VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCHTEXT SERIESGENERAL EDITORS
Anthony Faulkes and Richard Perkins

VOLUME XVTHOR THE WIND-RAISERAND THE EYRARLAND IMAGE

The Eyrarland image (ﬁjms 10880).
(By kind permission of the photographer, Páll Stefánsson.)

THOR THE WIND-RAISERAND THE EYRARLAND IMAGE

BY

RICHARD PERKINSVIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

2001

© Richard Perkins 2001
ISBN 0 903521 52 0
Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter

The cover picture is of the amber figure from Feddet, Roholte parish,Sjælland, Denmark (= FI; DNM C24292; height: 4.6 cm.). (By permission of Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.) Cf. also Figure 6.

TILL INGEGERD
20 14
–7 01

CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................ viii
PREFACE ......................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER ONE: Wind-power and wind-gods ................................. 1
CHAPTER TWO: An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s .......... 27
CHAPTER THREE: Three beard-clutching figures ....................... 53
CHAPTER FOUR: The Eyrarland image ....................................... 82
CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusions. Contexts ..................................... 150
APPENDIX: Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s and ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’ 159
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS ............................... 165

LIST OF FIGURESThe Eyrarland image ...................................................... Frontispiece
1: Vignette from Olaus Magnus’s Historia ................................... 12
2: AM 61, fol., f. 34ra, lines 22–37 ............................................... 37
3: Walrus-ivory figure from Lund, Skåne, Sweden ...................... 64
4: The Lund figure (reverse) ......................................................... 65
5: The Lund figure compared with Swedish Thor’s hammer ....... 67
6: Amber figure from Feddet, Denmark ....................................... 69
7: Bronze figure from Chernigov, Ukraine ................................... 71
8: Vˇjopatis ................................................................................... 79
9: Pictures of the Eyrarland image from Iduna ............................. 84
10: The Eyrarland image (side view) .............................................. 86
11: The Eyrarland image (front view) ............................................ 87
12: Silver pendant from Foss, Iceland ............................................ 91
13: Rune-stone at Ledberg, Sweden ............................................... 98
14: The rune-stone at Ledberg (reverse) ......................................... 99
15: Bronze image from Rällinge, Sweden .................................... 100
16: Bronze image from Lindby, Skåne, Sweden ........................... 101
17: Thor’s hammer from Eketorp, Sweden ................................... 110
18: fiórshamar .............................................................................. 110
19: Rune-stone from near Grästorp, Sweden ................................ 111
20: Runic rock at Norra Åby, Sweden .......................................... 112
21: Rune-stone at Stenkvista church, Sweden .............................. 113
22: Lead alloy mask from Ribe, Denmark .................................... 114
23: Thor’s hammers from Hilda, Norway ..................................... 116
24: Thor’s hammer from Skåne, Sweden ..................................... 120
25: Thor’s hammer from Er(ik)storp, Sweden .............................. 120
26: Thor’s hammer from Bredsätra, Öland, Sweden .................... 121
27: Thor’s hammer from Mandemarke, Denmark ........................ 121
28: Pendant from Rau›nefssta›ir, Iceland .................................... 129
29: Whalebone figure from Baldursheimur, Iceland .................... 135
30: Séra Jón Prímus at his chess-board ......................................... 138
31: Thor’s hammers from Vålse and Sejerby, Denmark ............... 142
32: Buddha from Helgö, Sweden .................................................. 145
33: Egyptian amulet, clasping was-sceptre ................................... 147
34: Egyptian amulet, lion-headed ................................................. 147
35: Egyptian amulet, archer .......................................................... 147

PREFACE
The immediate stimulus for the present study which concerns amongst
other things the Eyrarland image was an article by the distinguished
Icelandic archaeologist Kristján Eldjárn. In the memorial volume for
Gabriel Turville-Petre of 1981, Kristján put forward an interpretationof the Eyrarland image which he expressly intended to provoke discussion and reassessment. His arguments were tentatively presented,
with learning and good humour. They certainly had a provocative andcatalytic effect on me and I counter them in my Chapter 4. Although,then, as will be seen, I disagree with various of Kristján’s argumentsin their essentials, I owe him a special debt of gratitude for drawing
attention to problems connected with the Eyrarland image.
The work of three British scholars has had particular influence on
this book. Not only did Gabriel Turville-Petre, whom I have just mentioned, give me my first scholarly introduction to Norse mythology,but, as will be seen, I draw extensively on his Myth and religion of theNorth, first published in 1964. This book remains one of the mosthumane and balanced treatments of the subject perhaps in any language.
In the writings of Hilda Ellis Davidson, I have found a number ofthought-provoking observations about Thor suggestive of various of
the conclusions I arrive at myself. Some of the ideas I put forward inthis monograph will scarcely come as much surprise to her. Thirdly, awork by a former member of University College London has been of
special interest to me: George Stephens’s Thunor the Thunderer, carved
on a Scandinavian font of about the year 1000 of 1878 is a decidedly
idiosyncratic work by present-day standards. I am afraid that I am as
little able to accept the main thesis of this work as I am that of Kristján
Eldjárn’s article. In it, however, Stephens makes a number of valuable
observations on the iconography of Thor which certainly deserve more
attention than they have received over the years. I became aware of
Stephens’s arguments at a relatively late stage in my research for thisvolume, but found them corroborative and reassuring when I did.
In this study, I necessarily take an interdisciplinary approach. In
particular, I stray from my home ground of philology and allied subjects into the field of archaeology where I tread far less confidently. In
an article of 1900 cited in my bibliography, the German classical philologist Hermann Usener wrote ‘ich fühle mich nur als Gast unter den

xPreface

Archäologen’, and I feel very much the same in the present context.
Archaeologists will doubtless detect much which reveals amateurism
and ignorance in my approach. Whatever shortcomings exist in thisrespect, however, they are not for want of generous help from archaeologist colleagues and those in allied fields. Readers will readily discern my indebtedness to the published catalogues of Viking-Age andNorse antiquities of James Graham-Campbell (1980) and Else Roesdahl(1992), both of whom have also aided me in other ways than throughtheir writings. I have received much kind co-operation from colleagues
at museums in Scandinavia. At Statens Historiska Museum in Stockholm, Elsie Lindström was the epitome of efficiency and helpfulness.
Claes Wahlöö and Maria Cinthio at Kulturen in Lund showed anddiscussed with me the walrus-ivory figure in that collection which isone of the subjects of my third chapter. In Västerås, Krister Ström
shared his specialist knowledge of Thor’s hammers with me. Sigrid
Kaland gave me information on Thor’s hammers in Historisk Museumin Bergen. Elisabeth Munksgaard and Helga Schütze provided me
prompt answers to a number of queries about objects in Nationalmuseetin Copenhagen.
But I have also had much help from scholars other than archaeologists. Rory McTurk gave me pertinent bibliographical references,
Peter Foote read and criticised the monograph in draft and Jeffrey
Cosser assisted me in various ways, not least by translating material
from Russian. I also had help with Russian from Gavin Orton, andDavid Dixon allowed me to benefit from his huge expertise in
Egyptological matters. I received invaluable lexicographical information from Gu›rún Kvaran and Gunnlaugur Ingólfsson of Or›abók
Háskólans in Reykjavík and from Christopher Sanders of the Arnamagnæan Dictionary in Copenhagen. Of librarian colleagues who havebeen unfailingly helpful I should particularly mention John Townsend,
Bess Ryder and Anna-Lisa Murrell in London, Ólöf Benediktsdóttir
in Reykjavík and Olle Andersson in Lund. Birutˇ Butkeviçienˇ, Director of Vilnius University Library kindly arranged for me to receive thepicture I have as my Figure 8. Marit Åhlén and Thorgunn Snædal at
Runverket in Stockholm discussed runological matters with me andnot least the runic rock at Åby in Södermanland which I regard assignificant for my arguments in Chapter 4. Desmond Slay kindly reada proof and made suggestions for improvements.

Preface

xi

There are five Icelandic colleagues to whom I am especially indebted:
fiór Magnússon, formerly fijó›minjavör›ur, allowed me to inspect theobject in his keeping which I believe to represent his namesake andgave me information about it which I would not have discovered bymyself. Ólafur Halldórsson provided me with unpublished material
and much other information on Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta
which contains a passage of key significance for the present study andon which he is the expert. Helgi Gu›mundsson made suggestions forlines of investigation which proved very fruitful. Gu›rún Sveinbjarnardóttir helped me in several different ways, not least to bridge the gap
between London and Reykjavík. And Stefán Karlsson showed me
exceptional hospitality while I was in Iceland researching this study.
I should here also record my gratitude for grants to the Dean’s Travel
Fund of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of University College
London which helped to cover the costs of visits to Scandinavia, including Iceland, to research the present study.
Lastly I wish particularly to thank my co-editor of the Viking Society’s Text Series, Anthony Faulkes. The publication of this volume
owes much to his positive approach, technical skills, patience and care.
I have been fortunate in having him as a collaborator.
To all these colleagues, then, and to others whom I must regrettably
leave unmentioned, I extend my warmest thanks for time and trouble
taken and for good offices. The shortcomings and imperfections which
doubtless remain in this book after help and assistance generously
given are, of course, entirely my own responsibility.
Richard Perkins
Department of Scandinavian Studies
University College London
November, 2001

CHAPTER ONE

WIND-POWER AND WIND-GODS
Austmenn . . . kvá›u seint mundu at róa til Nóregs.
BANDAMANNA SAGA

Remorum ductus velorum vincitur usu.
SAXONIS GESTA DANORUM‘Thor,’ inquiunt, ‘. . . ventos . . . gubernat.’
ADAM OF BREMEN

T

HE EXPANSION of the Scandinavian peoples during the Viking
Age is striking more for its range than for the permanent effect it
had on World History. We find, for example, the Norse at L’Anse aux
Meadows in northern Newfoundland and they doubtless got further
down the Atlantic coasts of North America. In the east, a number ofsources written in Arabic tell us how the Rus invaded the town of
Barda in Azerbaijan in c. 943; according to one source they sometimes
even travelled to the capital of the Caliphate itself, Baghdad, and thenwith the help of camel transport (see Birkeland, 1954, 54–58; 11).
And we find the Norse, perhaps rather after the end of the Viking Age,probably as far north as Spitsbergen and, if not there, on Jan Mayen;
we find them far up the west coast of Greenland (see KL, s.v.
Opdagelsesrejser and references). And as early as the ninth century
Vikings are attacking towns along the North African littoral, forexample, Nakur (in present-day Morocco) and Alexandria in Egypt(see, for example, Birkeland, 1954, 46). But it is, of course, a fact thatthe permanent impression made by Viking-Age Scandinavians overthe huge area of their activity is not so impressive. It is really only in
the Faroes and Iceland of the places colonised during the Viking Agethat medieval Norse culture can be said to have endured in continuity
down to the present day. Elsewhere the Scandinavians withdrew, were
driven out, were exterminated or, little by little, allowed their Scandinavian culture to be absorbed into another one. One imagines, forexample, that the inhabitants of L’Anse aux Meadows simply
abandoned their settlement and returned, presumably to Greenland.

2

Thor the wind-raiser

The Rus were driven out of Barda in disease-ridden disarray by a local
potentate. In Greenland itself, the Norse colonies died out, their
inhabitants exterminated probably by a combination of disease andmalnutrition, and perhaps attacks by the Eskimos. In Russia, Franceand England, Norse culture and language gave way to others, more
local, or larger or superior. This, of course, is not to belittle the partplayed by Scandinavians in, to take some rather random examples,the establishment of coastal towns in Ireland, the foundation of the
duchy of Normandy and perhaps even of the principality of Kiev.
And we must remember in this context that the Norse of the Viking
Age were more adaptable than many other peoples. But in terms ofbroader, permanent, long-term effects, the Viking-Age expansion stands
in stark contrast to the age of Islamic conquests in the seventh andeighth centuries, which led, in time, to the spread of the Arabic language
and Islam to large parts of Asia and Africa. And it stands, of course, ineven starker contrast to the sea-borne expansion of the European nations(most notably the English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and French)
beginning around 1500, which led to widespread and permanent
European colonisation and the dissemination of European culture andChristianity in vast areas all over the world. But the fact remains that
the Vikings and the Norse had an extraordinary genius for ‘getting
places’. They ‘travelled widely’ (cf., for example, the suggestive titleof Lundström’s book of 1981, De kommo vida . . ., and his remarks on
pp. 11–12 with respect to Gotland Vikings). Before the beginning of
the modern age, few peoples can have moved with such relative facility
throughout so wide and varied an area. Given this fact, then, it will not
be inappropriate in the present context to attempt to identify theprincipal locomotive forces which the Norse exploited or were subject
to in their movement throughout this area. It need hardly be stressed,of course, that one of their main means of travel was over water, byship or boat. And again, it need scarcely be stressed that we areconsidering an age before the invention of the steam-engine, theinternal-combustion engine, the electric motor, the nuclear engine, therocket and the like. Perhaps rather roughly and amateurishly, I would
identify and itemise the principal physical forces which provided
locomotion for the medieval Norse (as well as, of course, for manyother peoples before the beginning of the modern age) as follows:

Wind-power and wind-gods

3(1) currents;(2) gravity (of the Earth, Moon, Sun);(3) centrifugal force;(4) animal muscle-power (either human or non-human);(5) wind (for sailing).1
This list may be elaborated on a little. The first three items are relatively
minor. Currents at sea can certainly move ships and, to take anotherrandom example, the Norse would of course have benefited (whether
unwittingly or otherwise) from the North Atlantic Drift at some timeor other to aid their movements. The gravity of the Earth, for example,
causes the waters of rivers to flow to the sea and to carry vessels withthem; for example, the Rus merchants mentioned by Constantine
Porphyrogenitus in ch. 9 of his De administrando imperio (DAI) would,of course, have been happy to let the flowing waters of the River
Dnieper carry their monoxyla from Kiev down towards the Black Sea.2
And a medieval Icelandic sigama›ur, perhaps somewhat more nervously, might well have relied on the force of gravity, counteracted, ofcourse, by checks and balances above him, to aid his descent downsome sheer cliff-side to collect the eggs or feathers of sea-birds or tocatch the birds themselves. And the gravitational forces of the Sun,
Moon and also centrifugal force can cause or affect tides. Seafarers
often exploit tides, where they exist, in their movements; and somescholars have pointed to the tactical advantages the shallow-drafted
Viking ships could derive from tides to make speedy retreat after raids,
not least around the coasts of Britain where tides are so pronounced
1 The wind was, of course, normally exploited in the Viking Age to propel
sailing-vessels over water. But the suggestion made in RPC (64) that it mightsometimes have been used to assist the movement of wheeled vehicles overland is perhaps not quite as fantastic as it may at first sight seem; on this, cf.
Obolensky, 1974, 243–244; ER, 115. In addition, it would doubtless havebeen used to aid the movement of sledges (and the like) over ice (cf. the iceboats of more recent times). When wind-mills were introduced into
Scandinavia, probably in the thirteenth century, the wind would of course
have been used to drive those. And the wind may, of course, assist walkers,
swimmers, skaters, etc. in their progress.
2 They might also have been happy that one of the commodities they carried,slaves, would have been, as ER (119), puts it, ‘self-propelling’ (cf. item 4 inthe list above) and thus well suited for negotiating the Dnieper Rapids.

4

Thor the wind-raiser(cf., for example, Almgren, 1963). But it is items 4 and 5 on the list
above which have particular importance as locomotive forces in thecontext of Norse movement and travel. Animal muscle-power was ofprime importance in this context. The sigama›ur we have just left
suspended on a cliff-side in Iceland will soon be hoping, again perhaps
not without a certain nervousness, that his comrades above him willsoon exert an animal muscle-power greater than that of gravity andpull him back up to safety at the top of the cliff. Altogether they willthen again employ animal muscle-power in walking back to the bygg›
with their gains. And generally, of course, the use of muscle-power inwalking was, and still is, the most common form of locomotion amongst
humans. The Norse employed it in this activity no less, and perhaps
considerably more, than other peoples, as, to take a third random
example, a reading of Sverris saga will make clear. The medieval Norse
were, of course, as ready to exploit non-human muscle-power as ameans of locomotion as any other people. It is well known, for example,
that the horse was often employed as a means of transport in medieval
Iceland (where the terrain is often especially suited to the movementof that animal); medieval Icelanders travelled on horseback relatively
quickly and efficiently throughout their country. And if we are to believe
the source in Arabic mentioned above (Birkeland, 1954, 11), whichtells how the Rus travelled from the southern end of the Caspian to
Baghdad using camels, then we realise how exploitatively adaptablein matters of transport the Norse might be. In connection with the useof human muscle-power for travel over water, mention must, of course,
be made of rowing, an activity of particular importance to the Vikings
and the Norse in general. Indeed, it was the co-ordination of humanmuscle-power of often large numbers of oarsmen on rowed ships which
played such an important part in the Viking-Age expansion of the Norse
peoples. For example, it was the use of the oar which took Scandinavians of the Viking Age up the rivers of eastern Europe and thus
opened up routes through Russia between the Baltic on the one hand
and the Black Sea and the Caspian on the other; it was the use of theoar which enabled them to attack such inland towns as Paris and Seville;
it was often the use of the oar which seems to have facilitated quick
retreat by Vikings making raids on the coasts of the British Isles,
western Europe and elsewhere; and it was the use of rowed ships whichallowed the Vikings to establish bases and trading posts in places

Wind-power and wind-gods

5inaccessible to less manœuvrable vessels. Indeed, it is quite possiblethat the very words víkingr and Rus have their origins in the activity ofrowing (see Daggfeldt, 1983, and Holm, 1992, 120–121; cf. also, forexample, Ekbo, 1986). Much could be said on the subject of the use ofrowing by the Norse and I have made some remarks on the matterelsewhere (see Perkins, 1984–1985, particularly pp. 155–156 andreferences); its significance in this context cannot be overestimated.
But with this said we turn now to item 5 on the list above. It is, amongst
other things, to the wind as a locomotive force that special attention
will be given in this study.
In considering the wind as a locomotive force in the Norse context,
an episode found in the Icelandic Bandamanna saga (ch. 11; ÍF, VII,358) is relevant. Oddr Ófeigsson is waiting wind-bound in fiorgeirsfjör›ur (just to the east of the mouth of Eyjafjör›ur in northern Iceland)to sail abroad to buy materials to brew beer for his wedding-feast.
Also waiting in the same place are some Norwegian merchants. Oddr
climbs a high mountain and thinks that he sees that the wind conditions
out at sea are more favourable. He returns to his knƒrr and has his men
row it out of the fjord towards the open ocean. When the Norwegians
see this, Oddr becomes the butt of their derision: Austmenn spotta flá
ok kvá›u seint mundu at róa til Nóregs. Fictional though this story
doubtless is, the Norwegians’ derisive words (and this sort of taunt
was scarcely the invention of the author of Bandamanna saga), containan essential truth. I have stressed just above and elsewhere the special
significance of rowing to the Norse. But as the Norwegians suggest,
one would hardly row from Iceland to Norway. And it goes without
saying that the converse is also true. Indeed it is reasonable to say thatthe sail and wind-power were the sine qua non of ‘the Norse Atlantic
saga’. It may have been possible to row a good part of the distancefrom, say, Sweden to the opposite shore of the Baltic (although even
there the sail would normally have been used). But in the Viking-Age
movement westwards across the Atlantic (to the Faroes, Iceland,
Greenland and North America) the use of the sail was indispensable.
Indeed without the sail, it is unlikely that, for example, Iceland would
have been colonised by the Norse in the Viking Age.3 And it would
3 On the utilisation of wind for the Norse crossing the North Atlantic, cf.
Schnall, 1975, 167–180 and passim.

6

Thor the wind-raiser

also have been used wherever possible in numerous other contexts. A
favourable wind could confer enormous advantages on its beneficiary,as the exaggerated story of Oddr Ófeigsson in Bandamanna saga justmentioned makes clear. Oddr seems to have been generally lucky withthe wind and this luck contributes to his success in fishing and trade(see e.g. ÍF, VII, 297). In the episode in question, Oddr has arrived infiorgeirsfjör›ur with a fair wind, probably from Mi›fjör›ur. He is, as
noted, weather-bound there, but only temporarily. As soon as he has
had his knƒrr rowed out of the bay, he straightway gets a favourable
wind (byrr hagstœ›r) and is transported direct, not to Norway, but toOrkney without once having to reduce sail. There he buys his malt
and corn and stays for a time; then he puts out to sea again, again getsa following wind, this time an austanve›r, a wind from the east. This
bears him back to Iceland to fiorgeirsfjör›ur where he perhaps gains
some amusement from finding the Norwegian merchants still weatherbound; and then he is wafted back west to Mi›fjör›ur, his home andprecisely the place he wants to be. The round trip has taken a mere
seven weeks. We are told elsewhere in Old Norse literature howcheerful sailors were when they got a favourable wind (cf. Note 5
below). And we sometimes hear of considerable risks being taken to
draw advantage from a favourable wind (cf., for example, ÍF, IX, 103).
Always to have a following wind was, then, as it were, to have atiger in one’s tank.4 But the story told in Bandamanna saga is entirely
4 In this connection we may note that various figures in the Old Norseworld are represented in the literary sources as always having good fortune
with the wind. Reference has been made to Oddr Ófeigsson in Bandamannasaga who seems to have been extraordinary fortunate with the wind. It is,however, nowhere suggested that he owed this to supernatural forces; nor isthe adjective byrsæll ever used of him (although the word farsæll is). Butother sources do mention byrsælir menn and imply a connection between themand sorcery or supernatural powers. The Hrafnistumenn, for example, always
got a fair wind when they raised their sails in a calm; this, it is implied, wasbecause of some special list or íflrótt which they practised, or some ættargipt
with which they were endowed (see Gríms saga lo›inkinna, ch. 2 (FN, II,194); ¯rvar-Odds saga, 1888, 18, 123). In Hkr, I, 325 (cf. Appendix), we are
told of Rau›r inn rammi of Go›ey that he owned a splendid ship and that he
haf›i jafnan byr, hvert er hann vildi sigla, ok var flat af fjƒlkynngi hans. Andin ÓT (II, 128) it is recounted how, when on this ship, Rau›r lét . . . vinda ásegl sitt. Of Óláfr Tryggvason, Oddr Snorrason (ÓTOdd, 150; cf. 151) tells usWind-power and wind-gods

7

unrealistic, verging on the ridiculous. And there was, of course, anotherside to the coin. Reliance on the wind for one’s means of locomotion
also has its disadvantages and this not least so in the Norse context.
Now the question of the degree to which Scandinavian ships of theViking Age and the late Middle Ages could cope with contrary winds
is a difficult one to answer. Nor is it one which can be dealt with indetail here. We may, however, accept Falk’s statement that Scandinavian ships of the Middle Ages were inferior to those of modern
times by virtue of their much greater dependence on a favourable wind(cf., for example, AS, 19). If contrary winds were encountered, a ship
would have to remain in harbour; or if it was at sea, the sail would
have to be lowered, a favourable wind awaited and the ship often
allowed to drift (cf. VAch, 248; note the reference to Oddr not having
to lower his sail between fiorgeirsfjör›ur and Orkney). And anotherfactor to notice in this context is, of course, the enigmatic nature of thewind. In the real world, there is a reason for everything; nothing is
random. In the course of the last two or three thousand years or so,and more particularly since the Renaissance, man has come tounderstand more and more the true causes of the universe’s phenomena
and the way they work. But in the Middle Ages, the real causes forwhat we call ‘wind’ were as yet undiscovered and the phenomenon
itself highly unpredictable. Indeed, of the five locomotive forces
enumerated above (p. 3), it is the wind which must have seemed themost mysterious and the most capricious. Currents and tides were
phenomena which, while their causes may have been unknown, wereat least relatively predictable. There must have been few adult humanbeings who have not in the course of their lives come to terms with theforce of the Earth’s gravity and its effects. (It is precisely the absenceof this force which modern spacemen who escape from its influencefind so strange.) And animal muscle-power, whether human orotherwise, is very often not only predictable and immediate, but alsoreliable and manipulable, not least when subject to external incentives,
threats and persuasion, sticks and carrots, whether real or metaphorical.
For example, most healthy human beings can count on their own
that hann var byrsælli en a›rir menn ok sigldi flat á einum degi er a›rir sigldu
flrjá. Óláfr must have owed his special gift in this respect to divine favour.
And when he and the heathen Rau›r inn rammi came into conflict, it was, ofcourse, Óláfr’s Christian ‘wind-power’ which prevailed. Cf. also Bósa saga, 38.

8Thor the wind-raiser

muscle-power to walk and often also even to swim; or one might rely,for example, on a docile slave to fetch and carry or a placid horse totransport one over short distances; or one might depend on a crew ofrowers, half in fear of pursuit and half in hope of a share of the booty,
to pull in unison on the oars of a Viking ship which had just raided
some hostile coast. But by contrast, the wind was extremely unreliable.
Indeed, even in the modern age of advanced technology its movements
and strengths are relatively unpredictable. It is true, of course, that theNorse would have made general observations about prevailing winds
in particular places. It is also true that sooner or later a wind of desired
direction and strength would blow at any place on the waters travelledby the Norse. But it might be a question of waiting days, weeks orperhaps even months for this to happen. In the mean time, thosedependent on the wind for movement would have to reconcile
themselves to inconvenience or hardship. We may take, for instance,
the converse situation to that of Oddr, the plight of the Norwegianmerchants whom Oddr left weather-bound in fiorgeirsfjör›ur. They
would have spent a very frustrating several weeks there enduring acontrary wind. Oddr’s breezing in from Orkney on that very samewind would have done nothing to improve their mood. And in general,the business of relying on the wind as a locomotive force must havebeen the same testing experience for medieval Norsemen as for others.
It would have meant long periods of tedious, time-wasting andunproductive inactivity in the place in question, kicking one’s heels,
watching the weather-vane. If one owned a ship or had a share in one,the delay would doubtless have entailed material loss. For crew andpassengers, it would have meant inconvenience and discomfort. If the
difficult crossing of the North Atlantic (or even the North Sea or Baltic)
were in prospect, a certain nervous apprehensiveness might well havehung over the ship’s company. Tempers might have frayed, quarrels
broken out, enmities conceived. And these would have been only the
beginning of problems caused by contrary winds. Once at sea, one
might, for example, be driven back to the place one came from (atver›a aptrreka). Or one’s ship might be becalmed in mid-ocean withthe attendant afflictions, hunger, thirst, exposure, the general squalor.
Finally, of course, the wrong sort of wind could lead to a vessel being
wrecked or foundering with all that that entailed: at best loss of property,
immense discomfort and hardship; at worst, injury and loss of life.

Wind-power and wind-gods

9

Around the coasts of Viking-Age Scandinavia, on the North Atlantic,
on the Baltic and on the North Sea, there were to be found ships’
crews and companies waiting for a favourable wind to allow them tofurther their voyages and other activities at sea. Two manifestations of
this necessity of waiting and watching for a wind may be briefly
mentioned here. The first, already suggested, is the obvious presenceon many medieval Scandinavian ships of weather-vanes, some ofartistically very elaborate design. Several of these have been preserved.
The one from Källunge, Gotland is a well-known example; cf. p. 91
below. And they are also found represented on ornaments (VH, 391),
toy ships (VArt, 80–81), in pictures (VAch, 233) and referred to inliterary sources. (See further on weather-vanes: AS, 42, 59; KL, s.v.
Vindfløj; VArt, 79–80; Blindheim, 1982; VH, items 3 and 417; andreferences in all these places.) The second manifestation is the existenceof set alliterative phrases in Icelandic and the medieval Scandinavian
languages referring to a (favourable) wind (byrr) and the business of
waiting for it. C–V (91) notes blásandi byrr (cf. p. 162 below for an
example), blí›r byrr and beggja skauta byrr as ‘allit. naut. phrases’.
The expression at bí›a byrjar, ‘to wait for a fair wind’, is found in Old
Icelandic on a number of occasions. Random examples have been
noted in the following places: ÍF, IV, 137; XIII, 278; XXVIII, 252;
XXXIV, 235; ÓT, I, 145; ÓH, 49, 360, 362, 451; Jónsbók, 1970, 240.
And the expression is paralleled in Old Norwegian, Old Swedish and
Old Gutnish, for example, in Konungs skuggsjá (1920, 89), in the Lawof Uppland (cf. Wessén, 1959, 22) and in Guta lag och Guta saga
(1905–1907, I, 69); cf. also Söderwall, 1884–1918, I, 167 andreferences. The incidence of this expression in places as far apart as
Iceland and Gotland suggests that it was used throughout Scandinavia.
There was probably also an alliterative expression at bí›a (vind)b‡sna,‘to wait for the culmination of a storm (i.e. until better weather
conditions are in prospect)’ (cf. ÍF, XXVI, 139 and references). Cf.
also Fritzner, I, 222–223; p. 19 below.
The wind, then, was one of the most powerful forces known to manin the pre-modern period. A favourable wind was a highly desirable
asset which could confer enormous advantages; a contrary wind, on
the other hand, could bring with it manifold problems and adversities.
At the same time, the wind was a capricious, incomprehensible, enigmatic phenomenon, its true causes virtually unknown and mysterious

10Thor the wind-raiser

to the medieval Norsemen (as to many others). Hávamál (strophe 74;
Edda, 28) reminds us of the fickleness of the wind: fiƒl› um vi›rir / áfimm dƒgum, / enn meira á mána›i. Now in his Heaven’s breath (1984,114), Lyall Watson quotes Sir James Frazer as saying: ‘Of all natural
phenomena, there are, perhaps, none which civilised man feels himself
more powerless to influence than the wind.’ ‘And yet,’ Watson adds,‘we keep trying.’ And in another place, Frazer (1963, 105) says: ‘thesavage thinks he can make the wind to blow or to be still.’ Now thetwo statements by Frazer just cited are not, or course, necessarily
mutually contradictory. And we may consider the second of them. A
characteristic of Homo sapiens, whether primitive or civilised, is, it isprobably fair to say, his strong tendency to attempt to influence hissurroundings by whatever means he thinks possible. And if man cannot
genuinely manipulate the world and natural phenomena by what might
be regarded as normal means, he will have recourse to less rational
approaches. He will turn to sorcery and magic; he will appeal to thesupernatural; he will invoke the aid of his deities, whether greater or
lesser gods, whether the Christian God or his saints. To what degreesuch expedients were clearly distinguished from more rational methods
in the minds of those who adopted them is, of course, difficult to assess.
In many cases, there was doubtless little or no distinction. And there
was, of course, frequently an element of deceit in the minds of those
who pretended to influence natural phenomena (not least wind andweather) by supernatural means. Be these things as they may, the desire
to control in particular the wind and in general the weather bysupernatural means led to the development of a whole branch of magic
concerned with meteorology. The various forms of wind-magic may
be classified as follows (cf. HWDA, s.v Wind):(1) Prophylactic wind-magic.
(2) Positive wind-magic:(a) wind-magic for one’s own advantage;(b) wind-magic to another’s detriment.
Thus wind-magic might be resorted to, for example, to still a storm; orto produce a favourable wind for one’s own sailing-vessel; or to raisea violent and destructive wind to cause loss to one’s enemy. (Windmagic of this last category seems to have been particularly common
in the Iceland of past centuries; cf. the Icelandic gerningave›ur.) In
the present context any survey of wind-magic as a whole is, of course,

Wind-power and wind-gods

11

not possible; for useful discussions of various aspects of it, the reader
is referred to Frazer 1911, I, 244–331; 1963, 79–109; HWDA, s.v. Wind;
KL, s.v. Vindmagi; Watson, 1984, passim. And it is really only to thesecond of the categories just mentioned (i.e. (2)(a)) that attention is
given in the present contribution. Some examples of this form of windmagic from various places in the world (but not least Scandinavia)
will be given in what immediately follows.
It was a common custom of seamen when their ship was becalmed
to attempt to raise a wind by whistling, a mild form of mimetic magic(cf. Frazer, 1911, I, 323 (Estonia); Cameron, 1903, 301 (Caithness);
Solheim, 1940, 62 (Norway); Norlén, 1972, 69 (Sweden); Watson,
1984, 261–262; Nihongi, 1956, I, 106 (Japan); on mimetic magic ingeneral, cf. also pp. 57–58 below). Mimetic magic was also involvedin the use of a bull-roarer which was whirled around on the end of acord producing a roaring sound and thus summoning the wind (Watson,
1984, 261). An elaborate procedure for wind-magic was found amongst
the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands of Canada (see Frazer,
1911, I, 320):
When a Haida Indian wishes to obtain a fair wind, he fasts, shoots a raven,singes it in the fire, and then going to the edge of the sea sweeps it overthe surface of the water four times in the direction in which he wishes thewind to blow. He then throws the raven behind him, but afterwards picks
it up and sets it in a sitting posture at the foot of a spruce-tree, facing
towards the required wind. Propping its beak open with a stick, he requests
a fair wind for a certain number of days; then going away he lies covered
up in his mantle till another Indian asks him for how many days he has
desired the wind, which question he answers.

In another place, Frazer (1963, 106) writes that a ‘way of making
wind which is practised in New Guinea is to strike a “wind-stone”
lightly with a stick; to strike it hard would bring on a hurricane’.
Incantations and amulets of various kinds were, of course, often usedin wind-magic. A ‘wind-amulet’ which seems to have been particularly
used in Scandinavia as well as in the northern parts of the British Isles
is referred to by Frazer (1963, 107), Granlund (KL, s.v. Vindmagi) andWatson (1984, 118–119). This consisted of a thread or cord or like
object in which three knots were tied. The first of these three knots
should be untied for a light wind, the second for a strong one; but thethird should never be undone as this would produce a violent storm.
There is an account of such objects (sold by Lapps) with a vignette in12Thor the wind-raiser

Olaus Magnus’s Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (OM, 159;
Figure 1) and they seem to have been found in Scotland down to thepresent century. And in recent folk-practice in Sweden and Swedishspeaking Finland, one attempted to call up a favourable wind (forsailing-vessels or perhaps wind-mills; cf. Note 1 above) by some such
invocation as Blås (på), Kajsa! and by making an offering, for example,
by throwing a coin over the top of the mast. The name Kajsa, Norlén(1972) has convincingly argued, must go back to a form of the nameof St Katherine of Alexandria who was regarded as having special
connections both with the weather and with seamen (cf. also Note 9 in
Chapter 2 below). The following points may be stressed in the present
context. It was, of course, before the advent of motorised vessels that
positive wind-magic was particularly common amongst sea-faring
peoples (cf. HWDA, IX, col. 645). As has been suggested, the Vikings
were not only great exploiters of the wind but, because of the notentirely perfect nature of their sailing techniques, were very dependent
on it for their movements by sailing-vessel. Wind-magic may probably
be said to be more common amongst pagan peoples than, say,
Christians, and the Scandinavians of the larger part of the Viking Age
were pagans. From this we may say that the practice of wind-magic
was probably more common in Viking-Age Scandinavia than in mostother societies or cultures.

Figure 1: Buying knots for a fair wind. (From Olaus Magnus, Historia de gentibus
septentrionalibus, 1555, book 3, ch. 16.)

Wind-power and wind-gods

13

I would suggest, then, that in the Old Norse world, it was believedthat one could get a fair wind by magical or supernatural means. One
might be able to buy one from magicians or from Lapps. One could
get it by the use of amulets or incantations or a combination of both.
One might be endowed with some special quality which always gave
one good luck with the weather and a fair wind (cf. Note 4 above).
And one could get it by the invocation of supernatural beings, heathen
or Christian, God himself or pagan gods, minor demons or saints. It is
this last expedient which will be given special attention in the present
context. And here a passage from the Icelandic Hallfre›ar saga(probably composed in the early thirteenth century) is of relevance.5
The story of how Hallfre›r Óttarsson was converted to Christianityby Óláfr Tryggvason in Trondheim is well known. And the account in
Hallfre›ar saga of how Hallfre›r arrives in Norway prior to his
conversion is of special interest for present purposes. It may be quoted
from the Mö›ruvallabók text of the saga (from ÍF, VIII, 151–152,
with one change of punctuation), but with variants or additions (insquare brackets) from the version of the saga in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta (cf. ÓT, I, 347; Hallfr, 37–38):
Ok eitt sumar, er hann (viz. Hallfre›r) kom af Íslandi, flá lágu fleir vi›
Ag›anes.6 fiar hitta fleir menn at máli ok spur›u tí›enda. fieim var sagt, athƒf›ingjaskipti var or›it í Nóregi; var Hákon jarl dau›r, en Óláfr
Tryggvason kominn í sta›inn me› n‡jum si› ok bo›or›um. fiá ur›uskiparar [skipverjar allir] á flat sáttir, at slá í heit [til fless at fleim gæfi byr
5A related account of the story of Hallfre›r’s conversion (although of no
particular relevance in the present context) is found in ÓTOdd, 122–126; Hkr,
I, 328–333; Kristni saga, 1892–1896, 139. Hallfre›r is found at Ag›anes onan entirely different occasion, in Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, ch. 10 (ÍF, III,
84–85), in the time of Eiríkr jarl. On that occasion Hallfre›r transports
Gunnlaugr to Iceland. They immediately get a favourable wind, váru vel kátir,and Gunnlaugr declaims a verse which mentions the wind. The author of
Gunnlaugs saga probably knew Hallfre›ar saga.
6 Ag›anes (modern Norwegian Agdenes) lies on the south side of the mouthof Trondheimsfjorden, about 40 km. as the crow flies from Trondheim. It wasan important harbour in the medieval period. Because of difficult currents inthe fjord, passengers and pilgrims often disembarked at Agdenes and continued
overland to Trondheim. It seems to have had ‘direct’ connections with Iceland(cf. ÍF, IX, 265) and must have been a place through which many Icelanders
passed. It is frequently mentioned in Kings’ Sagas. Cf. KL, s.v. Hamn. Norge
and references; Perkins, 1999, 178–182.

14

Thor the wind-raiser
at sigla brottu af Nóregi nƒkkur til hei›inna landa], ok skyldi gefa Frey fé
mikit [ok flriggja sálda ƒl], ef fleim gæfi til Sví›jó›ar, en fiór e›a Ó›ni, ef
til Íslands kœmi.7 En ef fleim gæfi eigi í brott, flá skyldi konungr rá›a.
fieim gaf aldri í brott, ok ur›u at sigla inn til firándheims.

Subsequently Hallfre›r meets Óláfr Tryggvason and the king stands
sponsor to him at his baptism. Now the moral of this story is clear. It
is, of course, essentially of Christian authorship and, in Christian eyes,
it is the Christian God who controls the winds. The heathen Icelanders
pray to pagan gods to give them a wind to escape from a Norway
under the sway of the Christian Óláfr. But no such wind comes andthe Icelanders are forced to go to Trondheim and be baptised there.
The Christian god is mightier in his control of the winds. And this, ofcourse, is not the only place in Norse literature where we find theChristian God or his saints controlling wind and weather. A few otherexamples may be given:(a) In ch. 57 of Orkneyinga saga (ÍF, XXXIV, 123), Bishop Vilhjálmr
finds himself weatherbound in Shetland on his way back from Norway.
Winter comes and there are storms and contrary winds. Then the captainof the ship proposes that the bishop make a promise to God that if they
get a fair wind, he will no longer oppose the translation of the holy
relics of Jarl Magnús. The bishop agrees and as soon as he has madehis vow, the weather changes and they get such a favourable wind that
Vilhjálmr is able to sing mass at home in Orkney the very next Sunday.
(b) The following is a paraphrase of one of the miracles connectedwith St fiorlákr (see Byskupa sƒgur, 1938–1978, 236, 323): ‘Anotherhappening was that certain men were sailing out along a fjord with afollowing wind. But they met another ship sailing in along the fjord in
the opposite direction. As they passed, they asked the men sailinginwards how it was that they were sailing against the wind. The others
said that they had urgent need of a speedy voyage and had prayed toBishop fiorlákr for a fair wind (hƒf›u heitit á fiorlák byskup til byrjar).
7 We note the links suggested here between Thor and Odin and Iceland, andFrey and Sweden (Svífljó›). Frey was certainly thought of as a god particularly
connected with the Swedes and this doubtless reflects actual belief (MRN,
165–175; note, for example, the reference in Flat2 (IV, 11) to Freyr Svíago›).
And the cult of Thor was particularly strong in Iceland (see MRN, 86–87). On
the other hand, there is very little evidence for worship of Odin in Iceland (seeMRN, 64–70; VAch, 391).

Wind-power and wind-gods

15

They parted and both ships reached the different harbours they wanted
to by the evening.’(c) Third in this context, attention may be drawn to a prayer to theChristian God in skaldic dróttkvætt for a favourable wind. In a chapterof Sverris saga found only in the version in AM 327, 4to, we are told
how Magnús Erlingsson with his fleet are becalmed for a week at
Unnardys (probably modern Hummardus, near Farsund, not far fromthe southern tip of Norway; cf. NO, 469). With the king is an Icelandic
skald called Máni and he addresses this verse to the Deity (Sverris
saga, 1920, 90):
Byr gef brátt, inn ƒrvi,Bjƒrgynjar til mƒrgum
—fless bi›jum vér—fljó›um,
flungstóls konungr sólar.
Angrar oss, flats lengiútnyr›ingr heldr fyr›um
vindr’s til seinn at sundi
sunnrœnn, í dys Unnar.
(Prose word-order and translation: Gef brátt, inn ƒrvi konungr sólar
flungstóls, byr mƒrgum fljó›um til Bjƒrgynjar. fiess bi›jum vér. Oss angrar,flats útnyr›ingr heldr fyr›um lengi í Unnardys. Sunnrœnn vindr’s til seinn
at sundi. ‘Give the great host soon, O generous King of heaven (sólar
flungstóls), a fair wind to Bergen. This we pray Thee. It vexes us that anorth-west wind delays men at Unnardys. A southerly wind is too slow in
coming over the ocean.’)(d) In the story of Óláfr Tryggvason’s dealings with Rau›r inn rammi
in Heimskringla (cf. Appendix), the wind produced by the heathenRau›r is overcome by the greater power of Christianity (cf. also Note
4 above).
In the outlook of Christians, then, and not least Christian seafarersof the Scandinavian North, it was, of course, the Christian God, theVirgin Mary and His saints who were thought of as controlling wind
and weather. Such saints as were invoked might be local ones, forexample, St Óláfr or St fiorlákr or St Eric of Sweden; or they might be
non-Scandinavian, for example, St Peter, St Nicholas of Myra or St
Katherine of Alexandria (see above; KL, s.v. Vær og vind; Norlén,
1972, 75–79). But we may now turn to the three heathen gods
specifically mentioned by name in the passage in Hallfre›ar saga,

16

Thor the wind-raiser

Frey, Odin and Thor. What evidence is there, we may ask, that they
were regarded as deities on whom one might sanguinely call for afavourable wind? To what extent were they wind-gods?
The proposition that Odin may have been regarded as a god who
had control over the wind finds support in various sources. In verse
154 of Hávamál (Edda, 43), Odin himself appears to boast:
fiat kann ec ifl níunda, ef mic nau›r um stendr,
at biarga fari míno á floti:
vind ec kyrri vági á
oc svæfic allan sæ.
In verse 3 of Hyndluljó› (Edda, 288), the various benefits Odin can
bestow on mankind are enumerated. Not only can he give victory,
wealth, eloquence, the gift of poetry and manliness to those he wishes
but, we are also told, byri (plural) gefr hann brƒgnum, ‘he gives
favourable winds to men’. It is true that Snorri Sturluson knew Hávamál
and Hyndluljó› in some form or other but there is no reason to supposethat he was particularly influenced by them when he wrote of Odin inch. 7 of Ynglinga saga (ÍF, XXVI, 18): fiat kunni hann enn at gerame› or›um einum at sløkkva eld ok kyrra sjá ok snúa vindum hverja
lei›, er hann vildi. (Snorri then goes on to say that Odin also owned
the ship Skí›bla›nir; cf., however, the next paragraph below.) We also
note that one of the names for Odin, Vi›rir, probably refers to his role
as a god who controls wind and weather (ve›r) (cf. ÍO, 1131). But of
most interest in this context is the well-known story of King Víkarr’s
death in ch. 7 of Gautreks saga (FN, IV, 28–31) King Víkarr is engaged
on an expedition to Hordaland with his fleet:
Hann lá í hólmum nokkurum lengi ok fekk andvi›ri mikit. fieir felldu
spán til byrjar, ok fell svá, at Ó›inn vildi fliggja mann at hlutfalli at hanga
ór hernum. fiá var skipt li›inu til hlutfalla, ok kom upp hlutr Víkars konungs.

