Notes

Chapter 1. Introduction

1... The Vikings were not precisely preliterate, since they used runic letters for memorial stones and magical spells. But, so far as we know, they did not use the runes to record their literature.
2... One of the disadvantages of modern scholasticism is that people who do not fit accepted definitions are either classified incorrectly or are treated as if they do not exist.
3... Turville-Petre (1953) suggests that the Norsemen may have gotten the idea from Irish poets.
4... See the excellent article by Cecil Wood.
5... Holmbäk and Wessén (1933-45) have translated a great body of medieval Swedish laws into modern Swedish but I have not been able to consult this valuable source.

Chapter 2. Social and Cultural Background

1... Archeological investigations and the narrative accounts of those literate Christians or Moslems who encountered the Vikings on their travels, together with the poetry composed by the Northmen and preserved by their descendants, provide us with what we know about the society and culture of the Old Scandinavians during the Viking Age. I am myself but an educated and interested amateur in the technical arts by which the secrets of Viking life are extracted from these materials. Thus, the brief summary that follows is, for the most part, based on the writings of those considered competent. Three works are easily available to the English reader: The Vikings, Johannes Brøndsted; The Vikings, Holger Arbman; The Norsemen, Count Eric Oxenstierna. The last work is somewhat anecdotal but contains materials on the Vikings in the East which are difficult to obtain elsewhere in English translation. Less available but very useful is Viking Enterprise, Sven Axel Anderson.
2... An English translation of Ibn Fadlán's remarkable observations on the Vikings was made by Albert Stanburrough Cook and published in The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, XXII (1923), pp. 56-63. This translation has recently been reprinted in Dundes (1968, pp. 14-22). According to Turville-Petre another translation by C. Waddy was published in Antiquity, 1934, 58 ff. Translations of the account of the Viking ship burial may be found in Turville-Petre (1964) and Oxenstierna (1965). A Swedish translation appears in Arbman and Stenberger (1935).
3... The voluntary nature of the bond between the Old Scandinavian farmer and his chieftain stands in sharp contrast to feudal social organization, where the serfs were bound to their lords by heredity. For an interesting discussion of "peasant independence" in areas settled by Northmen, see Bloch 1964:49-50.
4... A number of interesting books have recently been published on the Greenland settlements and the Old Scandinavian explorations of the North American continent, Jones (1964), Ingstad (1966). Magnússon and Pálsson (1965) give us complete translations of the relevant sagas. At its height the total Norse population of Greenland was something like 3,000. The colonies disappeared—sometime in the middle of the fifteenth century. Flexible as they might be in other respects, the Norse Greenlanders were not willing or able to adopt an Eskimo way of life. Had they done so they might have survived.
5... Most scholars use "godord" and "godi" in English orthography.
6... The most informative and thorough work on the change from heathendom to Christendom is Ljungberg (1938). For a brief discussion see Bloch 1964:31-35.
7... The account that follows is based on Íslendingabók (ca. 1100), attributed to Ari Thorgilsson the Learned. This work has been translated by Vigfússon and Powell (1905) and Hermannsson (1930). The incident about the volcanic explosion is taken from Kristni saga, which, in its present form, was written in the thirteenth century. Kristni saga is translated in Vigfússon and Powell (1905).
8... An ancestor of Snorri Sturluson.

Chapter 3. Motion, Substance, and Play

1... A part of this section is derived from Phillpotts 1931:27-30.
2... Many scholars believe that the Völuspá's reference to a time "when nothing existed" represents the adoption of a Christian concept.
3... Vili and Vé may be hypostases of Oðin..
4... Loki of Úgarð, the outer world of giants, appears only in this tale. He should not be confused with Loki, the trickster who lives in Ásgarð.

Chapter 4. The Ideal Typical Enchanted Point of View

1... Readers wishing to familiarize themselves with what is known about the heathen religious practices should consult 'I'urville-Petre (1964) and Ellis Davidson (1964). They should not overlook Ibn Fadlán (Cook, trans.) or the poems and comments in Hollander (1936).
2... For a general discussion of the magical world view see Wax and Wax (1962). For excellent descriptions of particular magical world views see Evans-Pritchard (1937), Tempels (1959), Hallowell (1960), de Angulo (1950). Gluckman (1944) and Winans and Edgerton (1964) provide very helpful expositions of the philosophy or logic of the magical world view.
3... According to this perspective the dead are "living beings" so long as they possess Vital Power and can influence other beings. Perhaps, in this world view a phenomenon is never completely "dead" until all its Vital Power is irrevocably gone.
4... [Missing]

