first  written  down  shortly  after  A.D. 
1 200.  These  throw  a  world  of  light  on  all  sorts  of  matters 
connected  with  the  history  of  the  twelfth,  thirteenth,  and 
fourteenth  centuries.  It  must  be  remembered  that  no  work 
of  a  similar  kind  appeared  in  England  till  the  latter  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Skulason's  collection  consists 
of  three  books,  two  upon  parchment,  which,  as  the 
originals  have  been  lost,  are  exceedingly  valuable.  But 
of  all  the  copyists  of  old  Icelandic  lore,  Bishop  Brynjolfr 
Sveinson  bears  the  palm.  What  he  did  in  this  line,  with 
the  able  assistance  of  the  Eev.  Jon  Erlendsson  (1632-72), 
is  truly  astonishing.  By  the  exertions  of  these  men  and 
others,  to  whom  Iceland  and  the  literary  world  owes  an 
exceeding  debt  of  gratitude,  a  heap  of  the  best  sagas  have 
survived  which  would  otherwise  have  been  lost.  This 
will  become  the  more  apparent  when  we  state  that  many 
of  these  sagas  survived  in  their  day  only  in  a  single 
vellum  in  all  Iceland,  and  of  some  of  these  original  vel- 
lums not  a  shred  remains,  so  that  were  it  not  for  the 
copies  then  taken,  they  would  have  been  xitterly  lost. 
Such  were  the  "  Islendingabok,"  the  "  Landnamab(5k," 
"  Svarfdoela,"  "  Vatnsdcela,"  and  others.  "  Vigastyr  Saga  "  1 
is  entirely  lost.  At  the  great  nre  in  Copenhagen,  1728, 
which  utterly  destroyed  the  University  Library,  irre- 
parable havoc  was  made  among  the  Icelandic  trea- 
sures.    In  the  seventeenth  century  many  choice  vellums 

'  Failing  to  obtain  a  copy  of  this  original  vellum,  perished  in  the  great 

saga    in    Iceland,    Arne    Magnusson  fire.     A   year   later   the   copyist    set 

procured   the  JIS.  from  Stockholm,  down  from  memory  what  he  remem- 

A   copy  -was    made   of    it    by  John  bered  of  the  original. 
Olaffsen,  which,    together  with  the 


COLLECTORS  AND  COPYISTS  OF  MSS. 


-^-5 


had  been  sent  from  Iceland  as  presents  to  Ole  Worm, 
Eesenius,  and  others :  many  of  these  had  got  into  the 
library  and  utterly  perished,  e.g.,  the  "Eyrbyggia,"  also 
"Fagrskinna"  and  "  Kringla,"  which  came  from  ISTorM^ay 
and  belonged  to  the  library.  The  vellums  in  the  Eoyal 
Library  which  did  not  suffer  from  that  fire,  including  the 
priceless  "  Codex  Eegius  "  of  most  of  the  old  Edda,  sent 
by  Bishop  Sweinson  of  Skalholt  to  King  Frederick  III. 
of  Denmark,  were  saved.  The  Icelandic  MSS.  sent  to 
Sweden  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  are  now 
for  the  most  part  safe  in  the  libraries  of  Stockholm  and 
Upsala,  But  we  must  here  make  mention  of  the  man  who 
did  for  Icelandic  MSS.  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  what  Archbishop  Parker  did  for  Anglo-Saxon  in 
the  sixteenth.  We  mean  Arne  Magnusson  (died  1730),  the 
professor  of  Northern  antiquities  at  Copenhagen.  Many 
admirable  persons,  as  we  have  seen,  had  laboured  before 
him,  and  to  some  extent  he  entered  into  their  labours  ;  but 
as  a  most  untiring  collector  of  old  Icelandic  MSS.  he  was 
facile  princeps.  For  ten  years  of  his  life  he  was  occupied 
in  travelling  in  Iceland  from  farm  to  farm,  hunting  up 
MSS,  which  might  be  stored  up  in  those  huge  oak  chests, 
receptacles  of  the  wardrobe  and  everything  accounted 
valuable  by  the  peasants,  or  lurking  peradventure  over 
the  doors  of  the  guest  chambers  or  elsewhere.  Being 
armed  with  authority  as  a  Danish  official,  his  facilities 
were  great,  and,  like  Parker,  he  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
Nothing  escaped  him,  and  whatever  was  to  be  found  in 
Iceland  in  the  shape  of  a  valuable  record  about  1700,  he 
found  it  and  carried  it  off  to  Copenhagen.  In  Norway, 
likewise,  he  secured  many  manuscripts,  penetrating  as 
far  as  Nordland  in  quest  of  them.  Many  of  these  were 
presents  from  private  persons,  e.g.,  from  Dean  Miltsow  in 
Voss ;  some  which  he  borrowed  were  never  returned.  But, 
of  course,  these  book  collectors  are  apt  to  be  oblivious. ' 
At  the  above  disastrous  conflagration  pretty  near  all  his 
vellums  escaped.     But,  besides  this,  he  had   a  staff  of 

p 


22G  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

scribes,  lioaded  by  Asgeir  Jonsson,  constantly  at  work 
transcribinj:;  vellums  not  in  his  possession.  To  crown  all, 
lie  left  by  will  the  whole  of  his  library  of  MSS.  to  the 
University  of  Copenhagen,  together  with  a  sum  of  money 
to  be  employed  in  their  printing  and  publication.  The 
result  of  which  beneficence  has  been  the  appearance  of 
that  goodly  array  of  quarto  volumes,  containing  all  the 
chief  Icelandic  works,  each  volume  having  on  its  title- 
page  a  representation  of  the  founder.  To  tell  the  truth, 
many  of  the  texts  are  very  badly  done.  Arne  Magnusson 
would  turn  over  in  his  grave  were  he  to  see  them. 

The  first  impulse  to  inquiry  into  Icelandic  literature  in 
England — not  so  much,  perhaps,  in  a  learned  as  in  a 
popular  sense — was  given  by  Bishop  Percy's  translation 
of  Mallet's  "Northern  Antiquities,"  a.d.  1770,  dedicated 
"  to  such  persons  as  study  the  ancient  languages  of  the 
North" — at  that  period  a  very  select  few.  The  trans- 
lator's preface  had  no  little  share  in  provoking  the  study 
which  has  since  yielded  such  valuable  fruit.  And  if  in 
his  "  Relics  of  Early  English  Poetry "  he  conferred  a 
lasting  benefit  on  our  own  language  and  poetic  litera- 
ture, his  Scandinavian  illustrations  were  perhaps  scarcely 
less  valuable  in  directing  attention  to  the  grand  old 
fountain-head  of  our  legendary  lore.  The  poet  Gray,  with 
his  odes  "  The  Eatal  Sisters  "  and  the  "  Descent  of  Odin," 
i.e.,  to  Hel's  abode — translations  from  the  Icelandic,  the 
former  from  the  Norn  song  in  the  Njal  saga,  the  latter 
from  "  VegtamskviSa "  in  the  old  Edda,  through  the 
medium,  however,  of  Latin  versions — would,  doubtless, 
whet  English  curiosity  to  know  more  of  this  vigorous 
language  and  literature,^  In  1782  the  Ptev.  James  John- 
son, chaplain  to  the  British  embassy,  published  at  Copen- 

'  Jlr.  Pvitson,  however,  "  Early  Eng-  savage    and    degraded  people,  from 

lish  Metrical  Romances,"  preface,  p.  whom  it  is  vain  to  expect  proofs  of 

•xxvi.,  regrets  that  Mr.  Gray  should  genius."      The  Saxons,  too,  were  by 

have  polluted  his  sublime  Pindarics  no   means   in   his  good   graces.     He 

with  the    Scandinavian    mythology,  tells  us  that  there  is  only  one  single 

With    him    the   Northmen    are   "a  Suxon  romance  in  existence,  "  Apol- 


COLLECTORS  AND  COPYISTS  OF  MSS.  22? 

hagen  "The  Death-Song  of  Lodbrog,"  followed  (1786)  by 
his  "  Antiquitates  Celto-ScandicEe,"  and  containing  speci- 
mens of  Snorri,  &c.  "Walter  Scott  followed  suit  in  the 
same  line  in  his  translations  and  imitations  from  the 
Icelandic.  Now,  will  the  reader  be  surprised  to  hear 
that  this  language,  of  which,  perhaps,  he  knows  so  little, 
was  once  so  well  understood  in  England,  at  all  events  by 
the  higher  classes,  that  the  old  Norse  tongue  in  the  mouth 
of  the  Northern  Minstrel  was  current  at  the  English 
court  ?  Nay,  Gunlaug,  a  famed  scald,  talked  with  King 
Ethelred  about  matters  in  general  in  London  streets, 
while,  as  we  have  seen,  the  tale  of  a  Northern  navigator 
w^as  perfectly  appreciated  by  King  Alfred. 

In  this  language,  and  in  it  alone,  is  embalmed  much 
that  is  interesting  to  us  as  Englishmen.  AVe  know  that, 
though  now  Christians,  we  were  once  Pagans.  We  once 
had  a  mythology  which,  though  it  very  early  grew  pale 
in  the  light  of  Christianity,  was  once  more  or  less 
common  in  its  main  features  to  all  the  Teutonic  races. 
Ijut  of  that  mythology  all  memory  as  a  systematic  whole 
would  have  perished,  had  not  two  documents  been  pre- 
served to  us  which  present  to  us,  in  words  that  cannot 
die,  the  very  form  and  fashion  of  that  wondrous  edifice 
of  mythology  which  our  forefathers  in  the  dawn  of  time 
imagined  to  tliemselves — their  theogony  and  cosmogony.^ 

We  mean  the  two  Eddas :  "  The  Older  Edda,"  a  collec- 
tion of  traditional  legends,  first  collected,  it  is  said,  by 
Saemundr  Sigfusson  (born  1054,  died  11 33},  but  which 
existed  previous  to  the  emigration  to  Iceland,  and  is 
probably  as  old  as  the  seventh  century — the  century  to 
wdiich   belong   the    oldest   remnants   of   Saxon,    of   Low 

lonius"  (a  translation  from  tlie  Latin),  whether  Scots,  Picts,  or  Danes."  Cf. 
forgetting  apparently  that  "Beowulf"  "For  dullness  the  creeping  Saxons," 
— which  was  in  his  time,  however,  in  a  poetical  list  of  national  charac- 
hardly  known— may  be  fairly  classed  teristics  in  llacfirbi's  "Book of  Gene- 
in  that  category.  These  Saxons  he  alogies,"  cited  by  O'Curry  (Materials 
pronounces  to  be  "a  spiritless  and  for  Irish  History,  p.  224). 
cowardly  race,  at  the  mercy  of  any  ^  Dasent,  '"Introduction  to  Ice- 
one   who    sought    to    invade    them,  laudic  Dictionary." 


2  2  S  ICELA  XDIC  L I TEJRA  TURK. 

(Jormaii  and  High  German,  as  represented  respectively 
in  "  Beowulf,"  in  the  "  Heliand,"  and  Otfried's  "  Christ." 
"  The  Younger  Edda,"  designed  by  Snorri  as  an  Ars  Poetica, 
a  course  of  poetical  lectures  illustrated  by  old  poetic  scraps, 
for  his  young  countrymen  desirous  of  cultivating  verse. 
He  wrote  it  circa  1241.  Coupled  with  it  was  a  prose  ver- 
sion of  the  lays  contained  in  the  elder  Edda,  to  explain  the 
many  figures  and  allusions  in  old  Icelandic  poetry.^ 

'  The  reader  will    liave   observed  days  all  over  Scandinavia,  yet   they 

that    we    have    generally    used    the  were  almost  invariably  the  work  of 

term  'Icelandic'    The  rich  and  racy  Icelanders    living    in    Iceland,    e.g., 

language  in  which  these  imperishable  Ari  Frodi,  Sasmund,  Snorri    Sturle- 

jnonuments  were  cast— the  Old  Norse,  son,  and  Sturla  Thordarson,  the  cou- 

Danisli,  or  Icelandic,  as  it  is  indiffe-  tinuer  of  the  sagas  after  Snorri. 
reutly  called— was  current  in  those 


229      ) 


CHAPTEE  III. 

PROSE   EDDA    AND   ITS   DISCOVERER,  ARNGRIM  JONAS. 

The  disinterment  of  the  (prose)  Edda,  and  its  publica- 
tion to  Europe  is  due  primarily  to  Arngrim  Jonas,  an 
Icelandic  clergyman,  who,  in  his  "  Crymogaja  sive  Eerum 
Islandicarum,"  libri  iii.  (the  first  edition  of  which  appeared 
at  Hamburg,  1609,  only  six  years  after  the  death  of 
Queen  Elizabeth),  seriously  set  about  spreading  a  know- 
ledge of  his  remote  Thule  to  the  outside  world. 

Hearing  much  in  his  lone  and  simple  parsonage  at  Mel- 
stad  in  North- Western  Iceland,  of  the  activity  of  Ole 
Worm,  the  great  Danish  antiquary,  in  Eunic  and  Northern 
lore,  he  writes  to  him  at  the  request  of  their  common  friend, 
Thorlak  Skulesen,  Bishop  of  Holar,  15th  August  1626. 
Worm  replies  in  great  delight  at  meeting  w^ith  so 
congenial  a  spirit.  "  It  was  no  pay,  no  promised  reward 
that  led  him,  when  his  grave  avocations  permitted  it,  to 
disinter  Northern  antiquities,  but  the  sheer  love  of  the 
thing."  He  is  soon  deep  in  a  discussion  on  the  value 
of  the  rune,  /fv,  and  concludes  by  saying  that  "the  royal 
Chancellor  had  got  the  books  sent  by  Arngrim,  but  so 
injured  by  shipwreck,  so  wet  and  dirty,  that  hardly  a 
letter  was  decipherable."  Here  the  enormous  difficul- 
ties with  which  Icelandic  literature  had  to  contend  begin 
to  come  out.  Wonderful  to  see  men  writing,  as  this 
Arngrim  did,  in  the  midst  of  epidemics,  earthquakes, 
volcanic  eruptions,  fearful  cold,  and  prodigiously  deep 
snow,  the  last  preventing  all  access  to  Eunic  inscriptions 
which  Worm  was  anxious  to  have.      To  these  fates,  so 


2  30  ICELA  NDIC  LITER  A  TV  RE. 

adverse  to  the  historic  Muse,  add  frequent  shipwrecks, 
M-here  all  was  lost,  not  only  "  man  and  mouse,"  but  the 
long  and  anxiously-looked  for  letter  or  paper  to  print  on, 
expected  from  the  lands  of  civilisation.  Well  might 
Arngrim  Jonas  exclaim  in  a  letter  to  "Worm,  1638,  "0 
Neptunum,  o  piratas  nostrarura  literarum  commercio 
iuvidentes ! "  But  he  adds  hopefully,  "  Sed  erit  post 
nubila  Phoebus."  Then  another  year,  1633,  the  Danisli 
ships,  on  which  Arngrim  depended  for  everything,  could 
not  approach  the  north  of  Iceland  till  August  on  account 
of  the  Greenland  ice  besetting  the  coast.  The  author  of 
this  work  knows  by  personal  experience  what  a  magazine 
of  cold  is  there  stored  up  to  vex  the  poor  Icelanders.  No 
less  untoward  were  the  fates  to  Ole,  on  his  side,  in  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge.  He  writes,  March  1635,  "The 
letters  I  expected  from  Arngrim  this  year  perished  in 
a  shipwreck  ; "  and  in  November  of  that  year,  "  No  news 
this  season  from  Iceland  yet,  but  I  am  daily  expecting 
some,  unless  they  have  been  lost  in  a  shipwreck.  Three 
Icelandic  ships,  they  say,  have  gone  down."  Talk  of 
your  argosies  laden  with  rich  wares  !  Why,  to  these 
votaries  of  learning  the  interests  at  stake  on  such  occa- 
sions were  far  costlier  than  the  merchandise  of  gold  and 
silver.  Think  of  the  copy  of  that  Eunic  inscription  that 
has  since  been  broken  up  for  building  purposes,  or  that 
unique  vellum  MS.  destined  for  Copenhagen  and  for  the 
longing  eyes  of  the  antiquary,  who  would  never  see  them. 
Sometimes  the  bearer  of  the  letter  from  Iceland  abroad, 
or  vice  versa,  lost  it,  or  mislaid  or  forgot  it,  and  then  the 
correspondence  did  not  come  to  hand  till  the  Greek 
kalends.  The  go-between  was,  may  be,  an  ingenious 
Icelandic  student  or  a  merchant.  On  one  occasion  it  is 
John  Mummius  of  Eotterdam,  "a  fowler  (catcher  of 
falcons),  who  for  many  years  has,  to  his  great  profit, 
been  the  privileged  falcon-catcher  through  nearly  all 
Iceland." 

Quaint  obstacles  sometimes  occur  to  bar  Worm's  ap- 


PROSE  ED  DA  AND  ITS  DISCOVERER.  231 

proacli  to  the  shrine  of  Eunic  lore.  Such,  for  instance,  as 
that  alhided  to  by  Magnus  Olavius  in  a  letter  dated  1640. 
"  I  have  consulted  several  Eunists  in  vain.  But  there  is 
still  one  most  skilful  Eunist,  who  was  brought  before  our 
courts  this  summer  on  a  charge  of  necromancy,  but  man- 
aged to  get  off.  We  should  have  consulted  him,  but  his 
reputation  is  so  bad  that  we  refrained."  So  this  oracle 
gave  no  sound.  On  the  4th  September  1628  Arngrim 
lends  to  Worm  his  copy  of  the  prose  Edda,  accompanied 
by  the  "  Skalda,"  for  as  long  as  he  likes  to  keep  it ;  a 
welcome  solace,  doubtless,  at  a  time  when  "  the  fury  of 
fierce  war  had  silenced  his  Muse,  and  the  loss  of  his 
beloved  wife  had  almost  extinguished  his  passion  for  these 
things." 

Before  long  Worm  is,  like  Oliver  Twist,  asking  for  more. 
His  appetite  has  been  whetted.  He  begs  Arngrim,  1632, 
to  send  him  some  old  Icelandic  historic  cantilena3  about 
the  Skioldings  :  his  Magnificence  the  Chancellor  wants 
to  see  them ;  to  which  Arngrim  replies  he  has  never 
heard  of  such  a  thing.  But  Worm  was  not  the  man  to  be 
daunted  in  the  pursuit  of  a  literary  or  scientific  object,  and 
we  find  him  in  1635  writing  to  Gisli  Oddsson,  Bishop  of 
Skalholt,  to  be  on  the  look-out  for  "  any  old  cantilense, 
especially  such  as  Saxo  referred  to  at  the  beginning  of 
his  History."  The  prophetic  soul  of  Worm  led  him  to  con- 
jecture that  somewhere  among  the  cavernous  abodes  of 
Iceland  a  manuscript  might  turn  up  of  those  old  mythic 
songs  on  which  the  prose  Edda  confessedly  rested,  or  of  the 
numerous  other  poets  cited  in  the  "  Skalda,"  not  to  mention 
the  heroic  lays  alluded  to  by  Saxo,  the  Danish  Livy. 

The  Bishop,  however,  is  drawn  blank.  "  As  for  Eunic 
literature,  beyond  a  few  trifles,  there  were  no  monuments 
of  it  to  be  found  in  his  diocese.  Magic  runes,  he  hoped, 
were  banished  for  ever  from  the  country.  Of  the  ancient 
cantilense  cited  by  Saxo  I  am  not  aware  that  any  exist  in 
this  land,  with  the  exception  of  the  Edda  and  '  Skalda,' 
which  I  believe  you  have  already  received  from  Arngrim." 


232  '  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURE. 

Objects  of  natural  liistory  were  not  much  in  his  line,  but 
he  will  permit  himself,  D.  V.,  to  describe  a  monster  which 
he  had  seen  with  his  very  eyes  in  the  neighbouring  White 
Eiver,^  last  June,  in  the  presence  of  four  witnesses.  From 
the  distance  off,  its  form  was  not  clearly  to  be  made  out, 
but  it  seemed  to  him  like  a  new  island  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  rapids,  with  the  lower  end  brooding  over  the  water 
like  an  eagle.  In  about  an  hour's  time  it  gradually  sank. 
This  same  month,  when  a  shepherd  was  boating  over  with 
his  horse  in  tow,  the  animal  suddenly  commenced  wading  ; 
and  at  another  spot  there  was  descried  something  like  a 
vast  serpent  with  three  folds  above  the  water,  each  of  the 
size  of  twenty  paces  or  more.  What  sort  of  monster  it 
was  the  Lord  knew,  he  did  not."  The  Bishop  was  obvi- 
ously not  the  man  for  Worm,  and  the  correspondence 
drops.  Not  so  with  Arngrim.  Eunes,  the  horn  of  the 
unicorn,  whales'  teeth,  the  site  of  Ultima  Tlmle,  whether 
Iceland  or  Thelemarken,  or  where  on  earth  it  was,  and  a 
world  of  other  matters,  are  discussed  between  them ;  ^  but 
Worm's  favourite  topic,  the  Edda,  constantly  crops  up. 
''  Who  wrote  this  Edda  ? "  he  asks.  "  Well,"  replies 
Arngrim,  1638,  "our  old  documents  plainly  state  that 
the  (prose)  Edda  was  written  down  and  digested  by 
Saimundr,   and   afterwards   added   to   and   improved   by 

1  It  was  in  this  river  that  the  au-  by  the  mouth  and  nose,  as  we  have 
thor's  horse  was  nearly  drowned  in  its  seen  our  sailors  do  it  ;  also  how  much 
effort  to  swim  across.  In  the  "  Egil-  is  the  correct  dose,  and  is  it  to  betaken 
saga,"  cap.  28,  we  have  the  account  full  or  fasting  ?  "  These  weighty  que- 
of  Skalagrim,  one  of  the  Norwegian  ries  V^orm  solves  thus  :  "The history 
refugees,  taking  possession  of  it.  His  of  the  Nicotian  herb  has  been  investi- 
men  were  astonished  at  the  colour  of  gated  by  Clusius,  and  recently  again 
the  water,  still  retaining  the  tint  of  by  Johannes  Neander  of  Bremen. 
its  parent  glaciers,  a  phenomenon  The  plant  is  specially  beneficial  for 
quite  new  to  them,  and  called  it  cold  and  humid  constitutions,  pro- 
'•  White  River "  (hvita)  in  conse-  vided,  like  other  medicaments,  it  is 
quence.  used  in  moderation.    Smoked  through 

2  For  instance,  Arngrim  writes,  a  tube,  sailor  -  fashion,  it  removes 
1631,  "  That  herb  by  some  called  In-  phlegm  from  the  head  and  organs  of 
dian,  by  others  Holy,  by  others  Nico-  sense;  it  exsiccates  the  brain  and 
tian,  vulgarly,  tobacco,  pray  tell  me  takes  away  colds  and  catarrhs  ;  but  I 
in  your  next  what  effect  it  has  when  am  not  aware  whether  it  can  be  taken 
inhaled  through  a  tube  and  exhaled  internally  with  safety." 


PROSE  EDDA  AND  ITS  DISCOVERER.  233 

Snorri."  ^  In  1639  he  has  a  welcome  piece  of  intelligence  to 
convey  to  the  simple  parson  of  Melstad.  "  My  friend  Henry 
Spelman,  who  is  mentioned  in  my  book  the  '  Literatura 
Danica/  sends  his  greetings.  His  very  words  are,  '  Cupio 
ut  si  obvius  tibi  venerit  Arngrimus  Jonas  Islandicus  eum 
meo  nomine  salutes.'  You  see,"  adds  Worm,  with  a  little 
pardonable  vanity,  "  how  far  your  fame  has  been  borne  by 
my  '  Literatura.'  ^  The  knight  little  knows  how  far  you 
and  I  are  apart."  To  this  greeting  of  "  the  most  noble 
Spelman,  to  whom,  no  doubt,  as  to  others,  I  have  become 
known  by  your  book,"  Arngrim  replies,  1639,  "  He  would 
acknowledge  his  message  himself  if  he  knew  the  knight's 
address,  or  could  ascertain  it  from  the  English  falcon- 
catchers."  An  interesting  allusion  this  to  a  sport  now 
almost  obsolete  in  England.  In  June  1640  Worm  writes, 
"  I  have  sent  your  message  to  Spelman.  He  is  living  still 
in  London  at  the  Barbican,  a  veteran  of  seventy-six,  and 
last  year  brought  out  the  first  volume  of  the  '  Councils, 
Decrees,  &c.,  of  Great  Britain,'  a  great  and  laborious  work, 
which  I  trust  he  will  be  able  to  bring  to  a  happy  con- 
clusion. He  has  a  son,  John  Spelman,  who  bids  fair  to 
imitate  his  father's  virtues,  from  whom  we  expect  great 
things."  Meanwhile,  the  old  man  Arngrim  was  already, 
1643,  fiv6  years  before  his  end,  bethinking  him  of  its  ap- 
proach, and  he  sends  to  Worm  his  future  epitaph  of  forty- 
four  Latin  elegiacs  to  be  inscribed  on  an  oaken  tablet  at 
Copenhagen,  along  with  the  following  curious  record  : — 
"  Arngrim  Jonas  and  Sigrid  Bernhardi,  married  in  1628, 
he  being  a  widower  of  sixty,  with  four  children  by  his 
former  marriage  ;  she  a  maiden  of  twenty-seven.  The 
following  are  the  names  of  the  children  by  his  second 
marriage,  with  his  age  at  the  time  of  their  birth : — 

1  Arngrim,  "Crym.,"  82,  ascribes  it  "The  French  ambassador  here,  De 
to  S.  Sturleson,  but  in  a  letter  cited  Thuillerie,  has  been  anxiously  collect- 
by  Resenius,  to  Sajinundr.  He  halted  iiig  all  your  works  to  adorn  the  library 
between  two  opinions.  Cf.  "  Vita  of  Cardinal  Mazarin  at  Paris.  So  yovi 
Ssemundar,"  p.  xv.  see  liow  highly  you  are  esteemed  by 

-  i3th  June    1646    Worm    writes,  the  literati  of  France." 


:34  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 


Beriiliar(l,M-li('n  til  e  father  was  70. 
Giulbraud,        „  „  71. 

Hilda,  „  „         75. 

Guniiar  „  „  -j-j. 


Tliorkill,  wlii'ii  the  father  was  61. 
Thorlak,  „  „  63. 

Jonas,  „  „         64. 

Solveij,',  .,  „  66. 

Ingeborg,  „  „  67. 

Tlie  tablet  is  duly  forwarded  by  Worm  in  June  1647  J 
the  inscription  lettered  in  gold,  not  on  one  block  of  wood, 
but  on  several,  owing  to  its  great  length.  He  had  added 
a  '  leve  epigramma '  of  his  own  :  "  Quod  si  minus  arrideat 
deleri  facile  potest.  Amor  in  te  mens  hoc  extorquebat, 
quern  tibi  ad  rogum  volo  illibatum."  A  touching  close  to 
this  correspondence  of  twenty-one  years,  full  of  quaint 
learning  and  honourable  affection. 

The  old  man  was  troubled  with  some  scorbutic  affection 
and  also  spasms,  for  the  former  of  which  the  good  doctor  in 
this  letter  prescribes  CocMcaria  hecapunga  and  Nasturtium 
aquatile,  and  for  the  latter  sends  him  two  rings  made  of 
walrus  tooth.  This  was  an  age,  be  it  remembered,  of  odd 
credulities.  For  instance,  the  horn  of  the  narhval,  so 
called,  says  Worm  to  J.  Peyrere,  because  it  feeds  on  dead 
carcasses  {ndr),  was  supposed  to  be  an  antidote  to  poison. 
Hence  Charles  IX.  had  always  a  piece  of  it  in  his  wine. 
In  a  letter  to  Clusius,  Worm  begs  for  a  bit  of  jade.  A 
friend  of  his,  troubled  with  calculus,  will  give  any  money 
for  it.  The  veteran  Icelander,  as  we  learn  from  a  letter 
of  Einar  Arnfinn  to  Worm,  died  on  the  29th  June  in 
the  following  year  (1648).  "Sitting  in  his  bed,  after 
exhorting  his  people,  who  had  been  summoned  for  the 
purpose,  to  patience  and  continuance  in  the  faith,  he 
concluded  with  a  psalm.  He  then  quietly  lay  back  as  if 
to  sleep,  and  in  the  same  moment  yielded  up  his  soul  to 
his  Creator.  To  use  the  last  words  of  your  epigram, 
'  Crede  mihi  baud  moritur  qui  bene  sic  moritur.'  " 

But  Arngrim  Jonas  had  lit  a  candle  \yhich  was  not 
destined  to  be  extinguished.  Buried  though  he  was  all 
his  life  long  and  out  of  the  world,  the  light  from  his 
living  tomb  is  burning  brightly  yet.  The  literary  world 
was  now  thoroughly  on   the  qui  vive   about   this   same 


PROSE  EDDA  AND  ITS  DISCOVERER.  235 

Edda.  To  Thomas  Bartholimus  of  Leyden  Worm  writes, 
1646,  "Edda  is  not  an  historian,  nor  the  name  of  a  man 
or  any  author,  but  a  boolc  so  called,  containing  various 
fables,  such  as  were  used  in  old  Danish  poetry."  Cardinal 
Mazarin  meantime  desires  to  have  a  copy  of  the  Edda, 
and  his  librarian,  Gabriel  Naudaus,  writes  to  Worm 
("  Decus  literatorum  nostri  sfeculi  eximium ! ")  on  the 
subject,  with  a  promise  of  the  Cardinal's  medallion 
likeness  when  it  is  ready.  Worm  (1645)  writes  back 
that  he  shall  kiss  the  portrait  when  it  arrives.  As  for 
the  (prose)  Edda,  "which  is  most  rare  and  difficult  to 
understand,"  he  has  chartered  a  young  Icelander  to  make 
a  copy  of  it  from  his  own  copy,  with  a  Latin  translation 
(by  Magnus  Olavius)  appended  to  it.  Be  it  observed 
here,  that  the  involved  and  long-winded  sentences  of  his 
Eminence's  librarian  contrast  unfavourably  with  the  clear, 
elegant,  and  incisive  style  of  the  Dane.  Next  year  the 
transcript  being  brought  '  ad  umbilicum,'  Worm  sends  it 
to  the  French  ambassador,  describing  it  as  "  Edda  Islan- 
dica,  liber  quo  rarior  et  intricatior  in  Septentrione  vix 
invenitur,  totius  priscte  Pceseos  fons  et  fundamentum,  in 
quo  qui  bene  versatus  non  fuerit  frustra  in  veterum  car- 
minibus  et  cantilenis  enucleandis  desudabit."  He  has 
paid  ten  imperials  to  the  Icelandic  copyist,  "  than  whom 
there  w^as  not  in  all  Copenhagen  one  better  versed  in 
Northern  antiquities,  or  more  modest  withal."  To  the 
poor  Icelander  these  ten  imperials,  though  not  much 
for  a  Cardinal  reputed  to  have  died  worth  ten  millions 
sterling,  must  have  been  a  veritable  vision  of  Potosi, 
and  he  at  once  expresses  his  perfect  readiness  to  pro- 
ceed to  France,  if  required,  for  a  suitable  consideration. 
Cardinal  Mazarin  next  year,  1648,  showed  the  value  he 
set  upon  the  Edda  by  sending  to  Worm,  as  the  "  muni- 
mentum  et  pigmus  amoris,"  a  medal  with  the  likeness  of 
the  King  on  one  side  and  of  the  Queen-mother  on  the 
other,  besides  a  watch  of  ingenious  w^orkmanship  enclosed 
in  an  exquisite  gold  box  inlaid  with  amber. 


(    236    ) 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

THE     PROSE     EDDA. 

We  Iiave  seen  how  the  learned  men  of  Europe  rose  to 
their  feet  when  the  news  reached  them  that  a  great 
discovery  had  been  made — as  great  in  its  way  as  that  of 
the  tomb  of  the  Homeric  hero  at  Mycenae.  Of  works 
proclaiming  the  names  and  the  doings  of  the  gods  of 
Greece  and  Eome,  European  libraries  were  full,  but  of  the 
Gothic  divinities  and  the  creations  of  a  simple,  rugged 
people,  who  superseded  effete  and  over-civilised  Eome, 
how  little  knoMdedge  of  these  and  of  the  worship  paid  to 
them  had  survived  to  those  days !  Nothing,  indeed,  but 
the  short  and  haphazard  account  by  Tacitus  (Germania, 
viii.-ix.),  who  fitted  the  names  and  attributes  of  the 
sophisticated  Eoman  deities  to  the  Gothic  gods.  With 
Zeus  or  Jupiter,  Mercury  or  Hermes,  Mars  and  Venus, 
every  schoolboy  was  well  acquainted,  but  what  about 
Odin  and  Thor  or  Ereya,  and  those  deities  who,  if  the 
months  had  borrowed  their  names  from  the  Eoman 
mythology,  had  anyhow  given  their  names  to  some  five 
of  the  Teutonic  days  of  the  week?  Tacitus  might  say, 
in  a  perfunctory  manner,  led  by  some  resemblance  between 
the  gods  of  Eome  and  what  he  had  heard  of  these  Gothic 
deities,  that  these  people  worshipped  Mercury  and  Terra 
Mater,  and  sacrificed  to  Mars ;  but  surely  this  Northern 
worship  goes  farther  back  into  the  ages,  at  a  point  nearer 
to  its  source  in  the  infantine  days  of  its  huge  and  uncouth 
development.  In  Tacitus  we  may  catch  a  transient 
glimpse  of  Alruna  or  Veleda — a  cross  between  the  Delphic 


THE  PROSE  EDDA.  lyj 

priestess  and  Joan  of  Arc — uttering  her  oracles  from  the 
top  of  her  tower  or  inciting  her  countrymen  to  battle  ; 
but  in  the  Edda  we  are  actually  listening  to  the  awful 
Volva  and  her  Spsedoms,  with  Odin  and  the  Aser  for  her 
audience,  and  shadowy  Valkyrs  and  Xorns,  arbiters  of 
man's  destiny,  filling  in  the  scene.  A  striking  testimony, 
however,  in  this  apotheosis  of  women  to  the  truth  of  the 
record  of  the  Eoman  historian  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Germans,  there  was  something  sacred  in  the  female  sex, 
and  that  they  were  gifted  with  prophetic  powers.^  Three 
Volvas,  relates  Nornagestr  in  his  saga,  were  present  at  his 
birth,  women  who  went  round  the  country  and  arrived 
at  his  father's  house  on  the  occasion.  Two  of  them 
spaed  good  luck  for  the  new-born  infant,  but  the  third 
said  he  would  not  live  longer  than  the  candle  on  the 
table  would  keep  alight.  The  sequel  of  the  story  reminds 
us  of  that  of  Meleager,  while  to  some  will  recur  the  sibyl 
present  at  the  birth  of  Henry  Bertram  and  Noma  of  the 
Fitful  Head.  But  besides  these  grotesque  gods  in  all 
their  simple  massiveness,  there  are  in  the  Edda,  e.g.,  the 

1  The   weird  females  lingered  on  her  supper  of  the  hearts  of   divers 

even  under  the  light  of  Christianity,  animals — Sigurd,  we  remember,  had 

as  may  be  seen  in  that  lifelike  picture  a  taste  for  that  soi't  of   dish — with 

of   the    Volva,   Thorbjorg,   in   Thor-  porridge    made   of   the   milk  of   tlie 

finn     Karlsefne's     saga     ( Gronlands  goat — the  beast  of  Thor,  the   sworn 

Ilistoriske     Mindesmaerke,    cap.    3).  foe  of  evil  spirits;  her  copper  knife 

The  scene  is  laid  in  Greenland  about  shafted  with  walrus   tooth,  such  as 

A.D.  1000.     The  wise  woman  is  sum-  are   found   in    the   Northern   grave- 

moned   to  predict   the   future   at   a  mounds;  her  belt,  from  which  hung  a 

time   of    great   distress    and  gloom,  bag  of  magic  tools  ;  her  catskin  gloves 

She    enters    the     chamber,    and    is  and  shaggy  calfskin  shoes ;  the  circle 

greeted  by  all  with  a  profound  obei-  formed    round    the    witch,    the    old 

sance.      Her  get-up  is  symbolical  all  Icelandic    charm     (Vardlokkur),    so 

over.     The  cushion  of  the  high  seat  sweetly  sung  by  Gurid,  to   help  in 

where  she  sat  was  stuffed  with  the  appeasing  the  spirits  ;  the  prophecy 

feathers  of  the  cock,  the  bird  whose  of  the  abatement  of  the  famine  and 

watchful    voice    chaseth    away   evil  sickness  that  jiressed  upon  the  land, 

spirits  from  the  days  of  the  Zenda-  and    that   Gurid    should    return    to 

vesta   to   those    of    the   Edda  ;    her  Iceland  and  be  well  married  tliere, — 

blue  cloak  and  glass  and  amber  orna-  all  this  may  be  despised  by  the  philo- 

ments,  typical   mayhap   of   the   sky  sopher,  but,  nevertheless,  is   an  in- 

and  the  stars;   her  black  lambskin  teresting  link  in  the  history  of  our 

cap,  lined   with   white  catskin    (the  race. 
pet  beast  of  Freja) ;  her  magic  staff  ; 


23S  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

H;ivaiual,  vestiges  of  really  thoughtful  and  serious  culture, 
wliile  iu  the  Sigurd  lays  the  passions  of  men  and  women 
universal  and  permanent  are  expressed. 

No  wonder  then  that  Mazarin  and  other  enlightened 
men,  when  they  beheld  this  treasure  exhumed,  stared 
with  an  amazement  more  intelligent  than  Virgil's  rustic 
who  turns  up  the  grandia  ossa  of  an  age  which  had  not 
begun  to  degenerate.  Hitherto  these  deities  were  but 
vague  personages  under  Latin  aliases.  Now,  however,  the 
curtain  lifts,  and  they  stand  no  longer  incognito — revealed, 
moreover,  in  all  their  grandly  conceived  and  sharply 
defined  attributes.  But  let  us  preface  what  we  have  to 
say  with  the  remark,  that  though  the  first  part  of  the 
prose  or  Snorri's  Edda,  the  '•'  Gylfaginning,"  gives  an 
account  of  the  Scando-Gothic  heaven  and  its  deities,  this 
was  not  the  main  object  of  his  work,  but  merely  inci- 
dental to  it.  His  main  object  was  to  give  a  course  of 
poetical  lectures,  or  Ars  Poetica,  illustrated  by  old  poetic 
scraps  from  the  skalds,  for  his  countrymen  desirous  of 
cultivating  verse.  Such  is  the  second  part,  "Skaldska- 
parmal,"  with  its  preface,  "  BragarseSur,"  treating  of  poetic 
arts  and  diction.  Then  follows  the  "  Hattatal,"  or  key  to 
the  multifarious  metres,  from  the  artificial  court  heroic, 
"  DrottkvseSi,"  to  the  simple  "  FornyrSalag,"  or  narrative 
epic,  exemplified  in  a  laudatory  poem  on  King  Hacon 
Haconson  and  Skule  Jarl,  a  very  surprising  and  important 
work.  Important,  for  it  contains  many  stories  about  gods 
and  heroes  not  alluded  to  in  "  Gylfaginning,"  and  it  also 
explains  many  bits  of  old  poetry  which,  but  for  this, 
would  have  been  incomprehensible  riddles.  Surprising, 
wlien  we  look  at  the  author's  boundless  acquaintance 
with  the  works  of  the  ancient  scalds  by  the  hearing  of 
the  ear  alone,  as  well  as  the  skill  displayed  by  him  in 
employing  them  for  his  purpose. 

The  first  part,  "  Gylfaginning,"  the  interesting  and  popu- 
lar part,  wherein  we  are  introduced  to  the  Northern  gods 
one  after  another,   is  a  prose   conglomerate    of   the  old 


THE  PROSE  EDDA.  239 

"  Shield  Lays,"  ^  and  other  mythical  rhapsodies,  many  of 
which  are  in  the  Old  Edda,  while  others  are  not  extant. 
The  verdict  of  the  editors  of  the  Edda,  1787  (pref.,  p.  xi.), 
is  :  "  Snorri,  seeing  the  utility  of  the  Old  Edda  (in  a  poetic 
and  linguistic  sense),  being  himself  well  versed  in  poetry 
and  history,  sought  to  preserve  these  props  of  poetic  art 
from  destruction.  His  own  sagacity  showed  him  that  the 
few  remaining  mythic  verses  would  either  be  lost,  or,  from 
their  archaisms,  become  difficult  and  obscure.  He  there- 
fore arranged  the  material  into  fables  written  in  an  easy 
and  popular  style,  and  left  it  to  j)osterity.  To  these  he 
added  a  cornucopia  or  treasury  of  poetic  phraseology 
(Eddu-Kenningar),  and  rules  of  prosody,  i.e.,  himself  or 
others  after  him." 

It  was  the  opinion  of  Kask  that  this  part,  together 
with  the  above-mentioned  "  Skaldskaparmal "  and  treatises, 
grew  together  in  the  family  of  Snorri  Sturleson  (who  died 
1 241,  while  Saemund  died  11 33),  the  work  of  several 
hands  at  different  times — Ole  Hviteskald,  Snorri's  nephew, 
among  the  rest. 

^  Such  was  the  famous  "Haustlong"        His  circling  course,  and  on  Orion 
by  Thiodolf,  and  the  "Kagnars  KviSa"  waits, 

by  Bragi,  and  the  two  "  Beiudrapur  "  Sole  star  that  never  bathes  in  the 
by   Egil    (Cleasby,  Diet.,    sub    voct),  ocean  wave. " 

severally     describing     the     subjects         j^^^  ^n  bowls,  and  other  objects  of 

carved   and   painted   on  the  ring  of  Phoenician  workmanship,  representa- 

the   shield.     Who   does  not  call  to  ti^^,  ^^.^  f^^^^  ^iniilar  to  the  wonders 

mind  tbe  wonders  wrought  by  He-  ^1,^3  wrought  by  Hephsestos,  amongst 

phffistos  on  the  shield  of  Achilles?  them   images  of  the   sun  and   moon 

side   by  side  with   symbolic    human 

"  Thereon   were   figured    earth    and  figures,  as  if  sun-  and  moon-worship 

sky  and  sea,  were  on  the  point   of   being  transfig- 

The  ever-circling  sun  and  full-orbed  ured  into  sun-myths.    Aproce.sswhich 

moon,  in  the   Edda   has   been   finally   com- 

And  all  the  signs  that  crowd  the  pleted  and  passed  into  a  further  stage, 

vault  of  heaven,  where  history  and  fable — the  Scythian 

Pleiades  and  Hyades   and  Orion's  conqueror  and   the    deity  who  had 

might,  been  transformed   from  a  power   of 

And  Arctos,  called  the  "Wain,  who  Nature  to  the  lord  of  Valhalla— be- 

wheels  on  high  came  inextrically  blended. 


(       240      ) 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE    PROSE   EDDA  —  CONTINUED. 

The  plot  of  "Gylfaginning"  is  as  follows  : — King  Gylfi  was 
a  man  wise  and  cunning  in  spells,  who  ruled  over  the 
country  now  called  Sweden  in  the  days  when  Odin  and 
Ids  Asir  folk  ^  invaded  the  North.  Hearing  of  the  success 
and  cunning  of  these  people,  the  old  Swedish  monarch, 
like  another  Queen  of  Sheba,  journeyed  to  see  them  and 
their  wisdom,  and  to  satisfy  himself  whether  the  success 
of  the  new-comers  was  due  to  their  own  natural  parts  or 
to  the  great  gods  whom  they  worshipped.  Like  many 
other  potentates  on  their  travels,  Gylfi  assumes  an  in- 
cognito. He  dresses  up  as  an  old  man,  Gangleri  ('gan- 
grel ')  by  name,  and  journeys  to  Asgard,  the  headquarters 
of  the  invading  king,  where  he  has  speech  with  a  wonder- 
ful sword-player,  who  had  seven  swords  aloft  at  once. 
This  man  undertakes  to  lead  him  to  the  monarch.     Being 

1  Greek,  Roman,  and  Chinese  au-  ray  of  light.    When  Alexander  crossed 

thors  mention  a  people  called  Asi  or  the   Hindoo   Cush   and   overran   the 

Ansi,  who  dwelt  on  the  shores  of  the  Oxus  lands,  multitudes  of  the  inhabi- 

Oxus  or  Amu,  200  B.C.,  and  as  late  tants,  and  with  them  probably  Odin, 

also  after  the  Christian  era.    Accord-  fled    from     the    country    westward, 

ing  to  the  "  Ynglinga  Saga,"  cap.  2,  These  people  arriving  in  the  North, 

their  chief  city  was  called  Asgaard.  brought  with  them  a  higher  civilisa- 

In  it  was  a  great  place   of  sacrifice,  tion,  and  the  natives  out  of  gratitude 

presided  over  by  twelve  high  priests  and   admiration    looked   upon   them 

called  Diar,  with  Odin  for  their  chief,  as  demigods.     The  halo  of  tradition 

Jornandes  mentions  that   the  Goths  gradually  gathered  round  them,  and 

called  their  chiefs  Anses,  i.e.,  demi-  they  came  to  be  worshipped  as  gods 

gods.    According  to  Professor  Munch,  of  heaven.     Holmboe  ForhanJlinger  i 

'Asir,"  though  of  dubious   significa-  Videnskabs - Selaskabet,  Christiania, 

tion,  is  generally  supposed  to  mean  1872,  p.  61. 
'  shiuing  ones  ; '  Sanskr.    '  an^a '  =  a 


THE  PROSE  EDDA.  24.1 

entered  into  a  lofty  hall,  a  strange  sensation  comes  over 
him : — 

"  Six  or  seven 

Colossal  statues,  and  all  kings,  stood  round  me 

In  a  half  circle.     Each  one  in  his  hand 

A  sceptre  bore,  and  on  his  head  a  star. 

'  These  are  the  planets,'  said  that  low  old  man  ; 

'  They  govern  ■worldly  fates,  and  for  that  cause 

Are  imaged  here  as  kings.'  " 

But  no ;  the  scene  differs  somewhat  from  that  whicli 
Thecla  beheld  in  the  hall  of  the  alchemist.  He  saw  three 
high  seats,  one  above  another,  and  three  men  sat,  one  in 
each.  Then  asked  he  what  the  names  of  those  lords  might 
be.  He  that  led  him  in  answers,  "  He  on  the  nether- 
most seat  was  a  king  and  hight  Har;  he  on  the  next, 
Jafnhar;  on  the  next,  Jjrigi."  And  at  once  the  wayfarer, 
nothing  daunted  by  the  splendour  of  the  hall  and  the 
awfulness  of  that  presence,  puts  a  series  of  hard  questions 
to  these  personages.  Those  whom  Gylli  interrogates  are 
not,  in  fact,  the  earthly  Odin,  but  they  here  expand  into  the 
lineaments  of  the  high  one  himself,  the  Lord  of  Valhalla, 
the  heathen  trinity ;  and  by  the  aid  of  this  machinery  Snorri 
proceeds  to  give  a  complete  system  of  the  Northern  theo- 
logy, the  Asatro,  which,  according  to  some  old  tradition, 
liad  been  revealed  in  this  manner  to  a  denizen  of  earth. 
"  Who  is  the  oldest  of  all  the  gods  ?  "  first  asks  Gylfi. 
"  Who  created  the  earth  and  the  heaven  ? "  They  answer 
him,  now  one,  now  the  other,  as  he  proposes  his  questions. 
The  vehicle  is  prose  based  on  Voluspa  and  songs  in 
the  old  Edda  and  elsewhere — those  ballads  embodying  the 
myths  of  former  ages.  The  wondrous  tale  is  told  by  the 
three.  All-father,  and  the  Eime  giants,  and  Hillogres  pass 
before  us.  Creation  dawns  upon  us  anew.  We  hear  how 
the  monster  Ymer  was  slain  by  Odin,  Vili,  and  Ve,  and  of 
liis  carcase  was  made  the  earth,  of  his  blood  seas  and 
waters,  of  his  flesh  earth,  of  his  bones  the  rocks,  of  his 
teeth  stones  and  pebbles,^  and  of  his  skull  the  arch  above. 

1  In  the  Anglo  Saxou  "Salomon  and  Saturn  "  there  is  something  similar. 

Q 


242  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

How  tliey  next  constructed  heaven  (Asgard)  for  their 
residence.  How  All-Father  gave  the  swarthy  Nott  and 
the  fair  Dag,  her  son/  a  chariot  apiece,  and  set  them  up 
in  heaven  to  ride  by  turns.  Nott  drives  first  the  horse 
called  Hrimfaxi  (rime-mane),  and  every  morn  he  bedews 
the  earth  with  the  foam  from  his  bit ;  Dag's  horse,  Skin- 
faxi,  takes  up  the  running,  and  all  the  sky  and  earth 
glistens  from  his  mane.  Gylfi  hears  of  Yggdrasil,  the 
ash  of  destiny,  biggest  and  best  of  all  trees,  under  whose 
wide-spread  boughs  the  gods  hold  their  doom  each  day. 
And  to  his  querry,  "  Whence  comes  the  wind  ?  "  Har 
answers,  "  At  the  northern  end  of  heaven  sits  a  giant, 
Hrffisvelgr  (hight) ;  he  has  eagle's  feathers,  and  when  he 
flaps  them  for  flight,  then  arise  the  winds  under  his 
wings."  iSText  he  hears  how  All-Father  or  Odin  (as  he 
becomes  in  his  earthly  avatar)  by  his  wife  Jord  begat 
the  mighty  Tlior  (in  Tacitus,  Hercules),  whose  athletic 
sports  and  adventures  are  also  recorded,  and  form  not  the 
least  humorous  and  grotesque,  as  well  as  chief,  episode  in 
this  primeval  and  more  than  Titanic  drama.  The  'march 
jiast'  still  continues.  We  have  Heimdallr,  the  god's 
warden,  stationed  at  the  end  of  that  dizzy  bridge,  Bifrost, 
to  look  out  for  possible  squalls.  The  model  of  porters 
he,  for  he  needs  less  sleep  than  a  bird,  he  sees  a  hundred 
miles  ahead  day  or  night,  he  hears  the  grass  grow  on  the 
earth  and  the  wool  on  the  sheep's  back  without  the  aid 
of  the  microphone.  He  far  out-Eolands  Eoland,^  for  his 
horn  is  heard  all  the  world  over.  His  teeth  are  of  gold. 
For  durability  we  should  have  preferred  bone  cased  with 
enamel. 

Har  tells  also  of  Baldr,  Odin's  second  son,  who  is  con- 
jectured to  be  an  allegory  of  the  bright  sweet  summer 
season.     Of  him  it  is  good  to  speak.     He  is  the  best,  and 

•'  So  in  the  Veda  night  is  author  Roland,  reduced  within  strictly  his- 

of  dawn  (Hibbert  Lectures).     In  the  toric  limits,  is  just  this  :  "  In  which 

Chaldean  legend  the  moon  is  created  battle  Hruvaldus  with  many  others 

before  the  sun.  was    skin."      Eiuhard,   Vit.    Caroli, 

-  The    circumstantial  romance    of  p.  ii. 


THE  PROSE  EDDA.  243 

him  all  praise.  He  is  so  fair  of  face  and  so  bright  that  it 
glistens  from  him ;  and  one  plant  is  so  white  that  it  is 
likened  to  Baldr's  brow.  It  is  of  all  plants  the  whitest, 
and  thereafter  mayest  thou  mark  his  fairness  both  in  hair 
and  body.  He  is  the  wisest  of  the  Aser,  and  fairest-spoken 
and  most  merciful.  But  this  peculiarity  attaches  to  him, 
that  no  doom  of  his  can  be  ratified.  He  dwells  in  a 
place  liight  Breidablik,  that  is,  in  heaven.  In  that  stead 
naught  can  be  that  is  unclean,  as  is  here  said — 

"  Breidablik  higlit, 
Where  Balder  hath 
Made  himself  a  hall, 
In  that  land 
Where  I  wiss  He 
Fewest  foul  things." 

Next  we  are  told  how  Loki,  the  Evil  One,  who,  be  it  said, 
has  none  of  the  grandeur  of  the  rebel  archangel,  compassed 
the  death  of  Baldr.  It  is  an  affecting  story  to  hear  and 
to  tell.  His  mother's  heart  broke.  The  gods  were  utterly 
cast  down,  the  desire  of  their  eyes  gone  with  a  stroke. 
Still  there  was  one  chance  left.  Hel  may  relent  and  let 
their  darling  out  of  her  grim  domain.  So  Hermod  !  is 
despatched  on  this  sacred  errand.  "  He  shall  fare  back  to 
the  Aser,"  quoth  she,  "  if  all  things  in  the  world,  quick  and 
dead,  will  weep  for  him."  So  beloved  was  Baldr,  that  all 
things,  quick  and  dead,  even  the  very  stones,  wept  for  him. 
But  no ;  one  old  hag  refused  (it  was  Loki  in  disguise), 
and  so  Baldr,  like  Eurydice,  was  snatched  again  to  realms 
of  endless  night. 

Midgardsorm,  the  earth-serpent,  vast  and  hideous,  and 
the  rest  of  Loki's  brood,  deploy  before  the  Swedish  king. 
He  sees  Valhalla  and  its  540  doors,  so  wide  that  800 
horsemen  might  ride  in  abreast,  and  no  fear  of  a  possible 
block ;  and  also  its  denizens,  those,  in  fact,  who  in  battle 
were  slain.  Here  is  Odin  pictured  in  his  state,  with  ravens 
twain,  one  sitting  on  either  shoulder,  who  at  his  bidding 
start  forth  each  morn  to  fly  over  the  whole  world,  and 


:44  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURK. 

brini;-  him  tidings  at  breakfast  of  all  that  was  going  on 
therein — a  remarkable  anticipation  of  our  modern  postal 
arrangements.  These  and  many  like  wonders  those  three 
men  seated  on  the  high  seats  relate  to  the  disguised  king, 
whom,  though  he  scrupulously  kept  up  his  incognito,  they 
knew  perfectly  well.  But  the  last  tale,  the  crowning  point 
in  this  strange  eventful  history,  is  to  be  told,  to  wit,  the 
coming  of  that  dreadful  day,  the  twilight  of  the  gods,  all 
l)rought  about  by  the  demon  Loki,  whom  Thor  and  his 
thunderbolts  had  failed  to  subdue.  It  is  preceded  by  an 
equally  dreadful  state  of  things  on  earth.  Brothers  fight  with 
brothers,  iniquity  abounding,  love  waxen  cold,  an  axe-age, 
a  sword-age,  a  wolf-age,  ere  the  world  stoops  to  doom. 
Fenris  wolf  now  gets  loose  from  his  fast  fetter,  and  fares 
with  mouth  agape,  upper  jaw  in  heaven  and  lower  on 
earth — like  the  monster  Eumour  in  the  ^Eneid   (iv.  177), 

"  Ingrediturque  solo  et  caput  mter  nubila  condit ;  " 

in  the  Veda,  "  Pire  with  burning/aw  devours  all  things ;" — 
and  he  would  gape  more  if  he  had  space  and  verge  enough; 
and  he  swallows  the  sun.  Another  wolf,  Managarm  does 
the  same  by  the  moon.^ 

By  his  side,  fit  yoke-fellow,  breathing  venom,  is  the  earth- 
serpent.  On  they  rush  with  Loki  and  legions  of  hell's 
spawn,  and  encounter  the  gods.  Odin,  with  his  golden 
helm,  and  bright  mail,  and  his  spear,  Giingner,  singles  out 
the  wolf,  who  was,  however,  one  too  many  for  him,  and 
bolts  him  entire  ;  Thor  being  unable  to  come  to  the  rescue, 
as  his  hands  were  full  with  the  Midgardsorm,  whom  he 
slays ;  but,  like  Beowulf,  who  is  doubtless  a  reflexion  of 

1  We  have  a  modern  representative  ber,   took   another  form.     The   wolf 

of  him  in  that  dragon   who,  as  the  became  a  witch,  whose  potent  spells 

Eastern  soldier  supposes,  is  ingurgi-  (carmina)  would  have  certainly  availed 

tating  the  moon  in  eclipse,  an  extinc-  had  they  not  been  drowned  by  the 

tion  which  he  manages  to  prevent  by  incessant  clatter  of   cymbals,   which 

firing  cannon  till  he  reliuciuishes  his  well-meaning  persons   interested    in 

hold.     In  a  country  like  the  ancient  the  preservation  of  the  '  lesser  light ' 

Thcssaly,  so  renowned  for  magic,  the  got  up  for  the  occasion, 
cause  of  her  eclipse,  we  may  remem- 


THE  PROSE  EDDA.  245 

the  Northern  god,  dies  from  the  blast  of  his  venomous 
breath  when  only  nine  feet  off  him.  Well  might  the  tree 
of  destiny  shake  and  groan  at  this  supreme  crisis  !  The 
elves  peeping  from  their  stony  coverts  howl,  and  fill  up 
the  ghastly  picture  ;  rocks  dash  together ;  the  sun  being 
gone,  all  is  gloom :  the  sea  boils  over  the  earth  and  the 
stars  fall.  Such  is  the  twilight  of  the  gods.^  Interspersed 
in  the  tale  we  have  pictures  such  as  that  of  Na-strand  := 
the  strand  of  the  dead,  where  is  a  mickle  hall  with  doors 
looking  northward.  It  is  wrought  and  wattled  with 
adders'  backs,  their  heads  all  pointing  into  the  hall,  and 
dropping  venom,  in  whicli  wade  murderers  and  man- 
sworn. 

But  in  due  time  a  new  earth  shoots  up  from  the  sea, 
green  and  fair,  and  a  new  heaven,  into  which  the  gods  come 
quite  promiscuously,  and  sit  and  call  to  mind  their  old 
tales,  and  the  tidings  which  happened  aforetime,  and  they 
find  in  the  G;rass  those  "olden  tables  which  the  Aser  once 
had.  Gylfi,  curious  and  inquisitive  though  he  was,  had 
forgotten  to  ask  the  meaning  of  these  tables,  and  what  in 
the  name  of  all  that  is  wonderful  they  were  will  never  be 
known ;  nay,  we  cannot  even  guess.  The  secret  is  lost  for 
ever.  At  this  moment  Gangler,  or  Gylfi,  hears  a  great  din 
all  round,  and  finds  himself  standing  in  a  valley  with  not 
a  vestige  of  any  hall  or  burgh  to  be  seen  ;  so  he  starts 
homewards,  arrives  in  his  kingdom,  and  relates  what  he 
has  heard  and  seen,  a  great  deal  more  than  we  have  had 
room  to  recount,  and  after  him  each  man  told  others  these 
sayings. 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  contents  of  the  book  that 
Arngrim  Jonas  sent  to  Ole  Worm,  telling  us,  in  fact,  all 
we  know  about  the  Gothic  deities    imagined,  and  Avor- 

1  An  adumbration  of  the  twilight  of  tinction  ;  wliereat  Momus,  Loki-like, 

the  gods  may  be   found  in  that  re-  mocks  and  jeers  them  unmercifully  in 

markable  Dialogue  of  Lucian,  where  their  hour   of   need.     Momus,  how- 

we  have  Zeus  and  the  other  deities  ever,  is  a  mere  apprentice-hand  in  tlie 

liolJing  a  council  as  to  what  is  to  be  art  of  Billingsgate  as  compared  with 

done  in  view  of  their  approaching  ex-  Loki. 


246  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

shipped  not  by  dwellers  in  cities,  in  the  close  and  confined 
centres  of  over-civilisation  and  excessive  refinement,  but 
by  people  free  and  uncultured,  living  in  the  forest  or  the 
wild,  holding  converse  with  Nature  in  all  her  moods. 
What  a  sublimity  there  is  in  the  wistful  guesses  at  the 
trutli  which  occur  in  these  fables  !  The  connexion  of 
mortality  with  immortality,  of  the  human  with  the  divine, 
of  the  seen  present  and  unseen  hereafter,  how  strikingly 
is  it  shadowed  forth  in  the  Ash  Yggdrasil,  with  its  triple 
root,  one  on  earth,  one  among  the  Eime  giants,  one  in 
Heaven  !  What  a  wonderful  conception  is  Eagnarok,^  the 
gods  under  an  eclipse,  to  be  succeeded  by  a  palingenesis, 
a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  !  Our  rainbow  was  with 
them  the  tri-coloured  bridge  from  heaven  to  earth  built 
by  Aser.  Such  was  their  account  of  the  bow  in  the  cloud 
caused  by  the  sun  shining  on  the  drops  of  rain. 

What  classic  people  ever  developed  so  supremely  fine 
an  idea  ?  The  tale  of  creation  and  destruction  and  of 
resurrection,  with  the  gods  concerned  therein,  form,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  groundwork  and  serious  features  of 
Snorri's  prose  drama;  but  there  is  a  mass  of  facetious 
byplay  interposed,  chiefly  in  reference  to  Thor's  adven- 
tures, much  of  which,  besides  abounding  in  drollery,  is 
inimitably  told.  One  evening  Thor,  accompanied  by 
Loki,  arrives  at  a  peasant's,  and  gets  a  night's  lodo-ino-. 
The  house  affording  but  poor  entertainment  for  such 
visitors,  Thor  at  once  slaughtered  his  two  goats,  and 
after  flaying  them,  cast  them  into  the  boiler  which  is 
always  to  be  found  in  the  corner  of  every  Northern  hut. 
When  the  flesh  w^as  enough  sodden,  Thor,  in  the  fulness 
of  his  heart,  bids  the  husband  and  wife  with  their  two 
children,  Thialfi  and  Eauskva,  join  in  the  supper.  The 
household  were  told,  when  they  had  picked  the  bones 
clean,  to  cast  them  into  the  skins.      The  lad  Thialfi,  not 

1  Most  likely  the  oldest  missionaries  Christianity.  So  Ans^ar,  born  8or 
made  use  of  this  Raguarok  as  a  pro-  died  865.  Bugge,  "Indskriften  paa 
phecy  of  the  future  introduction  of    Kingen  i  Forsa  Kirke,"  p   90 


THE  PROSE  EDDA.  247 

content  with  polishing  off  the  bones,  must  forsooth  split 
up  a  thigh-bone  with  his  knife  for  the  marrow.  At  peep 
of  day  Thor  rose,  and  proceeded  to  hallow  the  goat-skins 
w4th  his  uplifted  hammer.  The  dry  bones  at  once  lived 
again.  Up  stood  the  goats  ready  to  be  harnessed  to  the 
car,  when  Thor  became  aware  that  one  of  them  went  halt, 
and  he  at  once  saw  that  its  thigh  must  have  been  broken, 
and  not  merely  picked,  by  the  clumsy  peasant.  The  god's 
sublime  rage  and  the  abject  fright  of  the  simple  folks 
may  be  imagined,  but  here  it  is  described.  Thor  let  his 
brows  sink  down  over  his  eyes,  but  enough  of  these  were 
visible  to  make  the  husband  think  he  should  fall  to  the 
earth  at  the  sight  alone.  Thor  clutched  his  hammer-haft, 
so  that  his  knuckles  whitened,  while  the  whole  household 
bellowed  amain  for  mercy,  and  offered  all  they  had  for 
an  atonement.  Thor  softened,  and  was  content  to  take 
the  son  and  daughter  for  a  ransom,  and  they  were  his 
bond-servants  ever  after.^  Be  it  observed  that  the  tale 
about  the  marrow  points  to  a  time  for  the  composition  of 
the  legend  not  far  removed  from  the  age  of  the  Danish 
kitchen -middings,  which  abound  with  bones  broken 
evidently  for  this  purpose.  Not  less  full  of  fun  and 
humour  is  tjie  well-known  tale  of  the  Thunderer  and  the 
Jotun  Skrymir,  on  whose  sleeping  skull  his  hammer 
made  no  more  impression  than  the  fall  of  an  acorn  from 
the  oak.  How  glad  even  Tlior  was  to  take  leave  of  such  a 
Brobdignag  monster  comes  out  in  the  narrator's  concluding 
words  :  "  It  is  not  said  that  when  the  Aser  bade  him  fare- 
w^ell  they  made  any  allusion  to  their  next  merry  meeting."  ^ 
The  preface  to  the  prose  Edda,  conjectured  to  be  the 
work  of  Thordar  Hvitaskald,  is  a  strange  jumble  by  a  later 
baud,  based  apparently,  from  the  mention  of  Odin  inter- 
changeably with  Woden,  on  Anglo-Saxon  sources.  The 
Tower  of  Babel,  Jupiter,  Priam  of  Troy,  Frigga,  Priam's 
wife,  whence  Phrygia  derives  its  name,  Ector,  Zoroaster, 
Erculus,  the  Turks  &  Co.,  are  lugged  in  after  a  marvellous 

1  Prose  Edda,  44.  -  Ibid.,  45. 


248  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

fashion.  Centuries  after  Priam,  relates  this  critical  histo- 
rian, I'ompey  invaded  Asia,  when  a  great  chief  of  the  land 
assumed  the  name  of  Odin,  a  divinity  of  those  parts  (ori- 
ginally Priam),  fled  to  Saxland,  afterwards  progressed  to 
Jutland,  and  so  on  to  Sweden  and  Norway.  But  as  this 
younger  Edda  was  written  in  Christian  times,  whereas 
the  old  Edda  on  which  it  is  based  is  strongly  saturated 
with  heathenism,  young  scalds  are  carefully  warned  in 
the  after-word  not  to  believe  in  these  tales  of  the  heathen 
gods  generally,  but  at  the  same  time  to  make  such  use  of 
these  old  mythic  recitals  as  would  improve  their  poetic 
powers.^  This  officious  scribe  then  proceeds  to  water  down 
the  mead  goblet  as  follows  : — Eagnarok  is  the  Trojan  war ; 
and  Eenris  wolf  Pyrrhus,  the  slayer  of  Odin ;  and  Odin  in 
reality  was  a  mere  Turk,  only  famous  for  wisdom  and  craft. 
Thor  was  no  god,  not  he,  but  only  a  son  of  Troan,  daughter 
of  Priam,  king  of  Troy  ;  and  that  yarn  about  him  fishing 
for  the  earth-serpent  ^  with  a  bull's  head  is  merely  an  old 
scene  furbished  up  from  the  Trojan  war,  in  which  Hector 
enticed  Achilles  with  the  head  of  the  slain  Volucrontes, 
and,  missing  his  mark,  slew  the  champion  hight  Eoddrus, 
as  Thor  was  feigned  to  have  slain  the  great  Ymir,  his 
fellow-boatman,  when  he  missed  catching  Midgardsorm. 
Alas  !  that  this  new  interpreter  of  an  old  tale  could  not 
let  these  Iceland  youths  still  enjoy  the  quaint  imaginings 
of  their  forefathers,  and  revel  yet  a  space  in  those  grand 
poetic  fancies  !  Schiller  be  our  warrant !  Listen  to  his 
pathetic  lament  in  his  '  Gods  of  Greece '  over  these  extinct 
creations  of  a  simpler  age  : — 

"  Where  now  our  sages  fain  would  teach  us 
Turns  a  fiery  ball  devoid  of  soul, 

^  Christianity    might    make    wry  who  would    have   beau   ennuyed   to 

mouths  in  the  person  of  bigots  like  death  without  the  zest  of  poetry  to 

the  two   kings  Olaf,  but  the  Scalds  season  their  existence,  must  perforce 

at  their  courts  were  not  to  be  weaned  kiss  the  rod. 

in  a  hurry  from  the  old  source  of  in-  -  The  tale  of  Thor's  fishing  in  Gyl- 

spiration,  and  continued  to  fetch  most  f aginning  differs  from  that  in  "Hymis- 

of  their  allusions  and  images  from  the  kvitJa  "  in  the  old  Edda,  so  that  it 

discarded  Aser- worship.    So  the  kiugs  must  be  derived  from  another  source. 


THE  PROSE  EDDA.  249 

Helios  there,  majestically  placid, 
Drove  Lis  golden  car  from  pole  to  pole  ; 
Sylvan  nymphs  abode  in  yonder  mountain, 
Every  tree  became  a  Dryad's  home  ; 
From  the  urns  of  lovely  Naiads  flowing, 
Sprang  tlie  fountain's  silver  foam." 

Yes,  and  listen  to  that  outburst  of  our  greatest  sonnet- 
writer  in  his  complaint  that  the  world  is  too  much  with 

us  nowadays. 

"  I'd  rather  be 
A  Pagan  suckled  on  a  creed  outworn, 
So  might  I,  standing  on  this  pleasant  lea. 
Have  glimpses  that  would  make  me  less  forlorn  ; 
Have  sight  of  Proteus  rising  from  the  sea. 
Or  hear  old  Triton  blow  his  wreathed  horn." 

So  let  us  take  these  poems  in  their  natural  sense  and 
rejoice  therein,  not  wash  the  colour  out  of  them,  nor  seek, 
with  the  author  of  the  epic  of  Hades,  for  these  mythic 
personages  an  interpretation  of  ethic  value. 


(     ::5o    ) 


CHAPTER  YI. 

THE     POETIC    EDDA. 

Tin-:  old  or  poetic  Edda,  on  whicli  the  younger  or  prose 
Kdda  was  based,  was  not  made  known  to  Europe  till  the 
year  1643,  when  the  prose  Edda  had,  as  w^e  have  seen 
above,  been  long  in  the  hands  of  Ole  Worm,  who  got  it  from 
Arngrim  Jonas  in  1628.  Parenthetically  we  may  observe, 
that  the  MS.  of  its  German  congener,  the  Nibelungenlied 
— which,  in  the  opinion  of  Lachmann,  consisted  originally 
of  twenty  ballads,  written  between  1190  and  12 10,  and 
subsequently  thrown  into  a  whole  by  a  poet  of  the  Thu- 
ringian  court — was  not  discovered  till  more  than  a  century 
later,  by  Bodmer,  in  the  castle  of  Hohenems,  in  the  Tyrol 
As  for  the  meaning  of  the  word  Edda,  it  has  been  differently 
interpreted.  Until  the  time  of  Arne  Magnusson  it  was 
supposed  to  mean  a  great-grandmother,  a  sort  of  Gammer 
Grethel,  who  was  versed  in  venerable  lore,  genealogy, 
religious  secrets,  and  old  poetic  story,  such  as  aged  women 
used  to  repeat.  But  Arne  Magnusson  mentions  that  poetry 
is  called  Eddu-list  by  the  Abbot  of  Munkethvera  (13) ;  and 
in  the  "  Lily,"  a  song  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  by  Eystein 
Asgrimsson  (died  1361),  the  rules  of  poetry  are  called 
'  Eddu-reglur.'  He  therefore  conjectures  the  meaning  of 
Edda  to  be  '  poetry,'  and  the  word  to  be  derived  from  an  old 
w^ord,  ogr  =:  mind,  poetry.^  Others  derive  it  from  Odde, 
the  residence  of  Ssemund,  while  some  connect  it  with  the 
Sanskrit  Veda.    The  ancients  only  applied  this  name  to  the 

1  Professor  Rhys  suggests  {Aca-  used  for  old  Irish  historic  tales  of  a 
t/em.'/,  January  31,  1880),  "aideadh,"  tragic  character.  See  Appendix  for  a 
plur.    "aitte"  =  "death,"  the    title    typical  specimen  of  the  kind. 


THE  POETIC  ED  DA.  251 

M'ork  of  Snorri.  It  is  uncertain  whether  he  (Snorri)  him- 
self called  it  so.  It  occurs  on  a  MS.  of  it  written  some 
fifty  years  after  his  death  :  "  This  book  is  called  the  Edda  ; 
it  was  compiled  by  Snorri  Sturleson."  ^ 

The  MS.  of  the  old  Edda,  Eegius  Codex,  now  in  the 
Eoyal  Library  at  Copenhagen,  was  first  discovered  by 
Bishop  Brynjolfr  Sweinson  of  Skalholt  (in  1643),  in  one  of 
the  farmhouses  belonging  to  the  see  of  Skalholt,  whither, 
very  likely,  it  had  come  in  the  scramble  for  the  contents 
of  the  religious  houses,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  ensued  on 
their  suppression  at  the  Eeformation.  It  was  presented 
by  him  to  King  Frederick  III.  of  Denmark.  The  inter- 
mixture which  it  contained  of  Paganism,  and  even  of 
magic,  would  no  doubt  lead  the  Papal  clergy,  in  their 
orthodoxical  zeal,  to  push  it  and  such  like  stuff  into  dark 
holes  and  corners — a  circumstance  which  might  actually 
contribute  to  its  preservation.  Unlike  English  monks,  who 
w^ere  ready  to  cry  out  on  such  finds,  "iSTehushstan !  Di  talem 
avertite  pestem  ! "  these  born  inditers  of  old  traditions, 
whether  priest  or  peasant,  would  naturally  be  loth  to  ex- 
tinguish utterly  a  bit  of  old  parchment.  Indeed,  we  have 
no  record  of  such  vandalism  in  Iceland.     All  is  well,  how- 

1  Later  another  MS.  of  the  Edda,  notion  that  the  original  MS.  was  in 

but  only  fragments,  was  discovered,  runes  is   as  mythic  as   the  songs   it 

bound  up  with  Skalda,  which  is  now  contains.    When  W'orm  asks  Olavius, 

in   the  Arne  Magnusson   Collection,  1627   (cf.    Epistolse,   p.  353),  for  his 

No.    748,    quarto.      All   other  MSS.  Edda  written  in   runes,  he   replies, 

seem  to  be  derived  from  these  two.  "  Merse  nugse."     This  referred  to  the 

There  is  a  lacuna  in  the  Codex  Re-  prose  Edda,  but  was  equally  true  of 

gius,  wliicli,  liowever,  contains  thirty-  the  elder  Edda. 

one  pieces,  doubtless  the  cream  of  the        Tlie  poems  of  the  old  Edda  came 

whole  collection.     It  is  of  the  begin-  out  at  first  in  detachments  under  the 

ning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  auspices  of  Kesenius  in  1665,    "  Vii- 

contains    fifty -three    leaves.       The  luspa"    and    "Havamal"    in    1750, 

jiarchment  is  dirty,  dark,  and  much  "Havamal"  by  Gorannson ;  in  1779 

thumbed  on  the  margin,  testifying  to  "  VafJjru'Snismal"  by  Thorkelin.     In 

the  frequent  use  made  of  it.     It  is  1787  appeared  part  i.   of  the  Arnse- 

written  straight  on  without  any  dis-  magnaean     edition,     containing     tlio 

tinction   of  verses  from   the    prose,  mythic  poems ;  the  second  part,  con- 

The  titles  of  the  poems  and  initial  taining   the   heroic  poems,   did   not 

letters  are  in  red  and  green  ink,  now  appear  till  1818,  having  been  antici- 

pale   and  nearly  illegible.     Tliere  is  pated  in  1812  by  V.  d.  Hagen,  and  in 

110  title  to  the  primary  codex.      The  in  1815  by  the  brothers  Grimm. 


252  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

L'ver,  that  ends  ^Yell.  And  it  is  owing  to  the  enlightened 
c'ner<]^v  and  care  of  the  bishop  that  the  precious  relic  is  safe. 
]  lavin;j;,  it  is  said,  on  an  examination  of  it,  developed  the  idea 
i'loni  his  inner  consciousness ^  that  Saemund  the  Learned, 
ihe  student  at  Erfurth  and  Paris,  the  great  collector  of  old 
national  poetry,  must  have  written  it ;  he  affixed  Samund's 
name  to  it,  or  rather  to  the  copy  he  had  made  from  it ; 
but  recent  critics  have  deposed  Soemund  from  his  pedestal 
of  fame,  and  deny  that  he  was  the  author  of  the  old  Edda. 
I'oor  Sffimund  !  The  chief  reward  he  got  for  his  great 
learning  while  yet  alive  was  to  be  accounted  a  necroman- 
cer, as  the  poet  Virgil  was  in  the  Middle  Ages.^ 

It  has  been  asserted  by  some,  as  Bishop  Sveinson,  that 
Sajmund  was  the  first  to  write  down  these  poems,  which  till 
then  had  only  floated  about  in  oral  tradition,  and  to  throw 
them  into  a  united  whole.  Others,  as  Resenius,  were  of 
opinion  that  Sajmuud,  who  first  introduced  Latin  letters 
into  Iceland — rather  say  Bishop  Isleif,  who  was  educated 
in  Westphalia  (Vita,  xiv.),  and  erected  a  school  in  Iceland 
twenty  years  before  Saimund  returned  thither  —  copied 
tliese  poems  from  Eunic  documents  in  which  they  were 
written.  But  unfortunately  for  this  theory,  such  Eunic 
documents,  according  to  Magnusson,  were  never  heard  of 
or  seen;  and  as  for  Stemund's  share  in  the  matter,  he  objects 
that,  had  this  been  the  case,  as  he  lived  only  i8o  years 
l)efore  him,  Snorri,  the  composer  of  the  new  Edda  from  the 
old  Edda,  would  have  mentioned  his  name,  which  he  does 
not.  As  to  the  age  of  some  of  the  poems,  Eunolf  Jonas  ^ 
contended  that  the  Asiatics  brought  Voluspa  with  them 
into  Scandinavia,  and  that  it  was  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Erythrtean  sibyl,  who  lived  before  the  Trojan  war ;  while  he 

1  Magnusson,  however,  distinctly  doune  fared  no  better  with  their  Scot- 
states,  "Thorniodus  Torfaeus,  when  a  tish  countrymen,  both  of  whom  stu- 
sexagenarian,  told  me,  on  the  autho-  died  in  foreign  universities,  and,  from 
rity  of  his  father,  that  it  was  called  their  acquaintance  with  out-of-the- 
Sainund's  Edda  before  the  time  of  way  sciences,  came  to  be  looked  on  as 
lirynjolfr"  (Vita  Saemundi,  p.  ix.).  dabblers  in  the  black  art. 

-■  In  the  century  succeedingSsemund,  ^  Linguae  Septentrionalis  Elementa. 

Michael  Scott  and  Thomas  of  Ercil-  Copenhagen,  1651. 


THE  POETIC  ED  DA.  253 

and  Gudmimdus  ascribed  the  "  Havamal "  ( =  '  the  sayings 
of  the  High ')  to  Odin,  one  of  whose  names  was  Havi  — 
the  High.  A.  Magnusson  seems,  with  reason,  to  dispute 
the  stupendous  antiquity  thus  claimed  for  some  of  these 
poems.  He  says,  "  If  the  person  who  wrote  it  down  was 
Ssemund,  it  is  certain  he  could  not  have  done  so  before  he 
was  seventy,  and  after  that  time  he  was  too  much  occupied 
with  his  Norwegian  History,  now  for  the  most  part  lost."  ^ 
But,  in  fact,  Ssemund's  surmised  authorship  of  these  songs 
is  disposed  of  at  once  on  reference  to  the  Flateybok  version 
of  Olaf  Tryggvason's  saga  {i.  356),  where  it  may  be  seen 
that  two  of  them,  viz.,  the  second  ode  of  "  Sigurd  the 
Dragon-Slayer "  and  the  "  Helreid  Brynhildar,"  were  re- 
cited at  the  Norwegian  court  at  Trondjem  sixty  years 
before  Ssemund  (born  A.D.  1056,  died  1133).  Gunlaug, 
the  author  of  the  above  history  of  Olaf  (Pref.  Edda  Vet., 
xxxviii.),  would  never  have  made  this  statement  had 
Sffimund  been  the  author. 

Bishop  Sveinson  deplored  that  the  old  Edda,  as  we  have 
it,  does  not  contain  a  thousandth  ^  part  of  what  once  ex- 
isted, and  what  does  remain  is  a  mere  shadow  of  its  former 
self,   which  but   for  Snorri's    epitome  would   have   also 

1  Vita  Ssemundi,  p.  xiv.  come  to  the  rescue.     At  every  turn 

2  Ibid.,  p.  xix.  many   resemblances  may  be    traced 
We  shall  perhaps  cease  to  wonder    between  the  two,  the  Edda  and  the 

that  such  a  mass  of  metrical  legends  Rigveda.      The   direct   references  to 

could   have   been   preserved    in    the  worship  of  fire  and   of  other   great 

mouths  of  the  people,  accompanying  natural    forces,    the    lightning,    the 

them  in  their  wanderings   from  the  wind,   in  the  Veda  reappear  in  the 

remote  East,  when  we  bear  in  mind  Edda  in  reference  to  solar  and  other 

the  case  of  the  Rigveda,  with  its  thou-  celestial  myths.     The  symbolism  of 

sand  and  more  hymns  and  songs,  the  the  earlier  books  has  liere  been  taken 

whole  containing  twice  as  much  mat-  for  reality.     Again,  in  both  there  are 

ter  as    "Paradise    Lost."     Here,   as  clear  traces  of  the  recognition  of  a  Su- 

in  the  old  Edda,  is  stored  the  entire  preine  Being,  an  All-Father,  of  whom 

treasure  of  the  sacred  and  national  such   gods   as   Indra  and   Odin    and 

poetry.     And  yet  there  are  priests  at  Thor  are  only  manifestations.    Those 

the  present  day  in  India  who  can  re-  who  know  how  deeply   imbued   the 

peat   the   whole  of   the   Rigveda  by  Northern  people  were  with  a  love  of 

heart,  just  as  their  ancestors  did  more  genealogy   will  be  interested  to  find 

than  twenty-four   centuries  ago;    so  that  in  his  metrical  recitations  each 

that  if  every   MS.  or  printed   copy  day  the   Brahmiu    never    omits    his 

of  it  were  destroyed,  memory  would  pedigree. 


2  5  4  ICE  LA  NDIC  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

perished."  No  doubt,  adds  ]\Iagnusson,  many  "  oral  songs  " 
reached  Saxo  which  are  now  lost.  Upon  the  whole,  it  is 
clear  that  these  poems,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two, 
for  instance  the  Solar  Ljod,  a  vision  of  heaven  and  hell 
after  the  manner  of  Dante,^  which  is  manifestly  of  Chris- 
tian origin,  could  never  have  been  the  composition  of  one 
man,  Sasmund.  Indeed,  their  style  is  much  simpler  than 
that  of  Norse  and  Icelandic  poets  later  than  the  eighth 
century.  There  are  less  of  those  transpositions,  circum- 
locutions, recondite  and  far-fetched  nomenclature.^  The 
position  of  the  words  is  mostly  simple  and  natural,  so 
different  from  that  in  the  Drottkvsegi  whose  rigid  rules 
enforced  much  transposition  of  words.  The  Edda  ap- 
proaches more  nearly  the  poetry  of  StarkaS  and  Bjarki 
than  of  Thiodolf  Hvinensis  and  Eyvind  and  their  suc- 
cessors (ibid.,  xxxviii.).  Its  obscurity  is  due  not  to  con- 
struction, but  to  obscure  mythical  allusions,  to  archaic 
expressions,  and  corrupt  readings.  The  authors  were 
Pagan  worshippers,  who  recited  them  in  honour  of  their 
gods  and  heroes.  They  were  Norwegians,  or  the  scenery 
is  that  of  a  mountainous  country  like  Norway,  especially 
in  the  myths  about  Thor,  and  the  treatment  is  that  of  the 

^  Though  a  sincere  Christian,  the  The  same  is  the  case  with  the  versifica- 

author,   who    evidently  lived    when  tion.     FornySrlag   was   undoubtedly 

Christianity  was  new,  could  not  rid  the   oldest    as    it   was   the   simplest 

himself  of  the  grand  poetic  ideas  of  metre.     It  required  only  alliteration, 

heathenism.     The  S.  Ljod  is  further  while   in   the   more  artificial   Drott- 

remarkable  from  the  fact  that  there  kvasSi,   syllable-rhyme   was  a  neces- 

is  a  very  old  Thelemarken  traditional  sity.     But  even  this  last  can  be  traced 

ballad   which    greatly   resembles  it,  to  the  eighth  century.     Alliteration, 

exhibiting  the  same  curious  mixture  be  it  said,  was  the  common  property 

of  Paganism  and  Christianity  as  the  of  all  German  races  even  before  the 

original.       It    is    entitled    "  Draum-  time  of  their  separation  into  North 

kv{)eSi,"  the  dream-song  of  Landstad's  and    South,    and    hence   it    may    be 

Folkeviser.     Christiania,  1853,  p.  64.  safely  stated  to  have  come  with  them 

-  It  would  be,  however,  a  mistake  from  the  East  (Keysir,  "Efterladte 
to  suppose  that  these  obscurities  of  Skrifter,"  82  sqq.).  DrottkvseSi  is 
style  are  the  sole  offspring  of  the  derived  from  Drott  =  a  band  of  sol- 
eleventh  and  two  following  centuries,  diers.  It  was  originally  the  martial 
They  were  quite  as  rife  in  the  ninth  song  sung  in  honour  of  the  leader, 
and  tenth  centuries  and  among  Harfa-  and  it  very  likely  developed  among 
gers  and  Scalds.  In  fact,  these  artifices  the  Norse  Christians,  beginning  with 
may  be  traced  to  the  verge  of  history,  the  eighth  century. 


THE  POETIC  EDDA.  255 

Norse  scalds  of  the  Aser  myths.  "  Hynduljod  "  must  be 
Norse  from  its  contents,  while  one  of  the  Atli  lays  is 
named  after  Gronland,  a  place  in  Norway).  The  stuff  of 
the  heroic  lays  came  from  the  South.  Brought  to  Ice- 
land by  the  early  colonists  and  others,  these  poems  had 
the  luck  to  survive  all  accidents,  till,  on  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  and  the  use  of  letters  along  with  it,  they 
w^ere  copied  down  by  some  antiquary,  anterior  to  or  con- 
temporary with  Saemuud,  from  the  mouths  of  men  ;  ^  one 
object  of  this  being  doubtless  that  they  might  serve  as  an 
aid  to  young  poets.  Stemund,  though  this  even  is  doubted 
by  Magnusson,  is  thought  to  have  collected  them,  adding 
more  from  his  owai  and  others'  recollection.  This  farrago 
of  mythic  (and  heroic),  with  other  papers  of  Ssemund, 
came  into  the  possession  of  John  Loptson,  Saemund's 
grandson,  under  whose  roof  Snorri  Sturlesou  was  brought 
up.  Snorri  made  or  obtained  a  copy,  and  upon  this 
foundation  composed  the  prose  Edda. 

But  let  us  now  turn  to  the  contents  of  the  elder  or 
poetic  Edda,  with  its  samples  of  the  earliest  intellectual 
activities  of  the  Northern  Teutonic  race,  dating,  according 
to  Grundvig,  from  the  fourth  or  fifth  century ;  according  to 
Bugge,  from  the  ninth  or  tenth.  Its  contents  are  of  a 
twofold  character — the  mythic  and  the  heroic — the  former 
treating  of  the  origin  and  fate  of  the  universe,  and  the 
latter  of  the  dawn  of  social  life  throughout  the  Teutonic 
w^orld.  The  great  mass  of  this  is  in  verse,  interspersed, 
however,  with  bits  of  simple  prose,  connecting  or  explaining 
the  story,  a  species  of  composition  which  eventually  ripened 
into  the  finished  sagas  of  after-times.  Some  of  these 
prose  interludes  are  coeval  with  the  verse,  and  are  poetic 
in  everything  but  their  form.  These  are  of  great  value. 
Others  are  of  later  date,  and  added  by  the  copyists  (Sars 
Den  Norske  Historic,  ii.,  311). 

1  According  to  Keysir,  about  1120,     earlier,  viz.,  under  Maguus  the  Good, 
when  oldsagas  and  laws  were  first  writ-     1035-1047. 
ten  down  in  Iceland,  but  in  Norway 


-6  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

()ue  of  these  poems,  ilie  "  Voluspa,"  than  which  nothing 
more  remarkahle  exists  in  old  Norse  literature,  first  de- 
mands our  attention.  The  awful  Volva,  fostered  among 
the  Jotuns,  embracing  with  the  prophetic  eye  of  a  sibyl 
})ast,  present,  and  future,  she  who  overlooks  all  worlds,  their 
beginning  and  end,  like  some  witch  of  Endor  rises  out  of 
the  deep  and  proclaims  to  gods  and  men  their  destiny  and 
that  of  the  world  from  the  first  to  the  last.  This  is  the 
oulv  existing  ancient  poem  in  which  an  attempt  is  made 
to  ffive  us  as  a  whole  the  heathen  notion  of  the  world.^  It 
discourses  of  the  beginning  of  things,  of  a  time  when  this 
earth  was  without  form  and  void,  and  darkness  yet  brooded 
over  the  face  of  the  deep. 

"  It  was  the  morning  of  time,^ 
When  yet  nought  was, 
Nor  sand  nor  sea  was  there, 
Nor  cooling  streams. 
Earth  was  not  formed, 
A  yawning  gap  there  was, 
Nor  Heaven  above, 
And  grass  nowliere. 
Sun  that  wist  not 
"Where  she  had  her  halls, 
Moon  that  wist  not 
Where  he  his  space  had. 
Stars  that  wist  not 
Where  an  abode  tliey  had. 

This  Pagan  version  of  chaos  is  supplemented  in  another 

eddic  poem,  "  Grimnismal "  (40) — 

"  From  Ymir's  flesh 
Was  earth  shapen  : 

1    The    Chaldean    legend   of   crea-  Then  the  chaos  of  waters  gave  birth 

lion,  as  written  on  the  tablets  of  Me-  to  all  of  them, 

sopotamia,  and    dating    back    some  And  the  waters  were  gathered  into 

4500  years,    tells  us  something   like  one  place  ; 

this  : —  No  men  yet  dwelt  together,  noani- 

'■  When  the  upper   region    was  not  mals  yet  wandered  about ; 

yet  called  heaven.  None   of    the   gods   had   yet   been 

And  the  lower  region  was  not  yet  born,"  &c. — Fox  Talbot  in  Ra- 

called  earth,  cords  of  the  Past,  vol.  ix.  p.  117. 

And  the  abyss  of  Hades  had  not  yet  ^  The  tale  is  told  very  differently 

opened  its  arms,  in  "lieowulf,"  185. 


THE  POETIC  ED  DA.  257 

From  his  blood  the  sea, 

Rocks  of  his  bones, 

Trees  from  his  hair, 

But  of  his  skull  heaven. 

And  of  his  brows 

The  blithe  powers  made 

Midgard  for  the  sons  of  men. 

But  of  his  brain 

Were,  hard  of  mood. 

The  clouds  all  shapen." 

Then  again,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  prose  Edda,  which 
was  principally  worked  up  out  of  the  elder,  at  the  end  of 
the  world — 

"  Sartr  fares  from  the  south 

With  blazing  brand, 

Shines  the  sun 

From  the  sword  of  the  god  of  the  slain. 

Rocks  dash  together, 

Giants  totter 

Men  tread  the  way  to  Hel, 

But  heaven  is  cleft "  (p.  56). 

Blood,  fire,  pillars  of  smoke,  a  dislocation  of  nature, 
a  universal  catastrophe !  Salvator  Eosa  and  Gustave 
Dore  combined  might  have  made  something  possibly  of 
such  a  study.  A  remarkable  coincidence  or  parallelism 
here  with  the  account  in  our  religious  documents,  sug- 
gesting an  original  unity,  and  exhibiting  vestiges  of  an 
ancient  general  tradition,  inherited  from  the  fathers  of  the 
human  family  of  the  creation,  as  we  find  it  in  Genesis, 
and  also  with  the  revealed  account  of  what  is  to  be 
hereafter. 

All  through  this  striking  drama,  be  it  observed,  the 
benignant  powers  of  Asgard,  with  Odin  for  their  head, 
are  assailed  by  the  evil  and  malignant  spirit,  the  sinister- 
minded  power,  Loki,  who  had  in  days  of  yore  been  of  one 
heart  and  one  mind  with  the  All-Father;  nay,  as  the 
Edda  says,  had  been  his  foster-brother.  It  was  he  who 
stole  from  the  gods  the  apples  of  immortality,^  whereupon 

1  The  very  name  reminds  us  of  the  fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Life. 


2  5  8  ICELA  NDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

they  Logan  to  get  prematurely  grey:  lie  who  by  secret 
piict  proposed  to  barter  away  sun  and  moon  to  the  Jotuns, 
and  thereby  to  quench  the  light  of  heaven:  he  who 
fathered  that  terrible  trio,  the  earth-serpent,  Fenris  wolf, 
and  hell,  authors  to  be  hereafter  of  unspeakable  calamity 
to  the  celestials :  he  who,  adding  insult  to  injury,  at  that 
memorable  carouse  (iEgisdrekka)  chaffed  the  Aser,  nay, 
bespattered  them  with  foulest  abuse :  he  who  compassed 
the  death  of  Baldr,  the  innocent  and  beautiful.  But  there 
is  surely  little  trace  of  a  monk's  hand  here.  The  tale  is 
as  fresh  as  if  just  come  from  the  pine  woods  of  Scythia. 
We  are  quite  aware  that  Bishop  Jon  Finsen  (Hist.  Eccles., 
i.  25)  points  to  the  Eddaic  trinity,  to  the  great  All-Father 
Odin,  to  the  just  judge  Baldr,  to  Valhalla's  500  gates 
(cf.  Apocalypse,  212),  as  proofs  that  the  Scandinavian 
religion  is  a  distorted  and  depraved  version  of  the  Chris- 
tian Scriptures.  He  might  have  added,  the  way  in  which 
Odin  rides  the  storm  astride  of  his  eight-footed  horse, 
Sleipnir,  leads  us  by  comparison  to  think  of  Him  "  who 
maketh  the  clouds  His  chariot,  and  walketh  upon  tha 
wings  of  the  wind."  But  the  same  might  be  said  surely 
of  the  religion  of  the  Brahmins.  Indeed  the  Eig-Veda, 
as  we  have  shown  above,  exhibits  many  similarities  to  the 
Old  Edda ;  or  it  might  be  asserted  that  the  parable  of 
Dives  is  only  the  tale  of  Tantalus  resuscitated.  Coinci- 
dences of  this  kind  may  be  pointed  out  everywhere.  It 
was  the  occurrence  of  such  that  gave  rise  to  the  notion, 
now  generally  discarded,  we  believe,  that  Seneca  derived 
some  of  his  best  teaching  from  the  very  lips  of  St.  Paul. 
So  Socrates  discoursed  in  the  spirit  of  a  Christian  philo- 
sopher, while  Virgil's  fourth  Eclogue  contains  passages 
redolent  of  the  prophetic  inspiration  of  the  Hebrews. 
There  does,  however,  exist  a  writing,  in  other  respects 
almost  identical  with  that  in  the  Voluspa  above  quoted, 
which,  unlike  it,  is  monkish  all  over.  We  refer  to  the 
so-called  "  Wessobrunner  Gebet,"  an  alliterative  prayer 
in  old  High  German  of  the  eighth  century,  which  was 


THE  WESSOBRUNNER  GEBET.  259 

edited  by  Wackernagel,i  from  a  MS.  found  in  the  Bavarian 
monastery  of  Wessobruu.     It  runs  thus — 

"  Tliis  I  found  to  be  the  greatest  of  human  wisdom  : 
When  the  earth  was  not,  nor  the  heaven  above, 
Neither  hills  nor  trees,  nor  flowers  nor  fields. 
When  the  sun  shone  not  and  the  moon  gave  no  light, 
When  there  was  no  ocean,  no  end  nor  boundary. 
Then  there  was  an  Almighty  God. 

God  Almighty  !  Thou  who  didst  shape  heaven  and  earth, 

And  didst  give  so  much  good  to  men. 

In  Thy  mercy  give  me  the  right  faith, 

And  good  desires,  wisdom  and  prudence, 

To  be  doughty  in  good  deeds  and  resist  the  devil, 

To  reject  the  evil  and  perform  Thy  will." 

Again  in  these  Eddas,  e.g.,  in  "  Vafthrudnismal "  and 
"  Grimnismal,"  we  have  revealed  to  us  the  divinities  of 
Asgard,  to  whom  man  owes  his  existence,  and  who  ever 
protect  him  from  the  race  of  giants,  i.e.,  the  chaotic  natural 
powers.  Here  is  Thor,  the  god  of  thunder,  the  champion 
alike  of  gods  and  men  against  trolls  and  evil  spirits.  He 
is  ever  armed  with  his  mighty  hammer,  ]\Iiolner,  emblem 
of  the  lightning — in  the  Eussiau  laniruafre  liifhtuincj  is 

00  0000 

molniya.  In  shape  it  is  like  the  cross,  and  upon  it 
lieathen  men  swore,  as  Christians  do  upon  the  holy  rood. 
With  it  Thor  consecrated  the  funeral  pile  of  Baldr  and 
the  happy  wedding  of  the  Jotun  and  Freya. 

The  account  in  "  Hymiskvida  "  of  Thor's  fishing  differs 
from  that  in  the  prose  Edda,  so  that  the  latter  must  have 
had  other-  sources  now  lost  (Keysir,  148).  Bluff  and 
blunt  is  Thor,  one  in  whom  there  is  no  guile,  hot  of 
temper,  of  few  words  and  ready  stroke.     No  marvel  this 

1  Feussner,  Hanau,  1845.     Profes-  was  labouring  among  Saxons.     One 

sor  Stephens  of  Copenhagen  asserts  very  convincing  proof  of  this  which 

that  this  jioem  was  originally  Anglo-  he  adduces  is  that  the  MS.    of   this 

Saxon,  brought  from  England  by  the  ancient  poem   has  the    Anglo-Saxon 

missionaries,  and  copied  by  an  Eng-  mai-k  "]  for  'and,' and  %  the  English 

lishman,  or  Englishman's  pupil,  but  sigu  for  'gi.' 
iu  a  Saxouised  form,  as  the  writer 


26o  ICELA  NDIC  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

son  of  mother  earth  was  such  a  favourite  deity  with  those 
downright  word-and-a-blow-Gothic  races,  and  that  the 
cream  of  the  Edda  falls  to  his  share.  His  adventures  form 
not  the  least  interesting  and  grotesque  features  in  this 
primeval  drama. 