This outcome causes great consternation in Víkarr’s army but eventually, by trickery, Víkarr is indeed consecrated to Odin, pierced witha spear and hanged by Starka›r. This suggests that human sacrifice wasmade to Odin, and then by hanging, in the hope of getting a favourable
wind (cf., for example, MRN, 44–46, 206–207 for commentary).88 The story is referred to briefly by Saxo in his sixth book (153). Saxo saysof the fleet: Cumque quodam in loco diutina tempestatum sævitia vexarentur,
ita ventis navigationem frustrantibus, ut maiorem anni partem quieti tribuerunt,

Wind-power and wind-gods

17

Factors which suggest that Frey was a god who could control thewind are less convincing but not negligible. While, as noted, Snorri
attributes ownership of the ship Skí›bla›nir to Odin in Ynglinga saga,
it was doubtless more usual to attribute it to Frey, as Snorri himself
does in both Gylfaginning (SnE, 47–48) and Skáldskaparmál (SnE,123); and that it was rather Frey who was thought of as owning
Skí›bla›nir is borne out by verse 43 of Grímnismál (Edda, 66). Of
Skí›bla›nir, Snorri says that it had a favourable wind as soon as thesail was hoisted (and that it could be folded up and kept in one’s pouch;
SnE, 123: Skí›bla›nir haf›i byr, flegar er segl kom á lopt, hvert er
fara skyldi, en mátti vefja saman sem dúk ok hafa í pung sér, ef flatvildi). In an episode in the version of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta
represented by AM 62, fol. and Flateyjarbók (ÓT, III, 2; cf. p. 28 below),
we are told how, in a race to reach a temple of Frey, Óláfr Tryggvason
outsails some Frey-worshipping Tronds: Kepptu hvárirtveggju at sigla
sem mest. Fór flá sem optast, at gipta konungsins [cf. Note 4 above]mátti meira en fjƒlkynngi Freys ok illr átrúna›r fleira er honum
fljónu›u, ok flat bar svá til at, sem inn bezti vildi, at skip konungsins
gekk miklu meira, ok flví kom hann fyrr til hofsins. Frey was a godvery close to his father Njƒr›r and was in many ways an aspect of him(see MRN, 156–179; both Frey and Freyja were the result of anincestuous union between Njƒr›r and his sister). Njƒr›r was, of course,
particularly connected with ships and the sea. It would not be surprising,then, if he should be thought of as having control of the winds. And
Snorri (SnE, 30) specifically says of him: Hann b‡r á himni, flar sem
heitir Nóatún; hann ræ›r fyrir gƒngu vinds ok stillir sjá ok eld; á hannskal heita til sæfara ok til vei›a.
We might conceivably have heard more about Frey as a controllerof the winds if our written sources for pagan Norse religion were fromdeos humano sanguine propitiandos duxerunt (‘And when, in a certain place,they were troubled by a lengthy period of violent storms and the winds impeded
their voyage to such an extent that they had to spend the greater part of theyear in inactivity, then they decided that the gods must be placated by a sacrificeof human blood’). And he continues: Itaque coniectis in urnam sortibus, regiæ
necis victimam deposci contigit (‘And when lots were cast in an urn, it turned
out that the death of a royal victim was required’). We may infer that Odin,
who wished to bring about Víkarr’s death, is behind the unfavourable winds
and also, presumably, the outcome of the sortilege.

18

Thor the wind-raiser

Sweden, the area where he was predominantly worshipped (cf. Note 7
above), rather than from Iceland.
We turn now to evidence that Thor was regarded as a god who had
control over the wind. This is, as might be expected, rather more
extensive than that relevant to Odin and Frey. Special attention may
first be given to the witness of three particular texts:(1) In the comparatively late Flóamanna saga (ÍF, XIII, 274–282),
it is told how the hero of the saga, fiorgils fiór›arson, has embraced
Christianity at the time of the conversion of Iceland, but is persecutedby Thor, the former object of his faith. fiorgils decides to emigrate toGreenland. While waiting for a favourable wind (the expression used
is at bí›a byrjar; cf. p. 9 above), he is again visited by Thor in a dreamand the god threatens him with a stormy passage. fiorgils is undeterredand sets sail with a favourable wind. As soon as they are out of sightof land, however, this wind drops and the ship is becalmed. Food andwater begin to run short and the ship’s company suffer great hardship.
Autumn sets in. Then (ÍF, XIII, 280; longer text):Mæltu sumir menn, at fleir mundu blóta fiór til byrjar [the shorter text has‘skyldi heita á fiór’], kvá›u betr flá farit hafa rá› manna, er fleir blótu›uhann, ok kvá›u rá› at fella flangat hugi sína. fiorgils segir: ‘Ef ek ver›varr vi› flat, at nökkurr ma›r blótar ok gerist gu›ní›ingr, flá skal ek flat
har›liga hefna.’ En vi›r flessi or› hans treystist engi at kalla á fiór.

And when fiorgils discovers that he has an old ox on board which heonce, presumably before his conversion, dedicated to Thor, he has it
thrown overboard, despite the protestations of those of the ship’s
company who are still avowedly pagan and who object to the way‘their Thor’ (‘fiórr várr’ in direct speech) is being insulted. After somethree months of hardship at sea, the ship is wrecked on the desert
coast of Greenland, through, one infers, the agency of Thor. It is sometime before fiorgils finally frees himself from the god’s harassments.
This episode in Flóamanna saga has twofold interest. Although
fiorgils fiór›arson is, in all probability, a historical character, the story
told about him here is, of course, fictional. There is no reason to believethat the historical fiorgils ever went to Greenland. On the other hand,
there is equally no reason why the narrative of the saga should notgive a fairly realistic picture of what might have happened on board
an Icelandic ship becalmed in the North Atlantic around AD 1000. The
privations of such a situation would, as already suggested, be severe.
While hunger would be a heavy affliction, the thirst would probably

Wind-power and wind-gods

19

be worse. There would probably have been squalid conditions on board,
possibly sickness and perhaps extremes of temperature. It would not
be surprising, then, if under such conditions, men resorted to theirdeities, whether Christian or heathen, for succour and relief, not leastin the form of a favourable wind to get them to land. And in such circumstances, the newly-converted might well have been tempted to revert
to their former beliefs, to turn apostate, perhaps even thinking the sea
to be more the province of the old heathen gods than of the new
Christian one. And those who had been unwillingly baptised but werestill heathen at heart might have had no scruples in having recourse to
the heathen gods. And that they should supplicate particularly Thor isnot surprising either; Thor was, of course, the god most worshippedby the Icelanders (cf. Note 7 above). Second, a detail in the passage
may be considered, the alliterative phrase blóta fiór til byrjar. It istrue that the author of Flóamanna saga seems to have a distinct predilection for alliteration; this, for example, he indulges in the direct speech
he attributes to fiorgils in the passage quoted above. But also, of course,
he occasionally uses established alliterative expressions, including, as
noted, the expression bí›a byrjar (ÍF, XIII, 278); this expression, as
observed (p. 9 above), is an example of alliterative terminology relating
to the wind which is attested widely in the Scandinavian dialects. The
verb at blóta is usually used in Old Norse with the name of the god forwhom any sacrifice is intended in the accusative; there is an example
in the passage from Flóamanna saga just cited (cf., for example, LP,
55; VAch, 400–401). And the words blóta til byrjar (i.e. with til + thething solicited in the genitive) are, of course paralleled by such phrases
as at blóta til árs, fri›ar, sigrs (cf. C–V, 70 for citations). Expressions
like these must surely go back to the heathen period. It seems probable,
then, that in the alliterative words blóta fiór til byrjar we have a genuine
piece of pagan terminology relating to the business of getting afavourable wind by making sacrifice to the god. It can be comparedwith those already discussed above. It was perhaps remembered over
the years particularly because of its alliterative form. (And it may havebeen replaced in the Christian period in Iceland by some such equally
alliterative phrase as at heita á byskup til byrjar or perhaps an evenmore alliterative at bi›ja byskup byrjar; cf. Byskupa sƒgur, 1938–1978,
236, 343; Máni skáld’s verse quoted on p. 15 above.)(2) Flóamanna saga is, as noted, a relatively late source probably
from the end of the thirteenth century or the first decades of the20

Thor the wind-raiser

fourteenth. We turn now to a substantially earlier work and one ofentirely different provenance, Dudo of St Quentin’s history of the earlydukes of Normandy, De moribus et actis primorum Normanniæ ducum,
probably completed in the first two decades of the eleventh century.
In ch. 2 of his first book, Dudo (1865, 129–130) gives a vivid accountof the way the Norman Vikings made human sacrifice to Thor in order
to secure a successful outcome for their undertakings:Cæterum, in expletione suarum expulsionum atque exituum, sacrificabantolim venerantes Thur, Deum suum. Cui non aliquod pecudum, nequepecorum, nec Liberi Patris, nec Cereris litantes donum, sed sanguinem
mactabant humanum, holocaustorum omnium putantes pretiosissimum;
eo quod, sacerdote sortilego prædestinante, jugo boum una vice diritericebantur in capite; collisoque unicuique singulari ictu sorte electo cerebro,
sternebatur in tellure, perquirebaturque levorsum fibra cordis, scilicet vena.
Cujus exhausto sanguine, ex more suo, sua suorumque capita linientes,
librabant celeriter navium carbasa ventis, illosque (v.l. deosque) tali negotio
putantes placare, velociter navium insurgebant remis.

This may be translated tentatively as follows:9
Moreover, as the last act on expulsion and departure (?), they used formerly
to make sacrifices in veneration of their god Thor. To him they offered
neither gifts of sheep nor cattle (?), nor of Father Liber (i.e. ‘wine’), nor of
Ceres (i.e. ‘corn’ or ‘bread’), but they used to sacrifice the blood of humanvictims, thinking that to be the most valuable of all offerings. The procedure was this: When a divinatory priest had decided how things shouldbe, the victims were struck viciously on the head with a single blow froman ox-yoke. And then, when the brain of each and every victim, selectedby lot, had been crushed by a separate blow, he was spread out on the
ground and the fibre ( fibra) of the heart, that is to say the vein (vena), wascarefully examined on the left-hand side (levorsum). After that, and inaccordance with their custom, they would smear their own and their comrades’ heads with the drained blood and promptly spread the sails of theirships to the winds, thinking to placate them (i.e. ‘the winds’; or, accepting
the reading deosque, ‘the gods’) by such actions. Then they would rapidly
ply the oars of their ships.

There are, of course, various obscurities here. One issue is which of
the two readings illosque or deosque to accept. Although the latter ispreferred by Steenstrup (1925, 20) and by Albrectsen (translation,
9 I am grateful to David and Ian McDougall, Robert Ireland and Peter Footefor their help in making this translation. Any shortcomings in it are, of course,
my responsibility. Cf. Dudo, 1998, 15–16.

Wind-power and wind-gods

21

1979, 24), it appears, as far as can be seen from Lair’s edition, in one
manuscript only; and Lair himself has illosque in his main text. But
whichever reading is the more original probably makes little difference
to the point being made here. This is that the account can safely beinterpreted as demonstrating that human sacrifice was offered to Thor
in expectation of assuring favourable winds at sea (so e.g. in RGA1,
IV, 323; NG, I, 441; Schomerus, 1936, 109; MRN, 94). And as van
Houts (1984, 110) remarks, there is no reason why Dudo should nothave been in possession of reliable information about heathen
Scandinavian customs. Grandchildren of the first permanent settlersof Normandy would have been alive when he was writing. And theinformation he received from such people could be corroborated byknowledge of the customs of heathen Scandinavians of his own time,of whom, of course, substantial numbers must still have existed. Mogk
(1909, 618–622) has produced evidence that the Germanic peoples of
earlier times made human sacrifice to wind- and sea-spirits in order toensure favourable weather conditions. Such offerings, Mogk suggests,
were later transferred to Thor. Just, then, as we get an account of humansacrifice to Odin for a favourable wind in Scandinavian sources of
two or three centuries later (Gautreks saga; Saxo; see above), so here
we have a source from Normandy of around the year 1000 that suggests
human sacrifice was made to Thor with similar aims.10(3) So much for Dudo of St Quentin. But probably the most important
testimony we have in the present context comes from a sourcecompleted in the 1070s, some sixty or seventy years after Dudo’s work.
In the fourth book of his Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum,
Adam of Bremen (468–471) touches on the heathendom of the Swedes(Sueones). He first describes their temple at Uppsala with its effigiesof Thor, Wodan and Fricco. He then goes on to talk of the significanceof the three gods. And of the first of them, Thor, Adam writes: ‘Thor,’inquiunt [the subject of this verb is probably to be understood as
Sueones], ‘presidet in aere, qui tonitrus et fulmina, ventos ymbresque,serena et fruges gubernat.’ This much-cited statement has normally
10 In connection with this passage from Dudo and the story of the sacrificeof Víkarr to Odin, we note ch. 18 of Ljósvetninga saga (ÍF, X, 93–95), where
we hear of a ship’s long wait for wind off Hrísey in Eyjafjör›ur. When theputative culprit for this lack of wind is exposed by sortilege, the rest of thepeople on the ship want to kill him.

22

Thor the wind-raiser

been accepted at face value; we have no real reason to doubt it. For
present purposes, however, in using it as evidence for the Swedes’
belief in Thor’s control over the wind, it might be appropriate to show
very briefly by a few examples from external evidence its validity
with respect to belief in the god’s control over the other five phenomena
Adam mentions. Thus:(a) tonitrus, ‘thunder’. There is, of course, ample evidence from sources
other than Adam that Thor was connected with thunder. For example, thevery name Thor (fiórr) is cognate with Germanic words for thunder, including, of course, English thunder; it is also etymologically related tothe the Latin word for thunder, tonitrus, used by Adam himself (cf. Latin
tonare, ‘to thunder’); cf. ÍO, 1186. Various kennings and heiti for Thor
would seem to refer to him as a controller of thunder (see Ljungberg,
1947, 212–214). Cf. KL, s.v. Torden.
(b) fulmina, ‘lightning; thunderbolts’. While it not inconceivable that Adam
had some inkling of the relationship of the word Thor (fiórr) to words for‘thunder’ in German or other Germanic languages (see (a) above), he canscarcely have known anything of the name given in Icelandic sources toThor’s hammer, Mjƒllnir, and even less of its etymology. One etymology
of Mjƒllnir connects it with Icelandic mala, ‘to grind’, and mølva, ‘tocrush’. But others relate it to Russian molniia and Welsh mellt, both ofwhich words mean ‘lightning’, and this etymology seems particularly attractive (see AEW, 390; MRN, 81; cf., however, ÍO, 627). At all events, inthe eighth book of Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum, we are told how,in a fight between Thor and the giant Geruthus, the giant’s women aresmashed by Thor’s thunderbolts ( fulmina) (Saxo, 242; cf. MRN, 80). Cf.
further on Thor and fulmina, KL, s.v. Torvigg and references.
(c) ymbres, ‘showers, rain’. As late as the seventeenth century, Thor was
being held responsible for rain in Småland in Sweden (see Montelius,
1900, 294 and references). And the Finnish god Ukko, who is very muchto be regarded as a ‘loan’ from pagan Scandinavian religion, was often
invoked when rain was needed (see, for example, NK, XXVI, 126; Ljungberg, 1947, 56–57; MRN, 98; KL, s.v. Ukko). Cf. also again KL, s.v. Torden.
(d) serena, probably strictly ‘cloudless skies’, but usually understood as‘fine weather; sunshine’. While I cannot point to any evidence to suggestthat Thor was thought of as having control specifically of the clouds,
Bronze-Age petroglyphs from Scandinavia often show a figure, identified with Thor because of such attributes as hammer or axe, carrying a‘sun-disc’. This, with other evidence, suggests that he was already regarded as a sun-god at this early stage (cf. RGA1, IV, 323–324; Ljungberg,
1947, 91–111 and references).
(e) fruges, ‘produce of the earth; crops’. There is ample evidence external
to Adam’s Gesta that Thor was thought of as a god who brought fertility

Wind-power and wind-gods

23

to crops. The proposition is suggested, to take a quite random piece ofevidence, by the occurrence of such place-names as Torsåker in Sweden
and Torsager in Denmark, both of which may be interpreted as ‘Thor’s
Cornfield’; cf. NK, XXVI, 125; AR, II, 120; MRN, 93. Also, more generally, NK, XXVI, 129.

These are sample pieces of evidence which bear out Adam’s statement
concerning the Swedes’ belief in Thor as governing lightning, rain,sunshine and crops. They show that Adam is giving us more than a setof commonplaces, more than the kind of information a medieval
Christian writer might conventionally offer concerning any pagan skygod. And if Adam is correct in what he says about the Swedes’ statement
concerning Thor’s control of the five phenomena in question, then it
is not unreasonable to conclude that he may well be right in what hesays about the sixth, the wind. We should note the explicit nature of
Adam’s evidence on this matter. In what is after all a work more orless of fact (rather than fiction), it is specifically stated that the Swedes
believed that Thor had control of the wind. The present tense of inquiunt
should be noted. Here, then, we have a particularly direct andunambiguous statement about pagan Scandinavian belief in Thor’s
powers over the wind.
Here, then, in Flóamanna saga, Dudo and Adam of Bremen, arethree specific items of evidence which suggest that Thor was thoughtof as in some way having power of command over the wind. These, as
noted, come from sources of rather different provenance. Taken
together, however, they have decisive weight. And that Thor was
thought of as controlling the wind can also be concluded, or perhaps
rather inferred, from a number of other sources and not least Icelandic
ones. A few perhaps somewhat random examples may be given:
In at least one of the two skaldic verses attributed to the poetess
Steinunn, Thor is credited with having destroyed the ship of fiangbrandr, a man known from the prose of the works in which the verses
are preserved as one of the first Christian missionaries in Iceland (seeSkj, A, I, 135–136; B, I, 127–128; Turville-Petre, 1976, 65–67; MRN,
89–90). This the god was presumably thought of as having done byproducing stormy weather, directed against the agent of his arch-enemy,
Christ.
The Hauksbók redaction of Landnámabók (ÍF, I, 53, 55) tells ofKollr who encounters a storm off north-western Iceland. He appeals
to Thor for help but is subsequently shipwrecked. His foster-brother24

Thor the wind-raiserØrlygr Hrappsson in another ship, however, calls on ‘Bishop Patrekr’
and comes safely ashore in Patreksfjör›ur. The story has, of course, a
Christian bias, but is doubtless realistic in representing heathens as
invoking the aid of Thor (albeit in vain in this instance) when indifficulties at sea.
The account given of Helgi magri Eyvindarson in Landnámabók(ÍF, I, 250) is of interest in this context. We are told of Helgi that hebelieved in Christ but had recourse to Thor when on journeys by sea
and in difficult situations: Helgi var blandinn mjƒk í trú; hann trú›i á
Krist, en hét á fiór til sjófara ok har›ræ›a. Helgi presumably believedthat Thor had some influence over the forces of nature so important toseafarers. (When SnE (cf. p. 17 above) says of Njƒr›r that á hann skalheita til sæfara ok til vei›a, the implied reason is that he controls the
movements of the wind, moderates the sea, etc.) And when Helgi
approached Iceland in his ship as prospective landnámsma›r, he sought
advice from Thor as to where he should settle (gekk hann til frétta vi›
fiór, hvar land skyldi taka; cf. KL, s.v. Frett I and references). Thor (orhis oracle) directed (vísa›i) Helgi to the north of Iceland and he settled
in Eyjafjör›ur at Kristnes.
In Landnámabók and elsewhere there are, of course, a number ofaccounts of how intending colonisers of Iceland threw their high-seatpillars (ƒndvegissúlur) overboard on approaching the island for the
first time and settled where the pillars drifted ashore (see Strömbäck,
1970, 136–142 for a full list of references). One of these is of particularinterest in the present context. In ch. 4 of Eyrbyggja saga (ÍF, IV, 7–8;
cf. ÍF, I, 124–126), we are told how fiórólfr Mostrarskegg, a particularly
fervent devotee of the god, is sailing to Iceland with a favourable wind.
He gets becalmed, in Faxaflói we may infer, and here fiórólfr makes
the vow that he will settle where his ƒndvegissúlur (on one of which
the image of Thor is carved) drift ashore. The pillars go overboard andare driven by the elements, and rather faster than might be expected(eigi vánum seinna), around Snæfellsnes and into Brei›afjör›ur. At
the same time a sea breeze (hafgula) springs up and drives fiórólfr’s
ship in the same direction. He subsequently finds the pillars washedashore on a headland. Here he settles and calls the place fiórsnes. It
was presumably wind, wave and current controlled by Thor which
was thought of as driving fiórólfr’s pillars, and after them his ship, tofiórsnes. But we also note the words of the saga, fiórr var á land kominn

Wind-power and wind-gods

25me› súlurnar, with their implication that the god was more or lessidentified with the pillars or that the god himself was in them (cf.
Turville-Petre, 1962, 247; MRN, 87). In other allusions to this custom,Thor is not specifically mentioned. Even so, some have seen a generalconnection between the practice and the cult of Thor (e.g. Meyer, 1891,
212; cf., however, Strömbäck, 1970, 136, note 1).
One colonist, Kráku-Hrei›arr Ófeigsson (ÍF, I, 232–233) declares(perhaps significantly, at the mast of his ship) that rather than throw
his high-seat pillars overboard, he will invoke the guidance of Thor
direct to show him a place to settle and says he will fight for the land
if it is already settled (kvezk heldr mundu heita á fiór, at hann vísa›i
honum til landa, ok kvezk flar mundu berjask til landa, ef á›r værinumit). He subsequently makes a difficult landing at Borgarsandur in
Skagafjör›ur. The following spring, Eiríkr Hróaldsson persuades
Hrei›arr not to fight a certain Sæmundr for his landnám adjacent to
Borgarsandur, but says that he will give him tungan ƒll ni›r frá
Skálamyri, kva› flangat fiór hafa vísat honum ok flar stafn á horft, flá
er hann sigldi upp á Borgarsand.
A story related to some of the above is told in Landnámabók (see ÍF,I, 163–164) of fiórólfr Mostrarskegg’s son Hallsteinn who settled infiorskafjör›ur. He sacrifices to Thor to send him some high-seatpillars.11 After this, a huge tree is washed ashore and is used for making
pillars for almost all the farms in the neighbourhood.
Finally, a well-known story in ch. 8 of Eiríks saga rau›a (ÍF, IV,425) has interest in this context. fiorfinnr karlsefni and his followers
have run short of food on their expedition to Vínland. They call on
their Christian God for help but to no avail. One of the party, fiórhallrvei›ima›r, apparently still a committed heathen, disappears and is
subsequently found lying on a cliff-top staring upwards and chanting
something (hann horf›i í lopt upp, ok gap›i hann bæ›i augum ok munni
ok nƒsum ok klóra›i sér ok kl‡p›i sik ok flul›i nƒkkut). Soon after, awhale of unknown species drifts ashore and they cook and eat its meat,
11 The Hauksbók redaction adds the detail (ÍF, I, 164, note 1) that he gaf flar
til son sinn. This could possibly imply human sacrifice (cf. the accounts of
Dudo and Gautreks saga quoted above) but more probably means thatHallsteinn dedicated his son to Thor to become his devotee (cf. ÍF, IV, 12–13;
Briem, 1945, 170, note 2).

26

Thor the wind-raiser

but are ill as a result. fiórhallr then boasts that he has got his reward
for the poetry (skáldskapr) he has composed in honour of his patronThor (whom he familiarly refers to as hinn rau›skeggja›i), and we
may infer that it was this poetry he was declaiming on the cliff. His
companions now realise who has sent the whale and throw its meataway. We are left to draw the conclusion that it was by his control ofcurrent, wind and wave that Thor was thought of as able to send thewhale to the starving company.1212

For further discussion of the relevant passage in Eiríks saga rau›a withperhaps a slightly different or more specific interpretation than that given
here, see Perkins, 2000.

An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

27

CHAPTER TWO

AN EPISODE IN R¯GNVALDS fiÁTTR OK RAU‹S
Blés fiórr . . . í kampana ok fleytti skeggraustina. Kom flá flegar andvi›ri móti konungi.
ÓLÁFS SAGA TRYGGVASONAR IN MESTAWE HAVE SEEN in the previous chapter how desirable afavourable wind was to the medieval Norse and how the god
Thor was believed by some to be able to control the winds in generaland to produce favourable winds in particular. These questions now
arise: How was Thor thought of as producing winds and breezes? Did
he simply have wind and weather at his command? Or did he do it insome other way? In attempting to give some answers to these questions,attention may be drawn to a passage in an Icelandic work normallyknown as Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s (abbreviated RR). And because
RR has not received much scholarly attention, it will not be out ofplace to offer first some basic information about its preservation,
content, sources, dating, and other aspects. This, it should be stressed,
is done without an exhaustive study having been made and with heavy
reliance on the work of Strömbäck (1940) and Ólafur Halldórsson(see Bibliography).
(A) Manuscripts of RR
RR is preserved in two major redactions in eight different manuscripts
with independent value as follows:(1) It exists as a separate, continuous entity (referred to here as
RR557) only in the manuscript AM 557, 4to which preserves a dozen
items or so (some defective) including Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu,
Hallfre›ar saga, Eiríks saga rau›a (which immediately precedes
RR557) and Dámusta saga (which immediately follows RR557). AM
557, 4to was probably written in the period 1420–1450 by Ólafur
Loftsson whose work as a scribe is far from unimpeachable (cf. Stefán
Karlsson, 1970, 137–138).
(2) RR is incorporated as four separate passages in Óláfs saga
Tryggvasonar in mesta (ÓT). (On ÓT in general, see KL, s.v. Óláfs
saga Tryggvasonar; Ólafur Halldórsson, 1990; MS, 448–449; ÓT, III,28

Thor the wind-raiser

xv–cccl; and references in these places.) This redaction is referred toas RRÓT. The most significant manuscripts of ÓT are: AM 61, fol.;
AM 53, fol.; AM 54, fol.; Perg. fol. nr 1 (Bergsbók); Papp. fol. nr 22(Húsafellsbók); and, representing a different, later version, AM 62,
fol. and Gl. kgl. sml. 1005, fol. (Flateyjarbók). RRÓT appears in six ofthese seven manuscripts (although only part of it in the defective AM
53, fol.). It is not found in AM 54, fol. in its present form. It is, however,also found in AM 325 IX 1 b, 4to.
Further on manuscripts, editions, translations etc. of RR, see the
Appendix. In what follows Ólafur Halldórsson’s editions, RRÓT and
RR557, will be referred to. (RRÓT is based on AM 61, fol. and gives
variants from all independent manuscripts other than Húsafellsbók;
variants from this last-mentioned manuscript are given in ÓT, III,ccxviii–ccxxi.)(B) Redactions of RR
There is, to my knowledge, as yet no exhaustive study of the differences
between the two main redactions of RR (cf., however, Strömbäck, 1940,
15–18). Attention may, then, on a tentative basis and briefly, be drawn
to the main differences between the two redactions (i.e. that represented
by RR557 on the one hand and by RRÓT on the other) under four
headings as follows:(a) Independence. As suggested, RR557 may, for practical purposes,
be regarded as an independent entity, totally unrelated in content to
the material which precedes and follows it in its single manuscript;
RRÓT, on the other hand and as noted, exists only as four separate
passages integrated into ÓT. It seems entirely probable that the situation
represented by RR557 is the more original, i.e. that RR existed as anindependent whole and has subsequently been incorporated into ÓT.
That the converse has happened, that the redaction represented by
RR557 has been put together from originally separate passages
extracted from ÓT, seems altogether unlikely (cf. Strömbäck, 1940, 17).
(b) Volume. In Ólafur Halldórsson’s edition (ÓT, III, 95–102), RR557
may be said on a rough calculation to take up about 242 lines; by asimilar rough calculation, RRÓT may be said to take up some 346
lines in Ólafur’s edition of ÓT. Approximate though these figures may
be, it will be seen that RRÓT is substantially longer than RR557, indeed,more than a third as long again. Three theoretical possibilities exist:(i) that RR557 represents a shortening of RR in its original form; (ii)An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

29that RRÓT represents a lengthening of RR in its original form; (iii)that both (i) and (ii) obtain. Without having undertaken a detailed
investigation of the matter, I would be reluctant to dismiss any of thesethree possibilities. The difference in volume is not least pronounced
in the account of Óláfr Tryggvason’s visit to Rau›r on his island which
is of special interest to us (see below) and which, roughly calculated,takes up 57 lines in Ólafur Halldórsson’s edition of RR557 (i.e. 100/12–
101/35) but 88 lines in Ólafur’s edition of RRÓT (i.e. 328/9–332/17).
(c) Content. Strömbäck (1940, 16–17) mentions certain differencesof detail in the content of the two versions (e.g. in RR557, Sigrí›rseeks out Óláfr Tryggvason in Gar›aríki, in RRÓT in England). A few
of these differences are noted in the plot-summary of RR given below.
(d) Style. Strömbäck (1940, 16, 17) stated that the version of RR in
Fms and Flateyjarbók (i.e. RRÓT) is characterised by ‘rhetoricalornamentation’ and that this feature is absent from the version of RR
in AM 557, 4to; also that the redaction in AM 557, 4to gives theimpression of being ‘somewhat more archaic’ than the other version.
One cannot be absolutely certain what features Strömbäck is referringto here; but it seems quite possible that the ‘rhetorical ornamentation’
he discerns in RRÓT may include, for example, the element ofalliteration found in the passage, RRÓT, 329/14–330/19. It also seems
possible, however, that the features in question are secondary and wereintroduced by the redactor who interpolated the fláttr into ÓT.
(C) Summary of RR
A resumé of RR may be offered (see Harris, 1980, 168–169 for another).
Because the text of RRÓT is of greater interest in the present argument,
the resumé here is based on this version (as represented by AM 61,fol.) rather than on RR557.
[Cf. RRÓT, 313/8–322/21; RR557, 95/25–99/22] fiórólfr skjálgr¯gmundarson, father of Erlingr, is a powerful man of Ja›arr. (RR557
does not give fiórólfr a nickname or say that his father is ¯gmundr;
towards the end of its text, however, it refers to him as fiórólfr
Skjálgsson (RR557, 102/4–5).) He is responsible, it is implied, forplotting the murder of Lo›inn on the latter’s farm at Ærvík in Sta›r.
fiórólfr takes Lo›inn’s widow as his concubine, appropriates his estate
and reduces one of his two young sons, Rƒgnvaldr, to servitude.
Rƒgnvaldr grows to be a fine man and becomes fiórólfr’s overseer. He
asks fiórólfr to find him a wife and is married to a woman called Sigrí›r.

30

Thor the wind-raiser

By Sigrí›r, Rƒgnvaldr has a son called Gunnarr whom fiórólfr treats
more or less as his own child. One summer, fiórólfr plans a raiding
expedition and commands Rƒgnvaldr to build a splendid drinking hallwhile he is away. Rƒgnvaldr complies and employs the services of
two Wendish craftsmen for the task.1 Rƒgnvaldr also has large heapsof firewood gathered near the hall. On his return, fiórólfr is pleased
with the new hall and seems to accept an explanation from Rƒgnvaldr
for the presence of the firewood. He then makes preparations for agreat feast. At this feast, Gunnarr sits at fiórólfr’s side in the high-seat,
dressed in a red tunic. Rƒgnvaldr and the two Wends get the company
drunk on particularly strong drink. They then set fire to the hall andthe piles of firewood around it, burning all the people in it, including
fiórólfr. Rƒgnvaldr then makes his escape by sea, together with Sigrí›r,a sleeping Gunnarr and the two Wends. Out on the fjord, Gunnarr
awakes, sees the burning hall and rebukes Rƒgnvaldr harshly for thecrime against fiórólfr. Rƒgnvaldr silences him and the company sails
northwards. They are shipwrecked off Sta›r, the Wends perish, butRƒgnvaldr, with his family, survives and is able to return to Ærvík andestablish himself there on his father’s estate. One day, Rƒgnvaldr sets
Gunnarr adrift in a small boat, with the purpose, it seems, of disposingof a witness to the burning of fiórólfr. The boat is driven northwards toan island located off Hálogaland. Here the boy is found and adopted
by the chief man of the island (nameless in the interpolated version,
but called Kati in RR557).2 This man is a devotee of Thor (RRÓT,319/15–16: Fyrir eyju fleiri er bátrinn var at kominn ré› einn blótma›r.
1 Harris (1980, 178) suggests that the role of Wends in this context is unlikely
to reflect reality. We might, however, note that this nation was close to medieval
Scandinavia and members of it seem to have settled in the southern Danish
islands (see KL, s.v. Vender). The proposition that some of them found their
way further north is, therefore, not as improbable as it may at first sight seem.
And itinerant carpenters and other craftsmen would, of course, have beenfamiliar figures in medieval Scandinavia (cf., for example, Trotzig, 1995, 22,
where it is suggested that the chest of Viking-Age tools from Mästermyr in
Gotland belonged to such a person).
2 Strömbäck (1940, 17) thought that the name of Gunnarr’s/Rau›r’s fosterfather in AM 557, 4to (cf. RR557, 98/11) might be read as Káti but could
perhaps also be read as Kári (cf. pp. 48–50 and Note 9 below). Ólafur
Halldórsson suggests to me in private communication that a reading Kári ispalaeographically improbable. And he prefers to read Kati (spelt ‘katí’) rather

An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

31

Var flar mikit hof ok eignat fiór). Gunnarr is able to conceal his origins.
The boy is called Rau›r after the colour of the red tunic he was wearing
when found. When his adopter dies childless, Rau›r is his heir andmaintains his cult of Thor. He puts such a spell on his image of the god
that it is able to converse with him and walk with him around theisland. Rƒgnvaldr’s wife, Sigrí›r, leaves her husband, seeks out Óláfr
Tryggvason (in England in RRÓT, in Gar›aríki in RR557) and isbaptised. She tells Óláfr of the events which have passed and begs
him to convert Rƒgnvaldr and Rau›r when he returns to Norway. She
dies abroad in great sanctity.
[Cf. RRÓT, 325/12–327/4; RR557, 99/22–100/12] After Óláfr has
returned to Norway, he seeks out Rƒgnvaldr at Ærvík and preaches
the faith to him. Rƒgnvaldr, however, refuses to be baptised, implyingthat events have befallen him which he cannot confess to. Óláfr makes
him his prisoner.
[Cf. RRÓT, 328/9–332/17;3 RR557, 100/12–101/35] Óláfr makes
for the island where Rau›r lives (now referred to as Rau›sey).4 Rau›rurges his image of Thor to put up a resistance by producing a headthan Káti. He thinks that the name Kati in our text might have arisen as some
sort of misunderstanding of the word kati, ‘small ship, boat’, perhaps used insome manuscript of the vessel in which Gunnarr arrived at the island where
the man to whom the name is applied is said to have lived. We note also thatkate in Norwegian dialect can mean ‘small boy’ (see Aasen, 1918, s.v.; ÍO,450). Kári is, of course, a relatively common name in Old Norse (see Lind,
1905–1915, s.v., and Lind, 1931, s.v.). Káti is much rarer (see Lind, 1905–
1915, s.v., and Lind, 1931, s.v.); it also appears as a byname (see Lind, 1920–
21, s.v.).
3 AM 62, fol. and Gl. kgl. sml. 1005, fol. (Flateyjarbók) have chapter headings
referring to the content of RR at a point corresponding to ÓT, I, 328/1, that is,
before this third passage from RR really begins (see textual variants to 328/1
in ÓT, I; Fms, I, 302/5; Flat, I, 296/1; Flat 2, I, 327/31).
4 It is doubtless pointless to attempt to identify Rau›sey in RR with any
known place. And I have yet to discover any real place-name along the
Norwegian coast (e.g. a *Raudsøya or *Rødsøya) which might reflect an Old
Norse Rau›s-ey (i.e. genitive of a personal name Rau›r compounded with ey,‘island’; cf. Lind, 1905–1915, and Lind, 1931, s.v. Rau›r). On the other hand,
Raudøya/Rødøya is the name given to a large number of islands off theNorwegian coast (cf. NS, 263) referring either to the redness of their rock ortheir vegetation (e.g. red heather) and it is not impossible that some such namewas at the back of the author’s mind here. In locating the scene of heathen

32

Thor the wind-raiser

wind against Óláfr’s ship. This proves to be of no avail in the long run
and Óláfr eventually gets to the island. He then preaches Christianity
to Rau›r and his people at length (RRÓT, 329/13–330/19), stressing
amongst other things the impotence of heathen images. In response tothis, Rau›r arranges a tug-of-war contest between the king and Thor
over a fire to establish who is most powerful. This ends with the kingpulling Thor into the fire and the idol being burnt to ashes. Despite
this, Rau›r still refuses to be baptised although all the other people ofpractice on an island off northern Norway (ey ein nor›r fyrir Hálogalandi,RRÓT, 322/12), the author is probably following the literary conventions ofthe ‘conversion-flættir’ (on these cf. (D) below, p. 33); another such‘conversion-fláttr’, Vƒlsa fláttr, is staged on a headland (andnes) in northern
Norway, and this is a place where King Óláfr Haraldsson discovers a pagan
cult and subsequently converts those practising it. Northern Norway was, ofcourse, a place conventionally associated with the practice of magic andwitchcraft. And in ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’, which has close affinities with
RR, Rau›r lives on the island (or islands) Go›ey (or Go›eyjar) in the fjord
Sálpti in Hálogaland and this/these can be identified modern Godøya in
Saltfjorden (cf. Appendix, p. 161 below). Offshore islands, then, like remoteheadlands and forests, were thought of in literary tradition as places where
heathendom persisted longest (cf. Flat2, II, 441, 446); and such ideas doubtless
to some extent reflect reality. And there is, in all probability, a basis in reality
for the idea in RR that the cult of Thor was practised on islands. A number oftheophoric place-names in mainland Scandinavia are of the type Old Norse
fiórs-ey, Swedish Tor(s)-ö (cf. NG, 412, 438–439; NK, XXVI, 33, 54; AR, II,
117, 119; Munch, 1922, 230, 238; cf. also VH, 108, for such names in Irelandand for an island in the Seine). It is very possible that Thor was worshipped on
at least some of these islands. And it is also possible that Thor was worshippedon an island or islands in the vicinity the Dnieper Rapids (cf. p. 73 below) andalso on the island mentioned by Saxo (350; cf. Note 7 below) which musthave lain off the Swedish coast. It may also be noted here in the context of thegeneral discussion of this study that islands seem to have been favoured places
for meteorological magic, wind-raising and the like. On the island mentioned
by Saxo just referred to, attempts were made to produce thunder by the use oflarge Thor’s hammers (cf. Note 12 in Chapter 3). In Scotland the most likely
place to find wind-sellers was on the islands, the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland(Cameron, 1903, 301). Lyall Watson (1984, 118) writes: ‘The island of Sena
off ancient Gaul was said to have a priestess . . . who could produce winds toorder’, but gives no references. And the Greek Aeolus, fabled as warden of thewinds as well as inventor of the sail, lived on the Aeolian Islands (Isole Eolie)
and kept the winds imprisoned in a cave there.

An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

33

the island submit. Óláfr takes Rau›r prisoner and now has both him
and Rƒgnvaldr in his custody.
[Cf. RRÓT, 349/13–351/7; RR557, 101/35–102/32] In a final episode,Óláfr brings Rƒgnvaldr and Rau›r together. He tells them that he knowsfrom Sigrí›r of the circumstances of fiórólfr’s death and offersRƒgnvaldr a pardon if he will accept the Christian faith. Rƒgnvaldr
confesses his misdeed. Both he and Rau›r are baptised and discover
their relationship to one another. They then return to their respective
estates.
(D) Sources, analogues and parallels
RR may reasonably be placed amongst what have been called the‘conversion-flættir’ (see e.g. Strömbäck, 1940, 15; Harris, 1980, 162–
167; DMA, XII, 2). Without attempting any detailed definition of flættir
of this type, we may broadly describe their theme as the conversion of
the central character or characters to Christianity, usually under the
influence of one of the two ‘missionary’ kings of Norway, Óláfr
Tryggvason or Óláfr Haraldsson. Details of heathen practice prior toconversion are sometimes given and then often rather scornfully or
satirically. The majority of such flættir are found embedded in the longer
sagas of the two kings and are preserved not least in Flateyjarbók. As
representative examples of the type, we may mention Sveins fláttr ok
Finns (ÓT, II, 102–114), Tóka fláttr (Flat, II, 135–138) and Vƒlsa fláttr(Flat, II, 331–336). A number of such tales are alluded to in Ljungberg’s
work of 1938 (particularly on pp. 98–158) although they are there
regarded more from the point of view of historical reality than as literary
phenomena.
In a contribution published in Folklore forum (1980), Joseph Harris
approached RR from the point of view of its parallels in the corpus ofinternational folktale. Harris notes, for example, the motifs of‘Exposure in a boat’ and ‘Foundling hero’ with reference to Gunnarr/
Rau›r and his treatment by Rƒgnvaldr. He draws particular attention
to Celtic material, not least in connection with the story of Rƒgnvaldr’s
burning of fiórólfr. In the story of Gunnarr/Rau›r being set afloat in asmall boat, we may have a reminiscence of the story of Moses’s
treatment by his mother after his birth (Exodus 2: 3; cf. p. 164 below).
Ólafur Halldórsson (personal communication) draws attention to thestory of Hamlet as something of a parallel to Rƒgnvaldr’s dealings
with his father’s killer. And for Gunnarr being named Rau›r from the34

Thor the wind-raiser

colour of the tunic he wore when found, Ólafur notes the story in
Jómsvíkinga saga where the foundling son of Arnfinnr is called Knútr
by his childless foster-father Gormr fyrir flá sök er fingurgull . . . haf›ikn‡tt veri› í enni sveininum flá er hann fannst (Jómsvíkinga saga,
1969, 61–63).
Of particular significance as an analogue to RR is the story of Rau›r
inn rammi in chs 78–80 of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in Snorri
Sturluson’s Heimskringla (Hkr, I, 324–328). Further information about‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’ is given in the Appendix (pp.161–164 below).
In both RR and ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’, we find a heathen calledRau›r who lives on an island (or islands) off Hálogaland. The two
Rau›rs seem to have, either directly or indirectly, some control over
the wind and try to use this to prevent Óláfr Tryggvason reaching theirislands. Even so, Óláfr Tryggvason gets to the island in each story andattempts to convert Rau›r there to Christianity (although with rather
different results in the two stories). There is clearly some connection
between RR and the story told in Heimskringla. It should also be notedthat earlier in his Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar Snorri mentions: (a)‘Rƒgnvaldr ór Ærvík af Sta›i’ as one of the followers of Sveinn
Hákonarson at the Battle of Hjƒrungavágr (ch. 40; Hkr, I, 279); (b)fiórólfr skjálgr, son of ¯gmundr, son of Hƒr›a-Kári and father of
Erlingr of Sóli (ch. 54; Hkr, I, 304). He makes, however, no connection
between Rƒgnvaldr and fiórólfr and Rau›r. Precisely what relationshipexists between RR and Hkr (and ÓTOdd, to which Snorri is probably
indebted to a certain extent for his ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’; cf. pp.
163–164 below) is uncertain. Finnur Jónsson (1920–24, III, 85)
described RR as ‘en udvidelse af en ældre kort beretning om Rau›r på
Hálogaland, der findes hos Snorre’. If I understand Finnur correctly
here, he certainly appears to imply that RR borrowed from Snorri’sÓláfs saga Tryggvasonar in Heimskringla, although, if so, this view
seems to be a little inconsistent with his suggestion expressed elsewhere(Finnur Jónsson, 1930a, 123) that RR was the work of Gunnlaugr
Leifsson who died in 1218 or 1219 (cf. below). Dag Strömbäck (1940,
15–16) had a different opinion. He thought that Snorri built up his‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’ in Hkr on the similar tales in ÓTOdd but that
he also knew RR, from which he borrowed at the least the name Rau›r.
Strömbäck may well be right in this, although if he is, one might perhaps
have expected to find more of the events or characters of RR mentioned

An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

35

in Hkr. As far as can be seen, then, the issue of whether RR borrowed
from Hkr or Hkr borrowed from RR is a problematic one which mustbe left open. The possibility that Hkr represents a source for RR cannot
be excluded. And the author of RR may, of course, also have knownÓTOdd (although again the converse is also a possibility).
(E) Date of RR; authorship
The oldest extant text of RR (i.e. in the main part of AM 61, fol.)probably dates from the period 1350–1375. We have here, then, themost reliable terminus ante quem for the writing of RR. But there arereasons for thinking that RR was probably written well before 1375.
Since the interpolated version of RR must have been in the archetypeof ÓT, the date of the compilation of ÓT would also constitute a soundterminus ante quem for the writing of RR. In his article of 1990 (47–55), Ólafur Halldórsson sees no reason for rejecting the attribution,
based on a notice in Bergsbók (cf. ÓT, I, 1, variants), of ÓT to Bergr
Sokkason, abbot of the monastery of Munkaflverá in northern Iceland
during the second quarter of the fourteenth century. Ólafur’s conclusionon this point seems acceptable and, if correct, implies that RR musthave been written quite some time before the death of Bergr. And welast hear of Bergr in 1345. We may therefore date RR to before about
1330. As noted, it is not possible to say whether RR influenced Snorri’s
Heimskringla (written about 1230) or Heimskringla influenced RR
and thus to establish respectively a terminus ante quem or a terminus
post quem related to the date of Hkr (although again, further investigations may help to do so).
The possibility that RR originated from the lost saga of Óláfr
Tryggvason written in Latin by Gunnlaugr Leifsson has been somewhat
debated (cf. Finnur Jónsson, 1930a, 123; Bjarni A›albjarnarson, 1937,
117 and references; Strömbäck, 1940, 16; Ólafur Halldórsson, 1990).
If Gunnlaugr did write RR, then it must of course be dated to before
his death, i.e. to before 1219 at the latest; indeed, various critics think
Gunnlaugr’s saga was written before about 1200 (cf. Hkr, I, xiv;
Whaley, 1991, 68). But the arguments on this matter (which cannot be
rehearsed fully here) appear to be rather tenuous. There seems little ornothing to suggest that RR was originally written in Latin and subsequently translated into Icelandic (cf. Ólafur Halldórsson, 1990, 53).
Further, as is noted in the Appendix (p. 164 below), the story of Rau›r36

Thor the wind-raiser

inn rammi may well have had a place in Gunnlaugr’s lost saga andprovided a source for ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’ in Snorri’s Heimskringla;
if it did, then it is perhaps rather unlikely that it also contained thestory of Rau›r, son of Rƒgnvaldr, which has so many elements incommon with it (although it is, of course, not impossible; ÓT has bothtales). All in all, then, there appears to be no particularly strong evidence
for us to ascribe RR to Gunnlaugr Leifsson.
Our conclusions here must be that in the present state of research
the writing of RR can, unfortunately, not be dated to within narrower
limits than to between about 1180 (when, as far as is known, works of
its type began to be written in Iceland) and about 1330 (i.e. before thecompilation of ÓT). Nor, unfortunately, is it possible to point to any
known person as author.
The above gives some account of Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s. Attention
may now be focused on the passage in it which has special interest in
the present context. This is the account of Óláfr Tryggvason making
for the island where Rau›r lives and Rau›r urging Thor to hinder thisby producing a head wind against the king’s ship(s). The texts of bothversions at the relevant place may be quoted.
(1) RR557 (100/12–24 (= AM 557, 4to, f. 37r, lines 24–37); angle
brackets inserted by R.P. to indicate corrupt text):
Sidan fer hann [i.e. Óláfr Tryggvason] nordr fírir land ok ætladí til Ravds
eyiar. ok flann myrgín er konungr ætladí at kuolldi i eyna. fla fer Ravdr til
hπfs síns ok ueittí fiπr honum eíngí anndsvavr eptir flvi sem hann varvanurr fletta flπttí honum vnndarlígt ok leítadi a marga uega orda uid hannok spurdí hvat til bar. fiπr kvat flat eigi vm sakleysí ok kvat ser flraungt
míπk i fleirra manna til kvπmv er fla var flanngat a leid er var Olafr konungr.
‹Ravdr kvat flat ecki mundu tiπa. eigi lítíd. færr i mπt honum skeggbrπdda
flína ok gaunngum ut i mπtí fleim.› hann kvat flat ecki mundu tiπa ok forv
flπ vt. bles fiπr i kampana i motí fleim ok kom konungi i anndvidrí ok hellt
hann aptr ok fπr svπ nauckurvm sinnvm. enn konungr eggiadízt a at meírat kπma flvi fram er hann uílldí ok uard hann rikarí i sínum kraptí enn sía
fianndí er i moti stod.

