The Viking Age. Volume 1 (of 2) The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nations

Revenge played a conspicuous part in the daily life of the Norsemen, and it was the duty of the nearest relative to avenge the death of a kinsman. This duty first belonged to th...

Two forms of duelling—The challenge—The places of combat—Rules of duelling—Plan of duelling-ground—Length of sword used—Offer of sacrifice before a duel—A peculiar duel—Women a...

The two modes of burial—Burning of the dead on the pyre—The law of Odin—Ceremonies after death—Laws and superstitions connected with the dead—The journey to _Hel_—The burial of...

Antiquity of class divisions in the North—Influence of education—The classes into which society was divided—The Jarl the progenitor of kings—Primogeniture—The thrall—Description...

The old Asa belief and Christianity—Clinging to the old faith—King Hakon the Christian and the heathen bœndr—Mixture of the two creeds—Hakon attempts to Christianize the people—...

The three poems giving the mythology and cosmogony of the North—The Völuspa, Vafthrudnismal, Grimnismal, the Asar, Jötnar, and Thursar—Odin and Vafthrudnir—The nine worlds—Befor...

Slavery among the Asar—Its early existence in the North—Contempt in which the slave was held—Nationalities of captives in war—Purchase of slaves—Daughters of foreign kings taken...

Comprehensiveness of the codes of the Northmen—The earlier laws—The Icelandic laws—The Grágás law-book—Judgment rings—Power of the lawmen—Their office hereditary in early times—...

Early knowledge of the art of writing—Knowledge of rune writing very remote—Archaic Greek characters—Jewels with earlier runes—Runes on memorial stones—Runic alphabets—The origi...

Sacrifices to the Alfar—Early worship of the Alfar—Spirits of the Alfar—Sacrifices to the Disir—Ceremonies attending the sacrifices—The Fylgja and Hamingja or following and fami...

The introduction of idol worship—The gods magnificently dressed—Besmearing the gods—Descriptions of the gods in temples—Amulets representing the gods—Worship of men after death—...

The Odin of the North—The forefathers of the English—Their migration from the shores of the Black sea—The geographical knowledge of the Norsemen—Tyrkland the home of Odin—Sigrla...

Odin’s religion—Sun worship—The Three Annual Sacrifices—The Atonement Boar and Bragi Toast—The Victory Sacrifice—Temple Priests—Animals for Sacrifices—Sacrificial ceremonies—Div...

Two kinds of witchcraft—Use of runes with incantations—Power of witchcraft—Ceremonies attending it—The Finns great masters in the art—Magical characters on weapons—Witchcraft—Kn...

We have many instances in the Sagas showing that there was a popular belief in the power of some persons to change their shape[381] (_hamhleypa_), either by their own will or by...

The utterances of the _Volvas_ or sibyls,[309] who could tell the past and the future, were given to the people as coming from the gods; and by special preparations and conjurat...

Influence of the belief in “the hall of the slain”—A warrior’s death a pass to Valhalla—Figurative offer of warriors to Odin—Self-sacrifice to Odin—Entrance to Valhalla—Food and...

Sacrifices to Odin—Human sacrifices resorted to on momentous occasions—Kings sacrificed—Children sacrificed by their fathers—Sacrifice to prolong life—Warriors given to Odin aft...

The Notitia—Probable origin of the name England—Jutland—The language of the North and of England—Early Northern kings in England—Danes and Sueones—Mythical accounts of the settl...

Sanctity of the oath—Manner of taking the oath—Oath upon the Bible adopted with Christianity—Oaths sworn by objects—The oath of truce—Oath by witnesses—Purifying oath—Its variou...

The people in assembly—Different assemblies—The general assembly—Local assemblies—Analogy of the United States—Retinues of Thingmen—Attendance at the Thing—The summons—Place of...

The faith of the Northmen in dreams[434] was almost as great as that which they placed in their gods; like the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, and other earlier nations, they b...

The freeman’s right to peace—Inviolability of body and honour—Indemnity for murder—Inequality of freemen’s personal rights—Computation of indemnity—Lists of the amount paid or r...

The three maritime tribes of the North—The fleets of the Sueones—Expeditions of Saxons and Franks—Home of these tribes—The tribes of Germania not seafaring—Probable origin of th...

The most primitive form of altar—The earliest Asa temple in the North—The temples in Norway and Denmark—Size and materials of temples—Their magnificence—Temple priests—Support o...

The shaping of man’s future at his birth—The three Nornir—Their dwelling-place—Their kin—Good and Evil Nornir—They water the ash Yggdrasil—The maids of Odin—They determine the i...

Division of the land—Supposed origin of the division—The odal—How land could become odal—Redemption of the odal—Laws in regard to redemption—Purchase of land and closing of the...

Power and functions of the godi or temple-priest—The leaders at sacrifices and spiritual rulers in the earliest times—The law only above the godi—He is the administrator of the...

Where the mythical Odin ends in the Völuspa, if there is any ending to him, is impossible to tell; it appears that he came and built an earthly _Midgard_,[70] according to the w...

Njörd the successor of Odin—Frey succeeds Njörd—A great temple built at Uppsalir by Frey—The ship of Frey—Death of Frey—Frey’s death kept secret from the people—Freyja, the prie...

Belief in omens—The sight of blood on food a foreboding of violent death—Blood dripping from weapons a sign of fierce conflict—Peculiar appearances of the moon—Ravens—Howling wo...

Numerous Greek and Roman objects—Intentional destruction of weapons—Thorsberg find—Coats of mail—Garments and harness—Weapons and ornaments—The Vimose find—The sax—Bronze and ir...

Abundance of gold—Stone occasionally used for arrow-heads—Pottery—Graves—Commencement of cremation—Objects of this period—Proficiency in the art of casting—Weapons—Ornaments mor...

Irredeemable crimes—Outlaws regarded as enemies of society—Custom of pleading for an outlaw—Liabilities of a murderess—Substitution of corporal punishment and fines for outlawry...

A study of the ancient literature and abundant archæology of the North gives us a true picture of the character and life of the Norse ancestors of the English-speaking peoples.

Ægir the god of the sea—His wife Ran—The origin of wind and fire—Figurative names of the sea, the wind, ice, rocks, clouds, hail, and rain—Ran’s net—The nine daughters of Ægir a...

We have ample proof from the Sagas that the people of the North were great breeders of horses, and took pride in their adornment. We are told of the favourite colours of horses,...

Prehistoric ages of man—Use of metal unknown—First traces of man—Weapons of flint, bone, &c.—Graves of the Stone Age—Introduction of domestic animals—The cromlech or dolmen alwa...

The three historic ages overlap each other—Division of the iron age by archæologists—Gradual development in the mode of burial during the three ages—Appearance of silver, lead,...

Mouldering bones and ashes of mighty heroes and noble women now forgotten under the mounds, or in the graves made hoary by the centuries that shroud you by their oblivion, I sal...

Among the archæological wealth of the North still belonging to the earlier, but not earliest, iron age, we find a class of graves and antiquities which are of special importance...

To return to the subject of graves, we will now speak of the sepulchral chambers containing skeletons. They generally vary in size, from the length of a man upwards, being about...

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The objects found in the earth, and classified under the name of _ground finds_, are often not only very valuable but also very beautiful; in many instances they are of the same...

Nothing perhaps can give us a better idea of the refined taste of some of the Northmen than the beautiful glass objects which have been found in different parts of the country....