What  is  also  very  interesting  is  the  fact  that  a  "  cate- 
chism font,"  i.e.,  a  font  adorned  with  sculptured  events 
in  Bible  history,  by  the  side  of  which  the  priest  used  to 
stand  and  catechise  the  rising  generation,  pointing  to  these 
sculptures,  has  been  discovered  in  Sweden,  dating  from 
about  A.D.  1000,  where  Thor  and  his  different  exploits  are 
depicted — his  raids  against  all  sorts  of  evil  powers — which 
would  point  the  moral  of  Christian  heroism  to  the  young 
catechumens.^ 

Odin  is  the  chief  divinity,  who,  with  two  other  gods, 
Hcenir  and  Lodur  or  Loki,  formed  man,  giving  him  each 
of  them  a  gift,  breath  (spirit),  mind,  and  craft.  He  is  the 
fountain-head  of  wisdom  ever  since  he  got  that  drink  at 
Mimer's  well  and  pawned  his  eye  for  it,  and  thought  it 
a  cheap  bargain,^  which  curious  transaction  to  a  man  apt 
at  discovering  resemblances  in  remote  ideas  is  suggestive 
of  that  over-addiction  to  the  pursuit  of  learning  which  has 
forfeited  the  eyes  of  many,  and  helped  to  make  the  fortune 
of  the  spectacle-makers ;  as  the  case  of  Kvasir,  suffocated 
by  a  plethora  of  knowledge,  is  typical  of  the  fatal  effects 
of  overcramming  imputed  by  men  like  Mr.  Lowe  to  our 
universities.  Again,  while  Odin,  on  the  one  hand,  merges 
in  the  All-Father,^  the  supreme  Author  of  everything  exist- 
ing, the  Eternal,  the  Ancient  of  Days,  the  living  and  awful 
Being,  the  Being  that  never  changeth,  the  Ood  of  battle, 
the  Searcher  into  hidden  things ;  so,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  is  the  inventor  of  runes,  of  culture,  and  poetry.  What 
a  strange  mixture  here  of  the  attributes  of  the  celestial  and 

1  "Thunor  tlie   Thunderer  carved  -  Philosophers,  however,  regard  the 

on  a  Scandinavian  Font  of  about  the  tale  as  an  allej^ory  of  sunset  in  the 

year  looo,"  by  Dr.  George  Stephens,  sea. 

F.S.A.       CoiJenhagen    and    London,  'So  in  parts  of  the  Veda  the  gods 

1878.  all  merge  in  All-Father  the  Supreme. 


THE  FAITH  OF  THE  NORTH.  261 

the  terrestrial,  of  the  lofty  counsels  of  a  divinity  and  the 
mundane  sayings  and  doings  of  one  over  whom  men  after- 
wards threw  the  mantle  of  divinity !  True,  Odin  may  not 
be  as  sublime  as  the  Olympian  Jove,  dressed  up  in  all  the 
gorgeous  wealth  and  infinite  taste  of  the  Greek  imagina- 
tion, who,  when  he  shook  his  locks  and  "  nodded,"  all 
Olympus  trembled  at  his  nod;  but  there  is  an  unchastised 
strength  about  Odin  and  his  paladins  that  aptly  reflects 
the  origin  of  the  Gothic  race.  Take  further,  as  a  sample 
of  the  intensity  of  the  Northern  imagination,  that  grisly 
description  of  Hel.  This  daughter  of  the  witch  of  Jotun- 
heim  has  no  part  or  lot  in  Valhalla  and  its  triumphs.  To 
her  belong  all  who  die  the  "  straw  death  "  of  sickness  or 
old  age,  that  consummation  devoutly  deprecated  by  the 
old  Northmen.!  "  In  Niflheim  she  hath  great  domains, 
and  her  yard  walls  are  of  strange  height  and  her  gates 
huge.  EliuSnir  liight  her  hall,  hunger  her  dish,  starving 
her  knife,  Ganglati  her  thrall,  Ganglot  her  maid  (they  can 
scarce  creep  for  sloth) ;  an  ugsome  pit  is  the  threshold  of 
her  entry,  her  bed  a  sick-bed,  gleaming  bale  the  hangings 
of  it ;  she  is  half  blue  and  half  the  hue  of  flesh,  which 
makes  her  easy  to  know,  and  she  is  very  stern  and  grim 
withal."  Such,  then,  are  some  of  the  main  points  in 
the  wild  faith  of  the  Pagan  North,  its  machinery,  its 
personages. 

We  have  pointed  out  above  how  the  Eddaic  notion  of 
the  creation  and  end  of  the  world  falls  in  w^ith  that  revealed 
to  us  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
these  gods  and  goddesses,  in  their  attributes,  their  doings, 
their  very  names,  remind  us  more  or  less  of  the  deities 
of  Greece  and  Eome.  If  in  the  latter  we  find  Adonis, 
beloved  by  Venus,  killed  by  the  boar,  in  the  former,  Odin, 
beloved  by  Freya,  the  Northern  Venus,  is  destroyed  by 
the  wolf.  Odin  may  be  compared  with  Mercury  for  his 
eloquence  and  "  quod  pias  leetis  animas  reponit  sedibus." 

^  In  that  land  of  fighting  men,  Montenegro,  at  the  present  day,  when  a  boy- 
is  born,  his  friends  bless  him  with  this  speech,  "  May  he  not  die  in  his  bed! " 


262  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

In  tlic  magic  sleep-thorn  M'itli  which  Odin  sent  Bryn- 
hihl  to  shnnber  we  are  reminded  of  the  Caduceus,  the 
sleep-bringing  wand  of  Mercury.  Midgard,  that  central 
abode  of  the  hyperborean  gods,  reappears  in  Delphi,  the 
navel  of  the  earth,  the  peculiar  abode  of  Apollo.  The 
god  Thor,  bluff  and  colossal,  with  his  brutal  honesty  of 
purpose,  his  hammer,  belt,  and  gloves,  at  once  suggests 
Hercules  with  his  club,  lion-skin,  and  crestus.  He  also 
slew  Midgard-snake  and  fought  with  the  giants,  as  Her- 
cules slew  the  Hydra  and  overcame  the  giants.  In  Thor, 
the  wielder  of  the  hammer,  the  symbol  of  the  lightning, 
we  descry  the  Thunderer  Jove,  who  hurled  the  giants 
to  Tartarus.  The  sea-deities,  the  daughters  of  Ean,  are 
the  Greek  Nereids,  the  daughters  of  Doris.  The  three 
Norns  are  manifestly  related  to  the  three  Parcse.  It  was 
a  taste  of  the  dragon's  blood  that  gave  Sigurd  the  power 
of  understanding  the  language  of  those  sagacious  birds  l 
who  put  him  on  his  guard  against  the  dwarfs'  treachery, 
and  it  was  the  application  of  the  serpents'  tongues  to  the 
ears  of  Melampus  that  endowed  him  with  the  knowledge 
of  futurity. 

As  we  have  hinted  above,  those  acquainted  with  the 
sacred  writings  of  India  will  find  many  points  of  resem- 
blance between  the  religion  there  developed  and  those  of 
the  old  Edda.  Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Siva  possess  attri- 
butes akin  to  those  of  the  Scandinavian  gods.  Krishna 
destroying  the  serpent  reminds  us  of  Thor  and  his  adven- 
ture with  Midgardsorm.  Those  thousands  of  demons  who 
infest  Southern  India  and  are  kept  at  bay  by  the  several 
gods,  reminiscences  of  the  older  Dravidian  men  who  were 
conquered  by  the  Aryan  invaders,  forcibly  call  to  mind 
those  giants  (Jotuns)  whom  it  was  the  business  of  Thor 
and  other  benign  deities  to  subdue,  but  who  were  the 
remains,  real  or  imaginary,  of  the  old  original  inhabitants, 
invested    by  the    people   with    supernatural    attributes. 

^  Ig3a  =  Motacilla  alba,  or  white  and  black  water-wagtail.     Others  refer 
it  to  the  Sitta  Europea,  or  nuthatch,  a  bird  that  frequents  solitary  spots. 


CURIOUS  COINCIDENCES.  263 

When  we  hear  of  Brahma's  body  being  divided,  and  its 
several  members  doing  duty  in  another  capacity  among  men, 
his  mouth  reappearing  in  the  Brahmins,  his  arm  the  origin 
of  the  mihtary  caste,  his  thigh  of  the  merchants,  and  his 
feet  of  the  lowest  caste  ;  the  Scandinavian  student  thinks 
of  Hymer's  becoming  the  sea,  his  flesh  the  earth,  his  bones 
rocks,  his  skull  the  arch  of  heaven  (Prose  Edda).  These 
are  a  few  specimens  of  the  curious  accordance  between  the 
features  of  the  Northern  mythology  and  the  religions  of 
other  nations  ;  but  there  are  numberless  points  which  must 
remain  insoluble  by  any  conjecture  whatever,  not  even 
excepting  that  great  solvent  of  every  mystery,  the  solar- 
myth  theory,  which  has,  with  much  probability  it  must  be 
allowed,  been  applied  to  the  story  of  the  Volsungs  and  the 
Nibelungs.  Such  is  that  eagle  sitting  on  Yggdrasil,  the 
world-ash,  and  the  snake  Nidhug  gnawing  at  its  root, 
the  squirrel  running  up  and  down  busily  between  them. 
Such  are  the  golden  tablets  discovered  by  the  gods  in  the 
grass  after  the  restoration  of  all  things. 

Again,  what  numbers  of  kings,  heroes,  pirates  are  men- 
tioned in  the  Skalda  of  whom  nothing  is  known,  as  in  the 
story  of  Volundr ;  and  in  the  deeds  referred  to  in  the  "  Har- 
bardsljoS  "  there  is  a  reference  to  matters,  likely  enough  of 
historic  origin,  now  lost  to  knowledge.  We  must  not 
expect  to  find  in  these  Eddas  a  complete  system  of  Scandi- 
navian theology ;  nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at  when  we 
remember  that  when  Ssemund,  or  whoever  it  was,  col- 
lected the  poems  on  which  Snorri  built  Ms  Edda,  the 
poems  then  extant  had  seen  much  better  days,  while 
others  were  utterly  defunct.  Snorri's  pages,  be  it  remem- 
bered, contain  much,  the  foundation  and  key  to  which  is 
not  apparent  at  all  in  the  extant  rhythmic  Edda.  And  so, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  are  mythological  allusions  in  the 
Eddie  odes  or  in  other  poets  which  are  not  explicable  by 
Snorri's  Edda.  This  shows  that  many  monuments  of 
Northern  mythology  formerly  existing  in  verse  have 
perished. 


264  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

Note. — Since  the  above  Avas  in  the  hands  of  the  printer,  the  author's 
attention  has  been  called  to  the  Prolegomena  to  Vigfusson's  edition 
of  the  "Sturlunga  Saga."  Herein,  with  the  exception  of  "Hava- 
mal,"  the  Great  Volsung  lays,  and  "  Ham^ismal,"  which  he  refers  to 
a  very  remote  age  (the  two  first  to  Norway),  as  well  as  "  Atlamal " 
and  "HymiskviSa,"  both  of  which  he  refers  to  Greenland  proper,  he 
attributes  all  the  other  Eddaic  poems  to  Norse  poets  in  the  Western 
Isles  in  the  Viking  period.  Quite  recently,  Professor  Bugge,  whose 
name  is  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  work,  has  come  out  with  a  theory 
not  a  little  startling,  though  not  quite  new.  He  maintains  that  of  the 
whole  mass  of  mytliological  and  epic  tradition  handed  down  in  the 
two  Eddas  only  a  small  fraction  is  common  Germanic,  the  great  bulk  of 
it  being  of  foreign  origin,  based  on  tales  and  poems  heard  by  the  Vik- 
ings from  Englishmen  and  Irishmen.  The  ultimate  sources  of  these 
English-Celtic  legends  being  (i.)  the  old  Greek-Roman  mythology  ; 
(2.)  Jewish-Christian  Bible  legends  of  various  degrees  of  apocryphal- 
ness.  Thus  the  myth  of  Baldr  is  mainly  Greek,  founded  on  the  story 
of  Achilles  and  Patroclus,  who  are  fused  into  one  person.  A  work 
developing  Bugge's  views  is  shortly  to  appear.  Meanwhile  we  are 
content  to  rest  upon  J.  Grimm's  dictum  :  "  The  genuineness  of  the 
Norse  mythology  can  no  more  be  doubted  than  the  genuineness  and 
originality  of  the  Norse  tongue  ; "  and  further,  that  "  the  close  kinship 
existing  between  Norse  mythology  and  the  religious  belief  of  the 
Teutonic  tribes  is  equally  palpable."  "  Although,"  as  Mr.  Sweet 
says,  "  the  result  of  these  discoveries  will,  if  confirmed,  be  to  depose 
Norse  mythology  from  its  proud  position  of  representative  of  the 
original  Teutonic  beliefs,  the  value  of  that  mythology  as  an  expo- 
nent of  Norse  character  and  thought  will  not  be  in  any  way  dimi- 
nished. On  the  contrary,  we  shall  learn  to  admire  still  more  its 
harmony  and  grandeur,  and  the  skill  with  which  the  edifice  has  been 
built  up  out  of  so  many  discordant  materials.  The  working  up  of 
these  originals  is  certainly  profoundly  original,  far  more  so  than  the 
Latin  adaptations  of  Greek  myths."  And  if  so,  the  encomiums  which 
the  author  has  passed  on  the  extraordinary  literary  power  of  the  old 
Norsemen  receive  additional  warrant. 


(    26s    ) 


CHAPTEE    VII. 

HEROIC  EDDA. 

Turn  we  now  to  the  second  portion  of  the  elder  Edda, 
the  heroic,  as  it  is  generally  called,  or  more  properly  the 
mythic-heroic  songs,  descriptive  of  Northern  life  when 
mythus  was  passing  into  actuality.  Foremost  among  these 
stands  the  lay  of  Volundr  the  typical  smith,  the  Northern 
Vulcan,  the  real  personage  like  Odin,  but  who,  like  Odin, 
assumed  the  blurred  features  of  some  Oriental  deity. 
Here  we  learn  how  he  was  beguiled  in  Ulfdal  by  the  swan- 
maiden,  and  the  cruel  way  in  which  King  Nidud,  anxious 
to  avail  himself  of  his  skill  in  metallurgy,  ham-strung 
liim,  thus  fondly  hoping  to  prevent  his  locomotion :  how 
finally  the  biter  is  bit,  and  the  smith,  after  chopping  off 
the  heads  of  the  king's  sons,  turned  their  skulls  into 
curious  ornaments — much  as  we  should  transform  a  cocoa- 
nut  into  a  silver-mounted  beaker — and  baulked  the  wrath 
of  the  father  by  taking  flight  in  the  air  with  wings  of  his 
own  invention.  But  all  this  wiU  be  mentioned  in  a 
subsequent  chapter.  So  we  will  pass  at  once  to  the  real 
staple  of  the  heroic  Edda,  the  story  of  the  Niflungs  or 
Giukungs  and  the  Volsungs,  of  Sigurd,  Brynhild,  and 
Gudrun,  that  story  of  profoundest  pathos  and  deepest 
tragedy,  retold  in  music  by  Wagner,  and  now  recently 
elaborated  into  a  symmetrical  whole  by  Mr.  Morris.  This 
ancient  world-renowned  saga  comes  to  us  in  various 
shapes.  We  have  these  old  primeval  Edda  songs,  the 
Middle- Age  Volsung,i  and  Vilking  (Dietrich)  ^  sagas  and 

^  Composed  in  the  fourteenth,  per-  -  It   expressly  mentions    Saxland 

haj)s  as  early  as  the  thirteenth  cen-  {i.e..   Lower  Germany)  as  the  home 

tury,  from  German  tales  and  ballads,  of  the  ballads  on  which  it  is  based  ; 

(Grundvig,  p.  56,  cf.  ibid,  p.  34).  in  the  same  manner  as  it  was  a  .S'axuri 


266  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURK. 

the  German  heroic  poems,  Nibelungen  Lied  and  tlic 
lliirnen  Siegfried,  wliich  hist  is  strongly  imbued  with  the 
mythic  element.  But  there  are  traces  of  it  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  "  Beowulf,"  the  poem  of  the  eighth  century.  All  the 
history  of  Sigurd  still  lives  in  the  national  songs  of  the 
Faro  Islands,^  and  in  the  Danish  ballads.^  The  legend, 
in  fact,  was  spread  over  all  Scandinavia  and  a  great  part  of 
Germanic  Europe,  and  was  interwoven  with  Northern  his- 
tory in  the  saga  of  Ragnar  Lodbrog,  his  putative  descen- 
dant ;  in  the  South,  with  the  story  of  Attila  and  Dietrich. 
Nay,  it  was  even  localised,  e.g.,  in  Sweden,  where  the  trea- 
sure was  said  to  have  been  concealed  in  Garphytteklint  in 
Nerike  (Geier,  i.  ii8);  and  again  in  the  Lingwurmswiese 
near  Seyfriedsburg  in  Lower  Franconia,  where  Saiifritz, 
the  swineherd's  boy,  often  bathed  in  the  dragon-spring 
and  so  became  invulnerable,^  upon  which  he  started  out 
on  adventurous  quest,  and  returned  in  possession  of  great 
treasures  and  built  Seyfriedsburg."* 

The  most  ancient,  the  most  original  and  comprehensive, 
as  well  as  the  noblest  and  most  poetic  shape  in  which 
this  old  legend  has  come  down  to  us,  is  unquestionably 
to  be  found  in  the  elder  Edda  songs,  which  were  noted 
down  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  in  the  Volsung  saga, 
which  arose  from  them  in  the  thirteenth  century.^ 

singer    of    whom    Saxo-Gr.    speaks,  an  Italian  fairy  tale  "  LoDrngone,"  it 

Mone  is  of  opinion  tliat  the  middle  is  enough  to  say  that  all  the  resem- 

High    German     Nibelungen    Not    is  blance  between  the  different  tales  is 

founded  on  Low  German  songs.  that  a  dragon  appears  in  all.     The 

1   Fffiroiske   Qvgeder,    Copenhagen,  Brothers    Grimm,    and    after    them 

1822.   Hammershaimb  ;  and  SjurG'ar-  Moe,  profess  to  find  the  tale  of  Si- 

kvfeSi,  1851.  gurd  recurring  in  Indo-European  fairy 

-  S.   Grundvig,  Copenhagen,   1853,  legends,  but  in  reality  all  it  amounts 

*7?-  to  is  that  the  Scandinavian  saga  con- 

*  Metcalfe,  German  Literature,  p.  tains  colourings  and  touches  common 

88.  to  the  legendary   store   of   half  the 

•»  Mone's  idea  that  the  legend  re-  world.  Those  legends  are  totally  de- 
curs  in  the  old  French  poem  "  Garin  void  of  the  groundwork,  have  nought 
le  Loherain"  is  baseless.  There  is  only  of  the  grand  tragic  unity  which  makes 
a  sHght  resemblance  in  certain  names  the  Volsung  saga  what  it  is. 
and  situations.  Of  Grasse's  suppo-  s  Gruiidvig's  Danmark's  Gamie 
sition,  connecting  it  with  the  English  Folkevisir,  i.  i,  45. 
and  French  poems  of  King  Horn  and 


SIGURD,  BRYiYHILD,  AND  GUDRUN.  267 

A  battle  royal  has  always  raged  among  the  learned,  from 
the  days  of  the  Brothers  Grimm  till  now,  as  to  whether 
the  legend  had  its  root  in  German  or  Scandinavian  soil, 
in  the  '  Fatherland  '  or  in  the  far  Xorth.  It  is  of  the  heroic 
Edda  notably  that  we  now  speak,  the  tale  of  Sigurd  the 
dragon-slayer,  who,  on  his  horse  Grani,  of  the  race  of 
Sleipnir,  the  best  blood  out,  sprang  over  the  Shieldburg  of 
fire,  and  awoke  the  sleeping  beauty  of  the  frowning  castle, 
Brynhild  or  Sigrdrifa,  the  Valkyr  queen  of  Hindarfell. 
Herein  we  learn  how  he  wooed  and  won  her,  and  forgot 
her  when  he  set  eyes  on  the  lovely  Gudrun,  beguiled 
thereto  not  by  the  quicksilver  devil  of  inconstancy,  but 
by  the  contriving  manoeuvring  devil,  her  mother,  the  sor- 
ceress Grimhild,  who  wanted  the  hero  for  her  own  daugh- 
ter,  and  gave  him  a  sleeping  potion  to  make  him  forget  all 
about  his  first  love.  We  learn  how  he  marries  Gudrun, 
and  helps  his  brother-in-law,  Prince  Gunnar,  to  gain  the 
hand  of  Brynhild,  by  a  stratagem :  how  the  two  wives 
manage  to  quarrel  on  a  question  of  precedence,  the  grim, 
vulture-eyed  Brynhild,  and  the  gentle,  dove-like  Gudrun, 
surprised  into  a  momentary  irritation  to  think  that  her 
lord  should  be  postponed  to  Gunnar ;  all  unconscious,  too, 
of  his  previous  love  passages,  the  root  of  her  rival's  jealousy 
and  hate.  We  behold  revenge  !  revenge !  rankling  and 
rankling  in  that  fierce  one's  heart.  Surely  never  was  there 
stronger  warrant  for  the  saying,  "  Hell  hath  no  fury  like  a 
woman  scorned." 

"  Alone  she  sat  -without 

At  eve  of  day, 

Began  aloud 

With  herself  to  speak  : 

'  Sigurd  must  be  mine  ; 

I  must  die  or  that  blooming  youth 

Clasp  in  my  arms.' 

He  is  Gudrun's  consort 

And  I  am  Gunnar's; 

Tiie  hateful  Norns 

Long  suffering  have  decreed  us.' 


26S  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURE. 

Oftentimes  she  wandered, 

Filled  with  evil  thoughts, 

O'er  ice  and  icebergs, 

Every  eve, 

When  he  and  Gudrun 

Had  to  their  couch  withdrawn." 

She  eg,?s  on  her  liusband,  Gunnar,  to  have  Sigurd  mur- 
dered in  the  night  (Lay  of  Sigurd,  iii.  6). 

"  Sunk  in  sleep  was  Gudrun 
In  her  bed, 
Void  of  cares. 
By  Sigurd's  side. 
But  she  awoke. 
Of  joys  bereft, 
When  in  the  blood 
Of  Frey's  friend  she  swam. 
So  violently  she  struck 
Her  hands  together, 
That  the  beakers  on  the  wall 
Responsive  rang, 
And  in  the  court 
The  geese  loudly  screamed  " 

(Ibid.,  24). 

Brynhild,  eagerly  waiting  for  any  sound  of  the  horror 
that  is  being  enacted,  at  last  hears  the  piercing  scream 
of  the  young  widow,  and  knows  that  the  deed  is  done. 

"  Laughed  Brynhild, 
Budli's  daughter. 
Once  only 

From  her  whole  soul, 
When  in  her  bed 
She  listened  to 
The  loud  lament 
Of  Giuki's  daughter." 

She  says  to  her  spouse — 

"  Him  alone  I  loved. 
None  other  ; 
The  Valkyr  had  not  a  changing  mind." 

She  won't  survive  in  spite  of  the  expostulations  of  her 


GUDRUN  TRANSFORMED.  269 

consort  or  the  dissuasion  of  her  people.     Hogni  alone  takes 
a  very  matter  of  fact  view  of  the  situation. 

"  Let  no  one  hinder  her 
From  the  long  journey, 
Whence  may  she  never 
Born  again  return. 
Unhlest  she  came 
On  her  mother's  lap, 
Born  in  the  world 
For  ceaseless  misery, 
For  many  a  man's 
Heartfelt  sorrow." 

"  Let  a  pile  be  raised/'  chimes  in  this  woman  of  un- 
daunted mettle,  "  bedecked  with  shields  and  hangings. 
Let  them  burn  the  Hun  (Sigurd)  on  the  one  side  of  me, 
and  at  the  same  time  my  household  slaves  and  two  hawks. 
Let  us  lie  side  by  side  and  his  sword  between  us."  She 
put  on  her  golden  corslet  and  then  pierced  herself  with 
the  sword.  So  died  Brynhild,  part  Valkyr,  part  Budli's 
daughter,  mystic  union  of  the  mortal  and  the  supernatural. 
And  then  comes  the  transformation  scene  of  this  dread 
pantomime.  Gudrun,  the  girl  once  so  tender  and  gentle, 
so  bright  and  cheerful,  with  her  fond,  innocent  prattle, 
glum  as  a  thunder-cloud,  mute  as  a  stone,  and,  when  her 
tongue  is  at  length  loosed  and  the  tears  flow,  still  her 
whole  nature  altered  ;  the  once  meek  lamb  turned  tigress, 
the  future  slayer  of  her  children  and  server  up  of  their 
tiesh  and  blood  at  the  banquet ;  the  murderer  next  of  her 
second  husband,  Atli,  but  balked  at  last  in  attempted  self- 
slaughter.  Truly  a  Northern  Medea,  made  so  by  the 
machinations  of  a  Northern  Clytemnestra,  or  Lady  Mac- 
beth, or  what  you  like  to  call  her.  Sister  on  sister  work- 
ing unutterable  woe — the  old  tale  ! 

But  it  was  in  the  Northern  blood  to  feel  "  no  compunc- 
tious visitings  of  nature  "  on  due  cause  shown.  Witness 
those  Cimbrian  women  who  accompanied  their  husbands 
on  the  invasion  of  Italy,  and  who,  seeing  all  lost  at  the 
great  battle  of  Itaudium  agaiust  Caius  Marius  (Mallet,  i. 


270  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

22,  citing  Floras),  dashed  out  tlie  brains  of  their  children, 
and  completed  the  tragedy  by  destroying  themselves.^  But 
we  are  anticipating.  The  chamber  of  death  exercises  a 
fascination  upon  us  not  to  be  resisted.  "  Gudrun  sat  over 
Sigurd  dead  ;  she  wept  not  as  other  women ;  no  sifh  she 
uttered,  nor  beat  her  breast,  although  ready  to  burst  with 
sorrow,"  Men  and  women  came  to  console  her,  but  that 
was  hard  to  do.  Gudrun  has  gone  mad.  Dry  eyes,  say  the 
doctors,  are  a  symptom  plain  of  insanity.  Sage  jarls  came 
forward  to  divert  her  from  her  sad  state  of  mind ;  but  no 
• — she  could  not  shed  a  tear. 

"  Sat  tliere  noble 
Wives  of  jarls 
Adorned  with  gold 
Before  Gudrun  ; 
Each  of  them  told  her  sorrows, 
The  bitterest  she  had  known. 

"  Then  said  Giaflaug, 
Giuki's  sister  : 
'  I  know  myself  to  be 
On  earth  most  joyless ; 
Of  consorts  I 
The  loss  have  suffered  ; 
Of  two  daughters, 
Sisters  three, 
And  brothers  eight, 
I  alone  live.' " 

But  this  tale  of  sympathetic  woe  moved  not  Gudrun ; 
her  soul's  anguish  was  too  great  for  tears 

"  Then  said  Herborg,^ 
Hunaland's  queen  : 
'  I  a  more  cruel  grief 
Have  to  recount ; 
My  seven  sons 
In  the  South  land, 
My  spouse  the  eighth, 


'  Cf.  Tacitus,  Germania,  8;  Plutarch,  Marius,  19;  Caesar,  B.  G.,  vii.  51. 
^  GuSruuarkviSa,  i.  6. 


But— 


CONSOLATION  OFFERED  HER.  271 

In  conflict  fell  ; 

My  father  and  mj'  motlier, 

My  brothers  four, 

On  the  sea 

The  wind  deluded  ; 

The  waves  struck 

On  the  ship's  timbers. 

Their  last  honours 

'Tvvas  mine  to  pay, 

'Twas  mine  to  see  them  tombed, 

Their  funeral  rites 

To  prepare  was  mine. 

All  this  I  went  through 

In  one  half  year. 

And  to  me  no  one 

Consolation  offered. 

Then  I  became  a  captive 

Taken  in  war 

At  the  close 

Of  the  same  half  year  ; 

Then  had  I  to  adorn 

And  to  tie  the  shoes  of 

The  hersii"'s  wife 

Every  morn. 

from  jealousy 

She  scared  me. 

And  with  hard  blows 

Drove  me  ; 

Nowhere  master 

Found  I  a  better. 

But  mistress 

Nowhere  a  worse.' " 

"  Gudrun  could  not 
Shed  a  tear, 
Such  was  her  woe 
For  her  dead  consort. 
And  her  soul's  anj^'uLsh 
For  the  king's  fall. 

"  Then  said  Gullrcind, 
Giuki's  daughter  : 
'  Foster-mother,  thou  canst  not, 
Wise  as  thou  art. 
With  a  young  wife 
Hold  discourse.' 


21 1  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

"  She  snatched  the  pall 
From  Sigurd's  corse, 
And  turned  his  cheek 
Towards  his  wife's  knees. 
'  Behold  thy  loved  one ; 
Lay  thy  mouth  to  his  lip, 
As  if  thou  wouldst  embrace 
The  living  prince.' 
Gudrun  upon  him 
Cast  one  look  ; 
Slie  saw  the  prince's  locks 
Dripping  with  blood, 
The  chiefs  sparkling  eyes 
Closed  in  death, 
His  kingly  breast 
Cleft  by  the  sword. 
Then  sank  Gudrun 
Back  on  her  pillow. 
Her  head-gear  unloosed, 
Her  cheeks  coloured, 
And  raindrops 
Fell  from  her  eyes. " 


She  weeps  aloud. 


'•  Then  said  Gudrun, 
Giuki's  daughter : 
'  Such  was  my  Sigurd 
Among  Giuki's  sons 
As  is  the  garlick  ^ 
Among  the  lesser  herbs. 
I  also  seemed 
To  the  prince's  warriors 
Higher  than  any 
Priestess  of  Odin. 
Now  I  am  as  little 
As  the  leaf  oft  is 
In  the  stormy  winds. 
The  chieftain  being  dead. 
Oft  in  the  mansion 
Great  was  the  mirth 


1  Gehlauk  =  "  spear-leek."    Few  Englishmen  know  the  etymology  of  our 
word.    Cf.  the  Eastern  "jereed"  =  "sijear." 


THE  FURY  OF  BRYNHILD.  273 

When  my  Sigurd 
Grami  saddled, 
And  Brynliild, 
That  witch  accursed, 
They  went  to  woo 
In  an  evil  hour.'  " 

AVe  have  been  quoting  throughout  from  the  famous 
"  Lay  of  Gudrun,"  and  in  it  Brynhild  has  not  yet  de- 
stroyed herself.  She  is  gazing  on  the  havoc  she  has 
wrought — 

"  She  by  a  column  stood, 

The  wood  violently  clasped. 

From  the  eyes  of  Brynhild, 

Budli's  daughter, 

Fire  gleamed  forth. 

Venom  she  snorted, 

When  she  beheld 

The  wounds  of  Sigurd. 

Then  said  Brynhild, 

Budli's  daughter : 

'  May  the  hag^  lack 

Spouse  and  bairns. 

Who  thee,  Gudrun, 

Caused  to  greet. 

And  this  morning 

Gave  thee  runes  of  speech."  ^ 

Match  us  this  tale  of  pathos  in  the  literature  of  any  non- 
classic  land  before  the  days  of  Shakespeare!  Gudrun's 
character  is,  we  see,  painted  with  a  firm  hand  and  with  no 
sketchy  uncertain  pencil.  Sweetness  and  light  are  the 
halo  of  her  early  and  happy  days.  She  can  be  nettled  on 
due  provocation,  but,  generally  speaking,  her  features  are 
those  of  a  fair,  gentle,  and  confiding  woman.  Neither  is 
she  the  only  woman  true  to  the  death  in  these  old  legends. 
When  Baldr's  corpse  was  carried  to  the  ship,  his  wife 
Nanna's  heart  burst  with  grief  (harm)  and  she  was  laid 
on  the  pile  and  burnt  with  liim.     When  Loki  was  tied 

1  Gullrond.  2  Po^er  of  snecch. 


274  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

(luNvn  hy  his  son's  entrails  to  tlie  three  flat  stones,  and  a 
chained  serpent  kept  dropping  venom  into  his  face,  his 
wife,  Sigyn,  caught  the  poison  in  a  basin,  and  it  was  only 
when  she  left  for  a  moment  to  empty  out  the  vessel  that 
tlie  venom  struck  him,  and  then  his  struggles  made  the 
earth  to  quake.  This  wifely  devotion  in  a  celestial  shows 
clearly  how  earthly  women  would  and  did  act.  Bergthora 
miglit  have  come  forth  unscathed  from  the  burning  house, 
V)ut  she  refused :  she  was  the  wife  of  his  youth,  she  had 
lived  all  her  life  with  Njal,  and  she  would  not  leave  him 
in  death. 

We  fear  Anglo-Saxon  literature  has  none  such  pictures 
to  boast  of.  Judith  is  a  grand  exception  ;  but  she  moves 
in  too  lofty  an  atmosphere  for  us  to  compare  her  with 
other  women.  Joan  of  Arc  would  be  her  meetest  peer. 
Take  the  fine  Anglo-Saxon  epic;  how  little  insight  it  gives 
us  into  female  character !  And  no  wonder,  for  in  its  whole 
range  we  fail  to  meet  with  a  tale  of  true  love,  or  any- 
thing like  it.^  Freaware,  Hrothgar's  daughter,  bears  the 
ale-cups  to  the  earls  and  gives  treasures  to  the  w^arriors 
(4048).  Why  on  earth  didn't  she  chat  with  Beowulf,  and 
ask  him  about  the  ladies  across  the  water,  and  give  him 
meanwhile  a  sidelong  look,  as  maidens  will  do  to  a  gallant 
stranger  ?  Hildeburt,  again,  is  a  mournful  woman,  who 
bewails  in  songs  her  beloved  ones  killed  at  the  linden 
play  (2150),  but  not  a  jot  more  do  we  know  about  her. 
We  are  told  in  the  baldest  way  possible  that  Queen  Hygd 
(3869),  a  beautiful  woman,  violent  of  mood,  was  moved  to 
an  appalling  crime.  Kuthless,  she  slew  her  wedded  lord, 
and  married  again  to  King  Offa  of  England,  causing 
great  scandal ;  indeed,  Eomer,  the  son  of  Hemming,  re- 
proached her  with  it  when  drinking  his  ale.  But  surely 
Wealh-theow,  Hrothgar's  queen,  will  come  out  in  bold 
relief  with  such  a  foil  in  the  person  of  her  colourless 
daughter.  Not  so.  She  is  a  "joyous  woman,  of  exalted 
mind,  who  dispersed   cups  of  beer,  bore  the  mead-cup, 

1  Except  perhaps  in  the  lately-found  fragment  of  ""WalUere."  See  Tart  I. 


THE  VOLSUNGS.  275 

and  gave  treasures,"  and  made  a  speech  or  two.  That  is 
the  sum  and  substance  of  her  personal  qualities  and  the 
part  she  played  in  the  '  world '  epos  of  the  Anglo-Saxons. 
Yet  another  human  passion  besides  love  and  hate  is 
painted  here,  as  in  the  "  Mbelungen  Lied,"  in  tints  that  will 
never  fade — the  accursed  greed  of  gold,  auri  sacra  fames — 
and  the  fatal  fascination  which  it  exercises  on  man.  In 
the  German  poem,  whoever  gives  himself  up  to  the  gold 
becomes  a  ISTibelung,  doomed  to  death  (Niflheim),  while 
the  gold  hoard  is  destined  to  pass  out  of  his  hands.  The 
treasure,  once  the  property  of  the  powers  of  darkness,  in 
the  person  of  the  dwarf  Andvari,  passes  from  him,  while 
he  utters  a  curse  on  the  future  possessor  of  it — a  curse 
which  comes  true  in  its  inheritor,  Hreidmar,  who  is  mur- 
dered for  the  sake  of  it  by  his  demon  son,  Fafner.^  The 
new  owner  retreats  to  his  stronghold  on  Gnita  heath,  and 
in  the  shape  of  a  dragon  coils  lovingly  round  his  darling 
gold,  brooding  over  it  with  a  consuming  passion,  the  very 
type  of  Martial's  avaricious  man — 

"  Largiris  nihil  incubasqiie  gazo9, 
Ut  magnus  Draco  quern  canunt  poetas, 
Custodem  Scythici  fuisse  luci."  ^ 

Was  the  Eoman  poet  acquainted  with  the  tale  of  the 
Volsungs  ?  But  ere  long  the  invincible  champion,  Sigurd 
of  the  glittering  eye,  is  let  into  the  secret  of  the  treasure 
by  the  crafty  Eegin,  Fafner's  brother,  who  was  enraged  at 
being  cut  off  with  nil,  when  he  had  expected  a  share  of 

1  The  huge  penalty  paid   for  the  Haug,  "Eeligion  of  the  Parsees,"  p. 

death   of    the   otter   in   this   legend  212,  Bombay,  1862. 

clearly  points  to  this  animal  being  Yet  another  illustration  from  the 

held  sacred  by  the  ancient  Northmen.  East,  valeat  quantum.     Among  the 

Did  they  get  this  cultus  from  their  ancient   inhabitants  of  Yennen,    the 

Eastern  home?    At  all  events,  by  the  man  who  killed  a  dog  belonging  to 

Parsees    the   slaughter   of    an   otter  one  of  his  tribe  was  obliged  to  give 

(Sansk.     "udra")    is    considered    a  the   owner  a  heap   of  wheat    large 

horrible  crime,   this  beast  being  be-  enough  to  cover  the  hound  entirely 

lieved  by  them  to  contain  the  souls  from  the  head  to  tlie  tip  of  the  tail, 

of  a  thousand  dogs  of  the  male  and  This  is  the  exact  penalty  for  killing 

a  thousand  dogs  of  the  female  sex. —  the  king's  cat.   Laws  of  Wales,  p.  355. 

^  xii.  S3- 


276  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

the  ill-gottcu  yaiii.  The  son  of  Sigmuud  waylays  tlie 
monster  on  liis  road  to  tlie  watering-place,  pierces  him 
tlirough  and  throngh  with  his  magic  sword,  Gram,  tastes 
of  his  heart's  blood,  and  in  a  moment  can  interpret  the 
voice  of  the  birds  in  the  tree  hard  by,  who  see  through 
the  guile  of  the  dwarf  (Fafnismal,  32).  Slightly  altered, 
a  modern  poet  fits  in  here : — 

"  The  little  bird  sat  on  the  greenwood  tree, 
The  little  bird  sang,  '  Sir  Lion,  arise, 
For  I  hear  with  my  ears  and  I  see  with  my  eyes, 
And  I  know  what  I  know,  and  I  tell  thee  tliis, 
That  liegin  the  dwarf  a  traitor  is.' "  ^ 

Sigurd  takes  the  hint  and  becomes  sole  proprietor  of  the 
treasure  on  the  death  of  Regin,  whom  he  slays  for  his 
premeditated  treachery ;  and,  like  all  previous  possessors 
of  the  gold,  he  dies  a  violent  death  and  verifies  the  curse. 
The  same  fate  awaits  the  Giukungs ;  till  at  last  it  is  sunk 
in  the  Ehine,  and  reverts  to  its  first  owners,  the  spirits  of 
darkness. 

Well  might  Teuton  and  Scando  -  Goth  fight  for  the 
authorship  and  the  parentage  of  such  a  tale,  when,  to  make 
the  contest  hang  still  more  doubtfully  in  the  balance, 
the  Germans  have  in  their  own  tongue  a  poem  (the 
"  Nibelungen  Lied,"  above  cited  ^),  in  its  main  features, 
personages,  and  incidents  greatly  resembling  this  Northern 
poem.  That  the  tale  of  Sigurd  rests  on  a  historic  basis 
seems  certain,  but  how  much  of  it  is  history  and  how 
much  fable  can  never  be  ascertained.  All  inquirers  into 
this  recondite  subject.  Mythology — fresh  light  on  which 
has  been  thrown  by  the  Veda,  and  will  continue  to  be 
thrown  by  the  discoveries  in  Assyria  and  elsewhere — are 
well   aware   of   that   curious  process   whereby   mythical 

^  Sir  H.  Taylor.  have  much  too  favourable  an  opinion 

2  Once  attributed  to  IT.  von  Ofter-  of  these  things,"  wrote  to  him  Fre- 

din^'cn,  an  idea  long  exploded.     An  derick,  king   of   Prussia.       "To   my 

edition  of  tlie  whole  poem  was  first  mind  they  are  not  worth  a  charge  of 

I)roduced  by  the  Swiss,  I.  von  Miiller,  powder,  and  I'll  have  no  such  trash 

the  only  man  of  his  time  who  appre-  in  my  library." 
ciated   it  at  its  real  worth.      "You 


HISTORIC  POINTS  IN  THE  TALE.  277 

characteristics  have  been  attached  by  early  nomad  races 
to  historical  personages  and  actions,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  by  a  sort  of  compensation  of  errors,  historical  facts 
agglutinated  to  mythical  persons.  What  the  intermediate 
stages  were  by  which  the  sun-god  became  transfused  into 
the  popular  hero  and  the  popular  hero  melted  into  the 
sun-god,  might  be  revealed  if  we  had  earlier  monuments 
containing  the  missing  links.  The  next  question  in  in- 
terest will  of  course  be  as  to  what  race  of  people  may  the 
myth  be  said  to  belong.  The  best  solution  of  the  vexed 
question  of  its  nationality  will  perhaps  be  found  in  the 
verdict  of  the  late  Professor  P.  A.  Munch,  no  mean  autho- 
rity, viz.,  that  the  saga  is  the  common  property  of  the 
Northern  and  Germanic  races ;  that  it  became  moulded 
and  shaped  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  migrations  from  the 
East,  when  the  Scandinavian  and  German  races,  allied  in 
speech  and  origin,  were  tossed  about  together  in  wild  con- 
fusion from  the  Alps  to  the  Dovre  Fjeld,  from  the  P^hine 
to  the  Black  Sea. 

But  if  Sigurd  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  prehistoric 
as  far  as  we  are  concerned,  the  outlines  of  the  hero  gra- 
dually expanding  into  and  blending  with  the  mythic 
features  of  one  who  does  duty  for  the  sun-god,  still  in 
the  Northern  as  well  as  in  the  German  version  of  the 
tale  there  are  points,  as  afore  hinted,  historically  true. 
Thus  the  three  Burgundian  kings  are  matter  of  history. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  destruction  of  a  royal  Bur- 
gundian race  by  Attila.  Attila  himself,  his  brother  Bleda 
(in  the  "Nibelungen,"  Blodelin),  and  Dietrich  of  the  "Nibe- 
lungen  Lied,"  who  was  of  the  blood  of  the  Amalungs, 
the  royal  race  of  the  East  Goths,  are  also  historic  per- 
sonages. The  transactions  in  which  they  figured  must 
have  taken  place  from  45 1  to  about  500  a.d.,  though  in 
the  German  poem  they  are  compressed  into  a  shorter 
space.  Attila,  who  died  453  a.d.,  cannot  have  been  con- 
temporary  with   the  Ostrogotli  Theodoric,^  whose  reign 

1  lie  was  with  the  Visigoth  Theodoric. 


278  ICELA  MUC  LITER  A  TURE. 

conimcnccil  in  4S0.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  drinking 
blood  in  the  saga,  which  reminds  us  of  the  wont  of  the 
sons  of  yEacus,  as  described  by  Hesiod — 

'•  Drinking  tlelight  of  battle  as  at  a  feast," — ^ 

actually  did  occur  at  the  battle  of  Chalons.  The  mythic 
saga  of  Sigfried  would  be  primarily  quite  distinct  from 
these  sagas  of  Attila  and  Dietrich,  which  would  be 
brought  up  to  the  North  by  pilgrims,  Vaerings,  and  students, 
and  become  mixed  up  with  the  old  Northern  mythology. 
This  remarkable  fact,  that  King  Dietrich  in  the  Northern 
saga  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  Niflings,  while  in  the 
"  Nibelungen  Not "  of  the  thirteenth  century  and  Dietrich 
saga  of  the  fourteenth  century  he  plays  a  weighty  part, 
seems,  as  Grundvig  remarks,  to  have  escaped  the  attention 
of  Grimm. 

In  Charlemagne's  days  these  old  legends  (at  least  of 
Dietrich)  were  the  subject  of  German  songs,  which  even 
then  were  called  "  antiquissima."  ^ 

Pity  that  no  longer  exist  those  historic  songs  and  glees 
which  the  aged  Scylding,  so  well  informed,  recited  from 
far-off  days  to  the  sound  of  the  harp — wondrous  tales, 
sooth  and  sorrowful — before  the  guests  assembled  in  his 
hall,  on  the  flight  of  the  cannibal  Grendel  (Beowulf, 
4217).  Such  was  the  lay  of  the  hero  Ingeld,  son  of 
Frodi,  prince  of  the  Heathobards  (ibid.,  4135),  whom 
Grimm  (Haupt-Zeitschrift,  xv.  314)  identifies  with  the 
Hinieldus  of  whom  the  monks  loved  to  sing,  much  to  the 
disgust  of  Alcuin.  "  Eead  the  word  of  God  at  dinner," 
he  writes  to  Bishop  Speratus  ;  "  away  with  your  harpers. 
Listen  to  sermones  patrum,  non  carmina  gentilium,  quid 
enim  Hinieldus  cum  Christo  ? " 

^  AlaKiSai  iro\i/j.qi  Kexo-pvoras  rjvTe  mina,   quibus  veterum  regum   actus 

hairL— Hesiod,   Fragm.    ccxiii.   (93),  et  bella  canebantur"  (Einhard,  Vita 

Giittling.  Caroli  Magni,  cap.  29). 

^  "  Barbara  et  antiquissima    car- 


(     279     ) 


CHAPTEE  YIII. 

OTHER   POEMS   IN    THE   EDDA. 

Again,  what  a  thrilling  tale  is  that  of  Sigrun  and  Helgi 
in  the  Edda  !  He  has  been  slain,  pierced  with  a  spear  by- 
Dag,  and  is  buried  in  the  great  howe ;  but  a  female  slave 
sees  him  riding  one  night  towards  it,  his  wounds  still 
bleeding,  and  she  goes  and  tells  her  mistress,  Sigrun, 
who  starts  forth  to  the  mound  to  kiss  her  lifeless  king 
before  he  lays  aside  the  bloody  corslet.     She  cries — 

"  Thy  hair  is,  Helgi ; 
Humid  with  sweat  of  death, 
My  prince  is  all 
Bathed  in  slaughter-dew  ; 
Cold,  clammy  are  the  liands 
Of  Hogni's  son-in-law." 

And  she  asks  the  cause  of  this.     He  replies — 

"  Thou  art  the  cause, 
Sigrun  of  Sefatioll, 
That  Helgi  is 

"With  sorrow's  dews  suffused. 
Thou  weepest  cruel  tears 
Ere  to  sleep  thou  goest ; 
Each  one  falls  bloody 
On  the  prince's  breast, 
Wet,  cold,  and  piercing, 
With  sorrows  big."  ^ 

And  compare  with  this  the  later  Danish  ballad  of  Aage 
and  Else  referring  to  this  superstition — 

1  ilelgi  Hundicide,  ii.  42. 


-So  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

"  When  thou,  my  dear,  are  cheerful 
And  easy  in  thy  mind, 
The  cofliu  where  I  slumber 
Is  all  with  roses  lined  ; 
But  oft  as  thou'rt  in  sorrow, 
And  bowed  with  grief  so  sore, 
Is  all  that  while  my  coffin 
Brimful  of  blood  and  gore." 

The  dream  of  tlie  Christian  sage  transports  us  yet  a  stage 
further  in  the  vision  of  the  future — 

"  When  I  do  good  and  think  aright, 
At  peace  with  man,  resigned  to  God, 
Thou  look'st  on  me  with  eyes  of  light, 
Tasting  new  joy  in  joy's  abode." 

Or,  would  we  wish  to  see  the  grotesque  side  of  love, 
behold  the  god  Freyr,  his  heart  set  all  aflame  with  the 
sight  of  a  white  arm  of  a  maiden  opening  a  wicket.  But 
what  wonder!  So  white  it  was  that  it  made  sky  and 
water  glisten.  God  though  he  was,  there  was  no  mistak- 
ing it.  There  were  the  usual  symptoms :  no  sleep — he 
was  quite  off  his  mead  and  out  of  temper.  But  his  trusty 
man,  Skirnir,  manages  to  get  the  secret  out  of  him.  He 
liad  seen  a  fair  woman  and  could  not  exist  without  her. 
"  Thou  shalt  go  and  ask  her  hand  for  me,  and  have  her 
home  whether  her  father  will  or  no."  The  tale  is  told  in 
the  prose  Edda,  but  it  is  also  set  forth  in  the  "  Journey  of 
Skirnir"  in  the  poetic  Edda.  The  fierce  dogs  who  guarded 
tlie  bower  of  the  delicate  maiden  Gerda,  the  daughter 
of  Gymir  the  Hillogr,  began  to  bark.  Her  quick  ear 
detects  an  arrival.  The  messenger  is  admitted,  and  tries 
to  propitiate  this  daughter  of  Eve  (or  of  Lilith,  Adam's 
other  wife,  the  traditional  mother  of  all  preternatural 
anthropoids)  with  eleven  golden  apples ;  but  in  vain.  The 
precious  ring,  burnt  with  Baldr,  and  sent  by  him  from 
Hel  as  a  keepsake  to  his  disconsolate  father,  which  threw 
out  another   ring  monthly — compare  with  it  the  goose 


THE  SONG  OF  THRYHf.  281 

that  laid  the  golden  eggs — also  avails  not.  Afterwards 
he  threatens  to  decapitate  her,  and  draws  a  picture  of  her 
horrible  fate  if  she  became  the  wife  of  some  three-headed 
ogre.  Would  she  reject  such  a  lover  as  Freyr  ?  She 
relents,  and  promises  to  come  in  nine  nights  to  the  wed- 
ding. The  faithful  envoy  rides  back  on  Skidbladnir  and 
tells  Freyr  how  he  has  sped.  Quoth  the  impatient  god, 
with  whom,  as  with  Claudio,  "  Time  goes  on  crutches  till 
Love  have  all  his  rites  " — 

"  Long  is  one  night, 
Long  are  two  nights, 
How  can  I  last  out  three  ? 
Often  one  month 
Seemed  to  me  less 
Than  this  half  night  of  love." 

"Wliat  will  perhaps  make  this  tale  of  short  wooing  more 
interesting  is,  that  in  the  last  stanza  of  the  poem  occurs  a 
word,  'hy-iDott'  =  'wedding-night,'  which  is  conjectured 
to  be  the  origin  of  our  '  honeymoon,'  quasi  '  wedding-night 
month  '  (I.  Diet.),  though  the  '  honey '  = '  darling,'  of  ISTor- 
thern  England  seems  more  to  the  purpose. 

One  more  leaf  out  of  this  very  interesting  chapter  of  life, 
human  and  divine,  humorous  and  beautiful  alike,  and  we 
have  done.  One  of  the  Edda  poems  is  called  "  The  Eeco- 
very  of  the  Hammer ;  or,  the  Song  of  Thrym."  It  is  the 
more  interesting  as  the  bridal  trousseau  and  bridal  customs 
are  accurately  described.  While  Thor  is  asleep  his  ham- 
mer is  stolen  from  him.  He  tells  Loki  of  his  loss,  M^ho 
discovers  that  it  is  in  the  possession  of  Thrym,  king  of  the 
Jotuns.  The  loathly  giant  refuses  to  give  it  back  unless 
he  gets  Freya  for  a  bride.  Great  was  the  consternation  in 
heaven.  Without  that  hammer  w^hat  would  become  of 
them  ?  "  Become  of  you  ! "  echoed  the  acute  Heimdal  to 
the  assembled  conclave  ;  "  why,  dress  up  Thor  as  the  lady, 
the  obtuse  Etin  will  never  know  the  odds,  and  leave  the 
rest  to  me."     The  refractory  god  protests  that  he  will  be 


282  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

uic'knanied  'argr'  ever  afterwards,  but  at  last  yields  to 
Luki's  armiinents.  He  is  veiled  ;  round  his  neck  is  hung 
the  lianiing  Brkingamcn  ;  ^  by  his  side  tingle  the  orthodox 
bunch  of  keys;  over  his  knees  hangs  the  skirt;  on  his  breast 
are  the  disk-shaped  ornaments  still  worn  by  the  Scandi- 
navian bride,  and  on  the  head  tlie  towering  white  coif. 
Loki  acts  as  bridesmaid.  Off  they  post  in  the  car  drawn 
by  goats,  and  arrive  at  Jotunheim.  Affecting  apparently 
the  language  of  Odin  when  he  expects  guests  in  Valhalla, 
Thrym  cries,  "  Up,  giants  !  dress  the  benches  for  my  bride, 
the  daughter  of  Niord !  Many  a  treasure  I  possess,  many 
a  necklace;  Freya  alone  is  wanting."  Huge  forms  are 
there  in  numbers,  and  the  banquet  begins.  The  bride's 
appetite  and  thirst  are  incredible.  The  bridegroom  gets 
uncomfortable.  "Never  saw  I  bride  eat  and  drink  so 
voraciously."  "  Ah,  poor  thing  ! "  explains  the  bridesmaid, 
"  Freya  has  not  tasted  bit  or  sup  for  eight  nights,  so  wud 
was  she  to  come  to  Jotunheim."  Touched  at  this  pathetic 
state  of  things,  the  giant  leaned  forward  to  snatch  a  kiss 
under  the  veil,  but  started  back  in  affright  and  right  across 
the  hall. 

"  Maggie  coost  her  head  fu'  heigh, 

Looked  aslent  and  unco  skeigh, 

Gart  poor  Duncan  stand  aheigh. 

Ha,  ha  the  wooin'  o't." 

"  What  dreadfully  fierce  eyes !  I  thought  they  were  all 
aflame."  "  Ah,  poor  dear !  "  put  in  the  quick-witted  maid, 
"  she  has  not  slept  for  eight  nights ;  she  was  longing  so 
madly  for  her  Jotunheim."  A  horrific  giant  maid  now 
appears  and  claims  the  customary  fee.  All  now  wanting 
to  complete  tlie  marriage  is  the  benediction.  "  Bring  in 
Thor's  hammer,"  said  the  giant,  "  to  give  the  holy  sign 
(J^)  and  make  them  lawful  man  and  wife."     It  is  placed 

J  "  Flaming  collar."  In  due  time  this  mythic  trinket  passed  from  heaven 
to  earth  and  became  the  property  of  Mrotbgar,  whose  queen  presents  it  to 
Leowulf  (2403).     Cf.  Specim.  Gloss.  Edda  Vetus  I.,  sub  voce. 


THOR'S  HAMMER. 


283 


on  tlie  knees  of  the  bride.^  At  the  sight  of  his  trusty 
hammer  Thor  visibly  grinned  through  his  veil.  Up  he 
started,  swung  his  pulveriser,  and  demolished  the  whole 
brood,  king  and  all. 


1  So  Thor  consecrated  with  his 
hammer  Baldr's  funeral  pile.  In 
Northern  mythology,  the  thunder- 
bolt was  represented  as  a  hammer,  or 
something  like  one,  ^.  It  was  the 
holy  sign  with  heathens,  correspond- 
ing to  the  Christian  cross.  As  such, it 
occurs  on  a  few  of  the  earliest  llunic 
stones   (Thorsen,    pp.    17,    329).      It 


is  the  mystic  symbol  known  all  over 
the  East.  Found  at  Troy  and  Mycenae. 
The  Buddhist  fylfot  or  svastika,  from, 
a  Sanskrit  word  signifying  '  so  be  it,' 
is  called  by  others  a  fire-wheel  ;  by 
others  said  to  represent  solar  power. 
Here,  then,  we  have  a  point  of  con- 
nection Ijetween  the  Edda  gods  and 
the  East. 


(     2S4 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   MYTHIC    WORDS   IN  "  BEOWULFy 

So  mucli  for  the  mythic  and  heroic  Eddas,  with  their  gods 
and  demigods,  wliich  for  couvenience  sake  we  discussed 
consecutively.  Now  where  in  the  whole  field  of  Saxon 
literature  will  you  find  such  an  account  of  the  fabled  Pan- 
theon of  our  ancestors ;  where  learn  their  notions  of  this 
earth's  starting  into  being  or  the  end  of  it  ?  Will  it  be  in 
the  Chronicle,  that  most  accurate  annual  register,  which 
does  at  times  carry  up  the  genealogy  of  our  kings  to  Odin  ? 
Nought  of  the  gods  of  Asgard  is  to  be  found,  of  course,  in 
the  Christian  poem  of  "  Csedmon,"  albeit  running  on  for 
some  9000  lines  ;  a  work,  be  it  said,  conceived  at  times  in 
so  lofty  a  strain  that  its  author,  the  Northern  monk,  has 
been  called  the  Anglo-Saxon  Milton,  though,  sooth  be  said, 
this  picture  of  creation  savours  strongly  of  what  we  find  in 
the  Northern  "  Yoluspa."  Will  it  be  in  the  writings  of 
churchmen  and  divines,  who  revelled  in  coarse  material 
fancies  of  most  corporeal  demons  and  devils  reeking  with 
sulphur,  instead  of  the  more  ideal  pictures  of  the  grand 
old  gods  ?  There  is,  however,  one  Saxon  work  which 
tells  us  of  the  Northern  mythology,  and  which  we  have 
therefore  reserved  for  further  discussion  here — "  Beowulf," 
the  oldest  heroic,  or  some  will  have  it  mythic — perhaps  it 
will  be  best  to  call  it  mytho-heroic — poem  in  any  German 
language,  and  which  has  been  pronounced  to  be  older  than 
Homer. 

It  is,  as  we  have  already  shown,  the  metrical  paraphrase 
of  a  poem  composed,  as  is  generally  supposed,  in  Sweden, 


THE  MYTHIC  WORDS  IN  '•  BEOWULF:'         285 

in  the  language  of  tlie  ISTorth,  and  brought  to  this  country 
probably  during  the  Danish  dynasty,  or,  as  others  conjec- 
ture, it  came  to  ns  in  its  present  shape  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Elbe,  which  seems  less  likely,  regard  being  had  to  its 
Northern  tinge.  The  hero  of  it  is  said  to  have  fallen  in 
the  year  340  of  the  Christian  era.  The  poetical  vocabu- 
lary in  England,  as  in  Iceland  after  its  conversion,  was  for 
a  long  time  strongly  impregnated  with  heathen  reminis- 
cences which  would  be  more  or  less  understood  by  the 
people,  just  as  the  Pagan  Eddaic  songs  abound  with  names 
and  allusions  not  always  easy  to  comprehend.  Now  this 
poem  is  heroic  throughout.  We  have  the  semi-divine 
ancestry  of  the  dramatis  personae,  the  princely  hall,  the 
feasting  and  fighting,  the  warrior  adventurers,  with  little, 
however,  of  the  quiet  everyday  goings-on  of  ordinary 
people.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  poem  is  full  of 
references  to  Northern  mythological  stories  and  mytho- 
logical events ;  yet  they  are  references  only,  and  would 
have  no  meaning  for  us  had  there  been  no  Edda,  the 
hoarded  treasure  of  distant  Iceland,  to  throw  its  flood  of 
light  on  the  obscure  allusions  of  the  Saxon  epic.^  Let 
us  dwell  a  while  on  this  mythological  element.  Odin 
and  Thor  and  Loki  are  absent,  but  the  subordinate  beings 
of  the  old  superstitions  are  mixed  up  with  the  machinery. 
Perhaps  some  of  the  Christian  clergy  who  manipulated 
these  old  mythic  poems  as  devoutly  believed  in  them,  ml 
rosd,  as  their  converts,  although  they  did  not  acknowledge 
it.  Would  that  Augustine  and  his  successors  had  just 
placed  on  record  a  slight  account  of  the  heathen  system, 
and  all  would  have  been  plain  !  But  no  !  Those  Christian 
chroniclers  were  not  going  to  soil  their  pens  with  such 
anathema  maranatha. 

We  have  here  dragon- slayers  and  nikkrs  and  jotuns, 
and  Jjyrses  (the  surly,  stupid,  giants  of  our  fairy  tales), 
all  Northern   mythic   words.     The   earth  is  called  Eor- 

1  Dasent,  Introd.  I.  Dictionary. 


oS6  ICELA  NDIC  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

inon;:jruiid/  the  former  part  of  which  word,  which  has 
puzzled  the  editors,  occurs  again  in  "  lormungandr " 
(the  Northern  leviathan),  and  implies  something  vast 
or  superhuman.  Our  forefathers  who  dwelt  by  the  sea 
fancied,  as  they  looked  on  the  agitated  billows,  that 
the  motion  was  due  to  an  invisible  creature  or  creatures 
endowed  with  life,  glimpses  of  which,  few  and  far  be- 
tween, were  vouchsafed  to  the  storm-tossed  mariner. 
Such  a  monster  w^as  that  leviathan  of  whom  the  patriarch 
Job  ejaculates,  "Canst  thou  draw  out  leviathan  with 
a  hook,  or  his  tongue  with  a  cord  which  thou  lettest 
down?"  The  god  Thor  had  an  opportunity  of  solving 
this  question  himself  when  out  fishing  in  company  with 
the  giant  Hymer.  His  bait  was  a  bull's  head  tempt- 
ingly displayed  on  the  hook.  Suddenly  he  had  a  run  of 
no  ordinary  kind.  Thor  held  on  hard,  and  succeeded  in 
bringing  the  monster  fish  alongside.  It  turned  out  to  be 
the  great  original  Midgardsorm,  the  veritable  earth-ser- 
pent, which  in  Eastern  mythology  surrounded  this  world, 
and  locked  it  in  his  fast  embrace,  head  and  tail  forming  a 
knot.  No  sooner  did  his  head  show  above  water  than 
Thor  applied  his  hammer  vigorously  to  it,  the  result  of 
which  was  a  rending  of  rocks  and  a  general  convulsion 
of  the  wliole  frame  of  mother  earth,  upon  which  the  giant, 
alarmed,  cut  the  line  and  the  monster  sank  to  the  bottom. 
In  this  pleasant  apologue  those  who  can  read  between 
the  lines  may  discern  the  god  of  thunder  engaged  in  his 
spring  contest  with  the  natural  powers,  and  restoring 
peace  to  earth,  sea,  and  sky.  The  hooking  of  the  monster 
and  the  bringing  him  to  the  surface  of  the  water  seems 
to  allude  to  some  revolution  of  nature  with  which  we 
are  not  further  acquainted.^ 

But  to  return  from  our  fishing  excursion.     There  is  in 

^  Beowulf,  1722. 

-  Cf.  Kddse  Veteris  Lexicon  Mythologicum,  p.   486,  a  storehouse  of  Nor- 
theru  lore. 


THE  MYTHIC  WORDS  IN  '' BEOWULFT         287 

"  Beowulf  "  a  clear  reminiscence  of  the  Scandinavian  Norns 
in  that  ""VVyrd"  who  ordains  (5142),  and  in  "the  web  of 
battle-speed"  (1398)  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  Valkyrs 
of  Brian's  battle,  those  first  cousins  to  Hotspur's  "  fire- 
eyed  maid  of  smoky  war."  At  times  we  find  these  two 
distinct  sets  of  beings,  the  Norns  and  the  Valkyrs,  mixed. 
Again  we  have  in  "  Beowulf  "  Eagor  =  the  sea  ;  but  it  is 
only  from  the  Edda  that  we  learn  it  is  a  mythical  word,  the 
name  of  ^gir,  the  father  of  the  Oceanides.  His  wife  was 
Han,  the  queen  of  the  ocean,  in  whose  abode  dwelt  all 
those  who  perished  at  sea.  It  was  her  daughters  nine 
that  chased  Frithiof's  ships  in  the  dire  tempest,  all  the 
accidents  of  which  have  been  so  graphically  portrayed 
by  Bishop  Tegner,  rendering  the  old  Norse  saga  into 
Swedish  verse  so  vivid  and  lifelike  that  our  breath  bates 
and  our  limbs  move  in  unison  as  we  read  of  his  hair- 
breadth escapes  and  deeds  of  daring.  In  the  calm  summer 
days  Ean  is  sometimes  seen  even  now  reclining  on  the 
beach,  combing  her  long  yellow  hair  with  a  golden  comb  ; 
and  on  winter  days  she  will  visit  the  huge  fires  which 
the  fishermen  light  on  the  shores  of  the  Luffodens,  for  the 
sake  of  having  a  good  warm.  The  Lorelei  of  the  Upper 
Ehine  must  be  a  relation  who  has  left  the  sea  for  fresh 
water.  It  is  the  daughters  of  ^gir  who  supply  the 
answer  to  one  of  the  scores  of  riddles  set  by  Gest  the 
inind  (alias  Odin)  to  King  Heidrek  (Hervarar  Saga,  cap. 

XV.). 

"  Name  to  me  the  maidens 
Who  march,  a  numerous  band, 
At  their  father's  bidding. 
Pale  locks  have  they, 
Those  white-hooded  ones ; 
They  have  scant  regard  to  man. 

"  Name  to  me  the  widows 
Who  march,  a  numerous  band, 
At  their  father's  bidding. 
Seldom  are  they  kind 
To  the  hosts  of  men. 
They  must  watch  when  blows  the  wind." 


2SS  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

So  when  the  Saxou  paraplirast  of "  Beowulf "  calls  a  swor J 
"  Velandswork,"  the  allusion  would  have  been  hidden  from 
us  but  for  the  old  lay  in  the  Edda.^  Those  good  people 
who  were  debating  the  other  day  whether  Wayland  means 
Smith,  let  them  be  aware  that  Volundr  was  a  hero  of 
human  origin,  with  not  a  little  admixture  of  the  super- 
natural about  him— a  kind  of  Northern  Vulcan,  in  fact. 
Such  was  his  skill  in  working  metals,  especially  gold,  that 
he  was  reputed  to  have  served  his  apprenticeship  to  the 
underground  dwarfs,  Dwergar.  P.  E.  Miiller  derives  the 
name  from  an  Icelandic  origin,  viz.,  from  '  viV,  wile,  and 
'  Ixindl  disposition.^  There  are  some  curious  coincidences 
here.  Like  Vulcan,  the  Scandinavian  hero  was  maimed 
in  his  feet.  Like  Dadalus,  he  escaped  a  king's  ire  by 
wings  of  his  own  device ;  while  their  names  are  similar  in 
meaning.  To  this  day  a  labyrinth,  such  as  the  famed  one 
of  Dffidalus,  is  called  in  Icelandic  Volundarhus  —  Way- 
land's  house.  What  a  vista  of  conjecture  into  the  past 
this  opens!  A  Norman  chieftain,  bearing  this  name  of 
Volundr,  Anglice,  Wayland,  ravaged  France,  A.D.  86 1  ;  and 
some  chief  of  like  name  ^  was  probably  killed  at  the  battle 
of  Ashdown,  in  Berkshire,  871,  and  buried  on  the  spot. 

1  Deor  the  Scald    (Exeter   Book,  Volund  are  personified  tlie  intellec- 

P-    377j    Thorpe)  also  alludes  to  the  tual    gifts,    prudence,     art,    cunning 

cruelty  practised  on  the  great  Smith  under  opposition  and  misfortune,  and 

by  King  Nithard.     Baldr   occurs  in  their  ultimate   victory   over  all  the 

"  Judith"  and  "  Elene  "  in  the  sense  machinations  of  jealousy  and  malice 

"Princeps."  (Nidud). 

-  Is  not  und  rather  a  masc.  suflBx?  ■*  Such  is  the  conjecture  of  P.  E. 
Keyser,  "  Efterladte  Skrifter,"  155,  Miiller,  "Saga  Bibliothek,"  ii.  162. 
says  that  Volund  is  a  legendary  hero  Some  modern  antiqviaries  contend 
common  to  all  the  Teutonic  race.  He  that  the  cromlech  now  known  as  Way- 
is  the  Velent,  son  of  the  giant  Vade  land  Smith's  cave  was  so  named  first 
of  the  Dietrich  Saga,  c.  57-79.  Vade  by  F.  Wise  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Meade 
is  the  son  of  King  Vilkinus  by  a  on  the  antiquities  of  Berks  (Oxford, 
mermaid.  Velent's  son  is  Vidga  =  1758).  The  Wayland  the  Smith's  men- 
A.-S.  Wudga  (Traveller's  Song,  250).  tioned  by  the  Chronicle  of  Abingdon 
The  same  author  concludes  from  the  (i.  158),  was  adjoining  to  Compton 
world-wide  extension  of  the  legend  near  East  Ilsley,  and  not  to  Compton 
and  the  meaning  of  the  name,  and  Beauchamp.  The  legend  of  Wayland 
for  other  reasons,  that  it  was  a  tale  Smith  was  first  told  to  Scott  by  the 
quite  independent  of  the  rest  of  the  grandmother  of  "  Tom  Hughes,"  who 
Aser  religion.      He  thinks  that  in  lived  at  UfiBngton  hard  by. 


WA  YLAND  SMITH.  289 

Later,  the  slumberer  under  the  cairn  got  mixed  up  in  the 
tradition  of  the  vulgar  with  his  namesake,  the  ancient 
mythic  hero  of  Scandinavian  story,^  whose  legend  had 
come  over  with  the  Northmen ;  and  the  knight  Wayland's 
grave  became  the  tomb  of  Wayland  Smith ;  only,  instead 
of  working  gold  rings,  he  subsided  into  the  baser  art  of 
shaping  iron  horse-shoes.  Here,  then,  we  see  the  origin  of 
the  invisible  Smith  who  dwelt  under  ground  near  the 
White  Horse,  overlooking  Compton  Beauchamp.i  How 
little  were  these  Berkshire  bumpkins  aware,  when  they 
constructed  their  modern  edifice,  from  what  a  grand  old 
fane  their  materials  came  !  With  the  true  assimilating 
instinct  of  genius,  Scott  seized  upon  the  legend,  penetrated 
into  its  deeper  meaning,  and  again  transformed  it  into  a 
character,  about  whom  are  grouped  some  of  the  most  inte- 
resting features  of  "  Kenilworth," 

But  Voluudr  had  a  brother  of  great  renown  as  an 
archer,  Egil  by  name.  King  Nithud,  hearing  of  Egil's 
skill  with  the  bow,  had  an  apple  put  on  the  head  of  his 
three-year-old  son,  and  ordered  him  to  shoot  it  down. 
The  father  hit  the  apple  plump  in  the  centre  witliout 
injuring  his  son.  On  being  asked  by  the  king  what  the 
two  remaining  arrows  were  meant  for,  he  replied,  "  For 
thee  if  I  hurt  my  boy."  Here,  then,  we  have  the  Northern 
prototype  of  Tell.^  This  tale,  given  by  Saxo-Grammaticus 
to  Toko,  by  the  Jomsvikinga  Saga  to  Palnatoki,  and  by 
other  authorities  to  other  heroes,  from  the  twelfth  to  the 
very  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  also  known  in  Eng- 
land, and  lives  in  the  old  ballad  of  William  of  Cloudesley. 
Egil  would  in  Anglo-Saxon  have  borne  the  form  ^gel,  and 
accordingly  we  find  places  compounded  w4th  his  name,  e.y., 

^  King  Alfred  in  bis  translation  of  a  personage  would  not  have  been  for- 

"  BoetbiiConsolat.  Pbilosopli,"cxix.,  gottenbere.   SoMiiller,  Sagabl.ii.  161. 
by  a  curious  misconception,  rendered         -  Cf.  Kemble's    "Saxons   in  Eng- 

"  Ubi  sunt  ossa  Fabricii  "  by  "Where  land,"  i.  422.       Schiern,  "  Historiske 

are  the  bones  of  Veland?"  This  seems  Studien,"  Copenhagen,  1856,  pp.  40, 

to  indicate  that  the  legend  was  not  of  109,  which  discusses  the  wanderings 

native  English  descent,  else  the  real  of  Northern    traditions,  particularly 

or  reputed  burial-place  of  so  renowned  in  reference  to  the  story  of  Tell. 

T 


290 


ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 


il^.gels-l)urli  =  Aylesbury.  JEglosford  =  Aylesford.  The  Ice- 
landic Saga  of  this  Egil  is  lost,  but  a  tradition  of  him 
survives  in  the  Didriks  Saga.^  It  is  told  at  length  in  the 
national  songs  of  the  Faro  Islands.  Was  this  one  of  those 
myths  that,  according  to  our  deep-searching  friends  the 
Germans,  all  nations  naturally  produce,  the  germ  being 
native  to  the  East  ?  But  then  the  accessories  would  have 
differed  in  centres  so  remote  as  Switzerland  and  the  Arctic 
circle.  Say  rather  it  was  a  complete  plagiarism,  a  copy 
taken  by  whom  and  when  ? 

And   here   we  are  reminded  of   another  word,   'regn,' 
which   occurs   in  "Beowulf"  in  composition    expressing 
'  immense,'  '  intense,'  e.g.,  '  Eegn-heard '  = '  intensely  hard.' 
This,  too,  is  a  mythological  word  only  to  be  explained  by 
the  Edda.     In  Icelandic  it  has  a  derived  sense,  '  mighty,' 
'great,'  '  holy.'     Now  in  the  Edda  'regin  '=  the  'powers,' 
'  the  gods.'     A  lofty  mountain  soaring  to  heaven,  fit  abode 
for  the  deities,  is  called  '  Eegin-fial.'     The  vast  sea,  the 
abode  of  the  marine  deities,  is  '  Eegin-haf '=  the  '  mighty 
main.'      Hence   it   descended   into    proper    names   as   a 
matter  of  course.     '  Begnar '  Lodbrok,  he  of  the  shaggy 
inexpressibles,  whose  family  so  long  ruled  in  the  North  of 
England,  is  a  notable  instance.     Eagnfridr  =:  a  woman  of 
divine  beauty.      Eonald  =  Eognvaldr  =  'the  chief  power- 
ful by  the  grace   of   the  gods.'      The  town   of   Eegens- 
burg  tells  a  similar  tale ;  while  reynard  '  the  sly '  is  the 
old    Teutonic    Eegin-hart   =   '  the    cunning    counsellor.' 
Of  Begin,  the  dwarf  in  the  Edda,  one  of  those  gnomes  so 
skilful  in  metal-work,  he  who  bamboozled  Sigurd  and  was 
killed  by  him  for  his  treachery,  we  have  already  spoken. 
He  and  his  doings,  with  the  whole  story  of  Sigurd  the 
dragon-slayer,  have  been  immortalised  in  a  Eunic  picture, 
and  inscriptions  cut  in  the  rock  at  Eamsund,  and  on  the 
so-called  gowk- stone,  or  cuckoo- stone,  both  in  Suderman- 
land  in  Sweden.     These  have  been  admirably  explained  by 
the  late  Carl  Save  of  Upsala,  more  than  sufficient,  alas  !  to 

1  Cap.  75,  p.  90,  ed.  Unger. 


RE  GIN  THE  D]VARF.  291 

make  11s  regret  the  death  of  so  enthusiastic  a  worker  in 
the  field  of  old  ISTorse  philology.^  These  rock  runes,  be  it 
said,  are  reckoned  by  competent  antiquarians  as  a  proof 
that  this  Edda  myth  is  not  of  German  but  Scandina- 
vian origin,  coming  direct  with  that  people  from  the  East. 
Yet  another  word  which  occurs  in  "  Beowulf,"  and  else- 
where in  Anglo-Saxon  remains,  and  is  only  intelligible 
by  the  old  Norse  heathen  compositions.  "We  mean  '  Mid- 
dan-geard,'  literally  :=  '  middle  yard,'  the  '  central  en- 
closure ; '  in  Anglo-Saxon  a  name  of  the  earth  (from  it 
we  have  our  expression  'raid-earth'  or  'middle  earth'). 
Turn  to  the  old  Edda,  and  light  is  at  once  shed  on  the 
terrestrial  darkness.  The  old  Scandinavians  fancied  that 
mankind  lived  in  a  central  temperate  region  in  the  middle 
of  the  universe,  called  by  them  Midgargr,  the  '  j\Iianger- 
dun '  of  the  Persians,  which  was  protected  by  the  gods  of 
Asgard  (the  lofty  '  burgh  of  the  gods ')  from  the  evil 
powers.  These  last  had  their  abode  in  Utgard  =  '  out- 
yard,'  that  distant  land  bordering  on  the  sea  circling 
round  this  earth,  but  uninhabited  from  its  excessive  cold. 
It  was  the  especial  province  of  the  god  Thor  to  be  the 
defender  of  our  vale  against  the  besieging  deities,  the 
gigantic  supernatural  powers,  and  a  tolerably  hard  life  of 
it  he  had  in  consequence. 

^  "  Sigurds  Ristning,"  Upsala,  1868. 


(      292      ) 


CHAPTEE    X. 

SAGAS     OF    ICELAND. 

We  have  talked  (p.  170,  supra)  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle, 
frenerally  though  not  always  trustworthy  in  its  dates,  and 
identifying  beyond  dispute  the  existence  of  such  and  such 
individuals,  but  as  signally  failing  to  satisfy  our  curiosity 
as  to  their  personalities,  and,  until  about  Alfred's  time, 
when  the  writer,  in  describing  the  king's  fights  with  the 
Danes,  manifestly  warms  up  to  the  occasion  and  becomes 
less  wooden,  very  deficient  in  the  matter  of  details.^  Was 
Alfred  bald  ?  If  so,  why  not  say  so  ?  If  he  had  hair,  of 
what  colour  ?  Was  there  no  speculation  in  those  eyes  of 
his  ?  What  was  their  hue  ?  Turn  to  the  corresponding 
literature  of  Iceland  and  Norway.  Here  we  have  some- 
thing pleasant  to  the  taste  and  easy  of  digestion.  Verily 
it  is  a  cake  and  not  dough. 

But  let  us  say  a  few  words  parenthetically  about  Ice- 
land, for  though  it  and  Norway  in  those  days  spoke  and 
wrote  the  same  tongue,  the  old  Norse,  it  was  in  Iceland 
that  the  most  and  best  specimens  of  the  Northern  litera- 
ture were  composed  and  copied  down.     Wliat  were  the 

1  There  is,  however,  one  remark-  tions  offered  them — are  all  described 

able  exception,  the  story  of  the  mur-  with     Icelandic     minuteness.      Mr. 

der  of  King  Cynewulf  (755)  when  on  Earle   renders    'gebaeru'  by  'cries.' 

a  visit    to   a    lady   in    the   country,  The   corresi)onding  Is.    'laeti,'  it  is 

where  the  shape  of  the  house,   the  true,  may  =  either   '  cries '   or   '  ges- 

way  in  which  it  is  beset  and  the  king  tures  ; '    but    the    German  analogue 

slain  before  his  men  were  aware   of  '  geberden '    always  =  '  gestures     or 

it;  how  they  at  length  are  alarmed  'bearing,'  in  which   sense  'gebaeru' 

by  the  frantic  gestures  of  the  lady,  occurs  twice   iu  the   "Exile's  Com- 

rush  to  the  spot  and  fight  to  the  last  jjlaiut." 
man,  refusing  the  favourable  condi- 


SAGAS  OF  ICELAND.  293 

moving  causes  of  this  literary  activity  ?  A  great  part  of 
the  Icelanders  were  of  the  very  best  families  of  Western 
N'orway,  people  who  for  generations  had  led  a  life  of 
energy  and  movement,  and  had  been  in  constant  com- 
munication with  the  best  European  races,  particularly  the 
Irish,  a  people  very  early  pre-eminent  among  the  islands 
of  the  west  in  the  possession  of  a  higher  culture.  This 
would  prove  contagious,  and  foster  among  the  Icelanders 
a  taste  for  literary  production,  and  help  to  generate  among 
them  the  historic  faculty.  Then,  again,  the  very  physical 
characteristics  of  the  island  had  a  hand  in  the  matter. 
Their  isolation  would  naturally  make  the  people  anxious  to 
hear  stories  of  the  world  outside,  especially  about  the  pre- 
sent and  past  of  the  mother  country.  How  intensely  eager 
our  American  cousins  have  always  been  for  a  similar  treat ! 
In  long  winter  nights,  when  the  frozen  breath  of  the  near 
Greenland  would  drive  the  people  cowering  to  the  fire- 
side, their  energetic  mind  would  at  once  seek  for  a  fillip, 
and  an  antidote  to  the  tedium  of  the  hour,  in  story-telling. 
Then  again,  literary  power  was  not  a  mere  matter  of  senti- 
mental amusement.  The  native  knew  full  well  that  to 
excel  in  history  or  poetry  would  secure  for  him  favour  at 
the  Scandinavian  and  English  courts ;  it  would  place  him 
"  high  in  hall  a  welcome  guest,"  and  fill  his  pocket  with 
gold  pieces.  Strongly  impressed  with  this  fact,  they 
would  turn  their  abundant  leisure  to  profitable  account 
in  the  composition,  not  only  of  poetry,  but  of  long  mythic 
and  historic  sagas  in  prose.  At  an  early  period  this 
literature  would  be  oral  and  traditional.  Runic  charac- 
ters, the  only  existing  method  of  writing,  was  only  a 
clumsy  vehicle  for  the  transmission  of  their  literary  speci- 
mens, much  less  handy  than  their  tenacious  and  nimble 
memories.  The  introduction  of  Christianity,  a.d.  iooo, 
brought  with  it  Latin  characters.  But  it  was  a  century 
and  more  before  these  were  employed  for  copying  down 
productions  in  the  vernacular.  About  the  middle  of  tlie 
twelfth  century  a  beginning  was  made  with  laws  and  legends. 


294  ICELANDIC  LIJ'ERA  TURK. 

religious  and  genealogical.  V>y  degrees  the  movement 
grew.  The  poetic  and  historic  traditions  saw  the  light, 
and  for  a  couple  of  centuries  vernacular  composition  was 
in  full  swing,  culminating  about  the  middle  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  and  dying  out  about  1400.  Of  the  original 
Scandinavian  MSS.  still  extant,  the  greater  part  belong 
to  the  fourteenth  and  latter  half  of  the  preceding  century, 
and  there  arc  one  or  two  which  belong  to  the  beginning 
and  end  of  the  twelfth  century. 

But  it  is  time  we  should  turn  to  a  book  with  which 
Europe  had  no  contemporary  work  in  the  vernacular  to 
compare,  the  pink  and  plume  and  pride  of  old  Norse 
literature — the  "  Heimskringla,"  or  history  of  the  kings  of 
Norway,  by  Snorri  Sturluson.  Why,  here  we  have  a  Macau- 
lay  in  the  thirteenth  century,  a  man  to  whom  all  who  wish 
to  be  good  story-tellers,  to  interest  the  mind  and  stir  the 
heart,  may  well  apprentice  themselves — a  man  in  a  remote 
valley  of  Iceland,  that  sunless  land  of  snow  and  ice,  that 
howling  wilderness  of  lava  and  cinder  heaps,  over  which 
night  broods  so  many  weary  hours  of  the  year.  Surely 
J.  H.  Newman  had  forgotten  Snorri  when  he  laid  it  down 
as  an  axiom  that  "  science,  literature,  and  art  refuse 
to  germinate  in  frost"  (Historic  Sketches,  i.  60).  You 
should  see  the  place,  the  site  of  his  abode,  with  the  bath  of 
hewn  stone,  in  that  valley  of  bogs  and  reek,  and  you  would 
be  lost  in  amazement  if  you  did.  See  him  picking  up  the 
threads  of  history,  and  working  them  into  a  tissue  pic- 
turesque in  the  extreme,  in  his  own  vernacular  too,  when 
we  English,  who  had  not  the  wit  to  throw  off  the  old 
Ptoman  influence  —  dumbfounded,  too,  with  that  French 
jargon  which  the  Norman  had  brought  into  the  land,  the 
language  of  the  royal  court,  the  courts  of  law,  and  the 
baronial  castle — were  maundering  away  in  Latin.^     "  Oh  ! 

'  This   taste   for   Latia   originated  fected  our   vernacular  prose    compo- 

probably  with  the  habit  we  so  early  sition.     Priscian  was  highly  reputed 

indulged  iu  of  translating  from  that  among    us.      The  entry,    S28,    Chi-o- 

language,    which,    whatever  may  be  nicle,  shows  this  :  "Tunc  Priscianus 

said  to  the  contrary,  must  have  af-  profunda   grammatica  rimatus   est." 


SNORRI  AND  THE  "  HEIMSKRINGLA. 


295 


but  Snorri  is  not  at  all  true.  He  drew  upon  his  imagination 
for  his  facts.  His  history  may  rather  be  likened  to  that 
of  Herodotus,  which  Niebuhr  looked  on  as  a  work  of  epic 
rather  than  of  historic  value."  Indeed !  let  us  see.  In 
his  preface  he  states  that  he  based  his  work  on  living  tra- 
dition, which  had  long  before  received  its  defined  inner 
character,  and  also  its  complete  outer  form,  and  was  now 
passed  from  the  tongue  to  the  pen  (Keysir,  15);  also  on 
old  genealogical  registers,  which  were  preserved  with  ex- 
traordinary care,  and  on  ancient  poems,  the  authors  of 
which  believed  what  they  related  was  true.^  Among  these 
poets  were  Thiodolfr  and  Hornklovi,  the  scalds  of  King 
Harold  Fairhair,  and  Eyvindr,  also  a  Norwegian,  nick- 
named Skalda-spiller,-  who  celebrated  Hacon  Jarl.    "  These 


We  are  reminded  here  of  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  fragment  on  vellum  of  a  gram- 
matical treatise,  based  on  Priscian,  in 
All  Souls'  College  Library,  and  sup- 
posed to  belong  to  the  eighth  or  ninth 
century.  The  writer,  after  explain- 
ing that  an  ox  loweth  (hlae  wj)),  a  sheep 
bleats  (blaet),  a  pig  grunteth  (grunaS), 
&c. ,  facetiously  observes  that  it  would 
be  very  absurd  (dysig)  if  a  man  were 
to  "bark"  or  "bleat."  Some  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  grammatical  terms  may 
well  reconcile  us  to  the  cease  of  the 
ancient  tongue.  For  "  in  the  indica- 
tive mood"  we  find  "  on  gebicnigend- 
licum  gemette,"  and  so  on. 

Priscian  penetrated  to  Iceland.  In 
the  treatises  on  grammar  and  speech 
appended  to  the  prose  Edda,  pro- 
perly so  called,  which  are  marvels  of 
literary  work  in  such  an  age,  time, 
and  place,  constant  reference  is  made 
to  the  great  grammarian,  and  in  prose 
Edda,  ii.  7,  we  have  extracts  from 
his  work  "  De  Partibus  Orationis," 
written  A.D.  520.  The  writer  of  the 
Icelandic  grammatical  treatise  was  a 
carpenter,  Thorodd,  who,  while  at 
work  building  Holar  church,  heard 
the  pupils  of  the  cathedral  school  re- 
citing their  Latin  exercises,  and  so 
caught  tlie  taste  for  learning. 

^  In  the   universal  darkness   that 


preceded  the  Reformation,  Snorri's 
History  encountered  the  fate  of  many 
more  books,  and  was  lost  sight  of  by 
the  world  of  letters.  A  Danish  monk, 
ChristiernPederson,  who,  in  his  book 
on  Saxo,  gave  extracts  from  the 
"  Heimskringla, "  was  the  first  to  re- 
introduce it  to  literature.  About 
1550  appeared  a  book  of  extracts,  in 
Danish,  from  the  old  MS.  '  Kringla  ' 
in  Bergen.  But  it  was  not  till  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  the 
Danish  translation  by  Peder  Claus- 
sen,  priest  of  Undal  in  Xorway  (born 
1545,  died  1614),  edited  with  a  pre- 
face by  Ole  Worm,  restored  Snorri  to 
some  extent  to  his  place  in  literature. 
The  MSS.  from  which  he  worked  are 
lost.  Other  and  better  MSS.  of  the 
original  have  since  been  discovered, 
but  his  work,  especially  in  respect 
to  Swerrir's  Saga,  is  very  valuable 
(Storm,  216). 

-  Skalda-spiller  =  spoiler  of  scalds, 
i.e.,  he  took  the  shine  out  of  all  the 
other  poets.  Others  interpret  it 
'  poetaster,'  plagiarist,  and  say  lie  was 
so  nicknamed  because  two  of  his  chief 
poems  were  modelled  on  the  works  of 
contemporary  poets  :  the  "  Haleygja- 
tal"  after  the  "  Ynglinga-tal,"  and 
the  "Hakonar-miil"  after  the  "Eriks- 
mal."    Of.  Fagrskinna,  33. 


296  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

old  songs,"  proceeds  Snorri,  "  live  in  men's  mouths  to 
this  day." — He  lived  four  centuries  after  Harfagr. — "  They 
were  sung  before  the  chieftains  whose  battles  or  expedi- 
tions they  celebrate,  or,  at  all  events,  in  the  presence  of 
their  sons,  and  we  believe  they  were  true  accounts ;  for 
scalds  would  not  have  dared  to  proclaim,  before  the  face 
of  their  patron,  exploits  of  his  which  not  only  he  but  all 
those  present  knew  to  be  stuff  and  nonsense.  This  would 
have  been  mockery  and  no  praise." 

But  besides  these  old  traditionary  ballads,  the  common 
source,  be  it  said,  of  every  nation's  history  in  their  earliest 
days,  he  had,  he  says,  another  most  reliable  source  of  his- 
tory in  Ari  Frodi,  born  1068,  died  1 148,  the  beginner  of 
the  "  Landnama  bok,"  or  "  History  of  the  Discovery  and 
Settlement  of  Iceland,"  and  writer  of  the  "  Islendif^abok," 
another  work  of  the  same  character.  Ari  was  a  very 
sage  person.  He  lived  to  a  great  age,  and  he  was  well 
versed  in  the  histories  of  Norway,  and  Denmark,  and 
England,  as  well  as  in  all  the  great  events  of  the  day  in 
his  own  island.  Hence  everything  he  relates  is  considered 
by  many  wise  men  deserving  of  the  utmost  attention.  His 
chief  informant  was  Oddr,  who  got  his  information  direct 
from  Thorgeir,  a  man  who  was  so  old  that  he  was  living 
when  the  great  Hacon  Jarl  was  murdered.  From  his 
seventh  to  his  twenty-first  year  Ari  lived  with  Hallr  of 
Hawkdale,  a  man  of  good  memory  and  very  wise,  who 
could  remember  being  baptized  at  the  age  of  three  by 
Priest  Thangbrand,  the  year  before  Christianity  was  estab- 
lished in  Iceland  by  law.  Hallr  travelled  about  a  good 
deal,  and  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Saint  Olaf.  He  was 
twelve  years  old  when  Bishop  Isleifr  died,  which  was 
eighty  years  after  the  fall  of  King  Olaf  Tryggvason.  He 
lived  sixty-four  years  in  Hawkdale,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
ninety-four.  Under  the  roof  of  Hallr,  Ari  met  with  his 
foster-son,  Teitr,  son  of  Bishop  Isleifr,  who  told  him  a  good 
deal  of  lore,  which  he  subsequently  wrote  down.  "  No 
wonder,"  continues  the  great  historian,  "Ari  was  truly 


THE  GREENLAND  CHRONICLE.  297 

informed  on  distant  events,  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
having  thus  learned  from  ancient  men  and  sages,  being, 
moreover,  himself  a  man  eager  to  learn  and  having  a  reten- 
tive memory.  But  as  for  old  songs,  they  are,  methinks,  of 
all  things,  least  likely  to  be  corrupted,  if  they  are  correctly 
sung  and  sensibly  interpreted."  ^  That  is  a  plain,  unvar- 
nished tale  at  all  events,  and  a  complete  set-down  to  those 
who  will  have  it  that  Snorri  was  given  to  romancing.  So 
was  Herodotus,  imtil  modern  travellers  have  been  able  to 
prove  his  statements  to  be  true. 

Snorri  frankly  confesses  whence  he  got  his  information  ; 
and  very  good  sources  they  were.  The  best,  too,  then 
procurable.  He  makes  no  mystery  about  the  mine  he 
worked  in,  the  hole  of  the  pit  whence  his  history  was 
dicrcred.  But  to  know  facts  is  one  thing.  To  be  gifted 
with  the  power  of  exposition  is  another ;  and  that  power 
Snorri  possessed  in  a  very  eminent  degree.  Besides 
another  circumstance  corroborates  Snorri.  The  truthful- 
ness of  the  Greenland  Chronicle,  most  likely  by  an  equally 
ancient  hand,  has  been  practically  tested  by  modern 
visitors  to  that  country  in  the  description  of  localities 
and  of  the  time  of  sun-rising  at  certain  places,  which 
correspond  with  what  they  themselves  saw.  In  this,  to 
a  great  extent,  we  have  a  guarantee  for  the  truthfulness 
of  these  chronicles  generally.^  In  Snorri's  chain  of  evi- 
dence for  his  History  there  was  liardly  then  a  link 
wanting,  while  the  histories  of  Paulus  Diaconus  and 
Jornandes  were   evidently    based   on   ancient   poems   of 

1  So  thought,  too,  Snorri's  prede-  -  Cf.  "  Antiquitates  Americ.inas  " 
cessors  in  history-writiug.  The  au-  (Copenhagen,  1837),  where  the  ae- 
ther of  "  Historia  Norwegise  "  frame.s  count  of  the  discovery  of  America 
his  early  annals  on  Thiodolf's  "  Yng-  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  and  begin- 
lingatal."  Theodoric  the  monk  speaks  ning  of  the  eleventh  century,  viz., 
with  approbation  of  the  chronological  Newfoundland,  Nova  Scotia,  as  well 
poems  of  the  Icelanders.  Odd  Monk  as  New  Brunswick  and  Canada,  is 
gives  several  of  Halfred's  verses  about  given  from  the  "Flateybok"  and 
Olaf.  But  none  of  them  before  Snorri  other  ancient  vellum  MSS.  obtained 
knew  how  to  turn  these  old  verses  to  from  Iceland, 
the  proper  account.  Storm,  ib.,  p. 
20,  sqq. 


29S  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

Avliose  authors  they  knew  nothing — such  ancient  pieces 
as  those  mentioned  by  Tacitus.^ 

Neither  was  there  any  break  here  in  the  continuity,  as 
there  was  at  lionie,  where  the  old  annals  were  destroyed 
by  the  Gauls,  and  a  long  space  intervened  between  that 
date  and  the  date  of  the  first  annalist,  Fabius  Pictor, 
<dving  time  for  the  old  ballads  mentioned  by  Ennius  and 
Oato  the  Censor  to  be  forgotten  and  become  obsolete. 
Snorri  quotes  from  poets  almost  his  contemporaries,  the 
lampadephoroi  and  mantel-bearers  of  scalds  of  earlier 
times.  While  in  the  whole  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  there 
are  but  three  poems,  in  Snorri  there  are  hundreds.  Poetic 
books  of  Jasher  are  cited  in  every  page.  The  sagas,  to 
say  the  least  of  it,  often  help  us  to  facts,  and  to  the  causes 
and  connections  of  facts,  which  our  own  writers  leave 
obscure.^ 

Take  an  instance.  The  ancient  sculptured  pillar  at 
Forres  has  always  been  an  enigma  to  antiquaries,  with  its 
opposing  bands  of  horse  and  foot,  betokening  some  fierce 
encounter  of  olden  days.  Now  it  is  recorded  in  the 
"Flateybok"  (i.  221)  how  Earl  Sigurd  of  the  Orkneys 
invaded  Scotland  and  slew  Earl  Melbrigda  of  the  Tusk, 
a  kind  of  Northern  "  wild  boar  of  the  Ardennes,"  and  all 
his  men.  This  done,  they  rode  off  in  triumph,  with  the 
heads  of  their  foes  fastened  to  their  cruppers.  On  the 
way.  Earl  Sigurd,  while  spurring  his  horse,  struck  the  calf 
of  his  leg  against  the  tooth  projecting  from  Melbrigda's 
head.  It  was  only  a  slight  scratch,  but  tlie  leg  swelled 
and  suppurated,  and  led  to  the  death  of  the  EarL  He  was 
buried,  says  the  saga,  on  the  banks  of  the  Oykel  (Ekki- 
alsbakki).  But  the  battle  may  very  well  have  been  fought 
at  Forres,  and  the  sculptured  pillar  may  be  a  representa- 
tion of  it,  for  the  leader  appears  with  a  human  head 
hanging  at  his  girdle.^ 

^  Tacitus,  Germania,  ii.  :    "  Cele-  -  Freeman's  "  History  of  the  Nor- 

brant  carmiiiibus  antiquis  quod  unum  man  Conquest,"  i.  258. 

iipud  illos  memorise  ct  annalium  genus  ^  Skene's  "  Celtic  Scotland,"  i.  337. 
est." 


THE  BIARKAMAL.  299 

Let  us  cite  other  examples.  At  the  battle  of  Hjoruu- 
cfavafT  with  the  Jomvikiniis,  Hacon  Jarl  had  five  celebrated 
scalds  to  animate  his  men  (Bartholin,  p.  172).^  This 
custom  in  Northern  armies  is  corroborated  by  Alfred's 
traditionary  visit  as  a  minstrel  to  the  Danish  camp,  these 
gentry  being  as  privileged  as  wearers  of  the  Eed  Cross  in 
our  days.  At  Stikklestad,  where  St.  Olaf  fell,  he  pre- 
viously told  Thormodr  Kolbrunar  scald,  "  You  shall  not 
only  record  what  you  have  heard,  but  what  you  have 
seen."  The  scald  was  there  to  animate  the  soldiers  with 
his  war-songs  as  they  rushed  to  the  onset,  to  sing  the 
paean  of  victory  or  a  dirge,  as  the  case  might  be,  and,  if  he 
lived,  to  record  the  deeds  of  the  day  thereafter.  At  early 
dawn  Thormodr  with  lusty  voice  broke  into  the  Biarka- 
mal,  or  song  of  Biarke,  a  genuine  old  heathen  ditty,  telling 
of  the  fight  where  Eolfe  Krake,  wakened  from  his  slum- 
bers, fell  with  all  his  men,  of  which  Saxo  (lib.  ii.  90),  who 
makes  sad  work  of  the  obscure  Icelandic  words,  gives  a 
long  metrical  Latin  paraphrase.  Borne  upon  Northern 
ears,  it  would  stir  them  like  the  voice  of  a  trumpet.  Here 
is  Laiug's  version,  which,  though  not  literal,  gives  the 
spirit  of  the  original : — ^ 

'•  The  day  is  breakin,<:, 
The  house-cock  shaking 

^  Harald  Hardrada  sang  before  the  Olafsaga,  cap.  220.  Three  other 
battle  of  Stamford  Bridge.  So  Tail-  stanzas  are  cited  by  Snorri  in  the 
lefer,  before  the  battle  of  Hastings,  Edda,  cap.  45.  They  are  a  notable  in- 
struck  up  the  song  of  Charlemagne  stance  of  the  circumlocution  in  which 
and  Roland,  to  inspirit  the  Normans,  the  best  bards  revelled.  Imagine  in 
The  Fraukish  Emperor's  wars  with  an  affair  of  life  and  death,  while  en- 
the  neighbouring  Saxons  had  fired  gaged  in  rousing  the  nien-at-arnis  to 
the  imagination  of  the  North,  and  the  rescue  of  their  princely  beue- 
in  Scandinavia  he,  like  Theodoric  factor,  imagine  the  scald  stopj)ing 
of  Bern  (Verona),  became  a  sort  of  his  spirited  reveille  to  run  through  a 
legendary  hero.  One  of  the  finest  double  diapason  of  sixteen  mystic 
ancient  Norwegian  ballads  recites  the  names  for  gold,  e.g.,  The  burden  of 
death  of  Roland  (Bugge,"NorskeFol-  Grani,  the  drudge-work  of  Fenia, 
keviser,"  xiv.  Of.  "Worsaae,  "Minder  the  fine  for  the  Otter,  the  red  ore 
om  de  Nordmsendene  i  England,  of  the  Rhine,  the  hair  of  Siv,  the 
168).  strife  of  the  Niflungs,  ILc. 

-  This  is   all   that  is   given  in   S. 


300  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE, 

His  mstliiij;  wings  ; 

Wliile  priest-bell  rings — 

Crows  up  the  morn, 

And  touting  horn 

Wakes  thralls  to  work  and  weep. 

Ye  sons  of  Adil,  cast  off  sleep  ! 

Wake  up  !  wake  up  !      "* 

Nor  wassail  cup 

Nor  maiden's  jeer 

Awaits  you  here. 

Hrolf  of  the  bow, 

Hare  of  the  blow, 
Up  in  your  might !  the  day  is  breaking, 
'Tis  Hilda's  ^  game  that  bides  your  waking." 

No  bunglers  these  scalds  ;  no  dabblers  in  Helicon,  who, 
with  blue-visaged  Hel  staring  them  in  the  face,  would 
pour  out  sustained  dirges,  surpassing  all  the  swans  that 
ever  were.  Egil,  for  instance,  and  Bragi,  the  author  of 
the  famous  song  of  Eagnar  Lodbrok — both  of  whom,  be- 
tween night  and  morning,  composed  many-stanzaed  pane- 
gyrics to  put  away  a  king's  wrath  and  save  their  own 
heads,  albeit  the  first-named  was  terribly  bothered  by  a 
swallow  that  would  keep  twittering  against  the  window. 
It  really  was  a  witch,  emissary  of  the  blood-thirsty  Queen, 
bent  on  confounding  his  muse.  One  thing  is  to  be  regret- 
ted, that  Icelandic  poetry,  which  could  be  so  simple  and 
natural  (witness  the  Voluspa  and  other  specimens  of  the 
old  ballad  in  the  metre  called  FornyrSalag),  indulged  very 
early,  especially  in  the  DrottkvdeSi,  Drapa,  and  such-like 
court  poetry,  in  an  obscure  medley  of  studied  artifices. 
Pity  that  men  to  whose  lips  rushed  spontaneous  poetry  in 
accents  vigorous  and  full  of  fire  should  have  wasted  their 
great  powers  in  laborious  bombast ;  that  their  originality 
should  have  been  cramped  by  self-imposed  rigid  rules,  till 
at  last  public  taste  ran  riot  in  a  chaos  of  inversions,  forced 
metaphors,  stilted  phrases,  and  prepense  obscurities. 

1  Hildr  was  the  'fire-eyed  maid  of  without   warrant    "the   priest-bell," 

smoky    war  '    in     Scandinavia.     We  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  oi'igi- 

have  given  Laiug's  version,  which,  in  nal.     P.  E.  Miiller  places  this  poem 

other    respects    faithful,    introduces  at  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century. 


SXOJ^I^rS  YOUTH.  301 

But  to  return  to  Snorri.  The  man  who  could  digest 
these  scattered  and  obscure  materials  into  that  admirable 
whole, — whence  did  he  acquire  the  mental  discipline,  the 
critical  power,  necessary  for  such  a  purpose  ?  The  answer 
must  be  that  to  his  own  natural  genius,  rather  than  to  any- 
great  educational  advantages,  Snorri  was  indebted  for  his 
writing  power.  No  doubt  from  a  child  Snorri  had  great 
advantages.  In  his  fourth  year,  1 182,  he  became  domi- 
ciled in  the  abode  of  Jon  Loptsson  of  Odde,  grandson  of 
Ssemund,  one  of  a  very  learned  family,  and  he  remained 
there  till  his  foster-father's  death  in  1 197,  when  Snorri 
was  nineteen  years  old.  Some  Latin,  theology,  and  geo- 
graphy, much  law,^  an  awakened  interest  in  history,  and 
a  deep  insight  into  the  theory  of  poetry,  were,  roughly 
speaking,  the  sum  of  what  he  took  away  with  him  from  the 
home  of  his  youth.  The  occurrence  of  errors  in  his  work  in 
respect  to  English  and  French  history  would  indicate  that 
he  was  by  no  means  well  posted  up  in  the  French  and 
English  Chronicles.2  Adam  of  Bremen  seems  to  have  been 
unknowm  to  him.  Strictly  speaking,  his  main  literary 
studies  seem  to  have  been  confined  to  the  traditions  and 
ballads  of  his  country,  which  in  his  case,  as  in  Sir  W. 
Scott's,  were  the  substratum,  the  chief  corner-stone,  of 
those  marvellous  compositions  which  have  delighted  the 
world.  He  himself  became  a  very  considerable  scald  ; 
like  all  the  Sturlung  race,  he  had  the  poetic  gift,  and 
as  such  he  appeared  at  the  Norwegian  court.  How 
intimately  he  was  versed  in  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  scaldic  poetry  is  abundantly  evident  from  that 
master-work  of  learning,  his  prose  Edda,  the  ripe  fruit  of 
many  years  of  profound   study,   completed  about   1222.-* 


1  It  was  this  which  got   him  the  potentate  on  his  arrival  in  Norway, 

Speakership  of  the  Althing,  which  he  1218  (Sturl.,ii.  25), is  in  a  metre  which, 

often  visited  attended  by  nine  hun-  if   skilfully  done,   is  pronounced   by 

dred  armed  followers.  fcSnorri  the  most  beautiful,  as  it  is  the 

^  See  G.  Storm,  ib.,  78.  most  difficult,  in   the   whole   list  of 

3  The  burden  of  his  poem  to  Skule  scaldic  metres. 
Jarl,  which   he   recited  before   that 


302  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

No  doubt  when  he  visited  Norway  he  had  the  plan 
of  his  great  work  floating  in  his  brain,  and  examined 
many  of  the  localities  described,  for  the  sake  of  identi- 
licatioii.  These  personal  visits  were  not  thrown  away 
by  liiin,  for  in  Ids  battles,  e.g.,  that  of  Hiorungavag, 
his  local  knowledge  is  more  accurate  than  that  of  other 
contemporary  writers,  although  a  recent  critic,  Storm, 
lias  by  personal  investigation  detected  mistakes  in  his 
details.  For  be  it  understood  that  there  were  several 
history- writers  before  him.^  But,  previous  to  him,  Norse 
history  was  mere  biography.  He  avoids  the  faults  of  his 
predecessors  and  contemporaries,  and  makes  the  history 
of  the  Norse  kings  a  connected  whole.  Prudence,  verg- 
ing on  cunning,  love  of  money,  of  which  he  had  good 
store,  as  \vell  as  of  flocks  and  herds,  and  an  insatiate 
ambition,  appear  to  have  been  the  salient  points  in  the 
character  of  this  extraordinary  man.  We  may  add  that 
to  him  Iceland  mainly  owed  her  subjection  to  the  yoke 
of  Norway, 

Just  read  such  a  piece  of  writing  as  that  battle  of 
Svoldr  under  the  isle  of  Eugen,  sung  in  the  first  instance 
by  Half  red  Vandrajdaskald.  One  version  is  by  Snorri, 
the  other  from  the  Latin  of  Odd  Munk  (died  1200).  The 
treacherous  Swedes  and  Danes  set  upon  Olaf  Tryggvason 
as  he  comes  careering  along  eastward  in  the  Long  Serpent 
from  his  visit  to  Pomerania  (Vendland),  and  behold  the 
king  at  last,  when  all  is  over,  and  nothing  can  be  done  to 
retrieve  the  fortunes  of  that  luckless  day,  covering  him- 
self with  his  shield  and  plunging  into  the  blue  "  Ostsse  " 
to  rise  no  more.  For  many  a  long  day  the  Northmen 
would  not  believe  that  the  fiery  king,  who  held  the  horse- 
eating,  blood-bowd-licking  Swedes  and  coward  Danes  so 

1  Theoiloric  the  monk's  "  Historia  Ungerland"  Fagrskinna"  (ed.Unger), 

(1e  Antiquitate  Rcgum  Norwegiae,"  a  which  after  "  Heimskringla"  is  the 

hititi  "  Historia  Norwegise,"  now  ex-  most  original  composition.     The  Egil 

jsting  in  a  Scotch  MS.  of  the  fifteenth  Saga    (1190)     also    supplied     Snorri 

century,  "  Agrip  af  Noregs  Konunga  with  some  of  his  materials.     Storm, 

sog\im,"  the  history  of  the  Orkney  "  Snorre  Sturlason's  Historic  Skrivn- 

Jarls,    "  Morkinskinna"    (edited   by  ing,"  p.  20,  Kjobenhavn,  1873. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  SVOLDR.  303 

cheap,  was  really  dead.  Like  Barbarossa,  who  in  the  loving 
imagination  of  his  Germans  was  not  drowned  in  the 
waters  of  the  Selef,  but  holds  his  secret  court  in  the 
marble  halls  of  the  Kiffhiiuserberg,  surrounded  by  his 
paladins,  he  would  once  more  reappear  among  men.  Did 
not  popular  superstition  recognise  in  the  pale-visaged 
monk  of  Chester  the  Saxon  King  Harold  Godwinson, 
whom  eye-witnesses  had  avouched  to  have  fallen  at  Hast- 
ings pierced  through  the  brain  by  an  arrow  ?  Nay,  to  go 
a  step  farther  back,  did  not  the  vanquished  Britons,  ac- 
cording to  the  veracious  account  of  Layamon,  imagine 
that  Arthur,  though  "  passed,"  was  still  alive,  dwelling  in 
Avalon  ? 

"  Still  look  the  Britons  for  the  day 
Of  Arthur's  coming  o'er  the  sea." 

Arthur,  the  defender  of  Christianity  against  the  wor- 
shippers of  Odin  !  Ay  !  and  to  this  day  he  lives  on,  while 
his  competitor,  Odin,  by  a  sort  of  poetic  revenge,  is  non- 
existent in  the  heart  of  an  Englishman. 

In  none  of  his  sagas  more  than  that  of  Olaf  Tryggvason 
does  the  Icelander  give  us  greater  cause  to  wonder  at  the 
consummate  genius  with  which  he  marshals  forth  and 
groups  his  incidents,  and  puts  them  vividly  before  our 
very  eyes.  These  sagas  may  contain  accounts  of  battles 
which  a  Milton  might  liken,  as  he  did  the  internal  feuds 
of  the  Saxons,  to  the  flytings  of  kites  and  crows  ;  but  they 
also  contain  the  history  of  Harold  Fairhair,  the  Egbert  of 
Norway,  whose  idolatry  for  the  sex  was  the  mainspring  of 
his  martial  propensities,  and  who  at  the  battle  of  Hafurs- 
fiord  smote  those  scores  of  kinglets  that  infested  Norway 
no  less  than  they  did  Anglo-Saxon  England.^     They  tell 

1  His  vow  not  to  submit  to  the  his  hair  on  his  shoulders  dishevelled 
barber  till  he  had  achieved  the  cou-  and  red,  binding  himself  by  a  solemn 
quest  of  Norvray,  and  all  for  a  woman,  vow  not  to  have  it  cut  till  he  con- 
finds  many  parallels  in  history.  Pass-  quered.  Suetonius  tells  us  that 
ing  over  Samson,  we  have  Civilis  Julius  Cassar  after  the  Titurian 
(Tacit.  Hist.,  61),  who  when  he  first  slaughter  wore  liis  hair  uucut  till  he 
took  arms  against  the  Eomans,  wore  got  his  revenge. 


304  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

us  of  that  striking  personage  Hacou  Jarl,  who  had  to  take 
the  pledge  of  Christianity  perforce  from  the  Emperor 
Otto  at  the  Danevirke  ;  but  no  sooner  was  he  on  his  own 
quarterdeck  again,  than— just  as  Bede  relates  of  the  con- 
verted Saxons— he  relapsed  into  the  old  faith.  He  threw 
his  mass-books  and  all  thereto  appertaining  overboard, 
and  died  at  last  the  victim  of  a  miserable  thrall,  wedded 
to  a  creed  which  was  waning  in  the  light  of  the  new  gods. 
But  the  murder  scene  is  too  dramatic  to  pass  over  in 
silence.  He  had  fled  away  from  the  pursuit  of  his  out- 
raged and  revolted  subjects,  and,  with  none  but  Karker  to 
bear  him  company,  was  hidden  in  the  subterranean  crypt 
under  the  hogstye  of  Kimol.  The  future  king,  Olaf  Trygg- 
vason,  unaware  of  his  proximity,  was  holding  a  thing 
overhead,  standing  on  a  great  stone.  "  In  his  speech,  the 
king  promised  money  and  honour  to  the  man  who  would 
slay  Hacon.  These  words  were  overheard  by  the  Jarl  and 
Karker.  Said  the  Jarl,  '  Why  art  thou  so  pale  and  then 
swart  as  mould  ?  Art  thou  going  to  betray  me  ? '  '  No,' 
said  Karker ;  '  we  were  born  on  the  same  night.'  Said  the 
Jarl,  '  There  will  be  but  a  short  space  between  our  deaths.' 
Meantime,  it  drew  towards  evening,  and  Olaf  left  the  spot. 
When  night  came  on  the  Jarl  kept  watch,  but  Karker 
slept  and  was  disturbed  in  his  sleep.  Then  the  Jarl  woke 
him  and  asked  what  he  was  dreaming  of.  He  said,  '  I 
was  at  Lade,  and  King  Olaf  was  laying  a  gold  ring  round 
my  neck.'  Says  the  Jarl,  'It  will  be  a  blood-red  ring 
the  king  will  lay  about  thy  neck  if  he  catches  thee.  So 
beware!  From  me  thou  shalt  have  nothing  but  good, 
as  heretofore ;  therefore  betray  me  not.'  After  this  they 
both  kept  awake,  as  though  each  one  were  watching  the 
other.  But  towards  day  the  Jarl  dropt  asleep,  and  at 
once  became  so  disturbed  in  his  sleep  that  he  drew  up  his 
heels  under  him  with  neck  erect,  as  if  he  was  about  to 
rise,  and  gave  an  awful  scream.  On  this,  Karker,  des- 
perately frightened,  seized  a  great  knife  from  his  belt  and 
stuck  it  into  the  Jarl's  throat,  and  slashed  it  right  across 


HACON  JARL.  305 

and  caused  his  death.  Then  Karker  cut  off  the  Jarl's 
head  and  ran  away  with  it  That  evening  he  came  to 
Lade  and  brought  it  to  the  king,  and  told  him  all  that 
had  passed  between  him  and  Jarl  Hacon,  as  above  re- 
recorded,    Olaf  had  him  led  out  and  beheaded."  ^ 

A  man  of  great  power  both  of  body  and  mind,  of  un- 
surpassed courage,  without  his  match  for  sagacity  among 
his  contemporaries,  so  bigoted  a  devotee  of  Paganism  that 
he  could  even  offer  up  his  own  son  for  victory; — such  a 
character  was  just  the  one  to  interest  Snorri ;  but,  like  a 
shrewd  man  of  the  world  as  lie  was,  he  acquiesced  in  the 
fait  accomjpli,  the  downfall  of  his  hero,  with  the  remark, 
"  The  time  was  now  come  when  idolaters  and  idolatrous 
worship  were  to  be  discarded,  and  the  right  faith  and 
worship  to  take  its  place."  ^  And  so  exit  Hacon  and 
enter  Olaf.  Specially  ought  we  to  notice  here  how,  in  an 
age  steeped  in  the  belief  of  supernatural  intervention  at 
every  turn  of  existence,  Snorri,  when  writing  history,  pre- 
ferred giving  a  natural  explanation  of  life's  phenomena, 
rather  than  clog  his  pages  with  the  monkish  tales  about 
trolls  and  demons,  and  the  way  in  which  St.  Olaf  over- 
come them. 

These  sagas  tell  us  of  Eric  Bloodyaxe,  and  his  witch 
wife  and  w' orthy  mate,  Gunhilda,  a  Northern  Jezebel,  who 
tempted  her  husband,  he  said,  to  be  grim  more  than  ever 
man  did  (Egil,  48) ;  and  how  they  were  packed  off  out  of 
Norway  to  make  room  for  Hakon,  Athelstan's  foster-son, 
of  whom  the  people  said  at  the  first  sight  of  him,  "  Here 
is  Harold  Eairhair  come  and  grown  young  again."  Eric 
subsequently  had  the  good  luck  to  get  from  the  English 
king,  as  blackmail  for  not  harrying  the  English  coast  and 
for  resisting  the  inroads  of  the  Scots  and  Irish,  the  rule  of 
England  north  of  the  Humber.  Further,  these  historians 
tell  us,  with  great  individuality  of  description,  with  the 
keenest  and  clearest  perception  of  humour  and  reality,  in 

'  Heimskringla,  vol.  i.  p.  236,  eJ.  Unger,  Christiania,  i3C8. 
^  Olaf  Tryggvason's  Saga,  p.  192 ;  Storm,  p.  102. 

U 


3o6  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

a  style  racy  and  idiomatic,  of  that  Harold  wlio  fell  at 
Stamford  Bridge  ;  of  a  host  of  other  potentates,  who  in  the 
English  stories  would  have  had  little  more  life  and  colour 
in  them  than  tlie  long-drawn  ghost  procession  in  Macbeth. 
Indeed  we  cannot  sufficiently  admire  the  remarkable 
faculty  Snorri  possessed  for  the  description  of  character  in 
his  dramatis  'personal;  so  as  to  keep  pace  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  story.  Dialogue  is  often  the  vehicle  he  uses 
for  this  purpose,  where  every  sentence  brings  out  some  new 
feature  in  the  portrait. 

Or  take  the  Kristni  Saga,  said  to  be  the  work  of 
Ari,  with  the  account  of  the  violent  doings  of  that 
unique  missionary  Thangbrand,^  the  envoy  of  Olaf 
Tryggvason,  to  Iceland,  in  the  interests  of  the  Christian 
religion.  And  then  compare  with  this  the  amiable  way  in 
which  Gregory's  missionaries  first  set  about  their  task  ; 
how^  an  Anglo-Saxon  monarcli  like  Ethelbert  viewed  the 
method  of  embracing  the  new  faith,  leaving  everything  to 
the  people's  choice,  and  permitting  no  compulsion.  While 
a  Scandinavian  king,  true  to  the  strong-willed  instincts  of 
his  race,  brooked  not  a  shadow  of  opposition  to  his  behests. 
How,  again,  the  people  of  England  showed  none  of  that 
desperate  clinging  to  the  old  faith  at  all  hazards,  even  to 
fire  and  sword,  evinced  by  the  Scandinavian  heathendom. 
There  is  none  of  that  resolute  and  fiery  opposition  to  the 
missionaries.  The  reason  might  be  that  the  Saxon  priests 
did  not  belong  to  a  strong  semi-political,  semi-religious 
organisation,  such  as  did  the  Icelandic  GoSi,  uniting  in 
himself  priest  and  chief.  It  must  also  be  taken  into 
account  that  England  was  not,  like  Iceland,  virgin  soil  on 
the  arrival  of  St.  Augustine.  The  Paganism  of  the  Angles 
and  Saxons  had  come  in  contact  previously  with  British 

1  The  first  missionaries  to  Norway  and  as  such  had  an  affection  for  the 

were  nearly  all  from  England.    It  was  Norse  tongue,  which  they  used  alike 

they  who  brought  Latin  characters,  in    speech    and   writing,    in    secular 

ink  and  parchment,  and  skill  in  their  matters  as  well  as  in  theology.    Key- 

uae.     Most  likely  they  were  kin   of  sir,  "  Efterladte  Skrifter,"  14.J 
the  Norse  families  settled  in  England, 


ENGLAND  AND  ICELAND  CONTRASTED.      307 

and  Gallic  Christianity,  and  must  have  been  worn  down 
a  good  deal  in  consequence.  Indeed,  Odinism  w^as  quite 
on  the  wane.  And  so  it  was  that  within  a  century  of 
Augustine  all  German  England  was  nominally  united 
under  a  metropolitan,  Theodore  of  Tarsus. 

If  much  of  these  sagas  is  necessarily  based  on  tradition, 
so  also  some  of  Bede's  History,  on  which  the  earliest  part 
of  our  Chronicle  is  founded,  was,  as  he  himself  distinctly 
records,^  taken  down  from  the  sayings  of  men.  They  tell 
us  of  these  men,  but  they  also  paint  them  to  the  life. 

1  "Es  scriptis  vel  traditione  priorum  "  (Hist.  Ecclesiast.  preface). 


(     3o8     ) 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THANGBRAND,    THE   MISSIONARY  OF  ICELAND. 

But  the  reader  will  perhaps  desire  to  know  something 
more  about  the  envoy  of  the  missionary  society  of  that 
day.  Born,  like  Columba,  rather  a  soldier  than  a  mis- 
sionary, a  man  of  strife  and  passion  and  not  of  peace,  son 
of  Vilibald,  Count  of  Bremen,  Thangbrand  in  his  youth 
became  secretary  to  Albert,  Bishop  of  Aaihus,  in  Jutland, 
on  his  translation  to  that  see  from  the  bishopric  of  Bre- 
men. This  Albert  had  a  brother,  Bishop  of  Canterbury ,i 
to  whom  he  on  one  occasion  paid  a  visit  with  young  Thang- 
brand in  his  suite.  At  the  usual  distribution  of  presents 
to  the  visitors  on  their  departure.  Bishop  Hubert  surveyed 
Thangbrand,  and  said,  "  You  have  the  look  of  a  knight 
about  you,  therefore  I  shall  give  you  a  shield  with  the 
cross  and  the  likeness  of  our  Lord  upon  it."  Shortly  after 
our  shield-bearer  met  King  Olaf  Tryggvason  in  the  land  of 
the  Wends,  who  asked  what  was  the  figure  on  the  cross 
that  the  Christians  worshipped,  and  received  for  answer 
that  it  was  Jesus  Christ ;  and  then  in  a  few  heartfelt  words 
Thangbrand  told  the  king  the  story  of  redemption.  On 
this  Olaf  purchased  the  shield,  paying  for  it  in  pure  silver, 
and  added,  '  If  thou  art  ever  in  need  of  help,  come  to  me ; 
I  will  reward  thee  for  the  shield.'  Shortly  after  Olaf  was 
baptized  in  Scilly.  Meantime,  Thangbrand  buys  a  pretty 
Irish  girl  with  the  price  of  the  shield,  and  returned  home 
with  her  to  Denmark.  But  a  youth,  who  had  been  given  as  a 
hostage  by  the  Emperor  Otto,  catching  sight  of  her,  tried  to 

1  So  says  the  saga.  See  cap.  v.,  note,  Copenhagen  ed.,  1773. 


THANGBRAND. 


309 


take  her  from  her  lawful  owner,  which  he  manfully  resisted, 
and  a  duel  taking  place,  he  slew  his  adversary.  After  this, 
Denmark  being  no  longer  a  safe  residence  for  him,  he  fled 
to  Olaf  Tryggvason,  took  orders,  and  became  chaplain  in 
ordinary  to  his  majesty.  This  was  just  the  man  to  aid  the 
king  in  his  projects  for  the  conversion  of  Norway.  Thang- 
brand  was  made  priest  of  the  first  church  at  Mostr,  with 
a  good  residence  and  glebe.  But  this  by  no  means  sufficed 
for  the  wants  of  so  prodigal  and  wasteful  a  man ;  and  his 
purse  being  empty,  as  a  means  of  refilling  it  he  turned  rover 
and  ravaged  among  the  heathen.  Tlie  king,  who  was  in 
Russia,  on  his  return  home  heard  of  his  chaplain's  doings, 
ordered  him  to  his  presence,  and  summarily  dismissed  him 
as  a  robber  from  his  service.  Very  penitent,  the  offender 
begged  the  king  to  dispatch  him  on  some  dangerous  mis- 
sion. "  Well,"  said  the  king,  "  I  will  make  it  up  with  you 
if  you  will  go  and  convert  Iceland."  So  to  Iceland  he 
went.  On  learning  his  business,  the  Icelanders  gave  him 
the  cold  shoulder;  but  he  succeeded  in  making  friends 
with  Hall,  a  chief  man  of  the  country,  and  celebrated  his 
first  service  in  a  tent  on  Michaelmas  Day,  997,  in  the 
presence  of  Hall  and  his  retainers.  What  specially 
impressed  the  heathen  was  the  tingling  of  the  bells, 
the  odour  of  the  incense,  and  the  velvet  and  purple  vest- 
ments of  the  priests.  But  Hall  and  his  people  still  de- 
clined to  be  Christians.  At  last  he  made  this  proposal : — 
Before  he  was  himself  baptized  he  should  like  to  test 
its  effect  on  two  crones  at  his  house,  old,  ragged,  and 
bedridden.  Experimentum  fiat  in  corpore  vili !  If  these 
feeble  creatures,  hard  at  death's  door,  could  endure  thrice 
repeated  immersion  without  risking  their  lives,  or  rather 
were  all  the  better  for  it,  why  then  baptism  could  not  be 
such  a  very  unwholesome  thing,  and  he  and  his  would  be 
baptized.  The  old  women,  on  being  applied  to,  expressed 
their  readiness  to  be  baptized ;  and  baptized  they  were 
forthwith  in  the  river.  "  And  how  do  you  feel  ?  "  inquired 
Hall  next  day.     "  Very  well,"  was  the  reply,  "not  more 


3 1  o  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

than  the  usual  infirmities  of  old  age ;  nay,  if  anything,  they 
felt  rather  better  than  usual."  After  this  the  conversion 
of  Hall  and  his  i:)eople  was  o^fait  accompli,  and  they  were 
all  baptized  in  the  Wash  river.  Such  was  a  very  good 
sample  of  the  opus  opcratum  principle  on  which  many  of 
these  Pagans  were  converted  to  Christianity.  It  is  re- 
corded in  Olaf  Tryggvason's  Saga,  that  one  bard,  on  being 
baptized,  asked  the  king,  "  Am  I  good  now  ?  "  "  Of  course 
you  are,"  replied  the  king.i  The  first  step  in  the  good 
work  had  thus  been  taken.  The  missionaries  soon  did  the 
rest.  The  chief  Eomish  doctrines,  purgatory,  the  autho- 
rity of  the  Apostolic  See  in  all  matters,  civil  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical,  and  especially  Papal  infallibility,  would  no 
doubt  be  inculcated,  to  judge  from  the  notion  which  pre- 
sently sprung  up  that  a  journey  to  Ptome  on  foot  would 
secure  to  the  pilgrim  perfect  I'emission  of  all  sins  what- 
ever. Thus  about  the  year  1012  the  principal  actors  in 
the  infamous  burning  of  Njal  adopted  the  infallible  spe- 
cific. Nay,  Plosi  had  the  honour  of  receiving  absolution 
from  the  Pope's  own  hands,  but  he  had  to  pay  a  large 
sum  of  money  for  it  (Njal,  159).  Persons  placed  in  ex- 
treme danger  would  vow  a  pilgrimage  to  Ptome.  Eafu 
the  Eed  fancied  he  saw  hell,  and  the  devils  trying  to  draw 
him  thither,  on  which  he  cried  out,  "  Holy  Peter !  thy  dog 
hath  twice  run  to  Ptome,  and  by  thy  leave  he  will  run 
thither  a  third  time ; "  on  which  the  devils  let  him  go,  and 
he  got  safe  over  the  river.     "  All  roads  lead  to  Piome  !  " 

Next  summer  our  bold  missionary  went  to  the  Althing 
or  Great  Parliament,  preaching  there  with  much  boldness, 
and  converting  several  to  the  new  faith.  But  there  were 
some  who  believed  not,  and  who  assailed  Thangbrand, 

1  The    water  was   consecrated  by  ing  an  infant  to  be  baptized.     Eanisli- 

making  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  it  ment   was   the   penalty.      A  boy  of 

thrice,  with  the  words,  "  Consecro  te  twelve  could  and  must,   in  case   of 

aqua  in  nomine  Patris,  Filii,  et  Spiri-  need,  baptize  an  infant ;  nay,  a  boy 

tus   Sancti."      It   wsis   believed   that  of  seven  might  by  the  old  ecclesiasti- 

those  who  died  unbaptized  were  lost,  cal  law  perform  the  rite,  provided  he 

AVoe  to  him  who  refused  horse,  ship,  could  say  the  Credo  and  Patev  Noster. 

or  carriage  to  those  who  were  carry-  Hist.  Eccles.  Is.,  i.  151. 


THA  NGBRA  ND.  3 1 1 

and  lie  was  only  saved  from  death  by  tlie  help  of  Njal 
and  his  followers.  Others  attacked  the  missionary  with 
the  favourite  national  weapon,  "  nith-song,"  i.e.,  mocking, 
spiteful  ditty,  so  attractive  and  popular  an  institution  in 
the  country,  that  to  this  very  day  the  Eskimo  in  Green- 
land have  both  the  word  and  the  thing  ^ — the  enduring 
legacy  of  Scandinavian  colonists  who,  after  living  in 
the  country  for  five  hundred  years,  died  out  or  were 
absorbed  among  the  Skraelings.  Subsequently,  from  early 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  Greenland  vanished  for  some  two 
hundred  years  out  of  European  ken. 

But  to  return  to  Thangbrand.  He  was  not  the  man  to 
brook  an  insult  unavenged,  and  on  his  rounds  through  the 
country,  he  dropped  unawares  on  his  chief  lampooners,  one 
after  another,  and  made  short  work  of  them.  The  island 
was  now  getting  too  hot  to  hold  him  and  his  followers ; 
and  the  climax  was  reached  when  a  berserker  ^  or  bearskin- 
clad  warrior,  one  of  those  strange  champions  of  that  age 
who  were  subject  to  fits  of  foaming  frenzy,  challenged  him 
to  single  combat.  At  the  same  time  he  intimated  that  he 
was  rather  a  tough  customer,  as  he  could  walk  over  hot 
embers  barefoot  and  fall  on  a  sword-point  without  taking 
any  harm.  Thangbrand  said  God  must  decide.  Where- 
upon he  consecrated  the  fire  and  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross  over  the  sword.  The  result  might  be  expected.  The 
berserker  not  only  burnt  his  feet,  but,  metaphorically 
speaking,  his  fingers  also,  for  the  sword-point  spitted  him 
completely,  and  he  fell  dead  on  the  spot.  This  miracle 
was  followed  by  the  conversion  of  Gest  the  Wise,  who 
with  some  of  his  friends  was  "  primsigned  "  ^     But  our  mis- 

1  There  are  many  interesting  bits  and  admitted  him  to  certain  parts  of 

in  the  Greenland  Saga.    Copenhagen,  the  mass.  In  those  heathen  days,  the 

1838.  Northmen,  who,  as  mercenaries  or  as 

-  For  account  of  these  people,  cf.  merchants,  were  much  abroad,  found 

Kristni  Saga,  p.   142.     Copenhagen,  this  rite,  as  being  the  open  sesame 

1770.  to  social  intercourse  with  Christians, 

'  'Primsigna'  =  to  give  the  prima  of  great  advantage,  and  submitted  to 
signatio  crucis,  a  religious  act  prepa-  it  accordingly.  It  was  the  first  step 
ratory  to  christening,  which  made  the  towards  a  full  espousal  of  Christian- 
person  a  Bort  of  proselyte  of  the  gate,  ity.     Egil  and  his  brother,  flying  from 


3 1 2  ICE  LA  NDIC  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

sioiiary  had  had  cnong]i  of  it,  and  that  summer,  999,  he 
sailed  from  Trondjem  with  a  report  to  the  king,  his  patron, 
of  what  he  had  achieved  during  his  three  years'  residence 
on  the  island.  The  leaven  he  had  left  speedily  began  to 
work.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Icelandic  Parliament  in 
that  summer  there  were  two  parties  present — the  heathen, 
who  blasphemed  Christ,  and  the  Christians,  who  jeered  at 
the  old  gods.  Foremost  among  the  latter  was  a  leading 
man,  Hiallti,  who  seems  to  have  given  vent  to  his  scorn 
of  the  exploded  Pantheon  in  the  utterance  of  barking 
sounds,  interspersed  with  verse — 

"  These  gods  I  will  greet  with  a  howl  and  a  yelp. 
Why,  Frey  at  the  best  is  only  a  whelp. 
I  say  it  again,  no  harm  thence  foreboding, 
Frey's  a  dog,  or  leastways  a  dog  is  old  Odin." 

This  doggrel,  however,  led  to  the  poetaster's  outlawry. 
He  repaired  with  others  to  King  Olaf.  The  king  was  des- 
perately incensed  at  the  Icelanders  for  their  stubbornness 
and  bad  treatment  of  his  envoy,  who,  with  that  taste  for 
slight  embellishments  inseparable,  it  is  said,  from  the 
reports  of  missionaries  in  foreign  parts,  had  told  him  the 
people  were  such  experts  in  magic  that  they  could  make 
the  earth  open  at  his  feet,  ready  to  swallow  up  himself  and 
his  horse  quick.  A  native  of  Bremen  would,  of  course,  be 
at  a  loss  to  account,  except  by  necromancy,  for  the  volcanic 

the  vengeance  of  EricBloody-axe  (Egil  paving  the  way  for  the  missionaries 

Saga,  50)  received  the  rite  at  the  re-  of     Olaf,    who    would     never    have 

quest  of  our  King  Athelstan,  whom  effected  the  conversion  of  Iceland  so 

the  Norsemen  nicknamed 'True-fast.'  soon   but   for  this  small   end  of  the 

The   author    of   the    saga    explains  :  wedge  preceding  the  larger  effort ;  so 

"  Primesigned  men   had    full    inter-  that  trade,  in  fact,  was  the  first  and 

course     with    both     Christians    and  best   spreader  of    Christianity.       To 

heathens,    but   held     to    that    faith  be  primesigned    jumped   with  men's 

whichthey  liked  best."  Gisli,  theout-  material    interests.      A   low  ground, 

law,  who  was  primesigned  A. D.  960  at  people  may  think,  for   the   cross   to 

Viborg,  the  holy  city  in  Jutland,  left  be  planted  in.     But  such  is   human 

off   all   heathen   sacrifices   (see   Gisli  nature.       "  The  true  way,"  said  Dr. 

Sursson'sSaga.cap.  27, 35).  ^Vftertliis,  Livingstone   to   the    present   author, 

heandothers  would  in  due  time  revisit  "to  evangelize  Africa  is  to  establish 

their  Pagan  home,  and  introduce  there  a  trade  with  the  natives.     Commerce 

the  first  notions  of  Christianity,  thus  first,  then  Christianity." 


THE  ALTHING.  313 

chasms  that  would  so  commonly  open  on  a  sudden  and 
engulf  the  inhabitants.  Egged  on  by  Thangbrand,  Olaf 
was  bent  on  massacring  and  maiming  all  the  Icelanders 
in  Trondjem ;  not  the  least  prominent  among  whom 
was  Kiartan,  who  in  an  impromptu  swimming  match 
had,  without  knowing  him,  ducked  and  almost  drowned 
in  the  bay  that  great  swimmer,  his  august  majesty  of 
Norway.  Milder  counsels,  however,  prevailed,  and  the 
king  listened  to  reason,  on  the  chief  men  telling  him  they 
would  undertake  to  evangelise  the  island  if  he  would  let 
them  go.  To  this  he  agreed,  taking  the  precaution, neverthe- 
less, to  impound  as  hostages  the  above  Kiartan  and  others. 
The  next  spring,  Hiallti  and  his  friend  Gizur  take  ship 
for  Iceland,  and  in  the  summer  of  the  year  of  Grace  1000 
we  meet  once  more  the  Christian  party  and  the  heathen 
face  to  face  at  the  Althing,  both  of  them  sworn  to  decide 
the  great  controversy  between  the  fast  waning  gods 
of  Scandinavia  and  the  Day  Star  from  on  high.  The 
scene  is  strikingly  interesting  in  itself^ — we  never  saw 
one  more  so — from  the  deep  marked  features  which  Nature 

1  The  following  description  of  the  disappears    and    escapes    l)y   subter- 

spot  is  from  the  author's  "  Oxonian  in  raneau  ducts  into  the  adjoining  lake 

Iceland."     "A  rough  walk  of  a  few  of  Thingvalla.    Atone  spot  the  sides 

score  yards   brings  us   to  the  justly  of  this  giddy  cleft  contract  to  within 

celebrated   Lijgberg   (Law  Hill),    the  nine  ells  of  each  other;  and  over  this 

site  for  a  thousand  years  of  the  open-  yawning   chasm  once  sprang  for  his 

air  parliament.      The  rdigio   loci   is  life,  like  Morton,  in  '  Old  Mortality ' 

well  calculated  to  work  strongly  on  over  the  Black  Linn  of  Linkwater,  a 

the    mind  of    the  spectator,   but  its  criminal    named    Flosi !  .  .  ,  About 

natural  features  are  such  as  to  make  the  centre  of    the   enclosure  is  the 

an  impression  never  to  be  obliterated,  jjlace  where  the   president  sat   in   a 

Fancy  yourself  on  a  tolerably  even,  booth  (the  ruins  of  which  were  visible 

grass-grown  plateau,  on  the  edge  of  a  forty  years  ago) ;  and  around  him,  on 

plain  of  dark,  rugged,  moss-dappled  banks  of  earth,  which  are  still  to  be 

lava ;  and  then  fancy  that  all  along  traced,    the    forty-eight   diimmer    or 

the  edges  of  this  plateau,  which  is  in  doomsmen.    A  few  paces  to  the  north 

the  shape  of  a  rude  irregular  lozenge,  of  this  is  an  eminence,  from  whicli 

yawning  rifts  open  out,  perpendicular  another   functionary  recited  the  old 

and  very  many  fathoms  deep.     The  laws    and    promulgated    new    ones, 

bottom   of   the   abyss   is   filled   with  Without,    were    the    people   of   the 

deepsapphire-tinted  water,  which  has  country  crowding  round  to  the  edge 

flowed  down  from  the  mountains  by  of  the  abyss,  and  barred  by  it  from 

concealed  channels,  and  again  speedily  entering  the  sacred  precincts." 


3 1 4  ICELA  NDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

in  her  most  terrific  mood  liad  indelibly  impressed  on  it ; 
and  doubly  striking  must  it  have  been  at  that  moment 
when  Odin  and  Christ  met,  so  to  say,  with  their  respective 
adherents  eager  for  the  fray. 

It  was  an  adjourned  meeting  from  the  day  before,  and 
Thorgeir,  the  speaker  of  the  law,  was  himself  a  heathen. 
On  the  close  of  yesterday's  debate  he  had  gone  to  his  tent, 
laid  himself  down,  and  covered  his  face  with  his  fell,  and 
lay  all  that  afternoon  and  all  the  night  without  speaking 
a  word.  In  the  morning  he  got  up,  and  sent  word  for  men 
to  go  to  the  Law  Hill.  There  he  delivered  his  verdict,  and 
a  most  sage  one  it  was,  though  that  stupid  chronicler  of 
the  "  Njal  Saga  "  has  tried  to  disenchant  us  about  his  up- 
rightness and  wisdom,  by  statiug  that  he  received  half  a 
pound  of  silver  from  Hall  of  the  Side,  a  kind  of  '  reward 
of  divination '  to  quicken  his  decision.  Well,  his  fiat  was, 
that  they  must  not  let  the  opposing  parties  carry  matters 
out  to  tlie  bitter  end.  We  must  mediate  between  them, 
so  that  both  of  them  shall  have  their  own  way  to  a  certain 
extent.  His  compromise  was  agreed  to.  Cliristianity  was 
to  be  the  law  of  the  land.  Bygones  were  to  be  bygones. 
Nothing  was  said  about  the  present  condition  of  deceased 
ancestors.  Three  hundred  years  before  King  Eathbod  of 
the  Frisians  was  within  an  ace  of  being  lost  to  Christianity, 
with  one  foot  already  in  the  baptismal  bath,  through  the 
blundering  remark  of  the  over-zealous  missionary,  to  wit, 
that  the  king's  ancestors  were  all  in  hell.  That  was  a  bit 
of  history  which  had  become  philosophy,  so  no  allusion 
was  made  to  this  delicate  subject.  Everybody  was  to 
receive  baptism,  but  to  be  free,  if  he  liked,  to  expose  his 
infant  children  ^  (but  before  the  child  had  tasted  food  or 
been  sprinkled  with  water),  and  to  eat  horse-flesh ;  nay, 
even  to  keep  private  teraphin  at  home  to  worship,  but 
at  the  risk  of  a  money  fine  if  found  out.     Not  worse  this 

1  In  Plato's  model  state  infanti-  by  law  130  winters  after  the  murder 
cide  in  certain  cases  was  jjermitted.  of  Edmund,  and  1000  after  Christ. 
Christianity  was  received  in  Iceland     "Islendingabok,"  13. 


A   COMPROMISE.  315 

than,  for  instance,  the  habitual  toleration  by  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  of  Pagan  practices  in  China,  But  the  event 
proved  Thorgeir's  wisdom.  His  compromise  succeeded, 
where  any  violent  measures  would  have  been  sure  to  work 
an  effect  the  opposite  of  what  was  intended.  "  In  a  few 
winters  (years),"  says  the  "  Islendigabok,"  '•  these  last  traces 
of  heathenism,  like  many  others,  fell  into  disuse." 

In  fact,  though  Thangbrand's  violence  stirred  the  Scan- 
dinavian blood,  the  island  did  not  exhibit  many  martyrs. 
Originally  the  colonists,  passing  as  many  of  them  did 
through  Ireland  and  England,  had  to  some  extent  got 
acquainted  with  the  new  creed.  The  aristocratic  GoSi, 
moreover,  was  sharp  enough  to  bury  the  hatchet  while 
Christianity  was  yet  in  its  infancy,  and,  by  an  easy  transi- 
tion, got  metamorj)hosed  into  a  Christian  clergyman,  thus 
saving  his  order  along  with  the  temporalities  and  old  poli- 
tical influence. 


(     3i6     ) 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE   EG/l!s   saga. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  Icelandic  sagas  is  Egil's  Saga,i 
written  by  an  unknown  author  about  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century,  or  at  the  same  time  as  the  Saga  of  Njal. 
Snorri  in  his  Edda  cites  Egil's  verses.  Here  we  are  let  into 
the  secret  of  Harfager's  influence.  If  a  chief  proved  refrac- 
tory, he  had  a  way  of  swooping  down  upon  him  and  burn- 
ing him  alive,  like  Changarnier  did  the  Arabs  in  the  cave. 
It  recounts  the  remarkable  incidents  in  the  life  of  one  of 
Iceland's  greatest  scalds,  her  national  hero,  the  progenitor 
of  tlie  famous  '  Moor-men,'  with  whom  the  Sturlung  family 
were  connected  on  the  female  side.  Unlike  most  of  the 
Icelandic  scalds,  he  did  not  seek  the  Norwegian  court  for 
fame  or  profit.  Harald  Harfager  was  the  family  hite-noire. 
The  poet's  father  had  avenged  himself  on  the  king  by 
slaying  two  of  his  cousins,  composing  on  the  occasion  a 
rhyming  song,  the  oldest  known.  With  a  power  of  pen 
no  less  felicitous  than  Snorri's,  the  author  depicts  the 
character  of  Egil,  his  courage  and  sagacity,  his  portentous 
strength,  his  tender  love  for  his  children,  and  constant 
affection  for  his  friend  Arinbjorn,  contrasting  strangely 
with  his  brutal  ferocity — "  the  rage  of  the  vulture  and  love 
of  the  turtle  combined  " — and,  to  cap  all,  his  intense  love 
of  lucre,  along  with  the  warm  poetic  inspiration  rising  ever 
unpremeditated  to  his  lips.  These  very  contradictions  in 
the  man's  character,  portrayed  with  the  boldest  simplicity, 
without  any  toning  down,  extenuation,  or  embellishment, 

^  Copenhagen, 1809. 


THE  SPECTRE  BIRD.  317 

stamp  the  history  with  an  air  of  truth  which,  had  the  hero 
been  faultless,  it  would  not  have  exhibited. 

One  incident  described  is  (62)  Egil  being  wrecked  on 
the  English  coast,  and  falling  into  the  hands  of  King  Eric, 
who  kept  court  at  York.  The  queen,  Gunhilda,  was  the 
poet's  sworn  foe,  and,  of  course,  he  is  condemned  to  death. 
'•  Women's  counsels  are  ever  cruel,"  said  the  proverb.  A 
terrible  moment  it  must  have  been  when  the  scald  stood 
before  the  king  in  his  hall.     He  describes  the  situation 

afterwards : — 

"  The  moiiardi  sat 
With  awful  eye, 
In  song  renownetl, 
The  country's  lord. 
Full  grim  of  mood, 
He  fiercely  glared. 
With  his  bloody  sword  drawn, 
In  Jorvik's  town." 

But  there  is  one  chance  for  him.  If  he  can  only  compose 
a  "  Drapa,"  heroic  poem,  in  honour  of  Eric  before  dawn.^ 
His  friend  Arinbjorn  visits  him  in  his  prison  to  see  how  he 
is  getting  on  with  the  composition.  To  his  consternation 
he  finds  the  Muse  is  not  propitious.  The  scald  has  not 
composed  a  line.  He  had  been  disturbed  by  that  swallow 
twittering  till  midnight  at  the  window  of  the  loft.  His 
friend  looks  out  and  sees  the  dusky  visitor  disappearing  in 
the  gloom.  Our  ^Ifric  would  have  compared  it  to  that 
"  black  throstle  "  which  came  flickering  about  the  face  of 
St.  Benedict ;  such  being  for  the  nonce  one  of  the  protean 
shapes  of  the  Evil  One.^  It  was  a  witch  (hamhleypa)  sent 
by  the  sorceress  Queen  Gunhilda  to  hinder  the  compo- 
sition and  presage  the  poet's  death.  But  the  opportune 
arrival  of  his  friend  scares  away  the  spectre.  May  we  not 
have  here  the  origin  of  the  strange  bird  who  fluttered  and 
tapped  at  the  window  of  Lord  Eyttelton  at  Pitt  Place,  and 

^  other  instances  occur  of  this  kind  of   alternative,   death   or   a   diapa. 
Keysir,  274. 

^  Homily  ou  St.  Benedict. 


3i8  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

impressed  him  with  the  jfixed  idea  that  his  end  was  at 
hand  ?  This  ancient  superstition,  viz.,  that  a  person  about 
to  die  is  forewarned  by  a  bird,  is  hardly  yet  extinct  in  this 
country.  Sometimes  the  visitor  was  a  raven,  sometimes  a 
dove.     But  Egil  was  superior  to  all  such  auguries. 

In  Icelandic  poetry  we  often  see  the  fowls  of  the  air 
and  the  beasts  of  the  field,  Nature  herself,  brought,  as  it 
were,  into  rapport  with  the  mood  of  the  human  agents ; 
a  highly  poetic  exercise  of  this  gift  of  the  imagination, 
bringing  home  to  us  the  interdependence  of  man  and 
nature.  The  Greek  mind  had  fastened  on  the  idea  cen- 
turies before  the  Christian  era  in  that  strange  legend, 
when  the  conscience-stricken  slayers  of  Ibycus,  in  the 
cry  of  the  clamorous  cranes  wheeling  overhead,  hear 
themselves  denounced  as  the  murderers.  It  is  a  cue 
which  Shakespeare  often  takes,  whencesoever  he  obtained 
it.  With  him.  the  cheerv  confidence  of  the  martlet,  o-uest 
of  summer,  consorting  with  men  and  selecting  his  coign  of 
vantage  right  under  the  eaves,  is  quite  in  keeping  with 
the  calm  equanimity  of  the  unsuspecting  Banquo  ;  while 
the  raven  grows  hoarse  croaking  the  fatal  entrance  of 
Duncan  under  Macbeth's  castle.  When  the  lady  is  waiting 
to  hear  that  the  deed  is  done,  she  hears  "  the  owl  shriek, 
that  fatal  bellman,  which  gives  the  sternest  good-night." 
Again,  when  withered  Murder  is  abroad,  moving  like  a 
ghost  to  his  design,  the  wolf  is  his  sentinel.  Compare 
the  use  made  of  the  brute  creation  by  the  Englishman 
and  the  Icelander  with  the  sorry  stuff  vamped  up  by  the 
Anglo-Saxon  author  of  the  Life  of  St.  Guthlac.  He  could 
turn  the  two  swallows  that  visited  the  hermit  to  no  better 
account  than  to  make  them  sit  on  his  shoulders,  breast, 
and  knees  with  "  shocking  tameness,"  and  strike  up  a  song. 
The  good  man  being  quite  equal  to  the  occasion,  shows 
from  Holy  Writ  that  the  saints  of  old  were  privileged  to 
be  familiar  with  wild  animals. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  sagas  often  illustrate  the 
Chronicle.     They  do  more.     Take,  for  instance,  that  great 


BATTLE  OF  BRUNANBURH.  319 

event  in  King  Athelstan's  reign,  his  victory  at  Brunanburh, 
recorded  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  in  a  stirring  piece  of 
poetry,  a  version  of  which  is  given  on  p.  122. 

That  is  all  tlie  jjarticulars  given  by  the  Saxon  writer. 
A  very  meagre  affair  indeed.  Kow  look  at  Egil  Saga. 
A  most  minute  account  is  here  given  of  the  events 
preceding  the  engagement  of  the  battlefield,  fringed  on 
either  side  by  woods,  the  river  flowing  between,  and  the 
two  old  castles,  the  respective  headquarters  of  King 
Athelstan  and  of  the  son-in-law  of  the  Irish  Constantine, 
King  Olaf  Kvaran.^ 

We  follow  with  great  interest  the  preceding  negotiations 
between  the  two  kings,  and  the  way  in  which  Olaf  kept 
increasing  his  demands,  and  Athelstan  kept  submitting  to 
them  until  his  powers  of  endurance  were  exhausted.  The 
extreme  pitch  of  ignominy  was  reached  when,  bursting 
indignantly  from  the  snare,  the  English  king  stood  forth 
in  bold  defiance  of  the  aggressor.  "  Bear  these  my  words 
to  your  master.  King  Olaf.  I  will  give  him  leave  to  fare 
home  to  Scotland  (the  name  of  Ireland  till  the  eleventh 
century),  but  he  must  first  restore  the  goods  of  which  he 
has  wrongly  possessed  himself  in  this  land.  We  will  then 
make  a  treaty  between  our  peoples,  and  neither  shall  war 
upon  the  other ;  but  with  this  promise,  that  Olaf  shall  be 
my  vassal,  and  hold  Scotland  of  me  as  my  viceroy.  Xow 
fare  ye  back  again,  and  tell  him  my  decision."  Kot  a 
word  of  this  is  in  our  Chronicle.  We  next  behold  Athel- 
stan's right-hand  man,  Thorolf,  and  his  brother  Egil,  two 
redoubtable  Icelandic  Vikings,  in  the  very  armour  they 
wore,  swinging  lustily  their  respective  swords,  '  Mail- 
piercer  '  and  '  Serpent,'  in  a  triumphant  resistance  to  the 
nocturnal  surprise  of  the  Scots.    We  see  the  Scots  advanc- 

1  A  Celtic  word  sisnifying  'sock,'  Cf.  Eevue  Celtique,  p.  186,  vol.  iii. 

perhaps  in  allusion  to  the  encasings  J.  W.  Stokes  on  the  "Celtic  Names 

.of  his  lower  limbs,   as   in  the  well-  in  Landnamabok  and  Runic  Inscrip- 

known  instance  of  Magnus  Barefoot  tions."    Hereinlight  is  thrown  on  the 

(see    note,    p.    320).      Gaelic    forms  pronunciation  of  Irish  consonants  in 

abound  in  early  Icelandic  literature,  those  days. 


320  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

ing  to  tlic  onset  "in  open  line  according  to  tlieir  wont;" 
tlie  fall  of  Tliorolf  by  an  ambuscade  of  Olaf's  British 
auxiliaries  from  the  forest ;  how  Egil,  thirsting,  for  revenge, 
charged  with  irresistible  might  into  the  heart  of  the  foe 
and  slew  Adils,  the  British  leader.  The  varying  sway  of 
the  battle  is  vividly  painted.  Then  comes  the  disorder  in 
Olaf's  ranks,  which  soon  becomes  a  route ;  the  final  charge 
of  Athelstan,  the  death  of  Olaf  (this  is  a  mistake  of  the 
Icelander)  amid  a  great  host  of  slain  ;  winding  up  with 
"  Athelstan  gained  an  immense  victory."  ^ 

But  we  prefer  giving  the  following  scene  verbatim,  as  a 
sample  of  simple  lifelike  description.  "  Egil  went  after- 
wards to  visit  the  king,  as  he  sat  drinking  in  loud  merri- 
ment. When  the  king  saw  Egil  come  in,  he  called  out 
to  make  room  for  him  on  the  second  high  seat  just 
opposite  to  him.  Egil  sat  down,  placing  his  shield  at  his 
feet.  He  wore  his  helmet,  and  setting  his  sword  upon  his 
knees,  he  drew  it  every  now  and  then  half  way  out  of  the 
sheath  and  then  slammed  it  back  again.  He  sat  quite 
upright,  scowling  fiercely.  Egil's  face  was  large,  his  fore- 
head broad,  with  mickle  eyebrows.  His  nose  not  long, 
but  excessively  thick ;  his  upper  lip  wide  and  long ; 
while  his  chin  and  jawbones  were  enormously  broad. 
He  was  thick  necked,  and  his  shoulders  of  superhuman 
breadth.  Hard  featured,  and  grim  when  angered.  In 
shape  he  was  well  built,  and  taller  than  other  men.  The 
hair  thick  and  of  a  wolf-grey,  but  the  crown  prematurely 
bald.  As  he  sat  thus,  as  aforesaid,  he  kept  jerking  one 
brow  downwards  to  his  cheek,  and  the  other  up  to  the 
roots  of  his  hair.  His  eyes  were  black  and  eyebrows 
swarthy.  He  would  not  drink,  though  the  cup  was  offered 
him,  and  he  kept  working  his  brows  up  and  down.     King 

^  "We  are  bound  to  mention   that  kilt  was  a  national  costume   in   the 

Professor  Munch  doubts  the  accuracy  West  of   Scotland  as   early  as  1098, 

of    this    account.      Chronicon    Man-  when  King  Magnus  of  Norway,  win- 

niae,    p.    39 ;    of.     ibid.,     67,    where  tering    there,    adojjted    it,    and    was 

attention  is  called    to  the   fact,    in-  called  '  Barelegs '  in  consequence  by 

teresting    to    Highlanders,  that   the  his  subjects  on  his  return  home. 


EGIL.  321 

Athelstan  sat  in  his  high  seat ;  he  also  had  laid  his 
sword  on  his  knees.  When  they  had  sat  for  a  time,  the 
king  drew  his  sword  from  the  sheath,  and  took  from  his 
arm  a  gold  ring,  large  and  goodly,  which  he  placed  on  the 
point  of  his  sword.  He  then  rose  up  and  reached  it 
across  the  fire  to  Egil.  Egil  stood  up,  drew  his  sword, 
stepped  upon  the  floor,  stuck  his  sword-point  through  the 
ring,  drew  it  towards  him,  and  returned  to  his  place, 
while  the  king  resumed  his  high  seat.  After  sitting 
down,  Egil  pulled  the  ring  on  to  his  arm.  His  brows 
unknitted ;  he  put  off  his  sword  and  helmet,  took  the 
horn  offered  to  him,  and  drank.  He  then  improvises  a 
stanza  expressive  of  his  satisfaction  at  the  honour  con- 
ferred on  him.  Egil  then  took  his  share  in  the  drinking  and 
mixed  in  the  conversation.  Hereupon  the  king  had  two 
chests  full  of  silver  brought  in,  each  by  two  men.  These 
he  gave  to  Egil,  and  told  him  when  he  returned  to  Iceland 
he  was  to  give  them  to  his  father  as  a  compensation  for  the 
loss  of  his  son  Thorolf  ;  adding  that  if  Egil  would  like  to 
stay  in  England,  he  would  reward  him  with  broad  lands 
or  money,  and  with  any  honour  or  dignity  he  liked."  AVe 
see  from  the  above  of  what  stuff  tlie  freemen  of  Scan- 
dinavia were  made,  and  what  kittle  cattle  they  were  to 
deal  with.  But  Athelstan  knew  the  breed  well,  and  their 
great  value  when  rightly  guided.  It  was  not  for  nothing 
that  Fairhair's  son  had  been  nurtured  at  his  court.  But 
the  man  of  iron  could  melt.  Behold  him  in  love,  melan- 
choly as  Jacques,  making  a  wof  ul  ballad  to  his  mistress's 
eyebrow,  and  afraid  even  to  mention  her  name.  He  might 
have  been  one  of  those  bashful  dreamers  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  the  Minnesingers  of  Germany,  whose  diffidence 
was  such  that  they  hardly  dared  to  look  up  and  meet  the 
glance  of  their  fair  enslaver.  Neither  did  he,  like  the 
lioman  father,  triumph  o'er  his  tears  of  parental  sorrow 
"  and  call  that  valour." 

To  the  tale  of  Gudrun  in  the  Old  Edda,  and  her  revulsion 
of  feeling,  we  find  a  prose  counterpart  in  the  Egil  Saga, 

X 


322  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

cliapter  Ixxx.  The  old  man  has  a  son,  young  Bodvar,  as 
handsome  a  fellow  as  ever  stepped,  tall  and  strong,  the 
darling  of  his  father.  One  summer's  day  the  youth  is 
drowned  with  a  whole  boat's  crew  in  the  White  Eiver,  the 
wind  and  outrush  of  the  water  being  contrary,  and  getting 
up  a  sudden  sea.  Egil  rode  off  to  the  shore,  found  his 
son's  body,  placed  it  on  his  knees,  and  then  carried  it  to 
the  family  grave-mound,  where  he  laid  it  by  the  side  of 
Skalagrim.  It  may  seem  an  exaggeration  when  we  are  told 
that  during  the  interment  the  frame  of  the  agonised  father 
so  swelled  with  emotion  that  his  red,  tight-fitting  tunic 
was  rent.  But  if  so,  a  very  great  writer  was  guilty  of  equal 
extravagance  when  he  tells  us  how  the  leathern  coat  of  the 
wounded  stag  "  stretched  almost  to  bursting."  After  this 
Egil  went  straight  home,  betook  himself  to  his  sleeping- 
berth  (lokreckia),  fastened  the  door  inside,  and  refused 
all  manner  of  meat.  ISTobody  dared  to  approach  him.  So 
matters  went  on  till  the  third  day,  and  he  would  have  died 
of  starvation  but  for  the  marvellous  ready  wit  and  cool- 
ness of  his  favourite  daughter,  Thorgerda,  the  wife  of  the 
celebrated  Olaf  the  Peacock,  the  ^reat-grandson  of  an  Irish 
king,  Myrkiartan.  She  was  sent  for  from  Hiardarholt, 
and  at  once  started  off,  riding  all  night.  On  her  arrival 
she  would  have  no  refreshment — not  she.  If  father  starved 
himself  she  would  starve  too.  She  would  sup  that  night 
with  Freyja.  Besides,  if  Egil  died  thus,  who  would  "  wake  " 
the  dead  boy,  and  who  sing  his  requiem,  when  the  only 
otie  able  to  do  it  befittingly  was  gone  ?  And  so  the  old 
scald  mastered  his  tears  for  a  while  and  composed  his 
famous  '  Sonar  torrek,'  a  coronach  for  the  deceased  son,  his 
daughter  the  while  scratching  it  down  in  runes  on  a  piece 
of  wood  (rista  a  kefli).  The  poem  is  a  very  long  one,  of 
twenty-four  stanzas  of  eight  lines  each,  and,,  owing  either 
to  the  perturbation  of  his  mind  or  the  faults  of  transcribers, 
is  very  obscure.     It  is  steeped  in  sorrow — 

"  For  Lycidas  is  dead,  dead  ere  his  prime, 
Young  Lycidas,  and  liaih  not  left  his  peer. 


EGIL.  323 

Sunk  beneath  the  watery  floor  ; 

Oh,  the  heavy  change,  now  thou  art  gone, 

Now  thou  art  gone  and  never  must  return." 

"  Oh,  the  dire  gap  in  my  household  and  in  my  heart,  never 
to  be  filled  up.  Ean  hath  vexed  me  sore.  The  sea  has 
snapped  asunder  those  ties  so  dear  ;  has  robbed  me  of  my 
mainstay,  the  support  of  my  age  and  of  my  roof-tree,  the 
upholder  of  my  might,  my  right  hand  in  the  day  of  battle." 
But  the  ruse  of  the  daughter  succeeded.  She  had  broken 
his  dread  resolve.  The  old  man's  spirit  revived  under  the 
awakening  fire  of  his  own  muse.  He  sat  up  and  took 
meat,  and  lived  on,  though  a  sad  and  solitary  man. 

Before  quitting  this  saga  we  may  just  mention  that 
from  it  we  learn  that  England  in  those  days  was  the  great 
market  for  the  sable,  beaver,  and  askrakkr  (marten  or 
squirrel)  skins  of  Finmark  (p.  57), — See  Ohthere's  Narra- 
tive in  Orosius;  also  that  Dublin  was  a  celebrated  mart 
for  merchandise  (p.  157). 


(     324    ) 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

OTHER   ICELANDIC  SAGAS. 

Again,  what  lias  England  from  Saxon  times 'to  compare 
with  other  private  sagas  of  Iceland,  e.g.,  Yasdaela,  Eyr- 
byggia,  Laxdcela,  Vigaglum,  or  that  finished  little  idyl  the 
Saga  of  Hrafukel,  the  priest  of  Frey,  or,  to  omit  a  score  of 
others,  Njal  Saga,  the  finest  of  them  all  ?  ^  I  shall  never 
forget  what  I  felt  when,  after  a  long  and  hurried  trot  with 
the  priest  from  Odde  Eectory,  we  jumped  off  our  horses  on 
the  very  spot  where  that  sage  old  counsellor — in  a  rude 
age  the  very  pink  of  courtesy  and  gentleness,  the  staunch 
friend  of  the  chivalrous  Gunnar — was,  with  his  wife  and 
his  sons,  ruthlessly  burnt,  house  and  all.  You  have  the 
saga  in  English,  thanks  to  Mr.  Dasent.  In  these  histories 
the  men  are  not  always  the  fierce  and  cruel  depredators 
that  used  to  swoop  down  on  terrified  England,  cryino- 
havoc.  We  have  the  Northmen  at  home,  in  undress,  under 
the  influence  of  the  family  and  the  social  ties.  He  who 
perhaps  had  carried  the  Eaven  banner  on  an  Eno-lish 
battle-field  rushes  off,  like  the  old  Cornish  wreckers,  on  the 
news  of  a  whale  ashore  ;  or  he  is  busy  spearing  seals  or  sal- 
mon, or  in  the  pursuit  of  game  to  improve  the  larder ;  or  we 
find  him,  like  the  old  Eoman  dictator,  following  the  plough- 
tail  ;  or  perhaps  we  see  him  taking  a  prominent  part  in  the 
haymaking.  Sometimes  the  noble  owner  visits  the  stables, 
and  whiles  an  hour  away  clipping  the  mane  of  "  Old  White- 
face,"  or  "  Young  Whiteface,"  or  "  Silver  Top,"  or  "  Eaven," 

1  There  are  some  150  sagas  extant.    Miiller,  "Saga  Bibliothek. "    The  best 
of  them  are  published. 


THE  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  NORTHMEN.  325 

or  fondling  liis  pet  oxen  "  Dapple  "  or  "  Intrepid ;  "  ^  or  he 
goes  up  the  mountains  to  have  a  look  at  his  stud-horse 
"Freyfaxi,"  whom  he  has  so  called  after  his  favourite 
god,  rreyr.2  Or  perhaps  it  is  Yule-tide.  Behold  the  Scan- 
dinavian noble  surrounded  by  hosts  of  friends,  whom 
he  is  lodging  and  boarding  for  the  week,  horses  and  all, 
drinking  potations  pottle-deep,  and  then  making  most 
sumptuous  presents  to  each  friend  in  succession  on  his 
departure  :  something  foreign  most  likely ;  for  instance,  a 
long  flowing  silk  cloak  with  gold  buttons  from  neck  to 
toe,  after  the  manner  say  of  the  cassock  of  the  future ;  or 
an  English  suit  of  many  colours  of  the  newest  cut,  such 
as  that  presented  by  Arinbjorn,  the  courtier  of  Eric 
Bloody-axe,  to  Egil  (cf.  Egil,  p.  516).  When  he  lacks 
mental  excitement  he  journeys  to  the  Althing  (the  Am- 
phictyonic  Council  of  Iceland),  and  joins  there  in  wordy 
contests,  striking  his  shield  after  a  speech  in  token  of 
applause.  If  physical  excitement  is  wanted,  then  there 
is  the  horse-fight  (hesta])ing),  where  the  backers  often  get 
to  fighting  as  well  as  the  horses ;  an  amusement  quite  as 
absorbing  as  our  horse-racing,  and,  like  it,  popular  with 
all  classes  from  the  king  to  the  clown.  Then  there  was 
that  favourite  national  sport,  the  wrestling-match  (gli'ma), 
which  was  the  invariable  accompaniment  of  every  meeting 
and  festival.  Here,  as  in  almost  every  Icelandic  custom, 
we  are  transported  to  a  very  remote  antiquity.  In  the 
Prose  Edda  (i.  159),  which  throws  so  much  light  on 
ancient  customs,  these  games  are  in  full  vigour.  Flat 
race  and  wrestling,  each  have  their  turn.  The  wrestling- 
match,  however,  has  a  special  interest,  for  the  combatants 
are  Thor  himself  and  a  great  carlin,  Elli.  They  grapple, 
but  the  harder  Thor  tightened  his  hold,  the  firmer  stood 
she,  and  the  end  of  it  was  that  Thor  fell  down  on  one 
knee,  when  Loki  interposed.  But  it  was  all  a  mocking 
show  of  that  demon  Loki,  for  Thor  had  been  wrestling 
with  Eld  (Elli),  and  who  can  ever  hope  to  give  her  a 

1  Prose  Edda,  i.  480.  2  Hrafnkel  Saga. 


326  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

throw  ?  Olafsen  and  rovelsen,  in  their  travels  through  the 
country  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago,  describe  the 
game  of  wrestling  as  still  practised  and  very  interesting 
to  witness,  and  there  were  regular  names  for  the  various 
tricks.  One  kind  of  wrestling  they  mention  as  just  the 
same  as  that  in  Cornwall  (sec.  ^j  and  sec.  517).  In 
Soetersdal,  that  part  of  Norway  where,  as  Mr.  Ivar  Aasen 
has  shown  us,  the  old  Icelandic  tongue  may  even  now  be 
recognised  embedded  in  the  country  talk — wrestling  still 
prevails.  The  Saetersdal  '  throw  '  no  uninitiated  wrestler 
can  withstand.  In  the  Vale  of  the  Whitehorse,  by  the 
by,  this  manly  exercise  has  quite  fallen  into  disuse  since 
the  days  of  '  Tom  Brown.'  But  to  return  to  our  Northern 
friends.  When  winter  had  bridged  the  lakes  and  brought 
friends,  at  other  times  too  remote,  within  the  compass  of  a 
day's  visit,  off  they  would  dash  in  their  sledges,  drawn  by 
those  splendid  little  horses,  straight  across  to  their  destina- 
tion. But  let  them  beware  of  the  fatal  vok  (hole  in  the 
ice),  which  often  brought  to  an  untimely  end  some  gay 
young  Bonder,  and  was  the  death  of  more  than  one 
king,  scudding  merrily  along  to  his  Christmas  rendezvous. 
Ball-playing,  too,  on  the  ice  was  a  favourite  exercise, 
apparently  a  cross  between  hockey  and  football ;  the  ball 
being  struck  with  a  sort  of  bat,  as  well  as  hurled  with 
the  hand  (see  "  Vigaglum's  Saga  ").  In  Egil  Saga,  cap. 
40,  "  Grimr  caught  the  ball  and  cut  off  with  it,  pursued 
by  the  rest  of  the  lads."  This  game  ended  in  a  quarrel 
which  was  the  death  of  seven  men. 

Nor  must  we  omit  to  present  the  Icelander  to  our 
readers  in  another  favourite  character — as  a  skilful  black- 
smith. Tliis  huge,  bald-headed  fellow  of  sinister  look, 
who  has  risen  so  early  on  the  winter  morning,  and  is 
busy  with  the  "  rauda-blastr,"  i.e.,  forging  hsematite  on 
the  stone  anvil  at  the  seaside  hut,  and  poking  fun  mean- 
wdiile,  in  the  shape  of  a  ditty,  at  the  sulky,  laggard 
bellows-blower,  was  one  of  the  proudest  and  noblest 
stock  in  Norway.     He  was  not  going  to  be  one  of  Harold 


PICTURES  OF  WOMEN.  327 

Fairhair's  courtiers — not  he.  All  the  king's  offers  of 
broad  acres  and  titles  did  not  move  liim.  Better  start 
for  the  new  country ;  and  here  he  is,  no  other  than 
Skalagrim  or  Grim  the  Bald,  lord  of  Borgarfiord  and 
father  of  Egil,  described  above  (Egil  Saga,  141),  whose 
memory  as  a  deft  worker  in  metals  will  never  be  for- 
gotten, any  more  than  that  of  another  striking  personage, 
a  frequenter  of  royal  courts,  the  Englishman  Dunstan 
(died  988). 

In  these  sagas  we  have  also  pictures  of  Korthern 
women,  such  as  they  were  in  those  days,  as  well  as  of  the 
sterner  sex.  They  are  human  nature  all  over.  Deeply 
imbued  with  the  influences  of  those  rough  times  and  the 
colour  of  their  company ;  big-framed  and  strong  in  body 
as  in  mind,  and  equal  to  any  emergency.  Independent, 
open,  frank,  and  noble,  brave  alike  in  heart  and  in  char- 
acter, appearance,  and  manner — for  that  is  the  meaning 
of  that  expressive  word  '  skorungr/  so  often  applied  to 
them — tender,  and  true,  and  loyal  to  their  husbands  and 
their  duties  when  fitly  mated.  But  crafty  withal  and 
false,  when  they  had  got  a  twist,  and  by  that  means 
alone  could  compass  their  ends.^  Look  at  Gudrun,  the 
victim  of  conflicting  passions,  love  and  hatred  to  Kjartan, 
and  confessing  at  last,  like  many  of  her  sex,  that  'she 
treated  him  worst  whom  she  loved  best.'  Look  at  the 
girl  Helga  the  Fair,  who  was  cheated  out  of  her  promised 
spouse  by  the  treachery  of  Ptafn.  Unable  to  survive  the 
death  of  her  lover,  she  asks  them  to  bring  her  the  gold- 
embroidered  mantle  which  King  Ethelred  of  England 
had  presented  to  him  in  reward  for  his  lay  (drapa) ;  and 
so  she  passed  away,  musingly  gazing  at  this  memento  of 
her  lover.  Had  such  a  character  been  only  due  to  the 
imagination  of  the  writer,  this  alone  would  have  been 
sufficiently  remarkable. 

1  For   specimens    of  your  strong-  Saga,   expanding    into   the    '  megin- 

minded  females,  we  have  Droplaug,  ekkia,'  the  awful  widow  who  could 

in   the   saga   of  tliat  name,  and  the  cow  a  man  of  blood    and  iron    and 

loving  maiden  Thurida,  in  the  Fwro  craft  like  Thraud. 


328  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

Admire,  again,  the  minute  descrij)tions  of  dress  and 
personal  appearance  of  these  people,  while  Beowulf  wears 
nothing  apparently  from  head  to  foot  but  a  coat  of  ring- 
mail,  which  always  shone  and  sang.  Why,  it  is  as  if  a 
Walter  Scott,  or  a  greater  than  he  in  the  portraiture  of 
bygone  days,  had  arisen  in  the  twelfth  century  and  made 
the  men  and  the  women  of  an  earlier  generation — with 
all  their  passions  and  their  foibles,  their  good  and  evil 
qualities — play  their  parts  over  again  before  us  as  they 
played  them  of  yore ;  such  is  the  individuality  and  pre- 
cision with  which  their  characters,  and  all  they  thought, 
and  said,  and  did,  their  likes  and  dislikes,  their  tastes  and 
habits,  their  notions  and  modes  of  looking  at  things,  are 
brought  out.  To  a  friend  meditating  a  history  of  the 
Crusades  Southey  wrote :  "  Omit  none  of  those  little 
circumstances  which  give  life  to  the  narration,  and  bring 
old  manners,  old  customs,  old  feelings,  and  old  times 
before  our  eyes."  The  writers  of  these  histories,  both  of 
kings  and  families,  knew  this  by  intuition;  gifted  with 
the  true  historical  instinct,  and  adepts  in  an  art  which 
they  had  learned  in  no  school. 

Historical  recitals,  without  personal  characteristics, 
without  realistic  pictures  of  the  dramatis  personce — "  Sic 
oculos,  sic  ille  manus,  sic  ora  ferebat" — they  felt  to  be 
a  thing  of  nought.  Thackeray  thought  so  too.  While 
engaged  in  writing  the  "  Virginians,"  he  went  into  the 
London  Library  and  asked  for  a  book  about  "  Wolfe."  "  I 
do  not,"  said  he,  "  want  to  know  about  his  battles ;  I  can 
learn  about  them  from  the  histories.  I  want  something 
that  will  tell  me  the  colour  of  the  breeches  he  wore." 
Dr.  Todd  suggests  that  the  Icelandic  saga  literature  was 
an  imitation,  on  the  part  of  the  Northmen,  of  the  histori- 
cal tales  and  bardic  poems  which  they  found  in  Ireland. 
The  reader  has  in  this  volume  specimens  of  the  Icelandic 
sagas.  Side  by  side  with  these  we  will  place  specimens  of 
the  Irish.  The  following  is  a  description  by  an  eye-wit- 
ness of  the  Northmen  opposed  to  King  Brian  at  the  battle 


IRISH  BOMBAST.  329 

of  Clontarf  (23d  April  1014),  when  the  king  was  slain.^ 
"  Now  on  one  side  of  that  battle  were  the  shouting,  hateful, 
powerful,  wrestling,  valiant,  active,  fierce  moving,  dan- 
gerous, nimble,  violent,  furious,  unscrupulous,  untameable, 
inexorable,  unsteady,  cruel,  barbarous,  frightful,  sharp, 
ready,  huge,  prepared,  cunning,  warlike,  poisonous,  mur- 
derous, hostile  Danars  ;  bold,  hardhearted  Danmarkians, 
surly,  piratical,  foreigners,  blue  -  green  pagans  ;  without 
reverence,  without  veneration,  without  honour,  without 
mercy  for  God  or  for  man.  These  had  for  the  purposes 
of  battle  and  combat,  and  for  their  defence,  sharp,  swift, 
bloody,  crimsoned,  bounding,  barbed,  keen,  bitter  wound- 
ing, terrible,  piercing,  fatal,  murderous,  poisoned  arrows, 
which  had  been  anointed  and  browned  in  the  blood  of 
dragons  and  toads,  and  water-snakes  of  hell,  and  of  scor- 
pions and  others,  and  wonderful  venomous  snakes  of  all 
kinds,  to  be  cast  and  shot  at  active  and  warlike  and  vali- 
ant chieftains.  They  had  with  them  hideous,  barbarous 
quivers,  and  polished,  yellow-shining  bows ;  and  strong, 
broad,  green,  sharp,  rough,  dark  spears,  in  the  stout,  bold, 
hard  hands  of  freebooters.  They  had  also  with  them 
polished,  pliable,  triple-plaited,  heavy,  stout  corslets  of 
double-refined  iron  and  of  cool  uncorroding  brass  for  the 
protection  of  their  bodies,  and  skin,  and  skulls,  from 
sharp,  terrible  arms,  and  from  all  sorts  of  fearful  weapons. 
They  had  also  with  them  valorous,  heroic,  heavy,  hard- 
striking,  strong,  powerful,  stout  swords"  (ibid.,  c.  91). 

It  is  only  fair  to  state  that  the  editor  pronounces  the 
above  chapter  not  autlientic  (p.  xxviii.  note).  But  chapter 
cii.,  the  genuineness  of  which  is  not  impugned,  is  hardly 
less  bombastic : — 

"  Then  the  fearful,  murderous,  hard  -  hearted,  terrific, 
vehement,  impetuous  battalion  of  the  Danmarkians,  and 
the  vehement,  irresistible,  unanswerable  phalanx,  and  the 
fine,  intelligent,  acute,  fierce,  valorous,  mighty,  royal,  gifted, 
renowned  champions  of  the  Dal  Cais  and  all  the  descen- 

1  "  W^ar  of  Gaedhill  with  the  Gaill,"  edited  by  Dr.  Todd. 


330  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

dants  of  Oilioll  Olum  met  in  one  place ;  and  there  was 
fought  between  them  a  battle,  furious,  bloody,  repulsive, 
crimson,  gory,  boisterous,  manly,  rough,  fierce,  unmerciful, 
hostile,  on  both  sides  ;  and  they  began  to  hew  and  cleave, 
and  stab,  and  cut,  to  slaughter,  to  annihilate  each  other, 
and  they  maimed,  and  they  cut  comely,  graceful,  mailed 
bodies  of  noble,  pleasant,  courteous,  affable,  accomplished 
men  on  both  sides  there.  That  was  the  slashing  of  two 
bodies  of  equal  hardness,  and  of  two  bodies  moving  in 
contrary  directions  in  one  place.  And  it  is  not  easy  to 
imagine  what  to  liken  it  to  ;  but  to  nothing  small  could  be 
likened  the  firm,  stern,  sudden,  thunder  motion,  and  the 
stout,  valiant,  haughty,  billow-roll  of  these  people  on  both 
sides.  I  could  compare  it  only  to  the  variegated,  bound- 
less, wonderful  firmament,  that  had  cast  a  heavy  sparkling 
shower  of  flaming  stars  over  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  or 
to  the  startling,  fire-darting  roar  of  the  clouds  and  the 
heavenly  orbs,  confounded  and  crushed  by  all  winds  in 
contention  against  each  other  ;  or  to  the  summit  of  heaven, 
or  to  the  rapid,  awfully  great  sea,  and  the  fierce  conten- 
tious roaring  of  the  four  transparent  pure  burst,  directly 
opposing  winds,  in  the  act  of  breaking  loose  from  the  order 
of  their  respective  positions  ;  or  to  the  stern,  terrific  judg- 
ment-day that  had  come  to  confound  and  break  down  the 
unity  of  the  four  surrounding  elements,  to  crush  and  finally 
shiver  the  compact  world,  and  to  take  vengeance  on  it. 
To  all  these  could  I  compare  the  smashing,  powerful, 
strong  barbarians,  shield-shining,  target-bossed,  red-spark- 
ling, starry  onset  of  the  Clann  Ludech,  under  the  stout, 
bright  axes  of  the  stern,  murderous  Danars,  mutilating 
and  crushing  them  ;  and  the  gleaming,  bright,  glassy,  hard, 
straight  swords  of  the  Dal  Cais  in  hard,  powerful  clashing 
against  the  free,  sparkling,  thrice-riveted  steel,  powerful 
protective  armour  of  the  piratical  Danmarkians.  ...  So 
that  the  sound  of  them  and  the  uproar  of  them  were  rever- 
berated from  the  caverns.  .  .  .  And  it  was  attested  by  the 
foreigners  and  foreign  women  who  were  watchins;  from  the 


DID  IRELAND  INFLUENCE  ICELAND?         331 

battlements  of  Atli  Cliath  (Dublin),  as  they  beheld,  tliat 
they  used  to  see  flashes  of  fire  from  them  in  the  expanse 
of  air  on  all  sides." 

Now  this  was  written  in  the  vernacular  and  not  in  the 
Latin  of  the  monasteries  ;  so  were  the  Icelandic  sagas,  and 
so  far  they  are  like.  But  in  other  respects  we  fail  to  dis- 
cover any  resemblance  between  this  laboured  farrago  of 
sesquipidalian  bombast  and  bathos  and  the  curiously  feli- 
citous style,  the  nervous  energy,  of  the  prose  narratives  of 
the  sagas.  Truly  does  Dr.  Todd  say,  "  The  Irish  style  is 
inflated  and  bombastic,  and  dealing  largely  in  alliterative 
epithets."  In  the  above  passage  in  the  original  Irish 
there  are  instances  of  seven  words  running  commencing 
with  the  same  initial  letter  !  ^ 

A  subsequent  chapter  is  a  panegyric  on  the  native 
troops,  the  "  Franks  and  Israelites  "  of  Ireland,  which  is 
not  without  traces  of  the  imaginative  faculty  of  the  Celt. 

"  Woe  unto  all  who  shunned  not  this  people,  who  did 
not  yield  to  them.  Woe  to  those  who  aroused  their  anger, 
if  it  were  possible  to  escape  from  it.  Woe  to  those  who 
attacked  them,  if  they  could  have  avoided  attacking  them, 
for  it  was  swimming  against  a  stream ;  it  was  pummelling 
an  oak  with  fists ;  it  was  a  hedge  against  the  swelling  of 
a  spring-tide  ;  it  was  a  string  upon  sand  or  a  sunbeam  ;  it 
was  the  fist  against  a  sunbeam  to  attempt  to  give  them 
battle  or  combat,  for  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  any  horror 
equal  to  that  of  arousing  the  fierce  battle  and  hard  con- 
flict of  these  warriors"  (G.  and  G.,  c.  93). 

Not  less  figurative  is  the  description  of  King  Brian's 
conduct  on  the  treacherous  murder  of  Math-gamhain. 
"  He  was  not  a  stone  in  the  place  of  an  egg,  and  he  was 
not  a  wisp  in  the  place  of  a  club,  but  he  was  a  hero  in  the 
place  of  a  hero,  and  he  was  valour  after  valour  "  (ibid.,  p. 
loi).  We  are  bound,  however,  to  confess,  that,  besides 
Dr.  Todd,  another  recent  eloquent  writer-  refers  this  power 

1  See  Appendix,  the  "  Battle  of  Ferdiad  and  Cuchulaind." 

2  Sars,  "Den  Norske  Historic,"  i.  158  sgr/.,  190  ^gry.,  aiid  ii.  266. 


332  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

of  minute  and  felicitous  description  partly  to  the  Celtic 
culture  ^  wliich  many  of  the  aristocratic  settlers  in  Iceland 
had  imbibed  during  their  residence  in  Scotland,  the  West- 
ern Isles,  and  Ireland — a  circumstance  that  seemed  to 
destine  Iceland  for  the  focus  of  that  literary  development 
begun  in  Norway  and  its  older  colonies  in  Britain. 

Then,  again,  as  your  modern  New  Englander  is  very 
keen  to  trace  his  descent  from  some  notable  in  the  old 
country,  so  the  Landnama  chieftain  felt  that  his  station  in 
Iceland  would  depend  very  much  on  his  proved  position 
in  Norway.  The  family  pedigree,  therefore,  was  a  vital 
affair.  If  noble,  it  was  the  passport  to  influence  and 
nobility  in  Iceland.  It  was  of  the  last  moment  to  keep  it 
clear,  and  to  make  out  his  ancestors  to  be  men  of  mark. 
And  so  every  old  scrap  of  family  or  popular  tradition  was 
treasured  up,  and  how  his  forbears  acquitted  themselves 
on  critical  occasions,  their  sayings  and  doings.  Habits 
and  dress  were  in  their  eyes  of  the  last  importance.  And 
thus  were  laid  the  foundations  of  the  historic  faculty 
which  distinguished  the  islanders. 

1  Celtic  culture  does  not  shine  conspicuously  in  books  like  the  "  Gaedhill 
and  the  Gaill ; "  yet  in  ornamental  art  no  doubt  it  bore  the  palm  over  all 
Northern  Europe.  See  O'Curry's  "Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient 
Irish,"  and  his  "Lectures  on  Irish  History." 


(     323     ) 


CHAPTEK  XIV. 

G  UN  LA  Ug'  S     SAGA. 

But  perhaps  the  reader  would  like  to  have  a  sketch  in 
detail  of  the  simply  told  tragic  story  of  Gunlaug  and  Helga 
(980  to  1008).^  Gunlaug,  while  quite  a  youth,  was  a  noted 
scald,  and  with  a  sharp  tongue  of  his  own ;  whence  his 
nickname.  Serpent-tongue.  He  was  broad  in  the  shoulders 
and  narrow  in  the  waist,  tall  and  muscular,  his  eyes  black, 
his  hair  light  brown,  with  a  handsome  face,  but  for  one 
feature,  his  nose,  which  was  ugly.  No  sooner  did  he  and 
Helga  meet  than  they  fell  in  love  with  each  other,  and  the 
games  at  draughts  they  played  together  did  not  diminish 
their  affection.  She  had  good  blood  in  her  veins,  being 
grand-daughter  of  the  famous  Egil,  who  had  fought  on 
the  side  of  Athelstan  at  Brunanburh. 

With  the  proverbial  fairness  of  her  race,  her  hair,  which 
was  as  bright  as  a  gold  head-band,  was  so  abundant  that  it 
could  cover  her  whole  person.  In  short,  there  was  no 
such  match  as  Helga  through  all  Castlefiord  and  in  the 
whole  country-side.  Her  father,  Thorstein,  was  appealed 
to,  but  said  no.  He  was  proud  of  his  family,  and  Gunlaug 
was  very  young  and  comparatively  uuknown ;  besides 
which,  he  was  just  on  the  point  of  sailing  to  foreign  ports. 
Without  this  his  education  would  have  been  incomplete, 
true  to  the  old  proverb,  "  Heimskt  er  heimalit  barn " — 
"  Home-keeping  youths  have  ever  homely  wits."  But 
Illugi,  his  father,  backed  him  up  strenuously,  and  at  last 
Helga's  father  consented  to  her  being  the  promised  spouse 
(heitkona),  but  not  the  betrothed  (festarkona),  of  Gunlaug. 

1  Copeuhagen,  1847  and  1775. 


334  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

She  was  to  bide  three  years,  and  if  Gunlaiig  did  not  "  come 
out "  {i.e.,  return)  in  that  time,  the  engagement  was  to  be 
off.  Our  suitor  now  commences  the  grand  tour,  and  arrives 
at  Nidaros,  the  court  of  Eric,  son  of  the  great  Hacon  Jarl. 
"  What  ails  thy  foot,  Icelander  ? "  asked  Eric  of  the  stalwart 
youth,  who  entered  the  presence  in  a  plain  grey  tunic  with 
long  white  trousers.  "  I  have  a  boil  on  it,  sire."  "  But 
you  don't  go  halt."  "  No,  one  don't  go  halt  if  both  feet 
are  of  the  same  length."  On  this  one  of  the  courtiers 
begins  to  twit  our  hero,  but  he  immediately  silences  him 
with  a  lampooning  quatrain.  "  How  old  art  thou,  Ice- 
lander?" asks  the  Jarl.  "Eighteen!"  "  I  forebode  you  will 
never  live  another  eighteen  years."  "  Bode  me  no  bodings," 
muttered  the  youth ;  "  more  fitting  were  it  for  thee  to  pray 
for  thyself  that  thou  mayst  not  die  such  a  death  as  Hacon 
thy  father."  ^  The  Jarl  turned  as  red  as  blood  and  bade 
them  seize  the  fool.  But  by  the  intercession  of  the  cour- 
tiers he  was  allowed  to  go  aboard  ship  and  sail  to  England. 
The  saga  here  states  that  "at  this  time  (a.d.  iooi)  there 
was  one  tongue  in  England,  Norway,  and  Denmark;  but 
the  language  changed  when  William  the  Bastard  conquered 
England ;  ^  from  which  period  Welsh  (French)  became 
the  prevailing  tongue  of  the  country."  ^  This  very  plain 
assertion  is  conjectured  by  modern  critics  not  to  have 
stood  in  the  original  text  of  the  saga.     It  is  said  that  at 

^  Murdered  by  a  thrall  in  a  vault  old  Northern  English  of  the  Gospels 

below  a  pig-sty  ;  see  above.  now  editing  by  Skeat. 

2  This  is  a  locus  classicus  of  no  or-  Not  less  curious  and  archaic  is  the 
dinary  interest.  In  wliat  sense  are  language  in  "Leifar"  by  Th.  Bj;ir- 
we  to  understand  it?  Professor  Ste-  nason,  Copenhagen,  1878,  from  A. 
phens  asserts  that  the  furtlier  we  go  Mag.  MS.,  No.  677,  4to. 
back  the  more  do  tlie  tongues  of  Eng-  Stephens  further  contends  that  the 
land  and  the  North  approximate,  specimens  of  Icelandic  generally  are 
always  allowing  for  dialectic  differ-  in  a  literary  language,  and  not  in  that 
ences.  In  the  oldest  Runic  stones  dialect  of  the  country  which  resem- 
this  is  especially  the  case.  Again,  bled  Anglo-Saxon,  and  was  known 
the  Icelandic  Homilies,  which  are  all  over  the  North  of  England.  So 
about  the  oldest  specimens  of  Ice-  the  polished  conventional  language  of 
landic  extant  (about  1200),  publislied  the  "  Times"  is  a  very  different  affair 
by  Wisen  (Lund,  1872),  especially  the  from  the  dialects  of  Dorset  and  York- 
texts  cited  in  a  still  older  Scandina-  shire. 
viau  language,  strongly  resemble  the  ^  This  latter  part  is  not  true. 


GUNLAUG  IN  LONDON.  335 

that  time  the  tongue  of  England  was  Anglo-Saxon  and  that 
of  Scandinavia  old  ISTorse,  two  nearly  allied  but  very  different 
languages ;  and  that  if  King  Ethelred  knew  old  Norse,  his 
subjects  generally  could  not  speak  it ;  though,  no  doubt, 
the  conquests  of  the  ISTorthmen  for  two  centuries  past 
had  rendered  many  people  familiar  with  the  Northern 
speech.^  This  criticism,  we  observe,  attributes  the  Danish 
(iSTorthern)  element  in  England  to  later  inroads  only. 
Most  likely,  however,  from  the  very  earliest  period  there 
was  a  language  talked  in  England,  a  dialect  lamjuage, 
savouring  strongly  of  Scandinavia,  the  Scando-Gothic  of 
the  oldest  Eunic  stones. 

We  must  return  to  our  young  scald.  He  was  soon  at 
court.  King  Ethelred  the  Unready  listened  to  the  lay  he 
had  composed  in  his  honour,  no  mere  brief  poem  (flokkr), 
but  a  regular  drapa  of  the  heroic  cast,  consisting  of  many 
stanzas  with  burdens  interspersed.  The  reward  soon 
followed.  The  Icelander  was  presented  by  the  king  with 
a  scarlet  tunic,  lined  with  the  most  costly  furs,  and  edged 
with  lace  down  to  the  skirt;  and  he  was  appointed  one 
of  the  king's  bodyguard.  One  day,  in  the  streets  of 
London,  he  encountered  a  Berserker,  or  professional  bully, 
that  veritable  scourge  of  the  times,  who  picked  a  quarrel 
with  him,  but  whom  he  managed  to  slay  and  got  great 
fame  in  consequence.  But  Gunlaug's  uneasy  spirit  soon 
tired  of  the  English  court,  and  by  the  king's  permission 
he  sailed  next  spring  for  Dublin,^  where  reigned  Sigtryggr 
Silkbeard,  whose  father  was  Olaf  Curan  or  Kvaran,  and 
his  mother  the  Irish  princess  Cormlada  =  Gormlaith. 
The  king  of  Dublin  was  quite  as  open-handed  as  his 
cousin  of  England.  Gunlaug  sang  his  praises,  and  the 
king  proposed  to  his  treasurer  to  reward  him  with  two 
merchant  sliips.  But  the  treasurer  was  of  a  thrifty  turn. 
"  That  is  too  much,"  said  he.      "  Other  kings  give  as  a 

^  Egil  Saga,  50.  Ireland,  wliicli  the  Northmen  estab- 

-  The  capital  of  that  Scandinavian     lished  about  800  A. D.,  and  which  last- 
kingdom  cnibraciDg  a  large  portion  of    cd  more  than  three  hundred  years. 


336  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURE. 

reward  for  poems  a  good  sword  or  a  gold  ring."  So  the 
king's  generosity  dwindled  down  to  tlic  conventional 
tunic  and  mantle,  and  a  gold  ring,  but  it  weighed  eio-ht 
ounces.^  Gunlaug  soon  left  the  Irish  court,  and  visited 
that  of  Sigurd,  Earl  of  the  Orkneys,  "  who  was  a  good  friend 
to  Icelanders."  Thence  he  sailed  for  Konuug's  hella,  an 
important  commercial  city  then  existing  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  river  Gota,  near  which  is  the  present  flourishing 
town  of  Gottenburg.  In  due  time  he  reaches  Upsala,  a 
city  celebrated  in  the  days  of  heathendom,  then  not  long 
passed  away,  for  its  great  temple  dedicated  to  Frey ;  the 
seat,  moreover,  of  the  parliament  and  the  residence  of  the 
king.  The  reigning  monarch  was  Olaf,  son  of  Eric  the 
Victorious.  The  scald  soon  made  his  way  to  the  king's 
hall  as  he  sat  at  meat.  "  Who  are  you  ?  "  asked  the  king. 
"  An  Icelander,"  was  the  answer.  "  Hrafn,"  said  the  king, 
"what  position  does  he  hold  in  Iceland?"  On  this,  a 
big  man  of  determined  look  rose  from  the  southern 
bench,2  opposite  the  king,  and  said,  "  Sire,  he  is  of  the 
best  family  in  Iceland,  and  a  man  of  great  valour."  The 
two  Icelanders,  both  of  them  scalds,  soon  became  great 
friends.  But  one  unlucky  day  the  king  asked  them  to 
recite  the  songs  they  had  composed  in  his  honour,  and 
thereafter  to  pass  judgment  on  each  other's  effusions. 
The  mutual  criticisms  lead  to  a  quarrel.  Hrafn  considers 
himself  insulted  by  the  disparaging  remarks  of  his  rival, 
and  they  part  enemies.  Gunlaug's  sharp  tongue  had  done 
its  work,  and  the  beginning  of  that  end  which  Jarl  Eric 
had  foretold  was  dimly  looming  in  the  distance.  Hrafn 
goes  coastward  to  Trondjem  and  thence  sails  for  Iceland. 
The  following  summer  he  goes  to  the  Althing,  and  to  the 
great  astonishment  of  his  relative,  Skapti,  the  speaker  of 

1  Giinl.  Orm.    Saga,   cap.   8.     The  them  up.  Tlie  Danish 'gold-diggings  ' 

frequent  finds  in  the  mosses  of  Den-  are  in   her  bogs,  and  professors    are 

mark  show  that  there  was  no  exag-  often  the  diggers, 

geration  here  and  elsewhere.    Vikings  -  The  chosen  seat  of  distinguished 

often  buried  such  ornaments  for  se-  guests, 
curity,  and  never  returned  to   take 


G  UN  LA  UG  A  GA  IN  IN  L  ONDON.  337 

tlie  assembly,  asks  him  for  his  good  offices  in  demanding 
Helga  to  wife.  "  But,"  said  Skapti,  "  isn't  she  promised 
to  Gunlaug  ?  "  "  Ay,  but  are  not  the  three  years  expired  ? 
Besides,  Gunlaug  is  grown  much  too  grand  to  trouble 
himself  about  such  things."  In  the  end  Skapti,  quite  in 
accordance  with  the  custom  in  Iceland,  which  left  to  the 
seniors  the  duty  of  making  such  proposals,  agrees  to  be  his 
advocate,  and  goes  to  the  booth  of  Helga's  father,  Thor- 
stein.  "  True,"  replied  the  father  to  him,  "  the  three  years 
are  expired,  but  the  summer  is  not  out,  and  he  may  return 
before  its  end."  "But  if  he  does  not  return  during  the 
summer,  what  then  ? "  "  Oh,  we  shall  meet  at  the  Althing 
next  summer,  and  then  we  can  discuss  what  is  best  to  be 
done.  But  now  it  boots  not  to  talk  more  about  it."  The 
great  news  soon  got  wind  that  Hrafn  had  applied  for 
Helga's  hand.  The  summer  passed,  but  no  Gunlaug  made 
his  appearance.  Next  summer  the  elders  met  at  the  Hill 
of  Laws ;  and  Thorstein  consulted  Illugi,  the  father  of 
Gunlaug,  who  said  he  would  relieve  him,  if  he  desired, 
from  the  promise,  "  though  he  could  not  say  how  Gunlaug 
would  take  it."  On  this  a  compact  was  made  that  if  Gun- 
laug did  not  return  meanwhile,  on  the  24th  of  October 
(or  the  beginning  of  winter)  Helga  and  Hrafn  should  be 
married,  though  Helga  was  greatly  against  the  arrange- 
ment. 

The  saga  now  shifts  to  the  truant  lover.  From 
Sweden  he  had  gone,  in  the  summer  of  1003,  on  a  second 
visit  to  King  Ethelred.  For  two  years  did  the  king  de- 
tain him  at  his  court,  pleading  the  necessity  of  his  help 
against  Sweyn,  who  was  threatening  an  invasion  of  Eng- 
land. At  length  he  got  leave  of  absence  from  the  English 
court,  and  sailed  for  Trondjem.  Luckily,  though  it  was 
late  in  the  season,  the  last  ship  bound  for  Iceland,  com- 
manded by  the  famous  Halfred  Vandrajgaskald,  had 
not  yet  left  the  fjord,  and  Gunlaug  secures  a  passage  on 
])oard.  "  Have  you  heard,"  inquired  the  master,  "  about 
Hrafn's  wooing  of  Helga  the  Fair  ?  "  111  news  travels  fast. 

Y 


338  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

(UuiloAig  -svas  not  unaware  of  the  state  of  matters,  but  he 
hoped  to  arrive  at  home  in  time  to  balk  the  plans  of  his 
rival.  A  fortnight  before  the  day  fixed  for  the  nuptials,  the 
good  ship  reached  Iceland,  but  at  a  spot  far  distant  from  his 
liome.  In  a  wrestling  match  with  one  Thord,  who  came 
down  to  the  ship,  Gunlaug  throws  his  antagonist,  but  has 
the  misfortune  to  dislocate  his  ankle,  and  is  detained  in 
consequence  some  days ;  so  that  it  is  not  till  the  very 
evening  of  the  marriage  that  he  and  his  retinue  alight 
from  their  journey  at  his  father's  house.  The  lover  is  for 
riding  down  to  Borg  on  the  instant,  but  his  friends  are 
unanimous  in  saying  that  it  is  too  late. 