(2) RRÓT (328/9–329/5 (= AM 61, fol., f. 34ra, lines 22–37; see
Figure 2), here in normalised form with one minor emendation unnoted;
localisation of two words by page/line reference to RRÓT is given insquare brackets):

An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

37

En er konungr kom nor›r fyrir Naumudal, flá ætla›i hann út í Rau›seyjar.
fiann morgin gekk Rau›r til hofs síns sem hann var vanr. fiórr var flá heldr
hryggiligr ok veitti Rau› engi andsvƒr, fló at hann leita›i or›a vi› hann.
Rau› flótti flat mjƒk undarligt ok leita›i marga vega at fá mál af honum ok
5 spur›i, hví flat sætti. fiórr svarar um sí›ir ok fló heldr mœ›iliga, sag›ifletta eigi fyrir sakleysi,—‘flví at mér er,’ segir hann, ‘mjƒk flrƒngt í kvámu
fleira manna er hingat ætla til eyjarinnar ok mjƒk er mér óflokkat til fleira.’Rau›r spur›i, hverir fleir menn væri. fiórr sag›i, at flar var Óláfr konungr
Tryggvason ok li› hans. Rau›r mælti: ‘fieyt flú í mót fleim skeggrƒdd
10 [328/19] flína, ok stƒndum í mót fleim knáliga.’ fiórr kva› flat mundu fyrir

Figure 2: AM 61, fol., f. 34ra, lines 22–37. Thor blows into his beard to raise a windagainst Óláfr Tryggvason. (Photo: Det arnamagnæanske Institut, Copenhagen.)38

Thor the wind-raiser

lítit koma. En fló gengu fleir út ok blés fiórr fast í kampana ok fleytti
skeggraustina [328/21]. Kom flá flegar andvi›ri móti konungi svá sterkt,
at ekki mátti vi› halda ok var› konungr at láta síga aptr til sƒmu hafnar
sem hann haf›i á›r verit, ok fór svá nƒkkurum sinnum. En konungr
15 eggja›isk flví meirr at fara til eyjarinnar ok um sí›ir var› ríkari hans gó›vilime› Gu›s krapti en sá fjandi er í móti stó›.

(Some textual variants: Line 1 út í ] til Bergsbók, Húsafellsbók, AM
325 IX 1 b, 4to, Flateyjarbók; í AM 62 fol. (There is no suggestion
elsewhere in the narrative that Rau›r is chief man of a group of islands,
nor is the plural form Rau›seyjar found elsewhere in RR. The reading
til is therefore more acceptable and is also found in RR557. It is adopted
for the purposes of the translation given below.) Line 9 skeggrƒdd]skeggraust AM 325 IX 1 b, 4to; skeggbrodda Flateyjarbók).
Some criticism and interpretation of the two texts is appropriate here.
Although, as suggested above, RR557 may be the more original of
the two redactions by virtue of its independence, I have also suggested(a) that it may represent a shortened version of the original; and (b)that the scribe of AM 557 4to was rather careless. At all events, as far
as the passage under scrutiny is concerned, I regard the text of RR557
as less original (and less interesting) than that of RRÓT. In particular,
the words enclosed in angle brackets may, as suggested, be regarded
as corrupt. Attempts could be made to emend them (or at least explain
how the corruption arose) but these would be speculative and probably
irrelevant to the present argument.
We turn to the question of which of the three words skeggbroddar,
skeggrƒdd, skeggraust to accept. As will be seen from the above:(a) at RRÓT, 328/19, AM 61, fol., Bergsbók, Húsafellsbók and AM
62, fol. all agree on having the reading skeggrƒdd. AM 325 IX 1 b, 4to
has skeggraust. Flateyjarbók has skeggbrodda (which, as will be seen,is also the reading of RR557).
(b) at RRÓT, 328/21, all extant manuscripts of RRÓT haveskeggraustina. There is no parallel passage in RR557. Skeggrƒdd andskeggraust would be translated ‘voice of one’s beard’ (cf., for example,
Sephton, 1895, 207); skeggbroddar (nominative plural), ‘bristles of
one’s beard’ (cf. C–V, 542), or simply ‘beard’.
Here four points may be made:(1) While, as shown below, the word skeggbroddar appears elsewherein Icelandic (and moreover in the expression at fleyta skeggbrodda(na)),
the words skeggrƒdd and skeggraust are hapax legomena found onlyAn episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

39

in this passage. As hapax legomena they are to be regarded as lectiones
difficiliores and deserve respect as such. (It is, of course, a rule ofthumb of textual criticism to prefer a lectio difficilior to a lectio facilior.)(2) Given the fact that (as has and will be shown) a word skeggbroddar (plural; singular: skeggbroddr) did exist, it is not difficult tosee how a reading skeggrƒdd(-) might be corrupted to skeggbrodd(-)
in textual transmission.
(3) That a word skeggrƒdd did, however, also exist is suggested by
the appearance of what seems to be more or less a synonym, skeggraust,
which, as noted, is found not only in all manuscripts of RRÓT at 328/21,
but also as a variant to skeggrƒdd at 328/19 in AM 325 IX 1 b, 4to.
(4) While the reading skeggbrodda in one manuscript of RRÓT(namely Flateyjarbók) is also found at the corresponding place in
RR557, the distribution of the different readings in the various
manuscripts is difficult to explain if we assume that it was the readingskeggbrodda which was in the original text of RR or, at any rate, in theoriginal text of RRÓT. If, at a point corresponding to RRÓT, 328/19,
the original of RRÓT, like Flateyjarbók, had the reading skeggbrodda,
then it is a little odd that AM 62, fol., the manuscript of RRÓT closest
to Flateyjarbók, does not also have that reading but has skeggrƒdd.
In view of these four considerations, I am a little unwilling to jettison,as C–V suggests we might, the readings skeggrƒdd and skeggraust(cf. C–V, 542, which has: ‘the skeggröddina and skeggraustina . . . isprob. only a false reading for skeggbroddana’). I think skeggrƒdd andskeggraust could well have been found in the original version of thefláttr. It is true that, as will be noted below, the expression at fleytaskeggbrodda(na) is found elsewhere in Icelandic. But an expression
at fleyta rƒdd is also found (in Thómas saga erkibyskups; see below)
and C–V (s.v. fleyta), perhaps rather inconsistently, seems quite prepared to regard this as a parallel to at fleyta skeggrƒdd in our passage.
In fact, then, for the purposes of what follows, I think it reasonable toplace the three readings skeggbrodda, skeggrƒdd and skeggraust on
equal footing and to recognise them as they appear in the main texts ofthe two redactions of RR. And whichever of these three readings we
accept probably makes no very great difference to the broader point
being made in the present study.
Attention may be given to the vocabulary of the passage from RR inquestion under three headings as follows:40

Thor the wind-raiser(a) First, we may consider the expression blés í kampana found inboth texts. In his Latin translation of the passage, Sveinbjörn Egilsson(1828–1829, I, 325) translated the words blés fiórr fast í kampana inRRÓT as ‘Thor buccas fortiter inflaret,’ suggesting that what the god
was doing was puffing out his cheeks. This interpretation should not
be entirely dismissed; it could well be right. But somewhat against it
speaks the consideration that the adverb fast in RRÓT does not perhaps
seem particularly apposite to the action of puffing out one’s cheeks.
On the whole, one should probably prefer the interpretation suggested
by other translators of the passage (who are probably in the majority);
Rafn (1826–1827, I, 273) has ‘Thor blæste stærkt i Skægget’ andSephton (1895, 207) ‘Thor blew a hard blast into his beard.’ Cf.
Schomerus (1936, 92), who paraphrases: ‘Thor . . . bläst gewaltig auf
seinem Bart.’ Harris (1980, 186) paraphrases: ‘Thor puffed hard into
his moustaches.’ In this connection, it should be noted that the word
kampr can certainly be used of facial hair both above and below themouth. We may compare this passage from ¯rvar-Odds saga (1888,134): ¯gmundr . . . skattgildi alla konunga í Austrvegi á flann máta, atfleir skyldu allir senda honum á tólf mánu›um hverjum kampinn øfraok ne›ra af sjálfum sér. Here in RR, kampar would seem to refer tothe hair below Thor’s mouth, (and) his beard. Thor cannot, of course,
be blowing straight ahead. And we need hardly entertain the idea that
he is blowing upwards into his moustache; that would hardly beconsistent with the following ok fleytti skeggraustina. And the pluralform kampar can certainly be used of hair which, while it may berooted above the mouth, ends below it (cf. ch. 244 of Snorri Sturluson’sÓláfs saga helga in Hkr (II, 404), which refers to Bishop Grímkell’streatment of Óláfr helgi’s dead body: Sí›an tók byskup sƒx ok skar af
hári konungsins ok svá at taka af kƒmpunum. Hann haf›i haft langa
kampa, svá sem flá var mƒnnum títt.). While, then, Sveinbjörn Egilsson’stranslation can by no means be entirely dismissed, what Thor seems
to be represented as doing here is blowing down into his beard.
(b) Second, attention may be given to the verb fleyta which, as has
been seen, appears on two occasions in the passage in RRÓT, at 328/18
and 328/21, but not at all in the passage in RR557. In both cases inRRÓT it has an object in the accusative. In the present context, it isprobably best translated ‘to make something sound (loud)’, ‘to soundsomething (loud)’. (The sense Fritzner (III, 1017) gives for it is ‘bringeAn episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

41

til at lyde’; and C–V (735) has ‘to make sound’.) What must be noted
here is that instances of this verb cited in the dictionaries (e.g. C–V
and Fritzner) and in the unpublished collections of the Ordbog overdet norrøne prosasprog show that where this verb appears elsewherein Old Norse in this sense, it is used in the vast majority of cases of theblowing or sounding of a wind-instrument (e.g. horn, lú›r or pípa).
Two examples of its use in this sense are: fieyta nú hvárirtveggju lú›rasína ok herhorn svá at bylr í ƒllum fjƒllum, fleim er í nánd eru(Alexanders saga, 1925, 36), and Hlaupa fleir flá á hendr fleim me›
fleyttum lú›rum ok háreysti miklu (Byskupa sƒgur, 1938–1978, 393).
It is true that in Karlamagnus saga ok kappa hans (1860, 181) theverb fleyta is used with heróp as an object (fleyta kristnir menn hvellt
heróp; although even here the use of wind-instruments may be thoughtof as involved). But even in a case where the object of fleyta is rƒdd(which is therefore of particular interest in the present context), thecomparison is made between this object of the verb and a windinstrument: Kalla flú me› sta›festi, fleyt rödd flína sem móthorn,
segjandi fólkinu glæpi sína (Thómas saga erkibyskups, 1875–1883, I,
424, translating a letter from Pope Alexander III to King Henry II ofEngland: Clama, ne cesses, quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam, et annuntia
populo meo scelera eorum (PL, CC, 486; cf. Isaiah 58: 1)). It is not
surprising, then, that in the glossary to Thómas saga erkibyskups, 1875–
1883 (II, 564), fleyta is glossed ‘to blow (a wind instrument)’.5 It should
also be remembered that the weak verb fleyta is a causative of thestrong verb fljóta (cf. ÍO, 1177), and two points may be made in thisconnection. First, the verb fljóta can also have the sense ‘blow (a wind
instrument)’. This admittedly rare meaning is found, however, on atleast two occasions in Old Norse: in verse 18 of Ham›ismál, á›r halr
hugfullr / í horn um flaut (Edda, 271), and in a verse ascribed to Máni
skald in Sverris saga, 1920, 91, sás fl‡tr í trumbu (cf. LP, s.v. fljóta).
(The ancient connection between the verbs fljóta and fleyta on the one
hand and wind-instruments on the other is suggested, inter alia, by
Gothic fluthaurn, ‘trumpet’ (verb fluthaurnjan, ‘to trumpet’).) Second,
5 As the following quotation from Nor›anfari (10th February, 1870, 12)shows, one could, in modern Icelandic at any rate, sound one’s nose (a› fleyta
nefi›) and produce a trumpet-like sound: Saura-Mangi . . . haf›i nef svo hvast
og hart sem moldvörpueyra, og er hann fleytti nefi›, hvein fla› svo hátt, sem
flá er margir herlú›rar gjalla í einu.

42

Thor the wind-raiser

and perhaps more interestingly, fljóta (as well as being used of thunder)is used, sometimes more or less proverbially, of the wind (see e.g.
Grágás, 1992, 457–458; cf. LP and Fritzner, s.v.). And a nomen agentis,
fljótr, is found with the sense ‘wind’ (cf. LP, s.v.) The verb fleyta could,
therefore, have had a sense ‘to make, produce a sound similar to thatof the wind’.
(g) As suggested above, the two words skeggrƒdd and skeggraust
are to be regarded as more or less synonymous (cf. NO, 375, which
gives a translation ‘røyst, stemme som høyrest gjennom skjegget’ forboth words). The noun rƒdd can be used of the noise made by a windinstrument (such as a móthorn; see Fritzner, II, 739, for examples). It
is perfectly possible that raust could have been used in the same sense
although no examples have been found.
From the preceding discussion, it appears that Thor is being asked toblow down into his beard, to ‘play’ it as one might play some sort ofwind-instrument. He complies and in so doing he presumably producessome sort of noise, that of his skeggbroddar or skeggrƒdd or skeggraust.
This sound may, quite plausibly, be thought of as resembling the noiseof the wind. But whatever noise he is thought of as making, what hedoes do is produce a head wind which impedes the progress of Óláfr
Tryggvason’s ships. The words at fleyta skeggbrodda may, then, betranslated ‘to sound one’s beard’ and at fleyta skeggrƒdd/skeggraust‘to sound the voice of one’s beard’.6
On the basis of the preceding considerations, I translate RRÓT, 328/9–
329/5, as cited above, as follows:
And when the king [Óláfr Tryggvason] got north of Naumudalr, he determined to go out to Rau›sey. That morning, Rau›r went to his temple (hof )as was his habit. Thor was rather downcast and gave Rau›r no reply eventhough he addressed him. This seemed very strange to Rau›r and he triedin many ways to get Thor to talk and to find out what the matter was.
Eventually Thor answered, albeit in very weary tones, that he had goodreason for his mood,—‘for,’ he said, ‘I am put in a very difficult predica6 We may here note the Norwegian expression å blåse i barten(e), ‘to be
angry, gruff’, literally ‘to blow into one’s moustache’. The word bart comesfrom German and in the modern language normally means moustache. Cf.
Nynorskordboka, 1986, 43: ‘bart . . . (ty.) skjegg på overleppa; ofte i fl pga dei
to delane: ha b-ar og hakeskjegg / blåse i b-en, vere sint, brysk’. Whether thisexpression has any connection with the Old Norse one under discussion isdifficult to say.

An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

43

ment by the intended visit to our island of those men for whom I have thegreatest loathing’. Rau›r asked who those men might be. Thor said it was
King Óláfr Tryggvason and his force. Rau›r said: ‘Sound (fieyt flú) the
voice of your beard (skeggrƒdd/skeggraust flína; or, if we accept Flateyjarbók’s skeggbrodda flína (also found in RR557) ‘sound (the bristles of)your beard’) against them and let us resist them doughtily.’ Thor said thatthat would be of little use. Even so, they went outside and Thor blew harddown into his whiskers (blés fiórr fast í kampana; or, less probably, ‘puffedout his cheeks’) and sounded the voice of his beard (fleytti skeggraustina).
Straightaway there arose a head wind against the king so strong that it
could not be withstood and he had to retire to the same harbour as he had
set out from. This happened several times and the more it happened, themore the king felt spurred on to get to the island. And eventually, throughthe power of God, the king’s good intentions prevailed over the devil who
was offering him resistance.

We have, then, in the passage from RR just discussed, the notion thatby blowing into his beard (i.e. at fleyta skeggrƒdd/skeggraust/skeggbrodda) the god Thor was able to produce a wind. These questions
now arise. Is this idea just the isolated invention of the author of RR?
Or was it more widely current and then perhaps as an established beliefof Norse heathendom? This issue has been given detailed attention
and the conclusion reached that it is the second of these two alternatives
that must obtain. In the following, evidence is produced in support ofthis conclusion under three headings (A), (B) and (C), as follows:(A)
First we may briefly consider, mainly on a comparative basis and itemby item, the various objects and actions involved in the process bywhich Thor is represented as producing the wind against Óláfr
Tryggvason. This will sometimes be done within the context of comparisons with ideas from outside Iceland (or at least from outside RR)
as to how wind might be produced by powerful or supernatural figures(and the like) or by magical methods. It must be noted that the investigation on this matter makes no claim to be exhaustive; that would, ofcourse, have involved wide-ranging work in the mythologies, folklores
and literatures of many nations. What is offered here are a few random
parallels based, to no small extent, on Lyall Watson’s somewhat popularbook of 1984 and the works cited by Watson (which include those ofJames Frazer). This, in turn, will be done under six headings as follows:44

Thor the wind-raiser(1) As has been noted above (p. 40), an interpretation of the words
blés fiórr fast í kampana as ‘Thor buccas fortiter inflaret’ should not
be entirely dismissed and would suggest that in blowing into his beard(cf. (2) below), Thor puffed out his cheeks. At all events, the wind or
winds have, of course, been represented pictorially since the Middle
Ages as bodiless heads blowing with puffed-out cheeks (cf. Watson,
1984, 254; the vignettes in OM, 20, 26, 28, 32). Note also thepersonified south-west wind of Konungs skuggsjá (1920, 91) whobælger hvapta. In Shakespeare’s King Lear (Act III, Scene ii), we
find: ‘Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!’ We may notealso verse 33 of †misríma by Eiríkur Hallsson (1614–1698) (see Stakar
rímur, 1960, 59):
fiví sagt var mér um Hræsvelgs ham,hvoftana kunni fleyta,
Neptunum flann gusta gram
get eg a› láti heita.
(2) The idea of the wind as an emission from the mouth (or otherorifice, for example, nostrils) of some being, often powerful, supernatural or divine, must be very common (cf. Watson, 1984, 327–329).
Pictures of blowing faces (for instance at the corners of old maps) havebeen mentioned in (1). In the section on the winds in the thirteenthcentury Norwegian Konungs skuggsjá ([1955], 69–73), winds fromthe eight points of the compass are quite elaborately personified andproduce their blasts by blowing, puffing and sighing; such verbs as
blása, gusta and andvarpa are used. For example, the north wind setur
á höfu› sér ískaldan hjálm yfir jöklu›u skeggi, blæss strí›lega a›
haglsfullum sk‡fjöllum. And the north-east wind situr rei›ulega me›snjódrifnu skeggi og gustar kaldlega vindflrotnum nösum, eitlar augum
undir hrímfrosnum brúnum, snerkir kinn undir kaldsk‡ju›u enni, hvetur
hvofta me› ískaldri tungu, blæs af fljósti me› smuglegu rennidrifi. In‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’ (cf. Appendix, pp. 161–164 below), it seems
to be implicit that Rau›r’s fortune in having a following wind is tosome extent a result of his ability to blow through his mouth. Frazer(1911, I, 322) refers to Hagen (1899, 269) and writes: ‘The natives of
the island of Bibili, off German New Guinea, are reputed to makewind by blowing with their mouths. In stormy weather the Bogadjim
people say, “The Bibili folk are at it again, blowing away”.’ In The

An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

45

Independent (newspaper) of 8th April, 1989, Bridge writes this of awindy vexation for sunbathers at a holiday resort on the south coast of
Crete: ‘There was something faintly absurd in the sight of rows of
naked bodies wincing in unison as they were lashed by salvo after
salvo of sand and stones on the beach at Damnoni. “Gaddafi isblowing,” say the Cretans of the wind that sweeps north across theMediterranean from Libya. If that was the colonel blowing, I would
hate to catch him in a rage.’(3) Three of the eight winds of Konungs skuggsjá (cf. above) appear
to have beards. The Boreas of Greek mythology was often represented
with a beard. And the beard was, of course, part of the traditional
iconography of Thor as well as being a symbol of his power (cf. NK,
XXVI, 22). Grimm (1875, I, 147) suggests that it had meteorologicalassocations in, for example, Frisian folklore. And one might well
imagine that when, as in the first stanza of firymskvi›a (Edda, 111),
Thor got into a rage and shook his beard (scegg nam at hrista), thiswas thought of as having meteorological consequences. Cf. Gjærder,
1964, 102; Ellis Davidson, 1964, ch. 3.
(4) As noted above, the verb fleyta is used particularly of the blowingof wind-instruments. In the passage under consideration Thor appears
to ‘play’ his beard like a wind-instrument. The idea of the wind as a
figure playing a wind-instrument or the sound of the wind as the noiseproduced by such an instrument is quite an understandable one (cf.
Watson, 1984, 242, 245, 254). Boreas, the north wind, was represented
as an old man with grey locks blowing a conch-shell trumpet. In
Shakespeare’s Henry IV, part 1 (Act V, Scene i), the scene is set withthese words:
The southern wind
Doth play the trumpet to his purposes,
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves
Foretells a tempest and a blustering day.
And for examples of the noise of the wind as that of supernatural orunearthly musical instruments (e.g. pipes or trumpets), see HWDA,
IX, col. 655, and references.
(5) In what precedes, it has been noted that mimetic magic is often
invoked to produce a wind, e.g. by ‘whistling for the wind’ (cf. p. 11
above); it has also been noted that a verb which could be used more or

46

Thor the wind-raiser

less proverbially in Old Norse for the blowing of the wind was thestrong verb fljóta ‘to emit a whistling sound’ (so C–V); thirdly, it has
been suggested that the causative form of fljóta (strong verb; < *fleutan)
is fleyta (weak verb; < *flautian), the verb we are, of course, treatingin the present context. There might well, then, be some idea ofsympathetic magic here: by causing his beard (skeggbroddar) or thevoice of his beard (skeggrƒdd, skeggraust) ‘to sound’ (fleyta) (orperhaps ‘to vibrate’), Thor could well have been encouraging the wind
to blow.7 And here the following points may be worth making: First,
that a bull-roarer might sometimes be referred to in Icelandic by the
7 For some sort of parallel to the mimetic weather-magic connected withThor suggested here (although to induce thunder rather than wind), we notethe following passage in Saxo (350) about a raid in the 1120s by the Danish
prince Magnus (Nielsen) apparently off the east coast of Sweden: Magnus
inter cetera trophæorum suorum insignia inusitati ponderis malleos, quos
Ioviales vocabant, apud insularum quandam prisca virorum religione cultos,
in patriam deportandos curavit. Cupiens enim antiquitas tonitruorum causas
usitata rerum similitudine comprehendere, malleos, quibus cæli fragores cieri
credebat, ingenti ære complexa fuerat, aptissime tantæ sonoritatis vim rerum
fabrilium specie imitandam existimans. Magnus vero, Christianæ disciplinæ
studio paganam perosus, et fanum cultu et Iovem insignibus spoliare sanctitatis
loco habuit. Et adhuc quidem eum Sueones perinde ac cælestium spoliarum
raptorem sacrilegum autumant. (I am grateful to Robert Ireland for clarifying
certain points in the following translation of this passage, any flaws in whichare, however, my responsibility.) ‘Magnus took care to have sent home,amongst other remarkable trophies, certain hammers of unusual weight, which
they call ‘Thor’s hammers’ (mallei Ioviales) and which were held sacred by
the old religion of men on a certain island. For the ancients, seeking to explain
the causes of thunder in terms of a resemblance to familiar objects, had
hammers sheathed in heavy bronze; with these, they believed that the crashingsof the heavens might be brought about, and considered that such powerful
sounds might be most aptly imitated by the analogous din of the smith’s
workshop. But Magnus, in his love for Christian teaching and his antipathy
towards paganism, considered it an act of piety to deprive the temple of its
holiness and Thor (Iupiter) of his emblems. And indeed even to this day the
Swedes count him guilty of sacrilege as if he were a robber of spoils fromheaven.’ Ellis Davidson (1965, 3) suggests that, when the model goat-drawn
Thor’s chariot in the temple in Trøndelag (cf. p. 97 below) described in ÓT (I,
378–386) was pulled along on its wheels, the intention was to imitate thenoise of thunder. This, as far as I can see, is reading rather more into the text
than is warranted, but the idea is interesting. Certainly thunder was interpreted
as the noise made by Thor’s vehicle; cf. NK, XXVI, 124; MRN, 99.

An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

47

word fleytispjald (or -speldi). Second, that bull-roarers appear to havebeen known in Scandinavia since the Stone Age (cf. Helgi Gu›mundsson, 1979, and references). Third, that as observed above (p. 11), bullroarers were often used elsewhere in the world in an attempt to influencewind and weather by sympathetic magic. For example, Frazer (1911,I, 324) writes: ‘In some islands of Torres Straits the wizard made windby whirling a bull-roarer; the booming sound of the instrument probably
seemed to him like the roar or the whistling of the wind.’ It seems
quite possible, then, that bull-roarers might have been used in Scandinavia to induce winds and then perhaps referred to in Old Norse by aword containing the element fleyti-.8(6) The passage under discussion seems to suggest that the windmight be equated with the voice of Thor (cf. the elements -rƒdd, -raust).
The idea of the (noise of the) wind as the voice of some supernatural
being is doubtless to be found in mythologies and folklores elsewherein the world. (It is, of course, closely related to the idea of the wind as
the blowing (etc.) of some supernatural being; cf. (2) above.) Certainly
Watson (1984, 261) argues this to be the case, although some of thereferences he gives are rather unconvincing on closer examination.
One of them, however, may be noted here, that to Howitt’s articles of
1884. As just noted, the bull-roarer (which might have been referred
to as fleytispjald in Icelandic) can be used in meteorological magic,
especially in wind-magic, and not least by the aboriginal peoples ofAustralia. It is therefore of interest that the Australian tribe(s) referred
to by Howitt made frequent use of the bull-roarer (known as the mu“dji)and believed it originally to have been created by Daramulun who
seems to have been a sky-god and in control of thunder (cf. Howitt,
1884a, 192–193). And Howitt (1884b, 446) writes of the mu“dji that‘the noise made by it is the voice of Daramu–lu“n, calling together the
initiated, and, moreover, it also represents the muttering of thunder,
which is said to be his voice “calling to the rain to fall and make thegrass grow up green” ’.
8 Gomme (1894–1898, II, 291; cf. I, 51) records the bull-roarer in Scotland
in the nineteenth century where it was used under the name ‘Thun’er spell’ ina children’s game and as an instrument of meteorological magic to protect
oneself against ‘the thun’er bolt’ during thunder-storms (cf. Spence, 1947,
84–85). Cf. H395. (It should be remembered that ‘like repels like’, as well as
like producing like; cf. H423; pp. 57–58 below.)

48

Thor the wind-raiser(B)
A second, perhaps rather more compelling body of evidence in thiscontext comes from a somewhat unexpected source, namely from later
Icelandic folk-tradition as reflected in post-medieval Icelandic poetry
and other writings. Following up a reference from Sigfús Blöndal’s
Icelandic-Danish dictionary (1920–1924, 968, s.v. fleyta), we find that
Matthías Jochumsson (1835–1920), in his poem fiórs-mál, has thisverse (Matthías Jochumsson, 1902–1906, III, 202, verse 4):
Líti› lograstir
leiftra vi› himin;fiór er a› fleyta
flrú›ga skeggbrodda,
hljó›ar húmstormur,
hræ›ist kyn fljó›a.

Matthías’s fiórs-mál is based on Longfellow’s The Challenge of Thor(in his Tales of a Wayside Inn), which, however, has no exact equivalent
to the verse just cited. Cf. Longfellow, 1904, 364–365; verse 4 reads:
The light thou beholdest
Stream through the heavens,
In flashes of crimson,
Is but my red beard
Blown by the night-wind,
Affrighting the nations!

Now one might at first sight surmise that Matthías picked up the phrasea› fleyta skeggbrodda solely from one of the nineteenth-century printed
editions of RR which existed in his time (e.g. from Flat (I, 296), where
skeggbrodda appears in the main text; or even from the edition ofÓláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta in volumes I–III of Fms, where, on
p. 303 of vol. I, Flateyjarbók’s (skegg)brodda is given as a variant toskeggravdd). But such a proposition is in itself far from probable. And
from a consultation of the collections of the Or›abók Háskólans inReykjavík, we can safely infer that the expression a› fleyta skeggbrodda
was more widely used than in the instances so far cited. It is used ofsupernatural beings capable of producing winds, perhaps mainly ofKári.9 The parallel material found (and there is probably more) may
be itemised as follows:(1) In Höddu-ríma by Eggert Ólafsson (1726–1768), it is said of
9 The reference to Kári in three of the instances cited from modern Icelandic
here is noteworthy. Kári appears in Old Icelandic sources (see ÍF, XXXIV, 3;

An episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

49

Kári that he ó›um blès í skegg-broddana (see Kvæ›i Eggerts Ólafssonar, 1832, 202); we are told that ‘flessi ríma var gjör› í gó›um byr,
á fer› frá Kaupmannahöfn til Vestmannaeya, ári› 1750’.
(2) fiorlákur fiórarinsson (1780, 287) in a section headed ‘Skegglof’has these words (unnormalised): Skegg≠ Broddan–a fleyter. (fiorlákur
lived 1711–1773. The first edition of Nokkur ljó›mæli of 1775 does
not appear to have contained the relevant section and phrase.)(3) In a poem headed ‘Ljó›abréf Björns Stephensens á Esjubergi til
Magnúsar bró›ur síns, sí›ar konferenzrá›s, ort nálægt 1800’ (Björn
Stephensen, 1914), we find these two lines: Brodda fleyta kári kann, /köldum fleytir anda. The substitution of brodda for skeggbrodda
suggests that the expression a› fleyta skeggbrodda was well known.
Björn Stephensen lived from 1769 to 1835.
(4) An Icelandic translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Paradisets
Have published in I›unn, 1887, has this: jeg [i.e. Nor›ri, the northwind] fleytti skeggbroddana, lag›i fram drekum mínum, hinum fjallháu
jökum, og ljet flá merja sundur bátana (Andersen, 1887, 50). (TheDanish here has: ‘jeg blæste op, lod mine Sejlere, de klippehøje Isfjelde,klemme Baadene inde’; cf. H. C. Andersens Eventyr og Historier, I,
1905, 174.) Cf. the reference to the bearded north wind in Konungsskuggsjá cited on p. 44 above.
SnE 1998, 183; Flat 2, I, 22 (where it is said that hann ré› fyrir vindum) and
241). Although we are told so little about him, he appears to represent thewind or control it (cf. AR, I, 250; KL, s.v. Vær og vind; Ægir). Now in Dalin’s
Swedish dictionary of 1850–1853 (I, 802) we find this entry: ‘KAJSA. Blås,Kajsa! uttryck, vanligt på sjön, då man önskar frisk vind i seglen, och uppkommet af Blås, Kåre! hvilket sednare ord man af okunnighet förvexlat med
Kari. Kare (deraf vårt Kåre) betyder i fornspråket: vind.’ It is true that thename Kajsa in the expression Blås Kajsa! does not appear to go back to Kåre;as noted (p. 12 above), Norlén (1972) has shown that Kajsa must, in fact, bederived from the name of St Katherine of Alexandria (Swedish: Katarina av
Alexandria; cf. KL, VIII, cols 335–343). Even so, one tentatively wonders if
some such expression as Blås, Kåre! addressed to some male figure representing the wind might not have existed in Swedish in post-Reformation times(cf. the statement in Dalin’s dictionary and the unpublished source from Bohusläncited by Norlén, 1972, 73). Certainly in Swedish in recent times kåre is usedof a breeze suitable for sailing. And in view of the references to Kári in these
Icelandic sources, Norlén’s statement (74) that ‘han omnämnes inte heller
under någon annan tidsepok i folktraditionen efter uppträdandet i den fornnordiska mytologien’ may need some reconsideration. Cf. also Note 2 above.

50

Thor the wind-raiser(5) Perhaps the latest analogue is found in the works of Theodóra
Thoroddsen (1863–1954); in her Bjarni í Skemmunni, there is areference to vindstrokurnar, sem hann gamli Bár›ur Snæfellsás sendir
okkur úr skeggbroddunum (see Thoroddsen, 1960, 156).
Finally, in adducing modern analogues to the phrase at fleytaskeggbrodda, and while we have that personification of the wind, Kári,
in mind, we may also note a modern parallel to the phrase at blása í
kampana (RRÓT, I, 328, lines 20–21). In a ditty for children in Páll J.
Árdal’s Ljó›mæli og leikrit (1951, 92–93), we find this verse: Káriblæs í kampana, / klórar nöglum frerann, / skefur ofan skaflana, /skuggalegur er hann. Páll Árdal lived 1857–1930. (We may also notethat in the instance from Eggert Ólafsson’s Höddu-ríma cited above
under (1), the verb of the expression at blása í kampana appears.)(C)
From (A) and (B) it is already clear that the notion that a wind could
be produced by a supernatural figure (such as Thor) blowing into his
beard was not peculiar to the author of RR. It was obviously morewidespread. And there is no reason for supposing that we have otherthan a genuine folk-belief here, which was current at least as early as
the time of the writing of RR. What we may consider here in (C),however, is to what extent we may have a genuine heathen belief. And
here attention may be drawn to two factors of possible relevance, as
follows:
In ch. 3 of Tacitus’s Germania (1961, 34), we find the well-knownreference to the mysterious barditus of the Germani (which is clearlysome sort of battle-cry):Fuisse apud eos et Herculem memorant, primumque omnium virorum
fortium ituri in proelia canunt. sunt illis haec quoque carmina, quorum
relatu, quem barditum vocant, accendunt animos futuraeque pugnae
fortunam ipso cantu augurantur; terrent enim trepidantve, prout sonuit
acies, nec tam voces illae quam virtutis concentus videntur. affectatur
praecipue asperitas soni et fractum murmur, obiectis ad os scutis, quo
plenior et gravior vox repercussu intumescat.

Of this passage, the following translation is offered, based heavily on
those in Tacitus, 1961 (35; Önnerfors) and Tacitus, 1970 (103;Mattingly/Handford):
It is said that Hercules has also visited them [i.e. the Germani] and they
sing of him as the foremost of all heroes when they are about to engage inAn episode in Rƒgnvalds fláttr

51

battle. They also have those songs which they chant to kindle their courage. These songs they call barditus and, from the sound of such songs,
they forecast the outcome of an imminent battle. For they are either able
to terrify their foe or they themselves become frightened according to thecharacter of the noise their company makes; and they regard it not merely
as so many individual voices chanting at the same time but rather as achoral unison expressing their valour. They seek especially to attain aharsh and intermittant roar by holding their shields in front of their mouths
so that, by this, the sound of their voices resounds and grows to a full anddeep crescendo by the reverberation.

In his commentary to the Germania, Müllenhoff (1900, 136) hazarded
an explanation of the word barditus relating it to the Germanic wordfor ‘beard’ (cf. Old High German bart, Old English beard, Old Icelandic
bar›); Hercules would be an interpretatio Romana for Thor (or an
earlier counterpart of corresponding name). Müllenhoff continued hisargument:
barditus wäre demnach ‘die bartrede’ und zwar des Hercules, desdonnergottes, den die Germanen ituri in proelia canunt. altn. wird
skeggrƒdd ‘bartruf’ vom unwetter gebraucht, das fiórr gegen die feinde
sendet . . . barditus bedeutet also ein donnerähnliches getöse, ein getöse
in dem die stimme des gottes nachgeahmt wird. je nach dem ausfall
erfuhren die krieger, ob der gott, den sie eben angerufen, ihnen beistehn
wolle und gegenwärtig sei . . . für mehr als einen versuch, den dunklen
ausdruck aufzuhellen, möchte ich aber diese erklärung nicht ausgeben.

I cannot here enter into a full discussion of Müllenhoff’s suggestion.
Suffice it to say that neither it nor, it should be noted, any otherexplanation of the word barditus has found general acceptance (cf.
RGA2, s.v. Barditus and references). But it is perhaps not to be entirely
dismissed; Harris (1980, 186–187), for example, thinks it has ‘great
merit’. The point to be made here then is that if Müllenhoff’s conjecture
is by any chance correct, then it would, of course, suggest that the ideaof Thor raising a wind by blowing into his beard may have had veryancient origins and then, of course, heathen ones.
The second point of relevance here is this: It has been noted above(p. 33) that in the so-called conversion-flættir, details of heathen practice
are often given and this sometimes in a rather satirical or scornfulmanner. Now it can be shown that in certain cases the information inquestion represents genuine reminiscences of pagan customs, beliefs
and superstitions. Two clear-cut examples may be given (cf. Harris,
1980, 187): In ¯gmundar fláttr dytts (see ÍF, IX, 99–115), which

52

Thor the wind-raiser

certainly comes close to being a conversion-fláttr, there is some accountof the cult of Frey and the way an effigy of the god was carried in achariot around the provinces of Sweden. By comparison with various
independent sources (and not least with ch. 40 of Tacitus’s Germania,
1961, 88–91), the information given can be shown to contain authentic
traces of worship of the god (cf. MRN, 165–175). Again, in the bizarre
but colourful Vƒlsa fláttr preserved in Flateyjarbók (cf. p. 33 above),
there can be little doubt that we have memories of phallus-cult inheathen Scandinavia (cf. KL, s.v. Falloskult; MRN, 256–258). So, asHarris (1980, 187) suggests, there is no reason why the story in RR ofThor producing a wind by blowing into his beard should not be agenuine pagan survival.

Three beard-clutching figures

53

CHAPTER THREE

THREE BEARD-CLUTCHING FIGURESTHE ARGUMENTS of the previous chapter have suggested that,in the Old Norse world, Thor was thought capable of producing
a wind by blowing into his beard. Now in RR, Rau›r is able to persuade
his image of Thor to raise a head wind against Óláfr Tryggvason andhis ships by blowing into his beard; what one might wonder is, whether
it was also believed possible for Thor (or images of him) to raise afavourable wind (and then for sailing) by this same procedure. In thelight of the discussion so far, the proposition seems far from improbableand we shall return to it shortly. Before doing this, however, we may
broaden the discussion, and digress somewhat, in order to take accountof various more general factors. This will be done under five headings
as follows:(1) The existence of amulets. Amulets seem to have existed during
at least the last three millennia, more or less everywhere throughout
the world, including Norse Scandinavia. The following brief notes
give examples mainly from outside Scandinavia, some typical, somerandom, some of relevance in the present context. They are based tono small extent on the article ‘Charms and amulets’ in volume III ofJames Hastings’s Encyclopædia of religion and ethics (1910, 392–
472; abbreviated H) (cf. also HWDA, s.v. Amulett, Talisman; Grieg,
1954; KL, s.v. Amulettar; RGA2, s.v. Amulett; Meaney, 1981).
Through the agency of amulets, superstitious man believes himself
able to influence the world around him by magical means. Amulets
may be prophylactic, they may be productive, or they may be malevolent (cf. H416–421; p. 10 above). They may bring ‘luck’ in general.
They have, however, many specific purposes (cf. H393): for example,
they may afford protection against disease, falls, the pangs of childbirth,the evil eye, shipwreck or drowning (cf. H400 and p. 8 above), deathin battle, lightning (cf. Note 8 in Chapter 2). Or they may give successin journeys and seafaring, in trade (cf. H466), in hunting and fishing(including, for example, seal-hunting and whaling), in love, even in
winning lawsuits and gaining access to potentates (cf. H413) or
becoming invisible (H439). They may allow one to control the actions

54

Thor the wind-raiserof the tide (H450; Nihongi, 1956, I, 103; cf. pp. 3–4 above). And
amulets (and the like) were often used in the regulation of meteorological conditions, rain, sunshine, hailstorms and not least, as indicated above (pp. 10–12), the wind (cf. H419, H466 and passim).
The material of amulets might be almost anything, animal, vegetableor mineral. Metals were especially valued, partly because of the relative
difficulty in obtaining them, partly because of the aura of mysterysurrounding the smith’s craft (H395); amongst metals, bronze wasparticularly favoured (see e.g. H410, H412, H413, H437, H441, H464;
Meaney, 1981, 190 and passim). But amber was another material often
used (cf. e.g. H413, H422; KL, s.v. Rav; Meaney, 1981, 67–71; VH,
278). An amulet might, then, take the form of a simple natural object,for example, a stone, (part of a) plant or the claw of an animal. Or it
might be some rarer natural object, for example, a double walnut or a
nodule of coal. But amulets might, of course, also be man-made (andmanufactured objects, elaborately wrought, sometimes in ritualcircumstances, might be thought of as more efficacious; cf. H397).
For example, a coin or medallion (e.g. bearing the image of St
Christopher) or bracteate might be an amulet. Prehistoric stone
implements were often used as amulets (H395; cf. KL, s.v. Torvigg) as
were strings, threads and knots (cf., for example, H444, H463; cf.
pp. 11–12 above). And they very often took the form of representations of parts of the body, such as eyes (particularly to counter theeffect of the evil eye; cf. H398 and passim), legs (Andrews, 1994, 71–
72; VH, 278), phalluses; or of animals (e.g. scarabs, snakes, whales),ships or weapons. Many amulets would be associated with religion;
they might be miniature images of gods (e.g. Buddhas (cf. H468); cf.
H410 (Assyrian), H437 (Greek), H450 (Japanese) and Andrews, 1994,
14–35 (Egyptian)), or symbols or attributes of gods (cf. H413, H456).
The Christian cross often served, of course, as an amulet (H426–427).
Amulets could carry inscriptions (often magical or religious; cf. H397–398), for example, the name of a deity (e.g. the Tetragrammaton) or an
invocation of a deity (cf. the runic amulet from Ribe with its inscription
mentioning Odin, and the amulet, also runic, from Södra Kvinneby,Öland, with its invocation of Thor). And various magical words, signs
or symbols might also appear on amulets (e.g. the swastika; cf. H445;
DR, cols 774–777, 1005–1008).

