Egil: Berserkers, Kennings, The Rune Master and The Nithing Pole

There was a man named Ulf, son of Bjalf, and Hallbera, daughter of Ulf the fearless; she was sister of Hallbjorn Half-giant in Hrafnista, and he the father of Kettle Hæing. Ulf was a man so tall and strong that none could match him, and in his youth he roved the seas as a freebooter. In fellowship with him was one Kari of Berdla, a man of renown for strength and daring; he was a Berserk

everyday as evening drew on he became sullen, so that few could come to speak with him. He was an evening sleeper, and it was commonly said that he was very shape strong. He was called Kveldulf

Hiya folks,
After my previous thread about The Kalevala (see my sig), I wanted to introduce people to another much overlooked, dark and unusual tale from the past. Though this one is not part of a nation’s mythology, rather a genuine part of the history of Iceland, Norway and Britain - an often brutal story of greed and feuds centered around a real life Anti-Hero of epic proportions, from a family who personified all it was to be a Norse in the ninth and tenth centuries:

Egil Skallagrimsson


I want to emphasise as I start, that Egil and his family are real historical figures, and although “Egil’s Saga” (one of the greatest of the Icelandic Sagas) was written more than 200 years after his death and poetic license was no doubt used, scholars agree that many of the events described actually happened, and documentary evidence exists to back up places, dates, interactions and so on.

They rate a lengthy mention in the Landnamabok, or Icelandic Book of Settlements:
en.wikipedia.org...
(Chapter seventeen onwards via Northvegr link below)
www.northvegr.org...

Besides this, the deeds of his family were so daring, violent and often outrageous that they were well known throughout the Viking world when they were alive… hopefully the reasons for this will become plain as you continue reading… This could be quite a long one folks, I hope that it’s worth the effort and that you all enjoy it!

First some links.. please note that nearly all of the quotes from the saga come from the Sacred Texts link, though I would recommend anyone buying a copy to get it in either Penguin or Everyman Classics. The Everyman version is best IMO due to the way it handles the Kenning based poems – more on that later. While I am not going to re-tell the story, I will quote some lengthy sections of the Saga to illustrate some of the more bloody and mystical parts that I hope you will enjoy, and I will highlight and discuss some of the stranger or mysterious elements as I go. Obviously I’ll be happy to discuss any elements relating to the story, OP etc etc in more detail if readers request me to do so.

www.amazon.co.uk...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363819235&sr=1-2
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...
www.sacred-texts.com...



Now the saga begins as I began this post, with Kveldulf, a powerful chieftain, landowner and leader in ninth century Norway, renowned as a berserker and feared for his skill in battle – his name means “Evening-Wolf” which refers to his status as a berserker. He is not some senseless thug though – he manages his land well, treats his folk with fairness and engenders loyalty, is a well-known smith and possesses insight of the future.

Kveldulf has two sons, Thorolf who is heroic and handsome, and Grim (known as Bald- or Skalla-Grim) who is just like his father – hulking, and dark of complexion and mood.

In turn, Skalla-Grim has two sons, Thorolf, who reflects the uncle he was named for, and Egil, the anti-hero of the story. All of the males in the family could go berserk, though Egil was often more calculating in battle.

Egil is an incredible character who possesses entirely his own morality, and any man who was foolish enough to cross him could expect a (generally short) lifetime of feuding. He fought battles in England for Aethelstan, was Iceland’s greatest ever poet, a cold blooded killer, a master of runes, a curser and a healer and twice fought and killed eleven men single handed. He was brutal and cruel with his enemies; yet warm, generous and kind to his friends. He was the ultimate Viking.