Chapter 5. Some Principles of Old Scandinavian Law

1... Students interested in a general study of Old Scandinavian law should consult Holmbäck and Wessén's modern Swedish translation of medieval Swedish laws, published with extensive commentaries.
2... Certain deeds classified a person as a níðingr: cowardice in battle or single combat, abominable manslaughter (such as the killing of women, children, or relatives), oath-breaking, treason, passive homosexuality, bestiality, and exceptional inhospitality and avarice. As Almqvist (1965:212) puts it, the word was the very essence of everything low and detestable. It resembles the almost obsolete English epithet "dastard," since it insulted a person by implying that he was the committer of a dishonorable and utterly unmanly deed.
3... In cases where other means of proof were lacking, accused individuals sometimes could attest their innocence by swearing on a sacred ring kept in the temple of a god. If subsequently they suffered misfortune, it was taken for granted that they had perjured themselves. Complicated forms of compurgation were used in Norway (Larson 1935:16), and among the ancient Germans (La Monte 1949:39), but in Iceland, oath-taking with oath helpers does not seem to have been accepted as a substitute for a trial.
4... In the original: "like kinsmen."
5... The references to Christian belief and practices are later accretions.
6... The notion that kings ruled by "divine right" did not begin to gain ground in the north of Europe until the late fourteenth century. It was related to the English and French kings' successful attempts to secularize the law and diminish the power of the pope.
7... See, for example, the case of a woman who laid a conditional curse on a king who threatened to kill her foster son (Hollander 1936:76-79).
8... See also the literature on the Pueblo Indians.

Chapter 6. Skaldic Verse

1... Expert discussions of Skaldic verse may be found in Hollander (1945), Turville-Petre (1953), and Einarsson (1957).
2... Skaldic poetry first appears in Norway in the early part of the ninth century. The Icelanders, however, soon appropriated the art and brought it to its climax. Some scholars suggest the style of Skaldic verse may be derived from the highly artificial Irish verse, which also used kennings (Turville-Petre 1953:36-38). Others trace it to the memorial stones of ancient Scandinavia (Einarsson 1957:44-45).
3... Hollander suggests that this expression refers to the poetic ability to weigh and choose words for song.
4... Kenning for poetry, which Oðin, according to mythology, stole from a giant.
5... According to heathen belief, Oðin learned sorcery from the hanged. See chapter 4.
6... Kenning for Oðin.
7... Thór is the kinsman of Ull.
8... Hrungnir was a giant, and Thór is the foe of the giants.
9... The "troll of tree-trunks" and the "wolf of the forests" is the wind; the "bull of bow-spirits" and the "swan of the sea-god" is the ship. The waves of the sea are depicted as a huge file, cut with the wind's chisel.
10... Linden-board is a shield. This excerpt is from Egil's "Head Ransom" and describes a battle won by King Eirík Bloodyaxe.
11... The expert in Scandinavian studies will note that this question differs from the one that has intrigued a number of scholars, namely, did Skaidic verse originate in incantations?

Chapter 7. The Hávamál

1... Literally, this line reads: "Wits are a means of existence to the destitute," though I would prefer the more colloquial: "A man can live by his wits when he's hard up."
2... Literally, "wish to get good out of him" (vill þu af hánom gott geta).
3... The quip, "A dull wit will do at home," does not necessarily denigrate farming.

Chapter 8. The Sagas

1... Einarsson (1957:96-178) has a helpful discussion of the sagas and other literature of this period. See also Hallberg (1962), Koht (1930), and Turville-Petre (1953).
2... This translation is an excerpt from Hallberg (1962:39). For original text see Vigfusson and Powell, 1905, I:294. An English translation of Íslendingabók, edited and translated by Halldór Hermannsson appears in Islandica, Vol. 20.
3... The citation is from Einarsson (1957:129) who has inserted illustrative examples into the original text.
4... Other cosmic and mythological orientations through space and distance may be found in Griaule (1965) and Carpenter, et. al. (1959).
5... The reader will note that I differ with Kroeber (1948:299) who suggests that it is a characteristic of "primitive" people to value the "unreal" above the "real," to consider a hawk seen in a vision as more important than a physical hawk that can be touched and handled. Against Kroeber, I would put Snorri Sturluson, remarking, somewhat snobbishly, that his backward heathen ancestors "understood everything in a material sense since they had not been given spiritual understanding, and so they thought that everything had to be made from some substance" (Young 1964:24-25).
6... Should a man walk after death his character remains unchanged or is intensified. An ill natured man becomes an extremely ill natured walker.

Chapter 9. The Process of Disenchantment

1... While the philosophy here described is implicit in many sensitively written monographs about "primitive" people, it is most explicitly expressed in Gluckman 1944; Winans and Edgerton 1964; de Angulo 1950, and, of course, Evans-Pritchard, 1937.
2... Kormák's saga bears a curious resemblance to a situation recently observed among the Ojibwa Indians. An able, educated Indian and member in good standing with the Christian church, suffered an inordinate amount of ill luck. Pagan Indian neighbors told an anthropologist that the man had been bewitched by his wife and implied that he was a fool and a laughing-stock. Struck by this seeming callousness, the anthropologist asked an Indian friend, "But why is he foolish? " The friend replied: "He should go hire a doctor (medicine man) and get himself un-witched."