Three beard-clutching figures

55

Amulets were positioned in various places and attached to various
objects (cf. H393), for example, at thresholds and doorways, underpillows, on household furniture (H393), on ships (cf., for example,
H402, H445, H450), in places where livestock was kept or crops grown,
at boundaries (cf. H447 and Strömbäck, 1970, 159–162), places ofburial and cross-roads. But they were most frequently attached to thehuman body; hence, of course, the fact that they were small and portable(cf., for example, H438). They were very often hung around the neck(see, for example, H399, H437, 446), often inside the shirt (H453),
carried in pouches at the belt or hung from the belt (see, for example,
HWDA, I, col. 381; H406), sewn into the clothes, carried around thearm. Amulets might also be attached to domestic animals or livestock.
The active use of amulets for magical purposes was frequently accompanied by oral incantations, the rehearsal of spells, etc. (see H passim).
(2) Miniaturisation. As just suggested, amulets were, in general,
small and portable. For this reason, and as noted, they frequently took
the form of miniaturisations of larger objects, and not least of miniature
effigies of gods, of symbols of gods or of other supernatural objects.
As far as medieval Scandinavia is concerned, there is ample evidence
for such miniaturised objects in both the archaeological material andthe literary sources (cf. Arrhenius, 1961; Fuglesang, 1989; VABC, 173).
Actual miniatures of spears, swords, axes and scythes have been foundand also of chairs. These are probably to be regarded as amulets, someprobably symbols of gods (e.g spears as symbolic of Odin).1 And
1 About a dozen Viking-Age amulets representing miniature chairs (some-times in the form of so-called ‘log-chairs’) are known from Sweden and
Denmark (cf. Fuglesang, 1989, 16). They seem to have been found particularly
in women’s graves (cf. Arrhenius, 1961, 150: ‘miniatyrstolarna äro hittills
endast påträffade i kvinnogravar’). According to Anne-Sofie Gräslund (VH,
190), ‘de kubbstolsformiga hängena kan eventuellt sättas i samband med
asagudarna—stolen skulle symbolisera guden på sin tron; såväl Oden som
Tor har föreslagits’. Certainly a connection is made between these objects andOdin in both Arrhenius (1961, 157) and Drescher and Hauck (1982, 289). But
I wonder if a connection with Thor is not more appropriate. Some reasons
might be: (a) It is clear that Thor was conventionally represented as sitting,either on a throne (as in Adam of Bremen’s account of the temple in Uppsala)or in his chariot; cf. also Ljungberg, 1947, 218. (b) At least two of the chairsof this type mentioned by Drescher and Hauck (1982, 255, 267–270) have

56

Thor the wind-raiser

numerous miniature Thor’s hammers have been found in places
throughout the Norse world (cf. KL, s.v. Torshamrar). The well-known
figurine found at Rällinge, Södermanland (SHM 14232) is between 6
and 7 cm. high and is generally thought to be a miniature representionof the god Frey. The silver effigy of Frey in Vatnsdœla saga was alsoso small that it could be kept in a pouch (see ÍF, VIII, 29). Snorri (SnE,124) says that, if Thor so wished, his hammer could be so small thathe could keep it inside his shirt (cf. ÓTOdd, 174; H453). And as noted(p. 17 above), the ship Skí›bla›nir not only always had a following
wind, but it (or its sail?) could be folded up like a cloth and also carriedin a pouch (SnE, 123).
(3) Belief in the efficacy of amulets. Various ideas, relating to both
magic and religion, lie behind the belief in the efficacy of amulets infulfilling their purposes (cf. (1) above). Belief in a supernatural potency,
often referred to (if only for convenience) by the Melanesian wordmana, is a feature of many primitive peoples. Whatever its source wasconceived of as being, mana was a magical force which might bepossessed in varying degrees of strength by a person or god or animal
or object. Certainly amulets were thought of as having mana whichgave them their efficacy. An object acquired this special efficacy andthus became an amulet in various ways (cf. H392–398). A stone, forexample, may simply have attracted attention because of its special
shape or some other feature which distinguished it from others (e.g.
that it was naturally perforated); or an object might be regarded ashaving mana because of its rare material or elaborate manufacture; or
simply because it had been kept and carried for a long time, perhaps(as amulets often were) handed down from person to person or frombeen found in close proximity to miniature Thor’s hammers (cf. Skovmand,
1942, 54–58; Ekelund, 1956, 152–153). (c) In ch. 23 of Fóstbrœ›ra saga (ÍF,VI, 243–245) a large chair is mentioned; on it an image of Thor is carved and
it is owned by a woman (cf. Arrhenius’s remark quoted above). It is placed á
stufugólfi mi›ju (cf. Adam of Bremen’s in medio triclinio of Thor’s throne;
cf. also Ljungberg, 1947, 128); when the fugitive fiormó›r Kolbrúnarskáld
sits in it he becomes invisible to his pursuers (cf. the empty chair of theminiatures). Cf. H439, with its mention of Greek charms thought to confer thegift ‘of becoming invisible or indiscoverable (the wish of runaway-slaves)’.
(d) In anticipation of the conclusions of this chapter, we note that LI, which
we identify as an image of Thor, sits on a log-chair. Cf. Trotzig, 1983, 365–
366, and pp. 63 and 103–104 below.

Three beard-clutching figures57

generation to generation as an heirloom (H465; cf. ÍF, VIII, 26–27);
or because it had come from a distant or special place (e.g a shrine orother religious centre; cf. H446). But there would also have been more
specific and often more formal ways by which it was thought possible
to endow an object with mana (or similar divine power). For example,
it might be, as suggested, manufactured under ritual circumstances.
Spells or incantations might be recited over it. Or it might be marked
with special symbols or words. Cf. (4) below and Note 3.
According to H395, ‘the Nicobarese set up images of ships to attract
traders when their coco-nuts are ready for sale, and images of crocodiles
to prevent crocodiles from attacking them while bathing’. Two common
ideas, however vaguely conceived, lie behind such methods (cf., forexample, Frazer, 1963, 14). First, there is the idea that ‘like produces
like’, that the imitation of a phenomenon in some way will have theeffect of producing that phenomenon. As noted (p. 11 above), bywhistling and thus making a noise resembling the noise of the wind,
one might give rise to a favourable wind. A seal-hunter might use astone whose shape reminds him of a seal as an amulet to attract seals
and therefore give him success (H395). Images of legs were meant toreplace a lost limb or bestow power of movement on an existing one.
Eyes were ‘drawn on ships and boats as a sort of mimetic charm toenable them to see their way at night and avoid shoals and rocks’(H445). And by acting upon an object’s symbolic representation, it
was believed that one might act upon that object itself (cf. Falk, 1927,
35: ‘En gjenstands mana gikk også over i dens dobbeltgjenger, denbilledlige fremstilling av den. Fölgen herav var at man ved å besverge
billedet kunde påvirke dets original’). Thus, of course, by sticking
needles into the waxen image of a person it was thought to be possible
to bring sickness on that person (cf. H423). And the intention of anumber of Stone-Age petroglyphs in Scandinavia which show animals
such as deer and elk heading towards precipices and lakes was toencourage the animals themselves to do likewise and thus makethemselves easy prey. But second, perhaps paradoxically, the idea
existed that ‘like repels like’ (cf. again H423). As noted, the Nicobarese
seek to repel crocodiles by setting up images of them. The best
scarecrows were, in fact, figures of crows. Flies might be kept away
by setting up images of flies. And a particularly common applicationof the idea of like repelling like is in amulets against the evil eye:these often took the form of representations of the human face with

58

Thor the wind-raisereyes, often particularly large or piercing, intended to counter or divert
the evil glance (cf. p. 54 above).
(4) Old Norse terminology: at magna, blótskapr, etc. As noted on
p. 31 above in the summary of RR, when his adopter dies childless,
Gunnarr/Rau›r maintains his cult of Thor and puts such a spell on theimage of the god that it appears to be able to converse with him andwalk around the island. The words used are (RRÓT, 320/12–15): Ok
er svá sagt, at hann magna›i me› miklum blótskap líkneski fiórs flar íhofinu, at fjándinn mælti vi› hann ór skur›go›inu ok hrœr›i flat svá
at flat s‡ndisk ganga úti me› honum um dƒgum ok leiddi Rau›r fiór
optliga me› sér um eyna. In this context we must, of course, be on thelookout for both Christian tendentiousness and literary borrowing.2
But even so, it is reasonable to say that both the verb at magna and thenoun blótskapr, or at least the noun blót, belong essentially to heathen
rather than Christian terminology. Now Hjalmar Falk (1927, 34–35)
has given attention to the word magna. His arguments suggest that the
Old Norse word for mana is megin, ‘(supernatural) power, strength’.
According to him, ‘gjennem trylleformler og blot (besprengning medblod) kunde en gjenstand bli ladet med mana eller bli et kraftcentrum.
Det tekniske uttrykk herfor er magna.’ In this way, ordinary stones(for example) could be endowed with apotropaic powers as amulets(cf. Grágás, 1992, 19: Menn skulu eigi fara me› steina e›a magna flá
til fless a› binda á menn e›a féna›). But an object which had been
magnat might have more active powers. For example, Falk (1927, 34)
refers to the tree-stump (rótartré) in Grettis saga (ÍF, VII, 249–251)
2 It should be stressed here that the following passages from the works citedin this context show verbal likenesses to the passage in question from RR
which could well suggest verbal borrowing between the texts. ¯gmundar fláttr
dytts (ÍF, IX, 112): fiar váru blót stór í flann tíma, ok haf›i Freyr flar verit
mest blóta›r lengi, ok svá var mjƒk magnat líkneski Freys, at fjándinn mælti
vi› menn ór skur›go›inu. fiorleifs fláttr jarlsskálds, ch. 7 (ÍF, IX, 225–226):
lét hann [i.e. Hákon jarl] drepa einn mann ok taka ór hjartat ok láta í flennatrémann [i.e. an image he has had made out of a piece of drift-timber; cf. thepassage from ch. 79 of Grettis saga quoted in Note 3 below], fær›u sí›an í fƒt
ok gáfu nafn ok kƒllu›u fiorgar› ok mƒgnu›u hann me› svá miklum fjandans
krapti, at hann gekk ok mælti vi› menn. Ynglinga saga, ch. 13 (ÍF, XXVI, 13):Ó›inn tók hƒfu›it [i.e. Mímir’s head] ok smur›i urtum fleim, er eigi mátti
fúna, ok kva› flar yfir galdra ok magna›i svá, at flat mælti vi› hann ok sag›ihonum marga leynda hluti.

Three beard-clutching figures

59

which was magnat by an old woman and which assumes very active
powers, including the ability to move, defying wind and weather, andeventually to play an important part in Grettir’s downfall.3 Here wenote that Thor’s megin is not infrequently referred to: he has hisásmegin, ‘divine strength’, and his megingjar›ar, ‘belt of strength’.
He is, we may assume, also almáttugr (inn almáttki áss) and máttr is aconcept closely related to megin (cf. the expression máttr ok megin;
MRN, 86, 263–268). Thor also has a son called Magni. On magna, seealso AR, I, 275–279 and references. And, as has been seen, Rau›r is
said to employ blótskapr to put a spell on his image of Thor. The word
blót and related words, although of uncertain etymology, were, ofcourse, very much part of the terminology of Norse heathendom and
Old Norse magic (cf. p. 19 above; KL, s.v. Blot). As is remarked in
VAch (401): ‘The noun blót meant the act of worship or sacrifice, andwas later used of any object or practice designed to give someone
supernatural power—a clay image of a human being used in witchcraft,for example, could be called blót’ (see C–V, s.v. blót, for injunctionsin the Norwegian laws against ownership of such objects; also Grieg,
1954, 169–170). In, for instance, Vƒlsa fláttr (Flat, II, 331–336), therelated word blœti is used of the fetish Vƒlsi.4 Cf. further AR, I, 414–
415 and references.
3 ÍF, VII, 249–250 (ch. 79): fiá beiddi kerling, at henni skyldi aka til sjávar. . . fiar lá fyrir henni rótartré svá mikit sem axlbyr›r. Hon leit á tréit ok ba›
flá snúa fyrir sér; flat var sem svi›it ok gni›at ƒ›rum megin. Hon lét telgja álítinn flatveg, flar gni›at var; sí›an tók hon kníf sinn ok reist rúnar á rótinni
ok rau› í bló›i sínu ok kva› yfir galdra. Hon gekk ƒfug andsœlis um tréit ok
haf›i flar yfir mƒrg rƒmm ummæli. Eptir flat lætr hon hrinda trénu á sjá okmælti svá fyrir, at flat skyldi reka út til Drangeyjar, ok ver›i Gretti allt mein at. . . Vindr var útan eptir fir›i, ok hóf rót kerlingar í móti ve›ri, ok flótti faraeigi vánu seinna. (On p. 256, the tree-stump is referred to as having been
magnat.) We note certain verbal likenesses here to the account of fiórólfr
Mostrarskegg’s high-seat pillars (cf. pp. 24–25 above; ÍF, VII, 250, note 1). But
Grettis saga may well give some idea of the realities of the way in which an
object was magna›r according to heathen practice. And we may more generallycompare the log of Grettis saga with high-seat pillars. Cf. Note 2 above.
4 Another word, also used of Vƒlsi and also discussed by Falk, is the adjective
aukinn. In this connection we note RR557, 98/26–28 (corresponding to RRÓT,320/12–15): En Rau›r . . . lét eigi hofit ni›r falla heldr lét hann auka or›i,sem á›r haf›i verit, ok svá gat hann magnat fiór, at hann leiddi hann eptir sér
um eyna.

60

Thor the wind-raiser(5) ‘Living images’. From Grágás we understand that one might put
spells on (magna) stones, in Grettis saga the old woman puts a similarspell on a piece of wood. But it was also thought possible to animate
images of men and of gods. The Thor of RR was an image (líkneski) of
the god which Rau›r brought to life by such means and over which hehad no small measure of control. Thus the very vigorous and fullsized image (líkneski) of another god, Frey, which Gunnarr helmingr
encountered and eventually overcame in Sweden, was animated bymagic (magnat; cf. ÍF, IX, 112). In fiorleifs fláttr jarlsskálds, the pagan
Hákon jarl has a human heart placed in a wooden image, the image ischarmed (the verb is at magna) and sent to Iceland where it kills fiorleifr
at the Alflingi (ÍF, IX, 225–227). (Here one is reminded of the sendingar
of later Icelandic folklore.) In ch. 4 of Ynglinga saga (ÍF, XXVI, 12–13),
Odin takes Mímir’s decapitated head and uses charms (magna›i) sothat it speaks to him and tells him secrets. And the miniaturised image(hlutr) of Frey in the first chapters of Vatnsdœla saga (although theword magna›r is not used of it) is ‘living’ enough to make its own
way from Norway to Iceland and, once there, to move around to findan auspicious place for its owner to settle (ÍF, VIII, 26–42; cf. ÍF, I,
217–219). (In this, it somewhat resembles fiórólfr Mostrarskegg’s highseat pillars; cf. pp. 24–25 above.) In the examples just cited, we are, ofcourse, very much in the realm of fantasy. We must again be on thewatch for literary motif. And we must beware of Christian tendentiousness; Christian writers would, of course, have been only too ready torepresent the heathen gods as graven images brought to life by pagan
sorcery. But the basic ideas underlying these stories are ones whichwere also held in reality; it was doubtless believed that images could,
at least to some extent, ‘come to life’. After all, even in the twentiethcentury, numerous ‘weeping Madonnas’ have been reported. And as
recently as 1995, images of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha,
an insatiable glutton (and, incidentally, often invoked at the beginningof journeys), were believed to have started drinking milk in many places
round the world (cf., for example, Brown, 1995).
Finally in the present context, and as a sixth factor, the following
may be recalled:(6) Certain conclusions arrived at in Chapter 1: That the practice ofwind-magic, which included the use of, inter alia, wind-amulets (cf.
(1) above), existed in medieval Scandinavia (as well as in various otherThree beard-clutching figures61

societies); that the need for a favourable wind for sailing was as great
as in other societies and possibly much greater than in many or mostof them; and that Thor was thought of as a god who had control of thewind.
We now return to the idea put forward in Chapter 2, that it was believedthat Thor was capable of raising a fair wind by blowing into his beard.
On the basis of the various factors just mentioned, it would now not
be unreasonable to hypothesise as follows: that there existed in Norse
Scandinavia images of Thor blowing into his beard which were believedto help their manipulators produce favourable winds; that these images
were not ‘full-size’ but represented the god in miniaturised form; such
images would, then, have served as wind-amulets; as amulets, they
may have been thought to have some special supernatural power; andthis special power may, to some extent, have been thought to havebeen conferred on them by magical means (blótskapr). It is true that inmaking these suggestions at this point and in view of what follows, I
might be regarded as guilty of special pleading. Nevertheless, on thebasis of the evidence adduced so far, they do not a priori seem at all
improbable. I shall in what follows consider these suggestions in thelight of three archaeological finds belonging to the Viking Age. Before
doing this, however, I briefly return to the story of Hallfre›r vandræ›askáld’s conversion mentioned on pp. 13–14 above.
In ch. 5 of Hallfre›ar saga (ÍF, VIII, 151–152) we find Hallfre›ramongst a ship’s company at Ag›anes sacrificing to the heathen gods
for a fair wind to escape from Óláfr Tryggvason’s newly-converted
Norway. No wind comes, and they are forced to sail into firándheimr,
where Hallfre›r is baptised, perhaps somewhat reluctantly, at the
instance of the king and with the king himself standing sponsor. The
poet then stays with Óláfr, although not in altogether happy circumstances; Óláfr takes exception to the heathen content of some of his
poetry. Also Hallfre›r quarrels with two of the king’s courtiers, Óttarr
and his brother Kálfr. He kills Óttarr, is condemned to death, and,
although this sentence is subsequently commuted, relations remainstrained. Then we find the following episode in ch. 6 of the saga (ÍF,VIII, 162–163; from the Mö›ruvallabók text with readings in square
brackets from the version of the saga in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in
mesta; cf. ÓT, I, 394–395; Hallfr, 55–56; Perkins, 1999, 186–187):

62

Thor the wind-raiser
Eitt sinn var flat, at konungr spur›i hvar Hallfre›r væri. Kálfr segir: ‘Hann
mun enn hafa van›a sinn, at blóta á laun, ok hefir hann líkneski fiórs í
pungi sínum af tƒnn gƒrt, ok ertu of mjƒk dulinn at honum, herra, ok færhann eigi sannreyndan.’ Konungr ba› Hallfre› flangat kalla ok svara fyrirsik. Hallfre›r kemr flar. Konungr mælti: ‘Ertu sannr at flví, er flér er kennt,
at flú [hafir líkneski fiórs í pungi flínum ok] blótir?’ ‘Eigi er flat satt, herra,’
segir Hallfre›r; ‘skal nú rannsaka pung minn; hefi ek hér ekki undanbrag›mátt hafa, fló at ek vilda.’ Nú fannsk engi sá hlutr í hans valdi, er til flessværi [líkligr, sem Kálfr haf›i sagt á hann].

Later in the same chapter, Hallfre›r gets his revenge for the slander byblinding Kálfr in one eye.
Now it would doubtless be reading too much into the text ofHallfre›ar saga to suppose that its author intended a connection
between (on the one hand) any part Hallfre›r may have had in thesacrifices at Ag›anes to the heathen gods, including Thor, for a fairwind and (on the other) the image of Thor which Kálfr so slanderously
asserted he had in his possession and continued to worship after his
conversion. This is not, of course, to deny that in terms of the narrativeof the saga, Hallfre›r must have had some record of active pagan
practice before his baptism to make Kálfr’s calumny in any way
plausible. And the episode in ch. 6 of Hallfre›ar saga is, in itself, farfrom unrealistic. Doubtless the newly baptised often did waver andrevert to their former pagan belief. Sometimes they (or those still
unbaptised) may have carried idols of gods or their emblems surreptitiously (cf., for example, Meaney, 1981, 159). And there would, ofcourse, also have been false accusations of recidivism. (One may recall
here the story of the seventeenth-century Gu›rí›ur Símonardóttir,‘Tyrkja-Gudda’, wrongfully rumoured to have worshipped an idol in
Iceland after her years of captivity in Muslim Barbary.) Certainly, as
suggested, there is good evidence that amulets and small images of
divine figures were carried in purses or pouches.5 But what is of greatest
interest in the present context is the fact that a small figure of a man
5 Amulets, figurines of gods, etc., seem, in the Old Norse world as elsewhere(cf. p. 56 above), to have been kept in pouches. As noted, Ingimundr appears
to have kept his figurine of Frey in a pouch. Salin (1913, 408) argues thatwear on RI may indicate that it was also kept in some sort of pouch. And otherarchaeological finds suggest that Thor’s hammers and other amulets were
kept in pouches; cf. Ström, 1984, 136 (Birka); KL, XVIII, col. 504 (Kaupang);
Grieg, 1954, 188.

Three beard-clutching figures

63

made of walrus-ivory (i.e. in Old Icelandic af tƒnn gƒrt) has indeed
been discovered and that this has been interpreted by at least one scholar
as an image of the god Thor. We now turn to it.
The object in question (abbreviated LI) was found in 1936 during
the digging of foundations not far from the cathedral in Lund (seeFigures 3 and 4; cf. VArt, 24–25 (to which the following description ispartly indebted) and VH, 387). This small figurine of a man is made of
walrus-ivory. He sits with his arms resting on his knees and holding
his long beard with both hands. The eyes are large and round and themouth and nose clearly represented. Apart from parallel lines on the
top of the head which may indicate a skull-cap (but which may also
indicate short hair), there is no sign of clothing. The figure is seatedon a so-called ‘log-chair’ (Swedish: kubbstol; cf. KL, s.v. Kubbestol).
Down the back of this there is a line of three rings-and-dots above acircle of five more; and there is a single ring-and-dot on the back ofeach of the figure’s shoulders. The object is some 4.7 cm. high. LI isdated by Graham-Campbell (VArt, 24–25) to the ‘Late Viking Period’(i.e. second half of the tenth century to the beginning of the twelfth
century). It is now in Kulturen in Lund (KM 38.252).
In an article published in 1963, Ivar Lindquist appears to offer threereasons for a possible recognition of LI as an image of Thor:(1) The figure of LI is seated on a chair. This, Lindquist suggests, isa characteristic feature of the representation of Thor and he compares
Adam of Bremen’s account (470) of the heathen temple at Uppsalawhich has Thor seated on a solium. Lindquist also compares the chairdescribed in ch. 23 of Fóstbrœ›ra saga (ÍF, VI, 245–247; cf. Note 1
above) which has an image of Thor carved on it and which (he suggests)
may, like the chair of LI, be a log-chair. Certainly Lindquist is on firm
ground in his arguments here and we shall return to this feature of therepresentation of Thor below (pp. 103–104).
(2) Lindquist compares the eyes of LI with those of what he regards,
with some justification, as a ‘porträtt’ of Thor on the runic rock at
Norra Åby, Södermanland (Sö 86), and which he describes as ‘hieratisktarkaiskt cirkelrunda’.6 Certainly large (or piercing or staring) eyes canbe said to be of central importance in the iconography of Thor. This is a
6
The location of the runic rock in question is sometimes given as ‘Södra
Åby’ or simply as ‘Åby’. In using ‘Norra Åby’, I follow the official notice atthe site in 2001.

64

Thor the wind-raiser

Figure 3: Walrus-ivory figure from Lund, Sweden (= LI; KM 38.252; height:
4.7 cm.). (By permission of Kulturen, Lund.)Three beard-clutching figures

65

Figure 4: Walrus-ivory figure from Lund, Sweden (= LI; KM 38.252; reverse).
(By permission of Kulturen, Lund.)66

Thor the wind-raiser

point made on various occasions in Ljungberg’s discussion of the matter(‘Tor i bildframställningen’, Ljungberg, 1947, 91–156) and again one
which, together with the face on Sö 86, will also be treated in greater
detail below (see pp. 101–102 and 123 below). We can, however, sayhere that Lindquist’s view on this point again appears justified.
(3) Lindquist’s remaining argument relates to the ring-and-dot patternon the reverse of LI and is more controversial. It perhaps only succeeds
in a slightly varied interpretation proposed by Gjærder (1964, 97–99).
Lindquist saw the upper five rings-and-dots in their T -formation as
the head and shaft of a hammer and, like others, the lower five as
forming a larger ring. He presents a photograph of the reverse side of
LI with white lines drawn in to make his point (his ‘bild 5’). The
hammer Lindquist quite confidently identified with Thor’s hammerMjƒllnir, the larger ring much more tentatively and less justifiably
with Baldr’s ring Draupnir. Gjærder developed this idea with thesuggestion that the larger ring was rather the chain or cord to whichamulets of the Thor’s hammer-type were often attached or the loop
like that from which the Thor’s hammer on the rune-stone at Stenkvista,
Södermanland (Sö 111), is suspended (Figure 21). Certainly the lines
drawn in by Lindquist are suggestive of a Thor’s hammer and of aring; for purposes of comparison on this point, I juxtapose a picture of
the Thor’s hammer from Läby, Uppland (SHM 131), and Lindquist’s‘bild 5’ as my Figure 5. And just as the image of Thor with his hammer
is carved on the back of the chair in ch. 23 of Fóstbrœ›ra saga, so
Lindquist’s and Gjærder’s Thor’s hammer is (partly) on the back of
the chair in which the figure of LI is sitting. Lindquist’s original
suggestion on this point receives, then, some measure of acceptancefrom Gjærder and, for example, from H. R. Ellis Davidson (1967,
134). Other scholars appear more sceptical (see, for instance, VArt,
24–25; VH, 387).7 And a perhaps more acceptable interpretation of
the larger ring on the back of LI will be suggested on p. 76 below).
7 What appear to be representations of the Thunder God’s hammer, foundin Kent and taken to be Anglo-Saxon, are now in National Museums andGalleries on Merseyside (Liverpool Museum). At least one of these is on aring and has a series of small circles on its head and shaft in the form of a Twith three circles for the head (see Ellis Davidson, 1965, 10 and plate I; Meaney,
1981, 149–150). For stylised signs of Thor’s hammer in the form of a T in
Danish runic inscriptions, see DR, cols 1007–1008. Meaney (1981, 147) refers
to T -shaped bones used as amulets in modern times to bring general goodThree beard-clutching figures

67

Figure 5. Left: Reverse of walrus-ivory figure from Lund (KM 38.252) withwhite lines drawn in by Lindquist. (Reproduced from Lindquist, 1963, 77, bypermission of Kulturen, Lund.) Right: Thor’s hammer from Läby, Uppland,
Sweden (SHM 131). (Reproduced from Stephens, 1878, 41.)

Now any one of these three arguments suggested by Lindquist is
probably, by itself, not strong enough to be decisive (although LI’slarge eyes are relatively indicative in the context). Taken together,
however, they must be regarded as much weightier and make itreasonably probable that LI was intended to be a representation ofThor. And we may note certain minor factors of relevance: GrahamCampbell (VArt, 24) rightly describes LI’s nose as ‘fully modelled’
and a prominent nose may well have been part of the acceptediconography of Thor (cf. p. 102 below). Thor was, of course, traditionally bearded (cf. p. 103 below) and so is LI. Finally, of course, Lindquist

luck and also to save fishermen from drowning; according to her, some haveseen a connection between these and Thor’s hammers. The silver Thor’s
hammer from Rømersdal, Bornholm (DNM 597; cf. VH, 276) is also attached
to a ring and also has small circles on its head and shaft although not in a T formation. Cf. also KL, I, fig. 16. On the back of a bronze statuette from
Køng, Fyn, there are the remains of a runic inscription (cf. Moltke, 1976, 77–
78, 101–102); one wonders if the intention here was to identify the object assome deity or to endow it with some special power.

68Thor the wind-raiser

is able to refer to the passage in ch. 6 of Hallfre›ar saga for a parallel
example of a miniature image of Thor made from the same material as
LI.8 A rival theory that LI is a playing-piece fails to explain various
idiosyncratic details of the object under discussion.
The second item of interest is a small amber figure discovered during
World War II while land was being ploughed on Feddet, the tongue ofland on the eastern side of Præstø Fjord (Roholte parish) in southernSjælland (see Figure 6; abbreviated FI; cf. Gjærder, 1964, 99–100;
OA, 186–187, 203; VH, 202–203, 247). This has been in Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen since 1944 (DNM C24292). FI is about 4.6
cm. high, with a round head, a large ear (on its right-hand side) and alarge place for an ear (on its left-hand side), oval eyes with wrinkles(it seems) at the corners, a broad, rather clumsy nose and a rectangularhole representing an open mouth. The man appears to be bald but has
a long cylindrical beard which he clasps with both hands in much thesame way as the Lund figure clasps his beard. FI was made terminating
at the hips and according to Gjærder ‘has never been longer’. Roesdahl(OA, 203) dates FI to the tenth or eleventh century. There are certain
factors which suggest that this object may indeed be intended to portray
Thor. There is, of course, the general likeness to the Lund figure which
for stronger reasons can be taken as representing Thor. The two objects
were found relatively close to each other, Feddet being less than 100
km. from Lund. Gjærder (1964, 100) certainly suggests that FI could
have been an amulet. He notes that ‘the back part of the head shows
two bore-holes which may have served as a fastening for a chain or
cord round the neck’ (cf. VH, 247). (Threading holes are, of course, afeature of amulets; cf., for example, Andrews, 1994, 8.) And in KL(XIII, s.v. Rav) Birgitte Kjær also suggests we have an amulet here
and, by implication, compares the Rällinge image (RI) and the
8 We note that it is at Ni›aróss/Trondheim that Hallfre›r is accused by Kálfr
of possessing an image of Thor made of walrus-ivory. Trondheim seems tohave been something of a centre for work and trade in walrus-ivory in the
medieval period; cf. VH, 202–205, 390–391. The greatest supply of this material
would, of course, have come from northern Norway. And one wonders if LI
itself may not have been carved in Norway and then perhaps precisely in
Trøndelag. For example, Claes Wahlöö (VH, 390) remarks that while there
are a few signs that walrus-ivory was worked in Lund, a fragmentary walrusivory gaming-piece found there is more likely to have come from a Norwegianworkshop. Cf. Perkins, 1999, 193 and note 2.

Three beard-clutching figures

69

Figure 6: Amber figure from Feddet, Roholte parish, Sjælland, Denmark (= FI;
DNM C24292; height: 4.6 cm.). (By permission of Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.) See also cover illustration.

70

Thor the wind-raiser

Eyrarland image (EI), which have been taken to be respectively Frey
and Thor (and both of which will be dealt with later in this study). (Itshould, however, be noted that both Gjærder and Kjær also suggestthat FI might have been a playing-piece.) Certainly miniature Thor’s
hammers, if not miniature Thors, made of amber have been foundelsewhere, for example at Lindholm Høje (Ramskou, 1956, 180); at
Paviken (Lundström, 1981, 67, 95, although this is possibly an axe);
at Wolin (VH, 296); and at Birka (Ström, 1984, 136; probably kept ina pouch like Kálfr’s invented líkneski fiórs; cf. Note 5 above). And
amber was a favoured material for amulets (cf. p. 54 above). Its
electrical properties might perhaps have been regarded as particularly
appropriate to the god of thunder and lightning. But perhaps the featureof the object from Feddet which is of most interest in this context isthe physique of the man it portrays. The impression of Thor one
reasonably gains from the literary sources is that he is the strong manof the gods, a muscle man, a tough guy, something of a bruiser. And FI
seems to represent such a figure: the amber figure has a bull-neck,rugged nose, a none too elegant ear, ample biceps and a bald head. It
seems to portray not only the sort of person one might expect to see
engaged in all-in wrestling in present-day Britain but also Thor as wemight reasonably imagine him. It is true that Gjærder refers to the‘primitive shape’ of the figure, perhaps suggesting technical incompetence. But I am more inclined to think that the creator of the figure
consciously intended it to represent a man endowed with a robust
physique and considerable strength and then quite possibly the god
we are discussing. As Roesdahl rightly says (OA, 186), the figureradiates power, and this is precisely what one might expect of an imageof Thor. There are, then, various factors to suggest that the figure isindeed meant to be a likeness of Thor (cf. Magnusson, 1976, 68). And
there is nothing, as far as I know, which speaks against the proposition.
The suggestion that the object was primarily intended as a playingpiece (also put forward in OA and VH) again fails to explain its idiosyncratic features and not least the two bore-holes at the back of the neck.
We turn thirdly to an object found at Chernigov in northern Ukraine(on the River Desna, about 130 km. north-north-east of Kiev) (Figure
7; for further illustrations, see Rybakov, 1949, 45; Pushkina, 1984, 87;
VH, 308). Chernigov (Ukrainian: Chernihiv) was one of the chief citiesof medieval Russia, probably second in importance only to Kiev. And

Figure 7: Bronze figure from Chernaia Mogila, Chernigov, Ukraine (= CI; GIM 76990/1539/77; height: 4.6 cm.). (By kind permission of the artist, Elena Kruchina.)

Three beard-clutching figures71

72

Thor the wind-raiser

it was here, in the 1870s, that D. Samokvasov excavated one of themost important burial mounds of pagan Russia, the Chernaia Mogila(‘Black Grave’; cf. Arbman, 1955, 90–94 and references). Alongsideother finds, often somewhat more impressive, a small bronze statuette
was discovered, heavily oxidised. This, Samokvasov (1908, 199)
suggested, was an idol, possibly a Buddha. It was not, however, until
the 1980s that satisfactory conservation work was carried out on theobject at the Gosudarstvennyi Istorichii Muzei (‘State HistoricalMuseum’) in Moscow, where it has the number 76990/1539/77(abbreviated CI). The work (reported by Pushkina, 1984) revealed theimage of a seated man, round-headed and bearded. His hands are raised
to his chest and with his right hand he holds his beard, close to themouth. His left hand also appears to touch (the end of) his beard but
also seems to have held an object which has not been preserved. On
his right wrist there is a bracelet. His mouth is represented by a small
slit and the eyes are round and particularly large. According to
Pushkina, the man is dressed in a caftan. Around his waist a broad belt
is clearly discernible, the ends of which hang down to the right andleft. The object is about 4.6 cm. high and now weighs slightly over 39
gm. In VH (308) CI is dated to the tenth century.
In her article, Pushkina finds two main reasons for making a positive identification of this figurine as Thor. First, she notes its beard.
Thor’s beard was, as has already been suggested above (p. 67), one of
the god’s main attributes. Second, Pushkina rightly draws attention
to the broad belt which is such a relatively conspicuous feature of
the figure. This she reasonably interprets as Thor’s megingjar›ar,
specifically said by Snorri (SnE, 29) to be one of the god’s special
possessions and alluded to in skaldic poetry, including the fiórsdrápa
ascribed to Eilífr Go›rúnarson (see Ljungberg, 1947, 218). And there
are other factors of relevance: Pushkina herself notes the ‘round,somewhat staring eyes’ (‘kruglye, slegka vytara]ennye glaza’)of the figure, which are also very large. As has been suggested in thediscussion of the Lund figure above (cf. also pp. 101–102 below),large, ‘cirkelrunda’ (to borrow Lindquist’s epithet), staring eyes arefeatures of representations of Thor, a point stressed, as noted, by
Ljungberg (1947, 125–126) in his study of the iconography of Thor
(cf. again MRN, 83). Lastly it will be observed that CI has a particularly
large and prominent nose and this, again as noted, may well have been

Three beard-clutching figures

73

part of the traditional iconography of Thor (cf. pp. 67 above and 102
below).
As we see, then, Pushkina interprets the statuette from Chernigov
within a Scandinavian context, as an image of the god Thor. And there
is no reason why she should not do so. She feels herself able to argue
that there is nothing similar to it amongst Russian antiquities of therelevant period, nor elsewhere in Europe apart from Scandinavia. Now
this, of course, is scarcely the place to discuss Scandinavian elementsin the cultural and ethnic composition of tenth-century Kievan Russia
or, more specifically, amongst the finds in the Chernaia Mogila. But a
few points may be made in connection with the cult of the Norse godsin Russia, particularly that of Thor. What could well be a bronze imageof Odin has been found at Staraia Ladoga (VH, 150, 298; cf. VH, 276
and Note 10 in Chapter 4 below). Thor’s hammer rings have beenfound, for example, at Gorodishche, at Gnëzdovo and, particularly relevant in the present context, at Shestovitsa, a site on the Desna less than
15 km. downstream from Chernigov (see Novikova, 1992). Variousof the personal names of men from Kiev, Chernigov and other places
which appear in the Russo-Byzantine treaty preserved in The Russian
primary chronicle for the year 945 contain the element fiór- (RPC, 73;
Thomsen, 1877, 134, 140; cf. MRN, 86, on the name-element fióramongst settlers of Iceland and its evidence for Thor worship).Thor
appears to have been venerated in Kievan Russia also under the Slavonicname Perun. For example, we are told in The Russian primary chronicleof the oaths the Rus swore by Perun and at least one of these can beshown to be typically Scandinavian in form and suggests belief in Thor
(RPC, 74, 77; cf. MRN, 96 and references). Under various entries forthe tenth century, The Russian primary chronicle tells us of idols of
Perun erected in Kiev (RPC, 77, 93, 116–117). Constantine Porphyrogenitus (DAI, I, 60–61) describes the rites performed by Rus merchantson the so-called Island of St Gregory (Khortitsa) in the River Dnieper,and Mansikka (1922, 323–324) suggests that these represent a Scandinavian Thor-cult. It should not, then, unduly surprise us to find an
image of the Norse god Thor in a grave-mound in Chernigov.
We now move to the main conclusion of this chapter. In what
precedes, attention has been drawn to three small figures, two of themfrom Scandinavia (Lund, Skåne; Feddet, Sjælland), the third from
Ukraine (Chernaia Mogila, Chernigov). These figures have been

74

Thor the wind-raiser

interpreted by certain scholars (albeit with varying degrees ofconviction and authority) as images of the Norse god Thor. Argumentsthat the figure from Sjælland portrays Thor are perhaps weakest, thosefor the figure from Chernigov possibly the strongest. But the combined
evidence that all three objects represent the god is stronger than thesum of that for the individual items. And, of course, a single explanation
for all three objects is desirable. I can only conclude, then, that LI(KM 38.252), FI (DNM C24292) and CI (GIM 76990/1539/77) were
all intended to represent the Norse god Thor (or possibly, in the caseof CI, of Thor under the name Perun). And with that said, we turnstraightaway to the one very obvious feature which all three figures
have in common but which has not yet been discussed: all three ofthem are holding their beards. To my knowledge no real attempt has
been made to explain this feature, either by those who interpret theindividual figures as representations of Thor (e.g. Lindquist, Pushkina)
or by those who, like Roesdahl (OA, 186) and Wahlöö (VH, 387), see
two of them as playing-pieces (rather than images of Thor). What, one
might ask, is Thor doing with his beard? My answer to this question,
doubtless now already implicitly apparent from what precedes, may
now be stated explicitly. It seems to me that what the three Thors are
represented as doing is what the same god is said to have done in thepassage from Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s discussed in Chapter 2: eachappears to be blowing into his beard (at blása í kampana), each‘sounding the voice of his beard’ (at fleyta skeggrƒddina, etc.).
Obviously it was not easy to represent a small figure as performing
this act in terms of the plastic arts. And the creators of the figures had
recourse, to some extent, to stylisation. What was important was toportray the god holding his beard with at least one hand and to ensurethat the mouth was in some way indicated. And at least the carver ofFI has achieved what I take to be his aim with admirable success: theamber figure has his mouth well open, and is clearly intended to beeither blowing or shouting or a combination of both. He holds his
beard very much as one might a wind-instrument and the cylindricalform of the beard is also suggestive. And we may now further moveon to an interpretation of the three figures in terms of the hypothesis
ventured on p. 61 above. In the three figures, LI, FI, and CI, we have,
I would argue, examples of the type of wind-amulet envisaged there:
all three, as just concluded, represent the god, in ‘miniaturised’ form,

Three beard-clutching figures75

blowing into his beard. They were used, I would suggest, by Norsesailors as wind-amulets, in the hope of obtaining that particularly
desirable benefit, a favourable wind for themselves (or perhaps an
unfavourable wind for their competitors or adversaries). They are all
portable objects which could easily be carried in pouches, or, in thecase of FI, hung around the neck. And they and their possible use may
be considered a little further, and perhaps in more speculative terms.
When used aboard ship, it seems possible that they would have been
given the appropriate orientation and maybe held behind the sail; wehear of such orientation elsewhere in connection with wind-magic (cf.,for instance, p. 11 above); and we have, in the sources, a case wherean effigy of Thor is mentioned aboard a ship (although then rather asa figure-head; cf. ÓTOdd, 220–222; AS, 41). The use of the objects inthe way envisaged was quite possibly accompanied by the recitationof an oral spell or formula or even a prayer or hymn. We recall in thisconnection fiórhallr vei›ima›r’s skáldskapr in ch. 8 of Eiríks sagarau›a (cf. pp. 25–26 above), although this was probably improvised
poetry; and Máni skáld’s prayer for a wind in Sverris saga (cf. p. 15
above). The latter may represent a Christian substitute for something
heathen; and we note its request for a wind from a stated direction.
Perhaps a wind of a particular strength was also requested.9 With regard
to the materials of the three objects, we note that amulets were typicallymade of bronze (so CI) or amber (so FI; cf. p. 54 above). Amber may
also, as noted, conceivably have had some significance in connection
with the god of thunder and lightning (cf. p. 70 above). And thecomparative rarity and cost of walrus-ivory might well have made it
an appropriate material for amulets (cf. LI). Lastly we return to thebelt around the waist of CI interpreted as Thor’s girdle of strength
9 In connection with the idea that it was thought possible to get a wind of adesired direction and strength by manipulation of an image of the god Thor,
compare Watson, 1984, 303–304: ‘In ancient Chinese lore, the god of thewind is Feng Po [‘the Earl of Wind’], an old man with a white beard and ablue cap. He holds a yellow sack . . . and points its mouth in any direction hepleases. And in Japan he becomes Fu Jin, also dressed in blue, who carries alarge bag from which he pours the wind in any required strength, according to
how wide he opens the neck.’ Cf. New Larousse encyclopedia of mythology,
1968, 384. As noted, it was also thought possible to regulate the strength of awind by the use of ‘wind-knots’ (cf. p. 11 above).

