Medieval Book Club Preview: Viking Age Iceland by Jesse L. Byock

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History, Jesse L. Byock, Medieval Book Club, Viking Age Iceland, Vikings

The popular image of the Viking Age is of warlords and marauding bands pillaging their way along the shores of Northern Europe. In this fascinating history, Jesse Byock shows that Norse society in Iceland was actually an independent one-almost a republican Free State, without warlords or kings. Combining history with anthropology and archaeology, this remarkable study serves as a valuable companion to the Icelandic sagas, exploring all aspects of Viking Age life: feasting, farming, the power of chieftains and the church, marriage, and the role of women. With masterful interpretations of the blood feuds and the sagas, Byock reveals how the law courts favored compromise over violence, and how the society grappled with proto-democratic tendencies. A work with broad social and historical implications for our modern institutions, Byock’s history will alter long-held perceptions of the Viking Age.

This is the seventh entry into the monthly Medieval Book Club, and we are shifting gears for two months and looking at Medieval Iceland. This month we’re immersing ourselves into Viking Age Iceland itself, learning a bit more about it historically. In August we’ll be reading on of the Icelandic Sagas, which should be a great deal of fun. I’ve held a pretty strong interest in this period for a few years now, and I have actually written a few stories that took place in the Viking era. So these two months should be a huge treat for me, at least, and I hope you enjoy joining along with them as well.

Here is the breakdown of chapters:

• Introduction
• An Immigrant Society
  • Language and the Term “Viking”
  • Leadership
  • Mord the Fiddle: A Leader and the Law
  • The Sagas: An Ethnography of Medieval Iceland
• Resources and Subsistence: Life on a Northern Island
  • Turf Housing
• Curdled Milk and Calamities: An Inward-Looking Farming Society
  • Provisions, Subsistence Strategies, and Population
  • Bad Year Economics: Difficulties of Life in the North Atlantic
• A Devolving and Evolving Social Order
  • Ranking, Hierarchy and Wealth
  • Complex Culture and Simple Economy
  • Privatization of Power in the Tenth Century
  • A Proto-democratic Community?
  • Icelandic Feud: Conflict Management
• The Founding of a New Society and the Historical Sources
  • The Effect of Emigrating from Europe
  • Land-taking and Establishing Order
  • Dating the Settlement: Volcanic Ash Layers
  • Closing the Frontier and Establishing Governing Principles
  • Written Sources: The Book of Settlements and The Book of the Icelanders
• Limitations on a Chieftain’s Ambitions, and Strategies of Feud and Law: Eyrbyggja Saga
  • Arnkel’s Quest for Wealth and Power
  • Ulfar’s Land Shifts to Arnkel
  • Thorolf’s Land Shifts to Snorri Gothi
  • Ulfar Claims Orlyg’s Land
  • Ulfar’s Demise
  • The End of Arnkel’s Ambitions
• Chieftain-Thingmen Relationships and Advocacy
  • The Nature of the Gothorth
  • Advocacy
  • Arbitration and Legalistic Feuding
  • The Flexibility of the Gothi-Thingman Relationship
  • The Social Effects of Concubinage
  • Distinctions of Rank
  • Hreppar: Communal Units
  • The Orkneys: A Comparison
  • Freedmen
• The Family and Sturlunga Sagas: Medieval Narratives and Modern Nationalism
  • The Family Sagas
  • The Sturlunga Compilation
  • The Sagas as Sources
  • Modern Nationalism and the Medieval Sagas
  • Conclusions
  • The Locations of the Family Sagas
• The Legislative and Judicial System
  • Thing: Assemblies
  • Options
• Systems of Power: Advocates, Friendship, and Family Networks
  • Advocacy
  • The Role of Kinship
  • A Balancing Act
  • Friendship (Vinfengi and Vinatta)
  • Women and Choices of Violence and Compromise
    • Vengeance and Feud: Goading in Laxdaela Saga
    • A Goading Woman from Sturlunga saga
    • Retraint Within a Major Chieftain’s Household in the Sturlung Age
• Aspects of Blood Feud
  • Territory
  • Marriage and Confused Loyalties
  • Some Conclusions
• Feud and Vendetta in a ‘Great Village’ Community
  • The Language of Feud
  • Norms of Restraint
  • Bluffing and Violence
  • Outlawry
• Friendship, Blood Feud, and Power: The Saga of the People of Weapon’s Fjord
  • Inheriting a Foreigner’s Goods
  • Brodd-Helgi’s Revenge against Thorleif
  • Struggle to Claim a Dowry
  • Skirmishes over a Woodland
  • Seeking a Thingman’s Allegiance
  • Brodd-Helgi Breaks Vinfengi
  • Geitir Establishes Vinfengi
• The Obvious Sources of Wealth
  • Sources of Income Available Only to Chieftains
    • Early Taxes
    • Price-Setting
    • Additional Privileged Sources of Wealth
    • The Sheep Tax
  • Sources of Income Available to All Freemen
    • Trade
    • Slavery and the Rental of Land and Livestock
• Lucrative Sources of Wealth for Chieftains
  • The Acquisition of Property in the Family Sagas
    • Disputed Property in the East Fjords: The Saga of the People of Weapon’s Fjord
    • Disputed Property in the Salmon River Valley: Laxdaela Saga
  • Inheritance Claims in the Sturlunga Sagas
    • The Struggle to Inherit Helgastathir: The Saga of Gudmund the Worthy
    • Inheritance Rights to Heinaberg: The Saga of Hvamm-Sturla
    • Resurgence of the Dispute over Heinaberg: The Saga of the Icelanders
• A Peaceful Conversion: The Viking Age Church
  • Pagan Observance
  • A Viking Age Conversion
  • Geography and the Church
  • Early Bishops, Priests and Nuns
  • The Beginnings of a Formal Church Structure
• Gragas: The ‘Grey Goose’ Law
  • Manuscripts and Legal Origins
  • Women and the Law
  • Marriage and the Church
• Bishops and Secular Authority: The Later Church
  • Bishops
  • The Tithe and Church Farmsteads
  • Bishops and Priests in the Later Free State
  • The Church’s Struggle for Power in the Later Free State
  • Priests
  • Monasteries
• Big Chieftains, Big Farmers and their Sagas at the End of the Free State
  • Big Farmers and the Family Sagas
  • Advantages Enjoyed by the Storbaendr
  • The Saga of the Icelanders in the Sturlunga Compilation
  • The Storgothar, Not Quite Rulers
  • Iceland’s Jarl
  • 1262-4: The Covenant with Norway’s King and the End of the Free State
• Appendix I: The Law-speakers
• Appendix 2: Bishops During the Free State
• Appendix 3: Turf Construction
• Appendix 4: A Woman Who Travelled from Vinland to Rome