Helga  was  very  downcast  at  the  ceremony,  for  that  old 
saying  is  very  true,  "  One  minds  long  what  one  learns 
young." 

The  following  winter  the  rivals  met  at  a  wedding-feast. 
The  ladies  sat  on  the  dais,  at  the  end  of  the  hall,  and 
among  them  Helga,  next  to  the  bride.  "  Often  did  her  eye 
light  upon  Gunlaug,  and  so  the  old  proverb  came  true, 
tliat  '  the  eyes  cannot  hide  it  if  a  woman  loves  a  man  ! '  " 
Next  day  the  lovers  have  a  long  talk  just  before  the  party 
breaks  up,  when  he  presents  her  with  the  costly  mantle, 
the  gift  of  King  Ethelred.  The  minstrel  gives  vent  to  his 
bitter  feelings  in  a  song,  the  burden  of  which  is  that  he 
has  never  passed  one  happy  day  since  Helga  became 
Ilrafn's  wife.  Her  parents  thought  more  of  Hrafn's 
wealth  than  of  Gunlaug's  poetical  fame.  Hrafn  retorts  in 
chaffing  verse.  "  Why  quarrel  about  one  woman  ?  Many 
such  can  be  found  southward  over  the  sea.  I've  seen 
them  myself."  "  There  may  be  many  as  fair,"  replied  the 
other,  "  but  I  don't  think  so  ; "  and  he  then  again  breaks 
out  into  verse,  lamenting  his  detention  by  Ethelred,  which 
lost  him  his  bride.  But  though  a  Christian,  the  Viking 
spirit  within  him  was  not  going  to  evaporate  in  mere 
lyric^iamentations.  At  the  summer  Althing  Gunlaug 
avails  himself  of  the  old  law^  still  in  force,  and  challenges 
the  man  who  had  so  cruelly  and  basely  injured  him  to 


HOLMGANG.  339 

single  combat,  three  days  later,  on  the  island  in  the  neigh- 
bouring stream,  the  Oxara,  The  duel  came  off  in  the  pre- 
sence and  with  the  sanction  of  all  the  great  functionaries  of 
the  Parliament.  "  But,"  says  the  writer,  "  this  was  the  last 
duel  (holmganga)  that  took  place  in  Iceland,  for  the  very 
next  day  a  statute  was  unanimously  passed,  making  such 
hostile  meetincrs  illegal.  The  battle  now  began,  and  at  the 
side  of  each  combatant  stood  his  second,  shield  in  hand,  to 
ward  off  the  blows  aimed  at  his  friend.  The  terms  of  the 
battle  were,  that  he  who  got  the  first  wound,  lost,  and  had 
to  pay  a  fine  of  24  oz.  of  silver.  Hrafn,  as  being  the  person 
challenged,  had  the  first  blow,  but  it  was  jjarried  by  the 
second's  shield,  and  being  dealt  with  all  his  might,  the 
weapon  snapped  off  short  at  the  hilt.  The  blade  flew  into 
the  air,  and  the  point  slightly  grazed  Gunlaug's  cheek. 
Hrafn  claimed  the  victory  in  consequence,  while  Gunlaug 
pooh-poohed  the  claim.  "  Hrafn,"  he  said,  "  was  defeated, 
for  he  was  weaponless  (slyppr)."  The  friends  now  inter- 
fered, and  the  battle  was  drawn.  On  his  return  from  the 
island,  Gunlaug  encountered  his  lost  bride,  who  had  been 
watching  the  contest.  They  have  another  talk  together, 
and  he  sings  another  dirge  of  regret,  and  then  they  part ; 
"but  Helga  stood  in  the  same  spot,  and  long  gazed  on 
him  as  he  went." 

But  though  Hrafn  had  won  the  fair  lady's  hand,  he 
found  she  w^ould  have  nothing  to  do  with  him,  nor  stay  in 
her  new  home.  At  last,  in  a  fury  of  jealousy,  he  journeyed 
one  day  to  the  residence  of  Gunlaug,  and  challenged  him 
to  a  battle  in  Norway,  which  he  joyfully  accepted.  Soon 
after  Hrafn  sailed  for  Trondjem,  and  waited  the  winter  over, 
chafing  for  the  arrival  of  his  antagonist.  Gunlaug  and  his 
firm  friend,  Halfreed  the  Scald,  also  set  sail  for  Norway, 
but  were  driven  westward  to  the  Orkneys,  where  they 
arrived  too  late  to  think  of  prosecuting  their  voyage  that 
year. 

The  following  spring  Gunlaug  arrived  in  Trondjem,  and 
found  Hrafn  had  none  to  Levanter  at  the  end  of  the 


340  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

fjord.  Eric  was  still  on  the  tlirone,  that  Jarl  whom  he 
had  ouce  in  his  hot  inexperienced  youth  answered  so  cava- 
lierly. But  the  great  man's  anger  had  been  propitiated 
by  a  neatly-turned  poem  in  his  praise,  composed  by  Gun- 
laug,  and  he  received  him  graciously.  The  tidings  of  the 
feud  had,  however,  already  reached  the  royal  ears,  and 
Eric  interdicted  them  from  fighting  in  his  dominions.  One 
day  Gunlaug  and  a  friend,  while  walking  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Trondjem,  espy  a  crowd  of  men  standing  in  a 
riuCT  inside  of  which  were  two  men  fencing ;  one  was  called 
"  Gunlaug  "  and  the  other  "  Hrafn,"  The  bystanders 
shouted  out  that  Icelanders  were  poor  craven  fellows,  and 
were  slow  to  remember  their  words.  Our  hero  at  once 
perceived  that  this  was  a  bit  of  malicious  jeering  levelled 
at  himself.  He  told  the  Jarl  he  could  endure  it  no  longer ; 
and  begged  that  he  and  his  friends  might  follow  Hrafn, 
who  was,  in  fact,  over  the  frontier  and  on  Swedish  ground. 
The  Jarl  gave  him  permission  and  an  escort,  Hrafn,  hear- 
ing nothing  of  his  foe,  was  journeying  eastward.  At  last, 
after  a  long  pursuit,  Gunlaug  comes  up  with  him,  and  they 
eagerly  begin  the  fray,  on  a  flat  meadow,  called  Gleipnis- 
vellir.  Hrafn's  foot  is  sliced  off  by  Gunlaug's  sword,  the 
gift  of  Athelstan,  and  he  supports  himself  on  a  tree-stump. 
"  I'll  not  fight  with  a  disabled  man,"  says  Gunlaug.  "  Luck," 
exclaims  the  other,  "  has  gone  against  me ;  but  would 
Gunlaug  do  one  favour  to  a  dying  man :  fetch  him  a  drop 
of  water  to  drink  in  his  helmet  ? "  His  foe  generously 
consents,  and,  when  he  is  handing  him  the  water,  Hrafn 
treacherously  smites  him  on  the  head,  and  inflicts  a 
desperate  blow.  "  Wretch,  thus  to  betray  me  ! "  exclaimed 
Gunlaug.  "  Quite  true,"  retorted  the  other ;  "  but  I  grudged 
you  the  embraces  of  Helga."  The  death-struggle  is  re- 
newed, and  Hrafn  receives  his  quietus.  The  head  of  the 
wounded  survivor  is  bound  up,  and  he  is  carried  down  to 
Levanger  by  the  king's  escort,  who,  by  previous  agree- 
ment, sat  by  and  watched  the  engagement.  He  dies  three 
days  later,  after  having  received  the  consolations  of  reli- 


"  TALES  OF  TRUE  LOVE,''  ETC.  341 

gion.  Helga  was  subsequently  given  by  her  father  in  mar- 
riage to  Thorkell  of  Lava  Dale.  "  But  she  loved  him  little, 
for  she  never  could  forget  Gunlaug,  though  he  was  dead. 
And  yet  Thorkell  was  a  brave  man  and  a  wealthy,  and  a 
good  scald ;  and  she  had  several  children  by  him.  It  was 
Helga's  great  delight  to  spread  out  before  her  the  mantle, 
Gunlaug's  gift ;  and  she  would  gaze  at  it  for  long.  Once 
on  a  time  a  grievous  sickness  fell  on  their  family,  and 
many  of  them  lay  ill  of  it  for  a  long  time.  Helga  also 
sickened,  but  did  not  take  to  her  bed.  On  Saturday  even- 
ing she  sat  in  the  parlour,  and  leant  her  head  on  the  good 
man  Thorkell's  knee,  and  sent  for  Gunlaufr's  sift.  And 
when  the  mantle  came,  she  raised  herself  up,  and  spread 
it  out  before  her,  and  gazed  at  it  for  a  while;  and  after 
that  she  sank  back  into  her  husband's  arms  and  breathed 
her  last.  Thorkell  composed  a  dirge  to  her  memory."  .  .  . 
"  And  so  ends  the  saga."  And  whoever  wrote  this  tale 
of  woe — whether  it  was  Ari  Frodi  or  some  one  else — we 
must  needs  allow  that  it  is  told  with  a  pathos  and  simpli- 
city not  a  whit  inferior  to  the  somewhat  similar  story  of 
Enoch  Arden.  We  see  there  were  tales  of  true  love  which 
came  to  a  mournful  ending  long  before  the  days  of  Auld 
Eobin  Gray.  Ari,  the  reputed  author,  Iceland's  earliest 
historian,  was  born  only  fifty-nine  years  after  the  death  of 
Serpent  tongue  (1008).  Every  incident  of  the  story  would 
be  flying  about  in  men's  mouths.  This  thing  was  not 
done  in  a  corner.  Helga  was  the  granddaughter  of  Egil,  a 
mighty  Scandinavian  lord ;  the  compeer  of  Norwegian 
kings.  Her  lover  was  the  singer  of  songs  "  that  kings  had 
loved  to  hear;"  he  had  been  supplanted  by  the  help  of 
Skapti,  the  Lawgiver.  His  first  duel  had  been  fought  in 
the  presence  of  all  that  was  great  and  noble  in  Iceland, 
and  was  also  memorable  for  being  the  last  of  lawful  duels. 
Gunlaug's  death  was  a  deed  of  unparalleled  baseness. 
Helga's  love,  enduring  to  the  end,  and  her  tranquil  passing 
away  —  all  this  would  stick  l)arl)like  in  the  memories  of 
the  people.      Then,  again,  Gunlaug  had  for  his  constant 


343 


ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 


fiiond  and  companion  one  of  the  most  classic  poets  of  the 
North,  HallfrffiSr  Vandroegaskakl,  often  cited  by  Snorri ; 
and  he  woukl  be  sure  to  have  composed  many  verses  in 
mcmoriam  ;  while  lines  of  Thord  Kolbeinson,  another  con- 
temporary of  Gunlaug,  who  composed  poems  in  honour 
of  Jarl  Eric  Ilaconson  and  St.  Olaf,  are  quoted  in  the 
saga  as  the  authority  for  some  of  the  incidents.  All  the 
facts,  then,  were  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  people ;  passing 
from  mouth  to  moutli  in  prose  or  verse,  when  Ari  seized 
on  them,  and  moulded  them  into  the  shape  they  at  present 
^-  ^    As  wx  read  these  books,  let  us  think  for  a  moment 


wear.^ 

1  The  death  of  Earl  Ronald,  "the 
most  accomplished  and  best  beloved 
of  all  the  Orkney  earls,"  A.D.  1046,  is 
thus  told  in  the  Orkney  Saga  :—  * 

"Earl  Ronald  lay  at  Kirkwall  and 
collected  thither  all  sorts  of  supplies 
for  the  winter,  having  with  him  a 
large  followiug  whom  he  entertained 
regardless  of  cost.  A  little  before 
Jule  the  earl  started  with  a  nume- 
rous retinue  for  the  Lesser  Papa  to 
fetch  malt.  In  the  evening,  as  they 
sat  a  long  time  baking  their  limbs  at 
the  fire,  the  man  who  kept  it  up  said 
the  fuel  was  getting  short.  Ou  which 
the  Jarl  made  a  slip  of  the  tongue 
He  said,  '  We  shall  be  old  enough 
when  this  fire  is  burnt  out.'  But  he 
meant  to  have  said,  '  We  shall  be 
warm  enough.'  And  when  he  per- 
ceived it,  he  said,  '  I  made  a  slip  of 
the  tongue  (mis-spoke) ;  I  never  did 
so  before  that  I  can  mind.  This  re- 
minds me  of  what  King  Olaf,  my 
foster-father,  said  at  >Stiklestad, 
when  I  observed  his  slip  of  the 
tongue.  He  said  that  if  ever  I 
made  a  slip  of  the  tongue,  I  must 
make  up  my  mind  to  have  a  short 
time  left  to  live.  Maybe  my  kinsman 
Thorfinn  is  alive.'  At  this  moment 
they  heard  people  all  round  the  house. 
Earl  Thorfinn  was  come,  and  they  set 
fire  to  the  buildings  and  heaped  up  a 


great  pile  before  the  doors.  Thorfinn 
permitted  all  but  the  earl's  men  to 
go  out.  And  when  most  of  the  people 
had  come  out,  a  man  came  into  the 
doorway,  dressed  in  linen  clothes 
only,  and  begged  Thorfinn  to  give 
the  deacon  a  helping  hand.  At  the 
same  moment  he  placed  his  hand  on 
the  balk  of  wood  (across  the  door), 
sprang  right  over  it  and  beyond  the 
ring  of  men,  and  fled  away  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night.  Earl  Thorfinn 
bade  them  follow  after  him,  and  said, 
'  There  fared  the  earl  ;  it  was  one  of 
his  feats  of  strength  and  nobody's 
else.'  The  men  set  off  in  search, 
separating  into  knots.  Thorkell 
Foster  searched  along  the  shore, 
when  they  heard  a  dog  bark  among 
the  rocks.  Earl  Ronald  had  his  lap- 
dog  with  him.  The  earl  was  captured, 
and  Thorkell  bade  his  men  kill  him, 
offering  them  money.  But  all  the 
same  they  refused.  So  Thorkell  him- 
self slew  him,  for  he  knew  that  one 
or  the  other  of  them  would  have  to 
do  it.  Earl  Thorfinn  now  came  uja, 
and  blamed  not  the  deed.  They  spent 
the  night  on  the  island  slaughtering 
the  whole  of  Ronald's  followers. 
Next  morning  they  laded  the  mer- 
chant ship  with  malt,  then  went 
aboard,  placing  in  the  prow  and  stern 
the  shields  which.  Ronald  and  his  men 


See  Flateyjarbok,  ii.  p.  417. 


DEATH  OF  EARL  RONALD.  343 

Avliat  the  reading  or  reciting  of  them  did  for  the  indwellers 
of  that  remote  isle.  How  it  would  fire  their  imagination, 
how  it  ennobled  the  life  of  the  rustic,  was  a  penny  read- 
ing, a  homily,  a  newspaper  all  in  one,  and  much  more ;  a 
whole  Mudie's  Library,  in  fact,  to  the  more  cultivated 
intellects, 

had,  and  no  more  men  upon  her  than  Thorfinn   seized    and    killed    thirty, 

had  come  with  the   earl,    and   then  most  of   them  being  King  Magnus's 

rowed    to    Kirkwall.      As     Ronald's  men  and  friends  of  his.    One  retainer 

men  supposed  that  it  must  be  the  earl  of  the  king's  he  let  go,  bidding  him 

and  his  followers  coming  back,  they  fare  to  Norw.iy  and  tell  King  Magnus 

went  to  meet  them  unarmed.     Earl  the  news.' 


(     344    ) 


CHAPTEE  XV. 

THE     S  W E  R  R  I S     SAGA. 

Let  us  now  shift  the  scene  from  this  old-world  love-story, 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  best  written  of  the  smaller 
sagas,  to  another  of  far  higher  pretensions,  alike  in  a  lite- 
rary point  of  view  and  in  the  exalted  position  of  the  man 
whose  deeds  it  narrates. 

King  Swerrir  was  brought  up  in  youth  for  the  priestly 
office,  under  his  uncle  the  Bishop  of  Faro ;  and  with  no 
very  well-founded  pretensions  to  the  throne — his  royal 
blood  being  little  better  than  a  myth — this  man  at  length 
surmounted  all  obstacles,  and  ascended  the  throne  of 
Norway  a.d.  i  i  84.  Like  all  monarchs  who  chose  to  think 
for  themselves,  he  was  speedily  at  loggerheads  with  the 
Pope,  and  like  our  King  John,  his  friend  and  contem- 
jjorary,^  he  was  placed  under  an  interdict,  and  all  the 
bishops  fled  out  of  the  land.  Many  were  the  battles  he 
fought,  and  many  his  hairbreadth  escapes.  His  most  for- 
midable foes  were  Jarl  Erling,  and  his  son,  King  Magnus, 
but  they  both  fell  before  him. 

Sw^errir  was  a  man  of  many  striking  qualities,  partly 
good,  partly  bad,  "  virtutibus  et  vitiis  asque  insignis."  In 
1dm  we  see  a  combination  of  astuteness  and  fanaticism, 
never-failing  resource,  vigilance,  unshaken  courage,  forti- 
tude in  adversity,  kindliness  and  severity,  an  insight  into 
character,  and  power  of  moving  men  by  a  nervous,  natural 

^  "John,  the  English  king,  sent  afoot  as  deer,  skilful  in  the  use  of  the 
King  Swerrir  two  hundred  soldiers  bow,  and  who  wrought  ill  enough," 
called   ribalds,    who   were   as    quick     c.  174  (194). 


THE  WRITER  OF  IT.  345 

eloquence.  Taking  him  all  in  all,  he  was  perhaps  Nor- 
way's greatest  if  not  best  king ;  ^  at  least  he  is  so  con- 
sidered by  the  people  themselves,  who  may  be  supposed 
to  be  the  best  judges.  It  was  not,  however,  in  this  light 
that  Swerrir  presented  himself  to  a  large  section  of  his 
contemporaries.  Hoveden  describes  him,  in  fact,  as  a 
usurper  and  a  murderer,  and  no  doubt  the  Papal  party 
of  the  day  endorsed  that  verdict  to  a  man.^ 

What  is  most  wonderful  in  this  vernacular  composition 
is,  that  it  is  by  a  monk,  brought  up,  doubtless,  in  all  the 
odour  of  monkish  Latinity,  who,  emancipating  himself 
from  the  sententious  pedantry  of  his  tribe,  has  in  living 
words,  sharp-cut  sentences,  in  a  style  strong  and  energetic, 
described  the  stirring  incidents,  reproduced  the  impas- 
sioned and  pithy  speeches  of  the  Norwegian  king.^  The 
first  part,  according  to  the  preface,  but,  to  judge  from  the 
style,  most  likely  the  w^hole  of  it,  was  written  down  by 
Karl  Jonsson,  the  Benedictine  Abbot  of  the  monastery  of 
Thingore,*  in  the  north  of  Iceland.^  He  came  to  Norway 
for  this  purpose  in  1185,  and  had  the  king  constantly  at 
his  elbow  in  his  composition.  Here  then  we  have  written 
down  an  account  from  the  mouth  of  an  eye-witness  and 
chief  actor  in  the  scene. 

But  let  us  in  a  few  words  refer  to  the  state  of  Norway 
at  that  time.  To  say  that  the  lawful  popular  voice  and 
hereditary  claims  were  in  abeyance,  that  the  land,  crown 
and  all,  were  at  the  feet  of  the  Pope,  and  that  the 
monarch  dared  not  stir  a  finger,  could  not  even  be  law- 

1  See  Werlauf,  Anecdoton  Swer-  tinus  or  Eustachius),  Archbishop 
riri  (xviii. ),  Hafnise,  1815,  a  defence  of  Nidaros,  who  left  Norway  for 
of  the  king.  The  author  must  have  England,  where  he  resided  three 
been  a  contemporary  cleric,  and  years,  partly  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds. 
known  at  the  time  (p.  92).  If  not  William  of  Newburg(i.  271)  calls  him 
the  king  himself,  it  was  probably  "  Diaboli  vas  proprium ; "  "prcedo," 
Martin,  an  Englishman,  and  chaplain  &c. 

to  his  majesty  (ib.  Ixxi.)  3  Sverri's  Saga,  ed.  Christiania,  1873. 

2  Hoveden  (Roll's  Series), ed.Stubbs,  "*  Oxonian  in  Iceland,  p.  221, 
ii.  214,  iii.  270,  &c.  The  English  "Nothing  remains  except  grass- 
chroniclers,  doubtless,   were  inspired  grown  hillocks." 

by     Eystein    (in    Hoveden,    Angus-        ^  gge  P.  E.  Sliiller,  iii.  419. 


346  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

fully  proclaimed  or  crowned  without  the  sanction  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Nidaros,  will  probably  explain  much  that 
was  untoward  in  the  national  affairs.  The  nobles  were 
brave,  but  sunk  deep  in  pampered  luxury,  curatio  cutis. 
Anything  for  an  easy  life,  quiet,  and  possession  of  their 
privileges  was  their  motto.  All  this  stirred  the  bile  or 
the  ambition  of  the  young  priest  in  Faro.  Was  it  to  be 
tolerated  that  King  Magnus  should  make  concordats  with 
Eome,  and  thus  barter  away  the  independence  of  the 
country  and  the  kingly  supremacy  !  So  he  left  the  island 
refuge  where  his  mother  had  carried  him  as  a  child,  and 
set  foot  in  Norway  (1176)  to  spy  out  how  the  land  lay. 
All  the  following  he  could  get  at  first  were  the  mere 
residuum  of  the  country — the  Birch-legs — though  subse- 
quently he  made  fast  friends  of  the  people  of  Trondjem. 
The  most  influential  of  the  nobility  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  a  disturber  of  their  rights  and  influence  at 
court.  The  mass  of  the  lower  classes  loved  the  easy-going 
popular  King  Magnus,  and  ignored  a  stranger  of  doubtful 
origin  who  sang  hymns  and  quoted  Scripture.  The  clergy, 
who  took  their  cue  from  the  Pope,  and  interpreted  "  the 
powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God"  to  mean  "King 
by  the  will  and  grace  of  his  Holiness,"  their  state  of 
mind  can  be  well  imagined.  The  renegade  priest !  the 
impostor  who  claimed  to  be  of  royal  lineage  !  the  wizard  in 
league  with  the  devil  1  Perdition  awaited  him,  while  his 
rival.  King  Magnus,  would  be  in  Abraham's  bosom  before 
the  breath  was  well  out  of  him.  But  Swerrir  was  of  the 
sort  of  stuff  to  defy  the  whole  pack  of  them.  His  stern 
discipline  drilled  the  ragged  squad  into  men  of  iron  whom 
nothing  could  quell.  They  caught  his  spirit,  and  nobody 
could  stand  against  them.  That  was  his  instrument, 
formed  and  shaped  by  himself,  for  winning  victories  in 
the  teeth  of  all  probability  and  against  untold  odds,  and 
finally  carrying  everything  before  him.  His  opponent, 
Magnus's  father  Erling,  might  be  prudent  and  a  real 
soldier,  but   in  sublety  and  military  prowess   he    found 


PORTRAITS  OF  SIVERRIR  AND  MAGNUS.       347 

Swerrir  more  than  his  match.  The  popular  qualities  of 
King  Magnus  might  bind  fast  to  him  the  people  of  the 
South,  but  Swerrir  could  set  off  against  this  the  fidelity 
of  his  Birch-legs  and  the  devotion  of  the  Trondjemers. 

But  the  reader  will  perhaps  like  to  have  a  ])ost  obit  por- 
trait of  Swerrir  as  drawn  by  his  biographer  (c.  181).  "  He 
was  low  of  stature,  broad  and  muscular ;  when  seated  he 
looked  tall,  but  his  legs  were  short.  His  skin  was  of  the 
fairest ;  the  face  was  broad  and  well-favoured,  the  eyes  of 
a  reddish  (?  hazel)  tinge,  steady  and  noble  in  expression, 
while  there  was  an  air  of  calm  and  attention  about  the 
countenance.  Very  eloquent  in  speech,  there  was  such  a 
ring  in  his  voice,  that  though  he  did  not  appear  to  speak 
loudly,  everybody,  even  those  at  a  distance,  could  hear 
him.  When  he  sat  in  his  high  seat  in  goodly  apparel,  he 
looked  every  inch  a  king.  He  sat  down  to  table  only  once  a 
day,  and  he  never  let  strong  drink  mar  his  wits.^  In  weari- 
ness, wet,  and  watching  he  was  a  man  of  great  endurance. 
Ambitious  he  was,  and  equal  to  great  deeds.  Unlike  his 
father,  Sigurd,  who  was  changeable  and  explosive,  Swerrir 
was  steadfast  and  sedate,  and  while  Swerrir  was  cautious, 
the  other  was  easily  taken  in.  He  was  sparing  of  words 
and  crafty  in  counsel.  Father  and  son  were  both  of  them 
magnanimous,  sociable,  loving  to  their  friends,  fierce  to  their 
foes,  ready  to  help  those  in  need,  faithful  and  constant ; 
and  even  his  enemies  said  the  like  of  him  was  never  seen 
in  their  day."  Set  side  by  side  with  this,  as  showing  the 
generosity  and  fairness  of  the  man,  his  description  of  his 
fallen  rival.  King  Magnus  (ibid.,  cap.  98) :  "  Magnus  was 
popular  and  beloved  by  the  peasantry  ;  a  proof  of  this  was 
that  he  never  lacked  followers  as  long  as  he  lived,  in  spite 
of  the  danger  it  involved.  And  a  further  proof  was,  that 
anybody  who  claimed  to  be  of  his  stock  could  always  get 
a  following.  We  believe  the  chief  cause  of  this  popularity 
was,  on  the  one  hand,  the  love  all  the  people  bore  for 
descendants  of  King  Sigurd  the  Crusader,  and  on  the 
other  their  hatred  to  Harald  Gille.     King  Magnus  was 

^  See  bis  unique  temperance  speech,  c.  956. 


348  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

free  and  merry  with  the  common  people,  just  as  young 
men  are  wont  to  be.  He  was  very  fond  of  drink  and  of 
the  fair  sex.  He  took  a  pride  in  being  a  proficient  in 
all  manly  sports,  generous  and  magnificent,  and  a  ready 
speaker,  all  which  qualities  were  liked  by  the  people.  He 
was  very  skilful  in  the  use  of  his  weapons,  fond  of  display, 
and  a  dandy  in  dress ;  tall  and  brawny,  slender  in  the 
waist,  with  well-made  limbs.  His  face  was  handsome,  all 
but  his  mouth."  The  portrait,  in  fact,  of  the  cavalier  of 
the  period,  whom  it  was  part  of  Swerrir's  mission  to  abo- 
lish. Tliere  are  many  points  in  Swerrir's  character  which 
remind  us  of  Cromwell.  His  elaborate  manufacture  of  a 
powerful  military  machine  to  work  out  his  ends,  his 
intense  faith  in  his  mission,  his  strongly  religious  feeling,^ 
which  would  make  him  lay  aside  his  arms  and  kneel  down 
on  the  deck  when  a  battle  at  sea  hung  in  the  balance,  and 
sing  a  Latin  hymn,  his  constant  quotation  of  Scripture 
(120),  all  this  smacks  of  the  Protector.  He,  too,  had  his 
dreams  and  his  visions  to  compare  with  Cromwell's  super- 
naturalism.  He,  too,  might  talk  of  his  providences,  dis- 
pensations, deliverances.  "  The  Lord's  hand  did  it  all," 
he  might  say ;  but  he  never  went  the  length  of  telling  his 
auditors,  when  the  jarl  and  the  king  were  lying  dead,  that 
he  "  besought  the  Lord  to  slay  him  rather  than  he  should 
do  this  work."  The  specious  cant  of  the  Lord-General 
is  clearly  absent.  Instead  of  the  hesitating  hint,  the 
half- veiled  sign,  rather  than  express  words,  in  which  the 
former  would  put  a  cheat  on  his  own  conscience  while 
debauching  the  conscience  of  another,  Swerrir  is  generally 
open  and  above-board,  although  he  can  be  reticent  when 
needful  about  his  ancestry,  or  the  charge  of  having  tam- 
pered with  the  Pope's  Bull,  and  made  away  with  a  stray 
cardinal.  Of  dark,  grim  solemnity  there  is  not  a  vestige. 
He   has  been  branded  as   a  sheer   hypocrite,  pure  and 

1  An  arrow  struck  in  the  stern  of  knees.  "  A  perilous  shot,"  exclaimed 
his  boat,  just  over  his  he.ad,  and  an-  somebody.  Said  he,  "  It  will  come 
other  in  the  wainscot,  close  by  his    nearer,  if  God  wills  it. " 


SWERRIR'S  SPEECHES.  349 

simple,  by  liis  enemies ;  but  who  shall  presume  to  say- 
how  far  Swerrir  was  playing  the  hypocrite  in  his  repeated 
asseverations  of  the  justice  of  his  case  and  confidence  in 
the  Almighty  ?  or  how  far  out  of  the  fulness  of  conviction 
he  maintained  that  he  was  fighting  the  battles  of  the  Lord  ? 
Anyhow  he  was  a  chosen  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Provi- 
dence to  set  straight  what  was  out  of  joint  and  cried  loudly 
for  reform,  especially  to  hurl  from  its  bad  pre-eminence  a 
hierarchy  which  threatened  to  ruin  the  country.^ 

Here  is  the  king's  speech  before  the  battle  of  Ilevold, 
1 1 80. 

"  Here  is  a  great  host  come  together  and  a  fine,  and  it 
looks  as  if  we  shall  have  to  fight  against  great  odds,  so 
many  are  their  ranks  standing  in  all  the  fields  with  gilded 
weapons  and  costly  clothes.  It  were  well  if  you  brought 
both  the  one  and  the  other  back  to  the  town  to-night. 
See,  my  friends,  you  have  a  choice  of  two  things,  either 
to  Win  the  victory  or  die  sword  in  hand.  Bandying  blows 
with  King  Magnus's  barons  is  quite  another  thing  from 
hewing  timber  in  the  forest.  To  give  and  receive  big 
blows,  that  is  no  shame.  This  is  just  what  the  old  scald 
sang — 

'  Mucli  difference  is  there  between  tlie  Carl 
Who  firewood  cleaves,  and  who  fights  with  a  Jarl.' 

This  is  just  what  a  peasant  said  to  his  son  when  he 
accompanied  him  to  the  warships.  '  Quit  thyself  valiantly, 
boy,'  said  he.  '  Fair  fame  lives  longer  than  ought  else. 
But  now,  my  boy,  how  would  you  do  if  you  went  into  a 
battle  and  knew  you  must  fall  ? '  The  son  answered, 
'  Why,  hew  away  with  both  hands  at  once.'  '  But,'  re- 
joined the  peasant,  '  if  you  were  told  you  would  not 
survive,  what  then  ? '  '  Why,  fight  with  both  hands  and 
go  ahead.'  The  father  answered,  '  In  every  battle  one 
of  two  things  must  happen,  you  must  live  or  die,  so  be 
thou  bold,  because  everything  is  ordained  beforehand ; 
the  man  who  is  not  "  fey"  won't  go  to  Hcl,  and  the  "  fey  " 

1  Keyser,  Xorske  Kiikes  Historic,  p.  253. 


350  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

man  can't  escape.  It  is  worst  of  all  to  fall  in  flight. 
It  will  be  bad  sueing  for  peace  of  those  Heklungs,i  my 
Birkibeins,-  so  your  only  cliance  is  to  bar  the  way  and 
plunge  your  swords  in  their  mead-paunches.=^  They  are 
so  thick  on  the  ground  that  they  can't  make  use  of  all 
their  force.  A  vast  deal  of  them  were  better  fitted  to  be 
bridesmen  than  men  of  war.  They  have  been  more  used 
to  mead  than  fighting.  March  on,  then,  good  lads,  and 
may  God  preserve  us." 

Swerrir's  speech  over  the  grave  of  Jarl  Erling  at  Nidaros, 
1 179,  is  a  iine  specimen  of  simple  and  incisive  irony. 
"  It  is  not  meet  to  be  silent  at  the  grave  of  so  worshipful 
a  man  as  this.  Times  have  greatly  changed.  Here  is  one 
man  instead  of  three,  the  king,  the  Jarl  and  the  arch- 
bishop, and  that  man  am  I.  Here  is  much  to  see  and  to 
hear,  and  to  be  thankful  for.  Many  corpses  of  King 
Magnus's  followers  are  here  being  borne  along.  It  is  well 
known  to  many  how  Archbishop  Eystein  and  many  other 
clergy  have  often  said,  that  the  souls  of  all  who  fought  on 
the  side  of  King  Magnus,  and  defended  his  land  and  fell 
in  the  attempt,  would  be  in  paradise  before  their  blood 
was  cold  on  the  earth.  What  a  many  saints,  tlien,  have 
we  to  rejoice  in.*  We  can  fancy,  too,  how  holy  Jarl 
Erling  must  have  become,  who  was  at  the  bottom  of 
Magnus  being  proclaimed  king,  and  has  helped  and  sup- 

1  Literally,  "frockmen,"  from  the  stockings.     Magnus   Erlingson   Saga, 

peculiar  liood  they  wore  =  Hekla,  the  c.  xxxv. 

very  name  of  the  Icelandic  volcano,  ^  An  allusion  to  the  gross  hahits  of 
witli  its  "hood  of  snow."  Here,  the  luxury  and  sloth  of  his  opponents. 
Middle  Ages  fancied,  was  the  place  *  Listen  to  another  king  in  arms 
of  punishment  for  the  damned.  The  for  his  throne.  But,  like  the  arch- 
Scotch  "  John  Hacklehirnie's  house  "  bishop,  he  reckoned  without  his 
recalls   this   superstition.      The   fly-  host — 

fisherwillthinkhereof  the  "hackle"  "For  every  man   that   Bolingbroke 

feathers  from  the  neck  of  the  cock.  hath  press'd 

-  "Birch-legs."    These  Vikings  of  To  lift   shrewd   steel  against  cur 

the  forest  were  originally  poor  pea-  golden  crown, 

sants  whom  Swerrir  disciplined  into  God  for  his  Richard  hath  in  hea- 

invincible   Ironsides.     They   were  so  venly  pay 

called  from  the  pieces  of  birch  bark  A  glorious  angel." 

which  served    them   for    shoes   and  — A'mr;  iSic/iarcZ //. ,  act  iii.  sc.  2. 


SIVEKRIR'S  SPEECHES.  351 

ported  his  throne  from  that  day  to  this.  His  intercessions 
must  surely  mightily  prevail  with  God,  unless  perchance 
the  archbishop  was  a  little  partial  in  what  he  said. 
Things  have  so  come  about  that  we  are  now  standing 
over  those  who  have  long  overawed  ^  us  and  others.  I 
see  many  a  man  standing  rueful  here  who  would  be  right 
merry  if  he  stood  so  over  my  grave,  even  if  it  were  not 
quite  so  splendid  an  affair.  But  this  seems  both  short- 
sighted and  unkind,  considering  the  prophecies  so  often 
uttered  about  what  we  and  they  had  to  reckon  on  here- 
after. Meseems  we  ought  both  of  us  to  rejoice  greatly 
that  our  several  fates  have  been  settled  as  they  are.  We, 
at  all  events,  may  be  glad  that  our  lot  is  bettered,  and 
that  we  can  live  in  less  fear  than  heretofore ;  for  we  need 
not  fear  people  at  whose  graves  we  stand.  Now,  bear  in 
mind  the  archbishop's  promise.  By  this  time  the  blood 
of  the  dead  must  be  cold,  and  though  we  cannot  as  yet 
rejoice  in  any  miracles  of  theirs,  yet  at  least  we  have  by  this 
time  a  fine  stock  of  new  saints  in  the  city.  You,  too,  won't 
have  lost  them ;  on  the  contrary,  they  will  do  you  great 
good,  if  you  worship  them  as  saints  as  you  were  minded 
to  do.  But  if  things  are  so  bad  that,  as  my  mind  fore- 
bodes, all  the  fair  promises  about  them  have  broken  down, 
then  they  must  have  long  since  paid  the  penalty  for  the 
lies  and  the  nonsense  told  to  them,  as  well  as  all  others 
who  believed  them.  Now  my  rede  is,  that  you  shift 
matters ;  to  wit,  that  you  should  rather  pray  for  them 
dead,  and  for  Jarl  Erling,  M'ho,  being  a  mere  vassal,  dared 
to  give  the  name  of  king  to  his  son,  and  killed  all  the 
king's  sons,  and  all  of  royal  race,  and  broke  therein  the 
laws  of  King  Olaf.  We  must  also  pray  for  the  souls  of 
all  those  men  who  have  fallen  in  these  battles,  now  and 
heretofore  ;  pray  God  to  forgive  their  sins  and  save  their 
souls.  I  will  forgive  them,  for  God's  sake,  for  all  their 
misdeeds  to  me.  Now  let  each  one  do  as  seems  best  to 
him  for  himself  and  for  the  departed.     Bear  in  mind,  too, 

1  Properly,  "held  tlie  helmet  of  terror  over  us,"— mythological  allusion. 


3  5  2         ICELA  NDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

those  Avho  have  so  suddenly  been  severed  from  this  workl, 
unhouseled,  and  with  less  preparation  and  in  fiercer  mood 
than  they  would  now  like.  This  much  will  I  answer  for, 
that,  far  from  your  not  standing  in  need  of  prayers,  any 
good  you  do  their  souls  will  he  in  great  help  in  getting 
mercy  for  yourselves." 

The  king  now,  as  usual,  turned  aside  to  other  matters. 
He  first  thanked  the  clergy  for  their  funeral  chants  and 
orations,  and  all  the  people  for  their  hearty  joining 
in  tlie  prayers  for  the  dead.  And  he  bade  each  one 
pay  the  last  offices  to  his  friend  with  as  mnch  cere- 
mony as  he  chose,  promising  himself  to  provide  for  the 
burial  of  those  who  had  no  friends  at  hand.  He  ended 
his  speech  to  the  satisfaction  of  all,  and  many  people 
cheered  it. 

Let  us  see  the  end  of  this  man,  9th  March  1202.  He 
has  fallen  sick,  and  the  clergy  of  Bergen  are  summoned  to 
administer  extreme  unction  to  the  dying  king ;  and,  all 
honour  to  these  spirited  ecclesiastics,  they  do  so,  although 
he  was  under  the  Church's  ban.  At  this  moment  he  ex- 
claimed, "  Here  will  I  wait  for  recovery  or  death.  If  I  die 
on  my  high  seat,  surrounded  by  my  friends,  it  will  have 
chanced  otherwise  than  Bishop  Arneson  prophesied,  that  I 
should  be  cut  down  as  food  for  dogs  and  ravens."  There- 
upon he  was  anointed,  his  last  request  being  that  they 
should  leave  his  face  bare,  so  that  friends  and  unfriends 
might  see  whether  it  showed  any  traces  of  the  Church's 
ban  and  interdict.^ 

^  Pope  Alexander  III.  had  excom-  Archbishop  Eric  of  Nidaros,  have  re- 

municated  all  the  bishops  who  had  leased  his  son  Hacon  and  others  from 

a  hand  in  his  coronation.    They  were  the  interdict ;  after  the  manner  of  an 

"liars    and    iniquitous."       Innocent  ape  whicli  imitates  human  actions,  you 

III.,  whose  thunders  he  had  defied,  have  pretended  to  do  what  you  could 

on    hearing  of    his    death,   becomes  not  do,  and  had  no  right  to  do.     On 

jubilant.     "  Exultavit  cor  nostrum  in  condition  that  you  publicly  proclaim 

Domino,  etlajtatisumusgaudioraagno  that  your  dissolving  of  the  ban  was  a 

valde.      That  usurper,    who  turned  figment  and  a  folly,  we  isermit  you  to 

things  upside  down,  that  worker  of  absolve    them    in    due    ecclesiastical 

dire   calamities,   we   hear  that   you,  form."    Aiiecdot,  Ixiv. 


(     353     ) 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

THE     '"KlNG^S     MIRROR." 

The  following  is  from  the  "  Speculum  Eegale,"  "  King's 
Mirror,"  ^  the  work,  as  has  been  supposed,  though  incor- 
rectly, of  the  above  King  Swerrir,  more  probably  written 
about  1240,  in  the  reign  of  Hacon  Haconson.  The  "  Spe- 
culum Eegale  "  must  be  always  a  book  of  great  interest  to 
an  Englishman,  if  only — not  to  mention  its  graphic  account 
of  early  Arctic  discovery — from  its  political  significance. 
It  was  a  blow  after  the  manner  of  Swerrir  at  the  over- 
weening assumption  of  the  clergy.  Throughout  it  is  based 
on  the  principle  that  the  king  is  God's  visible  representa- 
tive on  earth,  while  the  clergy  have  their  place  assigned 
to  them  among  the  other  classes  of  the  community,  the 
courtiers,  the  merchants,  and  the  agricultural  class. ^  Here 
is  a  bit  of  advice  given  by  a  high-born  noble,  the  Chester- 
field of  the  day,  to  his  son,  who  is  about  to  enter  tlie 
king's  service : — 

"  Consider  that  foreign  envoys  of  high  breeding  may 
visit  the  court,  who  will  look  very  sharply  at  the  manners 
of  the  king  and  his  entourage,  and  criticise  them  all  the 
more  keenly,  the  more  polished  they  are  themselves  ;  and 
when  they  return  home  they  will  report  all  that  they  have 
seen  and  heard.  Their  reports  of  foreign  courts  are  sure 
to  be  strongly  featured,  full  of  scorn  or  full  of  approbation. 
Only  think,  if  at  some  great  levee,  wdiere  archbishops  and 
earls,  and  bishops  and  prefects,  and  knights  and  hirdmen 

1  Konungs-Skuggsja.     Christiania,  1848.     Sorij,  1768. 
-  Karl  (leu  iStore  og  Didrik  of  Ueni,  p.  2  ;  of  G.  Storm,  Cliristi;inia,  1874. 

Z 


354  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

are  present,  one  of  these  great  dignitaries  made  a  hole  in 
his  manners!  What  a  butt  for  ridicule  he  would  be! 
Or  if  one  of  tlie  liirdmen  were  to  be  guilty  of  a  breach  of 
politeness,  straightway  the  king  would  get  the  blame ;  for 
folks  would  say  that  it  was  from  him  the  manners  of  the 
court  took  their  colour.  What  are  life  and  limb  worth 
when  a  man  by  his  vulgarity  has  disgraced  his  sovereign  ?  " 
In  tlie  same  book,  in  an  account  of  Irish  wonders,  we  have 
the  following : — "  There  was  a  certain  jester  in  that  land 
a  long  while  ago ;  he  was  a  Christian,  and  his  name  was 
Klepsan.  It  was  said  that  nobody  could  help  laughing 
at  his  jokes,  lies  though  they  were  ;  not  even  a  mourner 
could  contain  himself.  But  he  fell  sick  and  died,  and  was 
buried  in  the  churchyard  like  other  folks.  He  had  lain 
loner  in  the  earth,  so  long  that  the  tiesh  had  all  rotted  off 
the  bones,  nay,  many  of  his  bones  also  were  decayed  ; 
when  it  came  to  pass  that  somebody,  while  burying  a 
corpse  in  the  same  part  of  the  churchyard,  dug  so  near  the 
spot  where  Klepsan  lay  that  he  turned  up  his  skull.  This 
he  placed  on  a  tall  stone  close  oy,  and  it  has  stood  there 
ever  since.  And  whoever  comes  by  and  looks  at  the  skull, 
and  sees  the  spot  where  the  mouth  and  tongue  were,  he 
must  fain  laugh,  even  though  he  chanced  to  be  in  heavy 
mood.  So  that  the  antic  moves  not  fewer  people  to 
laughter  with  his  dead  bones  than  he  did  when  alive." 
Here  we  have  clearly  the  first  hint  of  that  Yorick  "  who 
was  wont  to  set  the  table  in  a  roar."  ^ 

Then  there  is  by  the  hand  of  the  Icelander,  Sturla 
Thordason,  the  Saga  of  Hacon  Haconson,  who  ascended  to 
the  throne  of  Norway  1223.  It  was  to  him  that  Pope 
Innocent  IV.  offered  the  Hohenstaufen  throne  by  the  hands 
of  his  legate.  Cardinal  Sabina ;  an  offer  which  the  shrewd 
Northman  declined,  he  would  not  be  a  tool  to  gratify  his 
holiness's  spite.  His  reign  was  the  Augustan  age  of 
Norse  literature.     Well  would  it  have  been  for  Hacon  had 

1  See  Heliquiae  Antiquse,  ii.  103.     St.  Patrick's  poems,  "  Irish  "Wonders." 


DEA  TH  OF  KING  HA  CON  HA  CONS  ON.  35  5 

he  kept  out  of  broils  with  Scotland.  The  fatal  fight  of 
Largs,  the  day  after  Michaelmas  1 263,  was  the  result — 

"  That  glorious  plain 
Where  still  gigantic  bones  remain, 
Memorial  of  the  Danish  war." 

— Marmion^  iii.  24. 

So  sings  our  national  poet.  But  had  it  not  been  for  "  the  stars 
in  their  courses,"  the  fearful  tempest  that  fought  against 
the  Northman  and  wrecked  his  ships,  the  Scotch  glory 
would  have  been  small.^  The  king  retired  to  Kirkwall, 
his  proud  and  sensitive  spirit  smarting  under  his  disaster, 
and  died  there  of  fever,  as  it  was  given  out,  but  more 
likely  of  chagrin.  "  During  the  summer  the  king  had 
had  much  watching  and  great  anxieties.  He  was  often 
called  up  by  his  men  and  had  little  rest.  When  he  came 
to  Kirkwall,  he  soon  took  to  his  bed  from  sickness,  but  at 
first  the  progress  of  the  disease  was  not  rapid.  After  lying 
three  weeks,  he  mended  a  little,  and  he  was  then  afoot 
for  three  days.  The  first  day  he  went  about  the  house, 
the  next  day  to  service  in  the  bishop's  chapel  The  third 
day  he  went  to  St.  Magnus's  Church,  and  about  the  shrine 
of  Jarl  Magnus.  That  day  he  had  a  tub-bath  and  was 
shaved.  The  same  night  he  became  much  worse,  and 
again  took  to  his  bed.  In  his  sickness  he  first  had  Latin 
books  read  to  him.  But  it  seemed  to  weary  him  so  much 
to  follow  the  meaning,  that  he  had  Norse  books  read  to 
him ;  first  sagas  of  saints,^  and  when  these  were  done, 
the  chronicle  of  the  kings  from  Halfdan  the  Black,  and 

1  Professor  Munch,  Chronicle  of  far  as  to  assign  the  cairn  and  cromlech 
Man,  p.  123,  shows  in  pungent  style  around  the  battlefield  to  the  slain 
that  King  Hacon,  instead  of  being  Norsemen,  when  in  fact  he  had 
"the  last  of  the  Vikings,"  as  said  bishops  and  clergy  with  him  to  inter 
Lord  Hailes- a  sentiment  re-echoedby  if  necessary  his  men.  But  even  the 
"VV.  Scott— was  by  no  means  a  war-  "Melrose  Chronicle  "  (a.d.  1263)  re- 
like  monarch.  His  merits  consisted  lates,  the  dead  were  carried  on  board 
chiefiy  in  pursuits  of  peace,  e.g.,  ship  ("cum  vulneratis  et  mortuis 
legislative  improvements,  founding  suis  naves  suas  repetuut  "). 
of  cities,  promoting  of  trade,  diffus-  ^  Heilagra  Manna  Sogur,  now 
ii)g  literature  and  useful  knowledge,  edited  by  linger,  Christiania,  1877. 
Tlie  British    hallucination    went    so 


356  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

so  on  of  all  the  kings  one  after  another.  When  King 
Hacon  found  that  his  sickness  was  on  the  increase,  he 
took  counsel  about  the  pay  of  his  bodyguard ;  and  he 
ordered  that  to  every  king's-man  should  be  given  a  mark 
of  pure  silver,  and  half  a  mark  to  the  guests,^  pages,  and 
other  attendants.  He  then  had  all  his  table-plate,  that 
was  not  gilt,  weighed ;  and  gave  orders  that  if  there  was  a 
lack  of  pure  silver,  the  plate  should  be  given,  so  that  all 
mi<Tht  have  their  due.  Letters  were  also  written  to  his 
son,  KincT  Magnus,  with  directions  about  such  matters 
as  seemed  of  most  moment.  King  Hacon  received  the 
last  unction  the  day  before  the  anniversary  of  St.  Lucia. 
There  were  present  Tliorgils,  Bishop  of  Stavanger ;  Gilli- 
bert.  Bishop  of  Hammer ;  Henry,  Bishop  of  the  Orkneys ; 
Thorleif,  the  abbot ;  and  many  other  clerks.  Before  the 
king  was  anointed,  those  present  kissed  him.  The  king 
was  able  to  speak.  During  his  sickness  his  councillors 
asked  him  whether,  in  case  he  ^r  his  son  Magnus  should 
unfortunately  die,  he  had  any  other  son,  or  whether  per- 
chance he  had  any  other  descendants  living  ;  but  he  averred 
that  he  had  no  son  but  Magnus,  and  no  daughter.  When 
the  chronicle  of  the  kings  had  been  read  down  to  Swerrir, 
he  then  had  Swerrir's  saga  read  to  him,  and  it  was  read 
to  him  both  by  night  and  by  day,  when  he  was  awake. 
St.  Lucia's  day  was  on  the  fifth  day  (Thursday).  On  the 
Saturday  after,  late  in  the  evening,  the  king  grew  so  bad 
that  he  lost  his  speech.  About  the  middle  of  the  night 
the  reading  of  Swerrir's  saga  was  finished.  Just  after 
this  Almighty  God  called  King  Hacon  from  this  life."  ^ 

Of  the  Faroese  Saga,  Professor  Peter  Erasmus  Miiller 
said,  "  It  bears  every  internal  mark  of  genuineness."  It 
must  have  been  committed  to  writing  not  later  than  the 
twelfth  century,  and  in  it  we  possess  an  authentic  picture 
of  the  history  of  the  people  from  825  to  1035  a.d.     The 

'  The   gestir  were    in    the    king's  "  Konunga  Stgur,  ed.  Unger,  Chris- 
pay  about   court,  but  not  so  highly  tiania,  1873.      Cf.  Munch,  Chronicon 
phvcud  as  the  guardsmen.  See  "King's  Manniae,  p.  127. 
Mirror  "  about  these  officers. 


SICMUND  BRESTESON.  357 

hero  is  Sigmund  Bresteson.  We  are  introduced  to  some  of  the 
greatest  people  of  the  day.  We  have  the  renowned  Hacon 
Jarl,  the  theme  of  the  Oehlenschlager  poem,  going  with 
Sigmund  to  the  temple  of  his  favourite  goddess,  Thorgerda 
Holgabrud,^  a  deity  of  by  no  means  universal  acceptance. 
From  the  finger  of  the  gorgeouslv-attired  female  idol  the 
Jarl  gets  a  ring  which  he  gives  to  the  youth,  bidding  him 
never  part  with  it,  which  he  promises.  This  ring,  on 
which  heathen  runes  were  most  likely  inscribed,  is  preg- 
nant with  Sigmund's  destiny.  After  the  fall  of  his  patron 
he  accepts  Christianity  by  the  persuasion  of  Olaf  Trygg- 
vason.  "  I  long  foresaw,"  said  the  young  convert,  "  that 
this  religion  (Paganism)  was  useless,  although  I  knew  no 
better."  Once  on  a  time,  Olaf  was  drinking  and  entertaining 
his  men.  Sigmund,  who  was  high  in  favour,  and  sat  only 
two  from  the  king,  laid  his  hand  on  the  board.  The  king 
saw  that  he  wore  a  big  gold  ring.  "  Let  me  see  that  ring, 
Sigmund  ? "  said  he.  Sigmund  took  the  ring  off  his  finger 
and  handed  it  to  him.  "  Wilt  thou  give  me  this  ring, 
Sigmund  ?  "  said  the  king.  Sigmund  answered,  "  I  have 
promised  never  to  part  with  it."  "  I'll  give  thee  another 
instead,  and  it  shall  not  be  smaller  nor  less."  "No,  I 
must  not  part  with  it,  for  so  I  promised  faithfully  to  Hacon 
Jarl  when  he  gave  it  me.  Neither  will  I,  for  the  giver 
was  a  good  man,  metliought,  and  treated  me  well  in  many 
things."  Then  said  the  king,  "  Thou  mayest  think  him  as 
good  as  thou  likest,  both  the  ring  and  the  giver  of  it,  but 
thou  wilt  have  little  luck  now,  for  the  ring  will  be  thy 
bane ;  that  I  know  as  surely  as  I  know  how  you  got  it 
and  whence  it  came.  When  I  begged  it  of  thee,  it  was 
more  to  keep  my  friend  from  harm  than  that  I  coveted 
the  ring."  Then  the  king  turned  as  red  as  blood  in  the 
face,  and  the  conversation  broke  of.  But  he  was  never  so 
cordial  with  Sigmund  as  he  had  been  before.  Soon  after 
Sigmund  fared  to  the  Faroes.  They  parted  friends,  and 
never  saw  each  other  after.     Here  is  another  scene  from 

1  Prose  EJda,  i.  45. 


35S  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

the  close  of  tliis  strange  eventful  history.  Sigraund  was 
swimming  for  his  life.  There  was  a  surf  running  on  the 
shore.  Si^niund  was  so  worn  out  that  he  floated  about  with 
the  w\aves,  now  from,  now  to  the  laud.  At  last  he  scrambled 
ashore,  so  faint  that  he  could  not  stand,  so  he  crept  along 
and  lay  down  under  a  heap  of  tang.  It  was  then  dawning. 
There  was  a  little  homestead  a  little  way  off  called  Sand- 
vick.  Hei'e  abode  a  man  hight  Thorgrim  the  Bad,  a  strong 
man  and  a  stour.  In  the  morning  Thorgrim  goes  to  the 
strand  with  a  wood  axe  in  his  hand.  There  he  saw  a  red 
cloth  sticking  out  of  the  tang.  He  pulled  off  the  tang, 
and,  lo  !  there  is  a  man  lying  there.  He  speers  wdio  he  is. 
Sigmund  tells  him.  Thorgrim  whispers  to  his  sons,  who 
had  now  come  up.  "  Methinks  Sigmund  has  more  money 
about  him  than  we  have  ever  owned  in  our  lives,  and  his 
•Told  riu"  is  so  very  big.  I  counsel  that  we  kill  him  and 
then  hide  his  body.  It  won't  ever  be  known."  The  time 
and  opportunity  were  too  much  for  the  trio  to  resist.  Sig- 
mund is  murdered.  He  was  '  fey '  from  the  first,  the  holder 
of  that  gold  ring.  He  was  not  the  first  of  his  name  who 
became  possessed  of  a  treasure  fraught  with  his  own  doom. 
The  new  owner,  Thorgrim,  had  cause  in  his  own  person  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  doom  of  the  ring. 

In  none  of  the  sagas  do  w^e  gain  a  correcter  insight  than 
here  into  the  strange  jumble  ^  of  ideas  which  men,  suddenly 
made  Christians  out  of  heathens,  by  the  hey-presto  argu- 
ment of  an  axe  uplifted  over  their  heads,  had  about  their 
new  religion.  Old  Thraud,  the  evil  genius  of  the  hero 
Sigmund,  had  been  converted  in  this  summary  manner  by 
the  emissary  to  the  Faroes  of  the  fiery  zealot  Olaf  Trygg- 
vason.  By  stress  of  circumstances  Sigmund,  the  grandson 
of  Bresteson,  became  his  foster-child.  Once  on  a  time  his 
mother,  Thora,  goes  to  see  him. 

"  He  was  then  nine,  and  seemed  a  very  sharp  lad.     His 

1  Such  was  the  creed  of  Helgi  the  Lean.  It  was  much  jumbled  ;  he  be- 
lieved iu  Christ,  but  in  a  pinch  he  would  pray  to  Thor.  Flateyjarbf^k,  i. 
267. 


TH RAND'S  CREED.  359 

mother  asked  him  what  Thrand  had  taught  him.  He 
replied  that  he  had  taught  him  liow  to  set  on  foot  suits, 
and  the  various  ways  of  proceeding  at  law,  in  his  own  and 
others'  behalf.  In  this  he  w^as  quite  at  home.  Then  she 
asked  him  what  teaching  his  foster-father  had  given  him 
in  Holy  Writ.  Sigmund  said  he  had  learned  his  pater- 
noster and  creed.  Quoth  she, '  I  would  like  to  hear  it.'  On 
which  he  sang  his  paternoster,  as  she  thought,  pretty  well. 
But  Thrand's  creed  ran  thus — 

*  Given  to  us  are  angels' good, 
Without  'em  gang  I  ne'er  a  foot : 
Where'er  I  am,  where'er  I  fare, 
Five  angels  follow  everywhere  ; 
Pattering  prayer,  if  so  I  be, 
To  Christ  they  bear  them  presently  ; 
Psalms,  too,  seven  can  I  sing — 
Have  mercy  on  me,  God,  my  King  ! ' 

"  At  this  moment  Thrand  came  into  the  room,  and  asks 
what  they  are  talking  about.  Thora  answers,  and  says  her 
son  has  been  rehearsing  the  Christian  knowledge  he  had 
tauo-ht  him.  '  But  the  creed  seems  to  be  wrong.'  '  Ah ! ' 
said  Thrand,  '  Christ,  you  know,  had  twelve  disciples,  or 
more,  and  each  of  them  had  his  own  credo.  Now  I  have 
my  credo,  and  you  have  the  credo  you  have  been  taught ; 
there  are  many  credos,  and  they  may  be  right  without 
being  exactly  the  same  ! '  And  with  that  the  conversation 
ended." 


(    36o    ) 


cnArTER  XVI r. 

HAROLD   HARDRADA    AND    THE   SCALDS. 

The  following  gives  us  farther  insight  into  the  relation  of 
the  Icelandic  scald  and  his  Maecenas  on  the  throne  of 
Norway  at  the  time,  whoever  that  might  be.  The  king 
liere  is  one  who  in  our  boyish  days  we  used  to  think  was 
a  terrible  Pagan  ogre,  seven  feet  high,  who,  when  hungry, 
ground  the  bones  of  Englishmen  to  make  his  bread.  And 
yet  this  man  had  been  chief  of  the  army  of  the  Greek 
Emperor,  had  won  battles  innumerable  from  the  Paynim 
Saracens  in  Africa,  had  fought  against  the  Pagans  in 
Sicily,  had  bathed  in  Jordan  with  other  pilgrims,  had 
given  great  gifts  to  the  grave  of  our  Lord,  and  had  cleared 
the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Jordan  of  robbers.  Besides 
this,  he  was  a  devoted  squire  of  dames,  nay,  it  is  said,  had 
raised  a  tender  passion  in  the  breast  of  no  less  a  person 
than  the  Greek  Empress,  Zoe,  who  put  him  in  a  dungeon 
when  she  learned  that  he  purposed  returning  to  his  native 
country.  Eeleased  by  anotlier  lady,  he  had  subsequently 
escaped  from  the  East,  and  married  Elisof,  the  daughter 
of  King  Jarisleif  of  Novgorod.  Half-brother  to  Olaf  the 
Saint,  he  sat  on  the  throne  of  Norway.  But  in  an  evil 
liour  he  invaded  England,  and  fell  at  Stamford  Bridge 
before  our  victorious  Harold.  Our  readers  will  perceive 
we  are  talking  of  Harold  Hardrada,  or  the  Stern.  Him- 
self a  poet  of  distinction,  he  was  also  a  generous  patron  of 
the  Icelanders. 

One  summer,  a  smart  young  Icelander  came  to  the 
king    and   begged   his   protection.      The    king   asked   if 


THE  SAGA-TELLER.  361 

he  knew  any  lore.  He  said  he  knew  some  songs. 
Then  the  king  promised  to  take  to  him  on  condition 
that  he  siiould  recite  whenever  he  was  asked  to  do  so. 
This  he  does,  and  gets  into  the  good  graces  of  the  cour- 
tiers, M-ho  make  him  presents  of  clothes,  while  the  king 
gives  him  arms.  And  so  the  time  runs  on  to  Yule.  The 
Icelander  now  grows  sad,  and  the  king  asked  how  this 
was.  He  replied  that  it  was  his  uncertain  temper. 
"  That  isn't  it,"  said  the  king.  "  Now  I'll  guess  the  cause. 
All  your  stories  are  exhausted.  You  have  been  amusing- 
people  with  them  whenever  they  asked  all  the  winter, 
and  now,  when  Yule  is  at  hand,  they  are  all  done,  and 
that  makes  you  sad."  "  It  is  pretty  nigh  as  you  say," 
replied  the  youth.  "  I  have  one  saga  still,  but  I  dare  not 
recite  it  here,  for  it  is  the  story  of  your  out-journey  "  (to 
Palestine).  Said  the  king,  "  That  saga  is  one  I  desire  to 
hear  above  all  others.  You  shall  not  recite  it  till  Yule ; 
but  on  Yule-day  you  shall  take  to  this  saga  and  recite  a 
bit  of  it ;  and  I  will  so  manage  it  with  you  that  the  saga 
shall  last  out  all  the  days  of  Yule.  There  will  be  some 
heavy  drinking,  and  people  won't  sit  long  to  hear  recita- 
tions, and  you  won't  perceive  while  you  are  reciting 
whether  I  like  it  or  not."  On  Yule-day  the  Icelander 
begins  the  saga)  but  he  recites  too  rapidly,  and  the  king 
bids  him  stop  suddenly.  The  drinking  goes  on,  and  some 
men  say  it  was  a  bold  thing  of  the  Icelander  to  recite 
this  saga.  How  would  the  king  like  it  ?  Some  thought 
he  told  the  story  well ;  others  did  not  trouble  much  about 
it.  The  king  was  particular  that  the  story  should  be 
well  listened  to,  and  by  his  management  the  saga  finishes 
at  the  same  time  that  Yule  does.  And  on  the  thirteenth 
evening,  when  it  was  already  finished,  the  king  said, 
"  Aren't  you  curious,  Icelander,  to  know  how  I  like  the 
saga  ? "  "I  am  fearful  about  it,  sire,"  replied  he.  The 
king  said,  "  I  like  it  very  well,  and  it  was  quite  equal  to 
the  subject.  Now  who  taught  you  the  saga  ? "  Ho 
answered,  "  It  was  my  wont  at  home  to  go  every  summer 


362  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

to  the  Althing,  aud  each  summer  I  learnt  a  bit  of  the 
sDga  from  Halldor,  son  of  Snorri"  (Godi).  "  Then  it  was 
not  strange  that  you  knew  it  well,  and  it  will  be  the 
luck  of  you.  I  bid  you  welcome.  You  shall  have  every 
facility  of  trade  anywhere."  The  king  got  him  a  good 
cargo  and  he  became  a  thriving  man.^ 

In  this  characteristic  anecdote  we  learn  the  secret  of 
the  saga-writing.  Halldor,  we  know,  was  a  comrade  of 
King  Harold's  in  the  East,  and  from  this  eyewitness  did 
this  youth  learn  each  year  a  faithful  story  of  the  king's 
exploits,  which  Halldor  would  no  less  long  to  tell  than 
the  other  to  hear.  And  then,  remember,  that  this  opera- 
tion would  be  going  on  all  over  the  ground  during  the 
session  of  parliament.  Crowds  of  listeners  would  there 
be  with  memories  in  which  everything  stuck  fast — "  wax 
to  receive  and  marble  to  retain."  And  then  we  see  how 
the  facts  of  history  were  laid  upon  a  secure  basis.  A 
check  too  on  their  truthfulness  would  be  this  recitation 
before  the  actors  in  the  drama.  They  could  and  would 
set  the  storyteller  right  if  he  went  wrong. 

Snorri  Sturleson  relates  (Preface  to  "  Heimskringla "), 
how  at  King  Harold  Fairhair's  court  were  scalds  whose 
poems,  and  the  poems  of  later  poets  about  all  the  later 
kings,  were  remembered  to  this  day.  No  wonder  Snorri 
could  quote  such  scores  of  ditties  in  confirmation  of  his 
narrative.  No  wonder  that  by  this  constant  process  the 
memory  of  the  natives  was  sharpened  to  a  prodigious 
extent.  Take  the  case  of  Stump  the  blind  scald,  son  of 
Thord,  nicknamed  the  Cat.  One  day  King  Harold  Hard- 
rada  unexpectedly  paid  a  visit  to  a  peasant  in  the 
interior.  "  Pray,  don't  put  yourself  out,"  said  the  king  to 
the  goodman  of  the  house,  who  was  making  all  sorts  of 
excuses  about  the  indifferent  pot-luck.  "  My  own  people 
will  see  to  the  horses  and  harness.  Meanwhile,  I  will 
step  inside,  while  you  go  and  attend  to  your  own  affairs." 

'  Morkinskinna,  72,  ed.  Unger ;  a  vellum  written  in  Iceland  early  in  the 
thirteenth  century.     It  begins  1135  and  ends  1157. 


sruMP.  363 

Inside  the  king  saw  a  big  man  sitting  lower  down  the 
bench,  and  speered  who  he  was.  "  Stump,  at  your  ser- 
vice." Said  the  king,  '"Tis  an  ill-sounding  name.  And. 
whose  son  are  you  ? "  "I  am  the  son  of  Cat,"  said  he. 
"  All  of  a  piece,"  said  the  king.  "  Sit  a  little  nearer  me, 
and  let  us  have  a  talk."  He  did  so.  The  king  found 
that  he  was  a  stranger,  and  was  pleased  to  converse  with 
him.  The  bonder  ('  goodman '  of  the  house)  now  came 
in,  and  said  it  must  be  dull  for  the  king.  "  Not  at  all," 
said  the  king,  "  for  this  winter-guest  of  yours  amuses  me 
well,  and  he  shall  sit  over  against  me  as  my  cup-mate 
to-night."  And  so  it  came  to  pass.  The  king  talked 
much  with  Stump,  and  he  gave  shrewd  answers.  And 
when  men  went  to  repose,  the  king  begged  that  Stump 
should  be  in  the  same  chamber  that  he  slept  in. 

Stump  complied.  When  the  king  was  got  to  bed. 
Stump  recited  a  short  poem^  to  amuse  the  king.  And 
when  it  was  finished  the  king  bade  him  recite  anotlier. 
The  king  kept  long  awake  while  Stump  went  on  reciting. 
"  How  many  of  these  ditties  have  you  recited  ? "  "I 
thought  you  were  counting."  "  I  have  so,"  said  the  king ; 
"  there  are  now  thirty.  But  don't  you  know  any  drapas  ?  " 
"  I  know  as  many  drapas  as  flokkrs,  and  none  of  them 
have  been  yet  recited."  "  Then  you  must  be  a  notable 
historian.  But  who  will  you  recite  your  long  poems  to, 
as  you  recite  to  me  only  short  ones  ? "  "  To  you,"  replied 
Stump.  Next  morning  Stump  asks  the  king  to  grant  him 
a  favour,  but  will  not  say  what  beforehand.  The  king 
consents,  so  pleased  is  he  with  the  recitations.  Stump  was 
journeying  south  to  call  in  a  loan,  and  he  wanted  a  letter 
from  the  king  with  his  seal  as  a  recommendation.  This  the 
king  readily  granted.  But  there  was  another  favour  which 
Stump  asked  for,  which  he  said  he  would  not  reveal  till 
the  king  gave  his  consent ;  but  eventually  he  said  that  it 

1  "Flokkr,"  opposed  to  "  drapa,"  East.     The   modern   Brahmin,  as  in 

a  long  heroic  composition  of  several  duty  bound,  has  the  thousand   and 

stanzas.       Stump   approached  some-  odd  poems  of  the  Veda  by  heart, 

what  to  his  Aryan  ancestors  in  the  , 


364  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

was  this — he  wished  to  be  one  of  the  king's  men.  On 
taking  counsel  with  his  courtiers,  Harold  granted  the  re- 
quest, and  he  was  invited  north  to  the  court  at  Nidaros, 
where  he  was  well  received.  He  was  the  author  of  the 
dirge  on  King  Harold.  His  poems  are  often  quoted  by 
Snorri.  But  "  non  cuivis  homini  contingit  adire  Corin- 
thum."  It  was  not  every  one  who  advanced  poetical  pre- 
tensions that  could  gain  admission  to  the  magic  circle  of 
Harold's  court.  He  was  much  too  good  a  judge  and  re- 
fined a  critic  to  tolerate  anything  second-rate  about  him  in 
tliat  line— a  condition  of  things  which  has  been  compared 
to  that  of  the  courtly  troubadours,  with  their  exquisite 
idiom  and  highly  cultivated  style.  Their  diction  was  no 
more  the  dialect  of  the  country  folks  of  Languedoc  than 
were  the  flowery  effusions  and  recondite  phraseology  of 
the  scalds  the  simple  language  of  the  Norse  peasantry. 
A  recent  writer,  Sars,  will  not  allow  the  Edda  poems  to  be 
a  genuine  expression  of  popular  sentiment  and  belief,  and 
does  not  scruple  to  attribute  them  to  a  court  circle. 

Let  us  dip  into  the  celebrated  Njal  Saga,  from  which  we 
get  so  much  insight  into  the  goings  on  of  the  great  chiefs 
in  Iceland. 

Hauskuld  had  a  daughter  named  Hallgerda,  who  was 
playing  on  the  floor.  "  What  dost  thou  think  of  this  maiden, 
Hrut?"  said  her  father  to  his  maternal  brother.  Hrut 
held  his  peace,  but  on  being  asked  a  second  time  replied, 
"  Fair  is  this  maid,  and  many  will  smart  for  it ;  but  this  I 
know  not,  whence  thief's  eyes  have  come  into  our  race." 
Many  years  had  elapsed  since  the  child  was  playing  on 
the  floor,  when  it  chanced  one  day  that  the  noble  Gun- 
nar  at  the  Althing  saw  a  woman  coming  to  meet  him  in 
goodly  attire.  When  they  met  she  spoke  to  Gunnar  at 
once.  He  took  her  greeting  well,  and  asked  what  woman 
she  might  be.  She  told  him  her  name  was  Hallgerda, 
Hauskuld's  daughter.  She  spoke  up  boldly  to  him,  and 
Ijade  him  tell  her  of  his  voyages  ;  and  he  said  he  would  not 
gainsay  her  a  talk.     Then  they  sat  them  down  and  talked. 


MARRIED  IN  HASTE.  365 

She  liad  on  a  red  kirtle,  aud  on  lier  shoulders  a  scarlet 
cloak  trimmed  with  needlework  down  to  the  waist.  Her 
hair  came  down  to  her  bosom,  and  was  both  fair  and  full. 
Gunnar  was  clad  in  the  scarlet  robes  which  King  Harold 
Gormson  had  given  him ;  he  also  had  the  gold  ring  on 
his  hand  which  Hacon  Jarl  had  given  him.  They  talked 
loner,  and  at  last  he  asked  whether  she  was  unmarried. 
She  said  so  it  was,  and  there  were  not  many  who  would 
run  the  risk  of  that.  "  Thinkest  thou  none  good  enough 
for  thee  ? "  "  Kot  that,"  says  she,  "  but  I  am  said  to  be 
hard  to  please  in  husbands."  "  How  wouldest  thou 
answer  were  I  to  ask  for  thee  ? "  "  That  cannot  be  in 
thy  mind,"  she  says.  "  It  is,  though,"  says  he.  "  If  thou 
hast  any  mind  that  way,  go  and  see  my  father."  After 
that  they  broke  off  their  talk. 

Gunnar  went  straight  to  Hauskuld's  booth,  and  asked 
if  he  were  inside.  The  man  said  he  was.  Hauskuld  and 
his  brother  Hrut  bade  him  welcome,  and  he  sat  down  be- 
tween them.  They  had  been  great  foes,  but  no  one  would 
have  found  out  from  their  talk  that  they  had  any  mis- 
understanding. At  last  Gunnar  asked  how  they  would 
answer  if  he  asked  for  Hallgerda.  "  Well,"  said  Haus- 
kuld, "  if  you  really  mean  it."  Gunnar  says  that  he  is  in 
earnest.  "  How  thinkest  thou,  kinsman  Hrut  ?  "  says 
Hauskuld,  Hrut  answered,  "  Methinks  this  is  no  even 
match."  "  How  dost  thou  make  that  out  ?  "  says  Gunnar. 
Hrut  spoke,  "  I  will  answer  thee  the  very  truth.  Thou 
art  a  brisk,  brave  man,  well-to-do  and  unblemished,  but 
she  is  much  mixed  up  with  ill  report,  and  I  will  not  cheat 
thee  in  anything."  "Good  go  with  thee  for  tliy  words," 
says  Gunnar  ;  "  nevertheless  I  shall  say  that  the  old  feud 
still  weighs  with  ye,  if  ye  will  not  let  me  make  this 
match.  I  have  talked  to  her  about  it,  and  it  is  not  far  from 
her  mind."  Hrut  says,  "  I  know  you  have  both  set  your 
hearts  on  this  match,  and  besides  ye  two  are  those  who  run 
the  most  risk  as  to  how  it  turns  out."  So  the  bargain  was 
struck.    Hallgerda  had  already  been  the  death  of  two  lius- 


366  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

bands,  and  was  five  years  Gunnar's  senior,  being  thirty-five. 
But  he  could  not  help  himself.  He  was  smitten  to  the 
core.  In  their  natures  and  their  fortunes  there  is  a  strong 
resemblance  between  this  couple  and  that  fated  pair  in 
the  old  Edda,  Brynhilda  and  Sigurd.  When  the  sage 
Njal  heard  of  the  match  from  Gunnar's  lips  he  augured 
nothing  but  ill  from  it.  "  Never  shall  she  spoil  our  friend- 
ship," says  Guunar.  The  wedding  took  place  974.  Six- 
teen years  have  elapsed,  and  Gunnar  has  found  Njal's 
prophecy  true  that  his  union  with  Hallgerda  would  be 
an  ill-starred  one.  She  had  embroiled  him  with  almost 
everybody,  especially  with  his  prenuptial  male  friends. 
But  that  is  the  way  of  the  sirens  even  in  these  most  Chris- 
tian days,  if  Charles  Lamb  and  W.  M.  Thackeray  did  not 
frightfully  calumniate  them.  Look  at  yonder  aspiring 
leader  of  society,  "  so  bright,  so  good,  so  nice,"  as  some  of 
her  claque  call  her.  Can  it  be  true  that  the  better-informed 
public  are  constantly  looking  with  curious  interest  at  those 
faultless  kids  of  her's,  feeling  nearly  certain  that  if  removed 
claws  will  be  revealed  ?  One  wonders  whether  the 
feline  Hallgerda  had  equally  staunch  adherents.  With 
that  w^orthy  matron  the  true  and  brave-hearted  Bergthora, 
Njal's  wife — who  had  at  once  taken  the  precise  measure  of 
her  foot — Hallgerda  falls  out  straightway,  and  the  quarrel 
is  pursued  to  the  bitter  end. 

True,  Gunnar  and  Njal  are  still  friends,  but  he  is  an  out- 
law, and  any  man  may  slay  him  with  impunity.  And 
Hallgerda  was  at  the  root  of  it  all.  Gunnar  owned  a  hound, 
the  present  of  Olaf  the  Peacock,  who  had  brought  it  from 
Ireland ;  a  dog  with  the  wit  and  courage  of  a  man,  who 
could  tell  by  the  look  of  one  whether  he  was  friend  or  foe 
to  his  master.     His  name  was  Sam.-^     One  night  the  dog 

1  "Was  this  an  Irish  deerhound,  one  Olaf  Tryggvasson  (OLif  Trygv.  Saga,  1. 

of  "the  terrible  nimble  wolf-hounds  35).     The  characteristics  of  Gunnar's 

of  Ireland,"  mentioned  in  "  Gaedhill  dog    are    ratlier    those    of    the    old 

and  Gaill,"  p.    161  ?    Another   Irish  English  mastiff,  the  breed  which  the 

dog,  Vige  by  name,  possessing  almost  Romans  carried  to  Rome  to  fight  with 

human  intelligence,  belonged  to  King  wild  beasts  in  the  Amphitheatre,  and 


THE  DEATH  OF  GUNXAR.  367 

gave  a  most  unearthly  liowl,  whicli  woke  up  Gunnar  in  his 
hall.  The  Philistines  were  upon  him.  By  the  aid  of  a 
slave  whom  they  had  threatened  with  death  if  he  refused, 
they  enticed  the  dog  to  come  near  and  had  brained  him. 
His  foes  came  on  amain,  but  from  the  window  he  pierces 
eight  with  his  arrows.  Suddenly  one  springs  on  the  roof, 
and  cuts  asunder  Gunnar's  bowstring.  Then  said  Gunnar 
to  Hallgerda,  "  Give  me  two  locks  of  thy  hair ;  and  ye 
two,  mother,  and  thou  twist  them  into  a  bowstring  for 
me."  "  Does  much  depend  upon  it  ? "  she  says.  "  My 
life,"  he  replied ;  "  they  never  will  come  to  close  quarters 
if  I  can  keep  them  off  with  my  bow."  "  Eemember 
that  slap  in  the  face  that  thou  gavest  me,  and  I  care 
never  a  whit  whether  thou  boldest  out  a  long  while  or  a 
short."  He  made  a  stout  defence,  but  the  odds  were  too 
great,  and  at  last  he  fell  from  exhaustion,  and  they  slew 
him.  So  Njal's  forebodings  came  true,  and  the  "  thief's 
eyes  "  which  Hrut  had  detected  in  her  girlhood  did  not 
belie  their  looks. 

In  this  saga  (c.  158)  occurs  the  "  Spaedom  of  the  Norns," 
doubtless  the  composition  of  a  poet  living  at  the  time 
A.D.  1014,  based  on  the  vision  of  some  man  of  Caithness 
gifted  with  second-sight  to  foretell  the  result  of  the 
great  battle  of  Clontarf.  The  expression  in  it,  "  web  of 
spears"  (vefrdarragar^),  points,  however,  to  some  far  earlier 
legend  : — 

THE   WOOF   OF   WAR. 

"  See  !  warp  is  stretched  Our  warp  blood-red, 

For  warriors'  fall  ;  Our  weft  corse-blue. 
Lo  !  weft  in  loom, 

'Tis  wet  with  blood  ;  This  woof  is  y- woven 

Now,  fight  foreboding,  With  entrails  of  men, 

'Neath  friends'  swift  fingers  This  warp  is  hard  weighted 

Our  grey  woof  waxetli,  With  heads  of  the  slain  ; 

With  war's  alarms,  Spears  blood-besprinkled 

which  still  survives  in  England,  de-  and  saved  him  when  wounded  from 

scended  from  the  faithful  hitch  who  the  murderous  hands  of  marauders. 

was  at  Agincourt  witli  her  master  Sir  ^  Cf.    Lexicon    Mythologicum,    p. 

Piers  Legh  of  Lyme  llidl,  Cheshire,  805,  sui<roce  "  Valkyriar." 


368 


ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 


For  spi  miles  we  use, 
Our  loom  iron-bound, 
And  arrows  our  reels. 
With  swords  for  our  shuttles 
This  war-woof  we  work  ; 
So  weave  we,  weird  sisters, 
Our  war-winning  woof. 

Now  War-winner  walketli 
To  weave  in  her  turn, 
Now  Sword-swinger  steppetb, 
Now  Swift-stroke,  now  Storm  ; 
When  they  speed  the  shuttle 
How  spear-heads  shall  flash  ! 
Shields  crash,  and  helm-gnawer 
On  harness  bite  hard  !  ^ 

Wind  we,  wind  swiftlv 
Our  war-winning  woof. 
Woof  erst  for  king  y  juthful. 
Foredoomed  as  his  own. 
Forth  now  we  will  ride, 
Then,  through  the  ranks  rushing 
Be  busy  where  friends 
Blows  blithe  give  and  take. 

AVind  we,  wind  swiftly 
Our  war-winning  woof, 
After  that  let  us  steadfastly 
Stand  by  the  brave  king  ; 
Then  men  shall  mark  mournful 
Their  shields  red  with  gore, 
How  Sword- stroke  and  Spear- 
thrust, 
Stood  stout  by  the  prince. 

Wind  Ave,  wind  swiftly 
Our  war-winning  woof. 
When  sword-bearing  rovers 
To  banners  rush  on. 
Mind,  maidens,  we  spare  not 
One  life  in  the  fray  ; 


We  corse-choosing  sisters 
Have  charge  of  the  slain. 

Now  new-coming  nations 
That  island  shall  rule, 
Who  on  outlying  headlands 
Abode  ere  the  fight ; 
I  say  that  king  mighty 
To  death  now  is  done, 
Now  low  before  spear-point 
That  Earl  bows  his  head. 

Soon  over  all  Ersemen 
Sharp  sorrow  shall  fall. 
That  woe  to  those  warriors 
Shall  wane  nevermore. 
Our  woof  now  is  woven. 
Now  battlefield  waste. 
O'er  land  and  o'er  water 
War  tidings  shall  leap. 

Now  surely  'tis  gruesome 
To  gaze  all  around. 
When  blood-red  through  heaven 
Drives  cloud-rack  o'erhead  ; 
Air  soon  shall  be  deep-hued 
With  dying  men's  blood. 
When  this  our  spaedom 
Comes  speedy  to  pass. 

So  cheerily  chant  we 
Charms  for  the  young  king  ; 
Come,  maidens,  lift  loudly 
His  war-winning  lay; 
Let  him  who  now  listens 
Learn  well  with  his  ears, 
And  gladden  brave  swordsmen 
With  bursts  of  war's-song. 

Now  mount  we  our  horses. 
Now  bare  we  our  brands. 
Now  haste  we  hard,  maidens. 
Hence,  far,  far  away." 


Such  is  the  literal  translation  given  by  Sir  G.  Dasent,  who 
attempts  to  retain  the  alliteration  and  the  rhythm.    Gray, 


1  Helm-gnawer  —  the  sword  that  bites  helmets. 


THE  SPAEDOM  OF  THE  NORNS.  369 

that  consummate  master  of  poetical  form,  in  his  "  Fatal 
Sisters "  presents  us  with  his  version  of  the  song.  Such 
stanzas  as  the  following  give  a  notion  of  his  method  of 
treating  the  subject.  It  must  be  premised  that  he  had 
the  poem  through  the  medium  of  Torheus'  Latin. 

"  Glittering  lances  are  the  loom, 

Where  the  dusky  warp  we  strain, 
Weaving  many  a  soldier's  doom, 
Orkney's  woe  and  Randver's  bane. 

"  See  the  grisly  texture  grow, 

('Tis  of  human  entrails  made). 

And  the  weights  that  play  below 

Each  a  gasping  warrior's  head. 

"  Shafts  for  shuttles  dipt  in  gore 

Shoot  the  trembling  chords  along, 
Sword  that  once  a  monarch  bore 
Keeps  the  tissue  close  and  strong. 


Horror  covers  all  the  heath, 

Clouds  of  carnage  blot  the  sun  ; 

Sisters,  weave  the  web  of  death  ; 
Sisters,  cease,  the  work  is  done." 


2  A 


(     370    ) 


CHAPTEE  XVIII. 

ICELANDIC   PROSE   LITERATURE    OF  FOREIGN 
EXTRACTION. 

But  besides  the  national  Icelandic  sagas,  the  Scandina- 
vians possessed  a  mass  of  prose  literature  of  foreign  ex- 
traction.    Much  of  it  is  due  to  the  refined  tastes  of  King 
Hacon  Haconson,  who  endeavoured  to  make  his  subjects 
acquainted  with  aU  the  best  foreign  literature.     Professor 
Munch  1  conjectures  that  his  great  friend,  Matthew  Paris, 
acted  as  the  king's  purveyor  of  French  literature.     Such 
was  the  "  Alexander's  Saga,"  ^  adapted  from  the  "  Alex- 
andreis"   of   Philip  Gautier;   the  Saga  of  Charlemagne,^ 
which,  like  the  other  French  literature,  must  have  come 
by  way  of  England ;  ^  the  Saga  of  Dietrich  of  Bern,^  &c. 
Then  they  had  the  Homilies  and  Sermons  of  St.  Gregory, 
and  Lives  of  saints  in  profusion,  all  of  which  have  been 
published  under  the  auspices  of  the  indefatigable  Professor 
Unger,     Such,  too,  are  "  Barlaam's  Saga,"  ''^  "  Legends  of 
the  Virgin,"  ^  "  Sagas  of  the  Apostles,"  ^  "  Sagas  of  Holy 
Men,"  9  and  "  Clarus  Saga."     These  often  contain  matter 
not  to  be  found  in  the  corresponding  versions  in  other 
countries.    Very  interesting  to  an  Englishman  is  the  Saga 
of  Thomas  a  Becket,^*^  whose  assassination,  A.D.  ii/o,  in 
his  own  metropolitan  church  must  have  electrified  Chris- 
tendom to  its  utmost  confines.     It  is  based  on  the  well- 
known  "  Quadrilogus,"  so  called  from  its  being  a  Latin 

1  Det  Norske  Folks  Historie,  iv.  i,  57.  ^  Keyser  og,Unger,Christiania,i85i. 

2  Unger,  Christiania,  1845.  '  Unger,  1843. 

3  Ibid.,  i860.  8  Ibid.,  1874. 
*  Storm,  Karlmagnus  Saga.  ^  Ibid.,  1877. 
5  Unger,  Christiania,  1853,  k*  Ibid.,  1869. 


"  BARLAA M  AND  JOSAPHA  TP  37 1 

adaptation  from  the  four  contemporary  biographers,  John 
of  Salisbury,  Herbert  of  Bosham,  Alan  of  Tewksbury,  and 
William  of  Canterbury.  But  whereas  the  original  is  dry 
and  frigid,  and  often  in  a  false  and  obscure  classic  style, 
the  Norse  version  exhibits  a  wealth  of  diction  and  preci- 
sion of  expression  calling  to  mind  the  celebrated  "  King's 
Mirror,"  mentioned  above.  It  was  undoubtedly  written 
in  Norway  and  not  in  Iceland,  most  likely  in  the  second 
half  of  the  thirteenth  century.  There  is  a  later  recen- 
sion of  the  saga,  supposed  by  Vigfusson  to  be  the  work 
of  Abbot  Arngrim  of  Thingore  in  Iceland,  1362.  The 
"  Saga  of  Barlaam  and  Josaphat "  is  a  version  through  the 
Latin  ^  of  the  well-known  Greek  legend  of  that  name, 
written  by  John  of  Damascus  in  the  eighth  century,  and 
brought,  it  is  believed,  to  Western  Europe  during  the 
Crusades.  A  Latin  translation  of  it  already  existed  at 
the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  A  mighty  king  of  Ind, 
Avennir,  is  a  great  hater  and  persecutor  of  Christianity, 
which  is  gaining  ground  in  the  East.  After  being  long 
childless,  he  was  at  length  blessed  with  a  son.  But  his 
joy  is  darkened  by  a  prophecy  that  this  child  will  here- 
after embrace  the  new  faith.  To  prevent  this  catastrophe, 
Avennir  has  him  brought  up  in  a  secluded  spot,  and 
guarded  as  jealously  as  the  enchanted  maiden.  But  the 
thorn  did  its  work  in  both  instances.  His  conscience  is 
pricked  by  the  words  of  the  anchorite  Barlaam,  who  gains 
access  to  him  in  his  seclusion,  and  wins  him  over  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  ultimately  his  father  also.  In  this  book  Chris- 
tian principles  are  set  forth  in  a  highly  poetical  manner, 
and  their  ultimate  triumph  over  Paganism  described ;  and 
a  splendid  panegyric  is  bestowed  on  asceticism  and  a  re- 
cluse life.  All  this  would  prove  very  alluring  to  the  tastes 
of  that  age,  and  no  wonder  the  tale  had  a  great  run  all 
over  Europe.     It  soon  caught  the  attention  of  King  Swer- 

1  There   is   internal  evidence  that  many  Norsemen  of  culture  then  serv- 

this  was  the  case.     But  there  was  no  ing  in  the  army  of  the  Greek  Empress 

lack  of  a  knowledge  of  Greek  in  Nor-  at  Constantinople. 
way  in  the  year  1200,  for  there  were 


372  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

rir's  son,  Ilacon,  King  of  Norway  from  1202  to  1204,  who 
liimself  made  a  very  free  and  spirited  translation  of  it. 
He  must  have  been  no  mean  proficient  in  his  mother 
tongue  to  render  so  successfully  the  abstract  ideas  and 
subtleties  of  the  original.  The  copiousness  and  power  of 
philosophic  and  dogmatic  expression,  and  the  curious  feli- 
city of  style  here  exhibited  by  the  Old  Norse,  again 
reminds  us  of  the  "  King's  Mirror."  This  story,  meant  by 
King  Hacon  for  his  courtiers'  Sunday  reading,  is  said  to  be 
an  old  Buddhist  legend  ^  about  the  youthful  days  of  the 
earthly  founder  of  that  religion,  Sakyd  Sinka  or  Sakya 
Muni,  born  B.C.  623,  and  descended  on  the  father's  side  from 
the  Solar  Race.  The  author  places  in  the  mouth  of  Bar- 
laam  an  interesting  allegory  on  human  life,  which  is  to  be 
found  in  the  preface  to  the  Arabic  translation  of  "  Bid- 
par's  Fables,"  made  in  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century, 
and  is  there  given  to  a  learned  leech,  Barznieh.  But  we 
cannot  resist  putting  it  before  our  readers. 

"  I  can  only  liken  those  who  love  this  world's  follies 
and  forget  God  to  the  man  who,  in  fear  and  dread,  fled 
away  from  that  frightful  beast  hight  unicorn.^  And  for 
that  he  was  very  much  affrighted,  and  quite  beside  him- 
self ^  at  the  roaring  and  grim  looks  of  the  beast,  he  fled  as 
fast  as  he  could  to  save  himself  from  being  swallowed  up. 
And  because,  from  excess  of  fear,  he  did  not  heed  where 
he  was  going,  before  he  was  aware  he  flew  right  over  a 
precipice,*  very  high  and  steep.  In  his  descent  he  caught 
hold  of  a  bush,  which  he  held  with  both  hands  as  tightly 
as  he  could,  while  he  got  foothold  in  a  little  rift  in  the 
rock,  and  he  thought  he  had  made  a  good  escape  of  it. 
But  on  looking  overhead  he  saw  two  mice,  one  white,  the 

1  C.  Holmboe,  Forhandlinger  Viden-  an  animal  more  known  to  Christians. 

skabs-Selskabet,    Christiania,      1870,  '^  Hamstoli,2^-<Nox(ioi  &\v;ie.x&%\i\o\\.'i, 

p.   340.      Yule  thinks  that  the  San-  import,  properly   "  a  wizard  whose 

greal  originated  in  the  "begging  bowl"  skin  has  been  stolen." 

of  S.  Muni.  ■*  Properly  a   "well,"  but  in  the 

^  lu  the  Arabic,    "  elephant,"  for  North  "  cliffs  "  are  the  rule,  "wells" 

which  Barlaam  substituted  unicorn,  the   exception.      So    the    translator 

as  being,  through  the  Old  Testament,  altered  it  accordingly. 


A  PARABLE  OF  LIFE.  yj-^ 

other  swart,  which  were  gnawing  as  hard  as  they  could  at 
the  roots  of  the  tree  which  he  was  holding  to,  and  were  on 
the  point  of  gnawing  it  asunder.  After  that  he  looked 
below  him,  and  saw  a  mickle  dragon,  wondrously  grim, 
which  spouted  forth  fire,  with  furious  eyes,  and  lifting  up 
its  mouth  most  hideously,  just  as  if  it  were  going  to  gulp 
him  down  if  he  fell.  When  he  looked  at  the  rift  where  he 
had  fixed  his  foot,  he  saw  four  heads  come  forth,  fell  and 
poisonous,  of  those  snakes  called  aspides  in  Latin.  As 
one  might  ween,  all  tliese  things  alarmed  him  very  much, 
seeing  that  he  was  placed  in  so  mickle  peril.  Then  he 
looked  up  a  second  time,  and  saw  beautiful  drops  of  honey 
dripping  very  alluringly  from  the  branches  of  the  little 
tree  which  he  held  on  by;  and  his  mind  being  much 
gladdened  by  this  pleasant  sight,  all  his  former  fear  and 
fright  vanished,  and  he  forgot  everything,  both  how  the 
unicorn. chased  him,  and  how  the  dragon  just  beneath  was 
ready  to  swallow  him,  how  the  mice  had  gnawed  the  shrub 
he  held  to,  as  well  as  how  those  ill  creatures  were  ready 
with  their  poisonous  tongues  to  bite  his  feet.  All  this 
terror  and  dread  he  gave  up  and  forgot,  and  only  heeded 
the  tiny  sweetness  which  he  saw  drop  from  the  tree. 

"  These  things  are  parables  of  those  men  who  con- 
tinually strive  after  this  world.  And  now  I  shall  tell  you 
the  interpretation  of  these  things.  The  unicorn  I  liken  to 
death,  which  always  follows  man,  and  wishes  always  to 
end  the  days  of  man's  life.  That  great  deep  under  the 
man  betokens  this  world,  which  is  full  of  all  ill,  and  all 
kinds  of  traps  and  snares,  laid  all  around  man  to  drag  him 
to  death.  And  the  bush  that  he  held  on  by,  which  two 
mice,  one  white,  the  other  swart,  constantly  gnawed  at, 
this  denotes  the  days  of  each  man's  life,  which  are  wasted 
and  pass  by,  and  though  it  seems  long,  yet  the  age  of  man 
glides  on  quickly.  But  the  four  adders  of  which  we 
spoke  betoken  the  four  prime  elements,  weak  and  un- 
stable, of  which  man's  body  is  made,  and  for  which  reason 
he  is  ever  weak  and  unsteadfast,  and  soon  changeful. 


374  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

'Wwxi  grim  dragon,  that  fearful  one,  it  signifies  hell's  deep, 
■which  ever  wishes  to  swallow  and  gulp  down  those  men 
-who  love  this  world's  delights  and  joys,  and  aim  at  them 
rather  than  at  heavenly  glory,  which  is  not  before  their 
eyes.  And  tliat  little  honey  drop,  it  denotes  the  sweet- 
ness and  lustfulness  of  this  world's  pleasures,  with  which 
the  enemy  betrays  liis  friends,  and  so  blinds  them  that 
they  see  not  their  right  way  of  safety." 

Great  credit  must  be  given  to  a  Norse  king  who 
could  translate  from  the  Latin  into  his  vernacular  after 
this  fashion.  But  this  Hacon  was  not  the  only  Latin 
scholar  of  his  race  in  the  male  line  on  the  throne  of 
Norway.  We  have  seen  how  King  Hacon,  who  lost  the 
fight  at  Largs,  had  Latin  books  read  to  him  on  his  death- 
bed. The  learning  of  Magnus  Haconson  Lawbetterer  is  well 
known.  In  the  Laurentius  Saga,  Eric  Magnusson  criti- 
cises the  style  of  a  Latin  letter,  while  Hacon  Magnusson 
(ibid.)  could  converse  in  Latin.  So  much  for  "the  eaters 
of  stockfische,"  who,  as  the  English  told  Cardinal  Sabina 
on  his  arrival  in  our  island  on  his  voyage  to  Norway, 
1248,  w^ere  "rude  and  ferocious,  with  hardly  sufficient 
means  to  get  decent  victuals." 

In  the  Anglo-Saxon  portion  of  this  work  we  have  referred 
to  Drythelm's  visions  of  purgatory,  a  subject  which  would 
not  fail  to  reappear  in  most  of  the  European  literatures. 
Thus  King  Hacon  Haconson,  the  last  male  descendant  of 
the  line  of  Harold  Harfagr  (died  13 19),  caused  to  be 
translated  from  the  Latin  of  Marcus  Monachus,^  for  court 
reading,  the  vision  of  Duggal"^  the  Irishman.  Therein 
Ireland  is  described  as  a  most  fertile  country,  abounding 
in  all  sorts  of  corn,  its  lakes  and  rivers  full  of  fish  and 
its  woods  of  game,  but  not  a  vestige  to  be  found  of  snakes, 
vipers,  frogs,  or  toads.  The  island  is  too  pure  and  holy 
for  them,  and   the   soil  and  all  thereto   appertaining  so 

^  Brussels,  1682,  by  Lupus  from  the  "Vatican  MS. 

''■  Duggal'a  Leizla,  i.  329;  Heilagra  Manna  Sogur,  C.  linger,  Christiania, 
18/7. 