76

Thor the wind-raiser(megingjar›ar). It was clearly important (as suggested above, pp. 58–59) for an amulet to be endowed with a certain magical potency (forwhich the Old Norse term was probably either máttr or megin). One
wonders if, then, by giving an image of Thor (the father, we remember,of Magni) its megingjar›ar, one was in effect increasing its potency
as an amulet. After all, if the god himself could increase his divine
strength (ásmegin) twofold by assuming his megingjar›ar (SnE, 29),
any image of him may have been thought to have increased potency(to be magnat) by bearing a representation of that same attribute. And
in this connection we may also return to LI. Just as CI, as an image ofThor, might have been thought of as having special efficacy by virtueof carrying a representation of the god’s megingjar›ar, so LI, also asa Thor, might have been thought of as endowed with special potency
by virtue of (the symbol of) the god’s hammer incised on its reverse
side. And here a further possibility presents itself. As also discussed
above (p. 66), while the upper five rings-and-dots on the reverse sideof LI (cf. Figure 4) have been fairly confidently seen as representing aThor’s hammer by both Lindquist and Gjærder, the two scholars foundit more difficult to explain the larger circle formed by the lower fiverings-and-dots; as noted, Lindquist guessed at Odin’s ring Draupnir,
while Gjærder suggested the ring from which a Thor’s hammer might
have been suspended. On the other hand, it seems not at all impossible,
in view of the evidence of CI, that it was rather intended to represent
the god’s megingjar›ar, albeit in stylised form. If this were so, LI
would then have carried (symbols of) two of Thor’s attributes asmentioned by Snorri (SnE, 29) and would, as a result, doubtless havebeen thought of as possessing much enhanced potency.
It would greatly support the conclusions put forward in the previous
paragraph as to the nature and function of the three objects underdiscussion if examples of images of gods used as wind-amulets (andthen not necessarily in early Scandinavia) could be pointed to as
parallels. And in this context one item of interest has come to lightfrom Lithuania.10 This might, if we were to accept HWDA’s definitions(I, col. 375), by virtue of being comparatively large, perhaps be regarded
10
I would conjecture that another type of Norse wind-amulet might wellhave been a representation either of the ship Skí›bla›nir itself or of its sail. As
noted, Skí›bla›nir always had a following wind, but it could be folded up likea cloth and kept in a pouch (cf. p. 17 above).

Three beard-clutching figures77

more as a ‘talisman’ than an ‘amulet’ (if indeed either term isapplicable).11 The object in question was noticed and described by thesevententh-century cleric Matthäus Praetorius who himself was bornin Memel (now Klaipˇda) very close to the place where he observed
it. Praetorius lived from some time in the 1630s until 1707. His magnum
opus, referred to as Deliciae Prussicae (or Preußische Schaubühne)was finally completed in 1703 but has unfortunately never been
published in its entirety. The manuscript (designated R165) is now
housed in Vilniaus Universiteto Mokslo Muziejus in Vilnius. In thiswork, Praetorius covers many aspects of Prussian folklore, superstition
and religion and not least discusses the pagan Prussian gods. Excerpts
from Deliciae Prussicae are published in Pierson, 1871, and, as far as
they concern the pagan gods, in Mannhardt, 1936. Now in referring to
the god of merchants, Perdoytus, Praetorius writes this (quoted, withminor adjustments, from Mannhardt, 1936, 542; cf. Pierson, 1871, 27–28):
Indem ich dieses [i.e. presumably, Perdoytus] gedenke, fällt mir ein, wasich einsmahls bey einem Fischer in dem Dorf Karkel [modern Karklˇ,just north of Klaipˇda] gesehen. Derselbe hatte anstatt der Fahnen aufm
Mast seines Boots eine Statuam beym Ruder aufgerichtet. Er hatte
nemblich von Borken gemacht ein Bild eines Menschen, dass am Kopff
zweene Gesichter, eins fornen, eins hinten waren; an beyden aber war das
Maul aufgesperret. An den Schultern waren ziemblich grosse Flügel,dabeneben er seine Hände ausgestrecket, die rechte aufwärts, die linke
erdwärts. In dieser seiner linken Hand hält er einen Fisch, in der rechten
ein Fässchen; auf dem Kopfe war ein Hahn gemacht. Das Bild nennete er
Wejopattis, gleichsam nach der deutschen Sprache Herr des Windes. Ichmutmasse, dass vordem die alten Preussen dem Perdoytus eine solche
Statuam mögen gesetzet haben. Weil aber der Handel und Wandel zur See
vermittelst der Winde in esse kompt, hat dieser Fischer denselben Wejopatis
einen Herrn des Windes genannt, vielleicht weil den alten Preussen als
seinen Vorfahren verboten worden die andern bekandte Götter zu nennen.
11 In HWDA (I, col. 375), we read: ‘Vom Talisman . . . unterscheidet sichdas A[mulett] höchstens dadurch, daß das Wort Talisman gelegentlich auch
auf größere Gegenstände wie Bildsäulen angewandt wird.’ I have not seen
this distinction made elsewhere, nor with reference to the English words amulet
and talisman. Indeed entirely different possible definitions of the two English
words are suggested in H393. But generally the notion of objects such as
high-seat pillars (ƒndvegissúlur) or statues of gods simply as large amulets isperhaps not an uninteresting one in the present context (cf. the remarks on
miniaturisation on pp. 55–56 above).

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Thor the wind-raiser
Denselben Fischer, der diesen Herrn des Windes auf seinem Boote führet,hielte der weiland Pfarrer daselbst N. Isingius vor einen recht alten
Preussischen Heyden und den er nicht vermögen köndte, dass er zur Kirche
oder zum Tische des Herrn ginge. Wenn dieser Fischer den Wejopatisansahe, hub er seine beiden Hände auf, insonderheit wenn es ungestümes
Wetter war. Denselben soll er auch Wejpons, auch öfter Wejdiews,
Windgott, genennet haben. Sonsten wurde der Kerl damalen vor den
reichsten Fischer gehalten und schrieb man den Reichtum seiner Hexerei
zu, dass er wüste den Wind zu besprechen und die Fische in sein Garn zu
locken, wiewol er auch eine ziemliche und des Orts ungewöhnliche
Kupezyste, i.e. Kaufmannschaft, triebe. Was aber bey dieser Statua vor
Aberglauben mögen geschehen seyn habe ich nicht von selbigem odersonsten erfahren können.

This passage is preceded in the manuscript by a pen-and-ink drawingof the the object in question which we may assume is the work of
Praetorius himself and which is here reproduced as Figure 8.
In the fisherman mentioned by Praetorius, we seem, then, to have afigure similar to the Oddr Ófeigsson of Bandamanna saga (cf. pp. 5–8) in this respect: both were men whose success in fishing and tradewere to some extent related to their luck with the wind. We also notethat the Prussian is still worshipping his heathen Vˇjopatis in Christiantimes (and indeed in general the heathen Baltic religion was relatively
persistent after the official introduction of Christianity). And here, inthe object described by Praetorius, we would seem to have somethingsimilar to what I have suggested LI, FI and CI are. Usener (1900, 329,
footnote 4), doubtless correctly, visualises the image of Vˇjopatis asplaced at the helm of the boat. The wind would, of course, have beenthought of as blown through the two mouths of the god, one wind aventus secundus, the other a ventus adversus. The Lithuanian object
differed from the three Scandinavian items in various ways; assuggested, it seems to have been larger. It had two faces; there is no
mention of any beard. But essentially it had the same purpose as I
posit LI, FI and CI would have served, to raise a favourable wind for
its owner. It may be regarded as something of a parallel to the threeobjects in the function that I believe they served.
In this context other considerations are relevant. The place where
Praetorius saw Vˇjopatis, on the coast of what is now Lithuania, lies
in an area which, in the Viking Age, had, of course, particularly close
connections with Scandinavia. Modern Karklˇ lay in the old Kurland(cf. KL, s.v. Kurer) which had, at least for certain periods during theThree beard-clutching figures

79

Viking Age, been under Scandinavian suzerainty. It also lies between
what had been the Scandinavian colonies at Wiskiauten (just north ofmodern Kaliningrad) and Grobin≥a (Grobin; now in Latvia). This second
place had special significance as a Scandinavian trading centre in theearly Viking Age, with contacts both with Gotland and central Sweden.

Figure 8: Vˇjopatis. Pen-and-ink drawing from a manuscript of Matthäus
Praetorius’s Deliciae Prussicae (R165 in Vilniaus Universiteto Mokslo
Muziejus, Vilnius).

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Thor the wind-raiser

And further up the Latvian coast lies the harbour at Ventspils which
would have had the same connections with Scandinavia (and may havebeen known by some such Norse name as Vindøy, which, in turn, may
be interpreted as ‘platsen där man . . . får god segelvind’; cf. Jansson,
1987, 53–56; Modéer, 1932, 142). To the west from Kurland lay asea-route across the southern Baltic to, for example, Sjælland where
the amber FI was discovered; to the east, well-frequented river-routes
led initially along the Daugava/Dvina and Nemunas/Neman, and on
to Kiev and to Chernigov, where CI was found (cf., for example, maps
in RPC, x, and Nerman, 1942, 111). Doubtless pagan Vikings practised
their religion in the area; for example, an iron hammer of remarkablesize reported by Aeneas Sylvius (238) in Lithuania has been interpreted
as a Thor’s hammer (cf. Note 7 in Chapter 2); and miniature amberaxes, probably indicative of Nordic heathendom, have been found in
Latvia, for example, in one of the Viking graves at Grobin≥a (see KL,
XIII, col. 683; Nerman, 1942, 55–56; cf. Jensen, 1991, 51). And heathen
Scandinavia was close at hand. Just across the Baltic, for example, inÖland, the theophoric place-name Torslunda is suggestive of theworship of Thor, quite possibly at a largish cult-centre;12 an unusuallylarge number of miniature Thor’s hammers has been found on Öland
(VArt, 156; cf. the Bredsätra-pendant (SHM 101) mentioned on p. 119
below); and an amulet discovered at Södra Kvinneby on Öland
mentions Thor by name as well as his hammer and may well havebelonged to a fisherman, conceivably one seeking favourable weather
conditions from the god (see Nilsson, 1976, especially 241–242; cf.
Trotzig, 1995, 37). And the few harbours along the island’s long east
coast would doubtless have received at least occasional visitors from
Kurland (cf. Jansson and Lundberg, 1987, 168; the name of one ofthem, Kårehamn, may even reflect this fact; cf. Hallberg, 1985, 116).
There would, then, have been ample scope for cultural and religious
contacts and influences between Balts and Scandinavians and not least,
12 It is certainly tempting to think of Torslunda, more or less at the centre ofÖland, as the place where Saxo’s men of the old religion, using Thor’s
hammers, performed their meteorological magic and to identify his ‘certain
island’ as Öland (cf. Note 7 in Chapter 2). On the other hand, when Saxo
intends to refer to Öland, he seems to do so by name (cf. Saxo, 605, s.v.
Ølandia). At all events, the island mentioned by Saxo in this context probably
lay not too far from Öland.

Three beard-clutching figures81

of course, amongst sailors, fishermen and merchants, who travel morethan others. And there is possibly even a further, more ancient affinity.
WM (431 and 447) invites us to compare Vˇjopatis with the Old
Lithuanian thunder-god Perku–nas; in turn, on p. 434, the same work,in connection with Perku–nas, draws attention not only to the Slavonicdeity Perun, but also to the Germanic Thor. Here we touch on thequestion of the extent to which an equation is to be made between
Perku–nas, Perun and Thor. Some scholars have seen a linguistic
connection between the names of the Old Lithuanian Perku–nas, theOld Russian Perun and the Norse deities Fjƒrgynn and Fjƒrgyn, thislast said to be the mother of Thor (Edda, 13, 87; cf. ÍO, 183). This is
not a matter that can be discussed in detail in the present context;
the reader is referred to MRN, 94–98, for some survey of the arguments (cf. also, for example, Lorenz, 1984, 178; RGA2, s.v. Fjƒrgyn,Fjƒrgynn). But in presenting Praetorius’s Vˇjopatis as a parallel tothe three objects which it is suggested are all wind-charms andrepresentations of Thor (i.e. LI, FI, CI), we must note that the deity
venerated by the Lithuanian fisherman may also conceivably have someother, more intimate connection with the Scandinavian god which goes
further back in time.13

13 The cock on Vˇjopatis’s head is of interest and probably something morethan just an indicator of the direction of the wind. Meyer (1891, 110–111)
finds a connection between the cock and meteorological superstition inGermanic tradition; and Mansikka (1922, 323–324) suggests that the cult ofThor may have involved the sacrifice of cocks. But sacrifice of the cockprobably existed amongst other peoples, for example, the pagan Balts andSlavs (see e.g. Mannhardt, 1936, 644, s.v. Opfer. Hahn, and references; cf.
DAI, II, 55). One wonders if, in Vˇjopatis’s two faces, there may not be somesolution to the problem of the three- and four-headed ‘gods’ (on which cf.
OA, 110–111) found in the Baltic area, for example in Bornholm, or the fourheaded Svantovit (Suantovitus) mentioned by Saxo (465–473). Svantovit’s
image was housed in a temple on an island, Arkona, on the northern tip of theisland of Rügen, probably a suitable place for attempts at wind-raising (cf.
Note 4 in Chapter 2); miniatures representing Svantovit have been found along
the southern shore of the Baltic, at Wolin and Riga (cf. VABC, 13, 261–262).

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Thor the wind-raiser

CHAPTER FOUR

THE EYRARLAND IMAGE
Ekki . . . er . . . enn fenginn fullur skilningur á
Eyrarlandslíkneskinu.
LISE G. BERTELSEN
Eiendommelige og overmåte sjeldne ting må
ha sin selvstendige mening.
HAAKON SHETELIG

The measure of a theory is what it explains.
CAROL J. CLOVERTHE EYRARLAND IMAGE (EI) in fijó›minjasafn Íslands(National Museum of Iceland; inv. no. 10880) will be known tomost students of Viking and Old Norse-Icelandic studies, to most
Icelanders and to many of the tourists who find their way to Icelandand its national museum during the summer months. Pictures of it arereadily available. To give some random examples: in Turville-Petre’s
Myth and religion of the North (MRN, illustration 15); in definitely
larger-than-life size in Bertil Almgren’s The Viking (1966, 144); in thehandbook Iceland 1986 (1987, picture 16); and in the form of postcards
issued by the fijó›minjasafn. In the summer of 1994, for example,
passengers on Icelandair planes were able to buy a gold-plated reproduction of EI (see Saga boutique, 1994, 15) and less sophisticatedreplicas are often to be found in souvenir shops in Reykjavík. Also in
1994 Mjólkursamsalan í Reykjavík featured EI (with, of course, anillustration) in a series on Icelandic antiquities on some of their onelitre milk-cartons.
EI was discovered in Eyjafjör›ur in northern Iceland, while digging
for other purposes was in progress, at some time in the years 1815–
1817. According to Matthías fiór›arson (1930), it was found ‘rjett hjábænum á Eyrarlandi’, on which statement Kristján Eldjárn (KE1983,64) writes: ‘Ekki getur talist fullvíst hvort átt er vi› Eyrarland réttfyrir innan Akureyri e›a Eyrarland í Öngulssta›ahreppi.’ The first farmcalled Eyrarland referred to by Kristján (and often called StóraEyrarland) lay within the limits of the present town of Akureyri on thewestern side of the inner end of Eyjafjör›ur; its land abutted on that of
the farm Naust to its south (see HTB, II, 110; Jón Hjaltason, 1990,

The Eyrarland image

83

30–31). The other Eyrarland (known also as Litla-Eyrarland) lies on
the eastern side of the valley at the end of the fjord (cf. HTB, II, 126).
Kristján’s doubts on this matter were not shared by Kålund (HTB, II,
110, note 1). Kålund firmly connects EI with the first of the two places.
It is true that he was writing some sixty years after the object was
found. But he was probably informed in what he says and, in theabsence of any evidence to the contrary, one must accept his statement
as correct (cf. Kålund, 1882, 76).1
Wherever EI was found, it seems to have been acquired by Jóhann
Gottlieb Gudmann, a prominent merchant in Akureyri at the time, who,
apparently through the mediation of Finnur Magnússon, presented it
to Det Kongelige Museum for nordiske Oldsager (so officially designated from 1819) in Copenhagen and here it was lodged by late 1817.
We have two early descriptions of EI. The following is from Thorlacius
and Thomsen (1820, 363–364):
Fra islandsk Kiøbmand J. Gudmand indsendt i Nov. 1817 og foræret: . . .
En liden Idol af Metal, funden 1817 i Jorden paa Island, 21/2 Tom. høj,
siddende paa en Stol med en Hue paa Hovedet, med Knebelsbarter,
holdende med begge Hænderne et korsformet Instrument, maaskee Thors
Hammer. Paa Ryggen Spor til Forgyldning, temmelig raat Arbeide.

As Kristján Eldjárn (KE1981, 75; KE1983, 65) points out, this last
remark about the quality of the workmanship is scarcely justified. The
second early account of the object is from Collegial-Tidende of 10th
February, 1821 (p. 98):
Aar 1817 skjænkede Kiøbmanb [sic] Gudmand fra Island igjennem
Professor Magnussen et paa denne Øe fundet lidet Metal-Idol, som engang
har været forgyldt. Det har en Slags Hammer i Haanden, en Pileus paa
Hovedet, og er maaskee Guden Thor.

From these two sources, it is clear that at least some people in Copenhagen at the time believed that the object was once at least partly gilded.
1 Kålund collected much of the material for HTB during travels in Icelandin the years 1872–1874 (cf. the introductory statement to the first volume of
his work). He presumably visited Akureyri in these years. At that time Fri›rik
Carl Magnús Gudmann (1821–1879), son of Jóhann Gottlieb Gudmann (died1858) (cf. the following), was still alive. But there were doubtless many otherchannels through which he could have received correct information on the
point in question. Stóra-Eyrarland appears to have been the property of Stefán
fiórarinsson amtma›ur between 1796 and 1823. Cf. Jón Hjaltason, 1990, 30–
31, 46, 72, 149 and passim; Klemens Jónsson, 1958, 79.

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Thor the wind-raiser

We may note the first published picture of EI. The object was not
only mentioned in the two Danish periodicals just cited, but also in the
Swedish Iduna, the organ of Götiska Förbundet in the first quarter ofthe nineteenth century. In a contribution from 1820 (full title in
Bibliography), J. G. Liljegren gives some account of the various
antiquities and manuscripts housed in the libraries and museums of
Copenhagen at the time. Among these (pp. 145–146), the Eyrarland
image is given passing attention, described as a ‘metallbild, som mananser wara Thors’, and illustrated as ‘Tab. 2, Fig. 3’. The illustrationsin question (reproduced as Figure 9 below) are actual size, and giveviews from front and rear. In the view of Kristján Eldjárn, this is ‘fairly
true to nature’ and ‘s‡nir líkani› a› mestu leyti eins og fla› er’ (KE1981,
76; KE1983, 65).2

Figure 9: The oldest pictures of the Eyrarland image (= EI; from Liljegren
1820 (Iduna)).
2 In the same article in Iduna (8, 1820, 145–146), Liljegren writes: ‘Åstundas
afgjutning af sjelfwa bilden, må ansökning derom göras hos Commissionen[i.e. Commissionen for Oldsagers Opbewaring].’ Here we seem to have anoffer of a museum replica from as early as the first quarter of the nineteenth
century.

The Eyrarland image

85

The Eyrarland image remained in the museum (renamed ‘Nationalmuseet’ in 1892) in Copenhagen until 1930 (where, according toBertelsen, 1994, 59, it had the museum number ‘NM LXV’). In 1930
it was moved to fijó›minjasafn Íslands together with various otheritems discovered in Iceland (cf. Matthías fiór›arson, 1930).
A short description of the Eyrarland image follows (cf. Frontispieceand Figures 9–11). This, it should be noted, is as much or more basedon previous descriptions as on original observations. It owes much,for example, to the descriptions by Kristján Eldjárn (in KH, 362–363;
KE1981; KE1983) and James Graham-Campbell (VArt, 25). It has
also benefited from information kindly provided by fiór Magnússon
in correspondence and in conversation. It will be somewhat complemented by information presented in the subsequent discussion of theindividual features of EI.
The Eyrarland image is of cast bronze, produced by the methodreferred to as ‘the lost-wax process’ (French: cire perdue). It is 6.7
cm. high and a fully three-dimensional figure of a man sitting uprighton an armless chair with a low, tripartite back. Apart from a hat or cap
or helmet of conical shape, the man is naked and unshod and his baretoes are a prominent feature of the object. Ears, eyes and nose areboldly represented. The man has a large moustache which develops
into two parts on each cheek; the upper parts reach outwards over the
cheek and upwards towards the outer corners of the eyes where theyend in curled terminals. The lower parts are thick and somewhat
drooping. The mouth appears to be open. The chin carries a heavy beard
extending downwards and ‘the man apparently splits his beard in two
and grips the halves with his clenched fists’ (KE1981, 74). Below his
fists the beard develops, perhaps rather unexpectedly, into a cross-likeobject with rounded ends; the transverse arms of this object rest firmly
on the man’s knees, the vertical part extends down between them. The
whole object has a remarkable symmetry and, as Kristján Eldjárnsuggests, bears witness to considerable technical competence. Kristján
also writes that ‘in spite of its smallness the image, as a sculpture, isendowed with a quality of greatness and might with success be considerably enlarged’ (KE1981, 75). In KH (383), EI’s weight is given as
114.914 gm. fiór Magnússon points out, however, that a small hole
has been bored in the bottom of the image, presumably for sampling
purposes and while it was still in Copenhagen. It would, therefore,
probably have originally been very slightly heavier than it is now.

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Thor the wind-raiser

Figure 10: Bronze figure from Eyrarland, Eyjafjar›ars‡sla, Iceland (= EI; fijms
10880; height: 6.7 cm.), side view. (Photo: Gísli Gestsson; by permission of
fijó›minjasafn Íslands, Reykjavík.)

The Eyrarland image

87

Figure 11: Bronze figure from Eyrarland, Eyjafjar›ars‡sla, Iceland (= EI; fijms
10880; height: 6.7 cm.), front view. (Photo: Gísli Gestsson; by permission of
fijó›minjasafn Islands, Reykjavík.)

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Thor the wind-raiser

An attempt at dating EI on art-historical grounds has been made by
two scholars with reference to the shape of the man’s moustaches/
beard. Shetelig (1937, 215) dated it to about the year 1000. Kristján
Eldjárn, on the other hand (KE1983, 70), put it somewhat later andthought it was ‘frá 11. öld og geti vel veri› frá mi›biki fleirrar aldar’.
Kristján’s arguments will be referred to again below. Suffice it to sayhere that Kristján himself put them forward very tentatively. GrahamCampbell (VArt, 25) dates the object to his ‘Late Viking Period’ whichruns from the second half of the tenth century to the beginning of thetwelfth, and a broader dating of this kind is probably safest.
We shall return to the question of EI’s provenance (i.e. place of
manufacture) below (pp. 139–144).
In what immediately precedes, EI has been described and some views
as to its age have been noted. These fundamental questions now present
themselves: What is the Eyrarland image? What did its creator intend
it to be? For what purpose was it originally manufactured? Various
suggestions (referred to now, largely for want of any better term, as‘Theories’) have been made or may be made on this issue. These may
be first set out in list form as follows.
EI might have been intended to be:
1. A statuette of the god Thor (fiórr). (This is a theory held by anumber of scholars ever since the object was found in the earlynineteenth century; cf. pp. 83–84 above).
2. A statuette of the god Frey (Freyr).
3. A playing-piece (used, for example, in the board game hneftafl).
4. A child’s toy.
5. A weight.
6. A statuette of a musician playing an instrument which has aclose affinity to a double flute.
7. None of the things mentioned under Theories 1–6, but something else.
8. A combination of two or more of the things mentioned under
Theories 1–7 (though some combinations, e.g. of Theories 1 and 2,
are not really possible).
9. Finally, a view on EI expressed by Bertelsen in 1994 should be
noted. This is that while it is virtually impossible to say what EI is,
the object resting on the knees of the figure is in all probability a
Christian cross.

The Eyrarland image

89

Some assessment will now be offered of these different Theories. Thisis done in varying degrees of depth and also partly on the basis of aprocess of elimination. No consideration will be given to anythingwhich might fall under Theory 7. 3 And only one or two of the
permutations presented by Theory 8 will be considered (cf. Note 4
and pp. 137–139 below). At all times in the following discussion, one
should bear in mind Carol Clover’s remark (albeit made in an entirely
different context), cited as one of the mottoes to this chapter, that ‘themeasure of a theory is what it explains’ (Clover, 1986, 37).
Theory 5
We may begin with Theory 5. Kristján Eldjárn suggested that EI might
conceivably be a weight (see KH, 383; KE1981, 81–82; KE1983, 71–
72). This he did largely, it seems, on the basis of the passage inJómsvíkinga saga where Hákon jarl gives Einarr Helgason a pair ofscales which can be used for divinatory purposes and the weights ofwhich appear to have anthropomorphic form (cf., for example, Jómsvíkinga saga, 1969, 179; Flat, I, 188–189). But the scales in question
would seem to belong rather more to the world of fiction than reality.
It is true that weights could take the form of animals, particularly horses(e.g. the so-called ‘Håkon den femtes messinghester’); or, as suggested
by an apparently unique example from Denmark, of knights on horses;
cf. NK, XXX, 165–167. But if EI really was a weight in anthropomorphic form, one would expect to find other examples and no such
have been found. One would also have to attempt to answer the questionof what unit of weight (or proportion or multiple of what unit of weight),
the Eyrarland image of about 115 gm. was intended to represent.
Kristján Eldjárn himself appears to prefer another explanation of EI’s
function to this one (cf. discussion of Theory 3 below).4
3 No detailed attention is given to Kålund’s suggestion (cf. Note 6 below)that EI is ‘en middelalderlig kunstgenstand’ if this refers to anything otherthan a playing-piece (cf. the discussion of Theory 3 below). I would dismiss it
as too vague to be of much value.
4 In the version of Jómsvíkinga saga translated into Latin by Arngrímur
Jónsson (ed. Jakob Benediktsson in BA, IX), the weights in question seem toappear in the form of the Norse gods (BA, IX, 133). One might therefore
entertain the idea that EI was meant to serve two purposes, as a weight and as
the image of a god (cf. Theory 8). And it is true that weights in the form of90Thor the wind-raiser
Theory 4

It might be argued that the Eyrarland image is a toy of some sort. (Ontoys in general in medieval Scandinavia, cf. KL, s.v. Leketøy andreferences.) But EI represents a rather static object (i.e. a seated man),unlike, say, the toy horses or toy boats which are archaeologicallyattested. It was also probably rather expensive to produce. It seems,
then, unlikely that EI was specifically manufactured to serve as a child’s
plaything.5
Theory 3
The suggestion that EI is a playing-piece (Theory 3) was made at least
as early as the 1880s.6 And because it has been argued relatively
recently and in some detail by Kristján Eldjárn (d. 1982), it will begiven, in the form it takes in Kristján’s contributions, careful criticalexamination in the present context. Kristján first published his viewson this matter in an article (= KE1981) in the memorial volume for
Gabriel Turville-Petre, Speculum norroenum, which appeared in 1981;
and an Icelandic version of this article, with some revisions andalterations (= KE1983), appeared in Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags 1982. Kristján’s views may be summarised as follows (withparticular reference to KE1981).
After introductory remarks, Kristján offers a useful description ofEI (cf. above). He then cites the two early descriptions of EI, fromThorlacius and Thomsen (1820) and Collegial-Tidende (1821), andreproduces the picture of EI from Liljegren’s article in Iduna (1820).
He observes that the most widely held interpretation of EI, that it
represents the god Thor, probably stems from Thorlacius or Thomsen
horses were sometimes employed as amulets or at least for magical purposesin Norway of more recent times (cf. Grieg, 1954, 207, note 76). But Arngrímur’s
text is of doubtful authenticity here (cf. BA, XII, 137–138). And the samedifficulties apply here as apply to the assumption that EI was simply a weight(i.e. Theory 5).
5 A toy horse of brass or bronze is, for example, mentioned in ch. 12 of
Víga-Glúms saga as having existed in Eyjafjör›ur. But this at any rate might
have been originally manufactured as a weight. Cf. ÍF, IX, 40–41 and note 5.
6 In HTB, II, 110, note 1, where Kålund writes of EI that while it was
originally seen as ‘et Torsbillede’, it was regarded at the time he was writingas ‘en middelalderlig kunstgenstand (skakbrik?)’.

The Eyrarland image

91

or Finnur Magnússon (or two or all of them) and must rest on theinterpretation of the object held by EI as Thor’s hammer (cf. Thorlacius
and Thomsen, 1820: ‘maaskee Thors Hammer’). But, Kristján argues,
the object held by EI only bears ‘a very faint resemblance’ to a Thor’s
hammer and the only item known to him which has a certain likenessto it is the silver pendant found at Foss in Hrunamannahreppur, Iceland(fijms 6077; Figure 12 below; cf. VArt, 156, 307; VH, 314).7 The Foss
pendant itself, Kristján argues, is, however, very unlike a Thor’s
hammer and is more likely to be a Christian cross; it cannot, therefore,
be used as evidence in the present context.
Kristján next attempts to date EI the basis of art-historical criteria.
After an interesting comparison of EI’s moustache with the leafdecoration of other objects (a walking stick from Lund, KM 59.126:795,
see VH, 232; the weather-vane from Källunge, Gotland, now in
Gotlands Fornsal), he is inclined to conclude that ‘the Eyrarland image
is solidly anchored among the monuments of the fully developed
Ringerike style’ and should therefore bedated in the first half of the eleventh century
and perhaps near the middle of it. But
Kristján also admits the uncertain nature ofthis dating. He notes that the leaf-decoration
he has drawn attention to is ‘also foundamong the Mammen style monuments’, andreasons that ‘since the Mammen style andthe Ringerike style merge and very likely
overlap not a little in time, it would be
hazardous to venture anything like a precise
dating of the Eyrarland image on stylistic
grounds’ (p. 80). Even so, his general imFigure 12: Silver pendantpression is that EI is eleventh-century work.
from Foss, Árness‡sla, IceGiven this conclusion (Kristján argues), we land (fijms 6077). (Photo:must certainly have doubts about EI repre- Ívar Brynjólfsson; © National
senting Thor since it unlikely that Icelanders Museum of Iceland, Reykjawere still manufacturing and worshipping vík.)
7 For further pictures of the pendant from Foss, see KE1981, 78; KE1983,

67; KH, 326; MRN, illustration 16; Magnusson, 1976, 71; Page, 1990, 13. InBæksted, 1986 (54), pictures of the pendant and EI are juxtaposed for purposesof comparison.

92

Thor the wind-raiser

pagan idols half a century or so after Christianity had been officiallyadopted in Iceland. Nor does Kristján let the analogy of the ithyphallic
bronze statuette from Rällinge in Sweden (SHM 14232; cf. p. 97 below
and Note 9) affect his conclusion. Although this is normally thought
to be a representation of the god Frey, and although it represents muchthe same artistic tradition as EI (and is therefore probably of much thesame date), it should be remembered (Kristján stresses) that Sweden
remained pagan long after Iceland had been converted.
So much for the first part of Kristján Eldjarn’s arguments. He now
goes on to the question of what the Eyrarland image is if it is not animage of Thor. He first considers the possibility that it is a weight (cf.
above). He is not, as noted, inclined to favour this explanation, andturns to another. EI, he observes, finds a close parallel in the whalebone
figure found in what seems to be a pagan grave at Baldursheimur,M‡vatnssveit, Iceland (fijms 6; cf. VArt, 25, 214). Both figures holdtheir arms in the same way, both grasp their split beards with clenchedfists. Now Kristján finds reason for thinking that fijms 6 was a hnefi inthe board game hneftafl: it was found alongside twenty-four simple
playing-pieces and a dice. Kristján stresses that he had accepted theidentification of fijms 6 as a hnefi in KH in 1956 and that he continues
to hold to this view. He notes, however, that certain scholars, e.g.
Shetelig (1937) rejected it. And if fijms 6 is a hnefi, Kristján reasons,so too may EI be. It is true, Kristján concedes (KE1981, 84), that theobjection might be made that EI ‘is far too exquisite, too noble, to be
simply a gaming-piece from a common hneftafl’. But he also points
out that the time-span between EI and the Lewis chess-set with its
elaborately carved pieces is not great; and he thinks there is something
in the demeanour of the seated persons of the Lewis chess-set (cf. VH,
390–391), not least the kings, which is reminiscent of EI. Kristján
concludes by stressing ‘the weaknesses’ of his argumentation, not least
its failure to offer any explanation of the cruciform object resting on
the knees of EI.
Some criticism of Kristján Eldjárn’s arguments may be offered. First,
some remarks on his dismissal of the proposition that EI is a representation of Thor.
(1) It is true that the interpretation of EI as Thor as initially put
forward within five years of its discovery could well have rested largelyon the interpretation of the object the man is holding as a hammer. But
as the following investigation of Theory 1 will show, it certainly does

The Eyrarland image

93

not do so entirely. And as has been seen from Chapter 3, it is probably
possible to identify the figures from Lund (LI), Feddet (FI) and
Chernigov (CI) with Thor on considerations quite separate from thepossibility that the first-mentioned of the three (i.e. LI) has a ringand-dot configuration on its reverse side which might be interpretable
as a Thor’s hammer. Further, as will also be shown in the following, itmay, at any rate, very well be possible to interpret the object EI is
holding as a Thor’s hammer (cf. pp. 106–118 below).
(2) As Kristján appears to admit himself, his dating of the Eyrarland
image on the basis of art-historical considerations is somewhat
hazardous and, interesting though his observations on the shape of
EI’s moustache are, it would be misguided to draw close and firm
conclusions from them. Shetelig’s dating of EI to ‘omkring år 1000’(1937, 15), also on the basis of the shape of the man’s moustache, hasbeen noted. And as will be suggested below (pp. 102–103), a moustacheof the shape of (the upper part of) EI’s moustache may, in fact, be afeature of the iconography of Thor (or of the Norse gods in general).
(3) Kristján appears to assume that the cult of Thor died out abruptly
with the acceptance of Christianity at the Alflingi in 999/1000. But
such an assumption is probably not entirely warranted. The cult ofThor appears to have been very well established in the Iceland of thetenth century. It is rather unlikely that it suddenly came to an end
simply as the result of an act of the country’s none-too-powerfulassembly. The chief source for our knowledge of the conversion of
Iceland, Ari fiorgilsson’s Íslendingabók, itself hints that certain heathen
practices lived on for at least some years after the conversion (ÍF, I,
17). And the studies of, for example, Hans Kuhn (1969–1978, II, 296–
326, 378–386) have shown that forms of heathendom (and the practiceof magic connected with it) lived on in Scandinavia (including Iceland)
well after the Conversion. Some random indications of this survival
may be noted from Iceland and mainland Scandinavia. In the first
decades of the twelfth century, Bishop Jón ¯gmundarson of Hólar
found it necessary to rule against remnants of pagan practice and magic
which were still alive in his diocese. (We may here recall the stubborn
Lithuanian fisherman mentioned by Praetorius, still worshipping his
Vˇjopatis long after the introduction of Christianity, and regarded bya local priest as ‘a real old Prussian heathen’; cf. p. 78 above.) As
noted above (p. 22), Thor was still held responsible for the weather inSmåland in the seventeenth century. In Iceland the so-called fiórshamar

94Thor the wind-raiser

was used as late as the nineteenth century as a charm to detect thieves(see MRN, 84 and references; cf. p. 110 below). Amulets known in
Sweden as torviggar and closely associated with Thor were owned
and prized in Scandinavia down to fairly recent times (cf. KL, s.v.
Torvigg).
(4) Throughout his contributions (KE1981; KE1983) Kristján Eldjárn
seems to assume that EI is of native Icelandic manufacture and so it
may well be. But an object like EI was also easily portable and one
wonders if, whatever its date of manufacture, it could not have been
produced in a Scandinavian country other than Iceland and then perhaps
one where the cult of Thor was still practised. The question of theprovenance of EI will, as noted, be discussed below (pp. 139–144).
But it may be noted here that it is far from improbable that EI was
produced in Sweden. And as remarked above, Kristján himself notes(KE1981, 81) ‘that the Swedes remained pagan long after the Icelanders
had accepted Christianity’.
For the reasons just suggested, then, it is difficult to accept Kristján’s
objections to Theory 1. And it is unfortunate that his rejection of Theory
1 on less than justifiable grounds seems, as it were, to lead him to a far
less acceptable proposition than Theory 1, namely, Theory 3, thesupposition that EI is a playing-piece. It is, of course, reasonable that
Kristján should draw attention to the whalebone image from Baldursheimur (abbreviated BI) in his discussion of the Eyrarland image.
Obviously EI and BI have features in common which make a single
interpretation of both of them an attractive idea. But I am not convincedthat BI was primarily intended as a playing-piece. This is a matter I
shall return to later in this chapter. And quite irrespective of what BI
is, three reasons may be adduced for tending to dismiss the theory that
the Eyrarland image is a playing-piece:(A) The image is made of bronze, which is rather a heavy material;
as noted, it weighs over 110 gm.; in medieval (as well as in modern)times, playing-pieces tended to be made of lighter materials than metals.
Thus a playing-piece in medieval Scandinavia would typically havebeen made from wood or bone or horn or walrus-ivory (althoughsometimes they were made of glass, which is, it is true, probably aheavier material than those just mentioned, though not as heavy as
bronze). It is also true that in Schach (103) we find pictured a chesspiece (a pawn, it seems) from Nuremberg in Germany (dated about

The Eyrarland image

95

1570) which is made of bronze (and gilded bronze at that; cf. p. 83
above). But in addition to being well-shod, the man is fully andelaborately dressed (cf. (B) below). And he stands on a proportionallylarge, flat, circular base (cf. (C) below). Thus, while the piece has one
feature in common with the EI, it differs from it in two other relevant
respects.
(B) Kristján Eldjárn himself writes (KE1981, 83): ‘The rules of theplay [of hneftafl] are unknown now, but it is clear that some majorrole was played by a main piece, different from the others, bigger andmore stately and in some way distinguished as an important person in
the game.’ Now it would be difficult to deny that the Eyrarland image
has an impressive appearance. But if the artist who made it was reallytrying to produce some sort of equivalent to the kings of modern chesssets or even of the Lewis chess-set, would he have left his figure moreor less naked? And would he have left his ‘stately’ and ‘important’figure (to use Kristján’s own words) unshod, with his bare toes
presenting themselves as what literally is the foremost feature of his
creation? The notion is improbable. Gods might well be represented
as naked (see below); the ‘kings’ of chess-sets (and the like) surely
only rarely so. Kings, like emperors, with nothing on tend towards the
ridiculous.
(C) But a third argument in this context perhaps weighs heaviest.
Looking at Figure 10, for example, and comparing EI with what weotherwise know about playing-pieces, one gets a distinct impression
that, relatively speaking, EI is not a particularly stable object. It israther tall and its four-legged base seems rather small compared to its
height. And with its large head, it would seem to have a relatively highcentre of gravity. When one inspects (pictures of) individual playingpieces (or sets of them) from both early and more recent times andfrom various places in Europe and Asia, one finds that in the vast
majority of cases they have one thing in common: playing-pieces nearly
always have flat bases or are set on platforms or plinths. As far as I
have been able to discover, a playing-piece on four legs like the
Eyrarland image would be a very rare exception to this general rule.8
8 Grieg (1954, 184; cf. his figure 7) dismisses the proposition that an animal
figure from Østre Alm in Hedmark is a playing-piece on the grounds that,with a height of 5.8 cm. (cf. EI’s 6.7 cm.), it would have been ‘for høy til å96Thor the wind-raiser

Any one of the three considerations just presented (and particularly
the third) weighs fairly heavily in this context. Taken together, they
can be regarded as more or less decisive: they suggest that it is highly
unlikely that EI was manufactured with the intention of its serving
primarily as a playing-piece. And Theory 3 does nothing to explain
the idiosyncratic features of EI. In view of these factors, then, we may
confidently and permanently dismiss it.
Theory 1
We now turn to Theory 1, which is that EI was intended to be animage of the god Thor. This theory was, as noted, suggested within adecade of EI’s discovery in modern times, i.e. in 1820 by Thorlacius
and Thomsen. And it has been accepted with varying degrees ofcertainty by a number of scholars, not least from about 1930 onwards.
Grieg (1954, 181), for example, states it as a virtual fact (cf. p. 106
below). But it has not gone uncontested. For example, again as noted,Kålund says that while the object was originally taken to be an imageof Thor, it was regarded at the time he was writing as ‘en middelalderlig
kunstgenstand’, or perhaps a chess-piece (see Note 6 above). I am notable to offer here a full account of the changing views in the nineteenthand twentieth centuries as to how far EI is to be regarded as an imageof Thor. It is perhaps interesting, however, that when George Stephenswrote his monograph of 1878 which was much concerned with the
iconography of Thor (see below), he left EI entirely out of account,even though it is difficult to believe that he did not know of it andeven though it would have greatly reinforced his arguments if regarded
as an image of the god. And as recently as the 1980s, no less an authority
than Kristján Eldjárn disputed that EI was intended to portray Thor. It
brukes sammen med de vanlige spillebrikker fra vikingetiden’. At a special
exhibition, ‘Board games of the world’, held at the British Museum in London
in 1990–1991, a large number of playing-pieces from different board games
from many places around the world were on display. Apart from instanceswhere unmanufactured objects were used (e.g. pebbles, shells, beans), theplaying-pieces almost exclusively had flat bases (i.e. were not, like EI, onlegs), although some had peg bases for insertion into holes on the board. While,
it is true, there were a very few pieces made of metal (though these wererather small), the majority were made of lighter materials, bone, horn, ivory,
wood (cf. (A) above).

The Eyrarland image

97

cannot, therefore, be taken for granted that EI is a representation ofThor. The proposition needs renewed examination.
Such an examination follows. Its approach is this: Some thirteenfeatures (or what will referred to for convenience as ‘features’) of EI
which could have relevance to the issue of whether the object represents
Thor or not will be isolated. These features will be discussed within
the context of what we otherwise know about the iconography of Thorand the Norse gods, and about images of other gods and about amulets
in general. Comparative evidence takes three main forms: (i) theevidence of the literary sources; (ii) that of pictures on rune-stones;(iii) that of other miniature representations of Norse gods or of objects
connected with them (e.g. Thor’s hammers). As far as (i) is concerned,
there are the two well-known references to idols of Thor in the sagasof the two missionary kings of Norway, one said to have been at Mære(Mærin) in Trøndelag (ÓTOdd, 163–164; Hkr, I, 317–318; ÓT, I, 378–
386; Flat, I, 319–322; Flat 2, I, 353–357), the other at Hundorp(Hundflorp) in Gudbrandsdalen (ÓHLeg, 29–35; Hkr, II, 183–190; ÓH,271–282; Flat, II, 188–192; Flat 2, II, 279–284). Needless to say, thesemust be regarded with circumspection. The Eddic poems (more particularly firymskvi›a), Snorri’s Edda and the Íslendingasögur also haveevidence to offer in this context. And, amongst non-West-Norse sources,
Adam of Bremen’s account (470–472) of the heathen temple at Uppsalawith its idol of Thor (amongst other gods) is of especial value. Of pictures on rune-stones, what appears to be a representation of the pagan
gods at Ragnarƒk on the stone at Ledberg Church in Östergötland (Ög181) is of special interest (Figures 13 and 14; cf. Moltke, 1976, 135,
199–200). And what is generally accepted to be the face of Thor on the
rune-inscribed rock at Norra Åby in Södermanland (Sö 86) is ofparticular significance (cf. pp. 122–124 below). As far as items fallingunder (iii) are concerned, problems of identification inevitably arise.
For purposes of the present discussion, however, the little ithyphallic
bronze image from Rällinge in Södermanland (RI; Figure 15) is of greatinterest and will be regarded by me, as it is by many others, as a representation of the god Frey (so Salin, 1913; cf., however, pp. 134–135 below).99 Pictures of RI are widely found elsewhere; cf. Grieg, 1954, 182; KL, I, fig.
17; Lindquist, 1963, 74; Gjærder, 1964, figure 1; MRN, illustration 13; Ellis
Davidson, 1967, plate 59; Magnusson, 1976, 75; VArt, plate 513; KE1981,
82; KE1983, 71; Jansson and Lundberg, 1987, 282; Page, 1990, 29; VH, 147

98Thor the wind-raiser

Figure 13: Rune-stone at Ledberg church, Östergötland, Sweden (Ög 181),
probably depicting the heathen gods at Ragnarƒk. (Photo: Bengt A. Lundberg;© Riksantikvarieämbetet.)

