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OLD ICELANDIC TRUCE FORMULAS(Tryggðamál)

By
ELIZABETH JACKSONVIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

2016

FOREWORD
Elizabeth Jackson gained her PhD from the University of Bimingham in1989 with her thesis entitled Some functions and forms of traditional lists
in the ‘Edda’ and Old English poetry. This was followed by three articles
that continued the same theme: ‘Some Contexts and Characteristics
of Old Norse Ordering Lists’. Saga-Book 23 (1991), 112–40, ‘ “Not
Simply Lists”: An Eddic Perspective on Short-Item Lists in Old English
Poems’. Speculum 73 (1998), 338–71, and ‘From the Seat of the þyle?
A Reading of Maxims I, lines 138–140’. Journal of English and Germanic
Philology 99 (2000), 170–87. She then became interested in the Old
Icelandic Tryggðamál, which contains lists very similar to those she hadalready studied, and began work on editing and analysing the texts andexploring the background of the lists that are contained in it. Much of thegroundwork was done in the summer of 2000, and work on the texts andanalyses continued sporadically, though with many interruptions due topersonal problems, until 2012, when she became too ill to work further,and it lay in abeyance for another four years. I have now decided thatthe work she has done should be made available to scholars, incompletethough it is, and so I present here a draft of an introduction, the latest
versions of the texts, with translations and selected explanatory notes,
and some of the attempts at analysis of parts of the Grágás and Grettis
saga versions. I have made amendments, corrections and additions invarious places that the author would doubtless have made to her work if
she had been able to complete it.
Anthony Faulkes
Dundee, March 2016

T

INTRODUCTION

here are four extant versions of Tryggðamál, two in manuscripts
of Grágás (Konungsbók (Grágas Ia 205–07, ch. 115: K) andStaðarhólsbók (Grágas II 406–07, ch. 388: S1)), one in Heiðarvíga
saga (ÍF III 312–13, ch. 33: H) and one in Grettis saga1 (ÍF VII 232–33,
ch. 72: G). In addition, there is a closely related though shorter version
in Staðarhólsbók (Grágas II 405–06, ch. 387: S2). Further, Konungsbók(Grágas Ia 204–05, ch. 114) and Staðarhólsbók (Grágas II 402–05) containfive other (unrelated) formulae for establishing a truce. Tryggðamál has
also been edited in Eddica Minora.
The interest of Tryggðamál is not the same as that which engaged
R. I. Page with the Rune Poem, i.e. establishing, or trying to establish, adefinitive text from different versions which survive with no particular
context.2 On the contrary, with Tryggðamál the contexts are explicit. Theinterest lies in the light these contexts, and the accompanying variants,
shed on the uses and transmission history of the text. Tryggðamál is a
mixture of a prosaic, practical, legal text with a definite function, and aseries of varying, almost poetic, mnemonic elaborations, one of which
at least seems to be of ancient origin (see e.g. Eddica Minora cviii).
Parallels and connections with Old English and Old Frisian texts andwith the Russian Primary Chronicle suggest that it might be possible totrace fragments of Tryggðamál back to an origin in Common Germanicoral literature and to see a progression through various stages, including
incorporation into a very early version of Tryggðamál in Norway, oraltransmission to Iceland, post conversion Christianisation, eventual
arrival in the written record and, ultimately, use in literary contexts. The
literary uses of the text are of particular interest because they provide
some evidence for the way in which the text may have been used andtransmitted during the years following the settlement of Iceland, andbecause of the way the saga writers adapt it for their own narrative
purposes. The two saga versions also provide internal evidence which
is useful for reconstructing the historical relationships of the surviving
texts.
1
The text of Tryggðamál in Grettis saga is based on a transcript of AM 551
A 4to kindly supplied by Ólafur Halldórsson in 2006. Words missing from thismanuscript are mostly supplied from AM 152 fol. and/or DG 10 fol. (as quotedin ÍF) and enclosed in pointed brackts.
2
R. I. Page, The Icelandic Rune Poem. London: Viking Society for Northern
Research, 1999.