It all begins when Harald Finehair becomes King of all Norway and demands that the chieftains pledge allegiance and send fighting men to him – Kveldulf can tell no good will come of this, but his son, the first Thorolf goes, and makes such an impression due to his heroic qualities that rivals slander him, eventually causing the King to take against him and engineer his death. So begins a feud that Kveldulf and Skalla-Grim carry out in the finest of Viking fashions, tearing a swathe across Norway killing the King’s Family and retainers when ever they can..
Here they come across a ship carrying two royal princes, Hallvard and Sigtrygg:

Kveldulf had in his hand a battle-axe; but when he got on board, he bade his men go along the outer way by the gunwale and cut the tent from its forks, while he himself rushed aft to the stern-castle. And it is said that he then had a fit of shape-strength, as had also several of his comrades. They slew all that came in their way, the same did Skallagrim where he boarded the ship; nor did father and son stay hands till the ship was cleared. When Kveldulf came aft to the stern-castle, he brandished high his battle-axe, and smote Hallvard right through helm and head, so that the axe sank in even to the shaft; then he snatched it back towards him so forcibly that he whirled Hallvard aloft, and slung him overboard

The elderly Kveldulf has exhausted himself with his battle-rage, and he and Skall-grim realise they have no future in Norway so move to Iceland immediately – Kveldulf dies on the way, telling his son to set him overboard and set up home where his corpse washes ashore.

He comes ashore at Borgarfjord, where the settlement of Borg is founded


Skalla-Grim, himself a fine smith, hard worker and great leader soon becomes a rich landholder and prominent man. His first son Thorolf is born; fair, heroic and handsome, then a few years later, the remarkably ugly Egil. Here are a few excerpts from his childhood…

Skallagrim and his wife had yet another son. He was sprinkled with water and named, and his name was Egil. But as he grew up it was soon seen that he would be ill-favoured, like his father, with black hair. When but three years old he was as tall and strong as other boys of six or seven. He was soon talkative and word-wise. Somewhat ill to manage was he when at play with other lads

A game of ball was held at White-river-dale in the early winter, to which was a great gathering of people from all the country-side. Thither went many of Skallagrim's household to the game. Chief among them was Thord, Grani's son. Egil asked Thord to let him go with him to the game; he (Egil) was then in his seventh winter. Thord let him do so, and Egil mounted behind him. But when they came to the play-meeting, then the men made up sides for the play. Many small boys had come there too, and they made up a game for themselves. For this also sides were chosen.
Egil was matched to play against a boy named Grim, son of Hegg, of Hegg-stead. Grim was ten or eleven years old, and strong for his age. But when they played together Egil got the worst of it. And Grim made all he could of his advantage. Then Egil got angry and lifted up the bat and struck Grim, whereupon Grim seized him and threw him down with a heavy fall, and handled him rather roughly, and said he would thrash him if he did not behave. But when Egil got to his feet, he went out of the game, and the boys hooted at him.
Egil went to Thord and told him what had been done. Thord said:
'I will go with you, and we will be avenged on them.'
He gave into his hands a halberd that he had been carrying. Such weapons were then customary. They went where the boys' game was. Grim had now got the ball and was running away with it, and the other boys after him. Then Egil bounded upon Grim, and drove the axe into his head, so that it at once pierced his brain
.

When Egil was twelve years old, he was grown so big that there were but few men howso large and strong that he could not overcome in games. In his twelfth winter he was often at games. Thord Grani's son (Egil’s friend from the preceding excerpt) was then twenty years old; he was very strong. As the winter wore on, if often chanced that the two, Egil and Thord, were matched against Skallagrim. And once in the winter it so befell that there was ball-play at Borg, southwards in Sandvik. Thord and Egil were set against Skallagrim in the game; and he became weary before them, so that they had the best of it. But in the evening after sunset it began to go worse with Egil and his partner. Skallagrim then became so strong and he caught up Thord and dashed him down so violently that he was all bruised and at once got his bane. Then he seized Egil. Now there was a handmaid of Skallagrim's named Thorgerdr Brak, who had nursed Egil when a child; she was a big woman, strong as a man, and of magic cunning. Said Brak:
'Dost thou turn they shape-strength, Skallagrim, against thy son?'
Whereat Skallagrim let Egil loose, but clutched at her. She broke away and took to her heels with Skallagrim after her. So went they to the utmost point of Digra-ness. Then she leapt out from the rock into the water. Skallagrim hurled after her a great stone, which struck her between the shoulders, and neither ever came up again. The water there is now called Brakar-sound. But afterwards, in the evening, when they came home to Borg, Egil was very angry. Skallagrim and everybody else were set at table, but Egil had not yet come to his place. He went into the fire-hall, and up to the man who there had the overseeing of work and the management of moneys for Skallagrim, and was most dear to him. Egil dealt him his deathblow, then went to his seat. Skallagrim spoke not a word about it then, and thenceforward the matter was kept quiet. But father and son exchanged no word good or bad, and so that winter passed

He set down a real marker for his adulthood, and did not let up. After Skalla-Grim dies an old man, Egil takes over the estate and becomes a very rich man. He ruthlessly pursue monies owing to him from the old family lands in Norway, and the feud with Harald, and the next king, the legendary and all too real Eirik Blood-Axe continues apace, not helped by the following episode where he gains the enmity of Eirik Blood-axe’s Queen, the witch Gunnhilde at the end of a long, drunken gathering:

The queen and Bard then mixed the drink with poison, and bare it in. Bard consecrated the cup, then gave it to the ale-maid. She carried it to Egil, and bade him drink. Egil then drew his knife and pricked the palm of his hand. He took the horn, scratched runes thereon, and smeared blood in them. He sang:

'Write we runes around the horn,
Redden all the spell with blood;
Wise words choose I for the cup
Wrought from branching horn of beast.
Drink we then, as drink we will,
Draught that cheerful bearer brings,
Learn that health abides in ale,
Holy ale that Bard hath bless'd.'

The horn burst asunder in the midst, and the drink was spilt on the straw below. Then Aulvir began to be faint. So Egil stood up, took Aulvir by the hand, and led him to the door. Egil shifted his cloak to his left side, and under the mantle held his sword. But when they came to the door, then came Bard after them with a full horn, and bade them drink a farewell cup. Egil stood in the door. He took the horn and drank it off; then recited a stave:

'Ale is borne to me, for ale
Aulvir now maketh pale.
From ox-horn I let pour
'Twixt my lips the shower.
But blind they fate to see
Blows thou bring'st on thee:
Full soon from Odin's thane
Feel'st thou deadly rain.'

With that Egil threw down the horn, but gripped his sword and drew; it was dark in the room. He thrust Bard right through the middle with the sword, so that the point went out at the back. Bard fell dead, the blood welling from the wound
:

Here we see Egil’s rune mastery for the first time….



This link uses a version of the above verse that has not had the Kenning (a dense form of coded words to create imagery) broken down – sacredtexts.com which I use for most quotes in the OP is ofc not always a good source, however usefull

I carve runes on this horn,
redden words with my blood,
I choose words for the trees1
of the wild beast’s ear-roots;2
drink as we wish this mead
brought by merry servants,
let us find out how we fare
from the ale that Bard blessed


We cannot say for sure which runes were carved on Egil’s drinking-horn because we do not know which set of runes Egil was familiar with. If it were the elder futhark we might assume that “trees” might mean Elhaz which refers to the elk and whose runic shape appears to look like the elk’s horns. Or we might even assume that it could be the rune Uruz, which stands for the auroch (wild ox) whose large horn may even have been the source for such a drinking horn. However the spread and shape of the elk’s horns would look more like a tree than the horns of an auroch. Also the line that contains “the wild beast’s ear-roots” is more likely to refer to Uruz and we would probably not see a double reference to the same rune in two lines of Egil’s verse. So assuming that the elder futhark runes were used by Egil, it would be safe to say that both Elhaz and Uruz would have been carved on the drinking horn to protect Egil from any sort of poison.
The reason we see Egil cut his own hand and cover the runes he had just carved with blood was a way thought to invoke the power of the runes. Because of this we also see why many runes are colored or associated with red. Red paint, ink or other material would represent blood and help release the power and magick of the runes that we are using.

www.therunesite.com...

A kenning (Modern Icelandic pronunciation: [cʰɛnːiŋk]; derived from Old Norse) is a type of literary trope, specifically circumlocution, in the form of a compound (usually two words, often hyphenated) that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun.