The Eyrarland image

99

Figure 14: Reverse of rune-stone at Ledberg church, Östergötland, Sweden(Ög 181), probably depicting the heathen gods at Ragnarƒk. (Photo:
Bengt A. Lundberg; © Riksantikvarieämbetet.)100

Thor the wind-raiser

Figure 15: Bronze image from Rällinge, Lunda parish, Södermanland, Sweden,
probably a representation of Frey (= RI; SHM 14232; height: 6.9 cm.). (Bypermission of ATA, Stockholm; © Riksantikvarieämbetet.)With rather less certainty, a small bronze figure from Lindby, Skåne(SHM 13701; Figure 16) will, for example, be identified as Odin.10
Some further points should be made in this context: In drawing parallels
with the comparative material in question, we must naturally be on
our guard against the circular arguments which are sometimes difficult
to avoid. We have also to note that various of the individual features inquestion are, naturally, more widespread than in representations of(though in mirror image); Trotzig, 1995, 35 (with photograph of the back of
the object). The most detailed discussion of RI is in Salin, 1913; cf. also VArt,
153; VH, 276.
10 The reason for identifying SHM 13701 as Odin is the fact that the figure
appears to have only one eye (cf., for example, Page, 1990, 8). Neil Price(private communication) kindly assures me that the same feature is present ona small bronze male head from Staraia Ladoga (cf. VH, 150, 298). It has beensuggested that a one-eyed carved head in Hegge stave-church in Norway mightalso be intended as Odin (see Holtsmark, 1970, 129). Other pictures of SHM
13701 are found in Arne, 1909, 185; Magnusson, 1976, 59; VArt, 307 (cf.
154); Page, 1990, 8. The one in Trotzig, 1995, 36, is in mirror image.

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Thor or other Norse gods. Finally, it
should be noted that in the following
arguments relating to Theory 1 (as in
the case of the other Theories), as little
cognisance as possible will be takenof features of the three objects discussed in Chapter 3, i.e. the figuresfrom Lund (LI), Feddet (FI) and Chernigov (CI). Nor will any comparisonsbe made with the whalebone figure
found at Baldursheimur in northern
Iceland (BI; fijms 6). I shall, however,return to all four objects later in thediscussion.
Feature 1. EI’s head-gear is described by Kristján Eldjárn (KE1981,74) as ‘a cone-shaped cap or a hat’,
by Graham-Campbell (VArt, 25) asa ‘conical helmet’. On the whole,
Graham-Campbell’s description seems
the more acceptable. At all events, thelikeness of EI’s head-gear to that of
RI has been noted by, for example,
Ellis Davidson (1967, 134: ‘the little
man [i.e. EI] wears a conical hat, likethe supposed image of Freyr’). And thehead-gear of RI has been compared by
Salin (who prefers to regard it as ahelmet) to the helmets of the figureson the Ledberg stone (Salin, 1913,406), interpreted by others, as noted,
Figure 16: Bronze figure from as Norse gods at Ragnarƒk. Further,
Lindby, Skåne, Sweden, possibly the bronze figure from Lindby inrepresenting Odin (SHM 13701; Skåne, taken by some to represent
height: 6.9 cm.). (After Arne, Odin (Figure 16), also wears a ‘coni1909, 185.)
cal helmet’ (so VArt, 154).
Feature 2. The eyes of EI (and we must here, of course, beware offalling victim to mere impression) could reasonably be described aslarge and glaring (cf. Figure 11; Perkins, 1994, 656). There is satisfactory

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Thor the wind-raiser

evidence in the literary sources that Thor was thought of as having
glaring or piercing eyes. Thus the god’s eyes are described as ƒndótt,‘fierce, frightening’, in stanza 27 of firymskvi›a (Edda, 115) andperhaps elsewhere (see LP, s.v. ƒndóttr); and as hvƒss in ÓHLeg (33;cf. Hkr, II, 188; ÓH, 279; Flat, II, 191). In SnE (49), fijálfi and Rƒskva’s
father is so terrified by what he sees of Thor’s eyes (and that is not allof them), that hug›isk hann falla mundu fyrir sjóninni einni samt. Thor,then, excelled in glaring. We note also the ‘cirkelrunda’ eyes (soLindquist, 1963, 76) of the face of Thor on the runic rock at NorraÅby which may be said to have a piercing effect. Cf. on the matter ofThor’s eyes, Ljungberg, 1947, 125–130; MRN, 83; also Bjarni Gu›nason, 1993, 99, note 5.
Feature 3. EI might be described as having a relatively large andprominent nose (cf. Figures 10–11). In his discussion of the iconography of Thor, Helge Ljungberg (1947, 125–126; cf. 145) finds evidence (which includes the testimony of Sö 86) that the god was
represented as having a large or long nose.
Feature 4. Of the Eyrarland image, Kristján Eldjárn writes (KE1981,
74): ‘He has a big moustache, which on each cheek develops into two
leaves (or something which looks like leaves), the lower one rather
thick and curving slightly downwards, the upper one reaching upwards,
across the cheekbone and almost up to the corner of the eye, where it
has a tightly curled terminal.’ No exact parallel has been found to EI’s
rather impressive bipartite moustache in its entirety. But a slit on atleast one side of the Rällinge image’s moustache (on the left-handside as seen from the front), suggests perhaps division into two parts(cf. Figure 15; VArt, 153). Moreover the upper part of EI’s moustachecertainly has parallels. Salin (1913, 406) refers to RI as having ‘ “à laKaiser Wilhelm” uppvridna mustascher’; like EI’s moustache, that of
RI is turned up and has curled ends. The four figures on the Ledberg
rune-stone (Ög 181) taken as Norse gods also have moustaches notdissimilar from that of RI, and therefore not dissimilar from that of EI(cf. Salin, 1913, 406). Arne (1909, 185–186) notes the luxuriant
upturned moustache on the bronze figure from Lindby (Skåne), andcompares that of one of the figures on the Ledberg stone. And ofparticular interest here is the face of Thor on Sö 86 (Figure 20). This isalso adorned with an upturned moustache not at all dissimilar fromthe upper part of EI’s; this has a curled terminal, at least on the lefthand side of the face as seen from the front. The idol of the god Perun

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103

which Prince Vladimir is said to have set up in Kiev in about 980 (cf.
p. 73 above), was, we are told, ‘made of wood with a head of silver
and a mustache of gold’ (so RPC, 93; cf. Mansikka, 1922, 38).
Feature 5. Graham-Campbell (VArt, 25) refers to EI as a ‘cast bronze
figure . . . of a bearded man’ and Kristján Eldjárn (KE1981, 74) saysof it: ‘the chin . . . seems to be profusely bearded’. Matthías fiór›arson(1930) notes EI’s ‘hökuskegg’. Various parallels are relevant. Salin(1913, 406) describes RI and at least one of the figures on the Ledberg
stone as having the ‘samma spetsiga hakskägg’. Stephens (1878, 33)
refers to the ‘peakt Beard’ of Sö 86. The pointed beard of the figure
from Lindby may be seen from Figure 16. But the evidence of thewritten texts is perhaps of greater interest. In ch. 21 of Flóamannasaga (ÍF, XIII, 278), when Thor appears to fiorgils in a dream to threaten
him with a stormy passage to Greenland (cf. pp. 18–19 above), he isdescribed as mikill ok rau›skeggja›r. As noted (p. 26 above), fiórhallrvei›ima›r refers to Thor by the epithet inn rau›skeggja›i and this
could well have had currency outside Eiríks saga rau›a. And a passage
in ÓTOdd (173–174; cf. ÓT, II, 136) suggests that Thor’s beard itself
may have been the object of special veneration; here the red-bearded
Thor tells Óláfr Tryggvason how the people of the country, tyrannisedby two giant women, ‘tóku . . . flat til rá›s . . . at heita á fletta it rau›askegg til fulltings sér’ (so KS, I, 141). A beard, then, was one of Thor’s
more important attributes, invested, apparently, with special potency.
Cf. Grimm, 1875, I, 147–148.
Feature 6. EI is, apart from his head-gear, naked. We may compare
RI who, except for his helmet, is also naked (although here, if RI wasmeant to be the god Frey (cf. p. 127 below), he may have been
represented in this way with the specific aim of displaying his erect
penis). But generally gods are more likely to be naked than humanbeings. It has, for example, been noted above (p. 95) how unlikely
kings (or ‘kings’ in board games) are to be portrayed without clothes.
It is particularly the Greek and Roman gods we find presented to us
unclothed in the statues and figurines of classical antiquity.
Feature 7. Kristján Eldjárn (KE1981, 74) decribes EI as ‘sitting
upright on a four-legged chair with a three-peaked back but withoutarms’. Literary sources certainly seem to suggest that Thor wasconventionally represented as sitting, either on some sort of seat orthrone, sometimes in a boat (cf. U 1161), but perhaps more often on
the seat of a carriage (kerra; vagn; rei›), thought, presumably, to be104

Thor the wind-raiser

goat-drawn (cf., for example, Ljungberg, 1947, 214–215, 218; MRN,
80–81). Ch. 4 of Eyrbyggja saga (ÍF, IV, 7) refers to stallrinn, flar er
fiórr haf›i á setit in fiórólfr Mostrarskegg’s hof in Norway. Adam ofBremen (470) says that in the temple at Uppsala Thor in medio solium
habeat triclinio. In Flateyjarbók (Flat 2, I, 354) we find this descriptionof the idol of Thor in the temple at Mærin: fiórr sat í mi›ju . . . Sá var
umbúna›r fiórs, at hann sat í kerru. Hon var mjök glæsileg, fyrir henni
váru beittir tréhafrar tveir, har›la vel görvir. Á hvelum lék hvárttveggja,
kerran ok hafrarnir (cf. ÓTOdd, 163; Hkr, I, 317; ÓT, I, 378). One of
the mythological tags of Kormákr ¯gmundarson’s Sigur›ardrápa issitr fiórr í rei›u (Skj, A, I, 79; B, I, 69). In ch. 88 of Brennu-Njáls saga(ÍF, XII, 214), it is said of Víga-Hrappr, entering a temple, that sér
hann kerru fiórs ok tekr af honum . . . hring; this implies an idol ofThor sitting in a carriage. And equally, when it is said of Thor in stanza
26 of Vƒluspá (Edda, 6) that hann sialdan sitr, er hann slíct um fregn,
this perhaps implies that he was normally thought of as sitting.
The object on which EI is sitting could be taken as any sort of seat.
But one wonders if it might not be especially intended to represent theseat of a ceremonial carriage in which an idol was placed and either
kept in a cult-building or driven around a given area (in much thesame way as an idol of Nerthus/Frey seems to have been; cf. MRN,
165–175). In a way, EI’s chair is not too dissimilar from the loose seat(without arms) belonging to one of the Dejbjerg wagons from near
Ringkøbing in Denmark (DNM C4738; cf. RGA2, s.v. Dejbjerg andreferences; Drescher and Hauck, 1982, 275–276 and fig. 25). The threepeaks of the low back of EI’s seat are to some extent reminiscent of
the pillars on the seat of the Dejbjerg wagon.11 On EI’s chair, see,however, further pp. 146–149 below).
Feature 8. EI is made of bronze. Both RI and the figure from Lindby,
thought to be respectively the gods Frey and Odin, are also made of
11 Whatever the significance of the three prongs which form the back of
EI’s chair (cf. Figure 9), they (and particularly the middle one) released theobject’s creator from the need to represent the less attractive (or at any rate
the iconographically less significant) parts of the man’s body. They would
also have protected the man’s rear parts from assaults from behind, sexual orotherwise. A gananda rassaklof (cf. ÍF, VI, 242) was something scarcely to berevealed, cf. Meulengracht Sørensen, 1983, 71–73 and passim; Bjarnar sagaHítdœlakappa, ch. 17 (ÍF, III, 154–155). And Thor had to be no less careful
than others in such matters.

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bronze. Bronze images of non-Scandinavian deities (or the like) havebeen found in Scandinavia (Sweden): the Buddha from Helgö (SHM
25514:2200) and a statuette of Venus from Ösby, Öland (SHM 775;
cf. Janson and Lundberg, 1987, 168). Bronze statuettes of the classicalgods are, of course, widely known throughout Europe. Miniature Thor’s
hammers made of bronze have been found in e.g. Birka and Hedeby(cf. KL, XVIII, col. 504 and references); and apparently larger ones
are reported by Saxo (cf. Note 7 in Chapter 2). Bronze was generally
a favoured material for amulets and was thought to have prophylactic
powers (cf. p. 54 above).12
Feature 9. This is a very minor point. As noted above (p. 83), thefirst modern descriptions of EI suggest that the object may originallyhave been gilded. While we might have considerable reservations on
this point—there is little or no sign of gilding on the object now—, weshould perhaps not entirely dismiss the possibility. And in this context,
we may note that the images of Thor at Mærin and Hundflorp (see p.
97 above) are said to be adorned with precious metals. Of the former,
Snorri (Hkr, I, 317) writes that he was búinn me› gulli ok silfri (cf.
ÓT, I, 378; Flat, I, 320); and it is said of the latter that eigi skortir hanngull á sér né silfr and that he was allt gulli glæst ok silfri (ÓHLeg, 32,
33; cf. Hkr, II, 187, 188; ÓH, 277, 279; Flat, II, 190, 191). It is truethat in these two accounts we probably have more literary motif thanreflection of reality (or at least considerable exaggeration); cf. AR, I,
386. Even so, it is not entirely impossible that idols of Norse gods
(and not least Thor) were adorned with precious metals in some way
or other (cf. also the idol of Perun mentioned in RPC (see pp. 102–103
above), which had ‘a head of silver and a mustache of gold’). Certainly
statues and statuettes of the gods of classical antiquity (often made ofbronze) were frequently gilded. At all events, a miniature image of a god
12 As noted (p. 85 above), EI seems to have been produced by the lost-wax

process. This was probably relatively expensive and such objects could not be
mass-produced. In considering whether or not EI was an amulet representing
the god Thor, it is perhaps worth noting Carol Andrews’s statement (1994,
104–105) with respect to ancient Egypt: ‘The lost wax method was the mostpopular for metal amulets made during the last millennium BC, especially thosein the shape of deities or sacred animals.’ Perhaps such amulets produced bythis method, however expensive, were particularly favoured in other civilisations. On the use of wax for implements of magic (though usually with
malevolent intent), cf. H422–423.

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is more likely to have been gilded than, for example, a weight (cf.
Theory 5), a toy (cf. Theory 4) or a playing-piece (cf. Theory 3; note,however, pp. 94–95 above). And miniature Thor’s hammers could begilded (see for example Lundström, 1981, 67, 63; cf. Note 12 above).
Feature 10. The most important attribute of Thor was his hammer.
There is more than ample evidence for this and only a few examples
need be given. Dala-Gu›brandr says of his image of Thor that it has alarge hammer in its hand (‘ok hefir hann mikinn hamar í hendi’, ÓHLeg,
32; cf. Hkr, II, 187; ÓH, 277; Flat, II, 190). In ch. 23 of Fóstbrœ›rasaga (ÍF, VI, 247), two people see a chair on which the image of Thoris carved: flau sá fiór me› hamri sínum skorinn á stólsbrú›unum; theuse of the reflexive possessive pronoun here is indicative and implies
that Thor was frequently represented with a hammer (cf. here also
NK, XXVI, 125 and references for the expression Tor med tungum
hamre in mainland Scandinavian folk-tradition). In the pictorial
representation of the story of Thor’s fishing for the Mi›gar›sormr on
the rune-stone at Altuna, Uppland (U 1161), the god proclaims his
identity by holding a Thor’s hammer of a type known from elsewherein Uppland (cf. the Thor’s hammer from Läby (SHM 131; see
Figure 5 above)). Olav Bø (KL, I, col. 287) can reasonably state:‘Sermerkt for Torsbileta var hamaren.’
We turn to EI. The object held by the man of EI has already been described. If this object held by this man could unequivocally be identified
as a hammer, then this, of course, would be a very powerful argument insupport of the proposition that the image itself was intended to represent Thor. But it is precisely this identification which has been called
into question. It is true some scholars have had no difficulty in making
it. Thus Sigurd Grieg (1954, 181) writes this alongside a picture of EI:
Et slikt lite Torsbilde som Hallfred ble beskyldt for å ha, men altså ikke
eide, er faktisk bevart [and here Grieg is thinking of EI and not LI; cf. pp.
61–68 above]. Det er av bronse, fremkommet på Island, og var opprinneligi Nationalmuseet i København og er nå i Nationalmuseet i Reykjavik.
Som vi ser er guden gjengitt i sittende stilling—han holder hammeren ihendene i omvendt stilling, skaftet er todelt og det går over i skjegget.

But quite a different view is expressed by Kristján Eldjárn (KE1981,
77–78) in his rejection of the proposition that the pendant from Foss isa Thor’s hammer and can be compared with the object held by EI (cf.
p. 91 above). This may be quoted in full:The Eyrarland image

107

Let us first look at the strange object (if an object it is) which has beentaken for Thór’s hammer and on which the identification of the Eyrarland
image as Thór rests. All over the Scandinavian area small hammer-likeobjects, which certainly were carried on a string round the neck, havebeen found in great quantities. They are made of iron or silver, most ofthem very simple, but some quite elaborate, even with fine filigree work.
These objects are, very reasonably, thought to be amulets in the shape ofThór’s hammer. But the object on the Eyrarland image bears only a very
faint resemblance to these amulets. The only object known to me, which
has a certain likeness to it, is a silver cross, found at Foss in Hrunamannahreppur in south-western Iceland (Icel. Nat. Mus. No. [= fijms] 6077),
with a fine animal’s head and a loop on the longer vertical arm, while theother three have discoid terminals [see Figure 12 and Note 7 on p. 91
above]. This quite unique object must certainly be looked upon as anamulet, but to explain it as Thór’s hammer, as has been attempted manytimes, seems to be rather far-fetched, since it is in many ways very different from the well-known Thór’s hammers. The object is decidedly
cruciform, and the best explanation seems to be that it simply is the Christian symbol, intended to be worn round the neck, in the same way as thereal Thór’s hammers, true enough. Therefore it is by no means tenable totry to use the Foss silver object for identifying the mysterious unique object on the Eyrarland image as Thór’s hammer and through it the image
itself as the god Thór.

From these two statements, those of Grieg and Kristján Eldjárn, it isclear that there is an issue here to be addressed.
Now the reasons for the unwillingness of some scholars to make theidentification of the object held by EI with Thor’s hammer (which would
be of such importance in this context) are probably the following four:(a) the fact that the object in question has a double shaft; one would
expect a single one.
(b) the fact that the faces of the head of the hammer are rounded;
one might expect them rather to be square.
(g) the fact that the vertical part of the hammer that goes down
between the man’s knees exists at all.
(d) the fact that the object seems to be connected to the man’s beard.
We shall return to these four objections below. Before doing this,however, three points ((A) – (C)) may be made which are relevant in
the present context:(A) However the object held by EI is to be interpreted, most people(including Kristján Eldjárn himself) would probably agree that it is, infact, a combination of at least two objects, the man’s beard and some108

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other thing or things. This is, of course, certainly true of those who
regard the lower part of the object as Thor’s hammer. Thus, as noted,
Grieg (1954, 181) clearly regards it partly as a hammer, the shaft ofwhich ‘går over i skjegget’. And Gjærder (1964, 101) writes of thebeard that it is ‘shaped like a cross, and one may without doubt interpret
it as the hammer of Thor’. But here account must also be taken ofanother possibility or other possibilities. Halldór Laxness (1974, 38)
describes EI (which he rather inaccurately refers to as ‘íslenska myndin
úr Eyrardal’) as a representation ‘af karli me› mjög svo stílfær›arhre›jar áfastar karlmenskutákni sínu, skegginu’. And Margaret Clunies
Ross (1994) makes a slightly different suggestion but one along thesame lines. She thinks that Thor’s hammer was not infrequently
regarded as a phallic symbol. And she argues (62, note 17) that if EI‘really represents a bearded and seated fiórr with his hammer, thehammer clearly doubles as a phallus’. Clunies Ross could well be rightin her suggestion. It is entirely possible that the object resting on EI’s
knees is intended to represent not only Thor’s hammer but also his
genitalia (i.e. two testicles either side of a member). (Indeed, I havemyself developed the idea elsewhere and with reference to stanzas
30–31 of the poem firymskvi›a; cf. Perkins, 1994.) If we take cognisance of all suggestions on this count, it is not impossible that wemust interpret the object held by EI as a combination of three things,
not only the man’s beard and his hammer, but also his genitalia. And
such a combination of symbols need not surprise us unduly. The
combination of symbolic emblems by, for example, superimposing
one over the other is not an uncommon phenomenon in medieval art(cf., for example, Reuterswärd, 1982, 95). And with particular reference
to EI, Gjærder (1964, 102), who fully appreciates the importance ofThor’s beard (as well as his hammer) as one of the god’s attributes,
writes: ‘Now, looking at the bronze cast again, we have reason tobelieve that the queer beard exemplifies a phenomenon which often
occurs in medieval and in popular art, namely the combining of two
signs or symbols in order to obtain a stronger magical effect or a heavier
weight of thought.’(B) A factor which may not have been given sufficient attention in
the present context is stylisation. This needs special emphasis. The
symbol of Thor’s hammer would have been extremely common
throughout pagan Scandinavia. Historically it probably had its origins

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far back in time. It would have been found in numerous contexts andforms, for instance, as the sort of elaborate object represented by thewell-known miniature silver hammer from Skåne (SHM 9822:810;
Figure 24 below; cf. VH, 190, 276); or as a simple graffito, scratchedon a coin or a loom-weight (cf. KL, s.v. Graffiter; VH, 315). Now themore common and familiar a symbol or symbolic object is, the more
likely it is to be stylised; one notes how many different forms the
symbol of the cross can take and how different many of these are fromthe reality of the object on which a man might be crucified. And
portrayal of Thor’s hammer was certainly subject to stylisation. Thus
Skjølsvold (1951, 45) can write: ‘Det forholdsvis store material av
Torshammere som foreligger i Danmark og Sverige, viser at disse
varierer sterkt i detaljene. Best går dette fram av de mange eksemplarer
som er funnet i Birka, hvor nesten ingen av formene er helt like. Det
samme er tilfelle med de forskjellige fremstillinger av lappenes “Tor”,
Horagalles, hvis hammertegn har de forskjelligste former. Alt tyder
på at utformingen av disse hammertegnene ikke har vært særlig bundet
av detaljer, som alltid når det gjelder symboler. Vi kjenner jo til fra våregen tid hvorledes symboler kan forringes eller forenkles ved gjentagelser, dog uten å tape sin effekt.’ And in connection with this last
remark, it should be noted that a symbol can be altered and elaborated
by the process of stylisation as well as simplified. (For remarks relevantto the stylisation of Thor’s hammers, cf. also, for instance, Skovmand,
1942, 57, 63–65; DR, 1942, cols 1007–1008.) The evidence we have,then, certainly suggests that Thor’s hammers could be given a variety
of stylised forms by artists and artisans to suit their own artistic andtechnical purposes. Some exemplification may be given. The runemaster of the Swedish rune-stone Vg 113 (near Grästorp, Västergötland;see Figure 19) gave his hammer an abnormally long shaft to allow it
to act as (part of) a frame for two long lines of runes. (He may also
have given it an asymmetrical head because of a crack in the stone.)
Quite the reverse situation is represented by many of the Thor’s
hammers intended as pendants. For example, the silver Thor’s hammer
from the Eketorp hoard in Närke (now in Örebro Läns Museum asÖLM 22.461; see Figure 17; cf. Ekelund, 1956, 153, 169) has a shaftof proportionately minimal length and of triangular shape while thefaces of the head are somewhat pointed and rounded.The Thor’s
hammers on the rune-stones from Norra Åby (Sö 86) and Stenkvista

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church (Sö 111) in Södermanland (seeFigures 20 and 21) have shafts, the endsof which are wider than the faces of
the heads. (It is true that both stones
are probably the work of one and thesame rune-master.) Finally, attention
may perhaps again be drawn to the
Icelandic galdrastafur known as fiórsFigure 17: Silver Thor’s hammer hamar and used as a charm to detect(pendant) from Eketorp, Närke, thieves (Figure 18; see Jón Árnason,
Sweden (ÖLM 22.461). (By per- 1862–1864, I, 446 and cf. pp. 93–94
mission of Örebro Läns Museum.) above). This swastika-like symbol has,of course, really very little resemblance to a hammer (or indeed to twohammers). For precisely what reasons it has been given this name isfar from clear to me. But that it has surely bears witness to thoughtprocesses in which ideas of stylisation played a considerable part.13(C) It will be seen from the above that Kristján Eldjárn rejects thecomparative evidence of the Foss pendant on the grounds that it ismore likely to be a Christian cross than a Thor’s hammer. If the Foss
pendant is indeed a Christ’s cross, he is of course right in so doing. This,
however, is an issue which must be left aside
at present (though we should perhaps notentirely dismiss the possibility that the Foss
pendant is a Thor’s hammer). What should
be noted is that there is a set of objects which
can be more or less definitely identified asThor’s hammers and which bear no small resemblance to the object held by the Eyrarland
man. These are a collection of miniature ironhammers discovered at Hilda, Innvik, Stryn, Figure 18: fiórshamar.
Sogn og Fjordane and now in Historisk Mu- (After Jón Árnason, 1862–
seum, Universitetet i Bergen (as B5766 (b)). 1864, I, 446.)
13 If Stig Jensen (1991, 50–51; cf. OA, 178; VH, 150, 276) is correct inassuming that the ‘horned’ head-gear of certain masks from Ribe and otherplaces were intended to symbolise Odin’s two ravens and the masks themselvesto depict that god, then we would have an example of an attribute of anotherof the Norse gods being presented in heavily stylised form. Cf. Note 10 above;
Figure 22 below.

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Figure 19: Rune-stone from near Grästorp (Lärkegapet, Bjärby parish),Västergötland, Sweden (Vg 113).

Figure 20: Runic rock at Norra Åby, Södermanland, Sweden (Sö 86). (By permission of ATA, Stockholm; © Riksantikvarieämbetet.)Figure 21: Rune-stone at Stenkvista church, Södermanland, Sweden (Sö 111).
(By permission of ATA, Stockholm; © Riksantikvarieämbetet.)114

Thor the wind-raiser

Figure 22: Lead alloy mask from Ribe (Jutland, Denmark) interpreted as
representing Odin and his two ravens (Den antikvariske Samling, Ribe,
ASR540x1).

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The find is described by Haakon Schetelig (1904, 28–29, with
illustration; cf. Figure 23 and Perkins, 1994, 660). It consists of a small,iron ring (about 2.5 centimetres in diameter) on which are hung nine
objects with cruciform heads. The whole is very much corroded. As
suggested, the nine objects have generally been identified as Thor’s
hammers (see, for example, Grieg, 1954, 193). And the hammers resemble the object held by EI in various ways. Each shaft extends beyond
the head giving the end of the hammer a tripartite form (like the object
held by EI). Each shaft, as well as being relatively short, is flat orrectangular in cross-section in much the same way as the ‘shaft’ of theobject held by EI would be if it were solid rather than divided into
two. As can be seen from illustrations, the faces of the heads of someof the hammers are somewhat rounded (although this may be due more
to corrosion than original design). On the whole, then, it is reasonable
to take the hammers from Hilda into account in the present context.
We return now to items (a) – (d) set out on p. 107 above in the lightof the three points (A) – (C) just made. How weighty are they as
objections to the proposition that the object held by EI may be identified
as a Thor’s hammer? Point (B), the factor of stylisation, is of particular
relevance in this context and should be especially borne in mind.
(d) There is very little reason why two of Thor’s important attributes,
his beard and his hammer, should not be combined. As Gjærder has
suggested (see (A) above), the combination of two signs or symbols is
not uncommon in medieval and popular art. And the intention may
well have been to represent Thor holding both his hammer and his
beard.
(b) As noted, the faces of the hammers from Hilda may be somewhat
rounded. It is not the case that all miniature Thor’s hammers necessarily
have square heads (cf., for example, the hammer from the Eketorp
hoard mentioned in (B) above; cf. Figure 17, p. 110 above). Or theends may have been rounded purely as an extra ornamentation.
Certainly if the end of the object is intended also to represent the man’s
genitalia (see (A) above), then we have a very good reason why eachof the three elements should be rounded.
(g) It will be noted that the Thor’s hammers from Hilda have quiteconsiderable extensions to their shafts beyond their heads. And if theend of the object held by EI is intended to represent the man’s genitalia(cf. (A) above), then the part of the object going down between the
man’s legs would again be readily explicable.

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Thor the wind-raiser

Figure 23: Nine iron Thor’s hammers on a ring from Hilda, Innvik, Stryn,
Sogn og Fjordane, Norway (HMB B5766(b)). (Photo: Ann-Mari Olsen;© Historisk Museum, Universitetet i Bergen.)(a) Objections (b),(g) and (d) present, then, little difficulty. A perhaps
somewhat greater problem, although by no means an insuperable one,is the fact that the object is twin-shafted. If it had a single shaft,identification with a Thor’s hammer would be much more certain. On
the assumption, however, that the object is a Thor’s hammer (albeit
attached to the figure’s beard), the following possible explanations
may be suggested for its twin shaft.
(i) It is not entirely impossible that full-sized double-shafted hammers
did actually exist and were used for ritual and ceremonial purposes.

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Certainly weapons used only for ceremonial purposes seem to haveexisted in pagan Scandinavia (cf., for example, Ellis Davidson, 1967,
195 and plate 19; Janson and Lundberg, 1987, 281–282). The fact that
an officiant would be able to grasp such an object easily with both
hands and lower it, head down, onto the object to be consecrated (e.g.
a brides’s lap; cf. firymskvi›a, stanza 30; Perkins, 1994; Sö 111 (Figure21)) might have given such ceremonies more style.
(ii) We must remember that the object held is probably a combinationof at least two things, beard and hammer (cf. point (A) above). The
part of the object grasped by the man might be as much intended torepresent his divided beard as the shaft of his hammer. And the part ofthe shaft just below the hands might be, at least in some degree, intended
to represent an extension of his beard as well as the shaft of his hammer.
This does not, of course, mean that the object resting on the figure’sknees is not intended to represent the head of a hammer or that the two
short vertical pieces leading down to it are not to some extent intended
to give the impression of that hammer’s shaft.
(iii) But the most likely single explanation for the double shaft ofwhat we are assuming is a Thor’s hammer is this. The modeller of EI
appears to have been a person with a distinct liking for symmetry; theimage of a man he has produced is probably as symmetrical as it could
be. At the same time, competent though he was, he was also a person
who was perfectly prepared to take at least some liberties in his
representation of an object as well-known and commonplace as a Thor’s
hammer would have been, in short, a person who was prepared tostylise (cf. point (B) above). Now if he represented his figure clutchinga single-shafted hammer (or an undivided beard), the symmetry of theobject would have been disturbed; one arm would have had to be higher
than the other. He could alternatively have represented the hands
clasped together around a single shaft. But this might have been
aesthetically less appropriate (the hands, which are rather broad withwell-defined fingers, might have turned out to be a rather large, bloblike object), or it may have been technically more difficult (not least
to represent the intertwined fingers) or both.
Explanation (i) would seem less probable than (ii) or (iii); and (iii)
is the most probable. None of these three explanations necessarily
precludes another and a combination of two or three of them is by nomeans impossible.

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This rather lengthy discussion of Feature 10 has, it is hoped, shownthat an identification of the object resting on EI’s knees with a Thor’s
hammer is certainly possible. Those who reject such an identificationon the grounds that the object in question is too dissimilar in form
from a Thor’s hammer may have seriously overlooked the factor of
stylisation (cf. (B) above). On the other hand, we must guard against
the circular argument here. The preceding discussion of Feature 10
has been based very much on the assumption that the figure holding
the object is a representation of the god Thor. It would, then, be
dangerous to deduce from the fact that the object held by EI might bea Thor’s hammer that the man who holds it is intended to be Thor.
Interim conclusions. At this stage, with ten individual features of EI
dealt with, some interim conclusions may be drawn. It may, at thispoint, reasonably and perhaps not unexpectedly be said that, by itself,
any single one of the Features so far discussed will not suffice todemonstrate that EI is intended as a representation of Thor. Indeed
two Features, Feature 3 and more especially Feature 9, are virtuallyinsignificant in this context, the latter only marginally worth noting.
Had it been possible at this stage of the argument to interpret the object
in the man’s hands unequivocally as a hammer, then that would, as
noted, certainly have been suggestive of the god Thor. But such an
identification has so far not been possible (although we shall return tothe object in question below). What, on the other hand, can be said at
this stage is that various combinations of the ten Features are rather
more indicative. For example, EI has similar conical head-gear, beard
and upturned moustaches to the figure from Lindby (quite possibly a
representation of Odin) and those on the Ledberg stone (probably someof the Norse gods). And a particular likeness may be discerned withRI (which probably represents Frey; cf. Features 1, 4, 5, 6, and 8). In
my view, then, enough information has been assembled so far to suggestthat EI was intended to represent one of the Norse gods. There is, as
far as I know, little or nothing touched on up to now which speaks
against such a proposition. And if the object held by the figure is indeed
a hammer (which it could be), then EI could well represent Thor. With
this said, I now move on to draw attention to three further features of
EI (Features 11, 12 and 13). The first of these has, I think, particularimportance in the present context and consists not so much of a single

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feature of EI but rather of a combination of features, most, if not all ofwhich (including Feature 10) have been discussed already (cf. also inthis respect Feature 13). Feature 12 is of less importance to the overallargument.
Feature 11. Let us assume briefly that the object held by EI is, in fact,a hammer (cf. the discussion of Feature 10). We may then say that inbroad outline, EI seen directly from the front represents the face of aman looking over the end of the shaft of a largish hammer. The man
has piercing eyes (cf. Feature 2), a prominent nose (cf. Feature 3) andmoustaches which (to repeat what has already been said) reach upwards
across the cheekbones almost up to the corners of the eyes, where they
have tightly curled terminals (cf. Feature 4). In addition, the face has asubstantial beard which develops into the shaft of the hammer (cf.
Feature 5). The faces of what we interpret as the hammer are parallelto the vertical line of the man’s body.
Attention may now be given to four Viking-Age objects, two of
which have been mentioned already (cf. Figures 24–27). The museum
numbers of these are SHM 9822:810 (Skåne, unprovenanced; cf. VH,
190, 276), SHM 5671 (Erstorp (formerly called Erikstorp), Östergötland; cf. Ellis Davidson, 1967, 202 and plate 67; Bergenblad, 1972
and references), SHM 101 (Bredsätra, Öland; cf. VArt, 155–156) and
DNM C1787 (Mandemarke, Møn; cf. Skovmand, 1942, 100–103).
All four of these objects have generally been identified as Thor’s
hammers and this identification need scarcely be questioned. (Theheads of all four have the traditional shape of Thor’s hammers; cf.
DR, col. 1007.) But they resemble each other and distinguish themselves from other Thor’s hammers by the heads or faces at the ends ofthe shafts. It is true that a number of commentators have been inclined
to regard these as zoomorphic. But others (most notably Stephens,
1878, 34–36) have discerned features which belong to representationsof the face of the god Thor. Thus: (a) Turville-Petre (MRN, 83, caption
to illustration 17) remarks on the piercing eyes of the hammer fromSkåne and compares those of Thor (cf. Feature 2). Certainly the eyesof all four faces are particularly large or glaring or piercing. And thoseof the hammer from Mandemarke, picked out as they are in gold,
give a particularly glaring effect. (b) What has often been interpreted as the large beak of a bird on the hammer from Skåne may be a

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Figure 24: Silver Thor’s hammer from Skåne, Sweden (otherwise unprovenanced; SHM 9822:810). (By permission of ATA, Stockholm; © Riksantikvarieämbetet.)Figure 25: Thor’s hammer from Er(ik)storp, Östergötland, Sweden (silver with
filigree; SHM 5671). (By permission of ATA, Stockholm; © Riksantikvarieämbetet.)

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Figure 26: Silver Thor’s hammer from Bredsätra, Öland, Sweden (SHM 101).
(By permission of ATA, Stockholm; © Riksantikvarieämbetet.)Figure 27: Silver Thor’s hammer from Mandemarke, Møn, Denmark (DNM
C1787). (Photo: Kit Weiss; by permission of Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.)122

Thor the wind-raiser

stylised representation of a large nose for Thor (cf. Feature 3). (c) As
far as the Mandemarke-hammer is concerned, we should perhaps notentirely dismiss Stephens’s interpretation (1878, 36) of the gold pieces
inlaid in the forehead of the face as fragments of Hrungnir’s whetstone
still stuck in Thor’s head (cf. SnE, 100–104). The man’s face on thisparticular hammer also has heavy brows over the eyes (cf. Skovmand,
1942, 100: ‘over Øjnene ses udstaaende Øjenbrynsbuer’); cf. SnE, 49:
fiórr lét síga br‡nnar ofan fyrir augun. (d) Ellis Davidson (1967, 202)
remarks of the shafts of the hammers from Skåne and Er(ik)storp thatthey form ‘a kind of beard below the face’. We may compare the way
the beard of EI develops into or doubles as the shaft of what we posit
is a hammer (cf. the discussion of Features 5 and 10 above).
If, then, we could say with certainty: (i) that the faces looking overthe shafts of the four Thor’s hammers in question are to be interpreted
as those of Thor (and a critic like Ljungberg (1947, 123) could write,
doubtless of these four hammers, ‘med säkerhet är Tors ansikte avbildatpå några Torshammare’); and (ii) that the face of EI represents that of
one of the Norse gods (cf. the Interim conclusions above), then it would
be reasonable to infer by analogy that the object held by EI is intended
to represent a hammer, albeit it in stylised form; further that the god inquestion is Thor. But the reader might feel that these two points arestill somewhat uncertain, particularly (i). No such uncertainty exists,
however, in connection with a piece of evidence which is of central
importance to the main issue of the present argument, the issue ofwhat EI is intended to represent. The item in question has alreadybeen mentioned in passing (pp. 66, 102, 109). We may now consider it
in greater detail.
The runic carving at Norra Åby, Södermanland (Sö 86; Figure 20 on
p. 112) is situated not far north of Hjälmaresund in Lake Hjälmaren. It
takes up practically the whole height of the rock (about 1.77 metres)
and is about 1.55 metres broad. The actual runes are nearly all in amore or less circular band. The inscription, the details of which neednot concern us here, is a memorial to a certain herbiurn. The top of
the circle is broken by a moustached face. And beneath this face is anobject which can only be interpreted as a hammer. It is true that this is
to some extent represented in stylised form; as noted (pp. 109–110),
the end of the shaft is wider than the faces of the head. But an attempt
by Johannes Steenstrup (1929) to interpret it as a Christian cross has

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been rightly dismissed (by Helge Ljungberg, 1938, 240–243). Now it
is doubtless to some extent because of the hammer that the face above
it may be identified as that of Thor. But by no means entirely. There isindependent evidence that we have here Thor’s face: (a) the nose isaccentuated (cf. Feature 3 above); (b) at the bottom of the face there isa ‘peakt Beard’ (so Stephens, 1878, 33; cf. Salin’s reference (1913,406) to the ‘spetsiga hakskägg’ of RI); (c) the eyes are particularlyround and piercing (cf. the discussion of Feature 2 above and references); (d) but what is of particular interest in the present context isthe face’s moustache. As noted above, this has no small resemblance
to the moustache of the Eyrarland man (cf. the discussion of Feature 4
above). In view of what precedes then, we can confidently say that
here we have the face of Thor looking over his hammer. Or, as Ljungberg (1947, 119) unequivocally puts it, ‘Torsansiktet framskymtaröverst, omedelbart ovanför den tydligt ristade Torshammaren’. Now
it should be noted that the hammer on Sö 86 has its head turned
upwards. But here the rune-stone situated outside Stenkvista churchjust south of Eskilstuna (Sö 111) is of interest (cf. Figure 21 on p.
113). There seems to be general agreement that Sö 111 is the work of
the same rune-master as Sö 86 (although the evidence need not be
rehearsed here). And Sö 111 shows a Thor’s hammer of very much thesame shape as that on Sö 86, but with its head turned downwards; had
the rune-master of both stones chosen to represent the hammer on Sö
86 in this way (which he easily could have done), then it would have
had a pattern of even greater interest. It would have shown the face ofThor with large piercing eyes, a prominent nose, a beard and, mostinterestingly of all, an upturned moustache. This face would have stared
at us over the end of the shaft of the hammer. We would have a combination of features which are paralleled to some extent amongst the fourThor’s hammers just dealt with (SHM 101, 5671 and 9822:810; DNM
C1787). Indeed, far from Sö 86 offering an ‘utraditionell’ picture ofThor (as suggested in H. Hellmuth Andersen, 1971, 8), I would suggestthat it presents us with an almost entirely conventional representationof the god. And if we assume that the object the man of EI holds in his
hands is a hammer, then the image would provide a striking parallel toSö 86 which is definitely a representation of Thor. I hope that no further
elaboration or amplification of the arguments is needed. It seems thatthe parallel evidence adduced here in the discussion of Feature 11

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Thor the wind-raiser

conclusively clinches the case for EI being a representation of the god
Thor. And if it does not do that, then at any rate it confirms it so strongly
that it renders Theory 1 considerably more probable that any othertheory discussed so far.14
Feature 12. A very prominent feature of EI are the hands of theman, clutched around the object he is holding with fingers and knuckles
conspicuous and to the front. It is worth noting that we hear of Thor’s
knuckles on another occasion in the literary sources. In the story ofThor’s journey to Útgar›a-Loki (SnE, 49–50), we are told how thegod, when he discovered that one of his goats had been lamed, her›ihendrnar at hamarskaptinu, svá at hvítnu›u knúarnir. If we assume
that we have in EI Thor with his hammer represented in a conventional
position, it would not be difficult to imagine the knuckles whitening
14 It may be noted that the face of SHM 5671 (Er(ik)storp) is represented
with open mouth and beneath it a stereotyped beard. Stephens (1878, 32–33)
appears to have thought of the set of twelve silver pendants from Fölhagen,Gotland (SHM 3547) as representations of Thor and regarded them as having
stylised beards. Certainly at least one of the objects has emphasised eye-brows(cf. SnE, 49 and p. 122 above) and nose, large eyes and moustache, and an
open mouth (cf. VArt, 48; Features 2, 3 and 4 mentioned on pp. 101–103
above; Vikingatid, 26). As noted (pp. 119 and 122 above), I agree with Stephensthat in the Thor’s hammer SHM 9822:810 we have the stylised face of Thor
looking over the end of the shaft of his hammer. But the face is also undoubtedly
aquiline. Given the connection with wind-amulets suggested here, could its
creator have introduced a feature of Hræsvelgr, the giant who took an eagle’s
form and flapped its wings to produce a wind? We note that the LithuanianVˇjopatis (who in certain respects seems to resemble Thor and appears to
produce a wind by blowing; cf. pp. 76–81 above), also had wings. And in later
Icelandic poetry, Hræsvelgr is thought of as being able to produce a wind by
blowing (cf. p. 44 above). Accepting, then, that the object held by EI is Thor’s
hammer, we may note its short shaft. Snorri (SnE, 122–125) gives the
explanation with respect to Mjƒllnir that forskeptit var heldr skammt becauseof the malicious interruption by Loki in the form of a fly while it was being
forged by the two dwarves, Eitri and Brokkr. Saxo (66) tells a different story
according to which the handle of Thor’s club was lopped off in battle by
Høtherus and thus rendered useless. It is, of course, perfectly possible that thetraditions represented by Snorri and Saxo’s stories are secondary to theexistence of short-shafted Thor’s hammers of, for example, the type illustrated
in Figure 17. Probably miniature Thor’s hammers of this type served better as
pendants. Cf. MRN, 85; Clunies Ross, 1994.