Will you join me in reading this book? You can pick up a copy on Amazon at this link. The post for this book’s reading will be on July 20th, which is the third Thursday of that month.

Which of the chapters and/or subsections interest you the most? There is a lot of ground covered in 373 pages of book here, and I expect I’ll find most of it to be quite fascinating!

Check out the full list of books we’re reading this year for the Medieval Book Club.

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Guest Post: EPIC by Dane Cobain

Tags

Dane Cobain, Epic, Guest Post, Indie Author, poetry

So I was contacted by poet and author Dane Cobain and, while I did not have the time to take on reading and reviewing one of his books, I was intrigued by his offer to write an exclusive poem based off five words I would provide. Being a bit of a fan of the Icelandic Sagas and Norse Mythology, I gave him this list of words: Saga, Shieldmaiden, Berserker, Valhalla, and Viking. So here is what he came up with, the poem that you won’t find anywhere else:

 

Epic

 

THIS.

IS.

EPIC.

 

Come on,

you act like you’ve never

met Thor before,

like you’re a berserker

without a purpose,

pillaging parishes

and pushing priests

over the sides

of a longship.

 

When I die,

they’ll burn me

in the back of a Volkswagen

Passat,

along with my

belongings;

Valhalla was made

for men like me,

maybe.

 

I once knew a Viking,

his meme was Stig

and he could drink more mead

than a Viking needs;

Stig died

when we were still

at university,

but I still miss him

when I go pillaging.