THE  VISION  OF  DUGGAL.  375 

strong  that  they  are  fairly  choked  off.  This  is,  of  course, 
the  old  story;  but  our  business  is  with  this  Duggal,  a  very 
worldly  youth,  who  thought  more  of  his  good  looks  and 
high  birth  than  spiritual  matters.  One  day  he  fell  into  a 
furious  passion  at  a  friend  not  being  able  to  pay  a  debt 
on  a  stipulated  day.  The  defaulter,  however,  tried  to 
soothe  him  by  an  invitation  to  take  his  chance  at  the 
family  dinner,  the  hour  of  which  was  at  hand.  This 
Duggal  accepted,  placed  his  axe  by  his  side,  and  sat 
down.  Suddenly,  while  eating,  his  hand  refused  its  office, 
and  he  exclaimed,  "  I  am  dying."  "  All  the  marks  of 
death  at  once  fell  upon  him ;  his  hair  fell  over  his  brow, 
his  eyes  turned  round  in  his  head,  his  nostrils  closed,  the 
lips  grew  pale,  the  lower  jaw  fell,  and  all  his  limbs  became 
cold."  He  was  at  once  laid  out,  the  passing  bell  rang, 
and  his  friends  shed  tears  over  him.  This  was  Mid- 
week Day,  and  on  the  following  Saturday  he  was  to  be 
buried,  when  a  slight  warmth  was  discovered  about  the 
left  shoulder-blade,  and  the  burial  was  delayed  in  conse- 
quence. Presently  the  body  came  to  life,  and  the  youth 
gave  a  narrative  of  what  had  occurred.  We  will  give  it 
in  an  abbreviated  form : — When  my  soul  separated  from 
my  body  and  became  aware  that  it  was  dead,  it  was 
greatly  alarmed.  It  tried  to  re-enter  the  body,  but  could 
not.  Next  it  saw  a  great  multitude  of  unclean  spirits, 
which  filled  every  nook  and  cranny  of  the  house,  mobbed 
the  miserable  soul,  and  sang  taunting  songs  over  him. 
But  a  good  angel,  his  guardian  from  his  birth  upwards, 
was  sent,  who,  as  it  neared  the  soul,  said,  "  Hail  to  thee, 
Duggal !  wherefore  art  thou  here  ? "  He  explains  the 
state  of  affairs.  "  Follow  me,"  said  the  angel,  which  he 
did,  by  the  light  which  shined  from  the  angel.  At  last 
they  reach  a  deep  valley  full  of  red-hot  embers.  On  these 
embers  was  a  chest,  six  ells  thick,  into  which  miserable 
souls  kept  falling,  and  were  roasted  to  a  cinder.  A  sickly 
odour  was  emitted  in  consequence.  On  one  side  of  it 
there  welled  up  the  fumes  of  a  brimstone  furnace.     On 


376  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

the  other  side  was  ice  and  frozen  snow ;  the  hail  poured 
down  and  the  winds  blew  keen.     A  dense  throng  of  souls 
who  toiled  along  the  path  did  so  in  fear  and  trembling, 
for  a  host  of  loathsome  devils  were  on  the  watch,  who 
lunged  at  them  with  three-pronged  spears,^  and  pulled 
them  back  into  the  fire.      Having  endured  torments  in 
this  way  for  a  time,  they  were  again  pierced  by  the  leisters 
and  forked  into  the  ice  and  hail-storm,  and  then  replunged 
into  the  brimstone.     The  soul  was  horribly  alarmed  at 
all  this  which  was  in  store  for  him,  but  was  bid  take 
courage  by  the  angel.     After  passing  through  a  number 
of  scenes  of  graduated  torment,  according  to  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body,  the  angel  shows  him  Lucifer  himself. 
The  accursed  creature  was  swart  as  a  raven,  shaped  like  a 
man  from  head  to  foot,  except  that  he  had  a  very  many 
hands,  not  fewer  than  a  thousand.     Each  hand  was  a 
hundred  palms-breadths  long  and  ten  thick,  and  the  claws 
of  his  fingers  longer  than  spear  shafts  and  of  iron  (just 
like  Grendels  in  "  Beowulf ").    He  had  a  mickle  nose,  thick 
and  long,  and  a  long  sharp  tail  studded  with  spikes,  very 
sharp.     This  awful  beast  lay  downwards  on  a  gridiron 
with  hot  embers  underneath,  which  an  incredible  number 
of  devils  were  blowing  with  bellows.     The  enemy  of  all 
mankind  was  bound  with  iron  chains,  many  and  thick. 
And  he  wallowed  among  the  embers  ;  he  raged  with  fierce 
anger ;  he  turned  from  one  side  to  the  other,  and  at  the 
same  time  dashed  his  hands  into  a  mickle  multitude  of 
souls,  and  squeezed  them  just  like  a  hungry  and  thirsty 
ploughman  crushes  the  juice  of  grapes  in  his  mouth,  so 
that  there  was  not  a  single  one  of  those  many  souls  whose 
head  or  other  limbs  he  did  not  tear  off.     But  the  scene 
shifts  at  last.    Looking  round,  tlie  soul  perceives  a  number 
of  landtents  of  purple  stuff,  of  pell  and  white  silk,  inter- 
woven with  gold  and  silver.    From  these  came  the  sweetest, 
heavenliest  sounds  of  harps,  fiddles,  symphonies,  organs, 
psalteries,  pipes.   "  And  whose  are  these  abodes  ?"  inquired 

1  Ljostr  —  Scotch  "leister,"  or  salmon -spear. 


THE  STORY  OF  THEOPHILUS.  2,77 

the  soul.  "  These,"  said  the  angel,  "  are  the  abodes  of 
monks,  and  all  of  pure  life,  men  and  women,  who  kept 
their  promise  well  to  God  and  were  obedient  to  Holy 
Church."  They  next  take  a  peep  into  the  tents  and  see  a 
crowd  of  men  and  women  in  angels'  forms,  with  the  voices 
of  angels  rather  than  of  men.  The  musical  instruments 
were  playing  of  themselves,  but  the  voices  of  the  souls 
surpassed  them.  From  the  roof  came  a  number  of  gold 
and  silver  chains,  on  which  hung  cups,  harps,  and  fiddles, 
and  all  sorts  of  instruments ;  and  over  all  fluttered  gently 
a  number  of  holy  angels,  all  with  gold  rings,  singing  the 
sweetest  of  songs  in  the  hearing  of  all.  It  only  remains 
to  be  told  that  Duggal  gave  all  his  goods  to  Holy  Church 
and  the  poor,  and  became  a  thoroughly  altered  character. 
Of  course  all  Catholic  countries  teemed  in  those  days  with 
such  highly  seasoned  religious  productions. 

Such,  again,  was  the  famous  story  of  Theophilus,^  who 
sold  himself  to  the  devil  to  become  a  bishop,  although  he 
had  once  said  "  Nolo  episcopari ; "  the  original  of  which 
is  by  Eutychianus,  the  disciple  of  Theophilus.  The 
legend,  as  we  have  said,  ran  through  Europe  in  various 
shapes,  and  was  fitted  to  all  people  imaginable.  It  is 
alluded  to  in  one  of  ^Ifric's  homilies  (i.  448),  while  in 
an  Icelandic  legend  Anselm  and  Theophilus  are  thus 
blended.  Now  we  know  that  Eormenric,  who  died  370, 
Attila,  453,  Gundicar  of  Burgvmdy,  436,  and  the  Ostro- 
gothic  king  Theodoric  or  Dietrich,  536,  become  contem- 
poraries and  merge  one  into  another  in  heroic  mythus. 
But  one  is  hardly  prepared  to  find  Dietrich  of  Bern  and 
Theophilus  of  Sicily  getting  confused  into  one.  But  so 
it  is.  Among  the  Wends  it  has  become  a  popular  story, 
and  is  told  of  Dietrich  (Theodoric  of  Verona),  who  among 

1  There    is    no   authority  for    the  mny  belong  to  the   time   of    Hacon 

statement  that   it  was    turned    into  Magnusson    (1299- 1319),    on    whose 

Norse  by  King  Hacon.     The   oldest  authority   the  compilation  of   Mariu 

recension    (Mariusaga,    65-69)    was  Jartegnir   (Mariusaga,    1016,  line  18) 

certainly    written    before    1200   A.D.  had  taken  place. 
The  other  redaction   of   this  legend 


378  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

the  peasantry  is  transmuted  into  the  Wild  Huntsman. 
It  runs  thus  : — 

"  Once  on  a  time  there  was  a  well-born  gentleman 
named  Diter  Bernliard,  and  so  pious  that  he  could  hang 
his  coat  on  a  sunbeam  without  fear  of  its  falling  down. 
He  went  to  church  regularly  every  Sunday.  Once  he 
spied  the  devil  sitting  behind  the  altar  writing  down  on 
a  cowskin  the  names  of  all  those  who  were  asleep.  The 
skin  was,  however,  top  full ;  so  what  did  the  devil  do  but 
tug  at  it  with  his  teeth  to  make  more  room.  In  so  doins: 
lie  let  it  slip,  and  back  he  fell  against  the  wall,  knocking 
out  one  of  his  teeth.^  On  seeing  this,  Diter  Bernhard 
could  not  forbear  laughing.  But  God  Almighty  reckoned 
this  a  grievous  sin,  Diter  Bernhard  when  he  got  home 
hung  his  clothes  or.  the  usual  peg,  the  sunbeam,  which 
declined  the  honour,  and  down  fell  the  clothes  to  the 
ground.  Incensed  at  this,  he  resolved  to  play  a  prank  on 
tlie  Almighty ;  so  he  put  some  bread  crumbs  in  his  boots 
and  walked  abroad,  stamping  under  foot  the  gifts  of  God. 
For  this  he  was  borne  aloft  in  a  carriage,  and  to  this  day 
he  is  driving  about  as  a  punishment  for  his  wickedness."  ^ 

In  the  Bodleian  Library  is  an  early  Hatton  MS.  (76)  on 
vellum  of  part  of  Pope  Gregory's  dialogues  translated  from 
the  Latin  into  pure  Anglo-Saxon  prose.  According  to 
Hoveden,  the  translation  was  executed  by  Werefrith, 
Bishop  of  Worcester  (consecrated  872),  by  the  command 
of   King   Alfred.^     An    Old   Norse  translation  was  also 

'  III  "  Reliquise  Antiquse,"  i.  59,  "  So  sore  ruffyn  toggyd  his  rolle 
the  tale  is  repeated  in  "  Narratio  St.  That  he  smote  with  hys  cholle 
August! "  in  a  metrical  form  : —  Agen  the  marbyl  ston." 

"  He  saw  a  fend  sytting  therein  What  the  devil  was  writing  down 

With  penne,  ink,  and  parchemyn,       when  his  jowl  and  the  marble  became 

As  God  gaf  him  grace.  thus  acquainted  was  the  tallc  of  the 

4  4  TT  .  1  i.1  i  1  •  1  ,  wives  while  St.  Augustine  was  read- 
He  wrot  so  long  that  him  scliant  •.,/-,  1  ,  ,-  ,  1 
4  ,  ,  .  ,  ,  .  ing  the  Gospel :  whereupon  his  head 
And  his  skyn  gan  to  want,  ,             ,      ,  ,      '      ,      ,           ,  ,     , 

To  spekyn  he  had  space.  ^.'"^^^   *^   ^^^'''^   '^l^"'!  ''^^    ^^^*=^    '^^ 

"  He  had  so  mych  haste  '-'  Heilngra   Manna  Sogur,  ed.  Un. 

With  his  naylys  faste  ger,  Christiania,  1877.  See  vol.  i.  p.  179. 

His  rolle  gan  he  race.  s  j<f  ^te  i.  41,  ed.  Stubbs,  Rolls  Series. 


GREGORY'S  DIALOGUES  IN  ICELANDIC.       379 

made,  certainly  not  later  than  the  latter  part  of  tlie 
twelfth  centuiy.  This  appeared  in  print  for  the  first  time 
in  1877. 

A  comparison  of  the  two  translations  will  prove  very 
interesting  to  the  student.  "VVe  will  insert  a  short  speci- 
men of  the  work  in  the  original  Latin,  and  the  An^rlo- 
Saxon,  and  Old  Norse  (somewhat  free)  translations.  To 
show  what  a  striking  resemblance,  especially  as  far  as  the 
words  are  concerned,  there  is  between  our  modern  tongue 
and  the  Old  Norse,  we  append  a  literal  English  rendering 
of  the  last-mentioned  version. 


38o 


ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 


^   >i  cS  — 2  ^    _    c    -^    . ,   •-   ^ — ,   —         -^   ='    :   rt    cs   ^  .-. 

^23  3  c  r; -e 
■^       3  o  o  S 


Mo^B^Mi^      -^:3|.^a  :5-t1|". 


c  s 


-      •f=^T3  o  .1:1  — '-'  a,  .  2  ce  rt  .-.S'O  c 


«.;:i.  ^  rt.°'-'o  0^5  j^     ^^5.^-0. 


ceje-a^S  Z       ^  ■"  c  o      ,q--r3      ^-g^A^       5?  ct  a  o  a  <v    ^'E,'^ 


?>g  l^i^3ps£y3^a.P.2  i  g  i'i's  i;ll'iS 


(     38i     ) 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

OLD     NORSE     SCALDS. 

Tkom  hints  dropped  here  and  tliere  throughout  this  part 
of  our  work,  it  is  clear  there  was  no  lack  of  the  vates 
sacer  to  sing  the  deeds  and  the  doings  of  the  bygone 
heroes  and  ladies  of  the  North.  But  while  the  names  of 
the  great  personages  thus  live,  the  singer's  name  is  often 
involved  in  obscurity  or  lost.  With  few  exceptions,  the 
grandest  and  most  characteristic  perhaps  of  the  poems, 
living  in  tradition  long  before  they  passed  from  the  tongue 
to  the  pen,  those  deepest  in  feeling  and  instinct  with 
the  truest  and  highest  poetic  inspiration,  are  anonymous. 
Notably  this  is  the  case  with  the  Edda  songs,  a  proof  of 
their  great  antiquity ;  for  had  Snorri  known  the  names  of 
the  authors,  and  seeing  that  in  his  Skalda  he  cites  by  name 
some  seventy  old  scalds  or  more,  he  would  doubtless  have 
mentioned  them.  Starkadr  is  the  name  of  one  scald,  who 
must  have  lived  not  later  than  750.  His  "  Vikarsbolk," 
of  which  Saxo  gives  a  Latin  version,  is  a  good  deal  in  the 
lugubrious  tone  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  singer  in  the  Exeter 
Book. 

Bragi  the  Old  is  another  renowned  poet,  died  about  830, 
bits  of  whose  poems  are  cited  in  Skalda.  A  very  remark- 
able anonymous  poem  is  the  "Song  of  Lodbrog,"^  consisting 
of  twenty-nine  stanzas,  supposed  to  be  sung  by  him  in  the 
A^iper  dungeon,  to  which  he  was  consigned  by  the  English 

1  English  version  by  Rev.  J.  Johnston,  Copenhagen,  1782, 


382  ICELA  NDIC  LI TERA  TURE. 

king,  Ella.     Lodbrog's  very  existence,  be  it  observed,  is 
disputed  by  recent  critics.     It  ends  thus — 

"  Home  me  bid  the  Valkyrs, 
Who  from  high  Valhalla 
Odin  hither  sent  me. 
Gladly  ale  with  Aser 
Shall  I  drink  in  high  seat. 
Passed  are  now  life's  moments, 
Smiling  shall  I  die." 

But  while  so  little  is  certain  about  the  scalds  before  the 
days  of  Harfagr,  afterwards  more  is  known  of  their  names 
and  their  works. 

The  poems  whose  authors'  names  survive  are  authen- 
ticated chiefly  in  virtue  of  the  distinguished  position  of 
the  singer  as  a  court  scald  in  high  favour.     Many  of  them 
are  panegyrics  on  kings  or  great  chiefs,  and  were  esteemed 
in  that  day  as  the  perfection  of  art.     It  was  perhaps  this, 
with  their  historic  nature,  and  not  their  intrinsic  poetic 
value,  that  consecrated  them  to  fame.     And  yet  the  times 
were  full  of  stirring  incidents,  well  adapted  to  inspire  the 
Muse.     Harold's  court  was  the  focus  of  all  the   poetic 
talent  in  the  land,  and  the   scald  did  not  lack  the  very 
highest  patronage,  sitting,  according  to  tradition,  in  the 
seat  of  honour  facing  the  king,  who  was  himself  a  scald. 
Thus  Thiodolf  and  Hornklofi  were  less  poets  than  histo- 
rians.   Such  poems  Snorri  called  historic  songs.^    Thiodolf 
of  Hvin  was  the  chief  of  Harfagr's  scalds,  many  of  whose 
pieces  appear  in  that  king's  saga.     To  judge  from  what 
remains,  e.g.,  in  "  Hostlang  "  and  "  Ynglingatal,"  he  was  well 
up  in  mythic  circumlocution  and  inversion.     Interspersed 
among  the  sagas  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  lyric  poetry, 
not  only  in  the  historical,  but  also  in  the  private  sagas. 
Many  of  these  lays,  as  we  have  said,  are  so  crammed  with 
mythological  allusions,  far-fetched   figures,  strained  epi- 
thets, and  inverted  constructions,  that   they  frequently 
involve  the  would-be  interpreter  in  a  maze  of  difhculties. 

1  Storm,  Snorri  Sturleson,  90. 


BATTLE  OF  HAFRSFJORD.  383 

All-potent  fashion  had  turned  the  heads  of  the  scalds. 
Still  there  are  not  a  few  specimens  of  verse  touched  with 
lyric  fire,  full  of  simplicity  and  beauty.  Such  is  the 
"  Battle  of  Hafrsfiord,"  "  Ericsmal,"  &c.  We  may  here 
remark  that  about  the  precise  method  used  by  the  scalds 
in  their  delivery  there  rests  much  obscurity.  Most  likely 
they  would  use  a  kind  of  singini^  tone,  and  were  occasion- 
ally accompanied,  at  all  events  in  later  times,  by  the  harp. 
The  old  simple  lays  ("  FornyrSalag ")  were,  it  is  conjec- 
tured, sung  to  a  kind  of  artless  melody  in  monotone  ; 
while  the  drapas  were  declaimed  in  recitative,  the  burden 
being  joined  in  by  the  chorus.  The  presence  of  the  king 
and  court  would  add  to  the  solemnity.  The  author,  if 
possible,  sang  in  person,  but  sometimes  it  was  done  by 
deputy.  The  drapas  of  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century, 
alike  in  form  and  spirit,  stand  highest. 

Let  us  contrast  with  the » "  Battle  of  Brunanburh  "  the 
"  Battle  of  Hafrsfjord,"  which  made  Harold  Fairhair 
supreme  sovereign  of  Norway,  The  author  was  the  above 
Thiodolf,  though  others  attribute  it  to  Hornklofi.  In  those 
days  it  would  be  the  equivalent  of  "  LillebuUero  "  or  "  Ye 
Mariners  of  England." 

"  Have  you  heard  of  the  fight  The  Wolf-skins  howled 

At  Hafrsfjord  'Mid  the  din  of  iron. 
'Tween  a  high-born  king 

And  Kiotni  the  Rich  ?  ^hey  put  to  the  proof 

Came  ships  from  the  east,  ^^  ^^1^«  t^^^^h^  them  to  fly, 

All  keen  for  the  fray,  ^^^^  dauntless  King  Harold, 

With  silver  inlaid,  The  Lord  of  Utstein. 

And  agape  were  their  beaks.  ^«  launched  from  the  shore 

In  view  of  the  stir  ; 

"  They  were  manned  with  Udal-  What  a  thumping  of  shields 

lers.  Ere  Haklang  1  fell  ! 
And  piled  with  white  shields, 

And  West  Country  spears,  "  He  tired  right  soon 

And  Gallic  swords.  Of  facing  King  Harfagr; 

Bellowed  the  Bare-sarks  To  an  island  fled  he, 

In  Hilda's  train  ;  The  thick-throated  ruler. 

1  The  son  of  Kiotni,  who  laid  Lis  ship  alongside  of  the  king's,  as  described 
iu  the  "Heimskringla." 


5S4 


ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 


On  their  backs  tlieir  shields, 
Bright  roof  of  Valhalla.^ 
Wild  with  fear,  they  fled  home 
Around  Jadar's  shores, 
Ou  their  mead-bowls  intent, 
From  Hafrsfjord." 


Under  the  row-seat 
The  wounded  they  huddled, 
With  backs  stuck  up 
And  faces  bent  down. 
"  In  the  storm  of  stones, 
As  they  fled,  they  cast 

Another  favourite  poet  and  man-at-arms  of  Fairhair's 
was  Thorbjorn,  nicknamed  Hornklofi  =  '  horn  -  cleaver.' 
In  "  Fagrskinna  "  there  is  a  spirited  but  perfectly  simple 
poem  by  him,  describing  the  court  of  the  king.  A  peep 
into  the  hall  of  our  Alfred's  contemporary  is  interesting. 
The  scald  relates  an  imaginary  conversation  between  a 
Valkyr  and  some  ravens,  who  being  the  constant  compa- 
nions of  Harold  in  his  expeditions,  were  able  to  gratify  the 
lady's  curiosity  about  him.  In  literal  prose  it  runs — 
"  Listen,    ye    ring-bearers    {i.e.,        Surely  you  set  off  by  night, 


ye 

nobles). 

While  I  recount  the  accomplish- 
ments 

Of  King  Harold, 

The  immensely  rich  ; 

I  must  tell  of  the  colloquy 

Which  I  heard  between 

A  white  fair-haired  maid 

And  a  raven. 

"  Wise  was  the  Valkyr ; 
She  knew  the  voice  of  birds. 
The  white-throated  one, 
The  sharp-sighted  one, 
Spoke  to  the  air-cleaver, 
Who  sat  on  a  point  of  the  rocks. 

"  '■  Why  here,  ye  ravens  ? 
Whence  are  ye  come, 
With  gory  beak. 
At  the  approach  of  day  ? 
Flesh  sticks  to  your  claws. 
The  reek  of  carrion  comes  from 
your  mouth  : 


For  ye  knew  that  corpses  lay  on 
the  plain.' 

"  He  of  the  plumed  skull  shook 
his  feathers  ; 
The  eagle's  sworn  brother 
Dried  his  beak, 
Andbethought  him  of  an  answer. 

"  'We've  followed  Harold, 
Halfdan's  son, 
Tlie  young  noble, 
Ever  since  the  egg  we  left.' 

"  '  I  thought  you'd  know  the  king, 
He  who  abides  at  Hvin, 
The  lord  of  the  Northmen, 
Who  owns  the  deep  galleys, 
The  ruddy  rimmed  shields, 
The  tarred  oars, 
The  weather-stained  awnings. - 

"  '  He'll  drink  his  Yule  feast  atsea, 
If  he  alone  shall  decide, 
Tliis  courageous  chief, 
And  play  Frey's  game.^ 


1  Valhalla  was  roofed  with  golden  tents  or  awnings  were  spread  between 

shields  instead  of  shingles.  the  raised  poop  and  the  prow.  Bisliop 

^  'Tjald'=  tent,  which  survives  in  Tegner  in  "  Frithiof  "   brings  before 

our 'tilted'  (i.e.,  covered)  cart.     No  us  the  Vikings  on  shipboard, 

sooner  was  a  vessel  in  harbour  than  ^  War. 


HAROLD  FAIRH AIR'S  COURT. 


3S5 


The  youth  loathes  the  fireside 
And  sitting  at  home  ; 


The  warm  ladies'  bower, 

And  cushions  stuffed  with  down.' ' 


The  Valkyr  then  asks  whether  Harold  is  munificent  to 
his  men — 


Many  a  present 
His  warriors  get, 
AVho  in  Harold's  court 
Throw  with  the  dice  ; 
They're  with  money  endowed, 
And  handsome  swords, 
With  German  armour, 
And  Eastern  slaves. 


Then  are  they  glad, 
The  skilful  men-at-arms, 
Agile  to  jump 
And  swing  the  oars, 
Till  they  break  the  loops  ' 
And  snap  the  thole-pins  ; 
Splash  goes  the  water 
At  the  word  of  the  king. " 


The  condition  of  the  conrt  scalds  is  next  described. 


And  silver-strapped  swords 
And  gilt  belts. 
And  chased  helmets 
And  armlets  good  store. 
These  servants  of  Harold." 


"  You  may  see  by  their  trappings 
And  their  gold  rings 
That  they're  familiar  with  the 

king; 
They're  possessed  of  red  cloaks 
And  fair  rimmed  shields. 

His  Berserker  champions  are  next  described. 

Wolf-skins  they're  hight,  Who  redden  the  spears 

They  who  in  battle  When  they  gather  to  the  fray, 

Bear  the  bloody  shields,  When  they  rush  to  the  onset." 

The  poem  concludes  with  a  description  of  the  players 
and  jugglers  at  Harold's  court.  Some  of  them  indulge  in 
unheard-of  pranks,  to  the  great  amusement  of  the  king. 

The  beginning  of  the  "  Ericsmal,"  the  dirge  which 
Queen  Gunhilda  caused  to  be  composed  on  her  husband, 
Eric  Bloody-axe,  when  he  fell  on  an  English  battlefield, 
is  all  that  survives.  The  author  is  unknown.  Most  likely 
one  of  those  scalds  who  followed  the  fortunes  of  this  son 
o|  Harfagr  to  Northumberland,  he  was  clearly  a  poet  of 
no  ordinary  power.  Odin  is  described  preparing  to  receive 
a  distinguished  ^uest. 


Odin. 
"  What !  have  I  dreamed  ? 
Methought,  just  before  day, 
Valhalla  I  caused 
For  slain  folk  to  be  cleared  ; 
I  waked  the  dead  warriors, 


I  bade  them  rise  up. 

Strew   the   benches  with  fresli 

straw 
And  wash  out  the  ale-stoup  ; 
Bade  the  Valkyrs  bring  wine. 
As  a  kintr  were  at  hand. 


^  In  the  mythic  Atlamal,  38,  a  similar  result  is  attained. 

2  B 


386 


ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURE. 


SiGMUND. 
"  Why  expect  Eric 
Rather  than  other  kings  ? 

Odin. 
"  Why,  because  many  lands 
Withtlie  sword  lie  has  reddened, 
And  a  bloody  blade  borne. 

SiGMUND. 
"  Then  why  of  victory  rob  him 
When  you  deemed  him  sosnell? 

Odin. 
"  'Cause  the  future's  so  doubtful. 
Tliat  grey  Fenris  wolf 
Us  gods  is  greedily  eyeing. 

SiGMUND. 
"  Then  hail  to  thee,  Eric  !        • 
Right  welcome  art  here  ; 
Come,  enter,  O  sage  one. 
The  hall ;  but  just  tell  me 
What  chieftains  are  with  you 
From  the  clash  of  the  swords. 

Eric. 

"  Five  kings  are  here, 
I  know  their  names  all  : 
Myself  am  the  sixth. " 

Eric's  brother,  Hacon  the  Good  (925-961),  the  foster-son 
of  our  King  Athelstan,  was  also  a  patron  of  poets.  In  his 
saga  are  some  verses  of  a  martial  song  by  him  to  encou- 
rage his  soldiers  at  the  battle  of  Stord,  where  he  received 
his  death-M'ound.  The  dirge  "  Haconarmal "  on  that  occa- 
sion was  composed  by  Eyvind  Skalda-spiller,  in  imitation 
of  the  "Ericsmal;"  so  says  "  Fagrskinna,"  33.^  It  is  one 
of  the  best  samples  of  scaldic  poetry  extant : — 

HAKONAMAL. 
"  Gondul  and  Skogul^  Of  Yngvi's  race  which 

The  god  of  the  Goths  sent  With  Odin  should  fare 

To  choose  'mong  the  kings  And  live  in  Valhalla. 


I  from  the  earth 
Kxjject  some  guests, 
Alen  of  renown. 
So  my  heart  is  glad. 

Bragi. 

"  What  noise  was  that  there, 
As  though  thousands  were  mov- 
ing, 
Or  a  host  very  mickle  ? 
The  wainscot  all  groans. 
As  if  Balder  were  coming 
Back  to  Odin's  halls. 

Odin. 
"  Wise  Bragi,  quoth  Odin, 
'Tis  folly  you  talk. 
Though  thyself  so  wise. 
This  crash  is  for  Eric, 
Who's  just  coming  in. 
Brave  warrior,  to  Odin's  halls. 
Sinf  jotli  and  Sigmund  ^ 
Rise  up  with  all  speed. 
And  go  meet  the  king ; 
Bid  ye  him  in 
If  Eric  it  be  ; 
'Tis  for  him  I  was  warned. 


^  Those  mythic  heroes,  already  ia 
Valhalla. 

-  An  independent  Chronicle  of  the 
kings,  in  which  alone  are  "  Hafrs- 
fjord"  and  "Ericsmal." 


^  Two  Valkyrs  or  choosers  of  the 
slain.  The  names  of  all  these 
maidens  are  given  in  the  Prose 
Edda. 


hAkonamAl. 


587 


"  Bjom's  brother  found  they 
Faring  in  mail-coat, 
Marching  'neath  gonfalon  ; 
Scared  were  tlie  foe, 
The  shafts  shook, 
The  battle  began. 

"  '  On,  Halogalanders  ! 
On,  ye  West  Islanders  ! ' 
Cried  the  earl-slayer, 
Hushed  to  the  fray. 
Well  did  his  Northmen 
Follow  their  noble  lord, 
Dread  of  the  Isle  Danes, 
Helmed  in  gold. 

"  Flung  off  his  armour 
Down  on  the  plain, 
The  chief  of  the  bodyguard, 
Ere  he  set  on. 

Joked  with  his  men-at-arms, 
'  We'll  keep  the  land  safe  ; ' 
Laughed  the  king  gaily, 
Helmed  in  gold. 

"  So  sliced  his  sharp  sword 
In  the  chief's  hand 
Right  through  the  mail-coats 
As  they  were  water. 
Crash  went  the  arrows. 
Split  were  the  shields  ; 
Rattled  the  blades 
On  the  foemen's  skulls. 

"  Through  targets  tough, 
Through  plates  of  iron, 
Smashed  irresistible 
Tlie  Norse  king's  brand. 
Th'  isle  pealed  with  battle-din. 
Crimsoned  the  kings 
Their  glistening  shields 
In  the  blood  of  the  throng. 

"  Quivered  the  flashing  swords 
In  the  wounds  gory  ; 
Louted  the  halberds, 
Greedy  of  life  ; 
Soused  the  red  wound-stream 
'Gainst  the  splashed  bucklers  ; 


Fell  crimson  arrow-rain 
On  Stord's  shore. 

"  All  blood-bedabbled 
Surged  the  fierce  fray  ; 
Thundered  the  shield-rinis 
'Mid  storm  of  war  ; 
Pattered  down  point-stream  1 
Odin's  red  showei". 
Many  fell  fainting 
In  their  life's  blood. 

"  Sat  were  the  princes. 
Drawn  were  their  swords, 
Battered  their  bucklers, 
Armour  all  gashed ; 
111  at  ease  felt  the 
Monarch,  for  he  was 
Bound  to  Valhalla. 

"  Gondul  she  spoke. 
Leaning  on  spear-shaft  : 
'  Grows  the  gods'  company  ; 
They  have  bid  Hacon, 
With  a  great  retinue, 
Home  to  their  hall ! ' 

"  Heard  the  fey  chieftain 
What  said  the  Valkyr- 
Maids  from  their  steeds  ; 
Thoughtful  their  faces  looked 
As  they  sat  lielmed. 
Sheltered  with  shields. 

Hacox. 
"  Why  so  the  contest 
Dealt'st  thou,  Geirskcigul  ? 
Worthy  of  victory 
We  from  the  gods  ! 

SkogUL. 
"  We  were  the  cause 
The  battle  you  won 
And  the  foes  fled. 
Now  will  we  speed. 
Quoth  mighty  Skiigul, 
To  heaven's  green  glades, 
King  Odin  to  tell 
A  great  lord  is  coming. 
Who  longs  him  to  see  ! 


^  Blood  drawn  by  the  sword-poiut. 


388 


ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 


"  '  Ilorniod  and  Bragi,' 

Quoth  .aloud  Odin, 

'  (jJo  meet  the  chieftain  ; 

Hither  is  faring 

A  king,  and  a  valiant  one, 

Lo  !  to  my  hall.'  ^ 
"  The  captain  he  cried, 

Just  fresh  from  the  fray, 

All  dripping  with  gore  : 

'  Very  hard-hearted 

Truly  meseemeth 
Odin  to  be. ' 

Odin. 

"  All  of  my  warriors 

Welcome  thee  in  ! 

Drink  of  our  ale-cups, 

Baue  of  the  Jarls. 
"  '  Already  you've  here 

Eight  brothers,'  quoth  Bragi. 

Hacon. 

"  All  our  war-gear, 
Quoth  the  good  king, 
Ourselves  will  we  hold  ; 
Our  helmet  and  mail 


We'll  guard  them  full  well  ; 
'Tis  pleasantto  handlethe  spear. 

Then  straight  it  appeared 

How  the  good  king  had 

Protected  the  temples,^ 

For  Hacon  they  bade 

Be  heartily  welcome, 

The  assembly  of  gods. 

On  fortunate  day 

Was  that  monarch  born. 

With  such  a  mind  gifted  ; 

His  age  and  day 

Must  ever  be  held 

In  kindly  remembrance. 

Ere  will  break  his  chain 

And  rush  on  mankind 

Fell  Fenris  wolf,^ 

Ere  a  man  so  good 

In  his  footsteps  tread, 

One  of  royal  birth — 

Riches  depart, 

And  likewise  friends,       » 

The  land  is  laid  waste  :     ' 

Since  Hacon  fared 

To  the  heathen  gods. 

Sunk  have  many  to  slaves."* 


DEATH    OF    HJALMAR   IN   HERVARAE    SAGA. 

One  Christmas  night,  at  a  festival  in  the  hall  of  King 
Ingve  at  Upsala,  that  redoubtable  bravo,  Angantyr,  vowed 
he  would  have  to  wife  the  fair  Princess  Ingibjorg.     Up- 


1  All  that  bad  f.allen  in  fight  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  dwelt  in 
Valhalla,  but  these  and  many  more 
would  be  all  too  little  to  cope  with 
the  wolf  when  he  got  loose  ;  and  this 
was  why  Odin  was  so  glad  to  get  fresh 
auxiliaries.     Prose  Edda,  p.  124. 

-  Tlie  poet  supposes,  with  or  with- 
out reason,  the  king  to  have  been  a 
great  tolerationist.  The  words  of 
the  saga  are,  "W^hen  King  Hacon 
knew  that  his  wound  was  mortal, 
he  called  his  counsellors,  and  ex- 
pressed his  Borrow  for  his  nianj'  sins 
•igainst  God  and  the  laws  of  Chris- 
tian men.     Then  his  friends  begged 


that  they  might  remove  his  corpse  to 
England  and  bury  him  in  a  church. 
The  king  answered,  '  I  am  not  worthy 
of  this;  Hived  like  heathen  men  live, 
and  I  will  be  buried  like  them'" 
(Fagrskiuua,  p.  26). 

^  At  the  twiliglit  of  the  gods,  the 
wolf,  hitherto  kept  in  magic  chains 
and  gagged  with  a  sword,  will  get 
loose.  The  forging  of  that  chain,  so 
slender,  so  strong,  is  well  told  in  the 
Prose  Edda. 

■*  This  is  supposed  to  allude  to  the 
tyrannical  doings  of  his  successor, 
one  of  the  sous  of  Eric  Bloody- 
axe. 


DEATH  OF  HJALMAR. 


389 


rose  Hjalmar  and  claimed  the  maiden  for  the  reward  of 
his  faithful  services.  The  king  left  it  to  his  daughter  to 
choose,  and  she  chose  Hjalmar,  whom  she  knew,  and  not 
the  stranger.  The  result  is  a  challenge  to  fight  on  Samso, 
an  island  off  Jutland,  which  the  favoured  lover  accepts. 
Great  was  the  peril  lie  ran,  for  Angantyr  was  armed  with 
the  sword  Tyrfing,  forged  by  those  cunning  smiths,  the  trolls 
Dvalin  and  Dulin,  which  never  missed  its  man,  and  always 
brought  death  to  the  owner.  The  fateful  battle  is  fought. 
Angantyr  and  his  Berserkers  are  all  slain,  but  Hjalmar  is 
mortally  wounded,  and  found  by  one  of  his  friends.  Odd, 
welterimi  in  his  blood. 


Odd. 
"  What  ailetli  thee,  Hjalmar? 
For  shifted  is  thy  hue  ; 
Surely  thou  art  faint 
With  full  many  wounds. 
Hewn  and  hacked  thy  helmet, 
Thy  mail-coat  all  rent ; 
'Tis,  methinks,  all  over 
With  thy  span  of  life. 

Hjalmak. 
"  Sixteen  wounds  have  I, 
Hewn  and  hacked  my  mail ; 
'Tis  dark  before  my  sight, 
I  cannot  see  to  go. 
The  sword  of  Angantyr 
It  smote  me  to  the  heart, 
Hardened  with  adders'  poison 
The  keenly-whetted  point. 

"  I  owned  in  my  own  country 
Five  estates  in  all. 
But  with  my  goodly  lot 
Could  never  be  content  ; 
Now  I  perforce  must  lie 
Bereft  of  life  and  breath, 
AVounded  of  the  sword 
In  Sam's  fatal  isle. 

"  In  the  kingly  hall 
The  men  are  drinking  mead, 
All  adorned  with  jewels, 
At  my  father's  house  ; 


Many  folks  are  there, 
Knocked  down  by  the  ale  ; 
Me  the  wounds  by  sword-points 
In  this  isle  constrain. 

'  The  goddess  fair  I  left 
Of  the  jewelled  brow, 
At  Agnafit's  green  mead, 
Yonder  in  the  North. 

'  The  tale  it  must  come  true 
Which  she  told  to  me, 
That  I  never  should 
To  my  love  come  back. 

Draw,  then,  from  my  hand 
This  red  ring  ; 
Bear  it  to  the  young 

Ingibjorg. 
Ever  must  it  be 
To  her  an  inward  pain 
That  I  ne'er  return 
To  Upsala  again. 

I  parted  from  the  sweet 
Singing  of  the  maids 
At  Sote's  rock,  far  east ; 
Full  of  hope  and  joy, 
I  hastened  my  leave-taking. 
And  mounted  straight  on  board, 
Began  my  latest  faring, 
Far  from  faithful  friends. 


39° 


ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 


Flies  a  raven  westwards 
From  the  lofty  tree, 
Follows  in  its  wake 
An  ea<'le's  Avaviny  wing  : 


To  tliat  eagle  I 
Shall  a  banquet  give  ; 
He  will  on  my  gore 
Make  his  greedy  feast."  ' 


Miiller  thinks  that  this  saga  in  its  present  shape  is  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  but  the  following  weird  poem  in  it 
bears  so  strong  an  Old  Norse  impress,  that  he  places  its 
composition  not  later  than  the  tenth  or  eleventh  century. 

Ano-antyr  had  left  a  daughter,  Hervor,  who,  when  she 
crrew  up,  went  to  sea,  "  daubed  her  lily-white  hands  all 
over  with  the  nasty  pitch  and  tar ; "  turned  Viking,  in 
short,  and  went  on  the  'war-path,'  under  the  assumed 
name  of  Herward.  Once  on  a  time  she  anchored  at 
Munarvoe  in  Samso,  the  very  isle  where  her  father, 
Angantyr,  lay  buried  in  a  liowe,  and  at  sunset  she  went 
alone  on  shore,  where  she  meets  a  shepherd. 


Shephekd. 

Who  art  all  alone 
To  this  island  come  ? 
Haste  and  seek  some  cot 
For  to  shelter  in. 

Herward. 
I  will  never  go 
Shelter  for  to  seek. 
For  I  none  do  know 
Of  the  island  beards. - 
Tell  me  speedily, 
'Fore  yon  go  from  hence, 
Where  about's  the  spot 
Known  as  Herward's  cairn? 

Shepherd. 

Don't  about  it  speer. 
If  thon'rt  truly  wise. 
Thou,  the  Viking's  friend, 
In  great  peril  art. 
Let  us  speed  away, 
Haste  witli  might  and  main  ; 
All  abroad  are  horrors 
For  the  sons  of  men. 


Herward. 
Here  a  brooch  I'll  give  thee 
If  you'll  tell  me  true. 
Vain  to  try  to  hinder 
Thus  the  Viking's  friend. 
No  !  the  brightest  treasure, 
All  the  rings  on  earth, 
Would  not  let  or  hinder 
Me  from  my  intent. 

Shepherd. 

■  Foolish  is,  methinks. 
He  who  hither  fares. 
All  alone  and  friendless, 
In  the  murky  night. 
Flames  are  flickering. 
Cairns  are  opening, 
Burning  earth  and  fen  ; 
Let  us  hurry  on. 

Herward. 
'  I  am  not  afeard 
At  such  snorting  sounds, 
E'en  though  all  the  island 
Bursts  out  in  a  blaze. 


1  Hervarar  Sag.i,  ch.  v. 


-  i.e.,  Bearded  men  of  the  isle. 


HERVOR  AND  ANGANTYR. 


391 


Do  not  let  us  two 
By  the  champions  dead 
Thus  be  made  to  shiver ; 
Let  us  have  discourse. 
Then  the  herdsman  fled 
To  the  forest  near, 


Frightened  by  the  speech 
Of  this  manly  maid. 
Of  undaunted  mettle 
Fashioned,  Hervor's  breast 
Swelled  within  her  fiercely 
At  the  shepherd's  fright." 


She  now  sees  the  cairns  all  alight  and  the  howe-dwellers 
standing  outside,  but  is  not  afraid ;  passes  through  the 
flames  as  if  it  were  only  reek,  till  she  gets  to  the  Berser- 
ker's howe.     Then  she  speaks — 

Herward.  Angantyr. 


' '  AVake  thee,  Angantyr  ; 
Hervor  waketh  thee. 
I'm  the  only  daughter 
Of  Tofa  and  of  thee  : 
Give  me  from  the  howe 
That  sword  whetted  sharp, 
Which  for  Swarfurlam 
Was  forged  by  the  dwarves. 

"  Hervard  and  Hjorvard, 
Hran  and  Angantyr ! 
I  wake  you,  ye  buried 
Under  the  forest  roots, 
With  your  helm  and  mail-sark, 
With  your  whetted  sword, 
With  your  polished  shields, 
And  your  bloody  darts. 

"  Ye  are  turned  indeed, 
Arngrim's  sons  so  bold. 
Such  redoubted  champions, 
To  poor  bits  of  mould, 
If  of  Eyfur's  sons 
Not  one  dares  with  me 
To  come  and  hold  discourse 
Here  in  Munarvoe. 

"  Hervard  and  Hjorvard, 
Hran  and  Angantyr ! 
May  it  be  to  all 
Of  you  within  your  hearts 
As  if  yoii  were  in  anthills, 
With  torments  dire  bested, 
Unless  to  me  tlie  sword 
Ye  give  that  Dvalin  forged. 
It  not  beseemetli  Draugies 
Such  weapons  choice  to  hide. 


"Hervor,  my  daughter,  why 
Dost  thou  cry  out  so  loud  ? 
Thou'rt  hastening  to  destruction, 
Past  all  redemption,  maid  ! 
'Tis  mad  you  are  become, 
Bereft  of  sober  sense  ; 
You  must  be  wandering,  surely. 
To  wake  up  men  long  dead. 

Herward. 
"One  thing  tell  me  true, 
So  may  Odin  shield  thee  : 
In  thy  ancient  cairn, 
Tell  me,  hast  thou  there 
The  sword  Tyrhng  hight  ? 
Oh,  you're  very  slow 
A  small  boon  to  grant 
To  your  single  heir. 

The,  cairn  ojiens,  and  it  seems 
all  ablaze. 

Angantyr. 

"  Hell  gates  have  sunk  down. 
Opened  is  the  cairn ; 
See  the  island's  shore 
Is  all  bathed  in  flame  ; 
All  abroad  are  sights 
Fearful  to  beliold. 
Haste  thee,  while  there's  time, 
Maiden,  to  tliy  ships. 

Herward. 

"  Were  you  burning  bright. 
Like  bale-fire  at  night, 


392 


ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 


I'd  not  fear  a  jot ; 
Your  iicrco  burning  llanic 
Qu.akes  not  maiden's  heart — 
'Tis  of  sterner  stufl" — 
(Jibbering  ghosts  though  she 
In  the  doorway  see, 

Angantyr. 
"  Listen,  Hervor  mine  ! 
I'll  a  tale  unfold  ; 
Listen,  daughter  -wise  ! 
Ill  thy  fate  foretell. 
Trow  my  words  or  not, 
Tyr ting's  fate  is  tin's, 
'Twill  to  all  thy  kin 
Nought  but  mishap  bring. 

Herward. 
•  '  I  will  sure  bewitch 
All  these  champions  slain  ; 
Ye  shall  fated  be 
Ever  and  aye  to  lie 
With  the  Draugies  dead, 
Rotting  in  your  graves. 
(Jive  me,  Angantyr, 
Out  your  cairn  straightway 
Sword  to  harness  dangerous, 
Young  Hjalmar's  bane. 

Angantyr. 
''  Maiden,  I  aver  you're 
Not  of  human  mould, 
lloaming  'mong  the  cairns 
In  the  dead  of  night. 
With  engraved  spear. 
With  a  sword  beside, 
With  helmet  and  with  hauberk 
My  hall-door  before. 

Herward. 
"  Meseemed  I  altogether 
Was  framed  in  human  mould 
'Fore  I  visit  paid 
To  your  halls  of  death. 
Hand  me  from  the  cairn 
Straight  the  byrnie's  foe. 
Smithied  by  the  dwarves; 
To  hide  it  won't  avail. 


Angantyr. 
"  I  have  'neath  my  shoulder 
Young  Hjalmar's  bane, 
It  is  all  en  wrapt 
In  a  sheet  of  tlame. 
On  the  earth  I  know  not 
Any  maid  so  bold 
Tliat  shall  dare  the  sword 
By  the  hand  to  take. 

Herward. 
' '  Gladly  I  will  take  it, 
Gladly  keep  it  too. 
That  sharp-edged  sword, 
If  I  have  it  may. 
I've  no  fear  at  all 
Of  the  burning  flame  ; 
Straight  abates  the  fire, 
When  thereon  I  gaze. 

Angantyr. 

"  Foolish  art  thou,  Hervor, 
Though  so  stout  of  heart, 
If  with  open  eyes 
In  the  fire  you  dart. 
Rather  will  I  hand  thee 
Out  the  cairn  the  sword. 
Maiden  young,  I  will  not 
Thy  request  refuse. 

The.  sword  is  cast  out  of  the  cairn. 

Herward. 

' '  Well  and  bravely  done, 
Say  I,  Viking's  son  ! 
Thou  hast  me  the  sword 
Handed  out  the  tomb. 
Better  far,  methinks. 
King,  this  ijrecious  boon. 
Than  the  whole  of  Norway 
Were  I  to  possess. 

Angantyr. 
"  Ah  !  you  do  not  know. 
All  too  rash  of  speech. 
Maiden  void  of  counsel. 
What  is  good  or  ill. 


HERVOR  AND  ANGANTYR. 


393 


This  sword  Tyrfing  will, 
If  you  me  can  trow, 
Will  thy  race  hereafter 
Utterly  destroy. 

Herward. 

"  Off  to  my  sea-horses, 
Off,  off,  and  away  ! 
Now  the  prince's  danghter 
Is  all  blithe  of  mood. 
Little  do  I  fear. 
Sire  of  lordly  strain, 
AVhat  my  race  hereafter 
Haply  shall  befall. 

Angantyr. 
' '  Long  thou  shalt  possess  it, 
And  enjoy  it  long ; 


Only  keep  it  hidden, 
Young  Hjahiiar's  bane. 
Touch  not  e'en  its  edges, 
They  are  poisoned  botli  ; 
Nought  exists  more  baneful 
Than  this  sword  to  man. 


Herward. 

■  Dwellers  in  the  cairns ! 
Dwell  unscathed  on. 
I'm  longing  to  be  gone, 
Fast  I  haste  away. 
I  myself,  methought, 
Hung  'twixt  life  and  death 
When  the  roaring  flame 
Girt  me  all  around."  ^ 


1  The  series  of  Norwegian  kings  cele- 
brated in  verse  begins  with  Harold 
Fairhair,  whose  six  court  scalds  seem 
to  have  been  all  Norwegians.  Of  bis 
two  sons,  King  Hacon  was  celebrated 
by  two  very  famous  Norwegian  poets ; 
Eric  by  two  Icelandic  ones.  After 
Hacon's  death,  961,  all  the  court 
scalds  named  are  Icelanders.  So  that 
from  about  the  year  950  to  the  death 
of  King  Eric  Magnusson  (1299),  Ice- 
landic scalds  only  were  the  court  poets 
of  Norway,  and  celebrated  its  exploits 
in  verse.  Of  the  Danish  kings,  Sweyn 
Forkbeard  (died  1014)  is  the  first  men- 
tioned who  was  commemorated  by 
an  Icelandic  poet,  Ottar  the  Black ; 
and  the  last  was  Waldemar  II.,  who 
died  1241.  In  England,  Athelstan 
and  Ethelred  were  commemorated  by 
two  celebrated  scalds,  Egil  Skalagrim 
and  Gunlaug  Serpent-tongue,  in  the 
tenth,  and  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century.  In  England  the  age  of 
Northern  poetry  may  be  said  to  have 
lasted  down  to  the  Norman  Conquest, 
or  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 


century  ;  in  Denmark  and  Sweden  to 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  ;  in  Nor- 
way to  a  little  over  the  end  of  that 
century.  After  the  departure  of  the 
scalds  from  tlie  royal  halls,  their 
tongue  by  degrees  became  weakened 
and  succumbed.  It  now  sought  refuge 
in  Iceland,  where  it  continued  still  to 
be  loved  and  cultivated.  But  instead 
of  singing  the  praises  of  foreign  kings 
and  magnates,  its  themes  were  the 
Virgin  Mary  and  the  Cross,  the  Apos- 
tles and  Martyrs.  Jon  Sigurdson,  p. 
xiii.  pref .  to  Egilsson's  ' '  Lexicon  Poet. 
Linguae  Septentr. ,"  Copenhagen,  i860. 
For  an  amusing  account  of  an  an- 
cient minstrel,  as  represented  in  cor- 
rect costume  before  Queen  Elizabeth 
at  Killingworth  revels,  1575,  see 
Percy's  "Relics  of  Ancient  Poetry," 
vol.  i.  p.  xxxiv.  ed.  1767.  They  were 
indeed  out  of  date  by  that  time.  The 
39th  of  Elizabeth,  towards  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  includes  "  min- 
strels wandering  abroad"  among 
"  rogues,  vagabonds,  and  sturdy  beg- 
gars." 


(     394 


CHAPTEK    XX. 

THE  LA  WS. 

We  have  talked  above  of  the  Saxon  laws  as  a  valuable  con- 
tribution to  our  knowledge  of  the  Saxons,  but  the  laws  of 
Iceland  and  ISToi  A^ay  are  no  less  so.  There  were  the  codes 
of  the  shire-courts  of  Gula  and  Frosta  and  HeiSsoevi  in 
Norway,  established  by  Hacon  Haroldson,  and  afterwards 
the  common  law  for  all  the  land  {nyere  Landslov),  settled 
by  Magnus  Haconson,  'law-mender  ;'i  and  the  "  Greygoose" 
(iii6)  ;  and  the  "Ironside  "  and  "  Jonsbook"  for  Iceland 
proper.  But  we  must  say  a  few  words  about  the  "  Grey- 
goose,"  probably  so  called  from  the  colour  of  the  parch- 
ment on  which  it  was  written.  It  was  the  work  of  King 
Magnus,  son  of  St.  Olaf,  together  with  tlie  wisest  men  of 
his  realm,  and  upon  a  very  memorable  crisis  in  its  history. 
He  had  commenced  his  reign  with  acts  of  violence  and 
confiscation.  The  free  bonders,  in  whose  memory  dwelt 
the  beneficent  reign  of  Hacon  the  Good,  would  not  brook 
this,  and  were  rising  in  arms.  At  this  moment  Sigvat  the 
Scald,  a  great  friend  of  the  king's  father,  but  who  was 
absent  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Eome  at  the  fatal  battle  of 
Stikkelstad,  addressed  to  the  king  his  "  Bersogiisvisur  "  = 
"Free-speaking  Song,"  a  very  good  specimen  of  Norse 
poetry  and  of  that  free  spirit  of  liberty  that  animated 
them.  Herein  he  tells  him  how  discontent  and  treason  are 
abroad ;  hoary  men  are  to  be  seen  laying  their  heads  together 
under  their  cloaks,  and  that,  "  if  he  seizes  the  bonders'udal 
land,  it  will  shake  his  throne."  The  king  wisely  took  the 
plain-spoken  advice,  and  secured  his  people's  rights  in  this 

^  See  "  Norges  Gamle  Love,"  ed.  R.  Keyser  and  P.  A.  Munch,  Cliristiania, 
1846. 


THE  GREYCOOSE.  395 

celebrated  code.  The  "  Greygoose  "  ^  embraces  subjects  not 
dealt  with  probably  by  auy  other  contemporary  code  of 
Europe — provision  for  the  poor,  weights  and  measures, 
inns  for  travellers,  vagrants,  beggars,  &c.  The  game-laws 
are  noteworthy.  The  following  will  be  interesting  to  our 
Fishery  Boards  : — "  A  net  must  not  be  laid  right  across  a 
stream,  so  as  to  hinder  fish  from  going  up ;  nor  must  a 
man  set  a  box  or  basket  in  the  river,  or  fence  it,  so  that 
there  is  no  way  back  again,  unless  one  owns  the  whole 
river.  Nets  must  be  laid  along  the  bank ;  any  net  or 
fence  set  or  laid  right  across  a  river  may  be  destroyed 
with  impunity  (er  olieilad),  and  the  man  who  makes  the 
obstruction  is  liable  to  a  fine  of  three  marks  to  every  one 
of  the  owners  of  the  fishery  above  him  "  (ii.  208). 

The  Gulf  Stream  was  quite  as  willing  to  do  a  good 
turn  for  the  people  then  as  it  is  now.^  On  the  north- 
west coast  we  have  ourselves  seen  a  great  deal  of  drift- 
wood ashore.  The  coast- dwellers  w^ould  doubtless  keep 
a  sharp  look-out  for  the  flotsam  and  jetsam.  Minute 
regulations  were  therefore  necessary.  "  It  is  lawful  for  a 
man  to  carry  off  timber  which  he  finds  floating  farther 
out  at  sea  than  one  can  see  from  the  shore  an  unsplit 
fish  on  the  boat's  side.  The  fish  must  be  a  cod,  so  bio- 
that  when  it  is  split  up  it  is  an  ell  thick  across  the  back. 
Such  a  fish  is  called  '  gildingr,'  It  must  be  seen  on  that 
side  of  a  boat  that  is  towards  the  land  from  tlie  lowest 
water-mark"  (ib.  211).     Whales  were  constantly  ashore 

1  Gragas,  Copenhagen,  1829,  and  af.  is  Prof.  K.  Maurer.  See  his  "  Bekehr- 

"VV.  Finsen,  1852.  ung  der  Norw.  Stanimes,"  &c. 

Before  assuming  the  shnjie  of  a  2  Nay,  centuries  before  it  was  de- 
regular  code,  the  law  would  no  doubt  monstratively  busy  at  work  for  the 
be  restricted  to  legal  traditionary  benefit  of  the  North.  Without  it,  in 
maxims  and  sayings,  couched  in  tlic  fact,  mankind  generally  would  have 
form  of  verse  ;  and  this  is  the  reason  been  nowhere.  For  is  it  not  recorded 
of  its  alliterative  formuke— a  garb  in  in  the  Edda  that  Odin  and  his  bre- 
which  sage  life-rules,  religious  doc-  thren,  as  they  went  along  the  sea- 
trine,  as  well  as  history  and  genea-  strand,  found  two  stocks,  and  shaped 
logy,  passed  on  from  age  to  age. — Key-  out  of  them  men,  and  gave  them  soul, 
ser,  Hit.  Skr.,  11.  Cf.  J.  Arnesen,  life,  wit,  motion,  speech,  hearing,  and 
"Island.  Eettergang,"Copenh.,  1762.  eyesight?  And  that  was  the  origin 
The  best  authority  on  Northern  law  of  our  race. 


396  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

in  those  days,  so  it  was  necessary  for  the  law  to  make 
stringent  rules  thereon.  Several  chapters  accordingly  are 
devoted  to  this  subject.  "  If  a  whale  drives  up  on  a  man's 
foreshore,  he  may,  although  it  is  Sunday,  fasten  it  to  his 
land  in  such  a  way  that  he  considers  it  won't  break  loose, 
whether  the  fastenings  are  old  ropes  or  such  as  he  cuts 
from  the  whale  for  the  purpose.  He  is  entitled  to  fasten 
it  with  strips  (of  skin)  cut  from  the  whale  bent  round 
some  stock  or  stone.  He  may  cut  off  the  blubber.  If  pieces 
of  the  blubber  or  flesh  break  loose,  and  go  ashore  on  another 
man's  strand  farther  from  the  boundary-mark  than  a  bow- 
shot, they  belong  to  the  owner  of  the  land.  If  the  whale 
breaks  loose  with  the  rope  and  drives  on  another  man's 
strand,  it  belongs  to  the  owner  of  the  shore  where  the 
whale  was  first  fastened,  if  only  a  bit  of  the  rope  remains 
on  the  land,  and  if  the  verdict  pronounce  that  the  whale 
was  fastened  in  such  a  manner  that  it  would  have  held  if 
the  same  weather  had  continued.  But  if  the  finding  of 
the  inquest  is  that  it  would  not  have  held,  then  it  is  as  if 
the  whale  had  never  been  fastened  at  all,  and  he  who 
fastened  it  has  no  share  in  it"  (ii.  213).  The  following 
points  to  a  bit  of  Eome's  work  :  "  If  a  father  baptizes  his 
sick  child,  he  shall  not  on  that  account  be  divorced  from 
his  wife  {i.e.,  in  spite  of  the  spiritual  relationship  he  has 
thus  entered  into  with  her.)i  A  boy  of  seven  shall  baptize 
a  bairn  if  an  adult  is  not  to  be  had.  None  younger  must 
do  it  unless  he  knows  his  Pater  Noster  and  Credo.  A 
female  shall  baptize  if  a  male  is  not  at  hand,  and  tliere  is 
the  same  penalty  for  a  female  as  for  a  male  if  she  does 
not  know  how  to  do  it  (namely,  outlawry),  A  child 
must  not  be  baptized  again  on  account  of  the  omission  of 

1  When   Alfliild's  child   was  born,  he  knew  would  be  acceptable  to  his 

1024,  and   was   baptized   at  once,  as  master,  who    had    spent   a   year  in 

being  not   likely   to   survive,  Sigvat  Kouen,  and  who  took  the   Frankish 

the  Scald  ventured  on  naming  it  in  emperor  as  his  ideal.   Things  had  im- 

the  absence  of  St.  Olaf,  the  father,  proved  since  Norse  Vikings  had  pluii- 

He   called  it  Magnus,    after  Charle-  dered  Charlemagne's  grave  at  Aix, and 

magne,  "the  best  man  upon  earth"  turned  the  mausoleum  into  a  stable. 

(S.  Olaf s  Saga,  c.  137),  a  name  which  Cf.  G.  Storm,  Karlmagnus  Saga,  p.  12. 


ICELANDIC  LAW. 


397 


any  words  or  part  of  the  ceremony,  provided  the  child  has 
been  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  and  it  became  somewhat  wet"  (ii.  215).  By  sec- 
tion 268  ib.  the  permission  to  row  out  to  fish  or  fowl  on 
holydays  is  withdrawn ! 

But  whence  do  we  get  the  word  *  law  '  ?  In  Saxon  it 
was  '  se '  for  civil,  and  '  dom '  for  criminal  law ;  the  for- 
mer a  most  interesting  word,  signifying  permanence.^  But 
JE  has  been  extruded  from  our  tongue,  and  dom  (doom) 
nearly  so,  by  'law,'  a  Scandinavian  word,  which  appeared 
first  in  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Elder  and  Guthrum,  in  the 
word  'lah-slit'  (c.  901),  and  reigns  paramount  in  this  land 
from  the  days  of  Ethelred  the  Unready,^  signifying  '  some- 
thing laid  down  and  established,'  as  appears  very  clearly 
in  the  line  of  the  old  Edda,  "  J)ser  log  log-5u,"  "  They  (the 
Norns)  laid  down  the  laws"  (Volsupa,  23). 

How  interesting  for  us  Englishmen  to  find  that  in  the 
early  heathen  days  of  Iceland,  when  the  law  was  oral  and 
not  written,  there  was  an  officer  at  the  great  Parliament  of 
the  Althing,  the  '  log-sogu-maSr,'  the  '  law-sayer,'  the  '  law- 
speaker,'  who  had  to  say  from  the  Speaker's  chair  on  the 
Lawhill  what  the  law  was  in  cases  of  doubt.  That  great 
meeting,  the  precincts  of  which  were  defined  by  the  vebond 
or  ropes  fastened  to  hazel  stakes,  was  inaugurated  by 
solemn  sacrifices  and  feasts.  And  so  amoncr  our  An<?lo- 
Saxon  forefathers  the  Witenagemot  would  open  with 
the  celebration  of  mass  ;  in  the  same  way  as  now,  before 
all  things,  '  Mr.  Speaker  goes  to  prayers.'  Then,  again, 
our  old  institution,  trial  by  jury.  To  our  immortal  King 
Alfied,  the  people's  darling,  it  has  been  assigned,^  along 
with  tithings,  hundreds,  and  a  host  of  other  inventions 
and  institutions,  which,  we  are  persuaded,  he  would 
have  been  the  first  to  repudiate.     Indeed,  he  has  become 

1    Akin    to    the    German    'ehe'=  ^  See  inscription  on  Alfred's  Tower, 

'  marriage-tie  ;'  anciently  =  any  civil  -which  stands  on  that  noble  eminence 

sanction  or  contract.  whence  the  king  is  said  to  have  recon- 

'^  ^thelred's  Laws,  vi.  37;  Schmidt,  noitred  the  forces  of  the  Northmen  at 

s.  V.  "  Lagu."  the  battle  near  Zeals  in  Wilts. 


398  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

a  sort  of  Odin  to  some  antiquaries,  on  whom  everything 
bearing  the  stamp  of  remote  antiquity  was  fathered,  the 
invention  of  runes  among  the  rest.  Whereas,  if  the  Ice- 
landic antiquaries  are  to  be  credited,  trial  by  jury  came 
from  Iceland,  in  which  country  alone  it  had  developed.  It 
was  used  first  in  the  Danelagh,  that  portion  of  England  in 
which  the  Northern  laws  prevailed — about  half  the  island 
— and  afterwards  proceeded  south  and  pervaded  the  whole 
country.^  In  the  lapse  of  centuries,  England  has  come  to 
be  the  classic  land  of  trial  by  jury,  and  John  Bull  verily 
believes  it  is  autochthonous.  Our  word  '  bar,'  now  used  of 
the  railing  that  encloses  the  place  occupied  by  counsel  in 
courts  of  justice,  carries  us  back  to  the  vebond  above  men- 
tioned, by  which  a  parliamentary  assembly  or  law-court 
was  surrounded.  So  our  court  '  leet '  is  a  survival  of  the 
'  LeiS '  or  provincial  meeting  in  the  Icelandic  common- 
wealth, where  the  new  laws  and  licences  of  the  past 
Althing  were  published.^  Then  for  '  hustings,'  a  word 
not  to  be  found  in  Anglo-Saxon,  England's  other  palla- 
dium, the  institution  of  all  others  dear  to  Englishmen,  the 
public  meeting  whence  our  legislators  repair  to  the  great 
council  of  the  realm  assembled  in  Parliament ;  it  was 
originally  a  council  of  Scandinavia  where  the  king  pre- 
sided, as  we  read  King  Olaf  Tryggvason  did,  standing  on 
a  great  stone,  at  a  momentous  crisis  of  his  history.^ 

But  to  pursue  our  comparison  of  the  institutions  of  the 
two  peoples.  Like  the  language,  they  touch  or  dovetail 
into  each  other  at  every  turn,  and  in  nothing  more  strik- 
ingly than  in  the  notion  of  atonement  for  injuries.  If,  as 
Montesquieu  says,  "  The  Saxons  measured  injuries  as  we 
do  figures  in  geometry,  with  their  fine  of  twelve  ounces  for 
a  thumb,  one  ounce  for  a  little  finger,"  &c,,  the  same  can 

1  Both  Coke  and  Spelman  thought  Epist.,  p.  40.     See  Is.  Diet,  suh  voce 

the  institution  Saxon  in  origin.     But  "KviCr."  Great  authorities, however, 

the  twelve  men  of  Spelman  were  not  entirely  differ  from  this  view, 

the  jury  empanelled  to  try  each  case,  -  "Was  the  'lathe'  in  Kent  Jutish 

but  the  permanent  curia  acting  as  .as-  or  Icelandic  ? 

sessors  to  the  president.     Hickes  hit  ^  Heimskringla,  vol.  i.  c.  192,  ed. 

upon   the  truth.      Thesaurus,   Diss.  Unger. 


THE  THRALL.  399 

be  predicated  to  a  great  extent  of  the  Nortlimen,  So, 
again,  thougli  the  modern  word  for  some  ancient  English 
institution  may  not  be  of  Norse  origin,  the  thing  signified 
by  it  is.  Take,  for  instance,  the  title  baron,  which  origi- 
nally embraced  all  the  nobility  as  feudatories  of  the  sove- 
reign. True  it  has  been  reserved  for  these  advanced  days  to 
discover  that  it  is  blasphemy  against  the  laws  of  human 
brotherhood  to  say  a  noble  is  as  good  as  another  man;  but 
there  were  days  in  England,  say,  in  the  year  of  grace  12 15, 
when  people  thought  differently.  Well,  this  title,  which 
was  first  brought  to  England  from  Normandy,  had  its 
correlative  in  those  '  hersir '  hereditary  chiefs  or  lords  of 
Norway,  who  existed  there  in  the  earliest  age,  even  before 
the  days  of  Harold  Fairhair  (I.  Diet.). 

But  before  closing  this  hasty  reference  to  the  legal  insti- 
tutions of  Iceland,  a  few  words  may  be  said  about  the 
status  of  their  slaves  (hrffil).  Of  the  position  of  these  unfor- 
tunate people  among  the  Saxons  we  have  already  spoken. 
The  origin  of  the  breed  is  treated  mythically  in  that  most 
curious  bit  of  old-manners  painting,  not  surpassed  even  in 
the  Odyssey,  in  the  old  Edda  (Rigsmal).^  He  and  she — for 
there  were  slaves  of  both  sexes — are  there  pictured  to  the 
life  in  the  persons  of  Ai  and  Edda :  their  wrinkled  skin, 
projecting  knuckles,  stumpy  fingers,  long  heels,  dirty  face, 
back  bent — a  Lap  might  have  sat  for  the  portrait.  Then 
there  is  their  food :  the  knotty  loaf,  doughy  and  full  of 
bran,  and  the  bowl  of  soup,  with  a  bit  of  boiled  calf 's  flesh 
at  times  by  way  of  dainty  (kras).^  There  is  an  interesting 
passage  in  St.  Olaf's  Saga,  c.  31,  on  their  treatment  (cf. 
Tacitus,  "  Germania,"  c.  25).  As  we  see  from  the  "  Land- 
nama,"  or  "  History  of  the  Early  Settlement  of  Iceland," 

^  To  those  interested  in  the  origin  the  origin  of  the  kingly  title  in  the 
of  classes,  Eigsmal  is  very  interesting.  North  being  doubtless  quite  accord- 
Next  above  the  slave  comes  the  yeo-  ing  to  the  dramatic  ideal  of  the  poem, 
man  or  thane,  who  works,  but  is  free.  It  is  very  likely  that  Rig  is  borrowed 
Then  comes  the  Jarl,  from  which  from  the  Gaelic  word  "  righ,"  a 
class,    by     intermarriage     with    the  king. 

daughter  of  a  Hersir  (the  old  heredi-  -According   to    "Salomon,"    192, 

tary  chief),  springs  the  Kon  or  prince,  they  got  two  loaves  daily  in  England. 


400  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

there  were  often  Irish  prisoners  taken  in  w.ar,  and  even  in 
that  distant  isle  the  Fenians  adhered  to  their  national 
instincts  with  remarkable  fidelity,  cattle-stealing,  fire-rais- 
ing, &c.,  wherever  they  had  a  chance.  A  case  of  this  kind 
occurs  in  "  Egil "  (cap.  79),  and  their  names  still  marked 
the  spot  wdiere  they  were  caught  and  captured.  Upon  the 
whole,  it  may  be  fairly  said  of  them,  that  through  life 
they  had  always  to  yield  to  the  free  and  go  to  the  wall. 
In  death,  too,  this  was  literally  tlie  case ;  the  fourth  part 
of  the  burial-ground,  the  portion  by  law  assigned  to  them, 
being  nearest  to  the  wall. 

"  He  has  not  the  eye  of  a  thrall,"  said  King  Athelstan 
of  England,  looking  at  the  baby  Hacon,  who  had  been 
palmed  on  him  by  his  father,  Harold  of  Norway,  referring 
to  the  usual  hangdog  looks  of  these  poor  creatures.^  Fafner, 
twitting  Sigurd  about  his  youth  of  bondage,  says,  "  Few 
among  bondsmen  hath  heart  for  the  fight."  ^  Again,  the 
foul-mouthed  ferryman  tells  Thor  that  Odin  has  the  Jarls 
who  fall  on  the  field  of  battle,  while  he  (Thor)  only  gets 
the  spiritless  thralls.^  "  Few  intercede  for  a  slave  "  is  only 
another  version  of  the  proverb,  "Hit  him  hard;  he  has 
uo  friends."* 

Poetry  will  often  throw  as  much  light  on  national  cus- 
toms as  prose,  and  it  does  so  here.  Turn  to  that  song 
in  the  Edda  (Grottisongr),  which  almost  reminds  one  of 
touches  in  the  "  Song  of  the  Shirt  "  by  Hood.  Here  are 
two  women  grinding  in  the  mill  and  crooning  their  chant 
of  thraldom,  being  not  allowed  to  sleep  a  wink  by  their 
hard  taskmaster. 

"  Now  are  we  come  "  To  tlie  flour-bin 

To  a  king's  halls.  They  were  led, 

Both  second-sighted,  Told  to  set 

Fenia  and  Menia.  Tlie  stones  agoing  ; 

They  at  Frodi's,  Gave  he  to  neither 

Fridleif's  son,  Rest  or  qviiet 

The  mighty  maids  Ere  he  could  hear 

Bondswomen  are.  The  bondwomen  sing. 


1  Fagrskinna,  13.      ^  j-afnismal,  7.      ^  jjarbards  Ljod,  24.      *AtliGr.,6o. 


THE  MILL  SONG. 


401 


"  Hark !  they've  set  soundiiij 
The  groaning  quern. 

"  Place  we  the  flour-bins, 
Move  the  stones  ; 
Bade  he  the  maidens 
Grind  amain. 

"  They  sung,  and  they  swung 
The  whirling  stones, 
Till  of  Frodi's  serfs 
Most  slumbered  and  slept. 
Sang  next  Menia, 
She'd  come  to  the  milling. 

"  '  Grind  we  riches 
For  King  Frodi  ; 
Grind  him  all  wealthy, 
Of  money  great  plenty. 
In  the  mill  of  joy. 
On  his  wealth  brood  he. 
Sleep  upon  down. 
Wake  with  delight. 
Ha  !  ha  !  the  good  milling  ! 

"  *  Here  sliall  none 
Another  harm, 
Plot  any  bale 
Nor  death  devise ; 
No,  nor  yet  hew 
With  keen-edged  sword. 
Though  his  brother's  bane 
He  find  bound  in  chain. 

"  '  Was,  notwithstanding. 
The  first  word  he  uttered  : 
Sleep  ye  no  more 
Than  a  cuckoo  pauses, 
Longer  than  I 
A  ditty  sing. 

"  '  Frodi,  thou  wast  not 
Quite  wide  awake. 


Excellent  friend  ! 
Slaves  when  you  bought ; 
Chose  us  for  thews, 
Chose  us  for  sincAvs, 
But  of  our  forebears 
Asked  you  nought. 

"  '  Hrungner  was  giant-strong,^ 
So  was  his  sire, 
Albeit  Thiassi 
Stronger  was  still ; 
Idi  and  Ornir, 
They  were  our  ancestry, 
Hill-ogres'  brothers, 
Thence  were  we  born. 

Grotti  had  ne'er  come 
Out  the  grey  mountain, 
Nor  yonder  hard-grit 
Boulder  from  earth. 
Nor  had  she  ground  thus. 
Daughter  of  Jotun, 
Had  folks  known 
Who  the  maid  was. 

"  '  We  winters  nine, 
Powerful  playmates, 
Were  reared  up 
Under  the  earth ; 
Hard  toiled  the  maids 
At  tasks  tremendous  ; 
All  unassisted  moved 
Kocks  from  their  base. 

'  '  Rolled  we  stones 
Through  the  giants'  homes. 
Till  the  firm  earth 
Trembled  and  shook  : 
Slung  we  so 
The  whirling  stones. 
The  heavy  boulders, 
For  men  to  handle.'  " 


Again,  in  the  "  Lay  of  Gudrun,"  the  Princess  Herborg  is 
taken  captive,  and  becomes  tirewoman  to  her  new  lord's 
wife,  who  makes  her  tie  her  shoe-Latchets,  and  beats  her 
withal  from  jealousy,  though  the  husband  treated  her  well. 

After  the  battle  of  Glenn  Mama  (a.d.  iooo),  in  which 

'  Ilrungncr,  the  giant  with  the  stone  head  in  the  Edda. 

2  C 


402  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

King  Brian  routed  the  Danes  with  fearful  slaughter,  and 
■where  Harold,  son  of  Ohaf  Cuaran,  heir-apparent  of  the 
foreigners  of  Ireland,  fell,  besides  immense  booty  in  gold 
and  silver,  a  great  number  of  women  and  children  were 
taken  and  condemned  to  slavery.  "  So  that  there  was  not 
a  winnowing-sheet  from  Howth  to  Tech  Duinn  (an  island 
at  the  soutli-west  point  of  Kerry)  that  had  not  a  foreigner 
in  bondage  on  it ;  nor  was  there  a  quern  without  a  foreign 
w'onian.  So  that  no  soldier's  son  of  the  Irish  deigned  to 
put  his  hand  to  the  flail  or  any  other  labour,  nor  did  any 
woman  deign  to  put  her  hands  to  the  grinding  of  a  quern, 
or  to  knead  a  cake,  or  to  wash  her  clothes,  but  had  a  foreign 
man  or  woman  to  work  for  them"  (Wars  of  Gaedhill, 
p.  117). 

With  all  the  truth  and  courage  cowed  out  of  him,  the 
])rael  would  not  deny  Plutarch's  words,  "  Lying  is  the  vice 
of  the  slaves  ; "  and  doubtless  their  name  was  in  the  North, 
as  elsewhere,  synonymous  with  "  scoundrel,"  "  fellow  by 
nature  quoted  and  signed  to  do  a  deed  of  shame."  And  as 
such  they  were  often  employed  by  their  owner  for  that 
purpose  ;  or,  failing  this,  they  would  go  in  for  such  enter- 
prises on  their  own  account.  Thus,  in  "Landnama,"  p. 
36,  Gufa  intrusts  his  wife  and  goods  during  his  absence  to 
his  thrall  Skorri,  who  abuses  the  confidence  reposed  in  him, 
and  makes  an  attempt  on  the  matron's  honour,  when  she 
threatens  to  kill  herself.  On  the  master's  return  the 
thrall  fled,  but  is  caught  and  put  to  death.  We  have  just 
seen  how  the  base  Karker  murdered  the  stately  Hacon 
Jarl.  Grettir,  when  his  foes  were  drawing  the  toils  closer 
round  him,  exclaims,  "  It  is  ill  to  have  a  thrall  for  your 
bosom  friend."  On  what  a  slight  thread  their  existence 
hung  appears  from  the  story  in  "  Egil."  The  old  half-blind 
man  starts  off  with  his  treasure-chests  and  two  thralls. 
He  himself  returns,  but  neither  the  thralls  nor  the  coin 
ever  came  to  light.  Most  likely  he  had  hurled  them  down 
some  deep  crevasse.  Dead  men  tell  no  tales.  But  how- 
ever a  master  might  bully  his  slaves,  or  ill-treat  them  even 


SLAVERY  DIES  OUT.  403 

to  the  death,  another  person  who  did  this  smarted  for  it 
pretty  sharply.  According  to  "  Egil "  (c.  84),  if  one  slew 
another  man's  slave,  and  did  not  pay  the  full  value  of  him 
before  the  third  sunset,  he  was  liable  to  the  lesser  out- 
lawry; and  if  he  repeated  the  crime,  to  the  greater  outlawry. 
As  in  England,  superstition  often  came  to  their  aid,  and 
in  peril  or  need  men  would  make  a  vow  to  manumit  a 
slave ;  and  by  the  time  of  Swerrir  the  institution  of  slavery 
entirely  disappeared. 


(     404     ) 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

ICELANDIC    CHARTERS,    ETC. 

We  have  spoken  of  Kemble's  "  Codex  Diplomaticus  "  and 
Thorpe's  kindred  work.  Compare  with  it  the  "Diploma- 
tarium  Islandicnm,"  ^  containing  chartularies,  diplomas, 
grants,  covenants,  &c.     It  is  full  of  interest. 

Here  comes  the  decree  of  Lewis,  son  of  Charlemagne 
(15th  May  834),  establishing  the  Archiepiscopal  See  of 
Hamburg,  whence  the  preaching  of  the  Word  is  to  go 
forth  to  the  whole  North,  including  Iceland,  &c. 

This  same  matter  of  the  Archbishopric  of  Hamburg  is 
the  subject  of  many  bulls  (also  here) ;  e.g.,  from  Popes 
Gregory,  835  ;  Hadrian  II.,  872  ;  Leo  IX.,  6  January  1053. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  papers  in  the  work  is  a  cata- 
logue of  the  foreign  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  Rome,^  who 
visited  the  monastery  of  Pteichenau,  on  the  Lake  of  Con- 
stance. It  was  inserted  in  an  ancient  book  of  the  monas- 
tery (Necrologium  Augiense),  which  began  with  the  names 

1  Copenliagen,  1857,  sqq.    By  John  foundation  thereof:  the  very  letters 

Si"urdson.  of  the  book  being  most  part  in  gilt." 

-  Mone,  Kurlsruhe,  1835.  Unfor-  Surtees  Society,  1841. 
tunately  when  the  books  of  the  mona-  In  iinother  volume  (xlii.)  published 
stery  were  removed  to  Karlsruhe  in  by  that  Society,  Walbran's  "Abbey 
1803,  the  original  manuscript  of  173  of  Fountains,"  we  learn  the  interest- 
leaves  was  not  to  be  found,  only  a  ing  fact  tliat  a  cell  of  this  Cistercian 
copy.  So,  according  to  Bede  (iv.  14),  foundation  was  planted  at  Lyseklos- 
a  book  of  obituaries  was  kept  at  the  ter,  near  Bergen,  at  the  prayer  of  the 
peninsular  Abbey  of  Selsey.  But  the  Bishop  of  Bergen,  who  visited  the 
most  parallel  case  is  the  "  Liber  Vitse  abbey  1146.  In  C.  C.  C.  Library, 
Eccles.  Dunelm.  necnon  obituaria  duo  Oxford,  is  a  MS.  Life  of  St.  Olaf, 
ejusdera  Ecclesise,"  being  "  an  excel-  which  came  from  Fountains.  Its  seal- 
lent  fine  book,  very  richly  covered  skin  cover  betokens  whence  it  came 
with  gold  and  silver,  containing  the  originally.  The  work  is  in  Latin  : 
names  of  all  the  benefactors  towards  "  Passio  et  miraculo  B.  Olavi." 
St.  Cuthbert's  altar  from  the  original 


ICELANDERS  VISIT  REICH  EN  A  U.  405 

of  persons  living  in  815,  and  who  were  alive  when  their 
names  were  entered.  Among  the  forty  thousand  names 
of  men  and  women  recorded  in  this  book  were  thirty- 
nine  Icelanders.  The  writers  of  the  entries  were  clearly 
not  acquainted  with  the  Icelandic  tongue.  The  Germans 
could  not  j)ronounce  the  Northern  b,^  any  more  than  the 
Normans  could  our  tli ;  and  so  here,  "  borarinn  "  becomes 
"jurarin,"  and  "Jjorgr,  "jurdr." 

A  bull  of  Anastasius  (Lateran,  30th  November  11 54) 
establishes  the  seat  of  an  Archbishopric  in  Trondjem  fifty 
years  after  that  of  Lund.  Herein  is  mentioned  "  the 
glorious  mission  to  Norway,  1152,  of  Nicholas,  Cardinal 
of  Albano "  (N.  Breakspear,  the  Englishman,  afterwards 
Pope  Adrian  IV.),  concerning  whom  Snorri  says,  "  He  in 
many  ways  improved  the  manners  of  the  Norwegians." 

Then  we  have  a  gift  to  Guf unes  Cliurch  of  a  cross  and 
bells,  and  silver  chalice  and  vestments,  by  the  lay  patron. 
For  in  Iceland,  as  in  England,  when  a  layman  founded  a 
church,  from  whatever  motive,  real  piety  or  sham,  for  self- 
importance'  sake,  or  in  order  to  "  hedge  "  for  past  sins,  the 
patronage  was  vested  in  him  (Kemble,  "  Saxons  in  Eng- 
land," ii.  420). 

There  is  a  peremptory  bull  by  Pope  Celestinus  confirm- 
ing the  privileges  of  the  Archbishop  of  Nidaros  (Trondjem)^ 
e.g.,  in  the  right  of  toll  from  vessels  trading  to  Iceland,  for 
the  purpose  of  buying  cliurch  vestments  for  that  island : 
"  all  gainsayers  to  be  denied  Christian  burial." 

Pope  Innocent  III.  (Reate,  30  July  1198)  permits  the 
Bishop  of  Skalholt  to  buy  falcons  as  his  predecessors  did, 
not  for  their  own  advantage,  but  for  that  of  the  Church.  At 
the  same  time  the  Bishops  are  enjoined  to  correct  the  im- 
morality of  the  Icelanders.    Yes,  and  what  was  worse,  they 

1  The  sliarp  sound  of  th,  e.g.,  in  not  of  Old  Northern  blood,  yet  from 
"thick,"  is  only  to  be  found  in  Etig-  their  close  proximity  to  the  North- 
land !ind  Icehind.  In  fact,  our  pro-  men  most  likely  adopted  their  lingu- 
nunciation  generally  is  very  like  that  istic  peculiarities;  but,  secondly,  to 
of  Scandinavia :  due  in  the  first  the  arrivals  in  later  centuries  from 
place  perhaps  to  the  Jutes,  who,  if  the  great  Northern  hive. 


4o6  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

luul  presumed  to  hold  communion  with  Swerrir  (a  king,  as 
we  have  seen,  much  cherished  in  his  country's  memory), 
"  the  excommunicate  and  apostate,  the  enemy  of  God  and 
His  saints."  His  dear  Iceland  is  very  remote,  but  he 
embraces  it  with  the  arms  of  affection.  Its  "peccata" 
would  fill  an  immense  page,  "  si  ad  unguera,"  &c.  But  this 
missive  is  only  a  foretaste  (prffilibatio)  of  what  they  would 
get  if  they  did  not  amend  their  ways.  He  intends  to 
return  to  the  subject. 

The  island  lay  far  from  Eome,  but  not  too  far,  we  see, 
for  the  long  arms  of  the  Jupiter  on  the  Seven  Hills  to 
reach.  If  England  groaned  under  the  discipline  of  pen- 
ance, Iceland  was  not  in  clover.  If  our  island  abounded 
in  Penitentials,  prescribing  suitable  penance  for  all  sorts 
of  offences,  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical,  Iceland  had,  in 
the  "  Liber  Penitentialis  "  of  Bishop  Thorlak,  a  book  of 
dread  authority  in  such  gear.  Bell,  book,  and  candle, 
that  brimstone  trio,  were  in  full  blast,  emulating  the 
belching  sulphur  pools  of  the  soil.  At  a  later  period, 
the  greater  excommunication,  a  form  of  which,  in  Anglo- 
Saxon,  is  still  extant  (Schmidt,  Laws,  422),  was,  under 
the  name  of  "  Bann,"  current  also  in  Iceland  (Historia 
Ecclesiastica  Islandica?,  i.  115).  On  a  given  day,  in  the 
presence  of  clergy  and  laity,  the  Bishop,  clad  in  full  pon- 
tificals, standing  at  the  altar,  book  in  hand,  imjDrecated 
the  curse  upon  the  head  of  the  offender,  there  present. 
Both  the  ears  of  every  one  that  heard  must  have  tingled, 
their  limbs  quaked,  and  their  hearts  sunk  within  them,  as 
the  voice  of  the  Bishop  resounded  through  the  edifice. 
Bells  kept  pealing  at  intervals,  while  the  culprit  was 
cursed,  from  the  crown  of  his  head  to  the  sole  of  his  foot, 
in  all  his  members,  asleep  or  awake,  in  his  going  out  and 
coming  in,  and  finally,  his  soul  was  bid  perish  in  hell,  as 
the  light  of  the  candle,  plunged  into  a  vessel  of  water  by 
the  episcopal  hands,  was  there  and  then  extinguished.  A 
dread  of  the  Church's  anathema,  fulminated  by  the  Bishop, 
often  brought  additional  security  to  his  own  private  pro- 


MA  PES,  ARCHDEACON  OF  OXFORD.  407 

perty.  But,  like  the  notice  of  "  ]\Ian-traps  and  spring-guns 
set  here,"  which  once  guarded  our  orchards,  those  behind 
the  scenes  would,  in  process  of  time,  trouble  little  about  it. 
The  juggler,  says  a  Chinese  proverb,  can't  deceive  the  man 
who  beats  the  gong. 

The  founder  of  Norwich  Cathedral,  early  in  the  twelfth 
century,  had  a  plentiful  stock  of  these  weapons  to  hurl  at 
the  slayers  of  his  deer.  "  I  interdict  them  from  entrance 
into  the  church  and  from  the  sacrament.  May  the  curse 
and  the  excommunication  rest  upon  them  in  their  homes ; 
in  the  ways  and  in  the  fields,  in  the  woods  and  in  the 
waters,  and  in  all  places  wdieresoever  they  shall  be  found. 
May  the  flesh  of  those  who  have  devoured  my  stag  rot  as 
the  flesh  of  Herod  rotted;  may  they  have  their  portion 
with  Judas,  with  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  with  Dathan  and 
Abiram.  Let  them  have  the  anathema  maranatha,  unless 
they  shall  come  to  a  better  mind,  and  make  me  some  repa- 
ration. Amen.  Amen.  Amen."  One  thing,  however,  the 
Pope  was  never  able  to  enforce  in  Scandinavia — the  celi- 
bacy of  the  clergy.  Many  were  the  heart-burnings  the 
odious  yoke  caused  in  England.  The  witty  Archdeacon 
of  Oxford,  Mapes,  tried  what  ridicule  would  do — 

"  Prisciani  regula  penitus  cassatur, 
Sacerdos  per  Hie  et  Hoec  olim  declinatur  ; 
Sed  per  Hie  sohimmodo  nunc  articulatur, 
Cum  per  nostrum  prsesulem  Hcec  amoveatur." 

That  was  a  yoke  which  the  Northern  ecclesiastics,  bishops 
and  all,  never  would  stoop  to,  and  the  common  sense  and 
spirit  of  independence  of  the  laity  upheld  them  in  their 
contumacy.  The  marriage  was  a  sort  of  Scotch  one,  with- 
out religious  ceremony,  and  the  ladies  were  called  "  adju- 
trices."  But,  apart  from  this,  the  Northern  populations, 
lay  and  learned,  were  most  submissive  to  the  Papal  stool. 
And  no  wonder,  when  we  remember  that  the  great  ones  of 
the  earth  were  quite  as  voracious  of  eating  humble-pie  at 
Ptome  as  their  subjects.  Our  own  Alfred  as  a  child,  Canute 
the  murderer  of  Duncan,  each  in  his  season  repaired  thither, 


4oS  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURE. 

fed  the  voluptuous  cardinals,  largessed  the  lazy  beggars,^  and 
got  what  they  wanted,  whether  it  was  justice  or  injustice 
tliey  sought,  security  in  the  possession  of  their  plain  rights, 
or  absolution  for  abominable  crimes.  Non  old,  all  was 
grist  that  came  to  this  mill.  But  why  should  the  Northern 
barbarians  complain  ?  Were  they  not  rescued  by  Eome 
from  the  dreary  isolation  of  their  woods  and  forests,  their 
mountains  and  morasses,  into  the  mellow  light  of  Southern 
civilisation;  were  they  not  admitted  within  the  pale  of 
the  great  European  commonwealth,  and  made,  as  it  were, 
citizens  of  no  mean  city  ?  If  the  blood-stained  Viking,  as 
he  stalked  about  Eome  surveying  in  mute  wonder  its  art 
glories,  ever  and  anon  felt  his  armlet  was  shorter  by  several 
links,  and  his  purse  much  lighter  than  when  he  came 
thither,  was  he  not,  on  the  other  haijd,  much  lighter  of 
heart,  and  the  burden  that  w^eighed  upon  his  conscience 
lifted  clean  off  it  by  the  clerical  conjurors,  just  as  easily 
as  he  used  himself  to  lift  the  pack-saddle  off  his  tired  nag 
at  the  end  of  the  day's  journey  among  his  Northern  wastes  ? 
But  we  must  return  to  the  "  Diplomatarium." 

March  i,  1206,  in  answer  to  a  query  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Nidaros,  whether,  if  a  child  is  not  likely  to  live  and  no 
water  is  at  hand,  it  may  be  baptized  rightly  with  spittle, 
the  Pope's  answer  is,  "  One  must  be  baptized  with  water 
and  the  Spirit,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that,  if  both  or  one 
of  these  are  wanting,  the  baptism  is  not  right." 

Further  light  is  thrown  on  the  demeanour  assumed  by 
the  Popes  to  the  laity  of  Iceland  in  the  bull,  March  1206 : 
"  If  the  priests  shed  blood,  they  are  to  be  deposed  from 
their  office ;  but  those  who  kill  such  clerks  shall  sue  for 
pardon  at  the  Pope's  residence."  One  document  gives  the 
names  of  bishops  in  Iceland  of  noble  birth.    A  proof  of  tlie 

1  1062.  Duncan,  king  of  Scotland,  Eome.     1079.  Macbeth  is  killed,  and 

is  killed  (19  Calend.  Septemb.)  by  his  succeeded  by  Malcolm,  son  of  Duncan 

general,  Macbeth,  who  succeeded  him  (Latin  Chronicle  of  Marianus  Scotus, 

as  king,  and  reigned  seventeen  years,  from  Vatican  MS.,  No.  830  :  printed 

1072.  Macbeth,  king  of  Scotland,  dis-  in  Pertz,  Mon._Germ.  v.  556). 
tributed  money  among  the  poor  at 


BISHOP  THORLAK  STUDIED  AT  LINCOLN.    409 

learning  of  these  islanders  is  afforded  in  the  fact  that,  in 
the  twelfth  century,  two  of  the  four  bishops  in  Norway- 
were  from  Iceland  (F.  B.,  i.  205). 

There  are  also  several  cliartularies,  all  in  the  vernacular, 
illustrative  of  the  infant  Church  in  Iceland. 

An  order  in  Latin  of  our  King  Henry  III.,  London, 
23d  August  1224  (Piolls  Series,  voL  i.  pp.  1204  and  1224), 
empowers  the  governor  of  Yarmouth  to  admit  free  all 
merchant  ships  from  Iceland  and  all  fish  ships.  There 
are  many  proofs  that,  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centu- 
ries, there  was  an  active  intercourse  between  Iceland  and 
England.  Thus,  from  an  order  of  the  Althing,  circa  1 200, 
■we  learn  that  most  of  the  garment  stuffs  for  Iceland  used 
to  come  from  England.  It  is  recorded  of  Bishop,  after- 
wards Saint  Thorlak,  that  he  studied  "  much  and  usefully 
for  himself  and  others  at  Lincoln,"  after  he  came  from 
Paris  (Biskupa  Sogur,  i.  127),^  and  that  one  Audunn  (ibid., 
i.  357)  had  an  image  of  him  made  and  set  up  at  Lynn, 
which  he  no  doubt  visited  in  the  course  of  his  tradincj 
voyages.  It  was  most  likely  a  votiva  tabula,  promised  by 
him  when  he  was  in  danger  of  shipwreck.  This  was  circa 
1 200-1 220.  "One  day  an  English  clerk  went  into  the 
Church  of  Lynn  (al.  Kynn)  in  England,  and  asked  whose 
likeness  that  was.  He  was  told  it  was  tlie  image  of  Thor- 
lak, bishop  in  Iceland.  Then  he,  with  great  laughter  and 
ridicule,  went  into  a  kitchen,  took  a  sausage,  came  before 
the  image,  and  held  out  the  sausage  with  his  right  hand, 
and  thus  spoke  mockingly  to  the  image :  '  Will  you,  suet- 
chap  '  (a  nickname  given  by  the  Norwegians  to  tlie  Ice- 
landers, who  lived  chiefly  by  flocks  and  herds), '  have  a  bit  ? 
You  are  a  suet-bishop.'  After  this  he  wished  to  go  away, 
but  could  not  move  from  the  place  whereon  he  stood  with 
his  hand  rigidly  clenched  to  the  sausage.  A  number  of 
people  drove  together  to  see  the  miracle,  and  asked  how  it 
came  to  pass  ;  whereupon  ho  confessed  his  folly  before 
all  the  bystanders,  showed  a  true  repentance,  and  begged 

1  Copenhagen,  1858. 


4 1  o  ICEL  A  NDIC  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

iliem  to  assist  him  in  his  prayers,  and  ultimately  he  got 
well  again." 

One  document  indicates  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  Ice- 
landic priest  which  had  been,  as  we  see  from  the  sagas,  a 
fruitful  occasion  of  bloodshed  in  former  days :  we  mean 
the  driving  of  a  whale  ashore.  In  1250  there  is  an  agree- 
ment about  the  jetsam  whales  in  the  district  under  Thin- 
gore  Monastery,  up  north.  When  a  whale  comes  ashore, 
the  monastery  takes  half,  the  other  landholders  half. 

In  the  royal  right  of  quartering  themselves  and  their 
retainers  on  the  landholders,  kings  v/ere  alike  in  Norway 
and  England.  The  right,  which  once  pertained  to  them 
also  in  England,  of  the  use  of  horses  for  themselves  or 
their  messengers,  survives  only  in  the  compulsory  postal 
service  of  Norway,  But  enough  has  been  said  to  show 
that  there  is  much  that  is  attractive  for  students  in  the 
"  Diplomatarium  Islandicum,"  as  well  as  in  the  correspond- 
ing Anglo- Saxon  collection. 

The  "  Diplomatarium  Norwegicum,"  Lange  and  Unger 
(Christiania,  1847),  is  also  most  interesting,  and  proves 
that,  in  the  early  days,  the  language  spoken  in  Norway 
was  still  as  pure  as  that  of  Iceland.  The  entry  in  it 
perhaps  most  interesting  to  an  Englishman  is  that,  i.  1 5  : 
A  bull  of  Pope  Gregory  to  the  Archbishop  of  Nidaros 
(Trondjem),  dated  Viterbo,  1237  A.D.,  charging  him  to  ex- 
tirpate the  abuse  (matrimony),  and  visit  the  offenders  with 
ecclesiastical  censure.  But  they  set  up  in  reply  uninter- 
rupted custom.  Erom  mention  made  in  Anglo-Saxon 
documents  of  the  sons  of  bishops  and  clergy,  Kemble 
argues  that  there  were  always  secular  clergy  in  England, 
who,  braving  the  Papal  rule,  did  marry  and  rear  families. 
— Saxons  in  England,  ii.  442. 


(     411     ) 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

ICELANDIC   WIT  COMPARED   WITH  ANGLO-SAXON. 

That  our  Saxon  forefathers  could  relish  wit,  though  perhaps 
of  a  somewhat  ponderous  character,  is  clear  from  passages 
in  their  writings.  In  "  Beowulf,"  for  instance,  we  have  one 
Hunferth,  a  Northern  Thersites,  who  makes  some  elaborate 
attempts  at  ridiculing  the  hero  before  the  assembled  com- 
pany, which  he  defeats  with  much  dexterity.  So  again,  there 
was  a  very  old  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  jesting  German 
legend  of  "  Solomon  and  Markolfr."  ^  Contests  of  knowledge 
of  this  kind  evidently  found  favour  among  our  forefathers. 
The  riddles  in  the  Exeter  Book  are  very  interesting.  In 
"  Solomon  and  Markolfr,"  the  latter  sets  Solomon  hard 
questions.  The  wit  of  the  thing,  if  wit  it  can  be  called, 
seems  to  have  consisted  in  not  being  posed,  and  in  having 
an  answer  ready  for  every  question.  Here  is  a  specimen: — 
"  Q.  Tell  me  what  was  Adam's  name  made  of  ?  A.\  tell 
thee  it  was  made  of  four  stars,  Q.  Tell  me  what  they 
were  called  ?  A.  I  tell  thee,  Arthox,  Dux,  Arotholem, 
Minsymbrie,"  a  bit  of  quadruple  gibberish  which  finds  its 
interpretation  in  the  Icelandic  Elucidarius  (Annalar  f. 
Nordisk  Oldkyndighed,  1878,  p.  62).  "Adam  took  his 
name  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  world  in  the  Greek 
tongue  : — East,  West,  North,  and  South,  which  in  Greek  are 
Anatole  (A),  Dysis  (D),  Arctos  (A),  Mesembria  (M)."  We 
further   learn  that  the  forbidden  fruit  of  which   Adam 

*  See   Jlr.    Kemble's  edition,  1848,     composition  redolent  with  heathen- 
published  by  the  ^Ifric  Society.    Tlie     ism,  and  is  clearly  of  long  descent, 
poetic  "Salomon   and  Saturn"   is   a 


4 1 2  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

tasted  ^vas  tliat  of  the  fig-tree.     It  was  on  a  Friday,  and 
for  his  disobedience  he  was  put  in  hell  for  5228  ^'inters. 