But for all of its rough-hewn "primitiveness," Kormák's saga is sophisticated in that it tells its story in such a fashion that Kormák's frustrations may as easily be ascribed to fate as to witchcraft. Indeed, this saga contains a faint premonition of the technique used in Dreyer's motion picture, The Day of Wrath, with its unsurpassed double image of witchcraft and fate.

3... In the lay of Hyndla, Ottar is a human being in the shape of a boar. Gylfi, of course, is genuinely human, but he is an invention of Snorri. Perhaps in this respect, the most archaic and magical sounding of all the lays is that of Regin (Hollander 1962:216-222).
4... Giants and dragons play major roles in some of the dialogue poems of the Elder Edda, e.g. Brynhild's Ride to Hel and The Lay of Fáfnir. But they do not appear in the old narrative lays where the heroes are depicted as acting out their fate. Virtually no supernatural beings are given "speaking roles" in the classic family sagas. But they reappear in the late and popular fornaldar sögur and in the late Grettis saga.
5... Other examples of a magical use of fate may be found in Ames' (1964) account of the paralyzed woman or in the fairy tale of the Sleeping Beauty, where the enchanted world view is nicely accommodated to the idea of destiny.
6... It is interesting to compare the mixture of magical practices tempered with fatalism that appears in some of the heroic lays with the situation that is reported today from communities in Ceylon (Obeyesekere 1963:147-148):

"Ego's horoscope may read that during a certain specified period, Ego will be under the malevolent influence of the planet Saturn, but no specific incident that may befall him can be predicted. . . If during this period some specific misfortune does in fact happen to Ego, one can, after the event, retrospectively relate it to the astrological prediction.

"However, such an explanation does not exhaust other explanations of the same misfortune - for example in demonological terms. The demonological theory of causality states that adverse fortune may be the result of the action of demons. If Ego falls ill suddenly, this is because he has been possessed by the demon Mahasona, or if Ego's property is lost to him, this is because of sorcery, i.e., the enlisting of demonological aid to cause harm to a person. The same event can also be interpreted within another frame of reference—causality attributed to divine intervention. One can with equal justification say that Ego's illness or loss of property is a result of a violation of taboo, which brought upon him the wrath of the gods.

"Thus, it is possible to interpret the same event within three frames of reference, astrological causality, demonological causality, divine causality. Ultimately however it is possible to explain the event as a consequence of karma [ fate] good or bad, in a past birth. The frames of reference are mutually inclusive."

Ames (1964) puts it this way:

"The successful cure specifies the cause: If medicine cures, then sickness was caused by organic disorder; if magical ritual, then spirit possession (the particular ritual cure identifies the class of spirit who 'caused' the trouble). If there is no success with any remedy, it must then be due to the inexorable workings of Karmaya. "

By comparing the function of fate among the somewhat magically oriented Sinhalese with the expressions that appear in some of the Old Scandinavian lays, I do not wish to do more than suggest that both views seem to use fate as a kind of residual category in the diagnosis of man's good or evil fortunes.

7... Weber (1958b:99) suggests that the migrations of the Teutonic peoples, their enlistment in foreign legions, and their adventurous expeditions under self-elected heads, must have formed barriers to the intensification of totemic ties and the "magical bonds of the extended family." He further suggests that Christianity helped to dissolve the clan associations. He does not, however, seem to be aware that the heroic ethic is an expression of an anti- or a-magical point of view. The strength of the bond between the Germanic warrior and his chieftain is emphasized by Tacitus. "It is a lifelong infamy and reproach to survive the chief and withdraw from the battle." (Whitelock 1952:29).

Chapter 10. Conclusions

1... The enchanted world view as here defined is an ideal typical picture derived, in large part, from the works of Redfield, Evans-Pritchard, Hallowell, de Angulo, and many other investigators (see chapter 4, page 47 ff.).
2... I was also impressed by the curiously "unmagical" answers, given by the hero Sigurð to the dragon Fáfnir, where Sigurð seems to be insisting that he accomplished his great deeds not with the help of Vital Power but with his own hand, heart, and sword (Hollander 1962:224, 226, vers. 5, 6, 16, 17). Unfortunately, it is not possible to assign a date to this lay.
3... Though the poet who wrote the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf was a Christian, the poem reflects the heathen heroic ethic. The persistence of the ethic in England is again suggested by the fact that a tenth century churchman uses it to explain what is meant by the deadly sin of pride (Whitelock 1952:27).
4... In England after the conversion the idea gradually became established that duty to the lord took precedence over duty to the kin (Whitelock 1952:37).
5... Freely translated from a German translation of Sverris saga (Niedner 1925). An English translation may be found in Sephton (1899).
6... For interesting contemporary data on the disposition of little traditional people to try to control, use, and reinterpret the materials provided by an alien Great Tradition, see the reports of missionaries in Practical Anthropology.
7... For a short, but rich, discussion on the more immediate influences of the Viking invasions on England and France, see Bloch 1964:39-56.
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    Last Modified 28 April 2000
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