 

These days,

my shieldmaiden

is a little old lady,

an ageing Asian

who sharpens her tongue

on a whetstone.

 

And my saga

is set

to continue…

 

So there you have it. What did you think? Be sure to check out Dane’s work, which is listed below:

No Rest for the Wicked

(supernatural thriller)

When the Angels attack, there’s NO REST FOR THE WICKED.

Father Montgomery, an elderly priest with a secret past, begins to investigate after his parishioners come under attack, and with the help of Jones, a young businessman with an estranged child, Montgomery begins to track down the origin of the Angels.

When Jones himself is attacked, Father Montgomery knows he has to act fast. He speaks to the Angels and organises a final showdown where he’s asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Find out more.

 

Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home

(poetry)

Eyes Like Lighthouses is Dane Cobain’s first book of poetry, distilled from the sweat of a thousand memorised performances in this reality and others. It’s not for the faint-hearted.

“I’ve never seen anyone do a stream of consciousness piece as talented as that. Very impressed.” – Mark Allard-Will, author of Saskatch-A-Man and co-founder of Cuckoo’s Nest Press

Find out more.

 

Former.ly: The Rise and Fall of a Social Network

(literary fiction)

When Dan Roberts starts his new job at Former.ly, he has no idea what he’s getting into. The site deals in death – its users share their innermost thoughts, which are stored privately until they die. Then, their posts are shared with the world, often with unexpected consequences.

But something strange is going on, and the site’s two erratic founders share a dark secret. A secret that people are willing to kill for.

Find out more.

 

Social Paranoia: How Consumers and Brands Can Stay Safe in a Connected World

(non-fiction)

Social Paranoia: How Consumers and Brands Can Stay Safe in a Connected World is the true story of how sometimes the updates that you post come back to haunt you. Filled with real case studies and practical advice, it’s a guidebook for everyone who has an online presence from consumers to massive corporations.

Sometimes, people really are out to get you. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Find out more.

Where to begin reading in the Icelandic Sagas?

Tags

Hrafnkel's Saga, Icelandic Sagas, Medievalist Monday, Medival Iceland, Saga Thing

The question posed in the title is a serious one, especially to a person newly embarking upon reading the sagas. Even with a rudimentary idea of their culture and the background of the era, it can be a daunting task. After all, the complete collection of Icelandic Sagas is only five volumes long (and would make an excellent gift for anyone interested in Icelandic Sagas, for the record!) and just picking a random place to begin may not be the best strategy. When I started to read a small collection of Sagas last year, it jumped in with Egil’s Saga which was a long, but interesting read. And then it hit me with two more long sagas that dragged on far longer than I wanted them to. The problem was the sagas were long and I hadn’t developed a proper appreciation for them yet. I think the key is to begin with a few shorter sagas, to get a feel for the flavor of the writing and the culture, before tackling the longer ones.

One of the best finds I came across was a podcast called Saga Thing, which puts the sagas of the Icelanders on trial. They record episodes covering Icelandic history and briefs on relevant pieces of their culture, but the big thing they do is go through a Saga and discuss the parts of it (which can take 1-3 episodes) and then pass judgments on the Saga itself, looking at these categories:

• Best Bloodshed – Just what it sounds like. The battle or death that was most memorable, and the Sagas can have some brutal and bloody ones.
• Body Count – They do their best to tally up how many people died over the course of the Saga, which isn’t always easy because it doesn’t always give a good count.
• Best Nickname – This is one of the highlights of the Sagas, because there are some very interesting names bestowed upon people. Don’t believe me? How about these for some names:
  • Goat-Bjorn
  • Thorir Goat-thigh
  • Halfdan the Open-Handed-but-Stingy-with-Meat
  • Thorgrima Witch-Face
  • Thorir Wood-Leg
• Notable Witticisms – The best one-liners in the Saga, usually best enjoyed when told in the context of when they occur.
• Outlaw – They decide upon one man or woman from the Saga to outlaw from the island, usually going to the obvious villain that appears in the Saga.
• Thingmen – For this, I will share the full description used on their website for this:

  • We’ve cast ourselves in the role of Icelandic goðar [chieftains]. As such, we’re each recognized as the most respected leading men in our imaginary districts.  Though we’re not exactly nobles or lords according to the traditional lord-retainer model of medieval Europe (see episode 1), we do have formal personal alliances with free men and landholding farmers. These are our thingmen.  They follow us to the thing [assembly] and support our causes with their wit, wisdom, and (if it comes to it) their ability to wield a weapon well.
    