Old Norse kennings take the form of a genitive phrase (báru fákr "wave’s steed" = “ship” (Þorbjörn hornklofi: Glymdrápa 3)) or a compound word (gjálfr-marr "sea-steed" = “ship”

The skalds also employed complex kennings in which the determinant, or sometimes the base-word, is itself made up of a further kenning: grennir gunn-más “feeder of war-gull” = “feeder of raven” = “warrior” (Þorbjörn hornklofi: Glymdrápa 6); eyðendr arnar hungrs “destroyers of eagle’s hunger” = “feeders of eagle” = “warrior” (Þorbjörn Þakkaskáld: Erlingsdrápa 1) (referring to carnivorous birds scavenging after a battle). Where one kenning is embedded in another like this, the whole figure is said to be tvíkent “doubly determined, twice modified”

en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...
Kennings are effectively a way of using traditional Norse mythological and cultural elements to refer to other things, and Skalds would compete to make the most poetic and complex ones – they are hard to understand at first, but do become easier as you get used to reading them – I’ll quote Christine Fell from the Everyman edition linked near the start unravelling a short verse

“We shall, warrior (painter of the wolf’s tooth ), make our swords glitter in the air. We have to perform our deeds in the summer (mild season of the valley fish). Let everyone go as quickly as possible up to Lund. Let us make the harsh song of spears before sunset. (Valley-fish are snakes. Winter is referred to elsewhere as the death of snakes, so their mild season is evidently summer).”

Kennings can be a complex business, so I don’t want to get to bogged down in them right now – I’ll go into them more later if readers request it.


Later in the story Egil and his brother Thorolf travel to England and fight for Aethelstan at the Battle of Brunanburh where they both go berserk, Thorolf dies during the campaign, but only after a terrifying display of prowess:

Thorolf was thus armed. He had a shield ample and stout, a right strong helmet on his head; he was girded with the sword that he called Long, a weapon large and good. If his hand he had a halberd, whereof the feather-formed blade was two ells long, ending in a four-edged spike; the blade was broad above, the socket both long and thick. The shaft stood just high enough for the hand to grasp the socket, and was remarkably thick. The socket fitted with iron prong on the shaft, which was also wound round with iron. Such weapons were called mail-piercers

Then Thorolf became so furious that he cast his shield on his back, and, grasping his halberd with both hands, bounded forward dealing cut and thrust on either side. Men sprang away from him both ways, but he slew many. Thus he cleared the way forward to earl Hring's standard, and then nothing could stop him. He slew the man who bore the earl's standard, and cut down the standard-pole. After that he lunged with his halberd at the earl's breast, driving it right through mail-coat and body, so that it came out at the shoulders; and he lifted him up on the halberd over his head, and planted the butt-end in the ground. There on the weapon the earl breathed out his life in sight of all, both friends and foes. Then Thorolf drew his sword and dealt blows on either side, his men also charging. Many Britons and Scots fell, but some turned and fled.

Livingston identified at least fifty-three medieval sources containing references to the battle, including important accounts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the writings of Anglo-Norman historian William of Malmesbury, the Annals of Clonmacnoise, and Snorri Sturluson's Egils saga, whose antihero, mercenary berserker and skald Egill Skallagrimsson, served as a trusted warrior for Æthelstan.[5]

en.wikipedia.org...

Not long after, Skalla-Grim dies an old man, and to prevent him becoming a Draugr, Egil treats the body in a strange manner:

Egil went on to the chief seat, and took Skallagrim by the shoulders, and forced him backwards, and laid him down in the seat, and rendered then the services to the dead. Then Egil bade them take digging tools and break open the wall on the south side. When this was done, then Egil supported the head and others the feet of Skallagrim; and so they bore him athwart the house out through the breach in the wall just made. Then they bore him immediately down to Nausta-ness. There for the night a tent was set over the body; but in the morning with flood-tide Skallagrim was put on a boat and rowed out to Digra-ness. There Egil had a mound raised on the point of the ness. Therein was laid Skallagrim, with his horse, his weapons, and his smithy tools. It is not told that any valuables were laid in the mound beside him.