Equally  facetious  or  infacetious  is  the  following,  a 
passage  which  derives  its  main  interest  from  its  resem- 
blance to  the  Edda  myth  of  the  world  being  made  out 
of  tlie  giant  Ymer's  body : — "  Q.  Of  what  material  was 
Adam,  the  first  man,  made  ?  A.  Of  viii.  pounds'  weight. 
Q.  What  were  they?  A.  First,  there  was  a  pound  of 
earth :  of  tha^  was  his  flesh  wrought ;  next  there  was  a 
pound  of  fire :  hence  was  his  blood  red  and  hot ;  the  third 
was  a  pound  of  wind:  thence  he  got  breath;  the  fourth  was 
a  pound  of  welkin :  thence  came  his  inconstancy  of  mood ; 
the  fifth  was  a  pound  of  grace  :  thence  he  got  fat  and 
growth ;  the  sixth  was  a  pound  of  blossoms :  thence 
he  got  the'variety  of  his  eyes;  the  seventh  was  a  pound 
of  dew :  thence  he  got  sweat ;  the  eighth  was  a  pound 
of  salt :  thence  his  tears  were  salt."  This  and  other 
answers  were  perfect  flies  in  amber,  M'orth  preserving  for 
all  time,  and  accordingly  they  appear  in  "  The  Maister  of 
Oxinford  and  his  Scholar,"  dating  from  the  reign  of  Henry 
V.  (tide  "Eeliquise  Antiquae  ").  With  equal  wisdom  we  are 
informed  that  Adam  was  116  inches  long,  and  that  the 
wives  of  Noah,  Ham,  and  Japhet  respectively  were  called 
Dalila,  Jaitarecta,  and  Catafluvia ;  each,  however,  had  an 
alias,  viz.,  Olla,  Ollina,  and  Ollibana.  The  monk,  or  who- 
ever he  was,  who  gave  us  this  version  of  "  Solomon  and 
Markolfr,"  treats  us  to  fresh  facts  in  natural  history,  e.g., 
"  The  reason  why  stones  are  barren  is  that  when  Cain  slew 
his  brother  with  the  jawbone  of  an  ass,  his  blood  fell  upon  a 
stone."  Item  :  "  There  are  54  kinds  of  fowls,  and  26  kinds 
of  fishes ; "  and  "  the  sun  is  red  in  the  evening  because 
it  faces  hell."  Lastly,  "  The  sea  is  salt  because  Moses 
cast  the  two  tables  of  stone  into  it,  and  also  poured  his  salt 
tears  therein."  1  Verily  this  is  poor  stuff.  Of  Attic  salt, 
at  all  events,  it  is  quite  destitute.  This  taste  for  riddles, 
the  amusement  of  most  nations  in  their  early  days,  crops 

1  Cf.  Ilalliwell's  "  Popular  Songs." 


"  DEM  A  UNDES  JO  YO  US:'  4 1 3 

up  again  later  in  such  delectable  scraps  as  tlie  "  Demaundes 
Joyous,"  abridged  from  a  very  rare  French  tract  of  the 
same  title  in  the  British  Museum,  a  copy  of  which  is  in 
the  Public  Library  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  re- 
printed by  Mr.  Kemble  (ib.  p.  2S5),  and  which  we  cannot 
resist  quoting.^  Here  is  a  sample  : — "  Demaunde.  Which 
is  the  brodest  water,  and  leest  jeopardye  to  passe  over  ? 
A.  The  dewe.  Demaunde.  What  thynge  is  it  that  never 
w^as  nor  never  shall  be  ?  A.  Never  mouse  made  her 
neste  in  a  catte's  ere.  Demaunde.  Why  dooth  a  dogge 
tourne  him  thryes  aboute  or  that  he  lyeth  hym  doune  ? 
A.  Bycause  he  knoweth  not  his  beddes  hede  from  the 
fete."  "  Tush  ! "  says  Mr.  Tyler ;  "  it  is  a  survival  of 
his  ancestor,  the  wild  dog,  who  before  lying  down  went 
round  and  round  first  to  flatten  the  grass."  "Demaunde. 
Why  dryve  men  dogges  out  of  the  chyrche  ?  A.  Because 
they  come  not  up  to  offre.  Demaunde.  Wliy  come  dogges 
often  to  the  chyrche?  A.  Because  whan  they  see  the 
aulter  covered,  they  wene  theyr  maysters  goo  thydere 
to  dyner.2  Demaunde.  Whiche  ben  the  moost  profytable 
sayntes  in  the  chyrche  ?  A.  They  that  stande  in  the  glasse 
wyndowes,  for  they  kepe  out  the  wynde  for  wastynge  of 
the  lyghte."  One  of  the  straws,  this  last,  that  betoken 
which  way  the  wind  was  setting,  soon  to  increase  into  a 
tempest,  and  which  burst  upon  Europe  in  the  shape  of  the 
Eeformation.  The  "  saints,"  once  a  word  to  conjure  with 
in  England,  a  spell  wdiicli  in  its  days  of  ignorance  and 
simplicity  had  enthralled  the  nation,  and  now  in  vulgar 
estimation  only  fit  "to  stop  a  chink  to  keep  tlie  wind 
away!"  Our  specimens  shall  close  with  one  more  riddle, 
also  indicative  of  that  decay  of  reverence  which  was 
abroad.  "Demaunde.  What  people  be  tho  that  getetbe 
theyr  lywynge  moost  merylyest  ?  A.  Tho  be  prestes  and 
fullers,  for  one  syngeth  and  the  other  daunceth." 

^  Reliquiae  Antiquae,  ii.  73. 

*  This  reminds  one  of  the  canine  part  of  a  Scotch  congregation  in  Dean 
Eamsay's  book. 


4 1 4  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

"  Thus  endcth  the  Domaundes  Joyous,  imprynted  at  Lon- 
don in  Flete  Strete,  at  the  sygnne  of  the  sonne,  by  me  Wyn- 
kyn  do  Worde.    In  the  yere  of  our  Lorde  MCCCCC  and  xi."  ^ 

In  Scandinavia  also  trials  of  wit  and  wisdom  were,  from 
the  very  earliest  times,  as  popular  as  feats  of  strength  and 
skill  in  arms.  Capping  verses  and  setting  riddles  were 
a  common  amusement.  Of  this  we  have  evidence  in  the 
Edda  and  the  sagas. 

The  choice  dialogue  between  Solomon  and  Saturn  finds 
its  counterpart  in  the  famous  flyting  between  Thor  and 
the  ferryman  in  the  "  Harbard's  Ljod  "  of  the  Old  Edda. 

The  mention  of  this  poem  calls  to  mind  a  subject  of 
much  interest.  Both  in  the  Old  and  New  Edda,  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  contain  our  only  account  of  the  Scandina- 
vian deities,  we  have,  strange  to  say,  passages,  nay,  whole 
poems,  the  object  of  which  can  be  nought  else  than  to 
hold  up  these  very  gods  to  ridicule.  The  explanation 
offered  by  some  for  this  phenomenon  is  that  such  poems 
were  composed  by  the  first  Christians  as  a  weapon  against 
Aser-worship  and  its  follies.  Others  attribute  them  to 
heathen  free-thinkers,  whose  good  sound  natural  sense, 
without  the  light  of  Cliristianity,  as  had  been  the  case  in 
the  classic  nations,  had  taught  them  to  perceive  the  inner 
contradictions  of  their  religion,  its  confusion  of  the  human 
and  divine,  and  the  limited  power  of  those  whom  they 
worshipped.  So  they  wanted  to  get  rid  of  the  supersti- 
tious elements  that  had  crept  in,  and  to  effect  this  they 
made  a  joke  of  its  absurdities.^  But,  in  opposition  to 
both  these  theories,  we  must  remember  that  though  in 
these  poems  the  gods  do  get  placed  by  their  enemies, 
.the  giants,  in  painful  and  laugliable  plights,  yet,  never- 
theless, they  always  in  the  end  retrieve  their  position, 
and  get  out  of  the  mess  with  honour.  So  that  these 
poems  could  hardly  have  been  the  work  of  Christians,  and 
of  those  whose  aim  it  was,  not  merely  to  discredit  Aser- 
worship,  but  to  abolish  it  entirely.     They  would  have  laid 

1  Reliquiae  Antiquse,  ii.  72  sqq.         2  Keyser,  Efterladte  Skrifter,  p.  140. 


THE  GODS  RIDICULED.  415 

the  axe  at  the  very  root  of  the  tree.  Odin,  like  Moloch, 
would  have  fled,  Thor  hidden  his  diminished  head,  or 
rather  Valhalla  would  have  fallen  down  flat  over  the 
heads  of  its  potentates,  crushing  them  utterly  and  for 
ever ;  and  this  would  have  been  effected,  not  by  the  race 
of  giants,  whom  the  early  Christians  regarded  as  the 
counterparts  of  devils,  i.e.,  the  very  co-workers,  as  they  be- 
lieved, and  yoke-fellows  in  evil,  of  these  waning  powers, 
but  by  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem,  or  some  angel  of  might,  or 
canonised  saint.  One  of  these  would  have  been  chosen  to 
annihilate  the  damned  crew. 

Is  it  not  better,  then,  to  look  on  these  poems,  so  face- 
tious at  the  expense  of  the  deities,  as  pure  freaks,  out- 
breaks of  the  droll  humour  of  the  Northman ;  a  sudden 
step  on  his  part  from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous ;  the 
mocking  echo  of  Nature's  voice  at  her  grandest;  a  case 
of  "medio  de  fonte  leporum  surgit  amari  aliquid"  read 
backwards ;  one  of  those  inscrutable  contradictions  in  our 
being  which  makes  misery  jeer  at  itself  and  death  turn 
punster  ?  Shakespeare  once  and  again  touches  on  tliis 
odd  mental  phenomenon — 

"  How  oft  when  men  are  at  the  point  of  death 
Have  they  been  merry." 

That  daring  paradox  of  Jean  P.  Eichter,  that  no  man 
believes  his  own  creed  thoroughly  till  he  can  afford  to 
jest  upon  it,  may  be  mentioned  here.  This  quaint  juxta- 
position of  things  naturally  lying  toto  ccelo  asunder  is  to 
be  found  in  many  shapes.  The  mighty  master  employs  it 
with  great  effect  in  Caliban,  whose  brutal  grossness  and 
unreason  enhance  the  moral  worth  and  kingly  dignity  of 
Prospero,  and  the  innocence  of  that  type  of  unspoilt  woman- 
hood, Miranda:  and  again,  in  the  fool  in  "Lear,"  whose 
wild  babblings  amid  the  storm  serve  to  "gauge  the  horrors 
of  the  scene."  Again,  in  your  Gothic  minster,  with  its  arches 
soaring  heavenward,  the  wliole  conceived  apparently  in 
the  highest  spirit  of  Christian  reverence,  we  often  stumble 
ujjon  some  impish  form,  laughing,  as  it  were,  in  his  sleeve, 


41 6  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

and  treatinp;  tlie  wliole  aflliir  as  a  joke.^  "  Dulce  est  desipere 
in  loco."  True,  but  surely,  some  would  argue,  tins  was 
not  the  locality  for  it.  But  they  forget  the  old  saying, 
"  Extremes  meet,"  and  always  will.  But  the  most  appo- 
site illustration  of  this  tendency  is  to  be  found  in  ancient 
Greece,  where,  side  by  side  with  the  august  solemnities 
of  tragedy,  the  old  comedy  indulged  in  extreme  license, 
running  a-muck  at  gods  and  men  alike.  A  phenomenon 
which  has  been  explained  on  the  principle  that  gods  as 
well  as  men  were  subordinate  to  Nemesis,  and  wished,  by 
such  sacrifices  of  dignity,  to  appease  her  awful  power. 

"  The  mighty  awful  gods,  ah !  to  be  sure  !  But  how  would 
they  comport  themselves  if  they  got  into  such  straits,  a 
fix  so  inextricable,  as  sometimes  befalls  poor  me  ?  Surely 
they  would  act  pretty  much  as  you  or  I."  But  no ;  the 
gods  are  omnipotent.  By  their  inherent  might  they  over- 
come all  opposition,  and  emerge  from  the  struggle  brighter 
and  more  glorious  than  ever.  But  the  question  then  arises, 
which  must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative.  Would  not 
these  probings  of  the  Asers'  weaknesses,  this  laying  bare 
of  the  limbs  of  their  power,  shake  and  undermine  at  last 
their  influence  over  men's  minds,  in  the  same  way  as  sly 
raps  at  the  foibles  of  the  great,  jocular  criticism  of  time- 
honoured  institutions,  will  often  effect  their  downfall, 
although  the  prime  agent,  in  his  wantonness,  never  dreamt 
of  such  a  catastrophe  ?  Eegarded  in  this  light,  then,  these 
poems  would,  in  the  order  of  Providence,  have  paved  the 
way  for  the  reception  of  Christianity  ? 

In  the  "  Harbard's  Lay  "  we  have  a  case  in  point.  The 
mighty  god  Thor  is,  as  usual,  the  laughing-stock  of  the 
nonce  :  a  greater  than  Samson — whom,  by  the  by,  a  modern 
writer  has  elevated  into  a  sun-god — shorn,  and  as  other 

^  Canon  Kingsley  was  once  observed  doubtless,  such  carvings  had  a  very 

to  start  in  the  middle  of  Divine  ser-  real  meaning.     An  old  legend  of  St. 

vice  at  Chester  Cathedral.     His  eye  Cuthbert  describes  a  grotesriue  piece 

liad  cauglit  sight  of  a  monkey  in  tlie  of  such  ecclesiastical  sculpture,  viz., 

midst  of  the  crockets  of  one  of  tlie  a  monk  turned  into  a  fox  for  stealing 

canopies! — Lije,  ii.  412.    Sometimes,  cheese. — Hardy,  p.  xxv. 


THOR  AT  THE  FERRY. 


417 


men.  Though  usually  the  god  gets  well  out  of  the  scrape 
with  might  unscathed,  as  a  god  should  do,  yet  here  he 
does  not.  He  is  baffled,  laughed  at,  thoroughly  whipped. 
And  why?  It  is  not  a  giant  whom  he  copes  with,  but 
Odin  himself,  who  appears  under  the  guise  of  Harbard  = 
'  shaggy  beard,'  which  is,  in  fact,  one  of  Odin's  names  else- 
where.^ Thor  has  been  "  faring  east,"  i.e.,  against  the 
giants,  and  arrives  at  a  ferry.     "  Halloo  !    Boat  ahoy  ! " 

"  Boatman,  do  not  tarry, 
And  I'll  give  thee  a  silver  pound 
To  row  me  o'er  the  ferry." 

But  being  Thor,  and  not  the  Highland  chieftain,  he  hailed 
somewhat  differently — 

"  Who  is  that  slave  of  slaves 

That  stands  yon  side  the  Sound  ? " 

Harbard  answers — 


Who  is  that  churl  of  churls 
That  halloos  over  the  water  ? 

Thor. 
Now  ferry  me  over  the  Sound, 
!For  a  fee,  your  morning's  meal; 
A  basket  I've  on  my  back, 
With  meat  in  it  of  the  best. 

Thor  asks  who  is  the  owner  of  the  boat. 


Harbard. 

You  don't  seem  to  me 
To  be  any  great  shakes  ; 
Barefoot  you  go,  and  are  clad 

like  a  tramp  ; 
You've    not    even    got  your 

breeches. 


Harbard. 
Hildolf  is  he  hight, 
Bade  me  keep  to  this  side, 
And  no  cattle-lifters 
Row  over,  or  horse-thieves  ; 
Good  people  alone, 
And  those  I'm  acquaint  with. 
Now  tell  me  thy  name 
Since  you  list  to  fare  over. 


Thor. 
I'm  Odin's  son, 
Brother  of  Meili, 
And  father  to  Main. 
The  gods'  doughty  defender, 
With    Thor    you    are    talk- 
ing, 
This  now  will  I  speer, 
What  your  name  might  be  % 


^  Grimnismal,  iv.  9.     The  mysteri-  poetry,  the  god  Odin  or  Woden.     So 

ous  skipper  in  the  Anglo-S  ixon  poem  the  resuscitation  of  "  Andreas,"  when 

"  Andreas,"  in  reality  God  Almighty  left  for   dead,  is   a  reminiscence  of 

in  disguise,  indicates  that  its  Christian  another  Edda  myth,  the  slain  Hedin 

author  (Grimm  suggests  that  it  waa  and   his   men  restored    to   life   each 

Aldhelm)  had  appropriated  a  leading  morning  by  the  enchantress  Hilda, 
character  of  the  old  heathen  ballad 

2  D 


4i8  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

Haurard.  For  your  jeering  worrls 

Ilarbai-a  am  I  higlit ;  If  I  get  o'er  the  Sound. 
I  ne'er  hide  my  name. 

Thor.  Harbard. 

Foul  shame  it  meseems  Here  I'll  take  my  stand 

To  wade  over  to  thee  And  bide  ;  never  tougher 

And  -wet  all  my  dinner  ;  Have  you  customer  had 

I'll  pay  you,  you  bantling,  Since  Hrungnir  fell  dead."  ^ 

The  mention  of  the  giant  with  a  stone  head,  whom 
Thor  slew,  leads  him  to  ask  what  Harbard  was  doing 
then.  They  now  each  in  turn  boast  of  their  exploits. 
Thor  brags  of  his  deeds  among  the  giants  and  trolls ; 
Harbard  of  his  disreputable  adventures  among  the  fair 
sex,  and  his  share  in  mortal  strife  of  which  he  himself 
was  the  stirrer-up.  At  last  the  Thunderer  gives  it  up  as 
a  bad  job  and  retires  with  a  parting  shot  at  his  re  viler. 
Won't  he  serve  him  out  the  next  time  they  meet !  But 
Harbard  gets  the  last  word — 

"  Just  take  yourself  off, 

And  the  trolls  take  the  whole  of  you." 

The  merit  of  the  piece  consists  in  the  description  and 
contrast  of  the  character  of  the  two  gods  as  conceived  by 
the  popular  imagination — Thor  simple-minded  and  strong, 
and  the  shrew^d  and  crafty  Odin ;  the  one  the  defender  of 
earth,  and  man  living  on  it,  from  all  disturbing  and  devas- 
tating natural  powers — in  a  word,  the  patron  of  peaceful, 
industrious  peasant  life;  the  other  in  the  character  so 
suitable  to  the  warlike  instincts  developed  among  his 
worshippers,  as  the  god  of  war,  ever  on  the  look-out  for 
fresh  company  in  Valhalla,  for  new  recruits  to  his  phan- 
tom battalions  against  the  inevitable  day  when  the  powers 
of  evil  will  be  loose  and  Fenris  Wolf  break  his  chain, 
and  as  such,  no  friend  of  peaceful  agricultural  pursuits — 

"  The  Jarls  they  are  Odin's, 
In  battle  who  fall  ; 
The  Thralls  they  belong  to  Thor." 

1  I'rose  Edda,  57;  see  "Lexicon  Mythologicum." 


THOR  AND  ODIN. 


419 


Slain  warriors  are  Odin's  fit  associates  ;  Tlior  must  be 
fobbed  off  with  those  who  subsist  by  the  sweat  of  their 
brow.  The  keynote  of  the  old  poem  then  seems  to  be 
the  opposition  between  the  life  of  the  peasant  and  the 
warrior.  The  author  was,  perhaps,  a  warlike  Viking,  and 
worshipper  of  Odin  as  his  patron  deity,  whose  religious 
susceptibilities  were  wounded  at  hearing  Thor's  name  made 
the  theme  of  so  many  panegyrics,  especially  in  Norway. 


(      420      ) 


CHAPTEE  XXIII. 

ICELANDIC    WIT   CONTINUED. 

But  to  return  to  the  subject  of  riddles.  In  the  "  Vaf Jjru- 
5nismal,"  Odin,  in  the  disguise  of  a  traveller,  Gangradr, 
visits  the  wisest  and  strongest  of  the  race  of  the  giants. 
After  an  interchange  of  compliments,  the  two  worthies 
begin  posing  each  other  with  riddles.  The  guessing  seems 
equally  matched  on  both  sides,  till  at  last  Odin  puts  a 
query  which  he  alone  was  able  to  solve,  and  the  giant 
submits  to  the  stern  penalty  of  death  which  awaited  defeat. 
In  a  very  ancient  poem  in  the  "Hervarar  Saga"  (cap. 
XV.),  one  Gest  the  Blind,  otherwise  Odin,  sets  King  Heidrek 
no  less  than  thirty-two  riddles  at  a  sitting.     One  of  them 

is — 

"  Four  gang, 
Four  hang, 
Two  show  the  way, 
Two  ward  off  dogs, 
One  trails  behind, 
And  is  dirty  ever  and  aye." 
Answer,  "  Cow." 

"Wliich,  if  not  others,  is  well  known  in  Thelemarken  at  the 
present  day.^  There  is  a  famous  Danish  ballad,  in  several 
versions,  "  Svend  Vonwed,"  -  the  remote  date  of  which 
comes  out  most  strongly  in  its  pointed  resemblance  to  the 
old  Edda,  both  in  incidents  and  in  identical  words — the 
last  a  very  important  arcliteological  clue.     In  this  ballad 

1  See  "  Oxonian  in  Thelemarken,"  ii.  215. 

2  Grundtvig's  Danske  Volkeviser,  18. 


RIDDLES.  421 

again  we  have  a  good  illustration  of  what,  from  the  days 
of  the  son  of  Manoah  downwards,  was  always  a  favourite 
pastime  for  the  folks  from  those  Eastern  countries  in  the 
early  stages  of  their  civilisation — the  setting  and  guessing 
of  riddles.  Witness  the  "  hard  questions  "  with  which  the 
Queen  of  Sheba  "  proved "  the  Oriental  sage.  Witness 
Ezekiel's  riddle  of  "  the  great  eagle,  long- winged,  and  full 
of  feathers."  The  Anglo-Saxon  learned  men,  Aldhelm, 
Alcuin,  Archbishop  Tatwin,  and  such  like,  were  fond  of 
making  them.  The  knight  on  his  travels  encounters  a 
tall  herdsman  on  a  mountain-top,  and  commences  posing 
him  as  follows  : — 

"  What  is  rounder  than  a  wheel  ? 
Where  is  kept  the  merriest  Yule  ? 
What  wears  its  beard  upon  its  back  ? 
What  wears  a  nose  beneath  its  chin  ? 
What  is  blacker  than  a  sloe  % 
What  is  fleeter  than  the  roe  % 
Which  of  bridges  is  the  broadest  ? 
What  to  mortals  is  the  loathest  % " 

The  answers  to  which  are — the  sun,  heaven  (Valhalla), 
peewit,  troll,  sin,  mind,  ice,  toad.  Now  all  this  seems  a 
very  simple  and  frivolous  affair,  mere  child's-play ;  but 
surely  nothing  is  insignificant  that  contributes  to  the  true 
history  of  man's  culture  when  just  emerging  from  the 
childhood  of  his  race.  There  is  an  archaeology  even  in  the 
playroom.  But  what  more  interests  an  Englishman  is  to 
find  like  productions  evidently  descended  from  the  same 
antique  stock  in  his  own  country  at  the  present  day.  Such 
is  the  Christmas  Carol  (Jameson,  ii.  155) — 

"  What  is  louder  than  a  horn  ? 
What  is  sharper  than  a  thorn  ? 
What  is  broader  than  the  way  ? 
What  is  deeper  than  the  sea  ?  " 

Such,  again,  is  the  "  Four  Sisters,"  a  North  Country 
ballad,  partly  perhaps  of  the  fourteenth  century  ^ — 

1  Cf.  Halliwell's  "  Poi^lar  Rhymes,"  &c.,  1849,  p.  150. 


42  2  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

"  I  have  four  sisters  beyond  the  sea, 
And  they  did  send  four  presents  to  me. 
The  first  it  was  a  bird  without  e'er  a  bone  ; 
The  second  was  a  cherry  without  e'er  a  stone  ; 
The  third  it  was  a  bhmket  without  e'er  a  thread  ; 
The  fourth  it  was  a  book  which  no  man  could  read." 

Then  follow  the  answers  to  the  above  riddles — 

"  When  the  bird's  in  the  shell,  there  is  no  bone  ; 
When  the  cherry's  in  the  bud,  there  is  no  stone  ; 
When  the  blanket's  in  the  fleece,  there  is  no  thread  ; 
When  the  book  is  in  the  press,  no  man  can  read. 
Para  inara  dictum  Domine." 

The  last  line  at  all  events  points  to  a  later  date  for  its 
composition.     Compare  with  this  "  Captain  Wedderburn's 

Courtship  "  ^ — 

"  Oh,  I  must  have  to  my  supper 
A  cherry  without  a  stone  ; 
And  I  must  have  to  my  supper 
A  chicken  without  a  bone  ; 
And  I  must  have  to  my  supper 
A  bird  without  a  ga' ; 
Before  I  lie  in  your  bed, 
Either  at  stock  or  wa',"  &c. 

Of  the  same  kith  and  kin  is  the  humorous  ballad  of 
King  John  and  the  Abbot  of  Canterbury .^  King  John 
sends  for  the  abbot,  and  swears  he  shall  die  or  solve  three 
riddles.  Three  weeks'  respite  are  allowed,  during  which 
the  abbot  takes  counsel  of  the  most  learned  men  in  Ox- 
ford and  Cambridge,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  In  this  strait 
his  herdsman  undertakes  to  go  to  London  in  his  stead  and 
solve  the  riddles,  which  he  does  and  succeeds. 

The  mere  idea  of  setting  riddles  referring  to  everyday 
objects  in  nature  would  be  so  natural  a  recreation  that  we 
may  well  imagine,  says  Grundtvig,  this  kind  of  composition 
to  have  been  at  home  in  many  countries  at  once,  without 
the  necessity  of  suggesting  that  they  are  due  to  tradition. 
Sometimes,  however,  it  is  clear  that  tradition  must  have 

1  Halliwell,  ibid,  "  Percy's  Relics,  ii.  306,  ed.  1767. 


SVEND  VONWED  RESEMBLES  KILHIVCH.      423 

been  at  work,  as  in  the  remarkable  likeness  in  all  the  inci- 
dents of  Svend  Vonwed's  ballad — liis  ride  over  the  moor, 
his  talk  with  the  shepherd  on  the  hill,  his  gift  to  him  of  a 
gold  ring  for  guessing  the  riddles — with  those  of  an  old 
Celtic  ballad,^  where  Kilhwch,  King  Arthur's  relative, 
does  duty  for  Vonwed.  If  this  extraordinary  resemblance 
is  the  result  of  tradition,  says  Grundtvig,  to  explain  the 
way  in  which  the  tradition  passed  is  a  riddle  harder  of 
solution  than  any  in  the  ballad.  This  poem,  in  fact,  is 
heroic-mythic  in  its  origin.  The  meeting  of  the  shepherd 
on  the  hill  is  a  frequent  feature  of  the  old  Edda  (cf.  "  Skir- 
nismal "  and  "  prymskviga  ").  Again,  in  "  Alvismal,"  the 
sun  is  called  by  the  elves  '  fair-wheel.'  The  second  an- 
swer above  (p.  420),  '  heaven,'  must  originally  have  been 
'  Valhalla,'  where  mirth  could  seldom  flag,  so  stinging 
(vafenginn)  was  the  mead  at  Yule-tide.  Indeed,  the  very 
meaning  of  Yule^  is  mirth  and  jollity,  and  Odin  himself 
was  called  '  Joiner,'  as  the  host  of  the  occasion.  Then  for 
'  ice,'  the  seventh  answer,  that  riddle  must  appertain  to  a 
very  hoary  antiquity,  for  in  the  old  Eunic  alphabet,  '  Ice 
is  the  broad  bridge,'  is  the  descriptive  jingle  appended  to 
the  Eunic  letter  | ;  pretty  much  as  in  our  "  Tom  Thumb's 
Alphabet  for  Children  " — 

"  I  was  an  innkeeper,  and  loved  to  bouse  ; 
J  was  a  joiner,  who  built  a  Louse." 

But  there  are  other  still  more  striking  coincidences  be- 
tween the  poem  and  bits  of  the  "  Grimnismal,"  placing  the 
Eddaic  source  of  it  beyond  all  doubt,  but  which  we  have 
not  space  to  enter  into  more  at  large.  Of  course,  we  might 
expect  to  meet,  as  we  do,  with  a  very  similar  ballad  in 
Norway  and  the  Faroes.^  It  occurs  in  an  old  German 
poem,  full  of  riddles  from  end  to  end,  extant  in  a  MS.  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  "  Trougemundslicd." 

^  Mabinogion,  ii.  271.  Cf.  Skene's  "Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales," 
i.  535,  lliddle  on  the  Wind. 

^  Grimm  derives  it  from  Hjol,  a  wheel. 

•*  Bugge,  Norske  Volkeviser,  p.  369 ;  llamarshaimb  Fteroiske  Kvajder. 


4:4  ICELA  NDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

Above  we  have  seen  wliy,  according  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
"  Salomon,"  the  sea  was  salt.  Contrast  with  this  the  reason 
for  the  same  phenomenon  told  in  the  weird  old  Scandina- 
vian tale  of  King  Prodi's  qnern.  We  have  it  in  the  "  Lay 
of  Grotti,"  or  the  "  Mill  Song,"  in  the  old  Edda,  already 
mentioned ;  but  it  is  given  wuth  a  prose  preface  in  Snorri's 
"Skalda"  (i.  Z7'^)-  "  There  was  a  king  of  Denmark  descended 
from  Odin,  Frodi,  the  son  of  Fridleif.  He  was  the  most 
powerful  monarch  of  the  North.  In  his  times  nobody 
harmed  another ;  there  was  no  thief  or  robber,  so  that  a 
gold  ring  lay  on  Jalanger  heath  for  a  long  time,  and  none 
meddled  with  it.  King  Frodi  went  to  a  festival  in  Sweden, 
to  which  he  was  bidden  by  King  Fjolnir.  While  there  he 
bought  two  female  slaves.  Tenia  and  Menia.^  They  were 
mickle  and  strong.  At  this  time  there  were  in  Denmark 
two  millstones  so  mickle  that  nobody  was  strong  enough 
to  turn  them.  These  stones  had  the  property  of  grinding 
anything  that  the  grinder  bade  them.  This  hand-mill  was 
called  Grotti.  Hangjaw  was  his  name  who  gave  the  king 
the  quern.  King  Frodi  had  the  bondwomen  led  to  the 
quern,  and  bade  them  grind  gold  and  peace  and  prosperity 
for  Frodi.  He  gave  them  no  longer  time  to  rest  or  sleep 
than  the  cuckoo  was  silent  or  a  catch  might  be  sung. 
Then  they  sang,  it  is  said,  the  song  called  the  "  Mill  Song," 
and  before  they  stopped  singing  they  ground  an  army 
against  Frodi ;  so  that  the  same  night  came  the  sea-king, 
hight  Mysing,  and  slew  Frodi  and  took  great  booty.  Then 
Frodi's  peace  ended." 

In  the  early  stanzas  given  on  p.  400  they  have  just  arrived 
at  Frodi's  court  and  begun  to  grind.  They  prolong  their 
chant,  and  afford  us  glimpses  of  their  early  history. 

"  Since  then  we  two,  Smashed  we  shields, 

In  Sweden's  land,  Broke  through  and  through 

Both  of  us  fore-wise,  The  grey-sarked  line  ; 

Lived  among  men ;  Cast  down  one  king, 

Baited  we  bears.  Set  up  a  second  ; 

1  See  Lexicon  Mythologicum  Veteris  Eddse,  s.  v.  "Menia." 


THE  END  OF  KING  FRODI. 


425 


To  good  Gutliorra 
INIinistered  help ; 
There  was  no  rest 
Till  Knui  fell. 

"  Still  we  held  on 
All  those  years ; 
Gained  in  battles 
Mighty  renown. 
There  we  started 
With  sharp  javelins 
Blood  from  the  wounds, 
Keddened  the  brand. 

"  NoAv  are  we  come 
To  a  king's  halls, 
All  unpitied,  treated  as  slaves; 
Mud  corrodes  our  feet. 
Cold  are  our  limbs. 
Whirl  we  the  strife-queller  ! 
'Tis  a  sad  life  at  Frodi's. 

' '  Rest  should  our  hands, 
The  stone  stand  still ; 
Enough  and  to  spare, 
I've  my  part  done  ; 
But  to  my  hands 
No  repose  comes, 
Till  Frodi  deems  enough 
Milling  we've  done. 

' '  Still  must  our  hands 
Ply  the  hard  twirling  pins, 
Bathed  in  blood. 
Rouse  thee,  then,  Frodi  ! 
Rouse  thee,  then,  Frodi  ! 
And  thou  wilt  hear 
Our  songs. 
Our  ancient  lore  ! 

"  Fire  I  see  burning 
East  of  the  burgh. 


Presage  of  slaughter, 
Beacon,  I  ween  ; 
Come  will  an  army 
Here  in  a  trice. 
And  fire  the  halls 
Of  Frodi  the  king. 

"  Shalt  thou  no  longer 
Hold  Leidra's  throne ; 
Neither  red  rings  nor 
Heaven-high  halls  ? 
Twirl  we  the  handle,^ 
Sharp,  wench,  sharper, 
We  are  unsprinkled  with 
Blood  of  the  slain." 

"  My  father's  daughter 
Right  gaily  ground. 
For  she  saw  many  men 
Doomed  to  die  ; 
Huge  stones,  hooped 
With  iron,  are  flying 
Off  from  the  quern-bed. 
Grind  with  a  Avill  ! 
Grind  faster,  faster  ! 

"  Ground  on  the  maidens, 
Put  forth  their  might ; 
Maidens  ferocious 
With  giant  strength. 
Quivered  the  handles, 
Down  dropt  the  quern-props, 
Sundered  the  heavy 
Millstones  in  twain. 

"  But  the  mill-ogre's 
Bride,  she  screech'd  out: 
Ground  have  we,  Frodi, 
All  that  we  dare  ; 
Ground  have  the  maids. 
Enough  and  to  spare. 


Mysing  carried  away  with  him  in  his  ship  the  mill  and 
the  two  goblin  grinders,  and  bade  them  grind  salt,  and  at 
midnight  they  speered  whether  he  was  not  tired  of  salt, 
and  he  bade  them  grind  on.  They  ground  a  little  longer, 
when  down  went  the  Viking's  ship,  and  ever  after  there 

^  O.  N.  Mijndul  q.  mundull,  from  muiid  ^  manus  ~  band. 


4  :  6  ICE  LA  NDIC  L I TERA  TURE. 

was  a  whirlpool  in  the  sea,  where  it  is  falling  into  the 
Grotti's  eye.  That  made  the  sea  salt.  Eeader,  did  you 
ever  cross  the  Pentland  Firth  on  the  road  to  "  the  storm- 
tossed  Orcades  "  ?  Then  maybe  you  have  seen  that  whirl- 
pool, so  dangerous  to  the  mariner,  the  Swelkie,  in  which 
Ilacon  lost  one  of  his  sliips  on  his  retreat  from  Largs,^ 
October  29,  1263,  where  the  sea  roars  and  pours  down  into 
the  gurgling  gullet.  That  is  the  spot  where  the  wonder 
millstones  went  down,  turned  by  the  hand  of  those  maidens. 
In  this  fable  we  see  an  allusion  to  the  stormy  ocean,  which, 
millstone-like,  ground  the  stones  and  shells  into  the  fine 
white  sand  now  strewing  the  beach.  So  that,  in  fact, 
those  ghostly  viragos  were  a  couple  of  ^gir's  nine  daugh- 
ters, the  god  of  the  sea,  who  are  evermore  busy  in  their 
father's  milL  In  the  fragment  of  Sneebjorn's  poem  of  the 
tenth  century  cited  by  Snorri,^  the  sea-shore  is  called 
"  the  flour-bin  of  Amlodi,"  i.e.,  the  flour-bin  of  the  idiot. 
For  such  a  person  might  very  well,  when  he  saw  the  white 
sea-sand,  call  it  the  flour  of  the  sea-mill.  Saxo,  250  years 
later,  puts  words  to  this  effect  in  the  mouth  of  the  sham 
natural,  Hamlet,  Amlodi  (lib.  iii.).  The  courtiers  had  told 
him  that  a  wolf  he  met  in  the  forest  was  a  young  colt. 
They  next  bring  him  to  the  sea-shore,  and  tell  him  that 
the  sand  is  flour.  "  Quite  so,"  said  Amlethus,  "  ground  by 
the  stormy  sea."  Here,  then,  we  are  able  to  trace  the 
royal  Dane  of  Shakespeare  to  an  obscure  Icelandic  poem, 
for  Saxo  himself  tells  us  that  he  got  his  story  from  the 
oral  traditions  of  the  Icelanders.  The  fact  that  in  Ice- 
landic the  words  for  meal  and  sand  are  almost  the  same, 
may  serve  to  throw  some  light  on  this  old  story. 

There  is  another  tale  in  the  Prose  Edda,  the  incidents 
of  which  resemble  those  in  a  passage  in  the  "  Merchant 
of  Venice."  Loki  had  made  a  bet  with  the  dwarf  Brokr. 
The  Aser  had  to  decide,  and  they  pronounced  Loki  to  have 

^  Munch,  Chronicon  Mannife,  127. 

-  Frose  Edda,  i.  328,  which  is  more  elaborate,  and  therefore  more  modern, 
than  the  tale  in  the  old  Edda.     Keyser,  V.  S.,  229. 


KVASIR'S  FATE  A  CAUTION.  427 

lost.  The  stake  was  his  head.  He  offered  a  money  com- 
pensation, but  the  dwarf  was  obdurate.  No  money  w^ould 
he  take,^  and  prepared  to  decapitate  the  god.  He  will 
have  nothing  but  the  prescribed  penalty.  But  the 
astute  Loki  interposes.  "  My  head,  yes,  but  not  my  neck, 
is  yours.  Soft,  no  haste.  He  shall  have  nothing  but 
the  penalty."  ^ 

Clearly  your  Northman  was  not  deficient  in  humour. 
Witness  Thor's  search  for  the  hammer,  and  his  somewhat 
coarse  adventures  in  his  journey  to  the  abode  of  Geirrod. 
Very  amusing  also  is  the  tale  told  by  Snorri  of  the  dread 
result  of  over- cramming  and  the  awful  end  of  the  sufferer. 
Among  their  other  devices  we  are  told  the  Asir  formed 
a  person  called  Kvasir,^  who  became  so  clever  that  no 
question  could  be  proposed  to  him  which  he  was  not 
able  to  solve ;  and  he  traversed  the  whole  world  teaching 
wisdom.  But  merit,  then  as  now,  excited  envy  ;  and  two 
dwarves,  a  race  always  proverbial  for  spite,  set  upon  him 
unawares  and  slew  him.  His  blood  they  caught  in  a 
vessel,  mixed  it  with  honey,  and  so  brewed  a  liquor  which 
renders  all  who  drink  of  it  good  poets.  Meantime  the 
gods,  missing  their  offspring,  of  whom  they  were  so  justly 
proud,  inquired  of  the  dwarves  what  was  become  of  him. 
The  assassins  boldly  replied — and  the  gods,  for  aught 
we  know  to  the  contrary,  accepted  the  explanation — that 
Kvasir  had  been  suffocated  by  his  own  knowledge,  be- 
cause he  could  not  meet  with  persons  able  to  ease  and 
disembogue  his  mind  of  the  wisdom  there  accumulated,  by 
proposing  to  him  such  learned  questions  as  were  necessary 

^  According  to  the  latest  accounts,  a  jar  in  token  of  amity.     The  result 

Ceneda,  a  Jew,  lost  a  bet  to  a  Chris-  was  Kvasir.     Here  we  see  the  origin 

tian,    one   Secchi,    the    stakes   being  of  the  North  Country  practice  of  spit- 

1000  scudi  to  a  pound  of  the  Jew's  ting  into  your  hat  for  good-luck.    The 

flesh.     The  Christian  insisted  on  hav-  crooked  sixpence  which  lurks  at  the 

ing  the  flesh.     The  Jew  apjiealed  to  bottom  of  many  a  breeches'  pocket, 

the  Governor  of  Venice,  and  he  to  the  is  a  remnant  of  the  jiiece  of   money 

Pope,  who  sentenced  them  both  to  bent   over  the   sick   man   in  Anglo- 

the  galleys.  Saxon   days,   and   which  on   liis  re- 

-  Tlie  Aser  and  Vanir  on  conclud-  covery  he  carried  as   an  oilcring  to 

ing  a  peace  spat  simultaneously  into  the  church. 


428  ICELA  NDIC  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

to  his  relief.  It  is  a  pity  that  there  was  no  Vulcanian 
midwife,  or  Civil  Service  Examiner,  at  hand  to  do  for 
Kvasir  what  was  done  with  Jupiter,  to  his  great  comfort 
and  speedy  recovery,  when  he  was  similarly  afflicted.  "Were 
these  two  myths  descended  from  some  common  ancestry  ? 
The  reader  will  be  happy  to  learn  that  this  piece  of  astute 
villany  got  wind ;  the  brew  aforesaid  fell  into  Odin's 
hands.  This  was  how  he  became  so  skilful  a  poet,  and 
this  was  why  poetry  came  to  be  called  the  language  of 
the  o-ods,  and  why  the  Scandinavians,  as  his  descendants, 
were  so  pre-eminently  gifted  with  the  poetic  inspiration. 
We  may  be  permitted  to  add  that  the  fate  of  Kvasir 
ouo;ht  to  be  a  caution  to  our  modern  youths  against  the 
frightful  results  of  over-cramming,  a  vice  so  prevalent. 
Let  them  remember  the  advice  in  Havamal,  56,  "Let 
every  man  be  wise,  not  over-wise." 


<    429     ) 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ICELANDIC  PROVERBS. 

Then  again  for  proverbs.  Of  course  Alfred  was  a  great 
adept  at  proverbs,  or  reputed  to  be  such ;  and  there  is  a 
book  of  Anglo-Saxon  proverbs  which  some  have  attributed 
to  him.  But,  as  has  been  well  said  by  Mr.  Kemble,  Anglo- 
Saxon  authors  seem  to  have  been  more  occupied  in  repro- 
ducing the  wisdom  of  the  Latins  than  in  recording  the 
deep  and  humorous  philosophy  of  our  own  people.^ 

In  Alfred's  so-called  proverbs  of  the  thirteenth  century 
(Reliquiae  Antiquse,  i.  207),  we  meet  with  the  adage 
referred  to  by  Lady  Macbeth,^  "The  cat  doth  love  the 
fishe,  but  she  will  not  wet  her  foote."  Again,  in  the 
proverbs  of  the  wise  Hending,  Marcolf's  son,  in  a  MS. 
temp,  Edward  II.  (Reliquiae  Antiquse,  i.  109),  "  He  is  fre 
of  hors  that  never  hade  non,"  and  "  oft  rap  reweth,"  catch 
our  attention. 

But  to  turn  to  Scandinavia.  That  very  ancient  poem, 
the  Havamal,  in  the  Old  Edda,  at  once  occurs  to  us,  brim- 
ful from  beginning  to  end  of  sage  rules  of  life,  of  wise 
saws,  and  apothegms,  as  ever  was  Shakespeare's  Justice ; 
racy  too  of  the  soil,  and  savouring  nothing  of  a  biblical 
or  classical  source. 

"  Praise  the  day  when  it  is  evening ;  praise  a  woman 
when  she  has  been  burnt"  (81),  attesting  alike  the  anti- 
quity of  the  sentiment  and  the  popular  verdict  upon  the 

'  We  are  sorry  to  say  we  cannot    one    perfect    simile,    comparing   the 
call  to  mind  more  than  one  proverb    greedy  Abbot  Henry  to  a  drone, 
in  the  whole  Saxon  Chronicle;  also        -  A  translation  from  the  Latin. 


430  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

daughters  of  Enibla.  The  author  still  harps  upon  the  same 
string  in  "  Trust  not  in  women,  for  their  hearts  were  made 
on  a  turning  wheel,"  which  savours  of  the  Greek  legend 
of  Prometheus  (84).  And  he  arrives  at  a  climax  in 
"  Woman's  love  is  as  slippery  as  unroughed  horse-shoe 
upon  ice  "  (90). 

"  To  'a  bad  man  never  tell  thy  mishap,  or  he  will  take 
advantage  of  thy  open  heart"  (119),  is  a  piece  of  advice 
which  is  matched  in  Anglo-Saxon,  "Hast  thou  a  sore 
foot  ?  tell  not  thy  foe." 

Here  are  a  few  characteristic  reflections  on  friendship. 
The  first  stanza  reminds  us  of  the  old  sentence,  "  Idem 
velle  atque  idem  nolle,  ea  demum  firma  amicitia  est." 

"  To  thy  friend  Fair  shalt  thou  talk, 

A  friend  be  tliou,  But  think  false, 

To  him  and  to  his  friend  ;  Leasing  for  lies  repay.^ 

But  to  his  friend's  unfriends 

No  man  must  "  Young  was  I  once, 

Friendship  show.  I  ^''^^•ecl  '-^lone, 

Then  I  missed  my  way ; 

"  Knowest  thou  hast  a  friend  Was  rich,  methought, 

Whom  thou  well  canst  tiust.  When  a  friend  I  found  ; 

And  wilt  get  good  from  him  ?  'Tis  man  that  gladdeneth  man. 

Thy  thoughts  shalt  thou  blend 

with  his  "  Hast  thou  a  friend 

And  with  him  gifts  exchange,  ^  Thou  well  canst  trust  ? 

Often  to  visit  him  go.  ^'""6  thee  to  hmi  often  ; 

With  bush  o'ergrown 

•'  Hast  thou  another  And  lofty  weeds 

Whom  thou  ill  canst  trust  ?  Is  the  way  that  no  man  treads." 

Wilt  thou  get  good  from  him  ? 

But  no  age,  no  country,  or  literature  has  ought  better 

to  show  than   the  last   saw  we   shall  quote   from   this 

poem — 

"  Dieth  foe,  But  good  name 

Dieth  friend,  It  dieth  never, 

Dieth  too  oneself.  Once  thou  hast  it  gained." 

Christianity  may  shrug  the  shoulder  at  some  of  these 
sayings,  but  in  the  main  they  evince  a  lofty  tone  of  mind, 

^  Cf.  the  old  saw,  "  Giffe-gaffe  was  a  good  fellow." 

^  "  Speake  faire  and  think  what  you  will." — Old  English  Proverb. 


NORTHERN  WIT  AND  HUMOUR.  431 

much  sound  sense,  and  an  abundance  of  life  and  energy 
among  the  people  where  they  grew  into  a  whole.^ 

But  to  judge  of  the  wit  and  humour  of  the  Scandin- 
avians, we  must  read  their  literature.  It  is  there  in  the 
rich  setting  that  we  become  aware  of  the  full  beauty  and 
wit  of  their  sayings  and  saws ;  and  not  in  a  book  of  pro- 
verbs, where  we  are  left  in  the  dark  about  the  original 
context,  the  occasion,  the  company,  the  features  of  the 
locality,  which  led  to  the  impromptu.  A  brick  out  of  the 
wall  or  a  fragment  of  moulding  fails  to  give  us  a  notion 
of  what  the  fine  old  building  looked  like.  To  come  sud- 
denly on  a  saw  pat  to  the  purpose,  as,  for  instance,  when 
Arinbjorn  with  his  "  nattvig  ero  mord\^g  " — three  words 
only  to  be  given  in  English  by  the  roundabout  "  to  put 
a  man  to  death  at  night  is  murder  " — deters  Eric,  ruler 
of  Northumberland,  from  his  fell  purpose  of  slaying  on 
the  spot  the  huge  Viking  poet  Egil.  Or  again,  a  proverb 
in  the  mouth  of  a  Njal  is  a  very  different  thing  from 
meeting  it  away  from  its  proper  belongings  in  the  two- 
volume  edition  of  "  Icelandic  Proverbs."  ^  But  we  will 
mention  a  few,  remarking  that,  as  with  us,  every  proverb 
seems  to  have  its  counter-proverb. 

Step-mothers,  of  course,  are  in  bad  odour  in  the  North 
as  elsewhere.     This  is  quaint : — 

"A  step-child  will  never  get  so  well  into  the  bosom 
but  that  the  feet  will  hang  out." 

"Wit  comes  with  waxing "=  S.  Weller's  "width  and 
wisdom," or  "You  can'tput  an  old  head  on  young  shoulders;" 
and  it  is  w^ell  it  is  so,  for  "  Wise  children  never  wax  old." 

That  "  the  boy  gets  bigger,  but  not  his  breeches,"  was  a 
fact  not  unknown  to  Cyrus. 

"  Blood  goes  far,  but  breeding  farther,"  says  much  for 
the  enlightenment  of  the  Northern  heathens. 

"  Better  one  crow  in  the  hand  than  two  in  the  wood  "  is 
more  definite  than  our  modern  English  counterpart. 

^  Keyser,  Efterladte  Skriftcr,  Cbristiauia,  1866. 

2  Safn  af  Isleiizkum  Or&kviSum,  Copeubagcn,  1830. 


432  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

"  Ale  is  another  man"  is  a  motto  picturing  to  us  tlie  man 
disguised  in  liquor  more  vividly  than  "Wlien  the  wine's  in 
the  wit's  out."  It  might  well  serve  as  a  badge  for  the  Tem- 
perance League.  In  the  "  Havamal"  (12)  there  is  also  a  fine 
figure.  "  The  heron  of  oblivion  hight  the  bird  that  broods 
over  the  drunkard  and  steals  away  his  senses."  The  poet 
doubtless  had  his  eye  on  that  frequent  feature  in  a  Scan- 
dinavian landscape — one  of  these  birds,  standing  stock- 
still  foi;  hours  as  if  in  deep  slumber,  rooted  to  the  shore  of 
one  of  his  native  lakes. 

In  "  Though  the  spoon  has  taken  it  up,  the  tongue  has 
not  tasted  it,"  we  recognise  an  old  friend. 

"  The  best  muck  is  the  mould  that  falls  from  the 
master's  shoes  "  is  a  saying  which  every  practical  farmer 
will  appreciate.  It  is  not  unlike  our  "  The  master's  eye 
maketh  the  horse  fat." 

'"Tis  hard  to  have  the  needy  for  neighbours,"  for 
"  where  the  goat's  tethered,  there  the  goat  gnaws,"  was  of 
course  only  a  pre-Christian  sentiment. 

"  Love  your  neighbour,  but  let  his  gate  stand  still,"  is 
not  unlike  another,  "  Seldom-come  is  welcome."  Both 
must  have  originated  in  a  year  of  famine. 

"  Men's  odds  is  not  great,"  reminds  us  of  Burns's  "  A 
man's  a  man  for  a'  that ; "  while  "  No  man  makes  him- 
self" seems  to  contradict  the  existence  of  that  special 
phenomenon  of  our  age — the  self-made  man. 

From  "  They  can't  all  have  the  Bishop  for  their  uncle," 
we  surmise  that  in  Iceland  an  episcopal  berth  was  pretty 
snug. 

"  He  falls  not  from  the  roof  who  lies  on  the  floor " 
(Pilgrim's  Progress)  is  a  sop  for  those  of  lowly  estate,  who 
are  told  elsewhere  "that  the  lower  must  lout." 

"Wisdom  may  be  hid,  M'it-want  not,"  and  "It's  hard  to 
hunt  for  one's  wits,"  are  the  sayings  of  a  quick  and  ready 
people. 

Never  was  truer  proverb  than  "  Soothsaying  is  wise 
man's  weening." 


ICELANDIC  PROVERBS.  433 

"The  haddock  never  wanders  so  wide  it  hasn't  the 
same  spot  by  its  side,"  is  the  saw  of  a  maritime  race,  who 
had  found  out,  like  us,  that  "  wliat  is  bred  in  the  bone 
is  never  out  of  the  flesh." 

That  "  It  is  hard  to  bring  many  heads  under  one  hat  " 
most  chairmen  must  have  found  out. 

"  Man's  list  is  not  land's  law  "  is  pithy  in  the  extreme. 

"  Healing  sores  should  not  be  riven  "  =  "  Don't  rouse 
sleeping  dogs." 

"  He  who  lives  awaiting  dies  with  wanting"  corresponds 
with  "  It  is  ill  waiting  for  dead  men's  shoes." 

"  Mighty  near  my  nose,  as  the  seal  said  when  he  was 
hit  in  the  eye,"  reminds  us  that  the  nose  is  the  vulner- 
able part  of  that  animal. 

"Many  tell  of  St.  Olaf  who  never  saw  him"  lias  a 
local  colouring,  but  is  true  all  the  world  over.  The 
English  counterpart  is,  "  Many  speake  of  Eobin  Hood  that 
never  shot  in  his  bowe." 

That  consolatory  proverb,  "  AVheu  wale  is  best,  bote  is 
nest,"  in  its  Scandinavian  original  was  "Jjegar  bol  er  hffist 
er  bot  noest."  "  Home  is  home,  though  it  be  never  so 
homely,"  occurs  in  "  Havamal"  {^-^j).  "  Where  wolf's  ears 
are,  wolf's  teeth  are  near,"  ^  is  highly  characteristic  of  the 
country  and  that  age  of  violence. 

"  It  is  easy  getting  into  the  king's  house,  but  hard  get- 
ting out"(Egil,  cap,  71),  is  a  saw  which  shows  that  in 
those  days  the  king's  notions  of  meum  and  tuum  were 
necessarily  somewhat  lax.  For  the  sake  alike,  then,  of  his 
purse  and  his  liberty,  the  udaller  knew  it  was  better  "  to 
hear  the  lark  sing  than  the  mouse  cheep,"  to  stay  at  home 
in  simple  country  quarters  rather  than  frequent  a  royal 
hall  which  might  at  any  moment  become  a  dungeon. 

"  Too  bland  is  a  blemish,  too  gruff  greater,"  is  a  multum 
in  parvo.  The  other  shape,  "  Good  words  won't  fill  a  fast- 
ing wame "  =r  our  "  Soft  w^ords  butter  no  parsneps,"  a 
proverb   which   requires   explanation.      Objectively  it  is 

^  Volsung  Sag.n,  cap.  19. 

2  E 


434  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURE. 

true,  but  subjectively  it  is  tlie  most  efficacious  way  to 
thrive.  We  know  without  the  aid  of  tlie  public  analyst 
that  the  article  is  adulterated ;  but  we  swallow  it  whole- 
sale, deleterious  though  it  be ;  "  Popiilus  vult  decipi  et  deci- 
piatur,"  and  that  in  spite  of  the  Psalmist's  plain  caution, 
"  With  the  flatterers  are  busy  mockers."  "  Havamal "  (25) 
renders  it  thus,  "  In  the  eyes  of  the  unwise  all  assenters 
are  friends,  but  when  he  gets  into  court  he  finds  his  mis- 
take." 

"  The  kettle  banters  the  pot,  and  black  they  are  both," 
shows  whence  comes  our  homely  English  equivalent. 

"  'Tis  fox  that  fox  shall  fetch  (catch)"  =  "  Set  a  thief  to 
catch  a  thief,"  has  been  fully  realised  in  quite  modern 
days,  and  on  a  grand  scale  in  our  metropolis. 

"  It  is  merely  a  transition,  said  the  fox  when  they  flayed 
him  alive,"  is  an  observation  attributed  in  England  to  the 
eel. 

"  The  meanest  guest  has  keenest  eye "  is  well  under- 
stood by  all,  especially  by  the  entertainers  of  poor  rela- 
tions. 

"  Eolk  are  found  even  over  the  Fells  "  is  the  remark  of  a 
people  who  had  seen  the  world. 

"  Many  meet  who  made  no  tryst "  appeals  to  the  expe- 
rience of  all  the  ages. 

"Bad  will  not  be  good  till  worse  comes  after"  reminds 
us  of  "  In  the  country  of  the  blind  a  one-eyed  man  is 
king." 

"  Thanks  are  good,  but  a  gift  is  better,"  is  full  of  worldly 
wisdom. 

"  You  must  aim  at  the  bird  before  you  can  get  him  "  = 
"  Nothing  venture,  nothing  have." 

"  Faint  heart  never  won  fair  lady  "  is  of  course  found  in 
the  North  as  well  as  elsewhere,  by  way  of  encouragement 
to  those  lords  of  creation  who  are  so  fearful  of  their  fate, 
or  of  so  small  deserts,  that  they  dare  not  put  it  to  the  test 
either  of  winning  or  losing  all. 

"  One  must  cultivate  the  oak  under  which  one  has  to 


ICELANDIC  PROVERBS.  43- 

live  "  =  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  job  (Egil,  c.  71),  or  to 
establish  a  modus  vivendi  with  those  among  whom  we 
live.  Again,  in  "Harbard's  Ljod"  (21),  "The  oak  gets 
what  another  tree  loses  "  =  "  One  man's  meat  is  another 
man's  poison." 

Some  of  the  legal  saws  and  maxims  are  particularly 
terse,  but  they  lose  in  transference,  the  alliteration  being 
absent.  Such  is  the  famous  motto,  "  With  laws  shall  man 
build  up  the  land,  with  unlaw  lay  it  waste  "^  (Njal) ;  "  One 
witness  is  nought,  two  as  good  as  ten ; "  "  Landmarks  are 
neighbours'  peacemakers,"  &c. 

^  "Written  over  the  Court  of  Law  in  Coi)eiihiigen. 


(     436    ) 


CHAPTEE  XXV. 

ICELANDIC  AND   DANISH  BALLADS. 

In  this  rapid  survey  of  the  literature  of  Iceland,  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  we  must  not  omit 
the  ballads  (I.  fornkveeSi,  D.  Kcempeviser).  In  the  Stur- 
lunga  Saga,^  which  is  a  most  interesting  history  of  Ice- 
land in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  besides  some 
lines  from  the  "  Voluspa,"  there  are  two  bits  of  ballads 
(danz)  preserved,  one  of  a.d.  1221,  and  one  referring  to 
the  year  1264,  which  are  exactly  of  the  same  metre  and 
flow  as  that  of  the  modern  ballads.^  Many  of  the  burdens 
of  these  are  of  great  beauty,  and  may  be  centuries  older 
than  the  ballads  to  which  they  are  affixed.  They  refer 
to  lost  love,  merriment,  &c.  The  historical  ballads  seem 
to  have  been  of  later  growth.  For  seven  hundred  years 
were  these  ballads  sung  in  Iceland  as  an  accompaniment 
to  the  dance  at  their  country  wakes,  in  spite  of  the  bishops, 
who  endeavoured  to  put  them  down ;  and  it  was  only  in 
the  last  century  that  they  died  out,  about  the  time  that 
Percy's  "Eelics"  were  published  in  England  (1770).  The 
Icelandic  ballads  are  remarkable  as  often  dispensing  with 
the  characteristic  alliteration.^ 

Specially  worthy  of  our  attention  are  the  old  Danish 
ballads,*  the  number  of  which  is  very  great.  Those  on 
the  old  Northern  gods  stand  foremost.    Then  come  heroic- 

1  Oxford  University  Press,  edited  ^  Cleasby's  Dictionary,  sub  voce 
by  G.  Vigfusson.  "Danz." 

2  Collected  in  the  west  of  Iceland  ■*  Danske  Folkeviser  af  Svend 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  Cf.  Is-  Grundtvig,  Copenhagen,  1853,  &qq., 
lenzk  FornkvseSi  af  Svend  Grundt-  not  yet  finished;  a  truly  interesting 
vig  og  Ion  Sigurdson,  1854-59.  work. 


DANISH  BALLADS.  437 

mythic  ballads,  with  Dietrich,  Grimild,  &c.,  for  their  cen- 
tral figure,  followed  l3Y  others  of  a  heroic  or  romantic 
character.  The  age  of  these  ballads  has  been  a  moot- 
point  with  antiquaries.  Looking  at  the  MSS.,  they  must 
all  be  older  than  1500.  Now  Saxo  in  his  "  Historia 
Danica"  (1200-10)  gives  Latin  versions  of  several  of 
these  ballads ;  and  those  who  are  well  up  in  such 
matters  discern  plain  evidence  of  Saxo's  models  havin<T 
been  in  the  old  '  Stave  rhyme  '  and  '  FornyrSalag  ; '  so 
that  these  ballads  in  their  present  shape  are  subsequent 
to  him.  In  all  probability  they  are  modelled  after  the 
German  lyric  court-poetry  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries.  Indeed,  at  this  period,  several  knightly  poets 
of  Germany  were  domiciled  at  the  Danish  court.  Thus 
the  celebrated  Heinrich  Lrauenlob  (died  13 18)  composed 
a  poem  in  honour  of  Eric  Menved.^  He  and  other  poets 
having  brought  their  German  rhymes  and  melodies  to 
Denmark,  the  fancy  of  the  people  was  so  much  caught 
by  them  that  they  transformed  their  old  ballads  into 
this  new  foreign  style.  In  the  background  of  all  these 
ballads  we  have  the  Danish  nobleman  with  his  castle,  his 
gardens  and  orchards,  the  lordly  hall  and  lady's  bower, 
his  knightly  tastes,  manners,  and  sympathies.  Storm, 
therefore,  in  opposition  to  Grundtvig's  theory  of  their  being 
popular  ballads  at  bottom,  argues  that  these  originated 
with,  and  were  spread  through  the  land  by,  the  knightly 
class,  who  in  the  warlike  days  of  the  Waldemars  became 
so  powerful  as  to  overshadow  all  others,  the  king  being 
only  the  president  of  the  council,  and  the  clergy  bound 
to  them  by  self-interest.  To  conclude,  then ;  the  Danish 
ballads,  according  to  Storm,  are,  in  their  present  shape, 
not  older  at  farthest  than  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, and  are  transformations  of  old  ballads  in  an  older 
shape  and  metre,  the  historic  facts  taking  the  colouring 
of  the  time  of  their  composition. 

1  Sagnkredsene  om  Karl  den  Store  og  Didrik   af  Bern  hos  den  Norsko 
Folk  af  Gustav  Storm,  Christiania,  1874.  •> 


438  ICE  LA  NDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

Tlie  identity  of  many  of  our  Border  and  Scottish  ballads 
with  these  Northern  songs  has  been  pointed  out  by  several 
authors.  "  I'air  Anna  "  occurs  in  Danish,  though  Walter 
Scott  ("  Border  Minstrelsy,"  iii.  36)  referred  it  to  a  Erench 
source.  "  The  Cruel  Sister  "  is  likewise  among  the  Danish 
ballads.  "  The  Watersprite's  Treachery  "  reappears  in  the 
"  Demon  Lover"  of  Scotland ;  while  "  Hrosmer"  is  the  pro- 
totype of  the  Scotch  "  Burd  Ellen,"  which  receives  fresh 
interest  when  we  call  to  mind  that  in  "  King  Lear"  (act  iii. 
scene  5)  Edgar  quotes  from  it :  "  Child  Ptoland  to  the  dark 
tower  came,"  &c.  But  these  by  no  means  exhaust  the  list 
of  coincident  ballads. 

We  may  here  enlarge  upon  one  instance,  and  a  typical 
one,  of  the  world-wide  spread  of  these  ballads,  and  their 
tenacity  of  life.  "  Eavngard  og  Memmering  "  ^  is  the  name 
of  a  Danish  ballad,  being  the  story  of  Gunhilda,  daughter 
of  Canute  the  Great,  who  was  married  (1036)  to  the  Ger- 
man Emperor  Henry.  After  she  had  lived  for  some  time 
as  his  exemplary  wife,  the  false  Eavngard  impeaches  her 
honour.  To  meet  her  accuser  in  the  field,  her  only  cham- 
pion was  the  faithful  Memmering,  an  old  retainer,  the 
rest  having  shrunk  from  the  contest.  By  the  favour  of 
Heaven,  her  humble  knight  gained  an  unexpected  victory, 
and  the  traitor  was  defeated. 

Now  William  of  Malmesbury  -  relates  that  Gunhilda, 
the  daughter  of  Canute,  married  the  Emperor  Henry  of 
Germany,  and  was  falsely  accused  by  a  courtier  of 
gigantic  stature,  against  whom  her  only  champion  was  a 
little  boy  she  brought  from  England.  He,  nevertheless, 
slew  the  traitor.  The  lady  was  thus  shown  to  be  innocent 
of  the  charge ;  but,  with  the  spirit  of  her  race,  she  sepa- 
rated from  her  husband  never  to  return,  in  spite  of  all  his 
entreaties,  and  took  the  veiL  He  further  adds  that  this 
tale  was  sung  as  a  street-ballad  "  in  his  century,"  i.e.,  the 
twelfth.  Matthew  Paris,  again,  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
mentions  it  as  among  the  ballads  of  his   day.     A  very 

1  Grundtvig,  i.  117.  "  GesU  Keg.  Anyl.,  ii.  197. 


DA  iXISH  BA  LLA  DS  IN  SCO  TLA  ND.  459 

romantic  tale,  doubtless,  but  unfortunately  not  true  of 
Gunbilda,  who  lived  on  the  best  terms  with  her  husband, 
and  died  of  the  plague  only  two  years  after  her  marriage 
(1038).  Somehow  the  popular  imagination  had  con- 
founded her  with  the  Empress  Kunigunde,  her  contem- 
porary, who,  on  her  virtue  being  called  in  question,  had 
proved  her  innocence  by  w^alking  barefoot  over  hot  plough- 
shares.    She  died  two  years  after  Gunhilda. 

We  find  this  tale  in  "  Sir  Hugh  le  Blond "  in  Scott's 
"  Border  Minstrelsy,"  ii.  274,  where  the  traitor's  name  is 
Eodingham,  and  in  "  Sir  Aldingar  "  in  Percy's  "  Eelics,"  ii. 
53  ;  both  which  names  recall  the  original  perjurer,  Eaven- 
gard.  But  the  story  existed  also  in  Lombardy,  according  to 
Paulus  Diaconus,  who  wrote  in  the  year  800.  The  king  there 
is  Eodoald,  Gundiberta  the  queen,  and  her  champion  Carel. 
So  that  there  is  good  reason  to  suppose  it  had  followed 
the  migrations  of  the  Gothic  races,  adapting  itself  parasi- 
tically  to  like  events  or  names  in  the  countries  through 
which  it  passed.  Curiously  enough,  under  the  name  of 
Olif  and  her  son  Landres  it  appears  as  an  episode,  and  a 
very  incongruous  one,  in  the  Norse  saga  of  Charlemagne.^ 
It  is  there  stated  that  this  tale  was  met  with  by  Bjarni 
Erlingson  during  the  winter  which  he  spent  in  Scotland 
after  the  death  of  Alexander,  grandfather  of  Princess 
Margaret  of  Norway.  He  took  a  copy  of  it  home  to  Nor- 
way, where  he  had  it  translated  (1287-90)  from  English 
into  Norse.  One  English  word  occurs  in  it:  Stivard= 
steward.  In  this  tale,  which  extends  over  more  than 
twenty  pages  of  prose,  Olive  is  supposed  to  be  sister  of 
Charlemagne.  The  English  poem  was  itself  a  version  of 
the  French  "  Doon  de  la  Eoche,"  with  an  alteration  of  the 
uames.^ 

We  may  add  that  the  singular  likeness  of  many  of  the 
songs  of  the  two  countries  in  depth  of  feeling,  in  views  of 
society,  in  external  form,  has  been  explained  by  Geyer,  by 

'  Ed.  Unger,  Christiania,  i860,  p.  50. 
*  Cf  Storm,  Karlmagnus  Saga,  66. 


440  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

W.  Grimm,  and  others,  on  the  principle  tliat  we  and  the 
Scandinavians  received  these  traditions  as  our  common 
property  from  the  most  remote  period,  before  the  immi- 
gration of  our  ancestors  to  England.^ 

Be  it  here  noted  in  passing,  if  such  minor  matters  are 
worthy  the  attention  of  the  learned,  that  our  nursery 
rhymes  once  lulled  to  sleep  tlie  infants  of  those  rough 
Northern  mothers,  before  they  came  to  us.^  From  the 
ash  Yggdrasil,  Jack's  beanstalk  is  a  sucker.  That  ami- 
able stranger  who  smiled  on  our  wondering  infancy,  '  The 
Man  in  the  ]\Ioon,'  is  all  that  is  left  to  us  of  "  Bil 
and  Hiuki,"  the  lass  and  the  lad  who,  while  engaged  in 
carrying  water  from  the  fountain,  in  a  bucket  slung 
atliwart  their  shoulders,  were  conveyed  to  heaven  by 
Mcini ;  an  allegory  most  likely  of  two  phases  of  the  moon, 
and  an  allusion  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide.^  So 
Odin  pawning  his  eye  for  a  drink  of  Mimer's  fount  must 
be  an  anthropomorphic  version  of  sunset  in  the  sea.  Such 
is  the  burr-like  tenacity  with  which  mythological  stories, 
especially  when  so  life-like  as  those  of  Scandinavia,  cling 
to  the  memory  of  a  race  in  its  age  of  ductility  and  im- 
pression. The  mythology  of  the  Eskimo  in  Greenland  is 
mainly  Scandinavian,  although  the  natives  were  cut  off 
from  that  race  early  in  the  fifteenth  century.  In  this 
connection  we  must  not  omit  to  mention  that  the  Green- 
land Saga  is  very  interesting.^ 

^  Cf.    Jamieson,     Northern    Anti-         '  Prose  Edda,  i.  56. 
quities  and  Popular  Ballads,  li.  87.  ^  Gronlands     Historiske     Mindes- 

-Cf.Halli well,  "Nursery  Rhymes,"  mserker,      Copenhagen,      1838.       Cf. 

preface  to  second  edition  ;  "Oxonian  Antiquitates     Americanse,     Hafniae, 

in  Tlielemarkeu,"  ii.  180,  sqq.  1^37- 


(     441 


CHAPTEE  XXVr. 

A    MEDLEY. 

It  is  quite  beyond  the  scope  of  tins  work  to  enter  into 
any  elaborate  discussion  on  tbe  abstruse  points  of  the  old 
iSTorse  or  Anglo-Saxon  philology  ;  how,  for  instance,  a 
Gothic,  Anglo-Saxon,  or  old  Norse  word  would  of  necessity 
shape  itself  in  English.  Eather  let  us  address  ourselves 
to  the  more  salient  features  of  family  likeness  between 
English  and  Scandinavian.  There  are  many  English 
phrases  from  the  North,  but  words  perhaps  which  find 
their  analogues  only  in  Scandinavia  are  more  interesting. 
Looking  at  them,  we  feel  inclined  to  ask,  if  our  tongue  is  so 
Northern  now,  what  would  book-English  have  been  if  our 
capital  had  been  York  ?  Take  that  genuine  old  quasi- 
relative,  used  all  over  England  in  the  dialects,  '  as,'  e.g., 
'  him  as '  =  '  he  who.'  It  is  the  Is.  indec.  particle  '  es,' 
more  commonly  '  er,'  the  Old-Norse  language  possessing  no 
relative  pronoun.  And  this  reminds  us  that  '  are,'  third 
per.  plur.  pres.  of  '  to  be,'  one  of  the  very  hinges  and  pivots 
of  our  tongue,  is  the  Northern  '  eru,'  which  has  utterly 
superseded  the  Anglo-Saxon  'sindon'  (Germ.  'sind'). 
'  To  call '  and  '  to  take,'  which  are  such  indispensable 
words,  and  used  by  all  grades  of  society,  for  these  we 
must  thank  Scandinavia.  The  Anglo  -  Saxon  '  niman  ' 
(Germ.  '  nehmen '  =  '  take '),  and  '  clepan '  =  '  to  clepe,' 
we  could  not  away  with,  though  the  latter  still  lingers  on 
in  '  yclept.'  "  That  be  far  from  thee  "  is  an  Icelandic,  not 
an  Anglo-Saxon,  form  of  speech.  Again,  the  preposition 
'  a '  seems  to  afford  us  an  instance  of  the  triumph  of  Ice- 
landic over  Amrlo-Saxon.     In  Antrlo-Saxon  it  was  '  on,' 


442  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

^vhich  has  given  place  to  '  a  '  in  the  compounds '  aloft '  (=  in 
the  lift  or  air),  '  athwart,'  '  abroad,'  and  numberless  others. 
'Alone/  however,  is  referred  to  the  German  'allein'  = 
all  one.  In  the  participial  forms,  '  a-doing,'  '  a-talking,* 
the  '  a '  is  possibly  not  a  preposition,  but  a  prefix.  The  '  a ' 
in  our  '  once  a  year '  is  not  an  article,  but  a  preposition. 
By  the  way,  one  hears  in  the  Eastern  counties '  to  year '  for 
'  this  year.'  When  a  Northumberland  man  talks  of  '  gang- 
ing till  a  place,'  he  is  using  the  old  Norse  tongue,  which, 
not  having  the  form  '  to,'  employed  '  til '  for  definitions 
both  of  time  and  place ;  wdiereas  modern  English  uses 
'  till '  of  time  only,  and  '  to '  of  place.  Take  the  English 
word  '  fellow.'  It  is  not  to  be  found  in  early  Anglo-Saxon. 
Your  '  good  fellow,'  your  '  college  fellow,'  must  go  to  Ice- 
land for  his  name ;  '  fe-lag '  =  the  laying  of  one's  fees 
together  =  partnership.^  Your  '  good  fellow '  naturally 
suggests  the  thought  of  his  yoke-fellow,  the  'jolly  fellow.' 
Now  the  dictionaries,  of  course,  refer  this  word  'jolly'  to 
the  French  '  joli.'  But  this  etymology  admits  of  reconsi- 
deration if  it  is  true  that  '  J61  '(  =  '  Yule ')  signifies  '  mirth,' 
'jollity,'  and  that  Odin,  as  the  Christmas  host  of  the 
deities,  was  called  '  Jolnir.' 

But  to  pass  from  the  heathen  to  the  corresponding 
Christian  festival.  Wlien  the  Provost  of  Queen's  College, 
Oxford,  marches  into  hall  in  that  preprandial  procession 
on  Christmas  Day,  chanting  the  praises  of  the  boar's  head, 
it  is  generally  supposed  that  it  is  in  memory  of  a  learned 
scholar  of  Queen's,  who  hundreds  of  years  ago  choked  a 
boar,  which  attacked  him  in  Shotover  Wood,  by  ramming 
an  Aristotle  down  his  throat.  But  it  is  not  so.  The  Pro- 
vost is  only  doing  what  tlie  Pagan  priest  of  Freyr,  the 
germinal  god,  did  at  the  Temple  of  Upsala,  to  propitiate 
him  for  the  new  year,  a  thousand  years  ago ;  to  say  nothing 
about  the  like  offerings  to  Osiris  in  Egypt  thousands  of 

^  '  Felagus  '  occurs  in  late  Anglo-Saxon.  Our  '  boy  '  is  not  to  be  found  in 
Anglo-Saxon.  We  recognise  liim  again  in  the  Danisli  '  pog,'  Swedish  '  poik6,' 
and  Welsh  '  bachgen.' 


A  MEDLEY.  443 

years  before  that.  The  boar's  head,  borne  aloft  in  a  lordly 
dish,  "  bedecked  with  a  gay  garland,"  "  bedecked  with  bays 
and  rosemary,"  is  surely  "  Gullinbursti "  (Gold-mane),  the 
hog  sacred  to  Freyr,  as  well  as  his  sister  Freya.  In  the 
"Herv.  and  Heidr.  Saga"  (332,  Bugge,  Cliristiania,  1S73), 
King  Heidrek,  a  great  worshipper  of  Freyr,  fattened  up  a 
boar  till  it  was  as  big  as  the  biggest  steer,  and  so  sleek  that 
every  bristle  shone  like  gold.  The  Swedish  rustics  used 
to  have  pastry  pigs  on  their  tables  all  through  Yule.  These 
they  kept  till  sowing-time,  when  they  were  shared  between 
the  horse  and  the  ploughman.^  In  Olaf  the  Peacock's 
grand  halP  at  Hjardaholt,  one  of  the  carvings  on  the  wall 
pictured  Freyr  riding  in  his  chariot,  drawn  by  Gold-mane, 
to  the  funeral  of  Balder,  as  we  learn  from  the  verse  pre- 
served in  the  prose  Edda  of  that  celebrated  poem,  "  Hiis- 
drapa,"  the  extempore  effusion  of  Ulfr  Uggason  as  he  sat 
at  meat  and  drink  and  surveyed  these  sculptured  myths.^ 
Beowulf  (2910;  cf.  2227)  wore  a  helmet  with  the  boar's 
head  upon  it,  "  wondrously  wrought  in  days  of  yore." 
Indeed  this  porcine  device  was  common  to  all  the  Northern 
nations  who  worshipped  Freya  and  Freyr.  The  helmet  of 
the  Norwegian  king,  Ali,  was  called  Hildigolltr,  '  the  boar 
of  war,'  and  was  prized  beyond  measure  by  his  victors 
(Prose  Edda,  i.  394).  But  long  before  that,  Tacitus 
(Germ.,  45)  had  recorded  that  the  Esthonians,  east  of  the 
Baltic,  wore  swine-shaped  amulets,  as  a  symbol  of  the 
mother  of  the  gods. 

Let  us  here  mention  that  the  cross-buns,  &c.,  of  Good 
Friday,  which  recent  antiquaries  have  identified  with 
the  cakes  laid  on  the  bier  of  Adonis,  are  most  likely  a 
survival  of  a  Northern  rite.  Certainly  the  custom  among 
undergraduates  of  drinking  sconces  in  College  Hall  is  the 
'  at  drekka  viti '  of  the  sagas. 

That  variously  spelt  word  '  undorn '  (in  Volusp.,  6,  it 
must  mean  '  afternoon ; '  see  vElf ric's  Colloquy)  survives 

1  "Lexicon  My thologicum "  in  Edd.  Poet,  iii.,  suh  voce  "Gullinbursti." 
2  See  "uxouian  iu  Iceland."  ^  Laxdoela  Saga,  c.  29. 


444  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

in  the  English  dialects  in  its  derived  sense  '  luncheon '  (cf. 
Peacock,  "  Dialect  of  Corringham,"  '  Andra  ').  The  latter 
syllable  of  our  national  dish,  beef-steak,  is  from  the  Ice- 
landic '  steikja,'  to  broil,  not  from  the  German  '  stiick,'  a 
piece,  as  suggested  by  Archbishop  Trench.  That  matter 
of  such  importance  to  us  all,  '  harvest,'  Icelandic  '  haust,' 
we  find  in  Sleswig  in  the  form  of  '  harrest.'  But  not  only 
do  our  substantial  realities  hail  from  Scandinavia,  but  also 
our  most  evanescent  fancies  and  visions.  Our  '  dreams  ' 
are  the  old  Norse  '  draumr.'  The  An^lo-Saxon  'dream' 
—  'joy/  '  music,'  "while  the  old  Norse  '  svefn  '  (=  '  sleep  ') 
was  used  by  our  forefathers  for  sleep's  accident,  a  dream. 
We  have  shown  elsewhere  that  the  common  etymology  of 
our 'warlock'  is  Anglo-Saxon  'va^r-loga'  =  'truce-breaker/ 
But  in  Cleasby's  Dictionary  it  is  derived  from  '  varS- 
lokkur '  =  '  w^eird  songs,'  the  wizard's  utterances  having 
com^e  to  mean  the  wizard  himself. 

Many  of  our  features  of  physical  geography  are  pure 
Scandinavian.  That  place  so  well  known  to  us  at  the  foot 
of  the  loliite.  cliffs  of  Cleveland  (Klivlond),  Whitby,  was 
known  to  the  Saxons  only  by  the  less  euphonious  name 
of  Streonschalch.  The  three  '  Eidings '  of  Yorkshire  are 
merely  a  third  part  (Icelandic  '  Tjridjungr ') ;  every  county 
in  Iceland  was  divided  into  three  parts.  The  '  Rape '  of 
Bramber  in  Sussex  is  Icelandic  '  hreppr,'  a  division  or 
district.  Filey-'  brigg,'  the  natural  pier  of  rock  which 
runs  far  out  to  sea,  in  sight  of  Scarborough,  is  the  Icelandic 
'  Bryggja  '  =  a  pier :  Icelandic  '  bru '  —  bridge ;  and  yon- 
der '  coble,'  skimming  over  Bridlington  Bay,  is  the  '  kei- 
puU '  of  the  old  Norse  fishermen.  When  a  vessel '  rides  ' 
at  anchor  in  Yarmouth  '  Roads,'  the  expressions  are  Scan- 
dinavian. The  Scotch  '  skerries '  remind  us  of  a  time 
when  the  Danes,  not  the  Saxons,  were  lords  of  tlie  ocean ; 
a  tale  repeated  in  the  name  of  those  two  headlands,  the 
Great  and  Little  Orm's  (serpent's)  Head,  between  which  lies 
the  modern  Welsh  bathing-place,  Llandudno.  And  not  far 
from  thence  is  '  the  Calf,'  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the 


A  MEDLEY.  445 

Isle  of  Man,  which  signifies  in  Icelandic  '  a  little  island 
near  a  large  one/  '  the  Cow ; '  a  signification  not  found  in 
Anglo-Saxon.  That  wonderful  gap  in  the  Shetland  cliff, 
'  Grind  of  Navir,'  would  have  a  clearer  meaning  for  the 
islanders  if  they  had  read  of  that  desperate  leap  of  Her- 
moder's  over  '  Helgrind,'  ^  i.e.,  '  Hellsgate,'  when  he  went 
to  bring  back  Balder  (Prose  Edda,  49).  Our  Stanhopes 
may  learn  from  St.  Margaret's  '  Hope '  in  the  Orkneys, 
with  its  rounded  hooped  shape,  that  their  old  name  is 
'  Stonehaven,'  or  recess  of  the  sea,  in  which  sense  '  hop ' 
constantly  occurs  in  the  map  of  Iceland,  while  its  Celtic 
analogue  meant  the  upper  nook  of  a  valley.  The  '  bore '  or 
tidal  wave  in  the  Trent  is  there  called  the  '  Eger,'  the  Scan- 
dinavian river-god.  And  being  down,  so  to  say,  at  the 
waterside,  let  us  point  out  that  the  '  foreshore,'  so  often 
mentioned  in  our  courts  of  law  =  Icelandic  '  fjara,'  as  in 
the  alliterative  phrase  'milli  fjalls  og  fjoru,'  'between  fell 
and  foreshore.'  'Gill,'  'carr'  (=  brushwood),  'scroggs' 
(=r  wild  woodland),  of  Lincolnshire  are  purely  Icelandic. 
The  drizzling  fog  borne  down  on  the  coast  of  that  country 
in  bad  weather  is  known  there  by  the  Scandinavian  name 
'  sea- rog' =:' sea-smoke.'  Our  common jjlace  'waterfall' 
becomes  a  picture  -  word  in  Scandinavia,  '  fors '  =  the 
'  force '  of  Westmoreland,  i.e.,  the  stream  in  a  state  of  rage 
and  fury.  The  '  gates '  (streets)  of  York  and  Leeds  are  the 
same  thing  as  the  '  gade '  of  Copenhagen.  Tooley  Street  in 
the  Borough,  as  well  as  the  church  in  the  Old  Jewry,  pre- 
serves the  memory  of  St.  Olaf.  Why  should  I  insist  upon 
what  the  Danish  antiquary,  Worsaae,  first  prominently 
brouglit  before  us,-  that  the  invariable  mark  of  a  Scandina- 
vian settlement  in  England  is  the  termination  '  by '  (from 
'  bua,'  to  dwell)  ?  We  find  scores  of  villages  with  their 
names  ending  thus,  from  the  east  coast  to  Ptugby  and 

1  Some  derive  the  name  of  the  mon-  Irlaiid,"  Copenhagen,  1859.  Cf.  "Den 

ster  Grendel   from    'grind,'  quasi  a  Danske  Erobering  af  England  ogNor- 

'  prisoner,'   one    pent    up    within   a  mandiet,"  Copenhagen,  1863.    "Fagr- 

lattice  or  gate.  skinna,"   p.    15,    mentions    GrinisVjy 

'^  "  Minder  cm  de  Danske  og  Nor-  and  Hogsfleet  as  places  with  Norse 

msendene   i   England,   Skotland,    og  names. 


446  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

Derby  (Deoraby,  one  of  the  five  towns  t<aken  from  the 
Danes ;  S.  Chron.,  942),  the  town  of  wild  beasts,  pointing 
to  a  time  wlien  the  Northman  and  the  wolf  both  held  their 
own  in  the  JMidlands  ;  wliile  Tenby  in  the  west  tells  a 
similar  tale.  Our  '  ills  '  come  from  Scandinavia,  as  the 
Saxons  thought  for  many  generations  ;  but  '  evil '  comes 
from  the  Saxons.  When  we  call  a  man  '  stone-deaf,'  the 
intensive  '  stone '  finds  its  parallel  in  the  Icelandic  '  stein,' 
e.g.,  'stein  ogr '  =  '  stone  wud '  =  '  very  mad.'  In  Icelandic 
the  negative  is  u,  e.g.,  '  lifrigr '  =  '  unpeace,'  which  is  quite 
in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  the  English  tongue,  or 
Mr.  Bright — self-constituted  judge  ! — would  not  have  attri- 
buted to  a  great  English  statesman  '  hearty  unwisdom,'  or 
a  child  say,  this  is  very  'uneasy,'  instead  of  'difficult.' 
Hunferth  in  "  Beowulf  "  is  called  '  J>yle,'  which  Bosworth 
connects  with  ])il  (=:  deal),  making  him  to  be  '  the  speaker 
from  a  boarded  place,'  like  the  public  orator  at  Commemo- 
ration, But  this  word  (J^ulr)  occurs  very  early  indeed  on 
the  Snoldelev  Eunic  stone  (Thorsen,  "  De  Danske  Eune- 
niindesmserker,"  p.  19),  and  is  generally  interpreted  to 
mean  '  a  sayer  of  saws,'  '  an  orator'  (cf.  "  Havamal,"  135), 
where  reverence  for  the  grey-haired  reciter  of  sagas  is 
inculcated.  So,  again,  in  "  Vaf))ru5nismal"  (9),  one  night 
a  stranger  arrives  at  the  abode  of  the  giant,  but  hesi- 
tates to  advance  into  the  hall.  Now  it  was  always  the 
custom  in  Scandinavia  to  make  the  meal  a  feast  of  reason 
and  flow  of  soul,  poets  and  elders  reciting  things  new  and 
old  for  the  gratification  of  the  company,  whether  poems  or 
stories,  enigmas  or  questions  of  ancient  wisdom.  So  the 
giant  summons  the  stranger,  who  was  Odin,  to  advance 
and  take  his  seat,  and  says,  "  Now  we  shall  try  who  knows 
most,  the  guest  or  the  aged  speaker"  (l^ulr). 

Tidings,  good  or  bad,  come  to  us  from  Scandinavia. 
Iceland  is  the  only  Scandinavian,  and  indeed  Euro- 
pean country,  except  England,  where  '  the  good  tidino-s ' 
are  called  '  gospel ; '  and  that  old-fashioned  preacher  of  it. 
Sir  Hugh  Evans,  of  Shakespeare  notoriety,  were  he  in  the 


A  MEDLEY.  447 

flesh,  would  deliglit  to  recognise  liis  own  title  in  ' Sira'  the 
prefix  to  a  clergyman's  name  in  that  country,  his  patro- 
nymic being  omitted.  The  Anglo-Saxons  do  not  seem  to 
have  been  acquainted  M'ith  the  word  '  to  die,'  which  is 
Icelandic  '  deyja  ; '  they  used  instead  '  ge-swiltan,'  which 
in  Icelandic  ('  svelta ')  =r  '  to  starve,'  '  to  die  of  hunger.' 
Our  '  skin '  came  probably  straight  and  unaltered  out  of 
Scandinavia,  otherwise  it  would  have  been  '  shin,'  after  the 
analogy  of  '  ship,'  Icelandic  '  skib.'  Our  '  wrist,'  by  the 
way=Icelandic '  vrist,'  i.e.,  the  junction  of  the  foot  with  the 
leg,  i.e.,  the  instep.  Icelandic  'skapr  '=.'  case  '  or  '  drawer,' 
still  extant  in  the  Lincolnshire  schoolboy's  'scob.'^  When 
the  East  Anglian  mother  '  bastes '  her  child,  she  is  unwit- 
tingly using  an  Icelandic  word.  That  '  haunt '  comes  from 
'  ond,'  '  a  spirit,'  is,  we  fear,  a  more  ingenious  than  correct 
etymology. 

The  word  '  ransack '  will  be  sought  for  in  vain  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  dictionaries,  though  the  meaning  of  the  word  was 
known  to  our  forefathers  by  a  too  sad  experience.  It  is 
the  Is.  'rannsaka,'  to  search  a  house  (rann),  which  the 
Danes  often  did  without  any  warrant. 

Pity  we  did  not  naturalise  among  us  the  terse  Scandin- 
avian word  '  ifa  '  -  =  '  to  if  '  =  '  to  doubt ; '  a  word  which 
Eichard  III.  was  on  the  verge  of  coining  in  his  "If! 
talkest  thou  to  me  of  ifs  ! "  The  same  may  be  said  of 
those  handy  words  'hausta'='to  draw  near  to  autumn,' 
and  '  vara '  =  '  to  draw  near  to  spring ; '  '  jata '  =  '  to  say 
yea,'  and  '  nita '  =  '  to  say  nay ; '  '  tvi-henda '  =  '  to  wield 
with  two  hands ; '  a  method  of  speech  which  the  acute 
Yankee  is  beginning  to  affect  when  he  'tables'  a  motion 
or  '  wires '  a  message.  In  Anglo-Saxon,  however,  we  had 
'  dagian '  =  '  to  day,'  i.e., '  to  dawn.'  This  multum-in-parvo 
method  further  appears  in  Is.  in  '  feSgin '  =  '  f atlier  and 
daughter,' '  nutSgin'  = '  mother  and  son,'  'systkin'  = '  brother 
and  sister.'     Our  '  arch '  =  '  sly,'  is  very  different  in  mean- 

^  A  Winchester  boy  would  make  it  '  box '  spelt  backwards. 
^  From  this  word  Thorpe  would  derive    'Ifiiig,'  the  ever-moving  (vacil- 
lating) river  between  the  giants  aud  the  gods,  which  never  froze. 


448  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

ing  from  Is.  '  argr  '  =  '  effeininatc'  Our  '  ignorant,'  '  silly ' 
fellow  once  meant  a  '  happy '  fellow ;  reminding  us  of  the 
old  saw  which  makes  ignorance  and  bliss  go  together. 

What  a  singular  instance  of  degeneracy  is  our  word 
'  gossip,'  originally  =  the  sponsor  in  baptism  :  the  relation 
according  to  the  Spirit :  cf.  Anglo-Saxon  '  sib '  = '  affinity, 
peace ; '  Is.  '  sif.'  But  in  Icelandic,  '  Sif '  took  a  more 
poetical  shape.  She  was  the  wife  of  Thor,  the  golden- 
haired  goddess,  i.e.,  mother  earth  with  her  golden  grain. 
She  was  the  goddess  of  the  sanctity  of  the  family  and  of 
wedlock,  whence  her  name.  In  this  connection  our  Eng- 
lish word  '  friend,'  Is.  '  vinr,'  occurs  to  us,  a  word  quite 
at  home  in  Anglo-Saxon,  '  freond,'  Ulf.  '  frijonds,'  Germ. 
'  freund.'  The  word  is  also  to  be  found  in  Scandinavia, 
but  never  in  the  sense  of  '  friend,'  always  of  '  kinsman : '  a 
change  in  the  sense  of  the  Avord  not  to  be  passed  unnoticed, 
being  in  itself  curious,  and  characteristic  of  our  ancestors 
on  the  Northern  side.  With  them,  the  bonds  of  kinship 
and  brotherhood  were  strong,  and  each  family  formed  a 
kind  of  confederacy  or  fellowship,  equally  bound  in  rites 
and  in  duties.  But  every  rule  has  an  exception,  for  there 
is  an  Icelandic  proverb  meaning  that  friendship  is  some- 
times more  trustworthy  than  kinship :  '  Let  there  be  a 
firth  between  kindred,  but  a  creek  between  friends.' 

Talking  of  fjords,  who  would  have  thought  that '  Water- 
ford  '  is  a  corruption  from  '  vedra  fjord,'  the  '  creek  of  the 
wethers '  ?  (AI.  Mtiller,  "  Chips  "). 

The  mention  of  '  fostr,'  which  is  not  found  in  Ano-lo- 
Saxon  proper,  or  in  any  of  the  Teutonic  tongues,  will  not 
be  out  of  place  here.  It  is,  in  fact,  an  Icelandic  word  = 
'  the  fostering  of  a  child,'  an  institution  well  known  to  the 
Northern  nations,  and  also  in  Scotland,  as  we  learn  from 
W.  Scott  and  other  writers.  When  our  King  Athelstan 
fostered  Hacon,  the  son  of  Harold  Harfagr,  he  was  uncon- 
sciously performing  an  act  of  submission  in  tlie  eyes  of  the 
crafty  Norwegian ;  for,  says  Snorri,  "  Sa  var  utignari  er 
bgrum  fostraSi  barn."     He  was  looked  on  as  inferior  in 


FOSTER-BROTHERHOOD.  '  449 

rank  who  fostered  other  men's  chikh^en.    There  was  a  very 
curious  custom  in  Scandinavia,  '  foster-brotherhood '  =  a 
vow  on  the  part  of  two  persons  to  eternal  friendship,  and 
to  avenge  the  death  of  the  survivor  of  them.     A  relioious 
rite  consecrated  the  act.     The  parties  gashed  the  pahns  of 
their  hands,  and  let  the  blood  run  into  a  hollow  in  the 
ground  (a  foot-mark  in  the  case  of  Gunnar  and  Sigurd, 
"  Brot  af  SigurgarkviSu,"  18),  and  then  stirred  it  together, 
mould  and  all,  upon  which  they  shook  hands,  and  the  cere- 
mony was  complete.     In  the  gold-age  of  Heaven,  which 
was  spoilt  by  the  coming  thither  of  the  women  out  of 
Jotunheim,!   in   those   days  when   strife   was  unknown, 
Loki,  afterwards  the  representative  of  all  that  was  evil  in 
the  world,  and  Odin,  the  type  of  the  higher  and  nobler 
life,  w^ere  one,  and  joined  together  by  this  blood-brother- 
hood :  a  fact  of  which  Loki  reminds  Odin  when  on  tlie 
point  of  being  kicked  out  of  the  banquet  of  the  gods,-  and 
Odin  cannot  resist  the  appeal  to  so  sacred  a  tie.     Later  on 
the  rite  was  more  elaborate.     In  the  "  Saga  of  Gisli  Sur- 
son,"  the  four  men  pare  from  the  earth  a  long  strip  of  turf, 
leaving  the  ends  still  adhering  to  the  ground.     This  arch 
they  support  with  a  rune-lettei-ed  spear,  and  then  pass 
under  it.     Which  done,  they  wound  themselves  till  blood 
comes,  wdiich  is  let  flow  into  the  mould  from  which  the 
sod  was  cut,  and  the  whole  is  stirred  together.      After- 
wards they  all  kneel  and  swear  an  oath  that  each  would 
avenge  the  other's  death,  as  though  he  were  his  brother ; 
and  they  call  all  the  gods  to  witness,  and  shake  hands 
upon  it.^ 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  Icelandic  sagas,  tlie 
"  Foster-brother  Saga,"  relates  the  adventures  of  two  such 
sworn  brothers.  The  custom  can  be  traced  farther  east. 
Joinville,  "Memoirs  of  St.  Louis,"  a.d.  1250,  p.  483:  "I 

1  Prose  Edda,  cap.  xiv.  =  'duel ')  the  old  heathen  method  of 

2  jEgisdiekka,  ix.  ordeal  (Laxdoola,   18),  before  tliat  of 
"  Gisla  Surss.  Saga,  p.  11,  Copen-     beaiiug  hot  iron  was  introduced  with 

hagen,  1848.    Thispassingbeneath  the     Christianity  from  England  and  Ger- 
sod  was  (together  with  '  holuiganga  '    many.     Is.  Diet.,  mb  voce  "Bjra." 

2  F 


4  5o  ICE  LA  NDIC  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

heard  the  noble  Knight  Coucy  tell  the  King  that  the  King 
of  the  Commains,  in  order  to  have  greater  faith  in  the 
professions  of  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  caused  their 
people  on  both  sides  to  be  blooded,  and  made  each  drink 
alternately  of  the  other's  blood,  a  sign  of  brotherhood, 
saying  they  were  brothers  of  the  same  blood."  In  Africa 
a  similar  rite  still  exists.  Sir  S.  Baker  relates  how  he 
entered  into  brotherhood  with  a  chief  on  the  Upper  Nile 
by  each  drawing  his  own  blood  and  placing  a  drop  of  it 
on  the  tongue  of  the  other. 

Connected  doubtless  with  this  is,  and  was,  that  custom 
for  the  new-made  members  of  secret  societies  to  be  ini- 
tiated by  the  tasting  of  blood.  There  are  those  who 
would  quote  here,  as  a  parallel,  that  sacred  brotherhood 
into  which  each  new  member  is  fully  and  finally  admitted 
by  partaking  figuratively  of  the  blood  of  the  Founder,  as 
He  himself  prescribed.  But  they  forget  that  the  initiatory 
rite  among  the  Pagans  was  quite  incapable  of  repetition. 
"  Do  this  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it "  is  absolutely  inconsistent 
with  the  above  idea.  Keferring  to  ancient  faiths,  we  may 
here  note  that  the  Voluntary  principle  in  religion,  so 
dear  in  these  days,  and  in  all  days  to  Englishmen,  was  in 
full  operation  in  Iceland  a  thousand  years  ago.  The  Pre- 
fects of  the  districts  in  heathen  times  combined  in  their 
own  person  the  office  of  magistrate  and  priest,  and  that 
was  one  reason  why,  on  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  it 
was  impossible  to  put  down  clerical  marriage.  But  every 
man  might  build  a  temple  for  himself,  and  it  was  quite 
free  to  the  neighbours  "  to  sit  under  him  "  or  go  to  the 
mother  temple  of  the  chief  lord. 


(    451     ) 


CHAPTEE  XXVII. 


FURTHER   STUDY  OF    WORDS. 


But  let  us  proceed  with  our  study  of  words.  The  '  book  ' 
you  are  reading  is  a  word  common  to  all  the  Teutonic  and 
Scandinavian  languages  from  Ulfilas  to  the  present  day, 
being  doubtless  akin  to  the  Latin,  '  fagus,'  Greek,  '  (p^jjo^,' 
'  beech,'  the  bark  of  which  tree  in  the  early  days  did  duty 
for  the  future  parchment  to  write  upon.  Our  '  write,' 
however,  from  the  Anglo  -  Saxon  '  writan '  (from  which 
language  Scandinavia  also  seems  to  have  adopted  it  as 
('  (v)rita '),  which  always  means  '  to  write  on  parchment,' 
nowhere  occurs  on  the  Eunic  stones  or  in  the  old  poets, 
the  word  there  used  being  '  rista '  =  to  carve  or  scratch 
characters.! 

In  the  East -Anglian  saw,  'A  good  riddance  of  bad 
rubbish,'  riddance  =  clearing  away.  In  Icelandic,  '  rydja ' 
=  to  clear  away,  to  make  a  clearing  in  a  forest.  To 
*  scamp  '  (work),  a  not  uncommon  thing,  it  is  said,  in  these 
days  of  high  wages,  is  akin  to  'skammr'  (=  short),  i.e., 
=  to  cut  it  short,  not  finish  it. 

Our  '  to  cap  verses '  and  '  handicap '  are  analogous  to 
Icelandic  '  kapp '  =  contention,  from  '  kamp.' 

In  '  spick  and  span '  we  are  reminded  of  '  spannyr '  = 
span-new,  from  '  span '  =  a  shaving.  In  "  Egil,"  yy,  it  is  used 
of  the  hero  who  came  out  of  a  great  fight  unscathed. 
'Fussy'  has  degenerated  in  meaning;  in  Anglo-Saxon 
and  Icelandic,  '  fus '  or  '  fuss.'    '  Fusan  '  in  Anglo-Saxon  = 

^  In  mediaeval  Latin  ' charaxare '=  both  'to  write' and  '  to  scratch,' e. (7., 
"Charaxat  ungulia  genas." — Prudent. 


452  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

to  hurry,  to  drive,  a  word  used  later  by  the  amiable 
Gornoille  in  Layamon's  "  Brut "  when  she  proposed  to 
eliminate  old  Leir's  retainers. 

Our  word  '  window '  (Anglo-Saxon,  eag-J)yrl,  '  eye-turl ')  i 
is  also  an  Icelandic  word,  '  vindauga,'  wind's-eye ;  while 
*  windlass  '  is  a  corruption  of  '  vindass  '  =  winding-pole. 

'  Gain,'  the  sole  object,  it  is  said,  of  this  nation  of  shop- 
keepers, is  only  found  in  the  Icelandic  dictionary,  not  in 
Anglo-Saxon  or  German.  Our  '  to  count  noses '  surely 
refers  to  Icelandic  '  nose-tax '  =:  poll-tax.  Hence  arose  the 
amusing  legend  that  King  Thorgisl,  the  Norse  conqueror  of 
Ireland  (830-845),  levied  a  tax  on  the  natives  in  default  of 
which  they  were  to  lose  their  noses  ; — an  instance  of  how, 
on  the  sandy  foundation  of  a  mistaken  word,  a  circum- 
stantial historical  edifice  gets  built,  which,  in  this  case,  it 
took  the  energetic  onslaught  of  Professor  Munch  to  over- 
throw. Take  another  salient  feature  of  the  human  body, 
'the  toe.'  This  is  to  be  found  in  Anglo-Saxon  'ta,'  as 
well  as  in  Icelandic,  but,  singularly  enough,  '  heel '  is  pure 
Icelandic,  '  hsell,'  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  Anglo-Saxon. 
Our  '  beard '  is  probably  radically  identical  with  Icelandic 
'  barS,'  which  signifies  '  edge,'  '  rim.'  The  Icelandic  for 
this  hirsute  appendage  is  'skegg'  (= '  shagginess'),  a 
much  more  expressive  term. 

Let  us  here  devote  a  few  words  to  the  favourite 
liquor  of  Englishmen  —  'ale,'  otherwise  'beer.'  But 
though  we  use  both  words,  the  former  used  to  be  the 
more  common.  Now  '  beer '  is  a  word  of  German  extrac- 
tion, while  '  ale '  is  a  purely  Scandinavian  word,  which 
meant  any  intoxicating  drink.  So  in  that  fearfully  inte- 
resting passage  in  the  Old  Edda,  when  Gudrun,  in  revenge 
for  the  slaughter  of  her  brothers,  had  murdered  her  chil- 
dren by  Atle  and  dished  their  hearts  up  for  supper,  we 
are  told  how  there  was  "  a  resounding  of  the  ale-cups 
heavy  with  wine  as  the  stately  long-bearded  Huns  took 

1  See  p.  206.  It  would  be  more  correct  there  to  describe  '  Turl '  as  origin- 
ally the  postern  in  the  city  wall,  visible  in  the  old  map  of  Oxford. 


ALE  V.  BEER.  453 

their  places  in  tlie  hall."  There  is  another  passage  in 
that  curious  philological  poem,  the  "  Alvismal,"  where 
light  is  thrown  upon  the  two  words.  Thor,  on  returnino- 
home,  encounters  the  dwarf  Alvis  (all- wise)  in  the  act  of 
eloping  with  his  beloved  daughter.  "  Who  are  you  Mdth 
that  pallid  look?  You  must  have  been  to-night  among 
the  dead."  The  dwarf  declares  himself  to  be  one  of  the 
underground  folks ;  but  he  says  the  lady  had  been  pro- 
mised him,  and  that  she  was  his,  and  fair  play's  a  jewel. 
The  god  replies  he  was  absent,  and  not  consulted  in  the 
matter,  but  agrees,  if  'AH -wise,'  who  has  been  a  great 
traveller,  having,  in  fact,  visited  all  nine  worlds,  will 
answer  some  questions  he  has  to  put  to  him,  he  shall  have 
the  damsel.  Thor's  stratagem  succeeded.  The  wise  dwarf, 
put  on  his  mettle,  and  evidently  flattered  by  the  ever- 
recurring  soft  sawder  of  the  god,  does  his  very  best  to 
enlighten  his  interrogator,  and  quite  forgets  the  approach 
of  day,  which  surprises  him  above-ground,  and  he  has  to 
pay  the  usual  penalty  inflicted  on  any  of  his  race  who  are 
found  loafing  about  on  this  earth  after  daybreak.  He  is 
turned  into  stone.  Among  the  many  objects  of  which  he 
gives  the  names  "  in  the  talk  of  men,  of  gods,  dwarves, 
Vanir,  Aser,  the  Jotuns,  and  the  elves,"  he  is  asked  to  say 
what  the  juice  of  malt  and  hops  is  called  by  gods  and  by 
men.  "  Men,"  he  replies,  "  call  it '  ale ; '  but  the  gods  call  it 
'  beer. '  "  Now  what  is  the  meaning  of  '  gods  and  men,'  let 
alone  the  other  beings  mentioned  ?  ^  It  has  been  surmised 
that  '  men '  refers  to  the  inhabitants  of  Scandinavia, '  gods ' 
to  an  immigrant  people.     Anyhow  the  chief  object  of  the 

■^  Before  we  quit  the  subject  of  ale,  beard  had  grown  he  underwent  a  new 
•we  must  mention  that  in  Frey'sserv-  series  of  sufferings  from  the  sliarp 
ing-man,  Byggvir,  at  the  banquet  of  scytlie,  the  heavy  flail,  and  the  hard 
the  Aser  in  the  Old  Edda  (^gis-  millstone  ;  but  lie  ended  at  last  in 
drekka,  44),  S.  Crundtvig  discerns  the  becoming  a  miglity  lord  who  con- 
prototype  of  Allan  o'  Maut  and  his  quered  the  greatest  in  the  land,  and 
English  relation.  Sir  John  Barley-  won  the  hearts  of  all  the  women, 
corn,  whom  the  peasant  killed,  and  What  is  this  but  barley  ('  byg '), 
buried  in  the  earth  with  the  plough-  which  becomes  malt  and  subsequently 
share,  but  who,  when  the  weather  ale.  Jamieson's  "  Popular  Ballads." 
grew  warm,  rose  up  again.    After  his  ii.  240. 


454  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

poem  must  liavc  been  to  exhibit  the  great  copiousness  of 
the  Old  Norse  in  its  wealth  of  synonyms ;  ^  and  it  seems 
hinted  that  this  arises  from  the  number  of  different  tribes 
(gods,  men,  Aser,  dwarves,  &c.)  who  were  embodied  in  the 
Northern  race.  See  three  passages  in  the  "  Iliad,"  i.  403, 
ii.  813,  xiv.  291,  where  the  names  given  respectively  by 
the  gods,  and  by  men,  to  Briareus,  to  the  river  Xanthus, 
and  to  a  species  of  owl  are  mentioned.  In  the  "  Odyssey  " 
two  words  are  given  in  the  language  of  the  gods,  but  what 
they  were  in  the  language  of  men  we  are  not  informed. 
Some  would  explain  this  by  saying  that  the  two  languages 
referred  to  the  poetic  and  the  common  modes  of  expres- 
sion. That  something  ethnological,  however,  may  lie  at  the 
bottom  of  it  is  indicated  by  Aristotle,  "  Hist.  Anim.,"  ix. 
1 2,  where,  in  reference  to  the  bird  which,  according  to  the 
"Iliad,"  xiv.  291,  was  called  by  the  gods  ;^aA,/ci9  and  by 
men  Kvixcvha,  he  says  that  "  in  the  language  of  the 
lonians  it  was  called  by  the  latter  name,  whereas  '^^oXkU 
was  a  more  ancient  and  more  poetical  expression." 

Our  '  knife '  is  found  in  Icelandic  '  knife  '  only ;  while  in 
the  same  language  we  first  learn  the  primitive  meaning 
of  '  spoon '  =  a  slip  of  wood  ;  in  the  Old  Edda  '  span-hak ' 
=  spoon-thatch,  i.e.,  shingle-roof  of  Valhalla,  which  was 
composed  of  gilded  shields  (Old  Edda,  "Grimnismal,"  9,  and 
"  Hakonarmal").  The  sportsman  will  delight  to  hear  that  in 
Iceland  alone  the  age  of  a  horse  is  computed  as  in  England 
— '  so  old  next  grass.'  '  Dapple-grey '  is  a  corruption  of 
'  apple-grey,'  as  we  see  from  the  Icelandic  '  apal-grar.'  '  A 
dark  horse,'  the  sporting  phrase  for  '  an  untried  horse,'  is 
exactly  the  '  vanfoli '  in  "  Burnt  Njal,"  c.  108,  while  '  hack ' 
recurs  in  Icelandic  '  eykr'  =  a  beast  of  burden.  Ships  were 
called  the  'eykir'  of  the  sea,  Latin,  'equus;'  Sanscrit,  'a^-va.' 
In  this  connection  we  will  mention  'nightmare,'  a  puzzling 

^  Keyser   thinks  the  whole   poem  Scalds,  a  repertory  of  poetical  syno- 

intended  for  the  use  of  the  Scalds,  riyms  (i.  157).     His  view  seems  to  be 

What  the  "  Skaldskaparmal ''  was  for  Ijurne  out  by  the  Prose  Edda  (i.  510), 

the  poets  of  Snorri's day,  the  "  Alvis-  which, in  alist  of  synonyms  fortheus© 

nial"  had  been  for  an  earlier  race  of  of  young  poets,  quotes  "  Alvismal." 


ETYMOLOGY  OF  '  lady:  455 

word,  for  the  nightmare  is  supposed  to  ride  the  sleeper,  not 
the  sleeper  the  mare ;  after  the  fashion  of  the  man  in  the 
old  tale,  who  bore  the  donkey  because  people  said  he  was 
too  big  for  the  donkey  to  bear  him.  But  we  are  puzzled 
no  longer  on  hearing  that  '  mara,'  the  ogress  who  bestrode 
the  sleeper,  is  an  Icelandic  word  akin  to  '  merja '  =  to 
crush.  The  '  slot '  of  game  comes  from  the  North,  as 
also  '  sleuth  -  hound.'  The  '  scut '  =  tail  of  the  hare  or 
rabbit,  is  from  the  same  source.  The  '  skid '  which  the 
guard  affixes  to  the  coach- wheel  is  a  word  well  known  in 
Norway.  There,  however,  it  is  '  a  snowshoe,'  used  to 
accelerate,  and  not  to  retard,  motion.  The  soldier's  '  fur- 
lough '  is  nothing  but  the  Icelandic  '  orlov  '  ==  '  leave,'  with 
a  different  prefix,  '  fur,'  i.e.,  '  for,'  instead  of  '  or.'  Our 
'  gun,'  i.e.,  '  war-piece,'  is  akin  to  '  gunnr '  :=  war,  which 
early  became  a  common  proper  name.  Many  of  our  Eng- 
lish names  are  of  mythological  origin,  see  Leo,  "  Anglo- 
Saxon  Names,"  '  Giselher '  in  the  "  Nibelungen  "  =  rock- 
hard  ;  cf.  '  chesil '  =  beach  at  Portland. 

That  elegant  piece  of  superstition,  at  home  in  the  North 
of  England,  of  spitting  in  the  hat  for  good-luck,  is  only 
a  reminiscence  of  the  gods  in  the  Old  Edda,  on  the  cessa- 
tion of  a  feud  between  themselves  and  the  Vanir,  spitting 
in  a  jar  which  they  carry  off  in  triumph. 

Our  '  prude '  has  gone  down  in  the  world.  In  Icelandic 
the  word  '  pruSr '  =  '  a  fine,  stately  lady.'  It  is  only 
through  the  medium  of  Icelandic  that  we  can  anatomise 
the  Old  English  word  '  hlafdige,'  whence  our  '  lady,' 
a  word  often  used  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  for  the 
highest  lady  in  the  land,  the  queen.  The  first  part  of  this 
word  is  clear,  '  hlaf '  =  loaf.  The  second  part,  '  -dige,'  is 
the  Icelandic  '  deigja '  ==  a  maid  who  kneads  (cf.  German, 
'  deig,'  English,  '  dough ') ;  so  that  '  la-dy '  originally — per- 
haps in  the  days  of  King  Cophetua  —  signified  '  baker 
woman.'  But  '  queen '  itself,  we  must  remember,  in  the 
outset  simply  meant  '  woman.'  Our  '  king '  means  '  gene- 
rosus,'  a  man  of  noble  extraction,  and   is   derived  from 


456  ICELA  NDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

;i  word  common  to  all  Teutonic  languages  except  Gothic, 
meaning  'genus,'  family.  It  is  but  a  step  from  the  sub- 
lime to  the  ridiculous ;  so  having  '  interviewed '  the  highest 
lady  and  gentleman  in  the  land,  let  us  descend  to  our 
excellent  friend,  whose  history  has  been  so  well  written 
by  an  English  humourist,  '  The  Snob.'  He,  too,  with 
his  vulgar  pretence,  his  pushing  propensities,  and  low 
practices,  is  mirrored  alike  in  word  and  deed  in  Icelandic 
'  suapr.* 


(    457    ) 


CHAPTEE  XXVIII. 

/?  U  N  E  S. 

A  SURVEY  of  Scandinavian  literature  would  not  be  com- 
plete without  some  reference  to  Pamic  lore,  the  most 
w^eighty  topic  perhaps  of  all ;  for  here  we  must  look  for 
the  very  cradle,  the  first  writing-down,  of  those  multi- 
tudinous dialects  which  were  heard  side  by  side  in  this 
our  island  —  beginning,  perhaps,  a  couple  of  centuries 
before  the  days  of  Hengist — as  each  succeeding  wave  of 
colonists  broke  upon  our  shores  from  the  eastern  shores 
of  the  North  Sea.  Of  spell-runes,  i.e.,  of  runes  used  in 
magic,  we  are  not  speaking.  By  some  it  is  doubted 
whether  such  runes  were  anything  more  than  fanciful 
signs  supposed  to  possess  a  magic  power.  Still  a  great 
deal  of  interesting  matter  might  be  adduced  here  on  this 
branch  of  ancient  '  Demonology  and  Witchcraft.'  The 
"  Havamal "  in  the  Edda  contains  a  locus  classicus  on  the 
subject.  Young  Egil,  when  a  poisoned  cup  was  handed  to 
him  by  that  arch-sorceress,  Gunhilda,  the  Einnish  queen 
of  Eric  Bloody-axe,  wounded  his  wrist  with  his  knife, 
and  with  the  blood  wrote  Eunic  signs  on  the  cup,  and  of 
such  power  that  it  split  to  pieces  (Egil,  44).  Edged  tools 
they  were,  however,  with  which  it  was  ill  to  play — 

"Save  with  deft  and  practised  hand, 
Risk  not  runes  to  trace  ; 
Many  a  man  has  sorely  erred 
In  the  darkling  maze." 

Is  it  not  written  how  that  Swedish  damsel,  Helga,  in 
the  year  of  grace  944,  got  no  sleep,  was  quite  distraught 


45  S  ICE  LA  NDIC  LIT  ERA  TURE. 

(liamstoli),  and  was  pining  visibly  away,  wlien  that  scamp 
of  a  bonderson — ill  betide  him ! — who  was  smitten  with  her 
charms,  pretended  to  cure  her  by  scratching  runes,  from 
which  day  forward  she  worsened  visibly?  Did  not  Egil 
chance  to  reach  her  father's  house  when  it  seemed  all  over 
with  her,  discovered  the  said  '  risting '  on  a  fish-bone 
under  her  pillow,  read  the  characters  over  carefully,  scraped 
them  off,  and  hurled  the  bone  into  the  fire  ?  Thereupon  he 
traced  some  other  Eunic  characters,  put  them  under  the 
girl's  pillow,  and,  when  she  awoke,  she  said  she  felt  quite 
well.  And  the  grateful  parent  offered  to  the  successful 
rune-master  free  quarters  for  man  and  horse,  by  way  of 
doctor's  fee  (Eg.  75). 

The  question  Spelman  asked  Wormius,  1629,  "What 
are  runes,  whence  do  they  come  ? "  is  not  yet  set  at  rest, 
though  it  has  taxed  the  powers  of  the  most  learned  writers 
in  Scandinavia.  In  earlier  times  the  chief  books  on  the 
subject  were  Worm's  "  Monumenta,"  Goranson's  "  Bautil," 
and  Liliegren's  "  Eun-urkunder,"  In  1848  Professor  P. 
A.  Munch  published  his  "  Den  ffildste  Nordiske  Eune- 
skrift."  Since  then  the  study  has  considerably  progressed. 
Not  presuming  to  intrude  our  opinion  on  so  vexed  a  ques- 
tion, we  shall  simply  cite  here  the  four  chief  modern  writers 
on  the  subject — Professors  Thorsen,  Stephens, and  Wimmer 
of  Copenhagen,  and  Professor  Bugge  of  Christiania.  The 
first  part  of  Thorsen's  work,  already  published,  is  devoted 
to  the  Eunic  stones  of  Sleswig,^  those  written  documents 
concerning  the  history  of  the  North  which  are  many 
hundred  years  older  than  any  of  the  existing  manuscripts; 
monuments  which  must  ever  cry  out  against  that  great 
iniquity  which  consigned  an  old  Danish-speaking  popu- 
lation up  to  the  very  borders  of  Jutland  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  a  German  master.  Of  it  we  may  say  this  much, 
that  the  first  volume  makes  us  only  regret  that  he  does  not 
hasten  the  completion  of  the  second. 

^  De  Danske  Runemindesmaeiker,  af  P.  G.  Thorsen,  Copenhagen,  1864. 
Part  I. 


STEPHENS  ON  RUNES.  459 

Of  the  splendid  work  by  our  own  countryman,  Professor 
George  Stephens,^  accompanied,  like  Professor  Thorsen's, 
by  beautiful  facsimiles  and  illustrations,  it  is  difficult  to 
speak  in  adequate  terms,  so  full  is  it  of  exhaustive  criti- 
cism, of  patient  research,  of  varied  lore,  along  with  which 
the  author  exhibits  a  power  almost  of  divination  in  un- 
riddling some  of  these  Eunic  puzzles.  His  views,  it  should 
be  said,  are  not  the  views  of  most  writers,  certainly  not  of 
the  Germans,  whom  he  excludes  from  all  part  or  lot  in  the 
birthright  of  runes.  His  assertion,  based  on  a  careful 
examination  of  the  extant  examples  of  old  Eunic  monu- 
ments, is,  that  runes  were  first  brought  to  Scando-Gothic 
Europe  or  developed  therein  by  the  latest  clan-wave  from 
the  East — the  Northern  or  Scandinavian — an  iron-wield- 
ing tribe  who  superseded  the  bronze-age  population.  Their 
origin  has  been  the  theme  of  the  wildest  conjecture.    Some 

'  He  leaves  new  runes  out  of  the  account.  The  older,  whence  again  the 
Anglo-Saxon  alphabet,  consisted  of  twenty-five  letters  ;  the  more  modern 
development,  which  came  into  use  about  800  A.D. ,  only  of  sixteen.  The 
number  of  monuments  inscribed  with  these  new  runes  may  be  reckoned  by 
thousands,  those  with  the  older  runes  amount  to  iSo,  thirty-six  of  which 
were  found  in  England. 

English  Value.    F,       U,      TH,  M,  R,       C  =  K,     G,        W,        H,       N, 

Old  Northern.*  E,       Jl,      I,       K  R,         <,         X,        P,        N,     % 

New  Northern.    ^^      ^1,      I,     t,       RA,     F,         „         „         %     %, 

English  Value.     I,  Y,  yO,  P,  A,  S,        T,       B, 

Old  Northern.*  I,     ^N+i      ^  \,      B  W  K,    ^       SV,      T,      B, 
New  Northern.    J^  ^^  ^,  „  ^^  H,      T,     B, 

English  Value.     E,  M,        L,        NG,  D,  (E,       IJ,       O. 

Old  Northern.*    M,       N,      J^,      <>    X,        M,       %       I^,      % 
New  Northern.    ..        ''^I^        K 

*  These  are  the  Old  Northern,  exclusive  of  English  provincial  variations. 


46o  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURE. 

have  said  that  runes  are  as  old  as  the  Deluge ;  some  have 
attributed  the  invention  of  them  to  Odin;^  some  date 
their  origin  from  2000  B.C.  The  Swedish  scholar  Ihre 
thought  they  were  the  invention  of  the  Scythians. 

Shortly,  Stephen's  conclusions  are  as  follows : — No 
hint  of  runes  has  ever  been  found  in  the  oldest  German 
or  Saxon  Chronicles,  though  such  things  are  mentioned 
in  Anglo-Scandinavian  parchments.  No  indigenous  fixed 
Eunic  monument  has  ever  turned  up  on  Saxon  or 
German  soil,^  though  half-a-dozen  Eunic  jewels,  'wan- 
derers,' as  he  calls  them,  have.  Any  Eunic  remains,  e.g., 
an  inlaid  spear  (ibid.,  p.  882),  that  may  be  found  in 
Brandenburg  or  elsewhere,  he  would  attribute  to  the 
Scando-Gothic  tribes  (subsequently  driven  out  or  annihi- 
lated by  the  Huns  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries)  who 
once  occupied  that  region,  and  not  to  the  Germans,  who 
came  later  into  the  land. 

Of  the  thousands  of  blocks  discovered  in  Germany,  dating 
from  the  first  century  downwards,  not  one  is  Eunic,  all  are 
Eoman. 

Eunes  have  nothing  Eoman  about  them ;  the  order  of 
the  letters  is  different.  The  Eoman  alphabet  is  an  '  Abce- 
darium,'  the  Eunic  a  '  Futhorc,'  beginning  with  F. 

It  should  be  noted  here  that  all  Mr.  Stephens's  decipher- 
ings of  the  oldest  or  Old  Northern  runes  are  based  on  the 
assumption  that  the  rune  UJ  =  A,  not  M  or  E.  He 
maintains  that  all  the  Northmen  had  these  elder  Eunic 
staves  everywhere,  in  Scandinavia  and  in  its  colony  Eng- 
land, at  the   same  time.     No   inscriptions  in  the   more 


1  The  name  of  Odin  appears  on  only  indicate  about  that  date, 

one  known  Runic  stone.  Thor's  name  2  "  Nos   apertum   esse   arbitramur 

is  found  on  two.  Of  the  two  thousand  runas  Scandinavioe   antiquiores  esse, 

liunic  stones  known,  of  course  many  Germanosque  suasanobis  accepisse." 

are  from  Christian  times.     Such,  for  — Lagerheim,  Litterce   Gothicce,    d;c., 

instance,are  two  discovered  in  Sweden  Lund,  1805.  The  late  acute  antiquary, 

in  memory  of  one  Mani  and  one  Suin,  Carl  Save  of  Upsala,  was,  we  believe, 

who  died  respectively  at  Bath  and  in  one   with   Stephens   in   holding  that 

London.     Possibly  they  were  in  the  runes    are    essentially    Scandinavian 

retinue  of  King  Canute,  as  the  runes  and  not  German. 


STEPHENS  ON  RUNES.  461 

ancient  and  more  numerous  alphabet,  but  only  in  the 
shorter  and  more  modern  one,  have  been  found  in  Iceland, 
Greenland,  the  Faroes,  and  the  Isle  of  Man,  these  being 
colonies  of  more  recent  date;  while  they  abound  in  England, 
the  oldest  Scandinavian  settlement. 

The  tongue  of  all  these  old  Eunic  inscriptions  is  one  and 
the  same,  Old  Northern,  but  in  dialects  more  ancient  than 
our  written  specimens  of  Icelandic,  which  date  at  the 
earliest  from  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  oldest  Runic  inscriptions — say  from  the  first  century 
to  800 — are  as  unlike  Icelandic  as  the  language  of  the 
Latin  monuments  at  the  time  of  the  Eepublic  to  the 
classical  dialect  of  Dante.  Now,  are  we  to  suppose,  argues 
Stephens,  that  Scandinavian  workmen  were  summoned  to 
England  to  carve  these  runes  in  a  character  not  understood 
by  the  people,  when  the  inscription  often  warned  the  people 
not  to  remove  the  stone  at  their  peril  ?  Such  a  supposition 
w^ould  be  ridiculous.  Old  Northern,  therefore,  must  have 
been  spoken  at  the  very  earliest  period  in  Great  Britain. 

Many  of  these  Eunic  monuments  were  in  the  oldest  age 
placed  inside,  and  not  out  of  the  cairns ;  and  to  this  perhaps 
owe  their  preservation. 

The  so-called  '  barbarians,'  our  forefathers,  who  wrote 
these  inscriptions,  were  anxious  for  the  blissful  repose  of 
the  dead,i  and  the  word  '  rest '  indicates  the  belief  in  a 
future  state.  But  no  dates  are  to  be  found ;  there  are  no 
numerical  figures  on  the  oldest  monuments.  They  had  no 
ciphers.^ 

The  earliest  dated  stone  (the  dates  spelt  out)  is  of  the 
fourteenth  century.     Eunic  bells  go  a  hundred  years  far- 

1  Cf.     Old     Edda,      "  Havamill,"  to  that  obscure  period  from  the  fifth 

71.  to  the  eighth  centuries  which  is  com- 

-  Cf.  Hiibner,  "  Inscriptiones  Bri-  prehended    in    Professor    Stephens's 

tanni?e  Christianae"  (London,  1876),  inquiry,    and   about   which   we  have 

a  work  which  includes  inscriptions  in  notices  by  hardly  any  ancient  writer 

Latin,  British,  and  Saxon,  and  adnuts  of  credit.     Here  too,  as  in  the  Kunic 

no  Kunic  ones,  except  when  the  runes  moniunents,  the  date  is  nearly  always 

occur  mixed  with  Latin.     But  all  the  wanting,  and  there  is  an  almost  uni- 

inscriptions  given  in  this  work  belong  versal  lack  of  Christian  symbols. 


462  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

tlier  back.  Scandinavian  Eunic  coins  appear  in  Scandinavia 
at  the  end  of  the  tenth  centnry. 

In  England  coins  occur  with  these  Old  Northern  runes ^ 
as  early  as  the  sixth  century,  v^^hile  the  runes  on  the 
Golden  Horn  at  Copenhagen  (only  a  facsimile)  are  sup- 
posed to  date  from  the  fourth  or  fifth  century. 

The  very  ancient  grammatical  forms  of  these  older  Runic 
monuments  are  highly  instructive.  We  find  the  S  still 
left,  not  yet  become  E,  e.g.,  '  was '  (from  verb  to  be), 
whereas  the  later  Scandinavians  use  '  var.'  Compare 
'  quseso,'  which  became  '  quoero,'  and  '  ausum,'  which  be- 
came '  aurum.' 

As  aforesaid,  the  language  on  these  monuments  is  Old 
Northern,  but  with  dialectic  peculiarities  according  as  the 
monument  was  found  in  Scandinavia  or  England. 

Of  German  there  is  no  trace,  save  that  German  and 
Saxon  and  Old  Northern  were  very  near  each  other  in  the 
oldest  times. 

Such  is  a  brief  epitome  of  the  results  arrived  at  by  tlie 
author :  results,  it  may  be  added,  utterly  at  variance  with 
those  of  Eask.  It  was  his  dictum  that  English  was  not  a 
Northern  but  a  German  dialect;  and  this  he  proves  by 
three  things:  (i.)  our  old  infinitive  ended  in  an  and  the 
Scandinavian  in  a;  (2.)  we  have  no  passive,  while  the 
Scandinavians  have  a  passive  in  s ;  (3.)  we  have  the  article 
before,  the  Scandinavians  after,  the  substantive,  as  'heimr- 
inn,'  '  the  home.' 

Professor  Stephens,  however,  endeavours  to  prove  that 
these  are  not  old  but  modern  developments.  In  reply  to 
(i.)  he  says,  this  is  only  a  question  of  time  and  dialect. 
All  the  Scando-Gothic  tongues  originally  had  the  an  and 
n ;  at  least  half-a-dozen  examples  are  known  of  the  infini- 
tive in  an  on  old  Scandinavian  stones ;  while  in  the  oldest 


"Worsaae,  however  (Danish  Con-  century,  in  which  view  Mr.  Kemble 

quest  of  England),  is  of  opinion  that  concurs.  —  Proceedings    of    the   JVor- 

the  Danish  influence  in  England  was  vnch    Archceological    Society,   p.    45, 

nil  till  nearly  the  end  of  the  eighth  1847. 


STEPHENS  ON  RUNES.  463 

North-English  (as  on  Euthwell  Cross,  about  670  a.d.)  the 
-n  had  fallen  away  as  early  as  in  Scandinavia.  In  answer 
to  (2.)  he  says  the  old  Scandinavian  tongue  had  no  passive : 
the  present  Icelandic  passive  was  originally  not  a  passive 
but  only  a  reflective  form.  The  affixed  personal  pronoun 
(sik,  se)  in  time  became  enclitic,  and  was  shortened  into 
sk,  and  the  verb  got  to  be  used  in  a  passive  sense.  He 
says  further  {3.)  there  was  no  article  in  the  ancient 
dialect.  By  degrees  it  crept  in  hefore  the  noun.  In 
the  oldest  Eunic  monuments  there  is  an  entire  absence 
of  it  after  its  name :  when  found,  it  is  always  hefore  its 
noun. 

All  this  is,  of  course,  very  startling.  For  the  ingenious 
arguments  on  which  these  conclusions  are  based,  together 
with  copies  of  all  the  old  Eunic  monuments  extant,  we  must 
refer  the  reader  to  the  work  mentioned  below.  If  the 
tongue  in  which  these  old  Eunic  inscriptions  found  in 
this  country  are  written  be  Scandinavian,  then  we  learn 
that  our  original  tongue,  after  the  Celtic  was  eliminated, 
was  not  that  later  Anglo-Saxon  of  our  books,  a  language 
to  a  great  extent  latinised  and  modified  by  various  influ- 
ences, but  a  congeries  of  many  floating  dialects,  with  no 
fixed  orthography  or  spelling  ('  stone '  is  spelt  in  fifty 
ways  on  these  stones) ;  all  however  not  German,  but 
Scandinavian. 

But  besides  the  difiiculties  of  spelling  in  Eunic  inscrip- 
tions, there  are  others  by  no  means  trivial.  Such,  e.g.,  is 
the  usual  want  of  separations  between  the  words.  Then 
again  the  letters  are  often  reversed,  or  must  be  read  from 
right  to  left,  or  alternately  from  the  right  to  the  left,  and 
from  the  left  to  the  right.  Sometimes  careless  writing  lays 
a  trap  for  the  decipherer.  Eunes,  says  Professor  Stejjhens, 
are  descended  from  a  source  which  produced  alphabets  of 
Phoenician  and  classical  people.^ 

And  this  remark  brings  us  to  a  third  work  upon  runes, 

1  Old  Northern  Runic  Monuments  of  Scandinavia  and  England,  by  G. 
Stephens,  London  and  Copenhagen,  1866-68, 


464  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

the  main  object  of  -wliicli  is  to  elicit  the  true  origin  of  the 
Eunic  characters.^ 

By  a  masterly  analysis  and  a  comparison  of  Runic  letters 
with  the  letters  of  the  old  Greek  inscriptions,  with  those 
on  the  Moabite  Stone,  with  the  Phoenician  alphabet,  and 
lastly  with  the  bilingual  alphabet,  the  Greek  and  the 
Etruscan  of  the  Galassic  vase  of  Coere,  Wimmer  arrives 
at  the  conclusion  that  runes  are  not  a  direct  offspring  of 
the  Phoenician  or  old  Semitic  alphabet,  nor  derived  from 
a  common  source  with  the  South  European  alphabets,  or 
from  picture-writing,  but  direct  from  the  Latin  alphabet. 
Among  other  proofs  he  points  out  that  the  Eunic  alphabet 
and  the  Latin  alphabet  alone  use  the  sign  P,  with  the 
meaning/.  Further,  he  shows  that  the  original  direction 
of  runes  was,  like  that  of  Latin,  from  left  to  right ;  but 
that  pretty  early,  alongside  of  this,  right  to  left  was  used, 
and  by  continuation  of  these  arose  the  alternate  or 
^ovarpo(j)'qSov  method ;  and  he  further  shows  that  the 
younger  runes  were  not  introduced  by  newcomers,  but 
were  gradually/  developed  out  of  the  older  and  longer 
alphabet.  "VVimmer  does  not,  like  Stephens,  make  runes 
a  monopoly  of  the  Scandinavian  races,  but  believes  that 
there  were  Gothic  or  German  runes  also.  Stephens 
entirely  rejects  this  Eoman  origin  of  the  runes,  for  many 
reasons,  among  them  one  which  he  thinks  decisive — that 
the  runes  were  already  old  and  common  in  Scandinavia  in 
the  early  Eoman  imperial  period,  from  whose  alphabet 
Dr.  Wimmer  says  they  were  taken.  But  we  have  said 
enough  to  show  that  these  runes  are  intimately  connected 
with  the  momentous  question  of  what  was  the  tongue 
used  in  this  country  by  the  earliest  Teutonic  settlers.  If, 
as  Stephens  asserts,  Eunic  stones  were  being  carved  in 
England  as  early  as  the  third  century,  with  inscriptions 
not  in  Saxon,  but  in  Scandinavian,  then  it  must  follow 
that  the  Danisms  in  English  are  not  due  solely  to  the 

1  lluneskriftens  Oprindelse  og  Udvikling  i  Norden,  af  L.  F.  A.  "Wimmer, 
Cox)euhagen,  1874. 


BUGGE  ON  RUNES.  465 

Northern  invasions,  extending  from  787  to  1066,  but  were 
many  of  them  welded  into  the  very  constitution  of  our 
tongue  in  the  last  days  of  the  Eoman  occupation. 

It  remains  for  us  to  mention  another  notable  rune- 
master,  Professor  Bugge  of  Christiania,  who  first  gave  to 
the  world  what  is  considered  the  right  interpretation  of 
the  old  Eunic  inscription  on  the  Golden  Horn  of  Gallehus. 
According  to  this,  l|i  does  not  ■=  m  or  a,  but  r,  viz.,  the 
r  which  arose  from  z,  i.e.,  the  soft,  s — an  idea  further 
developed  by  Wimmer.  Eafn  had  already  hit  on  this 
signification  of  IjJ,  but  he  missed  the  meaning  of  the 
inscription ;  while  Munch,  who  had  also  interpreted  iU 
rightly  in  the  Blekking  and  Tune  runes,  would  have  it 
that  on  the  Golden  Horn  it  signified  m. 

Hitherto,  unfortunately,  Bugge's  Eunic  investigations 
have  only  appeared  in  isolated  tracts  and  pamphlets.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will  soon  assume  a  collected  form. 
We  shall  quote  from  one  of  these,  which  gives  a  short  con- 
spectus of  his  views  on  the  origin  of  runes,^  differing  most 
essentially  from  those  of  Stephens.  The  short  alphabet, 
consisting  of  sixteen  runes,  originated,  according  to  Bugge, 
in  the  North,  out  of  the  longer  one  of  twenty-four  runes. 
The  longer  alphabet  is  the  oldest  known  method  of  writing 
among  the  Germans,  and  must  have  been  known  and  used 
by  pretty  nearly  all  the  Teutonic  tribes  as  early  as  the 
first  centuries  after  the  Christian  era.  It  was  not  an  ori- 
ginal invention  of  theirs,  but  was  connected  with  the 
Southern  alphabets,  which  were  derived,  though  not  imme- 
diately, from  the  Phoenician.     They  exhibit  a  nearer  rela- 

^  Om  RuDeskriftens  Oprindelse  af  port  of  the  Piraeus,  which  was  called 

S.    Bugge,    Christiania,     1874.      We  ia  consequence   Porto   Leone.      The 

may  mention  here,  as  a  proof  of  the  true  import  of  these  runes  is  not  ascer- 

ubiquity  of  the  Northmen,  the  runes  tained ;  but,  from  the  peculiar  snake 

on  the  lion  in  Pentelic  marble,  10  feet  ornaments  wliicli  surround  them,  Pro- 

liigh,  which  stands  at  the  entrance  of  fessor  Bugge  concludes  that  they  were 

the   Arsenal   at   Venice.      This   lion  carved  in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 

was  brought  from  Athens  to  Venice,  century  by  a  Varangian    of  Upland 

1687,  by  Francesco  Morosini,   when  Sweden. — Manadshlad  Kona.  Acad., 

that   place  was  taken  by  the  Vene-  July  1875. 
tians.     Formerly  it  stood  close  to  the 

2  G 


466  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURK. 

tioiisliip  to  the  Greek  characters  and  the  alphabets  issuing 
from  them ;  but  they  were  not  derived  directly  from  the 
Greek,  but  rather  from  the  Latin  alphabet,  as  is  clear  from 
certain  peculiarities  mentioned  by  Kirchhoff,  Jessen,  and 
others.  By  the  Latin  alphabet  is  meant  not  that  used  in 
Eoman  public  inscriptions  at  the  close  of  the  Eepublic 
and  commencement  of  the  Empire,  but  the  Old  Latin  char- 
acter. And  yet  the  Old  Latin  character  is  not  the  imme- 
diate source  of  runes.  Runes  appear  to  he  a  system  of 
writing  constructed  in  the  century  immediately  preceding  the 
Christian  era,  among  a  South  German  race,  after  a  foriii  of 
the  Roman  character  which  the  Germans  adopted  from  one 
of  the  Celtic  tribes  that  dwelt  Clearest,  north  of  the  Alps. 
This  form  of  writing,  adopted  from  Keltic  neighbours,  had 
for  its  basis  a  very  old-fashioned  form  of  Eoman  writing ; 
which  form  of  writing,  however,  had — in  its  spread  north- 
wards among  the  ancient  tribes  of  Upper  Italy,  Gallia 
Cisalpina,  and  the  vicinity  of  the  Alps — become  modified  by 
the  influence  of  the  old  writing  formerly  used  by  these  tribes, 
but  which  had  been  superseded  by  the  Eoman  alphabet. 

The  old  character  Bugge  alludes  to  was  a  branch  of  the 
old  Transapennine  character,  the  North  Etruscan.  This 
North  Etruscan  character  is  shown  by  Theodor  Mommsen 
to  have  been  used  by  people  using  the  Celtic  language.  The 
above-mentioned  influence  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  runes 
often  read  from  right  to  left,  which  is  a  thing  originally 
foreign  to  Eoman  writing  proper.  Again,  the  use  of  three 
points,  one  above  another,  by  way  of  stops,  is  likewise 
foreign  to  Eoman  writing.  Again,  this  influence  is  mani- 
fest in  the  form  of  several  characters,  most  so  in  the  form 
of  the  rune  A,  which,  as  Weinhold  showed,  is  almost  iden- 
tical with  the  form  that  A  often  has  in  North  Etruscan 
writing,  e.g.,  in  the  Celtic  inscriptions  from  Todi  in  Um- 
bria,  and  from  No  vara  in  Gallia  Cisalpina,  and  also  in  the 
Salassic  coins  from  the  Alpine  region. 

In  another  tract  ^  Eugge    enters    at   length   upon  the 

1  De  ^Idste  Nordiske  Kuneindskrifters  Sproglige  stilling,  af  S.  Bugge, 
Copenhagen,  1870. 


BUGGE  ON  RUNES,  467 

burning  question  of  the  kind  of  language  in  which  these 
older  Eunic  inscriptions  were  written.  Here  (p.  28)  he 
observes,  "  The  oldest  Runic  language  is  the  oldest  known 
German  tongue,  besides  the  Gothic,  which  has  retained  the 
dual  in  the  verbs."  This  is  so  characteristic  a  peculiarity, 
that  it  at  once  enables  us  to  assert  that  this  rune  speech 
is,  next  to  Gothic,  the  most  antique  of  the  known  Old 
German  tongues. 

Bugge's  last  work  ^  is  an  explanation  of  the  runes  on 
the  door-ring  of  the  weapon-house  of  Forsa  Church,  in 
Helsingland  in  Sweden.  This  part  of  the  country  was 
first  evangelised  by  Steinfinn  (p.  46),  who  was  sent 
thither  by  Archbishop  Adalbert  of  Bremen  (1043-72), 
and  the  inhabitants  were  found  by  King  Swerrir  to  be 
good  Christians,  1178.  But  Maurer  has  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  English  missionaries  paved  the  way  for 
Christianity  in  Sweden,  though  not  in  Helsingland,  from 
the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  and  this  would  account  for 
the  fact  that  the  Swedish  tithe  was  not  apportioned  on 
the  same  principle  as  in  Germany,  but  was  divided  into 
three  parts,  as  it  was  in  England  —  a  custom  which  was 
also  introduced  into  Helsingland  after  Steinfinn's  days. 
The  population  of  this  distant  region,  however,  always 
made  a  difficulty  about  these  imposts,  which  led  to  several 
Papal  rescripts  on  the  subject.  These  are  to  be  found  in 
the  "  Diplomatarium  Suecicum." 

And  sure  enough,  on  this  identical  ring  there  is  now 
found  to  be  engraved  a  warning  by  the  authorities  about 
paying  tithes,  and  an  authoritative  recital  of  the  fines  to 
be  levied  on  a  defaulter,  which,  in  case  of  a  thrice-repeated 
omission  to  pay,  amounted  to  all  his  substance.  The  date, 
judging  from  the  language,  is  fixed  by  Bugge  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  twelfth  century,  though  the  shape  of  the  runes, 
which  is  akin  to  that  of  the  strange  Helsing  runes,  points 
to  an  earlier  date. 

But  the  main  interest  attaching  to  tlic  runes  consists 

^  Rune-Indskriften  paaEingen  i  Forsa  Kirke,  af  S.  Bugge,  Christiania,  1877. 


468  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURE. 

in  this :  that  here  on  a  church-door  ring — which  rings, 
according  to  some  antiquaries,  are  historic  continuations  of 
tlie  rings  fixed  in  the  doors  of  the  heathen  temples — we 
liave  in  runes  the  oldest  preserved  original  copy  of  a  legal 
enactment  (p.  53,  ibid.).  A  legend  attaches  to  the  ring, 
which  shows  what  a  hold  these  mysterious  letters  graved 
upon  it  had  upon  the  popular  imagination  centuries  ago. 
The  recital  of  it  may  perhaps  prove  a  little  relief  to  some 
of  our  readers,  after  this  erudite  discussion  on  runes. 

"  Two  Jotuns  (giants),  Blacke  and  Fatte  by  name,  who 
dwelt  the  one  north  and  the  other  west  of  the  great  howe, 
agreed — perhaps  on  the  same  principle  as  the  devil  will  at 
times  quote  Scripture — to  build  a  church  together  there 
for  their  own  use ;  and,  to  give  the  requisite  finish  to  the 
work,  they  had  the  identical  runic  ring,  of  about  a  foot's 
breadth,  smithied  and  fixed  in  the  church  door.  Tliey 
both  attended  church  with  a  regularity  quite  worthy  of 
modern  imitation.  But  Blacke  having  far  the  longest 
way  to  come,  it  was  agreed  that  the  last  bell  should  not 
begin  till  he  was  seen  topping  the  hill  just  by  the  church. 
For  a  space,  Fatte,  who  lived  much  nearer  the  church, 
stuck  to  the  compact,  but  later  on  he  broke  it,  and  one 
Christmas  morning  he  had  the  folks  rung  in  before  Blacke 
appeared.  When  Blacke  arrived  service  had  begun,  at 
which  he  got  into  a  rage  and  would  not  go  inside.  And 
what  should  he  do  but  wrench  off  the  door-ring,  bind  it  to 
his  horse's  tail,  and  ride  away ;  at  the  same  time  making 
a  vow  that  wherever  the  ring  chanced  to  drop,  there  he 
would  build  a  church  for  himself.  In  his  course  he  rode 
through  the  rapids  in  the  river  north  of  the  place  where 
Forsa  Church  stands.  On  reaching  the  opposite  shore,  his 
steed  shook  himself  to  get  rid  of  the  water,  when  down 
dropped  the  ring  from  his  tail ;  and  upon  this  very  spot 
Blacke  built  Forsa  Church,  and  fixed  in  the  door  the  ring 
from  Hog." 

In  the  above  short  notice  of  some  of  this  author's  Runic 
writings,  it  was   impossible   to  give  more  than  a   faint 


THORSEM  ON  NON-MONUMENTAL  RUNES.     469 

notion  of  the  critical  ingenuity  which  he  has  brought  to 
bear  on  a  most  recondite  subject. 

It  will  be  seen  that  his  views  differ  most  essentially 
from  those  of  Stephens.  Of  course  we  had  nothing  to  do 
in  the  matter  but  to  report  progress.  "  Adhuc  sub  judice 
lis  est."  Fresh  finds  of  Eunic  monuments  will  doubtless 
throw  fresh  light  on  the  subject. 

Since  writing  the  above,  another  work,  by  Professor  G. 
Thorsen,  has  reached  us,  entitled  "  The  Use  of  Eunes  other 
than  on  Monuments."  ^  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  preface  of 
some  hundred  pages  to  the  facsimile  of  a  whole  volume 
written  in  runes.  This  unique  and  very  beautiful  speci- 
men of  Eunic  writing  is  shown  by  the  author  to  date  from 
six  centuries  ago,  at  least  the  earlier  MS.,  for  it  is  not  all 
by  one  hand.  This  first  part,  which  on  good  grounds  he 
assigns  to  the  last  quarter  of  the  thirteenth  century,  con- 
tains the  Scanian  law,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  of  King 
Waldemar  II.  (died  1241),  i.e.,  the  law  for  Scania,  now  the 
southernmost  province  of  Sweden,  but  which  in  those  days, 
and  long  after,  belonged  to  the  Danish  crown.  The  lan- 
guage is  Old  Danish,  very  different,  as  may  be  imagined, 
from  the  modern  tongue.  Here,  then,  we  have  one  of  those 
ancient  Danish  codes  about  which  Sir  H.  Spelman  made 
such  searching  inquiry  of  Worm.  The  second  part  of  the 
book  is  by  a  later  hand,  about  1300,  and  contains  two  Jlists 
of  Danish  kings,  among  whom  appears  Hamlet,  and  an 
account  of  the  ancient  frontier  ^  between  Sweden  and  Den- 
mark. A  word  here  on  the  history  of  the  MS.  From  an 
autograph  on  the  title-page  we  learn  tliat  the  widow  of 
Sitzel  Goi  gave  it,  in  1569,  to  the  honourable  man  Peter 
Seurensen  (Severini),  Canon  of  Viborg,  and  physician  to 
the  King  of  Denmark.  An  injunction  is  added  by  her  in 
runes  that  he  was  never  to  part  with  it.      True  to  her 

1  Om  Runernes  Brug  til  Skriffc  udenfor  det  Monumentale,  af  P.  G.  Thor- 
sen, Kjiibenliavn,  1877,  to  which  is  appended  Codex  Kunicus. 

■■^  This  was  marked,  and  is  to  the  present  day,  by  heaps  of  stones  placed 
at  intervals,  called  K6s  =  ' raise,'  Old  English,  as  Dunmail  '  Kaise,'  near 
Ambleside, 


470  ICELANDIC  LITERA  TURE. 

bidding,  he  kept  it  through  life,  and  at  his  death  it  passed 
to  his  SOD,  who  was  equally  tight-fisted,  although  plied 
by  the  great  Danish  antiquary  Ole  Worm,  the  friend  of 
Casaubon  and  correspondent  (see  above)  of  Sir  H.  Spel- 
man,  to  let  him  have  a  sight  of  it.  But  on  the  death  of 
Severini,  junior,  Worm,  to  his  immense  delight,  obtained 
possession  of  the  treasure.^  His  handwriting  is  on  the  first 
page.  "  Nunc  optimo  jure  vendicat  Olaus  Wormius."  On 
his  death  Worm  left  it  to  his  son  William,  who  left  it  to 
the  Borck  Library  at  Copenhagen.  It  was  here,  perhaps, 
that  it  became  known  to  Hickes  through  the  Danish 
ambassador,  who  copied  the  Runic  alphabet,  "  ex  legibus 
Scanise  MSS.,"  in  his  "  Thesaurus  "  (1702-5),  tab.  i.  While 
lying  on  the  shelves  of  the  Borck  Library  it  was  lent  out 
to  Arne  Magnusson,  the  renowned  collector  of  Icelandic 
MSS.  It  Avas  in  his  possession  at  the  great  fire  of  Copen- 
hagen (1728),  which  destroyed  very  few  of  his  own  parch- 
ments, but  annihilated  the  Worm  and  Borck  Libraries. 
By  good-luck,  as  we  have  seen,  the  book  was  not  in  either 
of  these  collections,  and  so  escaped  destruction.  Two 
years  later  A.  Magnusson  died  (1730),  leaving  all  his 
MSS.  and  all  his  property  to  Copenhagen  University. 
This  MS.  was  found  among  his  effects,  and  so  passed  with 
the  rest — no  questions  being  asked — to  the  University. 
It  is  at  length  safe  for  all  time,  having  been  reproduced  in 
facsimile  by  the  trustees  of  the  Magnusson  bequest. 

Thorsen  (23)  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  use  of 
runes  is  first  mentioned  by  Venantius  Fortunatus  in  the 
sixth  century,  not,  as  stated  in  Is.  Diet.,  by  Martianus 
Capella.  His  words  are,  "  Barbara  fraxineis  pingatur 
runa  tabellis.  Quodque  papyrus  agit  virgula  plana  valet." 
Hrabanus  Maurus,  in  the  ninth  century,  in  giving  the 
letters  of  the  Eunic  alphabet,  says, "  Cum  quibus  (Dani)  car- 
mina  incantationes  que  et  divinationes  significare  solent." 

We  all  remember  "  the  sealed  letters  "  which  in  Shake- 

1  See  his  letter  to  J.  Terceyjus,  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Paris,  Jan- 
uary 24,  1628. 


THORSEN  ON  NON-MONUMENTAL  RUNES.     471 

speare  are  sent  to  England  by  Hamlet's  treacherous  uncle  ; 
but  in  Saxo  they  are  "  letters  carved  on  wood  "  {i.e.,  runes), 
"  for  this,"  he  adds,  "  was  in  days  of  yore  a  celebrated 
method  of  writing."  ^  It  is  quite  a  mistake,  says  Thorsen, 
to  suppose,  as  some  have  done,  that  runes  were  never  used 
for  any  other  purposes  than  those  of  simple  monumental 
inscriptions,  or  brief  legends  on  weapons,  sacrificial  vessels, 
drinking-cups,  &c.  The  very  title  of  this  tractate  shows 
the  contrary.  With  the  entrance  of  the  Christian  religion 
into  Iceland,  about  the  year  1000,  it  is  further  supposed 
that  runes,  like  the  heathen  gods,  became  obsolete.  It  is 
true  that  the  conversion  of  Denmark  to  Christianity  was 
the  first  step  to  expelling  runes  from  its  gravestones,  but 
they  still  continued  to  hold  their  own  throughout  the 
North  as  a  common  vehicle  of  writing  generally  to  a  much 
later  date,  while  in  Iceland,  runes  were  in  full  swing  till 
the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century.  Ari  Prodi's  history 
must,  says  the  author,  liave  been  written  in  runes,  as  well 
as  the  original  Gragas  and  the  genealogical  tables.^  For  we 
find  in  the  Prose  Edda  (10-12)  the  author  of  the  gram- 
matical treatise — conjectured  by  Egilson  to  have  been  Euna 
Gunnar  the  priest 3  (died  1193) — says  "he  has  composed  a 
new  alphabet  for  the  Icelanders  by  taking  all  the  Latin 
letters  which  seemed  to  suit  our  language  and  adequately 
represent  its  sounds."  And  he  further  says  "  he  constructed 
this  alphabet  in  order  that  people  might  be  able  better  to 
write  and  read  both  the  laws  and  genealogical  notices  or  re- 
ligious expositions,  and  also  the  very  learned  treatises  which 
Ari  Frodi  has  wisely  committed  to  paper  books."    Until  this 

^  Saxo,  Hist.  Dan.,  i.  145.  ed.  ^  " Before  the  invention  of  writing 
Miiller.  An  Icelandic  scald  of  the  Latin  letters  on  parchment  in  ink,  the 
eleventh  century,  Snael)j6rn  (cf.  Edd.  law  was  certainly  not  written  down 
Snorri,  A.  Magn.,  i.  328),  calls  the  sea  in  its  entirety.  But  this  inscription 
"  Hamlet's  churn,"  which  proves  that  proves  what  was  long  suspected,  that 
the  details  of  Hamlet's  story  were  in  heathen  times  brief  abstracts  of 
known  in  Iceland,  although  the  tale  laws  existed  in  runes."  —  S.  Bugge, 
itself,  the  basis  of  Shakespeare's  play,  "  Ringen  i  Forsa  Kirke,"  p.  53,  Chris- 
has  only  come  down  to  us  in  a  later  tiania,  1877. 

Danish    account,     i.e.,     Saxo's,     ii.         •'  So  Kgilson  conjectures,  rirfc  Thor 

133.  sen,  p.  8. 


472  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

time,  then  (about  1 1 50),  runes  was  the  only  writing  em- 
ployed ;  but  from  this  date  the  new  alphabet  of  the  anony- 
mous writer  of  the  grammatical  treatise  became  the  one  in 
vogue. 

In  the  third  treatise,  "Malfroeginnar  grund-vollr,"  i.e.,  the 
foundation  of  grammar  (Edda,  p.  62),  it  is  expressly  stated 
in  the  preface  (4-6)  that  there  were  sixteen  runes,  and 
that  Ari  Frodi  and  Thoroddr  Eunameister  used  runes. 
But  there  are  other  proofs,  at  an  earlier  period,  that  runes 
were  used  for  ordinary  writing  in  Iceland.  When  Egil 
was  inconsolable  for  the  death  of  his  son  (see  Egil  Saga, 
which  was  written  before  1200),  the  ready  wit  of  his  affec- 
tionate daughter  rescued  him  from  his  fearful  depression 
by  proposing  that  he  should  compose  a  dirge  to  his  memory. 
He  did  so,  and  she  WTote  it  down  from  his  mouth  in  runes 
on  a  piece  of  wood  (kefli).  This  "  Sonar  Torrek "  (sad 
loss  of  a  son)  was  twenty- four  stanzas  long  of  eight  lines 
each!  Again,  in  Grettis  Saga,  144,  Halmund  bids  his 
daughter  write  down  the  epic  he  composed  just  before  his 
death  in  runes  on  a  Kefli.  In  the  middle,  then,  of  the 
twelfth  century,  there  existed  a  mass  of  compositions 
written  down  in  runes  in  the  preceding  generation.  These 
the  many  Icelanders  Avho,  for  250  years  from  the  days  of 
Sweyne  Eorkbeard,  continued  to  frequent  the  Danish 
court,  brought  with  them,  and  Saxo,  the  Danish  Livy, 
who  lived  about  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  made 
great  use  of  them  in  the  writing  of  his  history,  as  he 
himself  expressly  states.^  Nay,  he  mentions  (lib.  iv.)  one 
of  these  Icelanders,  Arnoldus  Thylensis  (Arnold  the  Ice- 
lander), a  very  skilful  antiquary,  who  attended  Archbishop 
Absolon  on  his  journeys,  and  who  in  the  "  Skaldatal "  is  said 
to  have  been  on  a  visit  to  Denmark  in  those  days,  with  five 
of  his  countrymen.  The  last  of  these  Northern  visitors, 
Olaf   Thordason  Hvitaskald,^  nephew  of  Snorri,  did  not 

1  Saxo  says,  preface,  p.  8,  that  he  -  Hvitaskald  gives  an  account  of 

carefully    examined     these    thesauri  this  journey,  in  which  he  was  accom- 

historicarum  rerum,  hut  whether  they  panied  by  his  brother,  Sturla  Thor- 

were  in  writing,  or  delivered  to  him  darson,  in   the   Knytlinga  Saga,   p. 

orally,  non  liquet.  396. 


THORSEN  ON  NON-MONUMENTAL  RUNES.     473 

arrive  in  Denmark  till  1239  or  1240,  while  Saxo's  preface 
was  written  not  later  than  1208.  After  acknowledging  the 
assistance  thus  received,  Saxo  goes  on,  preface,  p.  1 1,  to 
say  that  the  Danes  used  to  write  the  deeds  of  their  ances- 
tors on  rocks,  e.g.,  Eunamo  in  Bleking,  where,  he  believed, 
Harald  Hildetand  had  his  father's  deeds  sculptured ;  also 
on  the  rocks  in  Bjarmeland  (1-9),  where  Lodbrog  was 
immortalised.  But  we  cannot  say  what  or  how  much  he 
got  from  these  stones,  many  of  which  have  vanished.  He 
had,  of  course,  like  Ole  Worm,  to  trust  to  the  explanations 
of  them  given  by  others.  Another  remarkable  proof  of  the 
non-monumental  use  of  runes  is  recorded  in  "  Biskupa 
Sogur,"  i.  435.  One  Ingemund,  a  priest,  was  wrecked  with 
others  on  the  Greenland  coast,  not  later  than  1 1 90,  and 
he  left  an  account  of  the  calamity  written  in  runes  on 
wax,  which  was  found  fourteen  years  after.  This  shows, 
says  Miiller,  that  he  thought  runes  would  be  best  under- 
stood by  mariners  who  chanced  to  find  the  tablet.  Again, 
a  very  notable  instance  of  the  use  of  runes  in  common  life 
is  afibrded  by  historical  facts  connected  with  the  death  of 
Snorri  (1241),  A  friend  sent  him  a  warning,  written  in 
runes,  of  the  plot  against  his  life  (Sturlunga,  ii.  241),  but 
he  was  unable  to  decipher  the  character,  and  so  lost  his 
life.  This  has  been  adduced  as  a  proof  of  how  little  runes 
were  understood  at  the  time ;  but  most  likely  the  runes 
were  of  a  recondite  character,  a  sort  of  cypher  of  which 
Snorri  had  not  the  key.  Such  runes  are  mentioned  by 
Sturla  Thordarson  as  having  been  twice  used  politically, 
in  1226  and  1240.  Of  this  nature,  we  may  remark,  are 
tree-runes,  so  called  from  each  character  resembling  the 
stem  of  a  tree,  with  branches  shooting  out  right  and  left. 
If  we  divide  the  sixteen  runes  into  three  sets,  the  first  set 
consisting  of  six  letters,  /,  u,  h,  0,  r,  k,  the  other  two 
sets  of  five  letters  each,  then  let  the  strokes  on  the  left 
hand  denote  the  set,  the  strokes  on  the  right  the  place  in 

the  set.     Thus  Nk^  =  a,  the  two  strokes  on  the  left  of  the 

stem  denoting  the  second  set,  h,  n,  i,  a,  s,  and  the  four 


474  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

strokes  on  the  right  its  place  in  the  set,  viz.,  fourth,  which 
is  a.     This  might  be  varied  by  bending  the  branches  on 

the  left  downwards,  thus  :     \^   which  also  =  a.     Some 

of  the  inscriptions  discovered  by  ]\Ir.  Farrer  at  Maeshow, 
Orkney,  were  in  tree-runes.  Mr.  Burton  has  recently 
endeavoured  to  show  that  the  Arabic  alphabet,  called  by 
the  Arabs  El-Mushajgar,  or  the  tree-formed,  explains  not 
only  tliese  branch-runes,  but  also  the  once  mysterious 
Ogham.^  Bind-runes,  i.e.,  interwoven  letters,  were  often 
affected  by  Eunists,  pretty  much  as  the  early  Christians 
used  as  a  symbol  for  Christ  the  Greek  letters  X  (=  cA) 
and  P  (=  r)  thrown  into  the  monogram  N^.  Then  there 
were  the  Helsing  runes,  used  in  Helsingia  Land,  a  northern 
part  of  Sweden,  which  have  no  perpendicular  stem,  and 
somewhat  resemble  in  this  the  Ogham  character.  It  was 
the  great  ingenuity  of  Magnus  Celsius,  A.D.  1694,  which 
first  discovered  the  key  to  these  enigmatical  characters.^ 
In  "  Sigdrifumal "  we  learn  that  runes  were  used  in  fourteen 
different  ways. 

Each  rune  had  its  name,  besides  its  letter  value.  Thus 
h  was  called  'horn '  (a  thorn),  of  which  word  it  was  the  ini- 
tial letter.  The  origin  of  these  names  is  not  known.  Per- 
haps the  name  had  no  more  to  do  with  the  letter  than  that 
it  began  with  that  letter ;  as  in  our  nursery  rhyme,  '  A  was 
an  Archer.'  Sometimes  these  runes  were  fancifully  inserted 
in  a  MS.  instead  of  a  word,  as,  e.g.,  in  "  Beowulf  "  (^passim), 

the  runic  mark  for  oe,   N/  i.e.,  '  ethel '  =  country. 

A  further  evidence  adduced  by  Thorsen  of  the  use  of 
runes  in  ordinary  writing  is  a  section  in  the  extant  edition 
of  the  "  Erostethingslov,"  probably  by  Hacon  Haconson, 
about  1244,  and  not,  as  he  supposes,  by  Magnus  Lawbet- 
terer,  where  it  is  enacted  that  "  if  the  defendant  is  not  at 
the  Thing,  the  injured  man  shall  write  his  name  down  in 
runes,  if  he  is  able  to  do  so."    This  is  important,  as  showing 

1  Athenaeum,  No.  2580,  p.  447. 
-  Lagerheim,  Litterae  Gotliicae  ab  Asia  Oriundae.     Lund,  1805. 


THORSEN  ON  NON-MONUMENTAL  RUNES.     475 

that  runes  -were  then  used  in  legal  proceedings,  and  the 
community  were  generally  supposed  to  be  acquainted 
with  tliem. 

In  twenty-four  of  the  Danish  ballads  mention  is  made 
of  runes,  but  never  as  a  method  of  imparting  knowledge, 
but  always  in  a  superstitious  sense.  '  To  cast  runes '  is 
the  phrase  for  throwing  a  four-sided  piece  of  wood  with 
the  names  of  persons  or  love  expressions  on  it,  though 
written  in  a  fashion  only  known  to  the  initiated.^  In  tlie 
ballad  "  Sir  Peter  and  Metelille'"^  (Grundtvig,  ii.  p.  325), 
the  knight  cast  runes  over  the  haughty  maid,  from  whom, 
though  he  pressed  his  suit  five  years,  he  never  won  a 
smile :  on  which  she  goes  after  him  over  the  sea. 

"  And  while  she  herself  steered  the  boat, 
Fair  Christel  pulled  the  o;ii-." 

She  arrives  at  his  castle,  and — 

"  Sir  Peter,  like  a  gallant  knight, 
His  troth  did  not  betray, 
For  -when  the  month  was  duly  past 
He  lield  his  wedding-day." 

A  passage  in  "Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  act  i,  scene 
I,  is  supposed  to  allude  to  runes — 

"Thou,  thou,  Lysander,  thou  hast  given  her  rhymes, 
And  interchanged  love-tokens  with  my  child."  ^ 

In  a  Jutland  ballad,  a  girl,  Pedar's  sweetheart,  lay  sick, 
and  wished  to  let  him  know  of  her  illness.  So  she  took 
two  doves,  set  them  on  her  lap,  and  inscribed  runes  on  the 
claws,  and  the  messenger  carried  the  message  safely  to  its 
destination — the  first  recorded  instance,  as  far  as  we  are 
aware,  of  the  use  of  a  carrier-pigeon. 

Again,  an  old  Swedish  traveller,  Pjornstahl,  in  his  "  Piesa 
til  Italien,"  &c.,  1 780,  says  that  in  the  Pibliotheca  Barberina 
he  saw  many  MSS.  in  runes,  which  were  unlike  those  gene- 

1  Thonsen,  p.  75.  -  Prior,  Danish  Ballads,  ii.  349. 


476  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

rally  used  at  home.  These  ruues  may  have  been  like 
tlie  stafkarla  Idr  sent  to  Snorri  (Sturl.  ii.  241).  The  idea 
of  the  connection  of  runes  with  magic  was,  in  a  later  age, 
of  course,  very  prevalent.  It  was  said  that  there  once 
existed  in  the  school  at  Holar,  in  North  Iceland,  a  runic 
volume,  Greyskin,  the  first  part  of  which  was  in  speech- 
runes  (ni;ilriinar),  and  might  be  studied  by  the  students 
with  impunity.  Even  though  they  read  it  their  souls  might 
be  saved.  But  the  older  part,  written  in  false  runes  (villu- 
riinar),  was  full  of  black  art  of  the  deepest  dye,  and  the 
master  warned  them  at  their  peril  not  to  look  into  it. 

Bede  (Hist.  iv.  xxii.)  tells  an  interesting  story  of  one 
Imma  who  was  wounded  in  battle.  After  lying  a  night 
and  a  day  unconscious,  his  spirit  revived,  and  he  managed 
to  crawl  away  in  search  of  friends,  but  fell  into  the  hands 
of  a  leader  of  the  opposite  party,  who  took  pity  on  him, 
and  had  him  cured  of  his  wounds.  Subsequently,  lest  he 
should  effect  his  escape,  he  was  fettered.  But  no  sooner 
was  he  bound  than  his  fetter  loosed.  The  real  reason  of 
this  miracle  was  this  :  The  captive  had  a  brother,  one 
Tunna,  Abbot  of  Tunacester,  who,  hearing  that  he  was 
slain,  repaired  to  the  battlefield  in  search  of  the  corpse. 
Here  he  discovered  a  body  so  exactly  like  his  brother's 
that  he  believed  it  to  be  his,  and  took  it  to  the  monastery, 
where  he  gave  it  honourable  burial.  This  done,  he  had 
constant  masses  sung  for  the  release  of  his  brother's  soul, 
and  this  was  the  reason  why  Imma's  fetters  were  loosened. 
The  King's  gesij?,  greatly  astonished  at  what  he  saw,  asked 
the  question  whether  he  had  any  of  those  charms  about 
him  ("literoe  solutorise,"  which  were  fabled  by  popular  super- 
stition to  set  captives  free).  Now,  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  ver- 
sion of  Bede,  generally  set  down  to  Alfred,  the  question  is 
altered.  "  He  asked  the  captive  whether  he  was  acquainted 
with  loosing  rhymes  (one  MS.  reads  '  runes '),  and  had  with 
him  the  stones  with  legends  inscribed  on  them  and  used  as 
spells,  and  whether  this  was  the  reason  why  he  could  not 
be  bound  ? "    This  clearly  indicates  the  use  of  magic-runes 


RASK'S  FATHER.  477 

at  the  time.^  This  reminds  us  of  the  tale  in  Suidas  of  the 
two  men  wrestling  at  Olympia,  a  Milesian  and  an  Ephe- 
sian.  The  first  would  not  wrestle  because  the  other  had 
bound  literce  ephesice  to  his  ankles.  But  the  dodge  being 
discovered,  the  charms  were  removed,  and  then  the  Mile- 
sian threw  the  Ephesian  thrice.  In  "  Havamal "  (clii.),  Odin, 
by  his  magic-runes,  can  make  the  fetter  fly  from  tlie  feet. 
To  return  to  Thorsen.  He  further  gives  instances  of 
Eunic  writing  having  been  in  common  use  even  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  Thus  the  daybook  of  Admiral  Mogens 
Gyldenstierne,  still  extant  (born  1485),  was  written  in  that 
character.  It  was  about  1560,  when  runes  w'ere  fading 
into  the  past,  that  the  learned  began  to  busy  themselves 
about  them  as  a  matter  of  antiquarian  interest,  Johannes 
Magnus  and  Olaus  Magnus  being  the  first  who  embarked 
in  this  study.  In  1561,  the  King's  chancellor,  Frijs,  gave 
to  Daniel  liogers,  the  English  ambassador  at  Copenhagen, 
a  Eunic  alphabet.  This  is  mentioned  by  Eonavius  Vul- 
canius.^  But  the  runes  were  not  the  runes  on  grave- 
stones, but  those  in  ordinary  use  in  1561.  Eunic  writing, 
however,  never  quite  died  out.  Nay,  it  is  recorded  by 
Ihre  and  Gotlin-"^  that  the  inhabitants  of  Elfdal,  a  parish 
in  Dalecarlia,  even  in  their  time,  retained  the  use  of  runes 
in  private  memoranda  and  messages.  The  reader  will  be 
interested  to  learn  that  the  great  philologer  Eask's  father, 
a  cotter  in  Funen,  a  poor  but  shrewd  man,  wrote  in  a 
book  belonging  to  him  his  own  name,  "  Niels  Hans  Chris- 
tiansen Easch,  Brendkilde,  1789,"  in  fluent  runes.  So 
his  son,  born  1787,  might  have  been  stimulated  by  the 
sight  of  these  runes  to  cultivate  in  himself  dormant  tastes 
lying  in  that  direction.  It  may  be  interesting  to  cite  here  a 
letter  by  Ole  Worm,  the  Danish  antiquary,  who  first  dragged 
runes  from  their  oblivion.    Writing  December  18,  1644,  to 

^  Alcuin,    writing  to    an    English  et  Lingua  Getarum  sive  Gotliorum, 

archbishop    (c.     800),     censures    the  Leyden,  1597. 

'ligaturse,'  phylacteries,  worn  by  the  •*  De  Huiiarum   in  Suecia  Otcasu, 

English. — Mon.  Alcuin.,  721.  I773- 

-   Vide  Appendix  to  his  De  Litteris 


47S  ICELANDIC  LITER  A  TURE. 

Naiidti'iis,  librarian  of  Cardinal  ]\Iazarin,  who  was  anxious 
to  have  some  specimens  of  Eunic  books,  he  explains  the 
paucity  of  them  as  follows  : — "  Books  written  in  Eunic  are 
very  rarely  to  be  met  with  ;  the  reason  of  which  is,  that 
the  first  Cliristian  missionaries,  being  utterly  ignorant  of 
our  characters,  to  avoid  the  twofold  labour  of  first  learning 
these  and  then  teaching  the  people,  tried  their  best  to  do 
away  with  them,  pronouncing  runes  to  be  connected  with 
the  black  art,  and  trying  to  make  the  credulous  believe 
it  was  a  mark  of  impiety  to  have  aught  to  do  with  such 
books.    Hence  they  were  condemned  to  the  flames,  and  in 
their  place  were  substituted  books  such  as  we  now  possess. 
So  rare,  indeed,  are  the  extant  specimens  of  Eunic  litera- 
ture, that  I  cannot  remember  to  have  met  with  more  than 
two  codices  in  that  character."     (W.  Epist.  p.  898.)     It  is 
true  that,  when  the  new  religion  came,  the  Church  autho- 
rities published  their  notices  in  Latin  and  in  the  Latin 
character.     But  that  the  new  clergy  were  not  so  univer- 
sally opposed  to  runes  is  proved,  says  Thorsen,  by  many 
Christian  Eunic  monuments.     On  a  tomb  at  Aakirkeby, 
in  the  island  of  Bornholm,  which  dates  from  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  century,  there  are  as  many  as  three  hundred 
runes,   along  with  scenes   from   Bible  history.      On   the 
other  hand,  when  some  mentioned  that  Saemundr  copied 
the  Old  Edda  from  runic  books,  Arne  Magnusson  (Vita 
Stemundi,   xiii.)    asserts    that   runes   were   only   cut   on 
wood  and  stones,  arms,  or  buildings,  and  that  Eunic  books 
were  a  mere  affectation  of  a  later  age ;  and  further,  that 
everything,  even  tlie  laws,  was  orally  preserved.      The 
researches  of  Thorsen  and  Bugge  have  shown  this  to  be 
incorrect. 

Since  the  above  was  written  a  new  theory  on  the  vexed 
question  of  the  origin  of  runes  has  been  started  by  the 
Eev.  I.  Taylor.^  Herein  he  states  that  the  Greek  colonies 
on  the  shores  of  the  Euxine  were  derived  almost  exclu- 

1  Greeks  and  Goths,  a  Study  of  the  Runes,  by  Eev.  I.  Taylor,  1879. 


/.   TAYLOR  ON  RUNES.  ^-jc) 

sively  from  Ionia  and  the  isles,  the  alphabet  of  which 
countries  has  most  similarity  to  the  runes  :  and  it  is  from 
this  source  he  derives  them.  The  modus  operandi  was 
this : — Greek  traders  pushed  up  the  Dnieper,  the  Borys- 
thenes  of  Herodotus.  On  it  they  would  meet  with  the 
Northern  Goths,  who,  in  the  second  century,  left  their 
early  homes  east  of  the  Vistula,  and  worked  southwards 
by  that  river,  which  was  the  great  highway  of  the  com- 
merce between  the  Baltic  and  the  Euxine,  the  very  route 
taken,  as  we  have  seen  above,  by  the  Varangian  Vikings 
in  later  times  on  their  way  to  the  Black  Sea.  The  Goths 
had  thus  become  acquainted  with  the  form  of  Greek 
■writing  used  by  these  Greeks,  and  from  it  they  would 
construct  the  Eunic  alphabet.  A  portion  of  these  Goths 
had  migrated  across  the  Baltic  before  the  time  of  Ptolemy, 
150  B.C.,  while  the  residue  remained  south  of  it,  and 
occupied  the  north  of  Eussia,  east  of  the  Vistula,  with  the 
present  Grodno,  Minsk,  and  Volhynia  for  their  southern 
limit,  before  they  commenced  their  great  historical  migra- 
tion down  the  valley  of  the  Dnieper.  Not  long  ago  a 
spear-head  inscribed  with  old  runes  was  found  on  the 
banks  of  the  Privet,  an  affluent  of  the  Dnieper. 


(     48o    ) 


CHAPTEE  XXIX. 


CONCLUSION. 


In  tlie  above  pages  we  have  endeavoured  to  institute  a 
comparison  —  necessarily  very  imperfect  —  between  the 
extant  remains  of  Saxon  and  Scandinavian  literature  in 
their  chief  branches.  As  Englishmen,  each  of  us  natu- 
rally yearns  towards  that  which  must  be  called  his  mother 
tongue — the  Old  English — the  speech  of  our  great  King, 
who  has  been  pronounced  to  be  the  greatest  and  purest 
character  in  history.  By  its  power  and  range,  its  simpli- 
city and  beauty,  it  well  deserves  our  admiration.  In  its 
affluence  of  words  to  interpret  the  most  serious  operations 
of  the  mind  it  is  pre-eminent.  But  this  very  fact  indi- 
cates that  leaning  towards  the  didactic  and  philosophical 
which  stamped  the  Saxon  spirit.  To  a  modern,  this  some- 
what solemn  style  is  apt  to  be  oppressive.  We  long  to 
escape  out  of  the  stuffy  lecture-room  into  the  fresh  air. 
But  the  Northern  tongue  is  no  less  admirable ;  nay,  more 
so.  In  form  and  vocabulary  it  is  one  of  the  finest  and 
most  copious  languages  known.  Its  words  are  cut  out 
sharply,  a  single  one  sometimes  containing  a  picture ;  the 
grammar  short  and  handy,  its  system  of  inflections  carried 
out  without  flagging,  more  so  than  in  Anglo-Saxon,  although 
there  are  writers  who  erroneously  state  the  contrary ;  the 
sentences  simple,  full  of  nerve  and  pith,  and  straight  to 
the  point.  And  so  versatile  was  the  Scandinavian  pen, 
that  it  touched  nearly  every  species  of  composition  then 
known,  grave  and  gav  alike,  and  seldom  failed.     Look  at 


HABENT  SUA   FATA  LIBELLI.  481 

the  lively  way  in  which  a  tale  is  told,  and  the  salient 
points  instinctively  seized  upon  by  the  narrator,  the  very 
points  to  engross  all  our  interest.  So  that  the  Icelandic 
is  worthy  to  be  learned  for  its  own  sake.  Deep  lessons 
of  experience  in  human  affairs,  ever  varied,  are  there 
described  with  a  readiness  and  succinctness  truly  astonish- 
ing. The  court,  the  camp,  the  quarter-deck;  the  Great 
Parliament  and  the  Provincial  Things ;  the  hall,  the  bou- 
doir, the  cottage — quicquid  agunt  homines  —  the  hopes 
and  fears,  the  scheming,  the  main  principles  influencing 
human  life  at  all  these  centres,  are  there  exliibited. 

There  may  have  been  a  deep  romance  in  the  national 
life  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  but  all  that  can  be  said  is,  that 
there  is  not  much  trace  of  it  in  their  extant  literature. 
Without  wishing  to  be  too  critical,  we  must  confess  that 
the  personages  we  are  introduced  to  partake  sometimes  of 
the  character  of  the  lay  figure.  Cartloads  of  Old  English 
mythical  and  heroic  epics,  finished  histories  in  the  ver- 
nacular, heaps  of  pieces  teeming  with  sprightly  humour, 
with  vivid  portraiture,  with  precious  touches  of  nature, 
may  or  may  not  have  been  destroyed  by  the  Danes,  by 
the  Normans  in  their  contempt  for  everything  Anglo- 
Saxon,  by  insensate  scribes  in  want  of  vellum — who 
scraped  out  things  of  beauty  to  make  room  for  their  own 
doting  effusions,  or  pasted  the  leaves  of  MSS.  together  to 
make  bindings — by  the  Pieformers,  by  the  Eoundheads,  by 
fire,  by  crass  folly. 

The  dangers  and  vicissitudes  to  which  precious  MSS. 
were  subject  in  those  days  of  foray  and  buccaneering  were 
doubtless  great,  as  is  illustrated  by  the  following.^  In  the 
Eoyal  Library  at  Stockholm  is  a  MS.  of  the  four  Gospels, 
richly  illuminated  and  written  in  letters  of  gold.  It  is 
an  old  italic  version,  apparently  of  Irish  workmanship, 
and  executed,  perhaps  at  the  monastery  of  Bobbio,  not 
later  than  the  sixth  or  beginning  of  the  seventh  century. 

^  Malmesbury  relates  how  Aldhelm  iii  a  storm  at  Dover  miraculously  saved, 
a  vessel  contaiuing  a  copy  of  the  Gospels,  when  the  sailors  let  him  huve  it  at 
Lis  own  price.     Gest.  Pontiff,  Rolls  ed.  376. 

2   II 


482  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

Ill  tlic  year  1690  tliis  MS.  was  found  by  Sparvenfelt 
at  Madrid  (not  Mantua),  and  by  liira  given  to  the  Lib- 
rary.^ But  this  book  at  one  time  belonged  to  Christ  Church, 
Canterbury.  This  fact  is  attested  by  a  deed  of  gift  in 
the  Old  South  English  dialect,  written  at  the  top  and 
bottom  of  page  11,  wherein  Alfred  Aldorman  (Earl)  and 
Werburg  his  wife,  having  got  this  book  from  a  heathen 
war-troop  in  exchange  for  pure  gold,  do,  for  their  souls' 
behoof,  and  because  they  are  unwilling  that  this  holy  book 
should  longer  abide  in  heathenesse,  present  the  same  to 
the  Brotherhood  of  Christ  Church.  The  deed  of  gift  must 
have  dated  earlier  than  871,  It  is  interesting  to  iind  the 
pious  donor  identified  by  Stephens  with  the  Alfred,  a  rich 
nobleman  of  Surrey  in  the  days  of  King  Alfred,  whose 
will  is  printed  by  Mr.  Kemble,  which  will  is  witnessed 
by  Archbishop  Ethelred  or  iEdered.^  A  similar  book 
containing  the  four  Gospels,  written,  like  Ulfilas'  Gothic 
Gospels,  on  purple  vellum,  but  in  golden  instead  of  silver 
letters,  and  bound  in  silver  gilt,  has  also  escaped  every 
peril,  and  is  now  deposited  in  the  British  Museum.  This 
is  the  Lindisfarne  Gospels,^  which,  on  the  approach  of 
the  Danes,  875,  was  carried  off  by  the  monks.  Still, 
making  every  allowance  for  "  Time's  effacing  fingers,"  and 
for  accidents  of  every  kind,  we  are  bound  to  judge  by 
what  we  see  and  not  by  what  we  do  not  see.  And  what 
we  do  see  is  a  thing  of  shreds  and  patches.*  And  with 
these  fully  before  him,  an  American  critic  of  some  emi- 
nence. Marsh,  asserts  "  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  we 
have  not  the  best  Anglo-Saxon  w^orks  surviving."  Saxon 
literature  may  have  been  splendid,  but  this  can  only  be 

1  Vide  "Codex  Aureus,  sive  quat-  Piusliworth)  versions  synoptically  ar- 
tuor  Evangelia  ante  Hieronymum  ranged,  planned  by  Kemble,  and  now 
Latine  translata."  Ed.  J.  Belsheini,  finished  by  Professor  Skeat,  Cam- 
Christianise,  1878.  See  "  Wtstwood'a  bridge  University  Press. 
Facsitniles,"  &c.  4  "  Henry  of  Huntingdon  shows  a 
"  Codex  Diplom  ,  vol.  ii.  p.  120.  remarkable  acquaintance  wichAnglo- 
"  Published  by  the  Surtees  Society.  Snxon  authorities  now  lost.''  Kemble, 
Cf.  The  Four  Gospels  in  Anglo-Saxon  Saxons,  ii.  220. 
and  Northumbrian  (Lindisfarne  and 


SOUGH  OF  THE  ERNE.  48  3 

surmised.  And  if  we  do  find  in  what  remains  to  us  au^ht 
of  heathen  vigour,  of  picturesqueness,  of  intensity,  it  often 
smacks  so  shrewdly  of  the  Old  Norse  that  we  might 
almost  say  it  was  borrowed  from  thence.  The  wan 
raven,  the  lank  wolf,  the  sallow-plumaged  eagle,  hasting 
to  the  battlefield,  ready  to  feast  upon  the  corpses  of  the 
fey  warriors,  is  at  home  both  among  Saxons  and  North- 
men. So  is  the  song  and  the  story  at  the  feast,  and  the 
beauteous  lady  handing  round  the  twisted  beaker.  But 
when  the  Earl  bursts  the  '  shieldburgh  ' — when  Beowulf 
wins  his  way  through  the  pursuing  nikkrs,  and  visits 
the  grim  depths  of  the  lake,  so  deep  that  it  took  him  a 
day  to  reach  the  bottom — when  his  borrowed  "  heir- 
loom" sword  (Hrunting),  adorned  with  inlaid  work  of 
interlacing  rings  on  the  hilt,  refuses  "  to  bite "  (bita), 
its  edge  being  turned  by  the  horrid  head  of  Grendel's 
dam — when  the  old  chief  dies,  and  is  borne  by  his  men 
to  the  sea-shore,  and  is  placed  on  the  ship  that  waited 
there,  close  by  the  mast,  along  with  his  armour  and  his 
treasure — all  alone  like  the  weird  mariner  of  Coleridge, 
who,  however,  was  not  dead  but  alive — and  then  the  ship 
is  shoved  out  into  the  trackless  deep ;  or  when  the  swart 
wood-reek  ascends  from  the  Swedish  pine  and  consumes 
the  corpse  of  Beowulf  at  Hronesnses,  and  his  people  raise 
a  mound  over  it,  and  on  that  a  beacon  overlooking  the 
sea,  to  be  a  mark  for  mariners  (Beow.,  6280) — surely  this 
is  Scandinavian  to  the  core. 

There  is  a  curiosa  felicitas  in  many  expressions  of 
the  Northern  Scalds,  which  wins  the  admiration  of  the 
least  sympathetic  student.  "  Arnsiigr  "  =  "  sough  of  the 
erne,"  is  the  fine  word  used  to  describe  the  rushing  sound 
caused  by  the  flight  of  the  eagle.^  An  eagle  truly  of  large 
dimensions,  for  it  was  the  giant  Thiazi  in  the  shape  of 
that  bird  pursuing  Loki,  wdio,  disguised  as  a  falcon,  had 
carried  off  the  captive  Iduna,  transformed  for  the  nonce 

1  Cf.  origin  of  the  wind.  Prose  Edda. 


484  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

into  the  sizo  of  a  hazel-nut.  Our  word  "breaker" 
is  well  enough,  hut  it  does  not  approach  to  "  hoSi "  = 
"  hoder,"  i.e.,  the  broken  water,  boding  the  hidden  rocks 
beneath. 

What  has  English  or  Anglo-Saxon  to  compare  in  pictu- 
resque grandeur  to  blaniasr  =  "blue  moor,"  which  a  Norse 
poet,  Ey  vindr,  the  author  of  the  "  Hakonarmal "  (a.d.  960), 
used  of  the  sea  ?  "  Out  on  the  blue  moor  "  is  still  used  by 
the  fishermen  north  of  Bergen.  See  Ivar  Aasen's  "  Glos- 
sary of  the  Norse  Provincial  Dialects." 

If  Anglo- Saxon  literature  is  useful  in  elucidating  the 
topography  and  the  antiquities  of  these  isles,  in  explaining 
our  proper  names  and  appellations  of  places,  in  illustrating 
our  provincial  dialects  and  local  customs,  of  Icelandic 
this  is  also  true.  And  how  could  it  be  otherwise,  when 
we  remember  that  Saxon  and  Scandinavian  were  both 
dialects  of  one  wide-spread  language,  from  the  days  of 
Hengist  downwards,  which  became  inextricably  blended 
during  the  contest  of  six  generations  that  preceded  the 
Conquest  ?  Numberless  forms  and  words  and  phrases  have 
thus,  as  we  have  seen,  come  into  our  modern  English  from 
a  Northern  and  not  an  Anglo-Saxon  source.  The  heaven  ^ 
above  us,  the  earth,  the  sea,^  the  ships  moving  thereon,  the 
tidal  phenomena,  the  features  of  natural  scenery,  reappear 
with  little  change  in  Scandinavia.  The  points  of  contact 
are  so  numerous  that  one  is  puzzled  which  to  select  in 
illustration.     In  our  hours  of  relaxation  and  social  merri- 

1  "Himinn'"  is  the  later  form  in  Testament  is  explained  on  the  ground 

Scandinavia,  but  "hifui"  occurs  on  that  the  heathen  conception  of  a  plu- 

the  Runic  stones,  and  "  hifna  kon^  "  rality  of  worlds  influenced  the  Chris- 

(the   king  of  heaven)   in   old  manu-  tian  writings. 

scripts.  The  mythic  origin  of  heaven  ^  jjut  the  Norseman  had  a  picture- 
was  the  vast  skull  of  the  giant  Ymir,  word  for  the  sea  besides,  "haf"  = 
heaved  aloft  by  the  dwarfs  (Old  the  heaving,  lifting  mass,whicli  seems 
Edda).  The  Anglo-Saxon  etymology  unknown  to  the  Saxons  ;  while  the 
(Solomon  and  Saturn)  is  that  it  is  so  ship's  "  keel  "  that  ploughs  the  waves 
called  because  it  conceals  from  view  was  a  native  of  the  country  which  is 
everything  above  it  (ufan).  Rather  split  midway  between  the  North  Sea 
a  poor  etymology  for  the  wise  man  and  the  Baltic  by  the  keel-shaped 
to  give.  The  fact  that  the  word  is  range  of  the  Kiolen. 
generally  in  the  plural  in  the  New 


CLAP  OF  THUNDER.  485 

ment  tlie  ISTortliman  is  still  at  our  elbow.  Our  "  toast "  is  a 
relic  of  Northern  heathenism,  but  with  this  difference  : 
we  drink  to  the  living,  they  drank  to  the  dead.  At  the 
funeral  feast,  the  wake,  where  the  parting  man  was  speeded 
on  his  way,  and  the  coming  heir  welcomed  to  his  father's 
high  seat,  a  memorial  cup  (minni)  was  drunk  to  the 
deceased.  At  the  funeral  of  a  king,  the  heir,  when  he 
rose  to  drink  this  toast,  placed  his  foot  on  the  footstool  of 
his  seat,  and  then  made  a  solemn  vow.  When  the  Danish 
Prince  Sweyn  "waked"  his  father  at  Eingstedt  in  Sea- 
land,  he  vowed  such  a  vow,  standing  in  the  midst  of  those 
Knights-Templars  of  the  North,  the  Jomsburg  Vikings, 
the  glasses  being  charged  to  the  brim.  The  memorable 
vow  ran  thus  :  "  Before  three  winters  are  over,  I  vow  to 
invade  England,  and  kill  or  drive  out  King  Ethelred,  or 
die  in  the  attempt."  Englishmen  have  cause  to  remember 
that  toast.  It  was  the  forerunner  to  the  great  Danish 
invasion  of  a.d.  994.^ 

On  the  other  hand,  expressions  quite  commonplace  in 
our  tongue,  in  the  light  of  the  Old  Norse  assume  a  weird 
significance.  Take,  for  example,  our  "  clap  of  thunder," 
which  in  Old  Norse  is  "reigar  hruma"  =  the  rumbling 
rattling  sound  of  chariot- wheels.  Here  we  are  at  once  tran- 
sported to  the  days  when  the  Norseman,  if  his  sleep  was 
broken  by  a  rattling  peal  of  thunder,  fancied  the  god  Thor, 
'•'  the  charioteer,"  was  driving  through  the  air,  "  flaming 
amazement"  through  this  nether  world.  So  surely  will 
words  interpret  the  past  history  of  a  people,  as  fossils  will 
unravel  the  vicissitudes  of  our  earth. 

We  have  also  shown  above  that  in  the  North  are  to  be 
found  the  germs  of  many  of  our  institutions,  and  it  is  to  our 
cross  with  the  Norsemen  that  we  owe  some  of  the  most 
pronounced  and  best  features  of  our  national  character, 
the  keen  (hvass)  eagerness,  the  resolute  coolness,  the 
"  last "  and  "  game  "  of  our  race. 

"Skill"  in  whatever  they  attempt  is  the  aim  of  lead- 

'  Fagrskinna,  c.  56. 


486  ICELANDIC  LITERATURE. 

ing  Englishmen.  And  this  word — if  not  the  thing  sig- 
niiied  by  it — came  from  Scandinavia. 

The  deep  majestic  stream  of  English  is  due  mainly  to 
the  blending  of  two  distinct  sources  :  the  one  impetuous, 
sparkling,  telling  us  of  its  home  in  the  mountains  of  the 
far  North;  the  other  slower,  statelier,  more  sedate  and 
measured  in  its  flow.  Shall  we  explore  this  and  not  that  ? 
Shall  we  follow  the  easy  route  that  winds  along  the  plain, 
and  have  no  heart  to  breast  the  steeper  path  % 

The  two  tongues  in  their  similarities  and  divergences 
illustrate  English  and  also  each  other.  Without  a  know- 
ledge of  the  Northern  literature  nobody  can  be  thoroughly 
furnished  for  the  study  of  our  mother  tongue.  The  words 
of  the  great  Danish  philologer,  Erasmus  Eask,  with  which 
we  close  our  work,  will,  for  yet  another  reason,  commend 
themselves  to  an  Englishman : — 

"  I  was  astonished  to  find  that  our  forefathers  had  such 
a  noble  language.  ...  I  do  not  study  Icelandic  in  order 
to  learn  statesmanship  or  the  science  of  war,  but  in  order 
to  think  like  a  man,  in  order  to  educate  my  soul  to  meet 
danger  with  contempt,  and  rather  leave  the  world  than 
budge  a  jot  from  principles  of  the  truth  of  which  I  have 
once  become  thoroughly  convinced." 


APPENDIX. 


THE  FIGHT  OF  FERDIAD  AND  CUCHULAIXD.i 

An  Episode  from  the  Ancient  Tale  in  Irish  of  the  Tain  I'm 
Chuailgne,  or  the  Cattle  Prey  of  Cooley. 

"  And  then  it  was  discussed  by  the  men  of  Eirin  wlio  should 
go  to  combat  and  do  battle  with  Cuchulaind.  .  .  .  What  they 
all  said  was,  that  it  was  Ferdiad,  for  they  had  learned  the 
science  of  arms,  bravery,  and  valour  with  the  same  tutors,  .  .  . 
Ferdiad  denied  and  declined  and  refused  those  messengers, 
and  he  came  not  Avilh  them,  because  he  knew  wherefore  they 
Avanted  him — to  fi!_dit  and  combat  with  his  own  friend  and 
companion  and  fellow-^iupil,  Cuchulaind,  and  he  came  not 
with  them. 

;.  "  It  is  then  Medb  sent  the  Druids,  and  the  Satirists,  and 
the  violent  exciters  for  Ferdiad,  that  they  might  compose  three 
repressing  satires,  and  three  hill-top  satires  for  him,  that  they 

1  This  is  an  episode  of  one  of  the  however,  is  wanting  in  that  book,  but 

inany  Irish  tragic  tales  (aideadh,  plur.  it  is  given  in  the  IJook  of  Leinster,  a 

Oitte,  whence  Rhj's  conjecturea 'edda'  MS.  of  1150  A.I).    It  is  pronounced  by 

to  be  deriveii).     The  events  recorded  O'Curry   to   be   an  example  of  true 

are   supposed   to   have  corresponded  Gaedlielic    poetry,    as    distinguished 

with  the  commencement  of  the  Chris-  from  the  inferior  modernised  legends, 

tian  era,  and  to  be  of  Pagan  charac-  The  admixture  of  prose  and  verse  re- 

ter.     The  original  poem  was  written  minds  us  of  the  Edda,  cf.  p.  331  above, 

down  by  St.  Ciaran,  the  founder  of  the  See  O'Curry,  "Manners  and  Customs 

Church  of  Clonmacnoise    (died  548),  of  the  Ancient  Irish,"  iii.  403,  sqi-/., 

and  copied  down  iu  the  Book  of  the  and  "Lectures  on  the  MS.  Materials 

Dun  Cow  (Leabhar  na  h-Uidhri)  by  of  Ancient  Irish    Uistory,"  Lect.  ii. 

Maelmuir  (died  1106).     This  episode,  p.  39. 


48S  APPENDIX. 

might  raise  three  blisters  on  his  face — shame,  l)lemish,  and 
disgrace ;  so  that,  if  he  died  not  immediately,  he  would  be 
dead  before  the  end  of  nine  days,  if  he  came  not  with  them. 
Ferdiad  came  with  them  for  the  sake  of  his  honour,  for  he 
prepared  to  fall  rather  by  the  shafts  of  valour,  gallantry,  and 
bravery,  than  by  those  of  satire,  abuse,  and  reproach.  And 
Avhen  he  arrived  he  was  received  Avith  honour  and  attendance, 
and  he  was  served  with  pleasant,  sweet,  intoxicating  liquor, 
so  that  he  became  intoxicated  and  gently  merry.  And  great 
rewards  were  promised  him  for  making  the  combat  and  the 
fight,  namely,  a  chariot  worth  four  times  seven  cumals  (cumal 
=  three  cows),  and  the  outfit  of  twelve  men  of  clothes  of 
every  colour,  and  the  extent  of  the  level  plain  of  Magh  Aie 
free  of  tribute,  .  .  .  and  Findabar  as  his  wedded  wife,  and 
the  golden  brooch  in  Medb's  cloak  in  addition  to  all  these."  ^ 

Then  comes  a  dialogue  between  Medb  and  Ferdiad  in  nearly 
a  hundred  vei'ses.     He  sticks  out  for  more — 

Ferdiad. 
"  I  will  not  accept  it  without  guarantee  ; 
For  a  champion  without  security  I  will  not  be. 
Heavily  will  it  press  upon  me  to-morrow, 
Terrible  will  be  the  battle. 
Hound  indeed  is  the  name  of  Culand  ; 
He  is  fierce  in  combat, 
'Tis  not  easy  to  withstand  him  ; 
Fearless  will  be  the  fight." 

Medb  offers  as  sureties,  for  the  performance  of  her  promises 
to  Ferdiad,  Morand  and  Carpri,  gods  or  mythical  personages,^ 
and,  in  a  piece  of  prose  which  follows,  Cuchulaind  is  forth- 
with informed  by  Fergus  who  it  is  that  is  to  fight  with  him 
early  the  next  morning.  And  a  verse  dialogue  of  eleven 
quatrains  ensues  between  the  two. 

Feudiad. 
"  O  Cuchulaind,  brave  in  battle  ! 
I  see  'tis  time  for  thee  to  arise  ; 

1  Medb,  the  queen  of  Connacht,  is  tened  with  a  brooch  of  gold  over  her 

thus  described  in  another  part  of  the  breast,  a  straight  ridged  slegh  or  light 

poem  :— "  A    beautiful,    pale,    long-  spear  blazing  red  in  her  hand." 

faced  woman,  with  long  golden-yellow  ^   gee    O'Curry's    "Manners    and 

hair  upon  her,  a  crimson  cloak,  fas-  Customs,"  &c.,  i.  p.  xxxii. 


APPENDIX.  489 

Here  comes  to  thee  with  anger 

Ferdiad,  son  of  Daman,  of  the  ruddj-  face." 

CUCHULAIND. 
"  Should  Ave  happen  to  meet  at  the  ford, 
I  and  Ferdiad  of  never-failing  valour, 
It  shall  not  be  a  separation  without  history  ; 
Fierce  will  be  our  sharp  conflict." 

"  Fergus  came  back  to  the  court  and  encampment.  Ferdiad 
Avent  to  his  tent  and  to  his  people,  and  told  them  that  he  was 
firmly  bound  by  Medb  to  give  combat  and  fight  to  six  champions 
on  the  morrow,  or  to  combat  and  fight  with  Cuchulaind  alono 
if  he  thought  it  easier.  .  .  .  The  inmates  of  Ferdiad's  tent 
were  not  cheerful,  happy,  or  in  melancholy  pleasure  on  that 
night,  .  .  .  because  it  was  not  possible  to  make  combat  or 
fight  with  Cuchulaind  on  the  Tain  B6  Chuailgne.  Ferdiad 
slept  the  beginning  of  the  night  very  heavily,  and  when  the 
latter  part  of  night  came,  his  sleep  departed  from  him,  and 
his  intoxication  had  vanished,  and  the  anxiety  of  the  fight 
pressed  upon  him.  And  he  commanded  his  charioteer  to  har- 
ness his  horses  and  yoke  his  chariot." 

"  Let  us  go  to  this  challenge, 
To  vanquish  this  man, 
Till  we  reach  this  ford — 
A  ford  over  which  the  raven  will  croak — 
To  battle  with  Cuchulaind." 

In  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  his  charioteer,  Ferdiad's 
horses  were  harnessed  and  his  chariot  yoked,  and  he  came 
forward  to  the  ford  of  the  battle.  ..."  Good  my  servant, 
spread  for  me  the  cushions  and  skins  of  my  chariot  under  me 
here,  until  I  take  my  deep  rest  of  repose  and  sleep  here,  because 
I  slept  not  the  end  of  the  night  through  the  anxiety  of  the 
combat  and  the  battle."  .  .  . 

"  The  history  of  Cucliulaind  here  now  T  will  tell.  .  .  .  The 
horses  are  harnessed,  the  chariot  is  yoked.  .  .  .  And  then  the 
battle-fighting,  dexterous,  battle-winning,  red-sworded  hero 
sprang  into  his  chariot.  And  there  shouted  round  him  Boca- 
nachs  .   .  .  and  demons  of  the  air.     For  they  were  used  to 


490  APPENDIX. 

set  up  their  shouts  round  him,  so  that  the  hatred,  and  the 
fear,  and  the  abhorrence,  and  the  great  terror  of  him  should 
be  the  greater  in  every  battle,  in  every  battlefield,  in  every 
combat,  in  every  fight  into  Avhich  he  went.  And  it  was  not 
long  till  Ferdiad's  charioteer  heard  the  noise  approaching,  the 
clamour,  and  the  rattle,  and  the  whistling,  and  the  tramp,  and 
the  thunder,  the  clatter  and  the  buzz,  namely,  the  shield  noise 
of  the  missive  shields,  and  the  hissing  of  the  spears,  and  the 
loud  clangour  of  the  swords,  and  the  tinkling  of  the  helmet, 
and  the  ringing  of  the  armour,  and  the  friction  of  the  arms, 
the  dangling  of  the  missive  weapons,  the  straining  of  the  ropes, 
and  the  loud  clattering  of  the  wheels,  and  the  creaking  of  the 
chariot,  and  the  tramping  of  the  horses,  and  the  triumphant 
advance  of  the  champion  and  the  Avarrior  towards  the  ford 
approaching  him.  The  servant  came  and  placed  his  hand  on 
his  lord.  '  Good,  0  Ferdiad  ! '  said  the  servant,  '  arise  ;  here 
they  come  to  thee  to  the  ford.'  And  the  servant  spake  these 
words  there — 

"  I  hear  the  creaking  of  the  chariot 
With  a  heautiful  silver  yoke 
And  the  form  of  a  full-growii  man  in  it. 
It  is  the  roll  of  a  warlike  chariot. 
Over  Breg  Ross,  over  Braine, 
They  come  over  the  highway, 
By  the  foot  of  Baile-in-Bile — 
It  is  gifted  with  victories. 

"  He  is  a  heroic  hound  who  urges  it, 
He  is  a  trusty  charioteer  who  yokes  it, 
He  is  a  noble  hawk  wlio  speeds 
His  horses  towards  tlie  South. 
He  is  a  martial  hero, 
He  is  (the  presage  of)  bloody  slaughter  ; 
Surely  it  is  not  witli  indexterity 
He  will  give  us  battle." 

Ferdiad  upbraids  his  servant  for  praising  Cuchulaind  and 
foretelling  evil  to  his  master,  and  a  dialogue  ensues,  in  which 
the  servant  does  not  abate  his  praises  of  the  enemy. 

"  I  see  the  champion  of  Cuailgne, 

He  runnetli,  and  'tis  not  very  slowly, 


APPENDIX.  491 

Fleet  as  wind,  not  with  difficulty, 
But  like  water  from  a  high  cliff, 
Or  like  the  rapid  thunder." 

"  Ferdiad's  charioteer  was  not  long  there  until  he  saw 
something,  the  beautiful,  flesh-seeking,  four-peaked  chariot, 
with  speed,  with  velocity,  with  full  cunning,  with  a  green 
pavilion,  with  a  thin-bodied,  dry-bodied,  high-weaponed,  long- 
speared,  warlike  Creit  (body  of  the  chariot),  upon  two  fleet- 
bounding,  large-eared,  fierce,  prancing,  whale-bellied,  broad- 
chested,  lively-hearted,  high-flanked,  wide-hoofed,  slender- 
legged,  broad-rumped,  resolute  horses  under  it  —  a  grey, 
broad-hipped,  fleet,  bounding,  long-maned  steed  under  the 
one  yoke  of  the  chariot;  a  black,  tufty-maned,  ready-going, 
broad-backed  steed  under  the  other  yoke. 

"  Like  unto  a  hawk  (swooping)  from  a  cliff  on  a  day  of  hard 
wind,  or  like  a  sweeping  gust  of  the  spring  wind  on  a  March 
day  over  a  smooth  plain,  or  like  the  fleetness  of  a  wild  stag 
on  his  being  first  started  by  the  hounds  in  his  first  field,  Avere 
Cuchulaind's  two  horses  with  the  chariot,  as  though  they  were 
on  fiery  flags,  so  that  the  earth  shook  and  trembled  with  the 
velocity  of  their  motion." 

Ferdiad  welcomes  Cuchulaind  across  the  ford,  who  upbraids 
him  for  breaking  their  bond  of  friendship  and  coming  to  fight 
him,  and  tells  the  fate  of  other  champions  with  whom  he  had 
fought,     Ferdiad  retorts  in  a  dialogue  of  seventy-two  lines. 

"  Dost  thou  remember  the  missive  weapons  we  used  to 
practise  with  Scathach,  and  Avith  Uaathlach,  and  with 
Aife?"  "  I  remember  them  indeed,"  said  Cuchulaind.  "  Let 
us  resort  to  them,"  said  Ferdiad.  They  resorted  to  their 
missive  weapons.  They  took  two  emblematic  missive  shields 
upon  them,  and  their  eight  turned  handled  spears,  and  their 
eight  little  quill  spears,  and  their  eight  ivory-hilted  swords, 
and  their  eight  sharp  ivory-hafted  spears.  They  used  to 
fly  from  them  and  to  them  like  bees  on  the  wing  on  a  fine 
day.  There  was  no  cast  that  did  not  hit.  Each  continued  to 
shoot  at  the  other  with  those  missiles  from  the  twilight  of  the 
early  morning  to  the  mean  mid-day,  until  all  their  missiles 
were  blunted  against  the  faces  and  bosses  of  the  missive 
shields.     And  although  the  shooting  was  most  excellent,  so 


492  APPENDIX. 

good  was  the  defence  that  neither  of  them  bled  or  reddened 
the  other  during  that  time. 

The}^  now  drop  the  javelins  and  select  other  weapons. 
"  To  thee  belongs  the  choice  of  arms  till  night,"  said  Cuchu- 
laind,  "  because  thou  hast  first  reached  the  ford."  "  Let  us, 
then,"  said  Ferdiad,  "  resort  to  our  straight,  elegant,  smooth, 
hardened  spears,  with  their  perfectly  hardened  flaxen  strings 
in  them."  "  Let  us  now  indeed,"  said  Cuchulaind.  And  it 
was  then  they  took  two  stout  protecting  shields  upon  them. 
They  resorted  to  their  straight,  elegant,  smooth,  hardened 
spears,  with  their  perfectly  hardened  flaxen  strings  in  them.     ' 

They  continued  to  shoot  at  each  otlier  from  the  middle  of 
mid-day  to  eventide  ;  and  though  the  defence  was  most  excel- 
lent, still  the  shooting  was  so  good  that  each  of  them  bled  and 
reddened  and  wounded  the  other  in  that  time.  They  now 
desist,  embrace,  and  give  each  other  three  kisses.  ' '  Their  horses 
were  in  the  same  paddock  that  night,  and  their  charioteers 
at  the  same  fire ;  and  their  charioteers  spread  beds  of  green 
rushes  for  them,  with  wounded  men's  pillows  to  them.  The 
professors  of  healing  and  curing  came  to  heal  and  cure  them, 
and  they  applied  herbs  and  plants  of  healing  and  curing  to 
their  stabs,  and  their  cuts,  and  their  gashes,  and  to  all  their 
wounds.  Of  every  herb  and  of  every  healing  and  curing 
plant  that  was  put  to  the  stabs  and  cuts  and  gashes  and  to 
all  the  Avounds  of  Cucliulaind,  he  would  send  an  equal  portion 
from  him  westward  over  the  ford  to  Ferdiad,  so  that  the 
men  of  Eirin  might  not  be  able  to  say,  should  Ferdiad  fall  by 
him,  that  it  was  by  better  means  of  cure  that  he  Avas  enabled 
(to  kill  him)."  On  the  morning  of  the  second  day,  Cuchulaind, 
to  whom  fell  the  choice  of  weapons,  selected  heavy  broad 
spears. 

Each  of  them  continued  to  pierce  and  to  wound,  to  redden 
and  to  lacerate  the  other  from  the  twilight  of  the  early  morn- 
ing until  evening's  close.  If  it  were  the  custom  for  birds  in 
their  flight  to  pass  through  the  bodies  of  men,  they  could 
have  passed  through  their  bodies  on  that  day,  and  they  might 
carry  pieces  of  flesh  and  blood  through  their  stabs  and  cuts 
into  the  clouds  and  sky  all  round.  "  Let  us  desist,"  said 
Cuchulaind  when  evening  came  ;  "  our  horses  are  fatigued  and 


APPENDIX. 


493 


our  charioteers  are  dispirited ;  and  when  they  are  fatigued, 
why  should  not  we  be  fatigued  too  ] " 

So  they  ceased,  with  embraces  and  three  kisses  each.  The 
steeds  were  placed  in  the  same  enclosure,  and  their  charioteers 
sat  at  the  same  fire.  The  professors  of  healing,  &c.,  found, 
after  careful  diagnosis,  that  their  occupation  was  gone.  "  They 
could  do  nothing  more  for  them  because  of  the  dangerous 
severity  of  their  stabs,  their  cuts,  and  their  gashes,  and  their 
numerous  wounds,  than  to  apply  witchcraft  and  incantations 
and  charms  to  them,  to  staunch  their  blood,  and  their  bleeding 
and  gory  mortal  wounds.  Every  spell,  incantation,  and  charm 
that  was  applied  to  the  stabs  and  cuts  of  Cuchulaind,  he  sent 
a  full  moiety  of  them  over  the  ford  westwards  to  Ferdiad. 
All  sorts  of  food,  and  of  palatable,  pleasant,  intoxicating  drink, 
that  were  sent  by  the  men  of  Eirin  to  Ferdiad,  he  would  send 
a  moiety  of  them  over  the  ford  northwards  to  Cuchulaind ; 
because  the  purveyors  of  Ferdiad  were  more  numerous  than 
those  of  Cuchulaind."  Next  day  Cuchulaind  reproaches 
Ferdiad  for  coming  to  fight  Avith  his  friend  as  before.  Fer- 
diad, having  the  choice  of  arms,  selects  heavy,  hard-smiting 
swords.  "  Each  of  them  began  to  hew  and  cut  down,  to 
slaughter  and  destroy,  until  larger  than  the  head  of  an  infant 
of  a  month  old  was  every  piece  and  every  lump  which  each 
of  them  cut  away  from  the  shoulders,  and  from  the  thighs, 
and  from  the  slioulder-blades  of  the  other."  They  played  this 
game  from  dawn  till  evening,  when  they  ceased.  No  inter- 
change of  civility  took  place  this  third  night.  The  horses 
were  not  in  the  same  enclosure,  the  charioteers  were  not  at 
the  same  fire. 

Ferdiad  rose  the  fourth  morning  and  put  on  his  armour, 
which  was  peculiar.  "  He  put  on  his  apron  of  striped  silk, 
with  its  border  of  spangled  gold  upon  it,  next  his  white  skin. 
He  put  on  his  apron  of  brown  leather  well  sewn  over  that  out- 
side on  the  lower  part  (of  his  body).  He  put  on  a  huge  stone 
as  big  as  a  millstone  over  that  outside  on  his  lower  part. 
He  put  on  his  firm  deep  apron  of  iron,  of  purified  iron,  over 
the  huge  stone  as  large  as  a  millstone,  through  fear  and  dread 
of  the  Gae  Bulg  on  that  day.  He  put  his  crested  helmet  of 
battle   and   combat  and  fight    on  his  head,   on  which  were 


494  APPENDIX. 

forty  gems,  carbuncles,  in  each  compartment.  .  .  .  He  took 
his  destructive,  sharp-pointed,  strong  spear  into  his  right 
hand.  He  took  his  curved  sword  of  battle  upon  his  left  side, 
with  its  golden  hilt,  with  its  pommel  of  red  gold.  He  took 
his  great,  large,  bossed,  beautiful  shield  on  the  slope  of  his 
back,  on  which  were  fifty  bosses,  upon  each  of  which  bosses 
a  full-grown  hog  would  fit,  not  to  mention  the  great  central 
boss  of  red  gold.  Ferdiad  displayed  many  noble,  varied, 
wonderful  feats  on  high  on  that  day  which  he  had  never 
learned  with  any  other  person,  but  which  were  invented  by 
himself  that  day  against  Cuchulaind." 

Cuchulaind  perceiving  this,  argues  no  good  for  himself,  and 
so  bids  his  charioteer  to  keep  him  up  to  the  mark  by  alter- 
nate praise  and  reproach.  Cuchulaind  having  the  choice  of 
weapons  this  day,  says,  "  Let  us  try  the  ford  feat."  Each 
began  to  shoot  at  the  other,  and  as  the  day  wore  each  drew 
nearer  to  the  other ;  and  Cuchulaind  sprang  from  the  brink 
of  the  ford,  and  lighted  on  the  boss  of  Ferdiad's  shield,  son 
of  Daman,  to  have  a  blow  at  his  head  over  the  rim  of  the 
shield.  Ferdiad,  however,  with  a  hitch  of  his  left  elbow 
against  the  shield,  sent  Cuchulaind  flying  like  a  bird  to  the 
brink  of  the  ford.  Nothing  daunted,  Cuchulaind  repeated 
the  manoeuvre,  but  Ferdiad,  striking  at  his  shield  with  his 
left  knee,  cast  Cuchulaind  like  a  little  child  on  the  brink  of 
the  ford.  Laeg  (Cuchulaind's  attendant)  perceived  that  act. 
"  Alas  !  indeed,"  said  he,  "  the  warrior  casts  thee  away  as 
a  lewd  woman  would  cast  her  child.  He  throws  thee  as  foam 
is  thrown  by  the  river.  He  grinds  thee  as  a  mill  would  grind 
fresh  malt.  He  pierces  thee  as  the  felling  axe  would  pierce 
the  oak.  He  binds  thee  as  the  woodbine  binds  the  tree.  He 
darts  on  thee  as  the  hawk  darts  on  small  birds,  so  that  hence- 
forth thou  hast  not  call,  or  right,  or  claim  to  valour  or  bravery, 
to  the  end  of  time  and  life,  thou  little  fairy  phantom,"  said 
Laeg. 

Then  up  sprang  Cuchulaind  with  the  rapidity  of  the  wind, 
and  with  the  readiness  of  the  swallow,  and  with  the  fierceness 
of  the  dragon,  and  the  strength  of  the  lion,  into  the  troubled 
clouds  of  the  air  the  third  time,  until  he  lighted  on  the  boss 
of  the    shield   of  Ferdiad,  son  of  Daman,  to  endeavour  to 


APPENDIX. 


495 


strike  his  head  over  the  rim  of  his  shield  from  above.  And 
then  it  was  the  warrior  gave  the  shiehl  a  shake,  and  cast 
Cuchulaind  from  him  into  the  middle  of  the  ford,  the  same 
as  if  he  had  never  before  been  cast  off  at  alL  And  it  was  then 
that  Cuchulaind's  first  distortion  came  on,  and  he  was  filled 
with  swelling  and  great  fulness,  like  breath  in  a  bladder,  until 
he  became  a  terrible,  fearful,  many-coloured,  wonderful  Tuaig 
(giant),  and  he  became  as  big  as  a  Fomor,  or  man  of  the  sea, 
the  great  and  valiant  champion,  in  perfect  height  over  Ferdiad. 

"  So  close  was  the  fight  they  made  now,  that  their  heads 
met  above,  and  their  feet  below,  and  their  arms  in  the  middle 
over  the  rims  and  bosses  of  their  shields.  So  close  was  the 
fight  they  made,  that  they  cleft  and  loosened  their  shields 
from  their  rims  to  their  centres.  So  close  was  the  fight  which 
they  made,  that  they  turned,  and  bent,  and  shivered  their 
spears  from  their  points  to  their  hafts.  Such  was  the  close- 
ness of  the  fight  which  they  made,  that  the  Bocanachs,  and 
the  Bananachs,  and  the  wild  people  of  the  glens,  and  demons  of 
the  air  screamed  from  the  rims  of  their  shields,  and  from  the 
hilts  of  their  swords,  and  from  the  hafts  of  their  spears.  Such 
was  the  closeness  of  the  fight  which  they  made,  that  they  cast 
the  river  out  of  its  bed  and  out  of  its  course,  so  that  it  might 
have  been  a  reclining  and  a  reposing  couch  for  a  king  or  for  a 
queen  in  the  middle  of  the  ford,  so  that  there  was  not  a  droj) 
of  water  in  it,  unless  it  dropped  into  it  by  the  trampling  and 
the  hewing  which  the  two  champions  and  the  two  heroes  made 
in  the  middle  of  the  ford." 

Such  was  the  terror  inspired  by  this  tremendous  contest 
that  the  horses,  women,  youths,  camp-followers  present  rushed 
away  pell-mell.  Meantime  Ferdiad  found  an  unguarded 
moment,  and  buried  his  sword  in  Cuchulaind's  body,  so  that 
his  blood  reddened  the  ford.  Upon  this  Cuchulaind  asked 
his  man,  as  the  last  resort,  to  give  him  the  Gae  Bulg.  "  The 
manner  of  that  was  this : — It  used  to  bo  set  down  stream  and 
cast  from  between  the  toes ;  it  made  the  wound  of  one  spear 
in  entering  the  body ;  but  it  had  thirty  barbs  to  open,  and 
could  not  be  drawn  out  of  a  person's  body  till  it  was  cut 
open."  The  servant  set  the  Gae  Bulg  down  stream ;  Cuchu- 
laind caught  it  between  his  toes,   and,   with  fatal  facility, 


496  APPENDIX. 

hurled  tliis  complex  harpoon  at  Ferdiad,  passing  through  his 
iron  apron,  his  millstone,  &c.,  and  filled  every  crevice  of  his 
body  with  the  barbs.     His  dying  words  are  truly  affecting — 

"  Hound  ^  of  tlie  beautiful  feats, 
It  was  not  befitting  thee  to  kill  me. 
Thine  is  the  fault  of  my  certain  ruin. 
On  thee  'tis  best  to  have  my  blood. 

"  The  wretches  escape  not 
Who  go  into  the  gap  of  destruction. 
My  voice  is  diseased. 
Alas  !  I  depart ;  my  end  hath  come. 

"  My  lacerated  ribs  are  bursting, 
My  heart  is  all  gore. 
Not  well  have  I  given  battle  ; 
Thou  hast  killed  me,  O  Hound." 

The  victor  now  carries  off  the  body  of  the  slain  in  prose ; 
faints,  and  falls  prostrate ;  and,  on  recovering,  pours  forth  a 
coronach  upon  his  friend — 

"  Dear  to  me  was  thy  beautiful  ruddiness, 
Dear  to  me  thy  comely  perfect  form, 
Dear  to  me  thy  grey,  clear  blue  eye. 
Dear  to  me  thy  wisdom  and  thy  eloquence,"  &c. 

The  body  of  the  slain  is  then  stripped,  that  the  victor  may 
see  Medb's  brooch,  for  the  sake  of  which  Ferdiad  undertook 
the  fight.     On  seeing  it,  he  commences — 

"  Alas  !  O  golden  brooch  ! 
O  Ferdiad  of  the  poet, 
O  stout  hero  of  slaughtering  blows. 
Valiant  was  thine  arm. 


"  Delightful  was  thy  fellow-pupilship  ; 
Beaming  noble  eyes ; 
Thy  shield  with  its  golden  rim  ; 
Thy  chess  which  was  Avorth  richer. 

1  "Is  thy  servant  a  dog?"  in  the  it  differently.     In  Anglo-Saxon  'the 

mouth  of  King  Hazael  would  indicate  noble  beast '  is  a  common  term   for 

that   in  the  East  'a  dog'  was   any-  a   young   brave,    "Beowulf,"  3904; 

thing  but  a  term  of  affection  or  hon-  while  the  Northern  warrior  rejoiced 

our.     The  Irish  seem  to  have  viewed  in  '  Jofurr '  =  a  wild  boar. 


APPENDIX.  497 

Thy  fate  by  my  hand 

I  feel  it  was  not  right ; 

It  was  not  a  friendly  consummation — 

Alas  !  O  golden  brooch  !  alas  !  " 

The  trusty  squire,  Laeg,  at  the  request  of  his  master,  "  who 
cannot  afford  to  be  without  his  weapon,"  now  proceeds  to 
extract  the  Gae  Bulg  from  the  corpse.  Having  completed  an 
autopsy  of  the  mangled  remains,  Cuchulaind  ejaculates — 

"  O  Ferdiad  !  sorrowful  is  thy  fate  ! 
That  I  should  see  thee  so  gory  and  pale  ; 
I  having  my  weapon  yet  luiAvashed, 
And  thou  a  blood-streaming  mass. " 

He  then  proceeds  to  describe  a  warlike  expedition  they  had 
made  together,  after  which  they  were  sworn  friends — 

"  We  pillaged  the  court  of  the  wily  German  ; 
Over  the  broad  sea  of  spangled  waters 
We  brought  the  German  alive 
With  us  to  Scathach  i  of  the  broad  shield." 

"  Let  us  leave  this  ford,"  exclaims  his  henchman,  Cuchu- 
laind still  keeps  magnifying  his  achievement.  All  that  he  had 
ever  done  before  was  mere  child's-play  to  this  last. 

"  Each  was  a  game,  each  was  a  sport, 
Until  Ferdiad  came  into  the  ford. 
The  lion  hery  and  furious, 
The  swelling  hideous  wave 
Threatening  destruction." 

Each  was  a  game,  and  so  on  for  five  stanzas,  ending — 

"  Yesterday  he  was  larger  than  a  mountain, 
To-day  there  remains  of  him  but  his  shadow." 

The  fate  of  Ferdiad  so  far. 

1  This  lady,  Scathach,  kept  a  military  college  in  Scotland,  iii,  402. 


2  I 


INDEX. 


"A,"  the  preposition,  442. 

"  Aage  and  Else,"  ballad  of,  279. 

Aakirkeby,  Runic  monument  at,  478. 

Aasen  Ivar,  326,  484. 

Abbo's  Life  of  St.  Edmund.  43. 

Abingdon,  Chronicle  of,  288. 

Acrostics,  Runic,  133. 

Adam  of  Bremen,  301. 

Adam's  name,  411 ;  the  materials  he 
was  made  of,  412. 

Adamnan,  his  Life  of  Columba,  42, 
208. 

Adelphius,  Bishop,  21. 

Adinus,  74. 

Adonis,  261. 

Adrian,  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's, 
Canterbury,  67,  181. 

M,  Anglo-Saxon  word  for  civil  law, 
397. 

^gelsburh,  290. 

^gelsford,  290. 

^gir,  287  ;  daughters  of,  ib. 

.Albert,  Arcbbisliop  of  York,  76. 

Alfred  Aldorman  and  Werburg,  482. 

^Ifric's  Easter  Homily,  3,  20  ;  Col- 
loquy, 16.5  sqq. 

jEschere,  116. 

^theldritha,  80. 

.iEthelhard,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 80. 

.^thelred.  King  of  Northumbria, 
exhorted  by  Alcuin,  80. 

^thelstan  the  Atheliug,  will  of,  110. 

Agrifola,  cf.  Tncitus. 

Ai  and  Edda,  399. 

Aidan,  28,  32,  38,  18.5. 

Aigulf,  the  Presbyter,  84. 

Albiruni,  202. 

Alcuin,  22;  reproves  Lindisfarne 
monks  for  singing  songs,  38  ;  cor- 
respondence of,  70  sqq.  ;  chief  of 
the  school  and  lil)rary  at  York,  76  ; 
hispoem,  "DeSanctis  Ebor.  Eccl.," 
76,  173  ;  his  Latin  History  of  St. 
Wilibrord,  76;  becomes  factotum 


of  Charlemagne,  77;  his  conun- 
drums, 78,  421 ;  dies,  84  ;  rebukes 
use  of  phylacteries  in  England,  476. 

Aldebert,  heretic,  74. 

Aldhelm,  "prince  of  native  poets," 
19  ;  his  Life  by  William  of  Malmes- 
bury,  67  ;  Abbot  of  Malmesbury, 
67  :  Bishop  of  Sherborne,  68  ;  liis 
letter  to  King  Geruntius,  08;  cor- 
respondence, 67  sqq.;  sings  ballads 
at  bridge-ends,  155 ;  thought  bj' 
Grimm  to  be  author  of  "An- 
dreas," 70 ;  paraphrase  of  psalms 
ascribed  to  him,  71 ;  his  shrine  at 
Malmesbury,  71  ;  became  stilted 
in  style,  153  ;  his  riddles,  421. 

Aldingar,  Sir,  439. 

Ale,  110 ;  "  is  another  man,"  432. 

Ale  and  beer,  452 

Alexander's  Saga  from  Alexandreis 
of  P.  Gautier,  370;  Alexander  III., 
Pope,  excommunicates  King  Swer- 
rir,  &c.,  352. 

Alfgeir,  126. 

Alfred,  King,  his  love  of  national 
songs,  19 ;  a  diligent  translator, 
24  ;  his  Boethius,  289  ;  and  Oro- 
sius,  24 ;  his  day-book,  26 ;  dis- 
guised as  a  minstrel,  57  ;  story  of 
the  cakes  appeared  first  in  Life  of 
St.  Neot,  62 ;  Asser's  Life  of,  62  ; 
His  mother,  Oslmrga,  63 ;  laws,  85, 
90  ;  Guthrum's  Peace,  91 ;  preface 
to  the  Pastoral,  184 ;  his  tower, 
397. 

Alfred  the  Ealdorman,  his  will,  93, 
113. 

All-Father,  257,  260. 

Alliteration  common  to  all  branches 
of  Teutonic  race,  87  ;  in  tlie  burial 
and  m;irriage  service,  151,  210. 

Aloft,  442. 

Alruna,  236. 

Althing,  or  Icelandic  Parliament, 
325. 


500 


INDEX. 


Alvismii],  453. 

Alvis  the  dwarf,  453. 

Amivlungs,  277. 

America  discovered  before  Columbus, 

25,  297. 
"  Americanse  Antiquitates,"297,  440. 
Amlo<li=Hamlet,  426. 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  177,  180. 
Anderida  =  Pevensey,  178. 
"Andreas,"  poem  of,  attributed  by 
Grimm  to  Aldlielm,  by  others  to 
Cynewulf,  138  ;  full  of  references 
to  Pagan  mythology,  139,  417. 
Andvari,  275. 
Anecdoton  Swerriri,  345. 
Angantyr,  388,  390  sqq. 
Angilbert,  Abbot  of  St.  Riquier,  82. 
Anglo-Saxon  Gospels,  ed.  Foxe,  3,  22; 
words,   beauty  and   force   of,  22  ; 
trades,  168  ;  Chronicle,  171 ;  legal 
and  ecclesiastical  documents  veiy 
numerous,  86  ;   lyric  poems,   145  ; 
poetry,  has  much  perished  ?  154. 
Anna  Comnena,  202. 
Apollonius,     "Pericles,     Prince     of 

Tyre,"  based  on  it,  154. 
Apostles,  Saga  of,  370. 
Apples  of  immortality,  258. 
Aquila,  alias  Arno,  78. 
Arculphus,    his   description    of    the 

Holy  Places,  42. 
Areson  Jon,  Bishop    of   Holar,  215 
sqq.  ;    beheaded,    219 ;    his   char- 
acter, 221, 
Ari    Frodi,    175,   296;    his   History 

written  in  runes,  471. 
Arinbjorn,  316. 
Aristotle,  454. 
Armagh  and  Clonmacnois  harried  by 

Vikings,  92. 
Arnesen's  Is.  Rettergang,  395. 
Arngrim,  Abbot,  371. 
Arno,  Bishop  of  Salzburg,  78;  sent 

to  convert  the  Huns,  83. 
Arnoldus  Thylensis,  472. 
Arnsugr,  483. 
Arthur,  King,  303. 
Article  sufiBxed  in  Northern  tongues, 

462. 
Asbjornsen,  161. 
Aser,  etymology  of,  240. 
Asgard,"'240. 

Ashdown,  battle  of,  109,  288. 
Asser's,  "Gesta  Alfredi,"  62. 
Asylum,  right  of,  90. 
Ath  Cliath  =  Dublin,  331. 
Athelstan's  laws,  94 ;    to  encourage 
sailoring,   ^7 ;    grant   to  Malmes- 
bury,  108. 
Atlamal,  385. 
Atli  lays,  255,  269. 


Attila,  277,  377. 

Attleburg,  159. 

Audunn,  409. 

Augustine  too  high-handed,  33. 

Austrvegr,  201. 

Avari,  Huns,  77. 

Badonicus,  Mons,  178. 
Baker,  Sir  S.,  450. 
Baldr  resembles  Christ,  156  =  Phol, 
161 ;  bis  death,  162,  243;  his  ring, 
280. 
Balearic  Islands,  193. 
Ballads,  Icelandic  and  Danish,  436 

sqq. 
Ball-plaving,  326, 
Ban7),  406. 

Baptism,  first  in  Iceland,  309;  legal 
enactments  about,  396,  408, 

Bar,  398. 

Barbarossa,  Emperor,  303. 

Bardney  Abbey,  37. 

Barefoot,  King  Magnus,  320. 

Barlaam  Saga,  370  sqq. 

Barleycorn,  Sir  John,  453. 

Baron,  399. 

Bartholinus,  Thomas,  235,  299. 

Bartsch's  "Gudrun,"  153. 

Beastiary,  Old  English,  147. 

Beast,  term  of  honour  in  Anglo- 
Saxon,  495. 

Beccal,  143. 

Bede,  27  sqq.  ;  called  "Frodi"  by 
Icelanders,  29;  why  called  "Vener- 
able," 29  ;  hisEccles.  History,  30  ; 
his  authorities,  30 ;  recites  Saxon 
hymns,  31 ;  wrote  in  Latin,  ib.  ; 
describes  the  conversion  of  Eng- 
land, 32  ;  quotes  Caedmon,  38  ;  his 
treatise  on  bleeding,  41  ;  his  Life 
of  Cuthbert,  45 ;  bis  Lives  of  the 
Abbots,  58 ;  tract  on  Tobit,  82  ; 
letter  to  Egbert,  101, 187;  De  Men- 
sibus,  209  ;  English  version  of  his 
History  by  Alfred,  476. 

Beefsteak,  444. 

Beer  and  ale,  452. 

Belsheim's  ed.  of  Codex  Aureus,  93. 

Benedict,  St.,  jElfric's  Homily  on, 
317. 

Benedict  (Biscop),  Abbot  of  "VVear- 
mouth  and  Yarrow,  79. 

"Beowulf,"  plot  of,  115;  his  death 
resembles  that  of  Thor.  121,  165 ; 
mythic  words  in,  285,  443. 

Bergthora,  274,  366. 

Berserker,  311,  335. 

Bersoglisvisur,  394. 

Beverley,  John  of,  miracles  by,  41 ; 
Folcard,  his  biographer,  41. 

Biarkamal,  299. 


INDEX. 


501 


Bjarraeland  runes  immortalise  Lod- 
brok,  473. 

Bjarnason,  J.,  "Leifar"  by,  334. 

Bjarni,  Erlingson,  439. 

Bidpar's  fables,  372. 

Bifrost,  242. 

Bil  and  Hiuki=Man  in  the  moon, 
440. 

Billiter  Street,  168. 

Biographies  useful  source  of  infor- 
mation, 44  sqq. 

Birds,  catching  of,  167  ;  language  of, 
262,  276  ;  in  Anglo-Saxon  and  Ice- 
landic poetr}',  318. 

Birkibeins  =  birchleg3,  Swerrir's  sol- 
diers, 346,  350. 

Biscop,  Benedict,  53,  75. 

Bishoj)  =  beadle,  i.e.,  preacher,  98; 
not  to  mutter,  ib.  ;  day's  work 
of,  ib.  ;  must  learn  handicraft,  ib. 

Bishops  in  Bede's  time  irreligious,  100. 

Biskupa  Sogur,  409,  473. 

Bladunum,  afterwards  called  l\Iai- 
dulfsbury,  now  Malmesbury,  67. 

Blacke  and  Fatte,  468. 

Blamser=the  sea,  483. 

Bleda  (Blodelin),  277. 

Bleking  runes,  473. 

Blood-drinking,  278. 

Boar's  head  at  Queen's,  442. 

Bocland,  107. 

Bodvar,  322. 

Bodi  =  a  breaker,  484. 

Boethius,  289. 

Boniface  alias  Wynfrid,  Archbishop 
of  Mayence,  71 ;  murdered  at  Doc- 
kum,  ib. ;  his  correspondence,  71 
sqq.;  interesting  letters  to  King 
Ethelbald  and  Archbishop  C'uth- 
bert,  75,  189. 

Booksellers  in  Charles  I.'s  time,  9. 

Borysthenes  =  the  Dnieper,  197. 

Bot,  or  compensation  for  injuries, 
87,  91. 

Boundaries,  names  of,  108  sqq. 

Bragi,  the  god  of  poetry,  386. 

Bragi,  the  old,  175,  239,  381. 

Brahma,  262. 

Breidabhk,  243. 

Brendanus,  66. 

Brian,  King,  328,  402. 

Briareus,  454. 

Britain's  fertility,  180. 

British  Christians,  the  earliest,  21  ; 
antipatliy  to  Saxons,  68;  Church 
suppressed,  69. 

Brokr,  426. 

Brunanburh,  battle  of,  122  ;  site  of, 
called  Vinheidi,  123  ;  the  author 
of,  126  ;  described  minutely  in 
Egil  Saga,  319. 


Brynhild  (al.  Sigdrifa),  267 :  suttee 

of,  269. 
Brynjolfson,  Bishop,  224. 
Bucge,  Abbess,  187. 
Bugge,  264,  299,  423,  443  ;  on  runes, 

465  sqq. 
Buddhist  legend  of  Sakya  Muni  in 

Norway,  372. 
Bulls,  Papal,  404. 
Burd  Ellen,  438. 
Bure,  J.,   first   to  write   on  runes, 

11. 
Burneta,   the  unknown  pet  bird  of 

St.  Hugh,  66. 
Bury  St.  Edmunds,  345. 
Byggvir,  453. 
Bylynsgate,  103 ;  tolls,  ib. 
By,    names    of    places    ending    in, 

446. 
Byrhtnoth,  Earl,  death  of,  127. 
Byzantine  influence  on  charters,  108. 

Caduceds,  cf.  Sleep-thorn,  262. 

"  Cwdmon,"  37  ;  the  so-called  poem 
of,  much  later  than  poet,  38 ;  he  be- 
comes a  poet  on  the  instant,  131 ; 
legend  of,  in  Iceland,  131. 

Csedwalla,  187. 

Camden,  his  fears  for  Anglo-Saxon 
literature,  3 ;  his  guess  at  etymo- 
logy of  Britain,  6. 

Canute's  laws,  86;  ballad  ascribed 
to  him,  127. 

Caj),  to,  451. 

Carpri,  488. 

Carr,  445. 

Case-endings,  Anglo-Saxon,  205. 

Cassiodorus,  182. 

Catalogue  of  pilgrims,  404. 

"Catechi.sm  font,"  102,  260. 

Cattle-stealers,  113. 

Celibacy  of  clergy,  407. 

Celtic  missionaries  first  evangelisers 
of  Germany,  132  ;  culture,  332. 

Christianity  in  Englanil,  181. 

Ceolfrid,  Abbot  of  Jarrow  and  Wear- 
mouth,  79,  186. 

Chalice,  materials  of,  100. 

Chalons,  battle  of,  278. 

Chambers,  R.,  161. 

Charaxare,  451. 

Charlemagne's  collection  of  ballads 
lost,  19,  180  ;  Saga,  370. 

Charms,  103;  for  barren  laud,  ib. ; 
for  a  wrench,  161. 

Charters,  Anglo-Saxon,107;  Icelandic, 
404. 

Cheahchetung,  100. 

Chesil,  455. 

Christmas  carol,  421. 

Chronicle,  Anglo-Saxon,  20,  171. 


502 


INDEX. 


"  Clironicon  Manuiss,"  Munch's,  123, 

323,  355,  426. 
Churches,  lay  proprietors  of,  90. 
Ciaran,  St.,  497. 
Cicero  laments  loss  of  Roman  balhiJs, 

19. 
Cimbrian  ■women.  209. 
Circumlocution  of  scalds,  299. 
Cissa,  178. 
Clarus  Saga,  .370. 
Claudian,  177. 

Claussen,  P. ,  translator  of  Snorri,  295. 
Cleasby's  Dictionary,  436. 
Clement,  a  priest,  74. 
Clepan,  441. 
Clontarf,  battle  of,  329. 
Cloudesley,  William  of,  289. 
Coble,  444. 

Cockayne's  Leechdoms,  103,  163. 
Codes  of  Gula,  Frosta,  and  Heidioevi, 

394. 
Codex   Argenteus  and   Aureus,  73, 

93,  481 ;  Exoniensis,  114  ;  ilegius, 

225  ;  discovered,  251. 
Coenulf,  King  of  the  Mercians,  81. 
<  "oifi,  35. 
Coinred,  187. 

Coins,  Arabian, 201;  Anglo-Saxon,  ib. 
Colman,  Bishop  of  Lindisfarue,  33, 

185. 
Columba,  St.,  21;   copies  a  vellum 

by  the  light  of  his  fingers,  50,  183. 
Compendious  words  in  Icelandic,  447. 
Compton  Beauchamp,  288. 
Conchobar,  Irish  king,  92. 
Confessionales  of  Theodore  and  Eg- 
bert, 102. 
Constantine  Porphyrogenitus,  199. 
Constantine  of  Dublin,  122. 
Copenhagen,  fire  at,  224. 
Cormlada  =  Gormlaith,  335. 
Corsned,  10,  94. 
Cosmogony  of  Edda,  241. 
Cotton,  Sir  Robert,  his  Anglo-Saxon 

charters,    17 ;     almost     equal    to 

Parker,  18. 
Coucy,  the  Knight,  450. 
Councils,  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  21. 
Craspice,  kind  of  whale,  103. 
Creation,  Icelandic  tale  of,  250;  Chal- 
dean legend  of,  250,  ib. 
Cross,  sign  of.  111. 
"Cruel  Sister,"  ballad  of,  438. 
Cuaran,  Anlaf  (or  Olaf),  122. 
Cuchulaind,  487  sqq. 
Curry,  O'.,  his  books  on  the  Irish,  332, 

497. 
Cuthbert,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

75 ;  letter  to  him  from  Boniface, 

76,  187. 
Cuthbert,  St.,  biography  of,  45  sqq.; 


his  conversion,  46 ;  catches  the 
plague,  47  ;  power  as  a  preacher, 
ib. ;  miracles  by,  48;  his  midnight 
bath,  49;  otters  dry  his  feet,  ib.; 
his  indomitable  will,  50  ;  retires 
to  Fame,  51 ;  becomes  Bishop  of 
Lindisfarne,  52  ;  returns  to  Fame, 
ib. ;  auk  or  goose,  53  ;  his  end,  55; 
his  name  long  a  power  in  England, 
56  ;  appears  to  Alfred,  57  ;  his  life 
full  of  miracles,  ib.  ;  appears  to 
Eadwine,  the  monk,  58  ;  the  pere- 
grinations of  his  body,  ib. ;  and  the 
crows,  106. 

Cyneweard,  Bishop  of  "Wells,  126. 

Cynewulf,  King,  292. 

Cynewulf,  author  of  "Elene,"126; 
who  was  he  ?  139. 

Cyriacus,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  alias 
Judas,  134. 

Dal,  Cais,  329. 

Damiecas  alias  Bishop  Riculf,  78 ; 
sends  Alcuin  a  comb,  ib. 

Danars  and  Danmarkians,  329. 

Danevirke,  304. 

Daniel,  Bishop  of  Winton,  71 ;  his 
hints  to  Boniface  about  converting 
Saxons,  72. 

Danish  "gold-diggings,"  336, 

Dapple-grey  =  ajjple-grey,  454. 

Dasent,  Sir  G..  his  version  of  Njdl 
Saga,  324,  368. 

David  alias  Charlemagne,  78. 

Days  of  the  week,  162. 

Deira,  179. 

"Demandes  Joyous,"  413. 

Demetoe,  Cardiganshire,  68. 

Demon  lover,  ballad  of,  438. 

Demons  of  South  India,  262. 

Denalagh,  92. 

"Deor  the  Scald's  Complaint,"  143. 

"Departed  Soul's  Address  to  the 
Body,"  149. 

Deyja,  447. 

Diaconus,  Joannes,  Chronic.  Venet., 
198. 

Dice,  gambling  with,  148. 

Didrik  of  Mindeu,  214. 

Die,  to,  447. 

Dietrich,  277. 

Dietrich  of  Bern  Saga,  370. 

Diplomatarium  Islandicum,  404. 

Diplomatarium  Norwegicum,  410. 

Diplomatarium  Suecicum,  467. 

Diter,  Bernhard,  378. 

Dnieper,  Scandinavian  names  of 
rapids  on,  200  ;  =  Borysthenes  in 
Herodotus,  479  ;  highway  of  com- 
merce from  the  Baltic  to  the 
Euxine,  ib. 


INDEX. 


503 


Dogs,  mad,  91. 

"Dom,"  Anglo-Saxon  word  for 
criminal  law,  397. 

Domestic  manners  of  the  nuns,  170. 

Donatus,  77. 

Dooms  of  Alfred,  85,  90. 

Doon  de  la  Roche,  439. 

Dragon's  blood,  262,  275. 

Drapa  =  a  long  heroic  poem,  3C5. 

DraumkvceSi,  254. 

"Dream  of  the  Cross,"  135. 

Dream  and  sleep,  444. 

Drengr,  128. 

Drinking  sconces,  44.3. 

Droplaug,  327. 

Drott,  300. 

DrottkvaeSi,  254. 

Drunkenness  a  speciality  of  English- 
men and  Pagans,  7(3. 

Dr3'hthelm.  42. 

Dubduin.  22. 

Dublin,  323. 

Dudo,  190. 

Duggal.  the  Vision  of,  374  sqq. 

Dulin,  389. 

Duncan,  King,  408. 

Dun  Cow,  Book  of,  497. 

Dunstan,  Lives  of,  43. 

Eadbdrga,  Abbess  of  Thanet,  72. 

E.adgifn,  Queen,  her  land  at  Couling, 
HI. 

Eadric  of  Kent,  his  laws,  88. 

Eagor,  287. 

Ealdorman  or  Alderman,  meaning  of, 
127. 

Eanbald,  Archbishop  of  York,  77 ; 
the  Second,  80. 

Eangyth,  the  Abbess,  187. 

Earle,  Professor,  120. 

Easter,  different  calculations  of, 
42. 

Eburius,  Bishop  of  York,  21. 

Ecgbert,  Archbishop  of  York,  188. 

Ecgbryte's  Stone,  92. 

Ecgtheow,  115. 

Edda,  the  old  or  poetic,  227,  2.50  sqq.  ; 
the  jjrose  or  younger,  228,  236  sqq.  ; 
who  wrote  it,  232 ;  its  discovery 
m.akes  a  great  sensation,  235 ;  mean- 
ing of  the  word,  250  ;  age  of,  252  ; 
heroic,  265  sqq. 

Eddius,  biographer  of  Wilfrid,  40. 

Edgar,  King,  laws  of,  95. 

Edmund,  King,  laws  of,  95. 

Edmund,  St.,  his  martyrdom,  account 

of,  by  Abbo.  00. 
Edward  tlie  Elder,  laws  o     86. 
Egburg,  73. 

Egil,  126,  239 ;  the  Saga  of,  310  sqq. ; 
his    character,    ib.  ;    composes    a 


drapa,  317;    picture  of,  320,  322; 
and  the  thralls,  402. 
Egil,  brother  of  Veland,  289. 
Egilsson's    Lexicon    Poeticum  Ling. 

Septentrionalis,  393. 
Eginhard  (alias  Einhard),  his  "Vita 

Caroli  Magni,"  19,  96,  278. 
Egred,  Bishop  of  Lindisfarue,  184. 
Einarson,     Jon,     213 ;     Gizur,     ib.  ; 

Oddr,  223. 
"  Elene,  or  the  Finding  of  the  Cross," 

by  Cynewulf,  133. 
Eleutherius,  Pope,  21. 
Eleven,  etymology  of,  209. 
Elfdal,  runes  used  in,  477. 
Elfin-shot,  163. 
EliuSnir,  261. 
Ella,  178. 
Elmet,  179. 

Ely,   Chronicle  of,  43  ;    descriptions 
of,  by  Bede  and  Felix  of  Croylaud, 
63,  173. 
"  Endowments  and  Pursuits  of  Men," 

169. 
England's     commercial     intercourse 

with  Iceland,  409. 
English  learning,  184 ;    tongue,    the 

modern,  196. 
Eoforwic=York,  179. 
Eorcenwald,  Bishop  of  London,  89. 
Eormengrund,  280. 
Eormenric,    king   of    the    Visigoths, 

122,  377. 
Eosterwini,    Abbot,    winnows    corn, 

54. 
Eric  Bloodv-axe,  305,  317. 
Eric  Jarl,  334,  340. 
Ericsmal,  179,  385. 
Eric  the  Red,  193. 
Erin,  bards  of,  183. 
Erling,  Jarl,  344. 

"Eru"  superseded  "sindoii,"  441. 
Eskimo,  mythology  of,  440. 
Esthoniaius,  funeral  customs  of,  25. 
Estmere,  King,  ballad  of,  57. 
Ethandune,  battle  of,  91. 
Ethelbald,  King  of  Mercia,  interest- 
ing letter  to  him  by  Boniface,  75. 
Ethelberga,  wife  of  King  Edwin,  34. 
Ethelbertof  Kent,  his  wife,  32;  his 

laws,  85  ;  mentioned  by  Bede,  87. 
Ethelred,     King,     "Instituta    Lun- 
donire,"  102,  335;  his  gift  to  Gun- 
laug,  338. 
Ethelweard's  Latin  Chronicle,  43. 
Eugenia  (alias  Kdilberga),  78. 
Eulalia  (alias  Gundrada),  78. 
Eumenius,  180. 
Evil  eye,  169. 

Excomnmnication,  the  greater,  400. 
Exeter  Catlicdral,  library  of,  183. 


504 


lA'DEX. 


Exhumations  of  saints,  5S. 

"  Exile,  The,"  poem  of,  142. 

Eykr,  454. 

Eyrbyggia,  Saga,  324. 

Eystein,  .  Archbishop     of     Nidaros 

(Augustinus,  Eustachius),  405. 
Eyvind  Skaldaspiller,  295. 

Fabricius,  289. 

Fafner,  275. 

Fagrskiana,  12G,  225,  302,  3SG,  388, 

445. 
Fair  Anna,  balhid  of,  438. 
Fairhair.     See  Harold  Harfagr. 
Fair  sex,  status  of,  106. 
Falcons,  Icelandic,  405. 
Faroe  Islands,  ballads  of,  26G ;  Bishop 

of,  uncle  of  Swerrir,  344. 
Faroese  Saga,  356  sqq. 
"  Fasti  Danici,"  Worm's,  7. 
Feidhlimidh,  King  of  Cashel,  92. 
Felix  the  Spaniard,  82. 
Fellow,  442. 
Fenians,  400. 

Fenris  AVolf,  244,  388,  418. 
Ferdiad    and   Cuchulaind,    fight   of, 

an  Irish  tragic  tale  or  aideadh,  487 ; 

death  of  Ferdiad,  495. 
Fergus,  488. 
Festarkoua,  333. 
Fetil,  204. 
Feussner,  259. 
Filey  Brigg,  444. 
Finmark,  furs  of,  sent  to  England, 

323. 
"Finnesburg,  fight  of,"  122. 
Finn     Jonsou's     "  Historia     Eocles. 

Island.,"  217,  258,406. 
Firbolgs,  6. 
Fishery  laws,  395. 
Flaccus  or  Flaccus  Albinus,  nom  de 

flume  of  Alcuin,  78. 
Flateybok,  297,  342. 
Flokkr  =  short  poem,  335,  363. 
Florence  of  Worcester,  109. 
Flores    Historiarum,   was  it  written 

by  Matthew  of   Westminster,    or 

Matthew  Paris  ?  3. 
Flosi  absolved  by  the  Pope,  310. 
Folkland,  107. 
Folklore,  163. 
Folkmot,  107. 

Forest,  setting  fire  to,  90  ;  laws,  ^Q. 
FornyrSalag,  254,  300,  383. 
Forsa  church  door-ring  described  by 

Bugge,  467. 
Forres,  pillar  at,  298. 
Foster-brotherhood,  rites  of,  449. 
Foster-brother  Saga,  449. 
Fountain's  Abbey,  404. 
Foxe's  Anglo-Saxon  Gospels,  3,  22. 


Frauenlob,  437. 

Freaware,  Hrothg.ar's  daughter,  274. 

Frederick,  King  of  Prussia,  27G. 

Freeman,  176,  298. 

French  secular  monk,  description  of, 

101 ;  language  in  England,  195. 
Freya  as  a  bride,  281. 
Freyfaxi,  325. 

Freyr,  280,  325  ;  worship  of,  443. 
Friend,  449. 

Friendship,  verses  on,  430. 
Friesland,  life  in,  148. 
Frijs,  Chancellor,  477. 
Frithiof,  287. 

Frockmen  =  Heklungs,  350. 
FroOi,  King,  his  peace,  36,  401,  424. 
Frua,  161. 

Fulda,  Boniface  buried  at,  83. 
Fuller,  Thom-as,  81. 
Funeral  customs,  199. 
Furlough,  455. 
Fursey,  visions  of,  38. 
Fusan,  451. 
Fussey,  451. 

Futhork  =  Runic  alphabet,  460. 
Fylfot  or  svastika,  283. 

Gabriel,  74. 
Gaebulg,  493. 
Gaedhill    and    Gaill,    wars    of,    92, 

329. 
Gaelic  forms  in  Icelandic  literature, 

319. 
Gall,  St.,  legend  of,  29. 
Ganglate  and  Ganglot,  2G1. 
Gangleri,  name  of  Odin,  240. 
Giirdar's  discovery  of  Iceland,  25. 
Gardariki  =  Bussia,  201. 
Garin  le  Loherain,  266. 
Gastbona,  160. 
Gates  =  streets,  445. 
Gealdor=  enchantments,  104. 
Geboeru,  292. 
G6irlauk   272 

Geoffrey 'of  Monmouth,  192. 
Gerda,  280. 

Germania  of  Tacitus,  181. 
GesiSas,  107. 
Gest  the  blind,  287,  420. 
Gest  the  wise,  311. 
Gesta  Pontificum,  by  W.  of  Malniea- 

bury,  155. 
Gestir  =  attendants    on    the    Noi'se 

kings,  356. 
Geyer,  439. 
Giaflaug,  270. 
Gifer  the  worm,  150. 
Gildas,  3,  179. 
Gildingr,  395. 
Gillibert,  Bishop,  356. 
Gisla,  sister  of  Charlemagne,  82. 


INDEX. 


505 


Gisli  Sursaon,  primsigned  at  Viborg, 

312  ;  his  saga,  449. 
Giuki,  268,  270. 
Giukung,  276. 

Gizur,  friena  of  Hiallti,  313. 
Giziirason  Jon,  223. 
Gladys,  was  she  Claudia?  21. 
Glenn  Mama,  battle  of,  401. 
Glima  =  wrestliug  match,  325. 
Gloucester,  llobeit  of,  195. 
Gnita,  heath  of,  275. 
Gnomic  verses,  like  Havamal,  a  string 

of  proverbs,  147. 
Goda,  112. 
Godafoss,  the,  120. 
GoSi,  Icelandic,  306,  450. 
Gods,  ridicule  of  the,  414  ;  and  men, 

&c.,  the  talk  of,  453. 
Good  name,  proverb  on,  430. 
Golden  Horn  at  Copenhagen,   462, 

465. 
Gondul,  a  Valkyr,  387. 
Goranson's  "  Bautil,"  458. 
Gorham's  "Antiquities  of  Eynsbury 

and  St.  Neots,"  61. 
Gospels,  Lindisfarue  and  Eushworth, 

22  ;  Skeat's,  27. 
Gossip,  448. 
Gothic  gods  compared  with  Roman 

deities,  237. 
Gough,     Kichard,     bequeaths     his 

library  to  Oxford  University,  18. 
Gram,  Sigurd's  sword,  276. 
Grammarians,  works  of,  182. 
Grantchester,  180. 
Grani,  267. 
Grasse,  266. 

"  Grave,"  the,  Anglo-Saxon  poem,  59. 
Gray's  Elegy,  23,  226. 
Greed  of  gold,  275. 
Greek  language  introduced  intoEii,?- 

land  by  Archbishop  Theodore,  108; 

knowledge  of,  in  Norway,  .371. 
Greenland  Chronicle,  237-297,  440. 
Gregory's  Dialogues,  23  ;    Icelandic 

version  of,  23,  378,   380  ;  Pastoral 

Care,  ib.  and  80 ;  tolerant,  33,  69 ; 

Gregory  II.,  72. 
Grein,  his  "Bibl.  der  A.-S.  Poesie," 

115. 
Grendel,    the    monster,    115 ;    alin?, 

Glamr,     118 ;     his    mother,    117  ; 

derivation  of  name,  445. 
Grettir,  tale  of,  118 ;  the  legend  of 

Beowulf  is  mixed  up  with  it,  118. 
Greygoose,  Norse  code  of  laws,  394 

sqq. 
Grimhild,  267. 

Grimkel,  Bishop  of  Trondjem,  71. 
Grimm,  251,  204,  290,  440. 
"  Grimnismal,"  256,  259,  417. 


Grimr,  326. 

"  Grind  of  Navir,"  445. 

Grotti,  lay  of,  35,  400. 

Grundtvig,  200,  420,  438. 

Guadalquivir,  193. 

Gudmundson,  Dade,  218  sqq. 

Gudrun  and  Kiartan,  327. 

Gudruu  (lay  of),  207,  270,  401. 

Guest,  170. 

Gufa,  402. 

Gufunes  church,  405. 

Gulf  Stream,  395. 

GuUinbursti,  442. 

Gundiberta,  439. 

Gundicar,  377. 

Gundrada,  78. 

Gunhilda,  wife  of  Eric  Bloody-axe, 

305,  317,  385,  457. 
Gunhilda,  daughter  of  Canute,  438. 
Gunlaug's  Saga,  333  sqq. ;  in  London, 

325;    last  duel  with  Hrafn,  340; 

veracity  of,  341. 
Gunnarof  HliSarendi,  305;  his  death, 

307. 
Gunuar,  Prince,  267. 
Gutberct,  Abbot  of  "Wearmouth  and 

Jarrow,  414;  asks  LuUus  to  send 

him  a  citliarista,  75. 
Guthere,  the  Burgundian  king,  122. 
Guthlac,  St.,  Life  of,  64  ;  his  aversion 

to  birds,  305 ;  his  swallows,  318 ; 

poem  of,  142. 
Gyldenstierne,  Admiral  Mogens,  477. 
Gylfaginning,  236,  240. 
Gymer,  280. 

Hacklebirnie's  House,  3.50. 
Hacon  Haconson's  Saga,  354  ;  death 

at  Kirkwall,  355. 
Hacon   Jarl,    295 ;    murder   of;    303 

sqq. ;  poem  on  by  Oehlenschliiger, 

357. 
Hacon,  King,  Athelstan's  foster-son, 

305,  386. 
Haconson,  Magnus,  Lawbetterer,  374. 
Hafrsfiorci,  battle  of,  a  song,  383. 
"  Hakonarmal,"  386,  454. 
} ialev^^iatal   29.5. 
Halfred'  Vandrs^daskald,    302,    3,37, 

342. 
Hall,  309. 

Hall  of  the  Side,  314. 
llallgerda,    daughter   of   Ilauskuld, 

304  ;  marries  Gunnar,  305  ;  is  th  j 

death  of  him,  307. 
Hiilliwell's  "Popular  Rhymes,"  412, 

421,  440. 
Hallr  of  Ilawkdale,  296. 
Ham,  109. 
ILimburg,  Archbishopric  of,  founded, 

404. 


5o6 


INDEX. 


Hamlet,  420,  471 ;  his  cliurn  =  the 

sea,  ib. 
Hamleypa  =  a  witch,  317. 
"  Hammer,  P^ecovery  of  tlie,"  281. 
Hammershaimb,  2G15,  423. 
Hamstoli,  372. 
Handicap,  451. 
Har,  241. 

Harbard  =  Odin,  417. 
Harbards  Ljod,  2G3,  414. 
Hardy,  Duft'us,  "Materials  for  English 

History,"  61,  202. 
Harold  Gille,  347. 
Harold  Godwinson,  173,  303. 
Harold  Harfagr,  his  vow  not  to  cut 
his  hair,  303 ;  poem  on  his  court 
by  Hornklofi,   384  ;  his  six  scalds 
all  Norwegians,  393. 
Harold   Harefoot    seizes    Sandwich, 

113. 
Harold  Hildeland,  473. 
Harold  Sigurdson  (Hardrada),    173, 

202  ;  and  the  Scalds,  360. 
Hattatal,  238. 
Haug,  275. 
Haunt,  447. 
Hausta,  447. 
Haustlong,  239. 
"Havamal,"253,  429. 
Heathen  customs  doggedly  adhered 

to,  100,  103. 
Heaven,  etymology  of,  484. 
Heckstane,  a  Presbyter,  79. 
Hedin  restored  to  life  by  Hilda,  417. 
Heidrek,  287,  420,  443. 
"Heilagra  manna  Sogur,"  149,  -55, 

370. 
Heimdal,  242,  281. 
"Heirnskringla,"  or  history  of  kings 

of  Norway  by  Snorri,  294. 
Heitkona,  333. 

Hekkla,   Mount,  thought  in  Middle 
Ages  to  be  place  of  punishment, 
350. 
Hekklung  =  frockmen,  350. 
Hel,  243,  261. 
Helga,  457. 

Helga  and  Gunlaug,  333. 
Helgi  the  Lean,  his  creed,  358. 
Helgi  and  Sigrun,  279. 
"Heliand,"The,  saidby  the  Germans 
to  be  original  of  "Caedmon,"  132  ; 
this  refuted  by  Stephens,  ib. 
Helmet  of  terror,  351. 
Helsingland,  467. 
Helsing  runes,  467. 
Hending,  proverbs  of,  429. 
Hengist  and  Horsa,  178. 
Henry,  Bishop  of  the  Orkneys,  35G. 
Heorot,  or  Hart  Hall,  115. 
Herborg,  270,  401. 


Hercules,  262. 

Herebald,  Abbot  of  Tynemouth, cured 

by  John  of  Beverley,  41. 
Herefrid,  Abbot  of  Lindisfarne,  54. 
Heriots,  111. 
Heme  the  hunter,  163. 
Hersir,  399. 

Hervarar  Saga,  287,  388. 
Hervarar  and  Heidrek  Saga,  443. 
Hervard,  391  sqq. 
Hervor,  390. 
Hesiod,  278. 
Hiallti's  doggrel,  312. 
Hickes,  George,  his  "Thesaurus,"  16; 

his  "  Dissertatio  Epistolaris,"  17. 
Higbald,  Bishop,  78.  N 

Hilda's  game  =  war,  300. 
Hilda,  417. 
Hildeburt,  274. 
Hildigolltr,  443. 
Hiltgund,  158. 
Hindarfell,  267. 
"Historia    Ecclesiastica    Islandias," 

406. 
Hjalmar,  388. 
Hjardaholt,  443. 

Hjorungavag,  battle  of,  299,  302. 
Hjorvara,  391. 
Hlafdige  =  lady,  4.54. 
Hlothar,  laws  of,  88. 
Hoenir,  260. 
Hogni,  269. 
Holmboe,  240,  372. 
Holmganga  =  duel,  339. 
Holmgard  =  Novgorod,  201. 

"  Honeymoon,"  281. 
Horant  tlie  singer,  called  Heorrenda 
in  the  "  Scald's  Complaint."  153. 

Hornklofi,  scald  of  Harold  Fairhair, 
175,  295,  383 ;  his  poem  on  the 
king's  court,  384. 

Horseflesh,  eating,  permitted  in  Ice- 
land, 73,  314. 

Hostlang,  382. 

Hound,  used  by  Irish  poets  as  name 
of  honour,  495. 

Hoveden,  his  character  of  Swerrir, 
345. 

Hrabanus  of  Fulda,  78. 

Hroesvelgr,  242. 

Hrafn,  rival  of  Gunlaug,  337. 

Hrafnkel  Saga,  325. 

Hreidmar,  275. 

Hrepjn-,  444. 

Hrimfaxi,  242. 

Hronesnoes,  483. 

Hrothas,  King,  in  Jutland,  115. 

Hrosmer,  438. 

Hrungner,  401. 

Hrunting,  Beowulf's  sword,  110,  483. 

Hrut,  364. 


IXDEX. 


507 


Hiibner,  461. 

Hugh,  his  fondness  foi-  birds,  CC. 

Hunferth,  411,  446. 

Huntingdon,  Henry  of,  19,  124, 

Huruen,  Siegfried,  2G6. 

Husdrapa,  443. 

Hustings,  398. 

Hygd,  Queen,  274. 

Hygelac,  274. 

Hymer,  263. 

"  Hymiskvida,"  147. 

Hynduljod,  255. 

Tbn  Dastah,  198. 

Ibn  Fadhlan,  198. 

"Iceland,  Oxonian  in,"  20,  313;  fall 
of  Roman  Church  in,  221. 

Icelanders,  their  great  memory,  20 ; 
literary  activity,  293. 

Icelandic  MSS.,  213,  223;  clergy, 
marriage  of,  217  ;  prose  literature 
of  foreign  extraction,  370;  wit, 
411  sqq. 

Ifa,  477. 

Ifing,  447. 

Igda,  262. 

Ilevold.  battle  of,  349. 

lUugi,  333. 

Imma,  stoiy  of,  in  Bede,  476. 

Ine  of  Wessex,  laws  of,  85,  89,  172. 

Infants,  exposure  of,  314. 

Ingald,  mythic  hero  in  "Beowulf," 
songs  of,  37,  80  ;  =  Hinieldus,  278. 

Ingemund,  priest,  473. 

Inger,  King,  199. 

Ingibjorg,  Princess,  388, 

Ingvar,  201. 

Ingvi,  King,  388. 

Innocent  III.,  Pope,  exults  on  the 
death  of  King  Swerrir,  352  ;  his 
letter  to  Archbishop  Eric,  ib. ;  his 
bull  to  Iceland,  406. 

lona,  etymology  of,  208. 

Ireland's  share  in  the  conversion  of 
England,  21. 

Irish  missionaries,  29  ;  saints  fnmiliar 
with  birds,  66  ;  conduct  of,  in  Dan- 
ish invasion,  92;  "  Country,  an  un- 
known, with,"  93  ;  bombast,  328  ; 
literature,  did  it  influence  that  of 
Scanilinavia?  331  ;  wonders,  354. 

Ironside  =  iirst  Icelandic  code  of 
laws,  ,394. 

Island,  208. 

"  Islandiae,  Hist.  Ecclesiast.,"  406. 

Isleif,  Bishop,  252,  296. 

Islendigabok,  296,  ,315. 

.Tack  and  the  Beanstalk,  440. 
Jade,  2.34. 
Jafnhar,  241. 


Jamieson,  421,  440. 

Jarisleif,  king  of  Novgorod,  360. 

Jarrow,  monastery  of,  28. 

Jata,  447. 

Jesuits,  102. 

John,  Bishop,  162. 

John,  King,  344 ;  and  the  Abbot  of 

Canterbury,  422. 
Johnstone,  Rev.  James,  226. 
Joinville,  449. 
Joiner  =  Odin,  442. 
Jomsvikinga  Saga,  2S9. 
Jonas,  Arngrim,  collects  MSS.,  223  ; 

correspondence  with  Worm,  230  ; 

his  epitaph,  233. 
Jonas  Runolf,  2.'i2. 
Jonsbok,  Icelandic  code  of  laws,  394. 
Jonson,  Asgeir,  226. 
Jonson,  Gisle,  priest,  217. 
Jonson,    Karl,    Abbot   of   Tbingore, 

writer  of  Swerrir's  Saga,  345. 
Jordanes  alias  Joinaudes,   82,   179, 

298. 
Jorvik,  317. 

Jotuns  =  giants,  passion,  468. 
Judas,  134. 

"Judith,"  poem  of,  129. 
Julian,  Emperor,  180. 
Juliana,  poem  of,  138. 
Jtinitis,  Francis,  comes  to  Oxford,  14; 

labours  hard  at  Anglo-Saxon,  edits 

Codex  Argenteus,  "  C£edmou,"&c., 

ib. 
Jury,  trial  by,  397. 

Kafirs,  191. 

Karker  the  thrall,  304. 

Keel,  485. 

Kefli,  472. 

Kemble,  J.  M.,  his  edition  of  "Solo- 
mon and  Saturn."  2,  18  ;  Diplonia- 
torium  A.-S.,  107  ;  Anglo-Saxons, 
78,  289 ;  on  pilgrimages,  187  ;  on 
clerical  marriage,  410,  429. 

Kevser,  Professor,  20,  65,  213,  218, 
254,  288,  306,  349,  414,  426,  431. 

Kiartan,  313. 

Kief,  200. 

Kilwch,  423. 

Killingworth  revels,  c9). 

Kingsley,  189,  416. 

"King's  Mirror.''  See  "Speculum 
Regale." 

Kirkwall,  342. 

Klepsan,  .354. 

Knife,  454;  Kormak,  175. 

Kringla,  22.5. 

Kristna,  262. 

Kustin  Saga,  306. 

Kuiiigunde,  Empress,  439. 

Kvasir,  260,  427. 


5oS 


INDEX. 


KviSr,  398. 

Ki'/iifSts  aud  xaX/cis,  454. 

Lady,  etymology  of,  4.55. 

Laeg,  494. 

Lagerlieim,  460. 

Lah-slit,  397. 

Laity  must  see  that  the  clergy  are 

not  starved,  99. 
Landnama  Eok,  175,  296,  399,  402. 
Language  of  England,  Norway,  and 

Denmark,  the  same,  334. 
Lappenberg,  162. 
Largs,  battle  of,  355. 
Lathe,  398. 

Latimer's  Sermons,  211. 
Latinisers,  Anglo-Saxon,  182. 
Latin  tongue,  195;  characters  brought 

to   Norway   by   the    missionaries, 

306. 
Laugardag,  209. 
Laurentius  Saga,  374. 
Law,  the  word,  397. 
Laws,    Danish,    10  ;    Anglo  -  Saxon, 

edited  by  Lambard,  Whelock,  Wil- 

kins,  Thorpe,  Schmidt,  85  sqq. 
Laxdasla  Saga,  324,  443. 
Layamon's  "  Brut,"  195,  303. 
Leechdoms,  Anglo-Saxon,  104,  1G3. 
Leet  court,,  398. 
Legal  maxims,  435. 
Legh,  Sir  Piers,  his  mastiff,  367. 
Leif,  193. 

Leinster,  Book  of,  497. 
Leir,  King,  172. 

Leland's  '"Laboryouse  Journey,"  2. 
Leobgitha,  72. 
Leofric,    Bishop  of   Exeter,  will  of, 

114;  his    Codex   given   to   Exeter 

Cathedral,  138. 
Lestines,  Council  of,  163. 
"  Lexicim  Eddas  Vet.  Mythol.,"  286, 

418,  443. 
"  Liber  Vitre  Eccles.  Dunelm.,"  404. 
Liliegren's  "  Run-urkunder,"  458. 
"Lily,"  the,  250. 
Lindisfarne,  191 ;  Gospels,  482. 
Lingard,  3. 

Lion  at  Venice,  runes  on,  465. 
Literaj  Ephesife  in  Suidas,  477. 
Literse  solutoriae  =  charms,  476. 
Liudger,  St.,  190. 

Liutgard,  queen  of  Charlemagne,  82. 
Livingstone,  312. 
Lo  Dragons,  266. 
Lodbrog,  the  Song  of,  381. 
Lijgberg,  descrii^tion  of,  312. 
LogsogumaSr  ~  the  lawsayer,  397. 
Loki,  243,  257,  273 ;  his  bet,  426. 
Loptson,  John,  255,  301. 
Lorelei,  287. 


Louis  the  Pious,  199. 

Lucian's  Dialogue,  245. 

Ludwig,  King  of  West  Franks,  125. 

Lullus,  the  deacon,  73 ;  Archbishop 
of  IMayence,  74 ;  sends  a  piece  of 
silk  to  enwrap  Bede's  remains,  75. 

Lupus  {alias  Archbishop  Wulfstan), 
his  sermon,  16 ;  mythic  allusions 
in  it,  156  ;  alliterations  in,  211. 

Lynn,  409. 

Lysekloster,  404, 

Maanagaem,  244. 

Macaulay,  179. 

Macbeth  visits  Rome,  408. 

Macfirbis'  "Book  of  Genealogies," 
227. 

Maelmuir,  497. 

Magnus  Barefoot,  319. 

Magnus  Celsius  deciphers  Helsing 
runes,  474. 

IVIagnus  Erlingson,  King,  344 ;  his 
character,  348. 

INIagnus  Johannes  and  Olaus,  479. 

Magnusson,  Arne,  the  Icelandic  Par- 
ker, 225. 

Maidulf  the  Scot,  67. 

Main,  417. 

Malcora,  408. 

"Maldon,  Battle  of,"  127;  rescued  by 
Hearne,  127. 

Mallet's  "  Northern  Antiquities," 
226,  270. 

Malmesbury,  monastery  of,  167. 

Malmesbury,  William  of,  67,  438.     ■ 

Mancus,  eighth  of  a  pound,  81. 

Mani,  440. 

Man  in  the  moon,  the,  440. 

Mansworn,  88. 

Mapes,  Archdeacon,  of  Oxford,  ridi- 
cules celibacy  of  clergy,  407. 

Marcus  Monachus,  374. 

Margaret  of  Norway,  439. 

Marianus  Scotus,  408. 

Mariu  Saga,  379. 

Marshall,  Dr.,  his  Anglo-Saxon  Gos- 
pels, 22. 

Marsh  on  Anglo-Saxon  works,  482. 

Martene's  "Thesaurus,"  93. 

Martial,  275. 

Martianus  Capella,  470. 

JNIartin,  Bishop  of  Skalholt,  216. 

Martin,  Englishman,  chaplain  to 
Swerrir,  344. 

IMath-gamhain,  331. 

Matthew  Paris,  370,  438. 

Maurer,  best  authority  on  Northern 
law,  395,  467. 

Maurus  alias  Hrabanus,  78. 

]\Iazarin,  Cardinal,  6,  233. 

Meade,  Dr.,  288. 


INDEX. 


509 


Medb,  queen  of  Connaclit,  487. 

Medley,  203-212,  440-450. 

Meili,  417. 

Melampus,  2C2. 

Mellbrigda,  Earl,  298. 

Melrose,  Chronicle  of,  355. 

Menia,  424. 

Michael,  74. 

Midgard,262,  291. 

Midgardsorm,  244,  286. 

Mimer's  Well,  260,  440. 

Minnesingers,  321. 

Minstrels,  at  last  classed  with  rogues 

and  vagabonds,  393. 
Mints,  number  of,  95. 
MioUner,  259. 
Missionaries,  Celtic,  first  evangelise 

Germany,  132;  afterwards  Eoman, 

ib. 
Moe,  266. 
Momus,  24.5. 
Mondul,  425. 
Mone,  266,  404. 

Monster  in  the  White  river,  232. 
Montesquieu,  398. 
"Monumenta  Moguntina,"   71,    73, 

and,   passim,    "  Alcuiuiana,"   76; 

"  Carolina,"  77. 
Moon,  eclipse  of,  244. 
Moormen,  the,  316. 
Morand,  488. 
Morkinskinna,  302,  302. 
Morocco,  193. 
Mostr,  church  of,  309. 
MuUer,  J.  von,  276. 
Muller,  P.  E. ,  289. 
Mummius,  John,  230. 
Munarvoe,  390. 
Munch,  Professor,  on  Sigurd-myth, 

277,  355 ;  Chron.  Mauuias,  426. 
Mundbyrd,   88. 
Muralt,  192. 
IMuratori,  192,  262. 
"  Murder  will  out,"  148. 
Myrkiartan,  322. 
Mysing,  425. 
Mythic  allusions  in  "  Beowulf,"  100, 

284. 
M3'thology    of    England,    Germany, 

and  Scandinavia  alike,  160. 

NADDon,  193. 

Nanna,  162,  273. 

Narhval,  207,  235. 

Nastrand,  245. 

Naudseus,  secretary  of  Cardinal  Ma- 

zarin,  6,  235. 
Necrologium  Angiense,  404. 
Nennius,  176. 

Neot,  St.,  hig  life  and  miracles,  62. 
Nereids,  262. 


Nestor,  197. 

Newbury,  William  of,  his  character 
of  King  Swerrir.  345. 

Newman,  J.  H.,  294. 

Niall,  King,  92. 

Nilielungeu  Lied,  275,  278.  0 

Nicholas,  Abbot,  194. 

Nicholas  Breakspear,  405. 

Nidad  or  Nithud,  143,  289. 

Nidaros  =  Troudjem,  405. 

Nidhug,  26.3. 

Niilheim,  26,  275. 

Nightmare,  455. 

Niman,  441. 

Nita,  447. 

Nithsong  =  lampoon,  311. 

Njal  Saga,  324,  364  sqq. 

Njorva  Sund  =  Straits  of  Gibraltar, 
193. 

Noirnioutiers,  191. 

Norges  Gamle  Love,  394. 

Nornagest's  Saga,  237. 

Norns,  the  three,  262. 

Northmen  in  foreign  parts,  194  ;  be- 
gin to  ravage  Britain,  189 ;  at 
home,  324  sqq. 

Nortliunibria  converted,  32  ;  Edwin, 
King  of,  34. 

Norway,  conversion  of.  309. 

Norwich  Cathedral,  the  founder  of, 
407. 

Noses,  to  count,  452. 

Nose  tax,  452. 

Notker  Teutonicus,  77. 

Obituaries,  books  of,  404. 

Odd  monk,  297. 

Oddson,   Gisli,  Bisliop  of  Skalholt, 

231. 
Odilwald  of  Ripon,  P6. 
Odin,    Northern    Hermes,    192;    his 

ravens,  243,  200  ;  name  of,  on  llunio 

stone,  460  ;  his  magic  runes,  477. 
Odinism   on  the  wane   iu   England, 

307. 
OSgisdrekka,  449. 
Olfaof  Essex,  186. 
Offa  of  Mercia,  77;   his  sword,  110, 

188,  274. 
Ogham  character,  474. 
Ogniund,  Bishop,  213. 
Olithere's  voyage,  24. 
Olaf  Cuaran,  story  of,  57,  319,  335. 
Olaf,    Saint,    299 ;    his   son   Magnus 

named  after  Charlemagne,  396. 
Olaf  tlie  Peacock,  322,  443. 
Olafsen   and    Povelsen's   travels    in 

Iceland,  326. 
Olaf   TryKgvason's   death,   302;    be 

sends  Thangbrand  to  Iceland,  309. 
Olif  and  I<andres,  439. 


5IO 


INDEX. 


Olga,  200. 

Ordeal  by  water  and  hot  iron,  11  ; 
three  methods  of,!)4;  Pope  Stephen 
Sixth's  letter  on,  94. 

Orkney  Saga,  403. 

Orin's  Head,  444. 

"Orinuhim,"  the,  195. 

Ornithology,  Anglo-Saxon,  limited, 
14G. 

"  Orosius  "  translated  hy  Alfred,  24. 

Oswald,  King  of  Northumbria,  mi- 
racles by,  36,  37. 

Oswald,  Archbisliop  of  York,  valu- 
able Life  of,  43. 

Oswin,  King,  gives  horse  to  Aidan, 
38. 

Oswiu  at  Whitby,  185. 

Otfried's  "Christ,"  132. 

Ottar  the  Black,  393. 

Otter,  penalty  for  killing,  275. 

Otto,  Emperoi-,  304. 

Owl,  454. 

"  Owl  and  Nightingale,"  the,  195. 

Oxonian  in  Thelemarkeu,  420. 

Oykel  river,  298. 

Pabstesel,  81. 

Pagan  rites,  penalties  for,  103. 

Palingenesis,  245. 

Palnatoki,  289. 

Pall,  the,  21. 

Papa,  Lesser,  342. 

Papae,  Irish  monks  in  Iceland,  29. 

Parable  of  life,  a,  373. 

Parish,  meaning  of,  95. 

Parker,  Archbishop,  collects  Anglo- 
Saxon  MSS.,  1-3. 

Passive  voice  in  Icelandic,  402. 

Patrick,  St.,  21,  183. 

Pauliiius,  28,  32;  portrait  of,  35, 1S5. 

Paulus  Diaconus,  297,  439. 

Peacock's  "  Dialect  of  Uorringham," 
444. 

Pederson  Christiern,  295. 

Peel,  191. 

Pega,  sister  of  Guthlac,  187. 

Pell  =  brocade,  198. 

Penitentials  and  Confessionales,  101, 
102  ;  of  Bishop  Thorlak,  406. 

Pepin,  King,  81. 

Percy,  Bishop,  226;  "  Pvelics  of 
Ancient  Poetry,"  393,  422,  439. 

Pertz,  191,  199. 

Petroc,  St.  (Bodmin),  altar  of,  slaves 
manumitted  at,  98. 

Petroc,  St.,  and  Perran,  St.,  convent, 
Cornwall,  22. 

"Phoenix,"  poem  of,  138. 

Phol,  161. 

Photii  EpistoliB,  198. 

Picture-words  in  Icelandic,  445. 


Pigs,  90. 

Pilgrimages,  180. 

Plegmund,  Archbishop,  171. 

Plutarch,  270. 

Poachers,  96. 

Poetry,  Anglo-Saxon,  115;  the  lan- 
guage of  the  gods,  428. 

"  Polity,  Institutes  of,"  99. 

Preface  to  Prose  Edda,  247. 

Priest,  and  churl  not  equal  before  the 
law,  89 ;  not  to  sing  at  the  ale- 
bench,  101. 

Primsigna,  311. 

Priscian  the  grammarian,  79,  294. 

Procopius,  179. 

Proverbs,  Icelandic,  429  sqq. 

Prudentius,  Bishop  of  Troyes,  199. 

Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  179. 

QUADRILOGOS,   370. 

Quern,  women  grinding  the,  402. 
Qusenburg  the  nun,  40. 

Kafn  the  Red,  310. 

Ragnar  Lodbrok,  266,  290. 

Ragnarok,  194. 

Raguel,  74. 

Ramsey  Chronicle,  43. 

Ran,  287,  323. 

Raphael,  74. 

Rask's   Anglo-Saxon   Grammar,  18  ; 

opinion   about    English   language, 

462  ;  his  fatlier,  477-486. 
Raudium,  battle  of,  269. 
Rauskva,  246. 

Ravngard  og  Memmering,  438. 
Rawlinson,  Dr.,  18. 
Rechru,  191. 
Regin,  the  dwarf,  275. 
Regin  =  the  gods,  290. 
Regnheard,     Reginfial,     Reginhart, 

290. 
Reichenau,  monastery  of,  404. 
ReiSar  Jjruma,  485. 
Relic-mougering,  59. 
"Reliquiae  Antiquse,"  124,  163,  170, 

378,  412,  414,  429. 
"  Remains  concerning  Britain,"  172. 
Resenius,  22.5. 

Restitutus,  Bishop  of  London,  21. 
Rhys,  J.,  487. 
Ribbalds,  soldiers  sent  by  King  John 

to  Swerrir,  344. 
Richbode,  Archbishop  of  Treves,  82. 
Richter,  Jean  P.,  415. 
Riculf,  Archliisliop  of  Mayence,  78. 
Riddles   in  Exeter   Codex,    152 ;    in 

Hervarar  Saga,  287,  420. 
Righ,  399. 
Rigsmal,  399. 
Rigveda,  253. 


INDEX. 


5" 


Rimol,  304. 

Eita  and  rista,  difference  between, 
451. 

Ritson,  226. 

Rock  runes  at  Ramsund,  290. 

Rogers,  Daniel,  477. 

Roland,  Norse  ballad  on,  299. 

Rolfgangr,  190. 

Rolf  Krake,  299. 

Roman  baths,  ISO  ;  mission,  181 ;  old 
ballads,  298. 

Romans,  departure  of,  from  Britain, 
177. 

Rome,  pilgrimages  to,  186,  408. 

Ronald,  Earl  of  Orkney,  death  of, 
342. 

"  Ruin,  The,"  poem  of,  144. 

Runes,  meaning  of,  and  etymologj', 
6 ;  magic,  457 ;  origin  of  old  runes 
discussed  by  Stephens,  459  sqq. ; 
traced  by  Wimmer  direct  from  the 
Latin,  464 ;  by  Bugge  indirectly 
from  an  old  Latin  character,  466  ; 
Thorsen  on  non-monumental  runes, 
469  ;  bind,-  branch,-  tree-,  474. 

Runic  speech,  after  Gothic,  the  oldest 
German  known  (so  Buorge),  467. 

Runic  stones,  Swedish,  20. 

Ruotsi.  200. 

Rurik,  200. 

Russ  or  Rhos  =  Swedes,  197,  199. 

Russian  state,  foundation  of,  197  sqq. 

Ruthwell  Cross,  inscrijjtion  on,  138. 

Rydja,  451. 

Rymer's ' '  Fcedera, "  report  on ,  22, 135. 

Sabaoc,  74. 

Sabina,  Cardinal,  354,  374. 

Sseraund,  227,  252. 

Ssetersdal  throw,  326. 

Sagas,  292  sqq.  ;  illustrate  Anglo- 
Saxon  Chronicle,  318. 

Salomon  and  Markolfr,  411. 

"Salomon  and  Saturn,"  399,  411. 

Salt,  why  the  sea  is,  412,  424. 

Salters,  168. 

Sam,  Gunnar's  Irish  hound,  300. 

Sampson,  a  Scot,  73. 

Saniiel  and  Simiel,  74. 

Samso,  389. 

Sandwich  harbour,  113. 

Sars,  192,  2.55,  331,  364. 

Saucourt,  hymn  of  victory  of,  125. 

Save,  Carl,  290,  460. 

Saxnot,  102. 

Saxo-Grammaticus,  202,  289,  299, 
437,  471,  472. 

Saxon  Shore,  176. 

Scaldic  poetry,  duration  of,  39.3. 

Scalds,  254  ;  language  of,  compared  to 
that  of  Troubadours,  364,  381  sqq. ; 


Icelandic,    from   950  to   1299    the 

Court  poets  of  Norway,  393. 
Scamp,  to,  451. 
Scandinavians  in  Russia,  197. 
Scanian  law,  Runic  MS.  of,  469. 
Scathach,  497. 
Schedje,  175. 
Schiern,  289. 
Schiller,  248. 
Schmidt's  Anglo-Saxon  laws,  85sq(i.- 

397.  ' 

Scob  =  Skapr,  447. 
"Scop,  or  Gleemau's  Tale,"  122. 
Scop  and  scald,  152. 
Scots  expelled,  186. 
Scott's  "Border  Minstrelsy,"  439. 
Scroggs,  445. 

Sea,  Icelandic  names  for,  484. 
"Seafarer,  The,"  145. 
Sea-smoke,  445. 
"  Sealed  letters  "  in  Hamlet  =  runes, 

471. 
Sedulius,  70. 
Selden,  IL 

Selsey,  Abbey  of,  404. 
Serf  not   to   work  on   Sundays,    89. 

See  Slave. 
Sergius  I.,  Pope,  69. 
Serpent  Tongue,  nickname  of  Gun- 

laug,  333. 
Services,  Church,  seven  in  number, 

99. 
Shakespeare's  use  of  the  bird  creation, 

318. 
Shetland,    religious    ditty    of,     dis- 
covered by  Blind,  157. 
Shield  lays,  239. 

Ship  discovered  in  a  tumulus,  199. 
Siegfrid,    legend   of,    widely  spread, 

266. 
Sif,  wife  of  Thor,  448. 
Sigmund,  Bresteson,  357  :  his  death, 

358. 
Sigrun,  275. 
Sigtrvggr  Silk  Beard,  King  of  Dublin, 

335". 
"Sigurd    the    Dragon-slayer,"    253; 

murder  of,  268,  290. 
Sigurd  the  Crusader,  347. 
Sigurd,  Earl  of  the  Orkneys,  298,  336. 
Sigurdson,  Jon,  393,  404. 
Sigvat  the  scald,  394,  390. 
Sigyn,  274. 
Simeon     of    Durham's     History     of 

Churcli  of  Durham,  43. 
Sir  Hugh  Evans,  446. 
"  Sisters,  Four,"  l)allad  of,  421. 
Skalagrim  at  the  forge,  327. 
Skaldaspiller  (Eyvind),  1^95,  386. 
Skaldskaparmal,  238. 
Skapti,  336. 


5i: 


INDEX. 


Skardsii,  Ejiirn  of,  224. 

Skeat,    Professor,    his    Anglo-Saxon 

(Jospels.  22,  334,  482. 
Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  lay,  123,  298. 
Skill,  485. 
Skirnir,  280. 
Sko.-ul,  a  Valkyr,  386. 
Skorri,  402. 
Skcirungr,  112,  327. 
Skrselings,  311. 
Skrfinir,  247. 
Skulason,  Bishop,    collects  Lives    of 

Icelandic  Bishops,  224. 
Skule,  Jarl,  poem  to,  301. 
Slaves,  laws  on,  97  ;  manumission  of, 
98  ;  chiefly  Celts,  98,  399 ;  sayings 
about,  400. 
Slavery   ceases   about    the    time    of 

Swerrir,  403. 
Slavonians,  197. 
Sleipuir,  267,  281. 
Suffibjorn,  426,  471. 
Suoldelev,  446. 

Snorri  Sturluson,  Prose  Edda  by, 
238  ;  HeimskringLi,  294  ;  his  edu- 
cation, 301 ;  ])oeni  to  Skule,  301 ; 
before  his  age,  305 ;  warned  by 
secret  runes,  473. 
Solar  Ljod,  254. 
Solinus,  179. 

Sonartorrek=Egirs  lament,  322,  472. 
Southey,  328. 

"Spaedom  of  the  Norns,"  367. 
Spannyr,  451. 

Sparrow,  man's  life  compared  to,  34. 
"Speculum  Regale,"  147,  207;  not 

by  Swerrir,  353. 
Spelman,  Sir  Henry,  his  correspon- 
dence with  Ole  Worm,  3,  13  ;  his 
glossary,  7,  11  ;  admires  Arngrim 
Jonas,  12  :  his  "  Councils  of  Great 
Britain,"  13  ;  founds  Anglo-Saxon 
chair    at    Cambridge,    13 ;    greets 
Arngrim  .Jonas,  233. 
Speratus  alias  Bishop  Higbald,  78. 
Spoon,  454. 

Stamford  Bridge,  battle  of,  299. 
Stanhoiie,  445. 
Starkadr,  254,  381. 
Steenstrup's    "  Vikingetogene,''    91, 
93,   171,   190,    193;    "Normanner- 
tiden,"  128,  193. 
Steinfinn,  407. 

Stephens  proves  the  "Heliand"  to 
be  originally  English,  132  ;  "  Runic 
Monuments,"  by,  133,  259,  334. 
Stikklestad.  battle  of,  299. 
Stitch,  spell  for,  163. 
Stivard,  439. 

Stokes,  J.  "W.,  in  "Revue  Celtique," 
319. 


Stone-deaf,  446. 

Storm,  G.  Snorri  Sturluson,  by,  297, 
301  ;  Karlmagnus  Saga,  396,  437. 

Stubbs'  Lives  of  Dunstan,  43,  218. 

Stump,  the  son  of  Cat,  363. 

Sturlunga  Saga,  436. 

Suetonius,  303. 

Siindfluth,  208. 

Sun-myths,  239. 

Surtecs  Society,  404. 

Surtr,  257. 

Svoldr,  battle  of,  302. 

Swafurlam,  391. 

Swallow,  the  spectre,  317. 

Sweet,  264. 

Swelkie,  the,  426. 

Swerrir,  King,  Saga  of,  344  sqq. 
placed  under  an  interdict,  344 ; 
])ortrait  of,  347  ;  compared  with 
Cromwell,  348;  his  speeches  before 
Ilevold,  .349 ;  over  grave  of  Jarl 
Erling,  350  ;  his  death,  352. 

Sweyne  Forkbeard,  King,  393 ;  his 
vow,  485. 

Swine-feeding,  113. 

S within,  St.,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
60. 

Swords,  famous,  110,  276. 

Simeon  alias  Eanbald,  81. 

Tacitus,  Agricola  of,  ISO  ;  Germania, 
181,  270,  298,  379 ;  History,  303. 

T.'efl=draughts  or  chess,  169. 

Tain-B6-Cliuailgne  =  cattle-prey  of 
Cooly,  487. 

Tancred,  the  monk,  113. 

Tatwine,  Archbishop,  his  riddles, 
421. 

Taylor,  Isaac,  his  work  on  runes, 
478. 

Teitr,  296. 

Tell,  legend  of,  in  the  Faroes,  289. 

Tertullian,  21. 

Th,  sharp  and  soft,  204,  405. 

Thadioc,  Bishop  of  York,  69. 

Thackeray,  328. 

Thanatos=Thanet,  179. 

Thangbrand,  the  missionary,  300 ; 
com]jared  with  Gregory's  mission- 
aries, ib.  ;  his  early  life,  308  ;  slays 
a  Berserker,  311. 

"Thelemarken,  Oxonian  in,"  420. 

Theodore,  Archbishop,  28, 33  ;  death 
of,  171,  307. 

Theodoric,  277,  397. 

Tlieodoric,  the  monk,  297,  302. 

Tlieodosius,  177. 

Theonas,  Bishop  of  London,  69. 

Theophilus,  story  of,  377. 

Thialfi,  246. 

Thiassi,  401. 


INDEX. 


513 


Thieves,  laws  against,  96. 

Thingore  monastery,  410. 

Thiodolfr,  scald  of  King  Harold 
Fairhair,  295,  382. 

Thomas  a  Becket  Saga,  370. 

Thomsen,  Dr.  W..  lecture  by,  200. 

Thor,  242,  246,  2C0, 281;  his  hammer, 
262,  282 ;  his  wrestling-match  with 
Elli,  325 ;  at  the  ferry,  417,  453. 

Thora,  358. 

Thorbjorg,  237. 

Thord  Kolbeinson,  342. 

Thord,  338. 

Thordar  Hvitaskald,  247. 

Thorfinn,  Earl,  342. 

Thorfinn  Karlsefne's  Saga.  2.37. 

Thorgeir,  Speaker  of  the  Law  in  Ice- 
land, his  adroit  decision,  314. 

Thorgeir,  296. 

Thergerda,  daughter  of  Egil,  322. 

Thorgerda,  Holge'irud's  temple,  357. 

Thorgils,  Bishop,  .356. 

Thorgrim  the  Bad,  358. 

Thorkel,  341. 

Thorlak,  Bishop.  175,  217;  his  "Liber 
Penitentialis,''  406  ;  studies  at  Lin- 
coln, 409. 

Thormodr  Kolbrunascald,  299. 

Thorodd  the  grammarian,  295. 

Thorolf,  319. 

Thorpe,  Benjamin,  18;  his  "Analecta" 
gives  Life  of  St.  Edmund,  GO  ;  Dip- 
lomatarium  ^Evi  Anglo-Sax  onici, 
107. 

Tliorsen,  Professor,  160, 283,  446  ;  on 
the  runes  of  Sleswig.  458;  lii.swork 
on  non  monumental  runes,  469. 

Thorstein,  father  of  Helga,  333. 

Thrand  of  Faro,  358  ;  his  creed,  359. 

priSi,  241. 

pair,  446. 

Thule,  29,  232. 

Thunder,  clap  of,  485. 

Thunor,  102. 

Thuridr,  327. 

Thrym,  king  of  the  Jotuns,  281. 

prymskviSa,  28L 

Tidings,  446. 

Titlies  in  Alcuin's  time,  82. 

Toasts,  drinking  =^  Is.  minni,  484. 

Tobacco,  232. 

Todd,  Dr.,  328,  33L 

Tofig,  Prud,  112. 

Toko,  289. 

Tonsure,  the  different  methods  of. 
33  ;  Scotch  or  Irish  diabolic,  73. 

Tooley  Street,  445. 
Torfaeus  Thormodus,  2.52. 

Tours,  Alcuin's  school  at,  83. 
T   mscripts  of  old  English  books  in 
foreign  libraries,  133. 


Trougemundslied,  423. 
Trumwin,  Bishop,  46. 
Tubuas  and  Tubuel,  74. 
Tun,  109. 
Turgesius,  94. 
Twilight  of  the  gods,  245. 
Tyrfing,  the  sword,  389. 

Ulfr  Uggason,  443. 

Ulfilas,  inventor  of  Gothic  alphabet, 

not  of  runes,  8. 
Undorn,  443. 
Unger,  290,  302.  305,  345,  355,  356, 

362,  398,  410,  439. 
Uriel,  74. 
Upsala,  temple  of  Frey  at,  442. 

Vaf1>RDDNISMAL,    259 ;     riddles   in, 

420,  446. 
Valhalla,  179,  243  ;  roof  of,  454. 
Valkyr,  267,  367,  384. 
Vaner,  427,  453. 
Vanfoli,  454. 
Vara,  447. 

Varangians,  197,  202. 
"Various  lots  of  men,"  169. 
Vasdajla  Saga,  324. 
Vebond,  397. 
Veda,  260,  276. 
Vefr  darraSar,  367. 
Veihs,  204. 

Velandswork  =  sword,  288. 
Veleda,  237. 

Venantius  Fortunatus,  470. 
Vendland  =  Fomerania,  302. 
"Venice,  Merchant  of,"  426. 
Vercelli  Codex,  1.35. 
Vidga  =  Wudga,288. 
Vigaglum's  Saga,  324,  326. 
Vigfusson,  Sturlunga  Saga,  264. 
Vikarsbolk,  381. 

Vikings  carry  off  a  Bible  from  Nantes, 
93  ;  fabulous  sums  paid  to,  128 ; 
in  Spain,  193. 

Vilkinaor  Theodoric's  Saga,  158. 

Vilking  Saga,  265. 

Vindauga,  452. 

Vingameid,  Odin  susi)ended  on,  157. 

Virgin,  legends  of,  370. 

Vok  =  hole  in  the  ice,  326. 

Volla,  161. 

Volsungs,  265. 

Voluntary  system  in  Iceland.  459. 

Volundarhus  =  labyrinth,  288. 

Voluspa,  256. 

Volva,  237,  256. 

Vonved,  Svend,  b.allad  of,  420. 

Wage,  192. 
Wackernagel,  259. 
Waelstow,  483. 

2    K 


5'4 


INDEX. 


Wnitz,  lOl. 

"W'akes,  church  or  lyke,  100. 

Walbiaud,  404. 

Waldeniar  IL,  Kin-.  393,  409. 

Waldere,  King,  lay  of,  65,  159. 

Wales,  laws  of,  275. 

"  Wanderer,  The,"  poem  of,  141. 

Wanley's  catalogueof  Northern MSS., 
17,  38  ;  quotes  words  of  "  Csedmon," 
132. 

"  Warlock  "  =  Holofernes,  130. 

"Wars  of  Gaedhill  with  the  Gaill," 
35,  92,  402. 

Watling  Street,  92. 

Wayland  or  (Weland),  legend  of,  65  ; 
sword  of,  110,  mentioned  in  the 
"Scald's  Complaint, '^  143,  288. 

Wealh  or  Wylise  =  Welsh,  later  = 
slave,  90. 

Wealtheow,  Hro^hgar's  qneen,  274. 

Wearmouth,  monastery  of,  28. 

"Web  of  battle  speed,"  281. 

Wed  to  =  to  covenant,  95. 

AVedderbarn,  Captain,  his  courtship, 
422. 

Wedmore,  91. 

Weirs,  167. 

Welland  river,  .so  called  from  Weland 
(the  smith),  65. 

Welsh  =  French,  334. 

AVendelsse  =^rediterTanean  Sea.  134. 

AVends,  the  worsit  of  races,  75,  377. 

Wer,  meaninV  df,  103. 

Werewolf,  155.„. 

W^erlauf,  Professor,  fragment  of 
"Walderefe  ILay,"  discovered  by 
him,  157;  iSyrnhohe  ad  Geogr,  &c., 
194  ;  Anecaoton  Swerriri,  345. 

Wessohrunni?  Gehet,  258. 

Westminstec^AJatthew  of,  his  exis- 
tence douOTfnl,  3. 

"Whale,  The,"  146;  fishing,  167; 
cast  ashore,  306,  410. 

Whitbv  synod,  185,  444. 

AVidsith,  122. 

Wife,  her  husband's  rune,  8. 

AViglaf,  116. 

AVihtred's  laws,  85,  89. 

AA''ilfrid  converts  Sussex,  32  ;  method 
of,  39  ;  his  journeys  to  Rome,  186. 


AVilhelmus  Gemetencis,  192. 

AVilliam  the  Conqueror's  laws,  99. 

Wininier  on  runes,  465. 

AVindow,  452. 

Wisen's  Icelandic  homilies,  334. 

Witenngemot,  107. 

AVoden,  161,  162. 

AVomen,  the,  of  Scandinavia,  327  ; 
proverbs  on,  430. 

AVood,  Anthony,  4. 

AVoof  of  war,  the,  367. 

AVorsaae,  299,  445. 

AA^ords,  Icelandic,  study  of,  451. 

AVordsworth,  249. 

AA'orld,  etymology  of,  206. 

AVorm,  Ole,  correspondence  with 
Spelman,  5-13 ;  friend  of  Isaac 
Casaubon,  4  ;  came  to  Oxford,  ib.  ; 
his  son  student  at  Oxford,  ib.  ; 
tractate  by,  on  family  names  in 
theljorth,  5;  his  "FastiDanici,"7; 
his  "Literatura  Daiiica,"  7;  his 
specimen  "  Lexici  Kunici,"  10 ;  loses 
his  wife,  12  ;  correspondence  with 
Arngrim  Jonas,  230,  470  ;  letter  to 
Naudseua,  478. 

Wreckers  in  Sussex,  40. 

AVright,  182. 

AVulfsige,  Archbishop  of  York,  184. 

AVulfstan's  voyage,  25. 

AVynfrid  alias  Boniface,  71  sqq.  ; 
propounds  questions  to  the  Pope, 
73. 

Wyrd,  287. 

Xanthus,  454. 
Ximenes,  Cardinal,  2. 

Yarmouth,  409. 
Yggdrasil,  242,  240,  203,  440. 
Ymer,  241. 
Yngliiigatal,  Wl. 
York  Cathedral,  library  of,  182. 
Yule,  how  kept  in  Scandinavia,  325, 
423,  442. 

Zacharias,  Pope,  74,  91. 
Zoe,  Greek  empress,  360. 
Zosinius,  180. 
Zumarraga,  Archbishop,  2. 


THE  END. 


BY    BAI.LANTYNE,  HANSON  AND    CO. 
EDINBURGH    AND    LONDON 


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