4

Trygg›amál
Origin and transmission history

The starting point for this discussion is the segment of the text of Tryggðamál
which I have labelled the ‘everywhere’ list (K lines 19–30). This list occurs
in all versions except S2 (which appears to be simply an alternative shortform of S1) and seems likely to be very old. This opinion is based on its
form. It has the form of an ordering list, a kind of list well attested in thewisdom literature of many cultures which are preliterate or in transition
between orality and full literacy. Ordering lists are often among the oldest
literary texts from a given culture. Typically their form is simple: shortitems in apparently random order based on observations of the everyday
world and recording the characteristic features of things, both in nature andsociety. They employ mnemonic devices such as grammatical parallelism,
repetition, pairing of items, alliteration and so on (for a discussion ofordering lists, including Old Norse ones, see Jackson 1991). This viewof the list’s age is supported by the ÍF editors’ notes to the G version of
Tryggðamál ‘Formálar þessir eru mjög fornlegir’ (ÍF VIII 231, note 3) andby Heusler, who comments on this list in his Altgermanische Dichtung,compares a Frisian list, and says that some of these ‘Steinchen’ go very far
back: ‘sie waren urgermanishes oder später gemeingermanisch gewordenes
Gut’ (p. 51). Scholars have long felt that at least a Common Germanic
tradition may lie behind the Old English poems Maxims I and II and the
Old Icelandic Hávamál, because of the many similarities in content andexpression pointing to a common world view. The much-quoted verses from
Hávamál 76: Deyr fé, deyja frændr and The Wanderer 108: Her byð feohlæne, her bið freond læne are a case in point. But they have generally beenvery cautious in committing themselves because of a lack of real evidence.
However, the ‘everywhere’ list in Tryggðamál does have a very specificparallel in a list in the Old English Maxims I: eldr upp brennr, jǫrð grœr(K line 20) and fyr wudu meltan, eorþe growan (Maxims I, 71b–72a). The
second items here are exact cognates. If they had occurred in isolation, we
would have had to put their identity down to coincidence. But each of themis immediately preceded by another item, having no natural connection withearth or growing, which is differently worded but expresses the same idea.
This juxtaposition greatly reduces the odds of a chance occurrence. The
juxtaposition of the fire items and the earth items in these two lists suggests
the possibility that all four derive from the same source and this source
could have been Common Germanic. (Other evidence from Old English
and Old Icelandic texts for the survival of features of Common Germanicoral texts, both in form and content, is discussed in Jackson 1998 and 2000
respectively.)Trygg›amál

5

We may mention here evidence from the Russian Primary Chronicle(1953) p. 74, anno 945 of a trucekeeping oath formula used by the
Russ. The agreement was between Greeks and Russ, and was tostand ‘as long as the sun shines and the world stands fixed’ (cf. also
p. 77: ‘as long as the sun shines and the world endures henceforth andforevermore’). This is a ‘forever’ rather than an ‘everywhere’ list, but
one item (‘sun shines’) is common with the Tryggðamál ‘everywhere’
list (sól skínn) and one (‘world stands fixed’) close to the Tryggðamál
‘forever’ item meðan mold er. Also in a Frisian law text: ‘as long as
the wind blows (wails?) from the skies and the world stands’, cf. vindr
þýtr/vindr vex and meðan mold er. The Frisian parallels are discussed
in more detail below.
If we have in the Tryggðamál list a nugget (or nuggets) of Common
Germanic material, is it possible to trace its transmission through to themanuscripts written in Iceland in the 13th–15th centuries? What follows
is an attempt to do this.
Stage 1. The Migration Age. An oral ordering list (the ‘everywhere’list) is composed, containing items cognate with eldr upp brennr, jǫrðgrœr. Fiðr scríðr (K line 25) might have been included at this earlystage, as the concept of Lapps moving fast goes back to Tacitus and the
Scridefinnas (‘skiing Finns’) appear, along with other Migration Agepeoples, in the Old English Widsið, as well as in Jordanes and Procopius.
Another item that might have joined the list at this stage is fura vex (Kline 25). Like Lapps, fir trees were not then found in Iceland. Versions of
this list travel independently to England, where one is later incorporated
into Maxims I, and to Norway; and perhaps also to Frisia. A similar list,or perhaps a version of the same one, goes eastwards with the Russ anda few items are incorporated into a trucekeeping formula recorded in the
Russian Primary Chronicle.
Stage 2 The ‘everywhere’ list in Norway. If Fiðr scríðr was notalready part of the list, it could have joined here, as Lapps were met only
in northern Scandinavia; fura vex could also have joined here as fir trees
are common in Norway. Wherever they joined these two items are likely
to have travelled together as they alliterate and form an item pair. As
skiing and growing are characteristic of Lapps and fir trees respectively(in the same way as burning and growing are characteristic of fire andearth) these two items fit the ordering principle suggested for the originof the ‘everywhere’ list and so were probably added before the list wasincorporated into Tryggðamál. (The reference to sowing corn (line 30)
would also fit Norwegian conditions better then Icelandic ones.)

Trygg›amál

6

Stage 3 A truce speech, Tryggðamál, is compiled in Norway before
920 and the ‘everywhere’ list is included in it. Evidence for a Norwegianorigin of Tryggðamál is as follows:
A surviving manuscript of the laws of the Gulaþing (Norwegian west
coast law province) contains the first seven lines of Tryggðamál (adding
an extra item ‘thinkers thought’ to the ‘officials’ list, K lines 2–5).3

Sakir varo þeirra a millum N. oc N. Nu ero þær saker settar oc fe bøttar
fullum eyri oc fram komnom þeim i hond er hava skal. slict sem dømendr
dømdo. metendr mato. virðendr virðu. hyggiendr hug . . .

The manuscript breaks off at this point, but it seems reasonable tosuppose that the rest of Tryggðamál followed and has been lost withthe last pages of the manuscript. Vogt (1938) believed that a native
Norwegian version was recorded here (p. 33).
Apart from the possible Norwegian origin of the items in the ‘everywhere’
list discussed under Stage 2, there is an item in the first ‘normal situations’list (K lines 9–11) which must be Norwegian rather than Icelandic: í konungs
húsi (K line 11). This item is paired with at kirkna sókn , which cannot
have been present at this stage, but it is possible that í konungs húsi was
originally paired with some other alliterating item which was replaced when
Tryggðamál was Christianised. So three parts of the text—the opening lines,
the first normal situations list and the ‘everywhere’ list—provide someevidence of Norwegian origin and it is likely that they travelled to Iceland
together rather than separately. It is perhaps relevant here that there arereferences to Norway in the text preceding Tryggðamál in the K manuscript.
Stage 4 The Gulaþing version of Tryggðamál, including the ‘every­
where’ list, is taken to Iceland in the 920s. We know from Íslendingabók
Ch. 2 (ÍF I 6–7) that in the 920s a Norwegian called Úlfljótr took laws
from Norway to Iceland and that they were based on the Gulaþing laws.
Perhaps Tryggðamál was not yet part of the Gulaþing laws when Úlfljótr
made his journey, but given the Norwegian features of the Icelandic
versions, it seems likely that it was. That it could have been included in
the Gulaþing laws in the tenth century is supported by evidence (from theRussian Primary Chronicle) that oaths of truce were employed by another
Scandinavian people, the Russ, during that century (the earliest version of
the Chronicle is believed to have been written c. 1100, and it contained
traditions about the tenth century). Úlfljótr carried the Gulaþing laws to
Iceland in his memory and became the first Icelandic law speaker. The
version he knew would have been passed on to his successors.
3

Norges Gamle Love I 110.