This is done so that the spirit of the dead cannot rise and retrace their steps and cause misery for the living – Skalla-grim’s shade would not be able to find his way into the house having been bought out through a broken then repaired wall.

Later, Egil is shipwrecked on the Yorkshire coast, and finds out in that Eirik Blood-Axe has lost his throne and left Norway. Where is his great enemy now? You got it – he’s now the ruler of York - Bad luck Egil!
His only option to to go to his greatest ally and friend, Arinbjorn, who now serves as Eirik’s most trusted retainer. With his help he throws himself on Eirik’s mercy – he would have lost his head but for the noble Arinbjorn’s intervention. His only way out is to compose a formal poem of praise for his enemy, and he only has one night to do it… it is important to note that as the greatest living Viking skald, Egil’s ability to create words of praise is more valuable than gold.
Eirik’s wife, the witch Gunnhilde tries to interrupt his focus that night with her powers of shape-changing:

Then Arinbjorn went away, and had food and drink carried to the upper room. Egil was there alone for the night. Arinbjorn went to his men, and they sate over drink till midnight. Then Arinbjorn and his men went to the sleeping chambers, but before undressing he went up to the room to Egil, and asked how he was getting on with the poem.
Egil said that nothing was done. 'Here,' said he, 'has sate a swallow by the window and twittered all night, so that I have never got rest for that same.'
Whereupon Arinbjorn went away and out by the door leading up to the house-roof, and he sate by the window of the upper room where the bird had before sate. He saw that something of a shape witch-possest moved away from the roof. Arinbjorn sate there by the window all night till dawn. But after Arinbjorn had come there, Egil composed all the poem, and got it so by heart that he could recite it in the morning when he met Arinbjorn
.

Egil saves his head with a gory poem of praise to Eirik’s martial achievements
www.sacred-texts.com...

Egil has another chance to demonstrate his compassion, healing powers and rune mastery when he encounters a young woman who is sick, despite effots to heal her from another less skilled worker of runes:

'Has anything,' asked Egil, 'been tried for her ailment?'
'Runes have been graven,' said Thorfinn; 'a landowner's son hard by did this; and she is since much worse than before. But can you, Egil, do anything for such ailments?'
Egil said: 'Maybe no harm will be done by my taking it in hand.'
And when Egil had finished his meal, he went where the woman lay and spoke with her. Then he bade them lift her from her place and lay clean clothes under her, and they did so. Next he searched the bed in which she had lain, and there he found a piece of whalebone whereon were runes. Egil read them, then cut the runes and scraped them off into the fire. He burned the whole piece of whalebone, and had the bed-clothes that she had used hung out to air. Then Egil sang:

'Runes none should grave ever
Who knows not to read them;
Of dark spell full many
The meaning may miss.
Ten spell-words writ wrongly
On whale-bone were graven:
Whence to leek-tending maiden,
Long sorrow and pain.'

Egil then graved runes, and laid them under the bolster of the bed where the woman lay. She seemed as if she waked out of sleep, and said she now felt well, but she was weak. But her father and mother were overjoyed. And Thorfinn offered to Egil all the furtherance that he might think needful.

Before my OP gets too epic, there are a couple of other parts to include as briefly as possible:

He fights a Holmgang (ritualised single combat) with Ljot the Pale, slaying him quickly, all because the son of a friend has been unfairly challenged and faces certain death, though Egil does gain all of Ljots treasure and lands, acquired from years of duelling for a swift chopping up of his supposedly fearsome opponent.



And then later fights another, though he kills his opponent with his teeth when his sword does not bite on his magically protected rival:

And when they were ready for the combat, then ran they each at the other, and first they threw their halberds, neither of which stood fast in the foeman's shield, but both struck in the ground. Then took they both to their swords, and went at it with a will, blow upon blow. Atli gave no ground. They smote fast and hard, and full soon their shields were becoming useless. And when Atli's shield was of no use, then he cast it from him, and, grasping his sword with both hands, dealt blows as quickly as possible. Egil fetched him a blow on the shoulder, but the sword bit not. He dealt another, and a third. It was now easy to find parts in Atli that he could strike, since he had no cover; and Egil brandished and brought down his sword with all his might, yet it bit not, strike he where he might. Then Egil saw that nothing would be done this way, for his shield was now rendered useless. So Egil let drop both sword and shield, and bounding on Atli, gripped him with his hands. Then the difference of strength was seen, and Atli fell right back, but Egil went down prone upon him and bit through his throat. There Atli died.
Egil leapt up at once and ran to where the victim (a bull for sacrifice) stood; with one hand he gripped his lips, with the other his horn, and gave him such a wrench, that his feet slipped up and his neck was broken; after which Egil went where his comrades stood, and then he sang:

'I bared blue Dragvandill,
Who bit not the buckler,
Atli the Short so blunted
All edge by his spells.
Straining my strength I grappled,
Staggered the wordy foeman;
My tooth I bade bite him,
Best of swords at need.'
.

en.wikipedia.org...



Lastly, Egil demonstrates the use of “The Nithing Pole”, the nastiest of norse curses, this could be the reason Eirik and Gunnhilde lose the throne of Norway and end up in England:
en.wikipedia.org...

A nithing pole consisted of a long, wooden pole with a recently cut horse head at the end, and at times with the skin of the horse laid over the pole.[1] The nithing pole was directed towards the enemy and target of the curse. The curse could be carved in runes on the pole.
[edit] Attestations
A nithing pole event appears in Egils saga:
"And when all was ready for sailing, Egil went up into the island. He took in his hand a hazel-pole, and went to a rocky eminence that looked inward to the mainland. Then he took a horse's head and fixed it on the pole. After that, in solemn form of curse, he thus spake: 'Here set I up a curse-pole, and this curse I turn on king Eric and queen Gunnhilda. (Here he turned the horse's head landwards.) This curse I turn also on the guardian-spirits who dwell in this land, that they may all wander astray, nor reach or find their home till they have driven out of the land king Eric and Gunnhilda.' This spoken, he planted the pole down in a rift of the rock, and let it stand there. The horse's head he turned inwards to the mainland; but on the pole he cut runes, expressing the whole form of curse." - Egils Saga, Chapter LX(60)
.

Egil was renowned for being of fearsome appearance, and most likely had Pagets disease – no doubt some readers here will know of this, and it may have been posted many years ago, so I wont discuss it in the OP, I’ll just provide a link, and a fearsome pic to give you an idea how it may have effected his appearance.

www.viking.ucla.edu...

For a humourous precy of Egil’s rampage across northern Europe, please read the following link, it’s full of swearing and pure manliness, and is extremely funny
www.badassoftheweek.com...

well, I’m exhausted. I hope I have given a good taste of a tale that I hope a good film director picks up and makes it into a bloody epic, I’ve tried to cover “Berserkers, Kennings, The Rune Master and The Nithing Pole” in enough detail to provoke further discussion (i have more info for those interested), and hopefully encouraging some of you to find a copy of the saga, it a phenomenal read, thanks for stopping by!

reply to post by skalla


Awesome thread!

Dude, you and I are on the same frequency lately; I was just watching Valhalla Rising for the second time, and It has a scene that is supposed to reflect the Nithing Pole curse.



One Eye uses a human head, but the scene caused me to go looking in to it all and that led me to the Nithing Pole thing. I've learned even more now from your thread.

That statue, presumably of Egil, is wayyyy too cool.

Thanks for another great thread, skalla.

reply to post by Bybyots


many thanks Bybyots, and agreed - hopefully there is an appetite for more of this kind of stuff as i have a few more ideas on the back-burner, though i'm fairly worn out after posting all that!

Valhalla Rising is superb too - bleak,sparse and dark! i have the DVD though i have only watched it the once - dont ask why as i dont have a good answer i watched it in the middle of a very addled evening and i think it was too much for the mrs, but she struggled through.... i really hope someone turns this into a worthy film or series.. there is a cartoon version that entered production a few years ago, but i think it got forgotten about
www.imdb.com...
there are a few short vids of it on YT, but it doesn't look so great imo.

I had some other pics of Nithing Poles, but i think they would have raised a few complaints
Glad you enjoyed it!

ETA: the statue is indeed of Egil - it's just totally awesome

A very wonderful thread, and thanks for a good review of some of the lesser-known ancient tales of the Vikings. I was fascinated by this as a girl... haven't read up on it in a very long time!

reply to post by Bybyots


Further to the Nidstang/Nithing Pole it relates to scaring or compelling the Landvaettir/spirits of the land, alfar etc into carrying out the curse.

The Nidstand is very much like the Dragon Prow of the Longship - when approaching friendly territory the Dragon Prow would be removed (they were usually removable) lest the spirits of the land were upset by them

landvætt (pl. landvættir)
Literally, "wights of the land," from vættr, "wight" or "being." The landvaettir are the guardians of land, alfar or other tribes living on the land that should be made friends in order to assure their continued sense of guardianship and potential aide against unseen forces in Skuld. The landvættir were not limited to Scandanavia. Indeed, upon arrival on the shores of Iceland, the early settlers found them waiting, and began immediately to appease them. For instance, we are told that,

It was the beginning of the preamble of the heathen laws that men should not take ships to sea with carved figure heads upon their stems, but if they did, they should take them off before they came in sight of land and not sail to land with gaping heads or yawning snouts lest the guardian feys of the land should be scared thereat. (Landnámabók 4.7)

en.wikipedia.org...

heathen.wikispaces.com...


i'm sure i have read in some saga or book on history that the Prows were fine as long as it's just good old pillaging that one has in mind, rather than trading.

it would not be too much of a stretch to think that these prows developed from the curse-poles and maybe as the art developed, they became dragons rather than horses.





The Nidstang reminds me of the Scythian burials that i think Herodotus talks about (again, read many many years back so not 100% on the reference), with the horse transfixed/impaled by a wooden pole and possibly laid over the burial.

Wikipedia page on Horse sacrifice:
en.wikipedia.org...

It was indeed Herodotus..

The Greek historian Herodotus avers that at the anniversary of a great Scythian king's death, a grand ritual of human and animal sacrifice was performed, where (post mortem) impalement was a critical factor in order to get the desired effect:[89]

"When a year is gone by, further ceremonies take place. Fifty of the best of the late king’s attendants (...) are taken, and strangled, with fifty of the most beautiful horses. When they are dead, their bowels are taken out, and the cavity cleaned, filled full of chaff, and straitway sewn up again. This done, a number of posts are driven into the ground, in sets of two pairs each, and on every pair half the felly of a wheel is placed archwise ; then strong stakes are run lengthways through the bodies of the horses from tail to neck, and they are mounted up upon the fellies, so that the felly in front supports the shoulders of the horse, while that behind sustains the belly and quarters, the legs dangling in mid-air ; each horse is furnished with a bit and bridle, which latter is stretched out in front of the horse, and fastened to a peg. The fifty strangled youths are then mounted severally on the fifty horses. To effect this, a second stake is passed through their bodies along the course of the spine to the neck; the lower end of which projects from the body, and is fixed into a socket, made in the stake that runs lengthwise down the horse. The fifty riders are thus ranged in a circle round the tomb, and so left"

en.wikipedia.org...

more links re Scythian burials with horses
archive.archaeology.org...
en.tuva.asia...

i couldnt seem to find a good pic of an impaled horse burial/excavation though

You got a gift to tell it that..we who read it get fully interested.
I have never head of these tales.
Thank you.
Looking to read more and more of such wonderful tales and facts from you.

reply to post by coredrill


many thanks Coredrill, i appreciate the feedback - tbh i was beginning to wonder if more than a handful of readers here were interested in this kind of stuff!

Thanks for a great read, my grandfather came from Norway but unfortunately I never got to meet him and this is one of many stories that will result in my learning more about Norway history when I have the time. S&F

reply to post by habiff


Many thanks Habiff, this tale in particular is a stunning read and flows along at a great pace - i'd highly recommend it, along with Njal's Saga (a phenomenal tale of a long running blood-feud with the central character trying to make peace and apply the law while women stir the pot and egg their blokes on) it's my favourite of the bunch