The Eyrarland image125

as the god clenches the shaft of his weapon in readiness for action (cf.
Perkins, 1994, 662–663).15
Feature 13. One of the premises of the present investigation is, as
stated, that the figurine from Rällinge (RI) is a representation, in
miniature, of one of the Norse gods, most probably the god Frey. If
this is correct (and the proposition is very widely accepted), then thegeneral likeness between EI and RI is, of course, of considerable
interest. We may particularly note that EI and RI are similar to eachother in height and weight: EI is 6.7 cm. high and originally weighed
about 115 gm.; RI is 6.9 cm. high and weighs 141.3 gm. And otherlikenesses have already been noted in the discussion of EI. For example,
both objects are made of bronze; they have similar conical head-gear;
the upper part of EI’s moustache resembles the moustache of RI. The
ears of the two figures are represented in a similar fashion. And here
Adam of Bremen’s description (470) of the idols in the temple in
Uppsala is relevant. If RI is intended to be a miniature representationof Fricco (like the one in Uppsala and both cum ingenti priapo), andwas found in Sweden where the cult of Frey appears to have beenstrong (cf. Note 7 in Chapter 1), then it would not be surprising to findin Iceland, where worship of Thor was predominant, a miniature
representation of the god cum sceptro, or with some other emblem
like the one resting on EI’s knees (and which may, in fact, be intended
to be a hammer), which could be interpreted as a sceptrum.
Conclusions. The preceding discussion may be said to have produced
positive results in support of Theory 1. While, as noted, Features 3, 8
and 9 (for example) carry very little weight in this matter, they are, atthe same time, by no means inconsistent with the proposition that EI
was intended to represent Thor. And Features 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 are
15 According to Snorri Sturluson (SnE, 29; cf. MRN, 85), Thor had threeespecially valuable possessions: first, his hammer Mjƒllnir, second his
megingjar›ar, ‘girdle of strength’, and third a pair of iron gloves ( járnglófar)of which Snorri says: fleira má hann eigi missa vi› hamars skaptit. One
wonders, of course, whether these gloves mentioned by Snorri really had any
place in tradition outside his writings or in the actual iconography of Thor (cf.
Lorenz, 1984, 313; Stephens, 1878, 41–42). It seems possible that they did
not. At all events, although the hands of EI are relatively large, there is no
reason for thinking that they were intended to be regarded as gloved and there
are no other suggestive signs, such as lines around the wrists.

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much more indicative. Finally, Feature 11 (under which the less decisive
Feature 10 is subsumed) is, in my view and taken together with theother evidence, conclusive. The whole discussion of Theory 1 hasconvincingly demonstrated, it may be argued, that in EI we have theface of the god Thor looking over the end of the shaft of his hammer.
The likeness between the moustaches of EI and Sö 86 is of particularinterest in this connection. And it is especially significant that Theory
1 explains most (if not all) of the idiosyncratic features of EI. This is
an important factor in its favour. Here once more we draw attention to
the remark by Carol Clover cited as a motto to this chapter and its
implications. And in this context, we may give further attention toanother feature of EI: Drescher and Hauck (1982, 263), who think
EI is a playing-piece, characterise its head as ‘überdimensioniert’.
Probably few observers of EI would disagree with this description(even though it is found alongside the otherwise misguided contention
that Theory 3 is correct; the very fact of EI’s large head, which would
tend to make the object top-heavy, militates against the proposition
that it is a playing-piece; cf. p. 95 above). And EI’s large head would
be readily explicable in terms of Theory 1. The creator of EI, we may
posit, sought to represent various of the traditional features of the god
Thor, the large nose, the conical helmet, the beard, but most importantly
the large eyes and extravagant moustaches. For this he needed, in
relative terms, plenty of space, the space afforded by giving the figurea large head.16 All in all, then, the evidence in favour of Theory 1 isconsiderably stronger than that in favour of the other Theories so far
16 Bertelsen (1994, 61, 73), too, remarks on the disproportion in size between
head and body as a feature of EI, that there is ‘miki› misræmi í hlutfallinu
milli stóra skeggja›a höfu›sins og líkamans, sem er lítill, mjór og kynlaus,me› mjóa handleggi og læri og svo fótstuttur a› fæturnar ná ekki til jar›ar frá
stólnum, sem vir›ist fló ekki hár. Mannsmyndin situr eins og barn í of háu
sæti.’ As the present argument shows, the apparently small size of the image’s
body cannot be used to argue (as Bertelsen goes on to do) that EI is not a
representation of Thor. Nor can the fact that EI’s feet do not reach the ground.
This is to be explained by the fact that the back legs of the chair are relatively
short, making the whole object lean backwards slightly (cf. Figure 10 on p. 86
above); were they somewhat longer, the toes would touch or nearly touch theground and the impression noted by Bertelsen would not be present. One wonders
whether the shorter back legs of the chair are to be regarded as an unintentional
imperfection of EI. Or is it possible that its creator wished to ensure that if theThe Eyrarland image

127

discussed. We shall return to this theory and further strong evidence insupport of it below (pp. 132–134). We shall also pay attention to one
further feature of EI which has not really been discussed so far (pp.
146–149 below). Lastly, in the discussion of Theory 9 below (pp. 128–131), a little further attention will be given to the object held by EI
which, if Theory 1 is to be accepted, must be regarded as a Thor’s hammer.
Theory 2
The suggestion exists that EI might be a representation of the god
Frey. This is explicit in Almgren, 1966, 144, and very possibly implicit
in Bar›i Gu›mundsson, 1943 (cf. KH, 362; KE1981, 77, footnote 5).
It is true that the object resting on the man’s knees may be intended to
double as the man’s genitalia (cf. p. 108 above) and that images ofFrey were probably often conventionally fashioned emphasising thispart of the god’s anatomy (Adam of Bremen, 470–471; cf. RI). But
Theory 1 is considerably more acceptable than Theory 2. The object
held by the man of EI is probably primarily to be interpreted as hishammer; further, the man is seated as Thor was seated in the temple at
Uppsala; and he may well be intended to have the staring eyes of Thor
(cf. Features 11, 12, 7 and 2 in the discussion of Theory 1 above). And
as also noted above, any theory that EI represents the god Frey would
be precluded by a theory that EI represents the god Thor; the twotheories are not really reconcilable, nor is a combination of the two
acceptable. It is reasonable, then, to dismiss Theory 2 in favour ofTheory 1.
Theory 6
Lotte Motz (1992, 233) put forward the suggestion that not only EI
but also BI (Figure 29 below) are statuettes which ‘represent musicians,
playing an instrument which shows close resemblance to a double
flute’. She adduces examples of the double flute from a number ofplaces, for example Anatolia, Greece and Sardinia. She draws attention
object fell from its upright position it would tend (as is the case) not to fall
forward on its face? With respect to this last suggestion, cf. Note 11 above.
And in connection with it, we note that the two feet of the figure from Lindby,Skåne (often identified as Odin; see pp. 100–101 above), are perforated for
fixture to some other object, quite possibly in the upright position (cf. VArt, 154).

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Thor the wind-raiser

to the knob-like terminals of the object held by EI and compares ‘thecuplike termination’ of some of the musical instruments she refers to,for example, the tibiae Phrygiae of her figure 7, although she has toadmit that she has not come across an example of the triplication ofsuch bell-shaped cups. She also thinks (p. 237) that ‘we might, in amore tenuous way, recognise the lower part of the moustache [of EI]
as a stylised version of the phorbeia’, a leather band tied around thehead above the lips of the musician which ‘helped to regulate thepressure in the cheeks so that they served as a kind of bellows’. And
she goes on to argue that even RI is probably playing a flute andproduces examples (and pictures) of other ‘phallic flutists’. She has,
however, to admit, at least in the case of BI, that the instrument ‘does
not clearly issue from the figure’s mouth’. And all in all it may be said
that the parallels Motz adduces are far-fetched and unconvincing. We
must certainly regard her hypothesis as considerably less probable than
Theory 1, namely, that EI is a representation of Thor. It is, however,not without interest that Motz suggests that EI represents a man playing
some sort of musical instrument (see below).
Theory 9
Even more recent than Motz’s article on EI is that of Lise GjedssøBertelsen, published in 1994. Bertelsen’s contribution deals with thedevelopment of the Mammen, Ringerike and Urnes styles of art in
Iceland. Attention is given to EI as a representative of the Ringerike
style (cf. pp. 91–92 above). As mentioned (Note 16 above), she notices
the disproportionate size of the figure’s head compared with its bodyand the fact that the toes do not touch the ground and feels she is able
to state: ‘fiessi litli mjói rindill me› visna handleggi og lær, sem nær
ekki til jar›ar af lágum stól, getur varla veri› flrumu- og strí›sgu›innÁsaflór, sterkastur go›a og manna.’ Bertelsen also rejects the proposition that the object held by EI is a Thor’s hammer and contrasts
the shape of the Thor’s hammer from the boat-grave at Vatnsdalur innorth-western Iceland (fijms 1964:122; cf. fiór Magnússon, 1967, 18–
19, 21; VH, 314). What, then, is EI, she asks? This question she is notable to answer; ‘Sú gáta er enn órá›in’, she writes. What she does
contend, however, is that the object resting on EI’s knees is, in allprobability, a Christian cross held upside down. As parallels, she
compares inter alia the pendant from Foss (fijms 6077; cf. p. 91 above),

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which she is convinced is the Christian symbol (and not a Thor’s
hammer as some have thought), and perhaps more pertinently, whatmust be not only a cross but a pendant one found at Rau›nefssta›ir insouthern Iceland and now in fijó›minjasafn Íslands as fijms 10919(see Figure 28). At the same time, she thinks that EI is holding a bearded
mask up to his face and argues that forked beards on masks are common
within the Mammen and Ringerike styles. She gives various examples.
Further, she finds the same constellation of motifs as she discerns in
EI, mask above, cross below, on a rune-stone from Kolunda in Södermanland (Sö 112).
Some criticism of Bertelsen’s arguments may be offered. Firstly, as already implied (cf. Note 16 above), herrejection of Theory 1 is not soundly
based. EI’s disproportionately large
head and the fact that the feet do notreach the ground can be plausibly
explained in terms of Theory 1. Moreover, Theory 1 accounts for more of
the features of EI than Bertelsen’s
theory does. Indeed, apart from perhaps explaining the object resting on
EI’s knees, her theory, it should be
stressed, leaves the question of what Figure 28: Cross (pendant) from
EI is in its entirety quite unsolved. Rau›nefssta›ir, Rangárvallas‡sla,
And her interpretation of the object Iceland (fijms 10919). (Photo: Ívarheld by the figure of EI sorts ill with Brynjólfsson; © National Museumof Iceland, Reykjavík.)
the other features of the object. It has
little or no context. Bertelsen offers no explanation of what the figure
is doing resting an inverted cross on its knees and at the same time
holding a bearded mask against its face. While objects like the crossfrom Rau›nefssta›ir would, as Bertelsen reasonably suggests, havebeen held upright in use (in prayer) this is scarcely what the figure of
EI is doing. And whatever the combination of motifs on Sö 112 wasintended to represent, it explains little in connection with EI. It is, I
suppose, something of a coincidence that Bertelsen should call Sö 112
in aid of her argument, while I use the nearby Sö 86 (together with Sö111) as a key piece of evidence in mine (cf. pp. 122–124 above). But

130

Thor the wind-raiserthat coincidence makes no difference to the issue. I am convinced thatin Sö 86 we have the representation of a bearded Thor looking over
his hammer. I am also convinced that the object held by EI can, withoutstraining the evidence, be interpreted within the context of Theory 1,
that is, as a Thor’s hammer. Moreover, I am unable to accept Bertelsen’s
reasons for rejecting Theory 1.
With these things said, however, we may return to the cross from
Rau›nefssta›ir (fijms 10919) which Bertelsen produces as an important
item of evidence in support of her arguments. At an early stage of thepresent investigation and before Bertelsen’s article was published, I
had noticed this item and its likeness to the object held by the figure of
EI. Now here we approach the whole question of the similarity between
representations of Thor’s hammer on the one hand and Christ’s crosson the other. The two symbols are, of course, representations of two
originally quite different objects, the first a tool or weapon, the second,much larger, an instrument of execution. But in the Germanic world ingeneral and in pagan Scandinavia in particular, they often became sosimilar that they were confused. Stylisation, imitation, emulation andperhaps even deceit were some of the factors which played a part in
the process. That the two types of objects were made literally side byside is graphically illustrated by the well-known mould from Trendgården, Jutland (DNM C24451) which could be used to produce bothThor’s hammers and Christian crosses. This object is sometimes taken
as an indication of the relatively peaceful coexistence of Christianity
and the cult of Thor (cf., for example, VH, 279); or perhaps of the two
symbols being worn simultaneously (cf. Magnusson, 1976, 41); or
perhaps of the cynicism of the creators of such religious objects (cf.
Almgren, 1966, 142). In ch. 17 of Hákonar saga gó›a (Hkr, I, 171),
Sigur›r jarl deceitfully, if diplomatically, interprets Hákon’s krossmark
to the heathen Kárr af Gr‡tingi as a hamarsmark. And doubtless
devotees of Thor, wishing, say, to do business with Christians, foundit politic to make the reverse misrepresentation. Against the backgroundof these considerations, I offer some possible explanations for thesimilarity between the object held by EI (on the one hand) and thependant from Rau›nefssta›ir (on the other). (a) That it is purely
fortuitous or that some very slight degree of imitation (and then, ofcourse, indirect) is involved (but that the object resting on EI’s knees
was intended solely as a representation of a hammer, the object from

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Rau›nefssta›ir solely as one of a cross). (b) That some greater degreeof imitation has taken place (but again that the object resting on EI’s
knees was intended solely as a representation of a hammer, the object
from Rau›nefssta›ir solely as one of a cross). (c) That while EI was
primarily intended to represent Thor, it was also intended that the object
the figure holds could be construed as both a hammer and a cross.
This may have been so that a pagan owner of the object could
misrepresent the hammer as a cross when expedient. Or because it
was intended for ownership by a person who genuinely had faith inboth Thor and Christ. In this last connection we remember that EI wasfound in the landnám of Helgi magri who, we are told, basicallybelieved in Christ but in certain circumstances put his trust in Thor.
We might also note Vilhjálmur Ö. Vilhjálmsson’s remark (VH, 314)
concerning the pendant from Foss that it ‘er ofte opfattet som en
kombination af kors og thorshammer og som en særlig islandsk form
fra trosskiftets tid’. Of these three alternatives, I favour (a) most and(c) least. With the two symbols, the cross and Thor’s hammer, so
common in medieval Scandinavia and so frequently stylised, it is not
improbable that examples of each object which resembled the otherquite closely would coincidentally be produced. But in my view, theobject resting on the knees of EI was primarily intended to represent a
Thor’s hammer.17

17 At this point and also in connection with Lise Gjedssø Bertelsen’s theory
that EI’s face represents some sort of mask (see p. 129 above), it is perhaps
worth noting that the Mexican god Quetzalcóatl had a manifestation as a windgod in which role he assumed a special mask. Thus the New Larousse
encyclopedia of mythology (1968, 433) has a picture of a statue with this in
the caption: ‘Quetzalcoatl in his manifestation as the wind god, when he is
known as Ehecatl. This Aztec basalt statue shows him wearing the wind “mask”
which always identified him surmounted by his own distinctive conical cap.’
The figure in question appears to be blowing with his mouth. The same work(on p. 432) has another picture with this caption: ‘Tlaloc, the rain god of precolombian Mexico, carved in relief on a slab of serpentine. This very ancientdeity is always recognisable even in stylistic representations, always being
shown with completely circular eyes.’ Cf. p. 63 above. Taylor (1991) refers to
Quetzalcóatl as ‘the red-bearded god of agriculture’. He was also the god oftravellers and merchants, with his staff as attribute and serving as an amulet(or the like; cf. H456).

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Thor the wind-raiser
Summary

The preceding examination has shown that, of the theories as towhat the Eyrarland image is intended to represent, Theory 1 (i.e thetheory that the image was intended to represent the god Thor) must be
deemed the most probable. Theory 1 explains more about the object
than any of the other theories that have been considered. It seems
that the oldest interpretation of the object, put forward as early as 1820,
is very likely the correct one. And it is, of course, perfectly possiblethat this conclusion will come as no great surprise to many readers of
this book; many will regard the conclusion arrived at so relatively
laboriously in this chapter as having been obvious from the start. I
would suggest, however, that the comparatively certain result produced by the present rather detailed investigation has been well
worth while. And there is, of course, a feature of EI which has notreally been dealt with so far, and has not received the necessary attention
in the discussion of Theory 1 above, but which is of special interest.
This is the circumstance that EI is represented not only clutching
his beard but also with his mouth open. Now it will be abundantly
clear at this stage of the argument that we must, as far as these features are concerned, interpret EI within the context of our discussionof the three objects to which special attention has been given in
Chapter 3, i.e. the images from Lund (LI), Feddet (FI) and Chernigov(CI). First we must note that the conclusion arrived at in Chapter 3,that LI, FI and CI were intended to represent the god Thor, and theconclusion of the discussion of Theory 1 above in this chapter, that
EI was meant to represent the same god, are results reached more orless independently of each other. Few direct comparisons between EI
and the other three objects have so far been made (although it
must be acknowledged that some, but only some, of the same evidence
has been used in both arguments). Lindquist (1963) arrived at theconclusion that LI was intended to represent Thor without evenmentioning EI; and the testimony of EI plays only a subsidiary partin Pushkina’s similar conclusion (1984) with respect to CI. We can,then, say that any likenesses we discern between EI on the one handand LI, FI and CI on the other will confirm the conclusion arrived atin the discussion of Theory 1 above. And likenesses there certainlyare. What we have in EI is a figurine (like CI, made of bronze) of aman who is seated (like LI), who has round, staring eyes (like LI andThe Eyrarland image

133CI), who clutches his beard with both hands (like at least LI andFI) and who (like at least FI) appears to be blowing down into thisbeard.18 The representation of the open mouth and the top part of thebeard are perhaps particularly reminiscent of FI. It is true that, in thecase of LI and FI, the man appears to clutch a single-stranded beard
with one hand above the other, while in the case of EI, the man clasps
a divided beard with hands at equal height; but this difference is
probably due to a predilection for symmetry on the part of the creatorof EI (cf. pp. 85 and 117 above). It is reasonable to conclude, then,that EI was not only intended to be a representation of the god Thor,
but that the god is depicted involved in the same activity as I haveposited that the Lund image, the image from Feddet and the Chernigov
image are involved in, namely, blowing into his beard, at fleytaskeggrƒddina (or skeggraustina or skeggbroddana). And two features
of EI (not really present in LI, FI and CI) are possibly of interest in
this context.
(1) It has been noted (pp. 40–42) that the verb at fleyta wasparticularly used of the playing of wind-instruments. Any reader ofthis contribution looking at the picture of EI, particularly that takenfrom the side (Figure 10 above) must be reminded of a man playing
some sort of wind-instrument. This is certainly, of course, an idea which
occurred to Lotte Motz (cf. the discussion of Theory 6 above).
(2) The action of blowing a wind-instrument (cf. the immediately
preceding) very often involves puffing out one’s cheeks; and theprocess of blowing to produce a wind might very well involve muchthe same action. As noted above, one interpretation (although notnecessarily the most probable one) of the words blés fiórr fast íkampana at RRÓT 328/20–21 is ‘Thor buccas fortiter inflaret’ (cf. pp.
40 and 44 above), suggesting that when Thor fleytti skeggrƒddina, hepuffed out his cheeks. In view of these factors, it is not without interest
that, when EI is seen from the front, we get the impression (cf.
Frontispiece) that the god may well be puffing out his cheeks. It is true
18 There can, of course, be little doubt that the staring or piercing eyes ofvarious of the amulets representing Thor (effigies, Thor’s hammers) dealt within this study were intended as protection against the evil eye. Cf. pp. 54 and
57–58 above. A study of the differing ways in which the individual craftsmen
produced the piercing or staring effect of Thor’s eyes would probably be
rewarding.

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Thor the wind-raiserthat this may be partly due to the figure’s luxuriant whiskers. But notentirely. And at all events, the very definite impression given by theface of the Eyrarland image is, without doubt, that of a person blowing.
The main outcome of this chapter may now be summarised: it isthat, just as it has been argued in Chapter 3 that LI, FI and CI represent
the god Thor and that the god is blowing into his beard—he is at fleytaskeggrƒddina (or skeggraustina or skeggbroddana)—, so my conclusion here is that EI is intended to represent Thor and that he isportrayed engaged in the same action. It may further be concluded
that EI served the same purpose as it has been argued in Chapter 3 that
LI, FI and CI had. That purpose was to function as a wind-charm,thought capable of raising a wind at the wish of the person who owned
or manipulated it (cf. pp. 74–76 above). EI differs, of course, from theother three objects in that the lower part of the beard doubles as aThor’s hammer (and is perhaps also intended to represent the god’s
genitalia). But otherwise all four objects have very much the same
configuration. It is clear that we must interpret them in very much thesame way.
With the main conclusions of this chapter arrived at in the preceding
paragraph, we must here consider the testimony of two objects, theevidence of which might, at first sight, appear to militate against, or to
be inconsistent with, those conclusions. Both these objects, RI (Figure
15 on p. 100) and BI (Figure 29 opposite), have been mentioned already.
(A) The bronze image from Rällinge, Södermanland (RI), holds his
beard with his right hand (the left arm is missing) in very much thesame way as, for example, CI. And yet RI is normally interpreted (andnot least in what precedes in the present study) as a representation of
the god Frey. If it is Thor who was represented by CI (and by LI, FI
and EI) as able to raise a wind by blowing into his beard, why, it mightperhaps be asked, should we find the god Frey involved in what mightwell be interpreted as the same operation? These answers may be given:(i) There is, of course, no reason why Frey, just as much as Thor, should
not have been thought of as able to produce a wind by ‘sounding thevoice/bristles of his beard’. After all, the modern Icelandic evidence
adduced above (pp. 48–50) suggests that other supernatural beings (e.g.
Kári, Bár›ur Snæfellsás) were thought of as able to raise winds in thisway. And there is certainly evidence that Frey was a god who might

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be invoked to get a favourable wind, and not least in Sweden where
RI was found (cf. pp. 13–14, 17–18 above and Note 7 in Chapter 1).
(ii) A second possibility presents itself. We have in what precedes (p.
127) dismissed the possibility that EI is a representation of Frey. Can
we, on the other hand, equally confidently dismiss the possibility that
RI is a representation of Thor? It is perhaps not entirely certain that
we can. The identification of RI with Frey has, of course, been madeon the basis of the figurine’s erect penis (cf., for example, Adam ofBremen, 470–471). But Thor seems also to have been represented as
an ithyphallic figure and EI itself may carry a representation of his
genitalia (cf. p. 108 above). And certainly EI and RI are similar in a
number of respects (cf. p. 125 above). If it is felt, then, that RI in someway presents difficulties for the conclusion just arrived at that LI, FI,
CI and EI represent Thor blowing into his beard (to produce a wind),
here are two possibilities, either of which disposes of those difficulties.
It should be noted, of course,that explanations (i) and (ii)preclude one another in thiscontext and if one of them has
to be given precedence, thenit is (i) which must be preferred.
(B) The whalebone figure
from a tenth-century graveat Baldursheimur, northern
Iceland (BI; cf. Figure 29)
has been described by, forexample, Kristján Eldjárn(KH, 159–161, 357–361) andGraham-Campbell (VArt, 25).
An argument that the existence of BI invalidates theconclusion arrived at abovethat EI is an image of Thor
Figure 29: Whalebone image from Baldursmight conceivably be put heimur, Su›ur-fiingeyjars‡sla (= BI; fijms
forward along the following 6; height: 3.9 cm.). (Photo: Ívar Brynjólfslines (cf., for example, son; © National Museum of Iceland, ReykjaKE1981; KE1983; VArt, 25): vík.)

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Thor the wind-raiser(1) BI is a playing-piece, the ‘king’ in a set of hneftafl (the view ofboth Kristján Eldjárn and Graham-Campbell);(2) EI and BI are so similar that they must be regarded as having thesame function (cf. p. 94 above);(3) EI is therefore a playing-piece.
It should first be said that one cannot but agree with the second ofthese propositions. BI and EI are indeed so similar in the singular way
the men are holding their beards that the same explanation must be
given for both of them. But with that said, I, together with various
others (e.g. Shetelig, 1937, 215–216), cannot agree that BI is a playingpiece. One of the main reasons for arguing that it is a playing-piece isthat it was discovered alongside a set ‘of twenty-four plain, turned
pieces of cattle-bone . . . together with an oblong carved die’ (so VArt,
25); these pieces are regarded as the rest of the set. But it will be notedthat while BI is made of whalebone, the twenty-four other pieces areof cattle-bone. (It must, however, be conceded that Icelandic playingpieces are sometimes made of whalebone.) And where sets of playingpieces have been discovered in Viking-Age graves, the ‘king’ does
not normally seem to have differed from the other pieces in anything
like the degree that BI differs from the twenty-four pieces of cattlebone alongside which it was found; in this context, we may compare
the set found in Grave 624 at Birka where the king is distinguishedmerely by a ‘hemispherical cast mount of gilt-bronze’ (cf. VArt, 24
and plate). And the mere fact that BI was found alongside playingpieces of course by no means implies that it itself is a playing-piece;
for example, CI was found together with both playing-pieces and dicebut, as far as I know, the suggestion has never been made that it isitself a playing-piece. We may also note Grieg’s remarks (1954, 184)
on an object from Østre Alm, Hedmarken, itself probably an amulet
but found alongside playing-pieces (cf. Note 8 above). And we haveargued above (pp. 90–96), on considerations quite independent of theevidence of BI, that EI is most unlikely to have been a playing-piece. It
is tempting, then, to turn around the argument described above, as follows:(1) EI is not a playing-piece;(2) EI and BI are so similar that they must be regarded as having thesame function;(3) BI can therefore not be a playing-piece.
And, of course, the thesis that BI is a playing-piece does nothing to
explain the various idiosyncratic features of the object. For example,

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Gjærder (1964, 100) refers to BI’s rich growth of facial hair (cf.
Features 4 and 5 of EI discussed on pp. 102–103 above). He also talksof the ‘large, staring eyes’ of BI, and we compare Graham-Campbell’s
description of the eyes of the Thor from Lund (VArt, 24) as ‘large andround’ and Pushkina’s reference (1984, 86) to the ‘round, somewhat
staring eyes’ (see p. 72 above) of the Thor from Chernigov (cf. thediscussion of Feature 2 of EI on pp. 101–102 above). Shetelig (1937,
215–216) firmly and rightly argues that ‘en så enkel tolkning [of BI asa ‘king’ in a board game] overbeviser ikke under sammenligning med. . . bronsefiguren [i.e. EI]’. And he continues: ‘Så eiendommelige og
overmåte sjeldne ting må ha sin selvstendige mening.’ In other words,
we return yet again to the proposition that ‘the measure of a theory iswhat it explains’. We must interpret BI as the image of a god and thenmost reasonably as Thor. (It does not follow, of course, that because virtually all playing-pieces have flat bases or platforms (cf. p. 95 above),that all objects with flat bases or platforms will be playing-pieces.)
Doubts may, however, linger on the issue of whether BI is the imageof a god or a playing-piece. Kristján Eldjárn (KH, 361; KE1981, 84;
KE1983, 73) pointed to certain holes and incisions on the bottom of
BI which he thought might indicate its being a playing-piece. But his
more precise arguments are not clear to me. In this context, however,another possibility presents itself. Might it be possible to reconcile or
combine the two theories as to what BI was intended to be? Kristján
himself, although he concludes that BI is the hnefi in a set of playingpieces, also concedes (KH, 361) that ‘flrátt fyrir fla› gæti hún a› stílog handbrag›i veri› í ætt vi› smágo›’. It is, then, perhaps not entirely
inconceivable that BI was intended as a playing-piece but carved in
imitation of miniature idols of Thor. Another possibility presents itself:
In a short article in OA (186), for example, Else Roesdahl discusses
primarily FI, but also BI, EI, RI and LI, under the heading ‘Spil eller
tro?’. She gives, in my view, unwarrantable support to the proposition
that these objects (most unequivocally BI) are playing-pieces (though
she has no explanation as to what the figures are doing with theirbeards). She does however concede that three of them (EI, LI, RI,
though not BI) have often been interpreted as images of heathen gods
and continues as follows: ‘Men mon ikke disse figurer også er brugt
til spil, ligesom formentlig den lille ravmand [i.e. FI]? Form og størrelse
passer godt, og selv om nogle af dem måske gengiver de hedenske
guder Thor og Frej, så var disse ikke fjerne og skræmmende. De indgik

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i dagliglivet. Og under alle omstændigheder stammer figurerne fra
trosskiftets tid, hvor de religiøse forestillinger var i skred.’ Here, then,we have the suggestion that at least some of the five figures underdiscussion served both as idols and as playing-pieces. But given thispossibility with respect to BI, one can only speculate on the extent towhich it was intended for, or used in, this second function. After all,all sorts of objects might be used as playing-pieces. One is reminded
here, for example, of a scene from Gu›n‡ Halldórsdóttir’s film
Kristnihald undir Jökli (1989) where Séra Jón Prímus (played by

Figure 30: Séra Jón Prímus at his chess-board (from Gu›n‡ Halldórsdóttir’s
film Kristnihald undir Jökli). (By kind permission of Gu›n‡ Halldórsdóttir.)

Baldvin Halldórsson) plays chess with himself with a set made up
partly of nuts and bolts, the valves of motor engines and even a key(see Figure 30; cf. Hávar Sigurjónsson, 1989, 15). And in this context
we may note a small man’s head made of bone to which Grieg (1954,
188–190) draws attention. Grieg thinks that this could well originallyhave been an amulet, and then a ‘husgud’, but that it was subsequently
adapted to serve as a playing-piece by cutting away its lower part (thechin).19 And the figure of Thor from Feddet (FI) may conceivably
19 It should be noted that we are on slightly uncertain ground here. Grieg
states that the object in question is in Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen. I have,
however, not been able to establish its presence there.

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have been adapted in a similar way (although we should note Gjærder’sstatement (1964, 99) that it ‘has never been longer’). Figurines of gods
may, then, conceivably have doubled as playing-pieces or have been
adapted to serve as them. And this might have been so of BI, which
otherwise in all its essentials may have been intended to serve as animage of the god Thor. But, as noted above (under the discussion ofTheory 3), the relatively much heavier Thor from Eyrarland, with its
absence of a flat base, can certainly never have been intended to serve
primarily as a playing-piece.
The evidence of RI and BI, then, scarcely detracts from the strengthof argument in favour of the proposition that EI (and with it CI, LI and
RI) are images of the god Thor and served as amulets to produce afavourable wind.
We may now return to a consideration of the provenance of EI.
EI came to light in Eyjafjör›ur in the north of Iceland, and all else
being equal, we must, of course, assume that it was manufactured inthat country. And in favour of this proposition is the fact that it was
found no more than seventy kilometres from Baldursheimur in M‡vatnssveit where the analogous BI was found, which itself could very well
be of Icelandic origin. Moreover, between M‡vatnssveit and Eyjafjör›ur, about 12 km. east of Akureyri, lies Fnjóskadalur, probably thearea where the production of iron from bog-ore was more intensively
practised than anywhere else in medieval Iceland (cf. KL, XII, cols
97–98, map and references). If the techniques of casting an object inbronze like the Eyrarland image by the lost-wax process were practised
in medieval Iceland, then it is precisely in Fnjóskadalur that one might
expect this to have happened. There is, as far as I know, very little
tangible evidence for bronze-casting in Viking-Age Iceland of the sortfound, to take a random example, in Viking-Age Ribe (cf. Jensen,
1991, 30–35; see also Lundström, 1981, 85–89; Mattusch, 1988, 219–
240; VABC, s.v. Gjuterifynd). But we are perhaps here in danger ofplacing too much trust in an argumentum ex silentio. And we should
also note that itinerant craftsmen like the one who may have owned
the tool-chest from Mästermyr in Gotland (cf. Note 1 in Chapter 2)
was probably capable of bronze-casting (cf. VABC, 180), and suchcraftsmen might well have been active in Iceland. On the other hand,
we must remember that amulets are portable objects (not least the sort
we here have in mind, intended for use by seamen). They are more orless as portable as coins, and no one would suggest, for example, that

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the many and various coins which are found in Viking-Age graves in
Iceland were minted in that country. It is tempting, therefore, andperhaps even necessary to consider a provenance for EI in a place
other than in Iceland.
In this context, then, we may give attention to the places outside
Iceland where the parallels and analogues to EI alluded to on pp. 97–
100 are found. On one point of comparison with objects found outside
Iceland, namely, the shape of the head of the hammer held by the
Eyrarland Thor, the closest parallel comes from Sogn, western Norway,
i.e. in the iron Thor’s hammers from Hilda (cf. pp. 110 and 115–116
above). But otherwise it is in a rather different area, in central Sweden,
Södermanland, Östergötland, Öland, Skåne and Sjælland, where wefind most parallels. A near parallel to EI, the bronze image taken to
represent Frey (cf. p. 125 above) is from Rällinge in Lunda parish,
Södermanland, not far from present-day Nyköping. And perhaps themost important piece of evidence in the identification of EI as Thor,
the runic rock at Norra Åby, Södermanland (Sö 86; cf. pp. 122–124
above), is found, as noted, a short distance from the northern shore of
Lake Hjälmaren. (From here, there was, of course, easy access byland and boat to Lake Mälaren, most easily along Eskilstunaån and
via what is now Torshälla, older Thorshargh(er), a centre for trade, as
well as for the cult of Thor, on the eastern part of Lake Mälaren and in
Rekarne; cf. NK, XVI, 252.) In Östergötland we find the rune-stone at
Ledberg which, as noted (cf. pp. 97–99 above), provides various
parallels. Also in Östergötland, at Er(ik)storp (close to the monumental
Rök stone, with its mention of Thor), one of the four Thor’s hammersof special interest in connection with EI (SHM 5671) was found; theother three come from Møn, Skåne and Öland (on this last locality, cf.
also p. 80 above). The small bronze figure from Lindby which may
represent Odin (cf. p. 100 above) comes from a place very close toSkåne’s southernmost tip. Meanwhile two further beard-clutching
figures, LI and FI, come from Skåne and Sjælland respectively.
In his article in Viking (1937), Haakon Shetelig drew attention to anumber of artefacts in heathen Icelandic graves which have connections
with the areas of Scandinavia just referred to (and with the Viking
colonies south and east of the Baltic). These objects include bronzework, e.g. parts of harnesses and scabbard-chapes of a type practicallyunknown in Norway but found in relatively high proportion in Iceland.
For example, a scabbard-chape (fijms 5251) from a grave at Lundur in

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the Fnjóskadalur just mentioned is almost certainly an import into
Iceland, probably from the area around the Baltic (cf. KH, 273–276).
Another from Hafurbjarnarsta›ir (Gullbringus‡sla; fijms 559; cf. KH,
73–78, 271–272) is also of a type commonest around the Baltic andoccurring as far east as the lower Volga region (cf. VArt, 75). And
comparable scabbard-chapes have been found in Skåne, Gotland,
Södermanland, Västergötland and Birka (where, according to Shetelig(1937, 213), a matching mould has also been found).
It is to this last place, Birka, or perhaps more broadly the area aroundit, that we must turn our attention as a possible place for the manufactureof EI. In the Viking Age, Lake Mälaren, not least its eastern end, lay at
the centre of an area of great cultural and historical importance. Helgö,
Birka, Adelsö, Sigtuna, Uppsala and Södertälje were places which all
played their different roles over different periods. And since Shetelig
was writing, excavations at both Birka and nearby Helgö have shownthese places to have been centres of commerce and various industries,
not least metal-working including bronze-casting. And such products
were widely disseminated throughout the Baltic and Scandinavian areaand probably not least to Iceland (cf., for example, Holmqvist, 1979,
27–35 and passim; KH, 438). And it was close to Birka (as Adam ofBremen stresses) that the temple at Uppsala was situated, with its idols,
including Thor, seated and holding a sceptrum (quite possibly ahammer, or a hammer in the form of a sceptre; cf. MRN, 93). As Adamof Bremen states, Thor was thought to have control of wind andweather. The temple was visited on a regular basis, not only by people
from the surrounding provinces, some willingly, some perhaps lessso, but doubtless also from further afield. For example, the rune-masterof Sö 86 could well have been there and the iconography of its idol ofThor might well have influenced him when he worked further off in
Rekarne (not far from the religious and trading centre at Torshälla).
The modeller of RI (an object found in Södermanland less than 80
km. from Södertälje) could also have been there and seen the idol of
Fricco with its huge phallus. The proposition therefore presents itself
that, just as RI could well be a conscious replica of the idol of Fricco
in the temple at Uppsala, so EI might be a similar model of the idol ofThor in that same place.20 Whether EI could actually have been made20 In Perkins, 1994, I suggest that Thor could well have been conventionally
represented sitting (as he is by EI) with his hammer resting on his knees and142

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Figure 31: Two Danish Thor’s hammers: (left) from Vålse, Falster (DNM
3538); (right) from Sejerby, Sejerø (off western Sjælland; DNM 18196). (Bypermission of Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.)in Uppsala is a different matter. The idea is not necessarily to bedismissed. But here one’s thoughts turn rather to the two centres further
south, Birka and Helgö, both, as noted, well known for their work inbronze and both important trading centres with connections in all
directions (cf., for example, Adam of Bremen, 470–474). In its prime,
Birka was the larger and more important of the two places. And here
there is ample evidence for the cult of Thor in the various miniatureThor’s hammers in the graves there, for example. Chronological objections might possibly be raised. Some scholars (e.g. Kristján Eldjárn)date the object to the eleventh century, even as late as about 1050
(cf. pp. 91–92 above); on the other hand, Birka is thought to havebeen in decline by the 970s. But this dating of EI is very uncertain, andthe idol in Uppsala might well have so represented him. If I am right on thispoint, that would, in turn, help to explain the rather idiosyncratic shape of theheads of certain miniature Thor’s hammers, one from Vålse, Falster (DNM 3538),
a second from Sejerby, Sejerø (DNM 18196), a third from Fønskov, Fyn anda fourth from Othem, Gotland (cf. Mackeprang, 1938, 171; Skovmand, 1942,
82, 95–99, 103–107; Trotzig, 1983, 366; VH, 200, 263; Figure 31). The outerside of the heads of all four hammers has the form of two concave arcs of equal
length; in the appropriate size they would thus rest very comfortably on a sitting
man’s knees. In general, the conventionally pointed head of many portrayalsof Thor’s hammer (cf. DR, col. 1007; Mackeprang, 1938, 171, for examples)might well be a stereotyped representation of the male member (cf. p. 108 above).

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there is evidence for at least some presence on Birka in the last two
decades of the century (cf. Holmqvist, 1979, 136–140; Clarke andAmbrosiani, 1995, 75). On the other hand, Helgö is perhaps of greaterinterest in this context. It had, of course, a longer history than Birka,
stretching over some 800 years. And while Birka probably took oversome of Helgö’s functions in the Viking Age, Helgö may well havesurvived it well into the eleventh century (cf. Holmqvist, 1979, 136–
140). It was pre-eminent as a centre for metal-working, not least in
bronze. In addition, it seems, as its name might suggest, to have beensomething of a cult-centre. Not only have Thor’s hammers been foundhere as at Birka, but also 26 or so gold foils (Swedish: guldgubbar),which probably also have cultic significance and were probably
manufactured locally. But even if EI was not produced in any of thevarious places mentioned so far (Uppsala, Birka, Helgö, or perhaps
even Torshälla), it could have been cast somewhere in the Mälaren
area. Adam of Bremen’s account of the temple at Uppsala shows thatpaganism and the cult of Thor were thriving in the area in the second
part of the eleventh century; and the techniques necessary to produce
a bronze object like EI were doubtless also actively practised. In thisconnection it should be noted that knowledge of, and probably respect
or reverence for two places in the area, Uppsala and Sigtuna, aredemonstrated by the names of two adjacent Icelandic farms, Uppsalirand Sigtún(ir), less than 20 km. south of where EI was found (HTB, II,
123; cf. Holtsmark, 1956, 46).21 Indeed, it is not impossible that EI
was first brought to Iceland by a heathen who had obtained it at ornear the cult-centre at Uppsala as a sort of pilgrim’s souvenir. At all
events, if EI was made and/or acquired in the area around Uppsala or,for example, on Helgö, then its associations with these famous, far-off
and holy places could well have given it special value as an amulet in
Iceland, thought of as having particular efficacy (cf. p. 57 above).
The possibility exists, then, that EI was manufactured in Birka or
Helgö or the surrounding area. But with that said, the point alreadymade above must be reiterated: the existence of BI possibly speaks
somewhat against the proposition that EI was produced outside Iceland.
21 Less than another 20 km. more or less southwards from Uppsalir lies thefarm of Hlei›(r)argar›ur (cf. ÍF, I, 270–271; XII, 271, 302; HTB, II, 116).
This name, of course, calls to mind Lejre in Denmark with its cult-festivals,
quite possibly to some extent associated with Thor (cf. Mansikka, 1922, 324).

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As noted, this object, made of whalebone (a material one associates
less with the Baltic than with the Atlantic) is in certain respects aparticularly close analogue to EI; and there is no very compelling reason
for doubting that it was produced in Iceland. And if BI was producedin Iceland, it could be argued, it is likely that EI was produced there
also. These indeed would be reasonable arguments. On the other hand,the circumstances might have been different. For example, EI (or animage like it) might have been produced outside Iceland but imitatedin Iceland by the craftsman of BI (or a predecessor); indeed, there
appears to be evidence for various forms of imitation of Swedish andBaltic bronze-work by Icelandic craftsmen. Various possibilities present
themselves, then, and we should probably keep an open mind on thequestion of where EI was originally produced. But if the object was
not made in Iceland (as it is not entirely certain that it was), then weshould perhaps give serious consideration to the area around Lake
Mälaren as its place of origin.
In concluding this chapter and at this stage accepting that EI is a
representation of Thor, I now offer a considerably more speculative
suggestion as to a possible model or possible models for EI whichmight help to explain certain features of it. This is to some extent
linked (although not inextricably) to the suggestion made above that
EI was manufactured in the area of Sweden around Birka and Helgö.
We must first, however, digress briefly to consider certain features of
CI, BI and especially RI.
Kristján Eldjárn (KE1981, 82) wrote of BI that the figure sits ‘almost
in a Buddha position on a round platform’. As noted, Samokvasov(1908, 199) thought the heavily oxidised CI might possibly have beena Buddha. And Salin (1913, 407–408) was somewhat puzzled by thefact that RI is sitting ‘på österländskt sätt’. He did, however, unequivocally identify the figure with the Norse god Frey. Salin died in
1931, but, had he lived to witness the excavations which began in the
1950s at Helgö not more than 90 km. north-east of Rällinge, he might
not have been so surprised. These brought to light a bronze Buddha(SHM 25514:2200; 8.4 cm. high; VH, 257; Figure 32), sitting, ofcourse, in a very oriental position. And when we look more closely at
RI we find that the god is not only sitting cross-legged like a Buddha,
but that the figure’s left hand is resting on its left knee just as a Buddha’s(admittedly right hand on right knee; cf. the Buddha’s mudra– s) sofrequently does. And I wonder, much more tentatively, whether weThe Eyrarland image

145

Figure 32: Buddha found on Helgö, Uppland (SHM 25514: 2200; height:
8.4 cm.). (By permission of ATA, Stockholm; © Riksantikvarieämbetet.)

might take the knob on RI’s conical helmet as perhaps a stylised
representation of the Buddha’s us≥n≥ı–s≥a (the protuberance on the top of the
cranium). (This feature of RI seems also to have somewhat puzzled
Salin (1913, 406); it is absent from the Norse gods’ helmets as depictedon the Ledberg stone (Ög 181) and, of course, EI.) Finally, it is notwithout interest to compare the double platform on which BI sits with
the not dissimilar two-zone lotus-throne of the Buddha from Helgö.

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Thor the wind-raiser

My suggestion, then (and this is scarcely inconsistent with various ofSalin’s remarks on RI), is that while RI, BI and CI are certainly essentially intended to represent Norse gods (RI: Frey; BI and CI: Thor), allthree (with the possible exception of CI) have features taken over from
representations of the Buddha. And while RI itself could well havebeen manufactured at Helgö or Birka, it is, of course, not necessary toassume that it had the Helgö Buddha as its direct model (although theproposition need not be dismissed). The Norse of the Viking Age could
have encountered images of the Buddha in numerous other contexts,
both inside and outside Scandinavia. And an image like BI would,
I suggest, hardly have had a Buddha as its direct model but rather
older images of Thor with the same relevant characteristics. On theother hand, the first images of Norse gods with the characteristics of
Buddhas could well have been produced at Helgö or in its immediatesurroundings.22
We turn to EI. The figure we now take to be the god Thor isrepresented here in a very different way, sitting upright on a chair witharms held up to clasp a hammer which rests on his knees. Now in thiscontext (and not least in connection with the possible interpretation or
representation of the seated god’s hammer as a sceptre (sceptrum) in
Adam of Bremen’s description of the temple at Uppsala; cf. MRN,93), it is of interest to compare certain ancient Egyptian amulets
representing deities (or similar beings) seated on thrones and holding
sceptres or other objects, often symbolic. Examples of such amulets
are pictured in Figure 33 (AES 64620; cf. Andrews, 1994, 19); Figure
34 (AES 64586; cf. Andrews, 1994, 33–34); and Figure 35 (AES 71027;
cf. Andrews, 1994, 47). Andrews dates AES 64620 and AES 64586 to
the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1069–702 BC), and AES 71027 to theLate Period (c. 702 BC–AD 323).
Comparisons (and sometimes contrasts) between EI on the one hand
and these three Egyptian amulets on the other may be itemised as follows:
22 Holmqvist (1979, 41) writes as follows on the find of the Helgö-Buddha:‘Ett av de vackraste bevisen för detta [i.e. Helgö’s trading connections
eastwards] är väl den lilla bronsstatyetten av en indisk Buddha, som hittades
på Helgö vid tredje årets grävningar. Det är en utsökt liten figur med kastmärke
av guld i pannan samt målade läppar och ögonbryn. En tvillingbroder till vår
Buddha finns i Kashmir, Indien, och de tillhör båda en sällsynt grupp av bronser,
vilka är daterbara till 500- och 600-talen e Kr. Hur Buddhabilden hamnat på
Helgö är ännu en olöst gåta, men vid fyndtillfället hade den ett band av läderFigure 33: Egyptian amulet represent- Figure 34: Egyptian amulet representing lion- Figure 35: Egyptian amulet representing a ‘seateding the god Shu clasping a was-scep- headed goddess seated on an openwork throne jackal-headed archer, with bird’s wings and tail,tre under his chin (AES 64620; height: holding a sistrum (AES 64586; height: 6.3 cm.; cf. wearing a disc, probably representing a divine pro6.2 cm.; cf. Andrews, 1994, 19). (© Andrews, 1994, 33–34). (© The British Museum, tective power’ (so Andrews, 1994, 47; AES 71027;
The British Museum, London.)height: 6.5 cm.). (© The British Museum, London.)London.)The Eyrarland image
147

148

Thor the wind-raiser(1) The virtually perfect symmetry of EI, which has already beenremarked on in what precedes (cf. pp. 85 and 117) and which is such a
striking feature of the figure, seems to find a parallel in the symmetryof ancient Egyptian sculpture in general and the three Egyption amulets discussed here in particular.
(2) Although the Egyptian amulets tend to be lighter than EI in
weight, simply because they are often made of lighter material thanbronze, they are of comparable height. AES 64620 is 6.2 cm. high,
AES 64586 is 6.3 cm. high and AES 71027 is 6.5 cm. high. EI is, as
noted, 6.7 cm. high.
(3) The chair on which EI is seated is, of course, far less elaborate
than those of the Egyptian amulets. Even so, it has the same proportions to the rest of the object as the thrones of the Egyptian amulets inquestion have to their figures. It is, like them, both armless and lowbacked.
(4) The object held by the figure of EI is connected to his beard andrests on his knees. In a similar way, one of the Egyptian amulets of thetype in question (i.e. AES 64620) represents the god Shu with a socalled was-sceptre (on which cf. Andrews, 1994, 80) which he holdswith raised hands under his chin and which appears to go down between his knees. And another common type, represented by AES 64586,
kring halsen och ena armen [i.e. the figure’s left arm; cf. VH, 257]. Det är
därför sannolikt att den burits som ett slags amulett. Därvid blir situationen
genast något påtagligare. Man ser för sin inre syn den köpman från Helgö,
som på vidsträckta östliga vägar funnit inte blott sin märkliga amulett utanäven andra dyrbara ting. De många tidiga arabiska mynten vittnar ju därom.
Med allt detta som stöd kan vi våga påståendet, att vi haft en väl dokumenteradösthandel redan långt före vikingatiden. Och vänder vi så våra blickar något
mera söderut, finner vi den flödande guldströmmen, som vi redan talat om,
samt importen av glas och andra lyxartiklar.’ This is an interesting picture
Holmqvist paints of a merchant from Helgö carrying the Buddha as an amulet.
If he did this, he would probably have done so from the belt, for the object, 8.4
cm. high, is a relatively large one. In connection with the leather thong aroundthe Buddha’s neck and left arm and the Buddha being possibly suspended fromthis as an amulet, we note that RI, BI and SHM 13701 (the figure from Skåne
often thought to represent Odin; cf. pp. 100–101 above) have all lost their left
arms. Readers here should not be confused by back-to-front pictures (in e.g.
Trotzig, 1995, 36; VH, 147) which suggest that Odin (Lindby) and Frey
(Rällinge) have lost their right arms; cf. Notes 9 and 10 above). Could the lost arms
have been used to hang the objects by (e.g. around the neck or from the belt)?

The Eyrarland image

149

has a lion-headed goddess holding a sistrum, which was an attributeof the goddess Bastet, but which might be understood as some sort of
sceptre by an uninitiated observer. This is connected to the figure’s
beard but also rests on its knees. We note also AES 71027, a jackalheaded archer with his weapon at the ready (cf. Thor’s hammer) andconnecting the chin and knees.
(5) The head and head-gear of the Egyptian amulets and of EI appear
to be of special significance. In the case of EI, the figure wears a helmet of a type probably thought to be characteristic of the Norse gods
and its face carries features peculiar to Thor; in the case of the Egyptian amulets, we find either animal heads/masks and/or symbolic headgear (wigs, crowns, etc.).
My very tentative suggestion, then, is that just as images of the
Buddha may have partly provided models for the type of Norse godamulet represented by RI, BI and perhaps CI, so Egyptian god-amulets(or imitations of them) may, to some extent, have provided models forstatuettes like EI. And there is no reason why, say, a craftsman of thearea around Lake Mälaren should not have seen, perhaps even owned,
an Egyptian amulet of this type. It is true that, as far as I know, no
example has come to light in Scandinavia. But articles from Egypt
have been found. The glass gaming-pieces from Grave 750 at Birka(found, perhaps not without significance in the present context, alongside a silver Thor’s hammer) are thought by, for example, Holmqvist(1979, 134) to be probably of Egyptian manufacture. Coptic bronze
found its way all over Europe and the bronze ladle discovered at Helgöis reckoned to be from the eastern Mediterranean, quite possibly Coptic
work from Alexandria. Threading holes and suspension loops (likethe ones we find on all three objects under discussion) were common
on Egyptian amulets and would have made for added portability andthus wider dissemination. And other very portable objects from thesame part of the world, Arabic coins, found their way in great quantities to Sweden and some even to Iceland. Finally we note that various
Egyptian objects have been discovered in Poland, an area which hadcommercial contacts with central Sweden (cf. Śliwa, 1994). These include an amulet apparently representing a minor divinity (pataikos).
This is of a type which, according to Śliwa (463), ‘enjoyed particular
popularity towards the end of the Third Intermediate Period’. Just,
then, as at least one Buddha was known in Scandinavia, so Egyptian
amulets of the kind in question may also have been.

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Thor the wind-raiser

CHAPTER FIVECONCLUSIONS. CONTEXTSDer Handel und Wandel zur See vermittelst der Winde in esse kompt.
MATTHÄUS PRAETORIUS

Fiƒl› um vi›rir
á fimm dƒgum,enn meira á mána›i.
HÁVAMÁL

W

E MAY NOW REVIEW the main arguments of the present
study. In Chapter 1, it is suggested that the impressive expansionof Scandinavians in the Viking Age depended to no small extent on a
genius for exploiting available means of transport. Over water, thiswould have involved not only rowing but also, of course, as much
utilisation of wind-power as possible. The wind, however, not least
for sailing-vessels of the type used by the Vikings, is relatively unreliable as a locomotive force. In the attempt to control or raisefavourable winds, magic was resorted to and deities (both heathen
and Christian) were invoked. Of the Norse pantheon, quite possibly
Odin, Frey and Njƒr›r were called upon in this connection. But it wasmost usually Thor who was thought of as the god most likely to be
helpful, particularly amongst those crossing the North Atlantic to
Iceland. Evidence is produced from various sources (amongst others,
Flóamanna saga, Dudo of St Quentin, Adam of Bremen, Landnámabók) that Thor was perceived as having special power in this respect.
One may wonder how Thor was thought of as controlling the wind. A
passage from Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s (which exists independently
and is also incorporated in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta) represents Thor as able to raise a wind by ‘blowing into his beard’ (at fleytaskeggbroddana) or ‘sounding the voice of his beard’ (at fleytaskeggrƒddina/skeggraustina). An examination of the passage and its
vocabulary shows that it probably reflects a belief or tradition which
actually existed; the evidence is based to some extent on comparative
considerations and also on accounts in post-Reformation Icelandic
traditions of Thor, as well as other wind-figures (Kári, Bár›ur Snæfellsás), being able to produce a wind by the same means. The first part ofConclusions. Contexts

151

Chapter 3 discusses amulets in general and wind-amulets in particular.
On the basis of the conclusions of Chapter 2 and also of a more general
discussion, the hypothesis is proposed that small images of the god
Thor existed in Norse Scandinavia which represented the god blowing
into his beard; and that these were thought to be able to raise afavourable wind for those who owned or manipulated them. The
remaining part of the chapter discusses three objects representing men
clutching their beards which could indeed be such images of Thor.
These are: (a) a walrus-ivory figure seated on a chair discovered in
Lund, Skåne, now part of Sweden (LI); (b) an amber figure found on
Feddet, Roholte parish, Sjælland, Denmark (FI); (c) a bronze figure
from the burial mound of Chernaia Mogila, Chernigov, Ukraine (CI).
The conclusion of the chapter is that these three objects are indeed
representations of Thor (as certain previous scholars have thought, atleast in the cases of LI and CI); and that in holding their beards, they
are represented as blowing into them. They may, then, be interpreted
as wind-amulets. And in respect of this interpretation, some parallel
may be found in an object described by Matthäus Praetorius in theseventeenth century and observed by him near Klaipˇda (formerly
Memel, in present-day Lithuania). This a local fisherman had placedat the stern of his ship, and it took the form of an effigy of a humanfigure made of bark which the fisherman called Vˇjopatis, ‘Lord of
the winds’. This had two faces with open mouths and was apparently
thought by the fisherman to be able to raise a wind by blowing. In
Chapter 4, attention is given to the bronze figure from the farm of
Eyrarland in Eyjafjör›ur in northern Iceland (EI). I firmly dismiss any
notion that this could, as some have suggested, be a playing-piece.
Indeed, a detailed investigation of various ‘features’ of EI has shown,conclusively I think, that in EI we have a representation of none otherthan Thor (cf. pp. 96–127 above). Useful comparative pieces of evidence are, for example, the rune-stone from Ledberg church in Östergötland (Ög 181) which seems to depict the Norse gods at Ragnarƒk, thevery similar image from Rällinge, Lunda parish, Södermanland (RI)
which most regard as a representation of Frey, and four Thor’s hammers(SHM 101, 5671 and 9822:810; DNM C1787) which in certain ways
resemble EI. But a key piece of evidence is the carving on the runicrock at Norra Åby, Södermanland (Sö 86) which depicts Thor’s facelooking over his hammer. After the identification of EI as an image ofThor has been established, it is in turn compared with the three beard-

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Thor the wind-raiser

clutching figures treated in Chapter 3. Like them, EI holds his beard
with both hands and appears perhaps to be blowing. EI is, then, likethose three, LI, FI and CI, interpreted as a wind-amulet. The small
whalebone image found in a grave at Baldursheimur in north-eastern
Iceland is then discussed and it is concluded that it too represents Thor.
Next I attempt to answer the question of where EI was made. There is,
as far as I know, no reason why it should not have been made in Iceland.
But if it was not made there, it is not improbable that it comes originallyfrom the Mälaren area of central Sweden, perhaps Uppsala, perhaps
Birka, perhaps Helgö. Finally in Chapter 4, I very tentatively suggest
that, while CI, BI and RI ultimately derive some of their features fromimages of the Buddha, so EI may in some way be indebted to a certain
type of Egyptian amulet, which represents gods and other figures sitting
upright on small thrones and holding sceptres or other objects, whichsometimes rest on their knees and/or are connected to their chins or
beards. In Chapter 2 and in the Appendix (pp. 159–164 below),
information is given about Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s (in which wefind the key passage about Thor blowing into his beard) and also abouta somewhat related story, ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’, which appears in
Snorri Sturluson’s Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in Heimskringla.
The thesis of this study is, then, that LI, FI, CI, EI and probably also
BI are images of the god Thor which served as wind-amulets. Given
this result and in concluding the investigation, I now feel the temptation
to give imagination free rein and attempt to visualise the broader
circumstances in which the objects may have been used as windamulets. I intend to yield to this temptation with respect to two of theobjects, CI and EI.1 What follows, then, is a reconstruction of the en1 FI was found very close to Præstø Fjord in Sjælland, doubtless as much a

resort for sailing-vessels in the medieval period as it is today. The place where
LI was discovered, Lund in Skåne, is less than 10 km. from Lommabukten,
which must have provided harbours for the relevant area. We think, for example,of places like Löddeköpinge (and, incidentally of the find there of a whetstone
incised with a sketch of a man with ‘pointed head-gear’ (so VArt) at the helmof a sailing-boat with, however, lowered sails; cf. VArt, 79, 255). Place-names
suggest that the cult of Thor was widespread in Sjælland and Skåne and there
was probably a cult-centre at Lejre (cf. AR, II, 116–117; cf. Note 21 in Chapter4). On the other hand, if, as is not inconceivable, LI was made in Trøndelag(cf. Note 8 in Chapter 3), we may perhaps think of its use at a place like
Agdenes (cf. Perkins 1999, 193 and note 2).

Conclusions. Contexts

153

vironments in which CI and EI might have been used. It may to someextent appear over-fanciful; it may well, on certain points, be repetitiveof what has already been said. Nevetheless, we shall first consider the
figurine of Thor found in Chernaia Mogila at Chernigov (cf. pp. 3 and
70–73 above). Here we might, for example, imagine a Scandinavian
merchant of Chernigov in, say, about the year 940. He could well, likeone of the merchants mentioned in the Russo-Byzantine treaty of 944,
have been called fiorsteinn (or fiór›r or fiorbjƒrn; cf. p. 73 above andreferences) and like a namesake out in far-off Iceland (fiorsteinn, sonof fiórólfr Mostrarskegg; cf. pp. 24–25 above) have thought of himself
as having some special relationship with Thor (cf. Eyrbyggja saga,
chs 3–7 (ÍF, IV, 6–13)). Such a person might have taken part in theRus ventures which penetrated down the Dnieper to the Black Sea andthen to Constantinople to trade (cf. RPC, 73). The existence of theseventures is demonstrated, for example, by finds of Byzantine coins in
Chernigov and its surroundings, by The Russian primary chronicle,
but first and foremost by Constantine Porphyrogenitus’s circumstantial
account in the ninth chapter of his De administrando imperio (DAI;on the necessity for them, cf. ER, 112–138). At an early stage of thejourney, along the Desna, just downstream from Chernigov, thesettlement of Shestovitsa would have been passed where Thor’s
hammers have been found (cf. p. 73 above). In Kiev the merchantwould have joined the rest of the flotilla in their monoxyla. And here
also in Kiev largish idols and effigies of Thor (quite probably under
the name Perun) were to be found, some of them perhaps adorned
with impressive moustaches (cf. pp. 102–103 above). And miniaturesof such idols could well also have existed. In June the flotilla would
move off from Kiev down the Dnieper (cf. RGA2, s.v. Dnjepr) andquite probably, whenever a following wind blew, sails were hoisted toassist progress. (How much more welcome such a wind would havebeen, how much more of an óskabyrr(cf. Edda, 157), on the return
journey upstream!) The first serious obstacle presented itself in theform of the formidable Dnieper Rapids, although success in negotiatingthese, a process described as ‘at best perilous, at worst, suicidal’ (ER,92) had of course little to do with the wind. The danger was, however,considerably aggravated by the threat of stalking Pechenegs and manymust have perished here, amongst them the pagan prince Sviatoslav
in 972. (We note that between the sixth and seventh rapid lay a ‘Perun
Island’, quite possibly with connections with Perun/Thor; cf. RGA2,

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Thor the wind-raiser

V, 534 and references.) And when past the rapids the flotilla put in at
the Island of St Gregory (Khortitsa) to perform pagan rites, it waspresumably to express ‘thankfulness and relief at having completed
the most dangerous part of the journey and their hopes of a safe passage
from Khortitsa to Constantinople’ (so Obolensky in DAI, II, 55). As
noted, Mansikka has connected these rites with Scandinavian Thor
worship. And the ‘gigantic oak-tree’ mentioned by Constantine on theisland could well have connection with Thor worship; it might well be
one of a series of such oaks along the Desna-Dnieper river-route whichmarked cult-places where travellers put ashore to make offerings after
completing difficult stages of their journeys (cf. R. Rolle in RGA2, V,
533, who refers to ‘Perun-Eiche’; RGA2, VI, 533–534). At the mouthof the Dnieper our merchant would have put in at the Island of St
Aitherios (Russian Berezan’; cf. Swedish Björkö (see Arbman, 1955,153)). Norse presence here is confirmed not least by the find of amemorial runic inscription for one of the many Norsemen who musthave died on this route (cf. VH, 309 and references).2 In these parts
favourable winds were of particular importance for navigation andRolle (RGA2, V, 536) talks of the winds from four different directions
needed by nineteenth-century shipping for entering and leaving the
Dnieper (cf. also ER, 113). And the clause in the Russo-Byzantine
treaty of about 944 prohibiting the Rus from wintering on their return
journey from Constantinople in these rather inhospitable parts implies
that at least before that date they sometimes did so and then quite
probably partly because of unfavourable winds. Nor did the disadvantage of such winds diminish as the flotilla began skirting thewestern coast of the Black Sea. Here again, at least initially, werestalking Pechenegs; with a perverse, onshore wind, the flotilla could
be forced ashore and our merchant’s skull and those of his comrades( félagar) might end up as drinking goblets in Pecheneg hands (cf.
DAI, I, 62–63; RPC, 90). And even when this threat had passed and on
the last leg of the journey, the normal dangers of seafaring and the
2 It is interesting to note that there is some evidence for bronze-casting on
Berezan’ (cf. RGA2, V, 537). Rus merchants quite probably had another material
necessary for the production of an image like EI, namely wax (cf. ER, 88, 90,
134, 145). One wonders if they might have produced amulets like EI and CI
actually on the island. After all, a rune-stone seems to have been carved there,
relatively simple though it is (cf. VH, 309).

Conclusions. Contexts

155

necessity of reliance on the wind persisted (cf. RPC, 60); there wasstill the frustrating business of waiting for a wind (at bí›a byrjar) at
resting-places along the coast. However peaceful the intentions of thetravellers, there was probably still the threat of harassment from anunderstandably suspicious Byzantine navy, armed with its Greek fire.
It is true that the Byzantines may have supplied the Rus with sails andother equipment while they were in the capital (cf. RPC, 65; ER, 104),but ‘vem kan segla förutan vind?’ And certainly if the merchant had
bad luck with the wind in these parts, Christian observers might wellattribute this to his pagan beliefs (cf. RPC, 60; Liudprand of Cremona,
186). And there was, of course, the prospect of an even more arduous
return journey, with its long, exhausting slog of more than 1,000 km.
up the rivers, a distance further than from Iceland to Norway (cf. p. 5
above). For our merchant, then, sailing to Byzantium would have beenan enterprise ‘fraught with such travail and terror, such difficulty anddanger’ (as Constantine puts it) that it would not be surprising if hesought the aid of his deity for its successful conclusion. And if hethought he could get the fair winds so advantageous to his venture by
the use of a wind-amulet such as I posit CI to be, then he would, ofcourse, have made full use of it. Certainly the god (quite possibly
identifiable with Perun/Thor) worshipped by the Rus merchant whose
funeral Ibn Fadlan witnessed on the Volga in about 922 was believed
to have control of the wind (see Birkeland, 1954, 23). And membersof the same group of merchants, in praying for success in trading,
prostrated themselves before a tall wooden figure with a human face,around which were placed a number of ‘small figures’ (cf. Birkeland,
1954, 20; VAch, 399; also Almgren, 1966, 138–139, for an imaginative
modern reconstruction, in which, incidentally, LI plays a part; on theother hand, the ‘small figures’ in Ibn Fadlan’s account are said to represent the wife and children of the larger god rather than miniatures ofhim). Finally we remember that CI itself, and also BI, were found inpagan graves. The pagan Norse often saw death as a sea-journey to therealm of the dead; and it is often thought that the many ships under fullsail and clearly with following winds to be found on Gotlandic picturestones represent vessels bearing the dead on such journeys (cf. MRN,
269–274 and plates 24–27). If, then, CI and BI are, as has been argued,
wind-amulets, it is hardly surprising if such objects were placed in thegraves of the dead to give a fair wind to speed them on their last voyages.

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Thor the wind-raiser

And second, in the same vein, we may consider the Eyrarland image.
This was, as noted, found in Eyjafjör›ur, probably within the boundsof what is now Akureyri. There is ample evidence that Eyjafjör›ur inearly times was not only something of a trading centre but also a resort
for ocean-going shipping. For example, a short distance from StóraEyrarland there could well have been some sort of market at the placecalled Kaupangur. And place-names like Knar(r)arnes on the easternside of the fjord are indicative of ocean-going knerrir (cf. ÍF, X, 172,note 2; XIV, 270, note 1; HTB, II, 133). While the use of Akureyri as aport was a later development, largish ships could well have foundharbour there as early as the Viking period. And the place-name Naust
just to the south of Eyrarland suggests, of course, the presence of ships
and boats there. But probably most interesting in this connection
was the harbour and trading-place called Gásir on the western side of
the fjord which could be reached from Eyrarland by a short, wellfrequented road (cf. Sturlunga saga, 1906–1911, I, 479).3 Both literary
and archaeological evidence indicates that Gásir was one of the primary
harbours (if not the most important) in Iceland in the medieval period.
From here numerous Icelanders travelled to Norway and further afield.
And to Gásir came various foreign merchants, mainly from Norway
but perhaps also from other places. On the other hand, Gásir inparticular and Eyjafjör›ur in general are not necessarily well blessedwith favourable winds. For example, Jón Hjaltason (1990, 14), thinking
probably primarily of the eighteenth or nineteenth century, writes:
Eyjafjör›urinn, langur og flröngur, var› aldrei óska-siglingalei› seglskipa.
Ósjaldan flurfti a› bí›a byrs til a› komast út úr fir›inum, jafnvel dögum
saman. fiegar ekki hreyf›i vind var stundum gripi› til fless a› manna
skipsbátinn og beita hásetum fyrir skipi› í bókstaflegum skilningi flessor›s.

Certainly a favourable wind would have been regarded, here as elsewhere, as an enormous benefit, and an unfavourable one could meandisaster. Men had both good and bad luck in this respect. Mention
has already been made of the story of Oddr Ófeigsson, able to makethe round trip from Iceland to Orkney in just a few weeks to get malt
for his wedding. Meanwhile the Norwegians he encounters in the
3 On Gásir (there are other forms of the place-name which need not concern
us here), see Margrét Hermannsdóttir, 1987, and references.

Conclusions. Contexts

157

nearby fiorgeirsfjör›ur (‘víst komnir úr Eyjafir›i’; so Helgi fiorláksson,1989) have to wait there for most of the summer. And we may note thecase of the outlawed fiorleifr jarlsskáld Ásgeirsson, who took ship one
summer at Gásir in Eyjafjör›ur, was driven back by contrary winds(var› aptrreka) and had to spend the following winter in hiding in
Iceland before he finally got away to Norway (ÍF, IX, 216). Or wemay recall the story of the people becalmed on a ship off Hrísey, so
desperate for a wind that they were ready to kill the man eventually
exposed as responsible for their plight (cf. Note 10 in Chapter 1). In
general, wind conditions often made it impossible to get to Norway
and back to Iceland in a single summer and there was often a need to
winter abroad (cf. KL, s.v. Vinterliggare). It must, then, have been theambition of many captains of Icelandic ocean-going ships at faratvívegis, ‘to get abroad and back in one summer’ (cf., for example,
Grágás, 1992, 67, 95, 269). And those sailing out of Eyjafjör›ur,whether from Gásir or elsewhere, would have been no exception. As
noted, in need or desperation men often have recourse to the supernatural. In Christian Iceland we hear of merchants calling, for example,
on Bishop fiorlákr for a fair wind (cf. p. 14 above); and God, Christ or
Mary were probably also often invoked. In pagan times it was doubtlessoften Thor. In this connection, we note, for example, that there wasprobably a recognised sailing-route between Gásir and Agdenes in
Norway (cf. ÍF, IX, 264–265) and it is at Agdenes that we hear ofofferings made to Thor (amongst other gods) for a favourable wind(cf. above, pp. 13–14 and Note 6 in Chapter 1). We note the placename fiórsnes just north of Akureyri and Turville-Petre’s remark (MRN,
86–87) that precisely such names as this suggest that Thor must in
early Iceland have been regarded as the god of seafarers. Third, we
note that both Gásir and Eyrarland lay within the larger landnám ofHelgi inn magri Eyvindarson, who is said to have lived at Kristnes,
about 10 km. south of Akureyri (cf. p. 24 above). Of Helgi we rememberthat though he believed in Christ, he put his trust in Thor while on seavoyages. Helgi also allowed Thor to guide him to a place to settle in
Iceland. If, then, the Eyrarland image is what I have suggested it is, awind-amulet representing the god Thor, it is just in the area of Iceland
now discussed that one could expect it to have been owned and used.
It, like CI, could well have belonged to a merchant, this time tradingout of Eyjafjör›ur, say, at the end of the tenth century or the beginning158

Thor the wind-raiserof the eleventh. It may have been cast in Eyjafjör›ur itself, or perhaps
in Fnjóskadalur just the other side of Va›lahei›i. Alternatively it could
have been made somewhere around the eastern end of Lake Mälaren,
perhaps not far from the heathen temple at Uppsala. Our merchantmight even have been in these foreign parts himself and acquired it
there. And while he may have traded mainly out of Gásir, he may havelaid up his ship for the winter at, say, Naust, hard by Eyrarland. The
introduction of Christianity into Iceland in whatever form would havemade little difference to his use of the amulet. Even in the decades
after the formal conversion, he would have continued to use it—andto invoke Thor himself—to help him get a fair wind when he wanted
one. Perhaps when ashore in Iceland he would have been more discreet
in his use of it. But while at sea or in places where heathendom still
survived, he would have felt no such inhibitions. When he gave up
seafaring, he may have passed it on to a son or other, younger, man.
Time passed, however, and as the Church got a firmer grip on men’s
beliefs and practices, the use of such objects became less acceptable.
The Eyrarland image might then have been forgotten or hidden or
lost. It might have been deliberately buried in the ground. We do not
know. But whatever its fate in the Middle Ages, it came to light again
early in the nineteenth century. Wind-power took it to Denmark where
it was housed for more than a hundred years. In 1930 it was returned
to Iceland, doubtless by more modern methods of locomotion. And
now (I submit) Thor is found ensconced in the fijó›minjasafn inReykjavík, his hammer at the ready on his knees. Miniature though heis, he may still appear to some to huff or to puff, skegg at hrista. Some
may think he glares as fiercely as when he struck fear into the heart offijálfi’s father. Many will concur in the suggestion that he has a ‘noble’
and ‘dignified’ demeanour (cf. KE1981, 84). Many might feel they
are indeed in the presence of Ása-fiórr, defender both of Mi›gar›r andof Ásgar›r. But even those who cannot concede these things willprobably agree that the Eyrarland image is an object of interest, evenof fascination. Its idiosyncratic features pose problems, demand
explanations. It raises questions which cannot be lightly ignored. The
present study seeks to provide some solutions to these problems, tooffer some answers. And if these are not accepted, then others must be
provided.

Appendix

159

APPENDIXR¯GNVALDS fiÁTTR OK RAU‹S AND ‘RAU‹S fiÁTTR
INS RAMMA’

THE CENTRAL ARGUMENT of the present study relies to avery great extent on a passage in the Old Icelandic Rƒgnvalds
fláttr ok Rau›s (RR). It also alludes, albeit in passing, to the passage in
Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla known as ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’
which has certain elements in common with RR. Because of this andbecause there has not infrequently been confusion about the natureand status of the two texts involved, it seems appropriate to assemble
certain basic facts about them in this appendix. The two items aretreated in rather different ways as appropriate and for some information
the reader is simply referred to the body of the book or to other works.
(Neither Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s nor ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’ should,
as has occasionally happened, be confused with Rau›úlfs fláttr, which
has sometimes been called Rau›s fláttr ok sona hans (ÓH, 655–682).
This last is a totally unrelated story connected with King Óláfr inn
helgi Haraldsson. On Rau›úlfs fláttr in general, see KL, XIII, 678–
679 and references; and on its preservation, cf. ONP, 359–360.)(I) Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s(1) Preservation: Eight manuscripts with independent value containa text or part of a text of Rƒgnvalds fláttr ok Rau›s (cf. ONP, 383;
facsimile editions of individual manuscripts and/or references to places
where further discussion of them can be found are noted in square
brackets).
(i) AM 557, 4to (Skálholtsbók) (written c. 1420–1450; now in
Reykjavík). This is the only manuscript in which RR appears as acontinuous whole (ff. 35v–38r) [Strömbäck, 1940; Stefán Karlsson,
1970, 137–138; Hallfr, xlix–lix].
RR is found incorporated as four separate passages (corresponding
to ÓT, I, 313/8–322/21 (fiessi – ritat), 325/12–327/4 (Óláfr – gæzlu),
328/9–332/17 (En – trú) (but cf. Note 3 in Chapter 2), 349/13–351/7(Óláfr – brennuna)) into Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta (ÓT) in
these manuscripts:

160

Thor the wind-raiser(ii) AM 61, fol., ff. 32va–33va, 33vb–34ra, 34ra–34va, 36rb–36va(probably written in the third quarter of the fourteenth century; now in
Copenhagen) [Ólafur Halldórsson, 1982; ÓT, III, xxiii–xl].
(iii) Perg. fol. nr 1 (Bergsbók), ff. 45va–47rb, 47va–47vb, 48ra–
48vb, 51va–51vb (written c. 1400 or in the first decades of the fifteenth
century; now in Stockholm) [Lindblad, 1963; ÓT, III, clxiv–cxcvii].
(iv) AM 325, IX 1 b, 4to, ff. 3vb–6ra, 6vb–7ra, 7rb–8va, 12ra–12va(written c. 1650–1700; now in Copenhagen) [ÓT, III, ccxxviii–ccxxix].
(v) Papp. fol. nr 22 (Húsafellsbók), ff. 52v–54r, 54r–54v, 54v–55v,
58r (written shortly before 1650; now in Stockholm) [Ólafur
Halldórsson, 1976; ÓT, III, ccvi–ccxxviii].
(vi) AM 62, fol., ff. 15va–16vb, 17rb–17va, 17va–18rb, 18rb–18va(written c. 1350–1400; now in Copenhagen) [Ólafur Halldórsson, 1993;
ÓT, III, lxxxvi–cxii].
(vii) Gl. kgl. sml. 1005, fol. (Flateyjarbók), cols 146–149, 150, 151–
152, 152 (written c. 1387–1395; now in Reykjavík) [Finnur Jónsson,
1930b; MS, 197–198; ÓT, III, cxii–cxxvii].
And one section of RR (corresponding to ÓT, I, 349/13–351/7) isfound incorporated into ÓT in:(viii) AM 53, fol., f. 27va–27vb (written in the second half of the
fourteenth century; now in Copenhagen) [ÓT, III, xl–lxix].
(2) Redactions, relationships of manuscripts, etc.: The two main redactions of RR are represented by AM 557, 4to on the one hand (i.e.
RR557) and the remaining manuscripts on the other (i.e. RRÓT). For
some discussion of the differences and relationship between these two
redactions, see pp. 28–29 above. Amongst the texts of RRÓT, those of
AM 62, fol. and Flateyjarbók form a sub-group over against the others.
AM 53, fol. is obviously less satisfactory as a witness to the text of RR
by virtue of its limited extent. On the relationship of the manuscripts of ÓT(and with it RR) to each other, see ÓT, III, cclxviii–cccxxiii (stemma, p. cccix).
(3) Editions: Editions of RR are as follows (cf. ONP, 383):
Fms, I, 288/9–297/13, 299/23–301/11, 302/17–306/19 (but cf. Note
3 in Chapter 2); II, 17/26–19/17 (based on AM 61, fol. with a few
variants from other manuscripts; normalised).
Flat, I, 288/18–293/13, 294/22–295/17, 296/9–298/14 (but cf. Note
3 in Chapter 2), 298/21–299/16 (unnormalised).
Flat 2, I, 319/14–324/33, 326/14–327/13, 328/6–330/21 (but cf. Note
3 in Chapter 2), 330/29–331/28 (normalised).

Appendix161

ÓT, I, 313/8–322/21, 325/12–327/4, 328/9–332/17 (but cf. Note 3
in Chapter 2), 349/13–351/7 (based on AM 61, fol. with variants fromother manuscripts with independent value apart from Papp. fol. nr 22
and AM 557, 4to; unnormalised).
ÓT, III, ccxviii–ccxxi (variants from Papp. fol. nr 22).
ÓT, III, 95/24–102/32 (a text of the version in AM 557, 4to;unnormalised).
A normalised text of RR based on the edition in Flat (although withthe beginning omitted) is to be found in Gardiner, 1949, 50–64. Other‘popular’ editions of the fláttr may exist.
(4) Translations: (Danish) Rafn, 1826–1837, I, 260–268, 270–271,
272–276; II, 16–18; (Latin) Sveinbjörn Egilsson, 1828–1829, I, 311–
320, 322–323, 324–328; II, 17–18; (English) Sephton, 1895, 196–203,
204–205, 207–209, 221–222. These translations are based on theedition in Fms (see (3) above).
(5) Discussion, commentary, etc.: Finnur Jónsson, 1920–1924, III,
85–86; Finnur Jónsson, 1930a, 123, 131; Bjarni A›albjarnarson, 1937,
117; Ljungberg, 1938, 123–124; Strömbäck, 1940, 15–18; Harris, 1980;Ólafur Halldórsson, 1990, 53; Würth, 1991, 34, 43, 48, 54, 97, 125–126.
(6) Summary: see pp. 29–33 above.
(7) Sources, analogues and parallels: see pp. 33–35 above.
(8) Date, authorship: see pp. 35–36 above.
(II) ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’(1) Preservation: The text sometimes referred to as ‘Rau›s fláttr ins
ramma’ only exists as a passage in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in Snorri
Sturluson’s Heimskringla (chs 78–80) and, where it is presumably
borrowed from Heimkringla, in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta. It
is edited in HkrFJ, I, 396–402 and Hkr, I, 324–328 (and the borrowingin Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta in ÓT, II, 127–132). On thepreservation of Heimskringla and also on editions, translations, etc.,
see Whaley, 1991, 41–62 and references.
(2) Content: (ch. 78) Rau›r inn rammi is represented as a rich andpowerful chieftain on the island (or islands) Go›ey (or Go›eyjar) in
the fjord Sálpti in Hálogaland (modern Godøy in Saltfjorden, nearBodø). Rau›r is described as blótma›r mikill ok mjƒk fjƒlkunnigr. He

162

Thor the wind-raiser

has many Lapps (Finnar) in his following. When Rau›r and his friend,
fiórir hjƒrtr, learn that the proselytising Óláfr Tryggvason is in Hálogaland with a large force, they assemble a fleet and sail south to meet theking. Rau›r has a particularly splendid ship, adorned with gold. The
two sides meet in a major battle; in this the Háleygir are put to flight.
Of Rau›r’s escape, it is said: røri Rau›r me› dreka sinn út til hafs, ok
flví næst lét hann draga segl sitt. Rau›r haf›i jafnan byr, hvert er hannvildi sigla, ok var flat af fjƒlkynngi hans (cf. ÓT, II, 128, which has thewords flví næst lét hann vinda á segl sitt (cf. also variants) instead offlví næst lét hann draga segl sitt). He then sails home to Go›ey. fiórirhjƒrtr puts ashore, but is pursued by Óláfr and his dog Vígi. Óláfr kills
fiórir himself. The dog Vígi is wounded.
(Ch. 79) Óláfr sails slowly northwards, making conversions as hegoes. En er hann kom nor›r at Sálpti, ætla›i hann at fara inn í fjƒr›inn
ok finna Rau›, en hregg ve›rs ok stakastormr lá innan eptir fir›inum,ok lá konungr flar til viku, ok helzk it sama hreggvi›ri innan eptir
fir›i, en it ‡tra var blásandi byrr at sigla nor›r me› landi. Óláfr makes
use of this last-mentioned wind to take him north to ¯m› (Andøy)
where he makes further converts. He then turn south again, en er hannkom nor›an at Sálpti, flá var hregg út eptir fir›i ok sjádrif. This windlasts several nights and Óláfr asks his bishop, Sigur›r, if he knows of
any expedient against it. Byskup segir, at hann myndi freista, ef gu›
vill sinn styrk til leggja, at sigra flenna fjándakrapt.
(Ch. 80) The bishop puts on his full vestments and has Óláfr’s ship,
Tranan (Traninn), sprinkled with holy water and a crucifix attached toits prow. The Scriptures are read, prayers offered, candles lit and incense
burnt. Then, at the head of the fleet in line, Tranan is rowed up thefjord towards Go›ey. The rowers now feel no wind against them. The
path along which they row is calm, but the waves around them are sohigh that they cannot see the mountains along the fjord. One ship
follows the other through this channel of calm water. After a day anda night’s rowing they arrive at Go›ey and surprise a sleeping Rau›r.
Rau›r is brought before the king who orders him to accept baptism.
Rau›r refuses outright and blasphemes God. The king becomes angry
and promises him the worst of deaths:
fiá lét konungr taka hann ok binda opinn á slá eina, lét setja kefli á millum
tanna honum ok lúka svá upp munninn. fiá lét konungr taka lyngorm einnok bera at munni honum, en ormrinn vildi eigi í munninn ok hrøkk›isk frá
í brot, flví at Rau›r blés í móti honum. fiá lét konungr taka hvannnjóla-Appendix

163

trumbu ok setja í munn Rau›—en sumir menn segja, at konungr léti lú›rsinn setja í munn honum—ok lét flar í orminn, lét bera útan at slájárn
glóanda. Hrøkk›isk flá ormrinn í munn Rau› ok sí›an í hálsinn ok skar útum sí›una. Lét Rau›r flar líf sitt.

Óláfr takes possession of much of Rau›r’s property and has his
followers either forced to accept Christianity or killed or tortured. He
also takes possession of Rau›r’s ship which is more splendid than his
own; he calls it Ormrinn because of its likeness to a dragon (later in
Hkr (ÍF, XXVI, 336) it is called Ormr inn skammi in contradistinction
to Ormr inn langi). He makes further converts in the area of Rau›r’s
old home and then heads southwards along the coast of Norway; okvar› í fleiri fer› mart flat, er í frásƒgn er fœrt, er trƒll ok illar véttir
glettusk vi› menn hans ok stundum vi› hann sjálfan. En (the author ofHeimskringla continues) vér viljum heldr rita um flá atbur›i, er Óláfr
konungr kristna›i Nóreg e›a ƒnnur flau lƒnd, er hann kom kristni á.
Óláfr prepares to spend the winter in Ni›aróss.
(3) Sources: These may be dealt with under three headings.
(a) It is clear that Snorri had Oddr Snorrason’s Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar (ÓTOdd) as a direct source for much of these three chapters(cf., for example, ÍF, XXVI, cxxiii–cxxiv). Sometimes there are verbal
likenesses between the texts in question. The following passages fromÓTOdd must have influenced Snorri to a greater or lesser extent.
(i) ÓTOdd, 137–143: Óláfr’s encounter with fiórir hundr on an
expedition to Hálogaland, the story of the latter’s death and thewounding of the dog Vígi.
(ii) ÓTOdd, 117–119: The story of Hróaldr of Go›ey who calls on
the gods for a wind to prevent the approach of Óláfr Tryggvason.
Óláfr’s bishop throws hallowed water against the contrary wind andwaves and they subside. The king is able to reach Hróaldr’s island.
When Hróaldr refuses to accept baptism, Óláfr has him hanged.
(iii) ÓTOdd, 165–166: The story of Hróaldr of Moldafjƒr›r. He isa heathen and by magic produces large breakers to prevent theapproach of Óláfr to his home. Óláfr simply sails into these waves
in his ship and they subside. The king preaches Christianity to
Hróaldr, but he refuses to accept the faith and is executed.
(iv) ÓTOdd, 166–167: The account of the treatment meted out toan unnamed man in the same district as Hróaldr of Moldafjƒr›r.
He speaks against the king at an assembly where the king is164

Thor the wind-raiser

preaching Christianity. The saga continues (the text of AM 310,
4to from KS, I, 136):
fiá lét konungr taka hann ok bau›, at einn yrmling léti fleir skrí›a í munn
honum, ok svá var gert. Tóku fleir orminn ok luku upp munn mannsins, okblæss hann í móti orminum, en ormrinn hröktist frá munninum ok vildi
allt heldr en skrí›a í munn honum. fiá lét konungr taka heitt járn ok bindavi› orminn, en flá er hann kenndi hitans, flá skrei› hann í munn honum okhröktist flegar ni›r í kvi›inn ok flar út, ok flá haf›i hann í munni sér hjartat
flessa manns.

(v) ÓTOdd, 173–179: Encounters with Thor and with trolls. Thesemust, at least partly, account for the passing mention by Snorri oftrƒll ok illar véttir.
(b) Bjarni A›albjarnarson (1937, 129) argued on the basis of apassage in ÓT (II, 135) that Snorri must have taken the story of Óláfr
Tryggvason’s appropriation of Rau›r’s ship from the lost saga of Óláfr
Tryggvason by Gunnlaugr Leifsson (cf. Hkr, I, 327, note 5). (He did
not, it is clear, have it from Oddr Snorrason’s saga.) If Gunnlaugr’s
lost saga told of that event, it might very well also have contained thewhole story of the events leading up to Rau›r’s death and then in quite
some detail. And this wording from Snorri’s ‘Rau›s fláttr ins ramma’suggests that Snorri may have had more than one source about thedeath of Rau›r: fiá lét konungr taka hvannnjólatrumbu ok setja í munn
Rau›—en sumir menn segja, at konungr léti lú›r sinn setja í munn
honum—ok lét flar í orminn (my emphases). One of these sources
may well have been Gunnlaugr’s lost saga.
(c) It is quite possible that the story of the approach of Óláfr’s fleet
to Rau›r’s farm has been influenced by the account of the Israelites
led by Moses crossing the Red Sea in Exodus 14; cf. Stjorn, 1862,
285–289; Veraldar saga, 1944, 25–26. (For the possible influence ofthe same biblical story elsewhere in saga-literature, cf. Bjarni Gu›nason, 1993, 136–138; cf. also p. 33 above.)(4) Authorship, date: On the attribution of Heimskringla to Snorri
Sturluson (1178/9–1241), see Whaley, 1991, 13–19 and references.
As suggested on p. 35 above, it is usual to date Heimskringla to aroundthe year 1230.

Bibliography and abbreviations

165

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166

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