    Near the end of each episode, we’ll both pick a thingman.  By the time we’ve finished reviewing each of the Sagas of the Icelanders we’ll each have a group of pretty imposing figures.  The question, in the end, will be this: Who has the best group of thingmen?

    At the end of this incarnation of the podcast, we’ll head to the Althing with our respective thingmen.  With so much pride on the line we wonder:

    Who will emerge victorious?

And truly, these categories not only make the podcast interesting to listen to, they are mostly a good measuring stick for a way to read and enjoy the Sagas. Taking the time to note fun and unusual nicknames, vote out a villain and draft an impressive Thingman, to track the memorable scenes of bloodshed and witty commentary that occurs…all of those things capture the essence of what you will find in most Sagas and help a reader to interact with the text. So not only could I recommend listening to Saga Thing’s podcast after you read that respective Saga, I would also urge a reader to try and come up with their own nominations while reading.

But the question still remains: where to begin? What one Saga stands out as a good entry point? It came about halfway through my own reading of the collection of Sagas I own, and it is also the very first one that Saga Thing covered: Hrafnkel’s Saga. What makes this one good is that it is short in length (on Saga Thing they actually measure other sagas in relation to Hrafnkel, such as “this saga is 7.1 Hrafnkel Sagas”), it has a relatively small cast of main characters and a low body count but it also contains a memorable narrative with some clear candidates for most of the categories. It is like stepping into the shallow part of a pool before diving into the deep end, and would allow you to get a feel for Saga Literature before committing to a longer immersion.

And when you do get immersed, you’ll find that the Sagas make for some really fun and entertaining reads!

Medievalist Monday: Valhalla

Tags

Einherjar, Magnus Chase, Norse Mythology, Odin, Valhalla, Vikings

Welcome to the first official Medievalist Monday. This is the fourth week, which means we’ll be covering something related to Medieval Iceland. Because so much revolves around the idea of Valhalla in Norse mythology it seemed like a good place to begin (next month we’ll follow up with Ragnarok, the other big thing that pops up quite often).

In the Norse mythology, they believed that Valhalla, which means “hall of the fallen”, was the place where the the god Odin would house the dead that are judged worthy of dwelling there. Rather than a selection process of people who were good, the selections were brave and distinguished warriors who are being stored away in order to take part in the eventual coming of Ragnarok. These warriors are known as the Einherjar. And while you might think that Odin would be the one to judge these warriors, they are actually selected by Odin’s team of Valkyries. Yet not all warriors who die will go to Odin at Valhalla (although this is the one many dream of going to), but some are selected to go to Freya’s hall of Folkvang. Which is why many Vikings would go into battle and attempt to accomplish great feats: they wanted to be chosen for Valhalla.

What do they do all day in Valhalla? They are fighting, of course! They are always fighting, as the day of Ragnarok will arrive and they should be in the best fighting-shape, right? And after the battle, the warrior emerge healed and sit together around the tables in the great hall. This is something that was remarkably well-done in Rick Riordan’s first Magnus Chase book (a positively delightful read if you have even the least interest in Norse mythology!)

There are a few descriptions of Valhalla. It is rumored to have five hundred and forty doors. It is decorated with spears and shields and breast-plates (as if anything else would be fitting for a hall of heralded heroes) and is guarded by a wolf and an eagle. The best place to turn to for the source material on Valhalla, and other Norse mythology information, would be either the Poetic Edda or the Prose Edda. But if you are the casual reader who is interested in Norse mythology, I can’t recommend the Magnus Chase book (soon to be books) enough.

The Vikings series on the History channel does a good job of capturing the essence of Valhalla and its importance to the warriors with this scene of dialogue: