The Hostages of the Northmen From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages Stefan Olsson The Hostages of the Northmen From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages Stefan Olsson Published by Stockholm University Press Stockholm University SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden www.stockholmuniversitypress.se Text © Stefan Olsson 2019 License CC-BY First published 2019 Cover designed by Karl Edqvist, Stockholm University Press Cover illustration: Gerhard Munthe, Norges Kongesagaer, Heimskringla I, 1914, p. 435. Cover license: CC BY 4.0 Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion (Online) ISSN: 2002-4606 ISBN (Paperback): 978-91-7635-107-9 ISBN (PDF): 978-91-7635-104-8 ISBN (EPUB): 978-91-7635-105-5 ISBN (Mobi): 978-91-7635-106-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bba This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. 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Editorial Board All members of the Editorial board have positions at the Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies at Stockholm University. Chief editor: Susanne Olsson, Professor Egil Asprem, Associate Professor Emmanouela Grypeou, Senior Lecturer Philip Halldén, Senior Lecturer Peter Jackson Rova, Professor Marja-Liisa Keinänen, Associate Professor Ferdinando Sardella, Senior Lecturer Olof Sundqvist, Professor Titles in the series 36. Jackson, P. (ed.) 2016. Horizons of Shamanism. A Triangular Approach to the History and Anthropology of Ecstatcic Techniques . Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bag 37. Rydving, H. & Olsson, S. 2016. Krig och fred i vendel- och vikingatida traditioner . Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bah 38. Christoyannopoulos, A. & Adams M. S. (eds.) 2017. Essays in Anarchism & Religion: Volume I . Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bak 39. Christoyannopoulos, A. & Adams M. S. (eds.) 2018. Essays in Anarchism & Religion: Volume II . Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bas 40. Wikström af Edholm, K., Jackson Rova, P., Nordberg, A., Sundqvist, O., & Zachrisson, T. (eds.) 2019. Myth, Materiality, and lived Religion. In Merovingian and Viking Scandinavia Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi. org/10.16993/bay 41. Olsson, S. 2019. The Hostages of the Northmen: From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages . Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bba Peer Review Policies Stockholm University Press ensures that all book publications are peer-reviewed. Each book proposal submitted to the Press will be sent to a dedicated Editorial Board of experts in the subject area. The full manuscript will be reviewed by chapter or as a whole by two external and independent experts. A full description of Stockholm University Press’ peer-review policies can be found on the website: http://www.stockholmuni- versitypress.se/site/peer-review-policies/ Recognition for reviewers The Editorial Board of Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion applies single-blind review during proposal and manu- script assessment. We would like to thank all reviewers involved in this process. Special thanks to the reviewers who have been doing the peer review of the manuscript of this book, one anonymously, and: Thomas Lindkvist, Professor emeritus at the Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg He him aðas swor and gislas salde. He swore oaths to them and gave them hostages. ( Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ) Contents List of Figures xi Preface xiii Preface to the English Edition xv Part I: Introduction 1 Part II: The Æsir–Vanir War (or Peace) 55 Part III: Ritual Actions in Different Areas of Confrontation 81 Part IV: Legal Rights 125 Part V: Place Names 225 Part VI: Hostages in the Areas of Confrontation Between the Swedes and the Geats 251 Part VII: Summary and Conclusions 321 Abbreviations 331 References 333 Index 371 List of Figures I.1. A schematic description of conflicts and conflict solutions in the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages. 26 I.2. Causes of conflict reported in the Íslendingabók and the Landnámabók. 34 III.1. Map of the realms of Wessex and Guthrum. 85 III.2. The possible relation between an original, now-lost saga of St. Olaf and later versions. 107 IV.1. Picture stone from Lärbo (Gotland), Tängelgårda IV, which may depict a libation. 165 IV.2. Picture stone from the church of Smiss, Gotland, dated to to the eighth century. The motif could be a woman who performs a sacrificial act with a worm. 166 IV.3. Derivations and compositions with grið - in Skaldic and Eddic poetry. 186 IV.4. A manuscript of the introduction to the church section in the Smålandslagen, from the Skokloster Castle collection. 191 IV.5. B manuscript of the church section in the Smålandslagen in the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection in Copenhagen. 192 V.1. Map of Finland including the medieval cities of Viborg and Nöteborg. 230 V.2. Sources to the prescence of Scandinavians in the s ȳ slur 232 V.3. Comparsion between different text sources regarding rituals. 242 VI.1. The legal districts (Sw. lagsagor ) of the provincial laws. 257 VI.2. Lands of the Geats (blue) and the Swedes (yellow). 262 VI.3. The hypothetical path of the Eriksgatan according to Dick Harrison. 268 xii The Hostages of the Northmen VI.4. Provincial laws with or without stipulations about the elec- tion of the king and the Eriksgata. 269 VI.5. The distribution of the husabyar , and some of the Uppsala öd , in Sweden. 274 VI.6. The changing power conditions of the kingship, bishops, law- men, and country people, according to The Elder Westrogotic Law and the Country Law of Magnus Eriksson 280 VI.7. The Junebäck monument in Jönköping. 284 Preface This study addresses hostages in the Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia. During the work with the study, several researchers have reviewed, read through, and commented on my text or in other ways assisted me. Without their help, this study would have been much more complicated and might not have been made at all. I would therefore particularly like to thank my principal super- visor, Professor Håkan Rydving, who was at my side from day one of my research studies at the University of Bergen, and who throughout the work – always and tirelessly – gave relevant, strin- gent comments and generously shared with his vast knowledge. My assistant supervisor, Associate Professor Richard Natvig, has also supported me and contributed to the guidance with a sensi- tive ear. I would also like to thank, in particular, Professor Olof Sundqvist at Stockholm University, Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies, who introduced me to the field of Old Scandinavian religion. Sundqvist has served as additional assistant supervisor. Others who have been helpful to me are Professor Emeritus Thomas Lindkvist and Professor Emerita Lena Peterson, who read and commented on my man- uscript. Senior lecturer Torsten Blomkvist at Dalarna University has responded with overall comments. Docent Torun Zachrisson at Stockholm University has guided me through archaeological sites and helped me avoid some of its pitfalls. I am also in gratitude to the Department of Archeology, History, Culture and Religion at the University of Bergen, which granted me a scholarship and thus gave me the opportunity for postgrad- uate education and the opportunity to write the thesis. As a part of my postgraduate research, I organised and participated in two seminars, ‘War and Peace in the traditions of the Vendel Period and the Viking Age’ and ‘Religion, Law, and Justice’, which took place in spring 2013 and autumn 2014. The participants in these xiv The Hostages of the Northmen seminars have directly or indirectly contributed with comments on the texts I presented on these occasions. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Lennart and Birgitta Olsson, as well as my brother, Anders Leijon, and his wife, Cecilia; without their support and help, the dream of writing a thesis would never have been fulfilled. Bergen in February 2016 Stefan Olsson Preface to the English Edition This book is a revised version of my thesis, Gísl: givande och tagande av gisslan som rituell handling i fredsprocesser under vikingatid och tidig medeltid (‘Gísl: Giving and taking of hostages as a ritual act in peace processes during the Viking Age and early Middle Ages’). This new revised edition has been read through and com- mented on by Professor Håkan Rydving, who also stood beside me from the very beginning of this project. A special thanks goes to Professor Emeritus Thomas Lindkvist, who kindly allowed me to use his English translation of the Elder Westrogothic Law (Swe. Äldre västgötalagen ). I am in gratitude to PhD candidate Konsta Ilari Kaikkonen for inviting me to the seminar ‘Religions around the Arctic’ at the University of Bergen, where I presented the paper ‘Gyslamarchia and Kihlakunta: Places of hostage’ (see Part V). I am also in gratitude to the Editorial Board of Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion for accepting the manuscrtipt and to the Managing Editor of Stockholm University Press, Christina Lenz, for administrating the making of the manuscript into a book. This book could be printed due to grants from Lennart J. Hägglunds stiftelse. I hereby acknowledge their support. Umeå in June 2019 Stefan Olsson Part I: Introduction In modern times, the taking of hostage has usually been seen as an act of negative significance. According to the definition of the Chambers Dictionary, a hostage is: ‘a person kept prisoner by an enemy as security’. 1 In other cases, the taking of hostage is per- ceived as a purely criminal act, the purpose of which is to extort money from people or the society, as described in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English : ‘a person who is captured and held prisoner by a person or group, and who may be injured or killed if people do not do what the person or group is asking’. 2 In ancient times, this was not the purpose of a hos- tage. Quite to the contrary, it was a tool for reaching and securing peace. The use of hostages was thus formalised in a way that was different from what it is today, and in the formalisation a ritual- ization was embedded. In previous studies, research on hostages has primarily dealt with studies of the culture of ancient Rome and what can be char- acterized as the medieval study of Ancient Rome, of Continental Germanic history, and of Anglo-Saxon history. Recently, histori- ans have been interested in the concept of the hostage in its socio- political contexts (see further below). Even in these cases, the studies have, for the most part, dealt with Continental Germanic and Anglo-Saxon traditions and conflicts, for example, in the Carolingian Empire; these studies have often concerned themes of Christian values and morality. Few studies have focused on hos- tages in the Scandinavian countries. These studies have often been based on the idea of a legal development that pertained to the ‘private’, civil, aspect of hostages – in German, Borgensgeisel – in How to cite this book chapter: Olsson, S. 2019. Introduction. In: Olsson, S. The Hostages of Northmen: From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages. Pp. 1–54. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bba.a License: CC-BY. 2 The Hostages of the Northmen which a person functioned as assurance that a commitment would be fulfilled. No extensive, systematic study has so far been car- ried out by the second aspect, about hostages in times of war and peace, which will be my point of departure in this study. Cornerstones The main purpose of the study is to investigate the giving and tak- ing of hostages in peace processes during the Viking Age and into the late Middle Ages (16th century) in Scandinavia with neigh- bouring areas. I understand the exchange of hostages as a ritual act in peace agreements, as an opportunity for both parties – the victors as well as the defeated – to influence their respective nego- tiating position, and as a way of exercising dominance over fur- ther relationships within and between communities. During the Viking Age and the Early Middle Ages, ceremonies and ritual acts were conducted during peace and negotiation pro- cesses that also included the giving and taking of hostages. The surrender of a hostage appears to have been partly formalised and loosely associated with ritual acts. The concept of the hostage also appears as a theme in myths and other stories. Another purpose is to understand how and why Christian and non-Christian traditions in laws were related to each other in the peace processes, as well as the norms and attitudes formed by these processes towards hostages and people in similar situ- ations. Therefore, in the study of hostages in peace processes, it is possible to establish politico-legal perspectives in addition to the perspectives of the history of religions. I will also take into account the power structures that existed between the hostage takers and the hostages. In some cases, the hostage was killed or severely punished; in other cases the hostage was treated well. I will discuss the structural similarities and differences between hostages and phenomena such as the institutions of foster chil- dren and marriages. These purposes can be summarised in the following questions: (1) How and why can the giving and taking of hostages be understood as a ritual act in peace processes during the Introduction 3 Viking era through the late Middle Ages (16th century) in Scandinavia? How did the hostages function as objectives of negotiations? (2) Were there similarities and differences between hostage traditions in different parts of Scandinavia and conti- nuities from the Iron Age into medieval Scandinavian societies? (3) What were the relationships, or social bonds, between hostages and hostage takers? (4) What methodological concerns does one encounter if one examines the phenomenon of the hostage? How can the hostage be understood theoretically against the background of peace processes in communities where Scandinavians acted? (5) What were the similarities and differences between Christian and non-Christian traditions and values in peace and negotiation processes that involved hostag- es? What were the attitudes to the agreements that were established? These questions will be answered through an analysis of different source categories with information about hostages, mainly texts, but also other sources such as personal names, place names and archaeological material. As the study will specifically describe phenomena during the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages, a period of religious change that also involved major politico-legal changes, it has been important to choose methodological and the- oretical strategies with particular care. These points of departure will be described and discussed below. Outline of the book Part I of the book deals with previous research on the giving and taking of hostages in the Viking Age and early medieval tradi- tions, and I provide a summary of earlier research on hostages in Roman, Continental Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon traditions. Research on hostages in Old Scandinavian traditions has not been extensive and is basically non-existent in the history of religions.