Trygg›amál

7

Stage 5 The next important event in the history of the speech was thecon­version of Iceland in the summer of 999. In the year or two immedi­
ately following the conversion the laws of Iceland were Christianised.
Dennis et al. 1980 suggest that ‘pagan elements were doubtless mostevident in the ceremonies that established a special sanctity at assemblies
and in the oaths sworn as part of legal procedures. Some of these elements
were perhaps simply abolished but others were reframed in Christianterms’ (p. 3). The specifically Christian elements in Tryggðamál, which
probably date from this time, are K lines 11, 18–19, 32–34 and lines
50–52. None occurs within the ‘everywhere’ list but two Christian items(K lines 18–19) begin the list and a Christian segment (K lines 32–34)
immediately follows it. The beginning and end are obvious places to add
new material. Putting such material in the body of the list would have madeit much harder to relearn for those who already held it in their memories.
It is possible that at stage 5 there were at least two distinct versions of
the speech, A1 and A2. What I might call the HKS nexus goes to H,
K, S1 and S2, but not to G. The G version has features and items notin any of the other ones. (So it is unlikely that the Heiðarvíga saga
version was the source of the Grettis saga version of the speech.) The
potential problem of the crossover between S1 and G could be solvedby postulating two sets of Christianising formulae being plugged into
the text at Stage 5. Tryggðamál remained an oral, but Christian, text for
more than a hundred years.
Stages 6–7 Here the speech diverges into the five different versions
which appear at Stage 8. I have suggested two stages here because there
appears to be a split in development between the oral level and the literarylevel. During this period the next significant event in the history of the
speech took place—a decision was made in the summer of 1117 to write
down the laws. We know that this task was undertaken in the following
few years. We also know that it wasn’t completed, but the chances arehigh that Tryggðamál was written down at this time (c. 1120) and fromthen on was transmitted as a written as well as an oral text. It may havebeen read, rather than spoken, at the Alþing every three years, but thewritten word did not take over entirely. Dennis et al. 1980 remark that‘although there was doubtless some diminution in the need and respect
for capacious and accurate memory once men started to write the laws,
people must have gone on learning them by heart all the same’ (p. 11).
Probably copies were made for teaching and memory-refreshing puposes.
Dennis et al. 1980 continue: ‘in addition to whole books of laws it is likelythat many scraps of law were in written existence—particulalry oaths,

8

Trygg›amál

formulas, specific prescripts consulted and saved for specific purposes’;that is, texts like Tryggðamál. Somewhere here, too, specific reference
to a book (K line 35) must have been added and the respect accorded
to the book (a bible?) is reflected in its use as part of the truce-speaking
ceremony.
Stage 8 The extant manuscript versions were written. Now that
Tryggðamál has arrived in the written record, what can be learned
about its history from the manuscript contexts? As it is preserved in
Grágás it is clearly designed to be spoken formally by a third party, an
arbitrator, in the presence of witnesses, to two antagonists who are being
reconciled. The context is bookish—we imagine the speech being read,much as a priest might read the marriage service (note the formulaic
language) as part of a formal ceremony which includes the exchangeof money, the joint holding of the book, a handclasp and the presenceof witnesses. Such a ceremony would have to be prearranged and to
take place somewhere where both the book and the officials would beavailable. The formality and the exchange of money reinforce the legal
aspect. The speech itself is preserved apart from the situation in which it
would be used: that is, it is without any immediate context.
The context in the sagas is very different. Here the truce speechoccurs as part of a narrative and the situations in which it is used areclearly defined and described. In both cases the speaking of the truce is
not pre-planned and takes place spontaneously in the countryside—at awrestling match in Grettis saga and on a journey in Heiðarvíga saga.
There is no independent arbitrator and the truce is spoken by a memberof the company on behalf of all, using ‘we’ and not ‘you two’. No bookis present and there is no exchange of money, but hands are clasped in
G and those present are called to witness. There is no specific naming in
H, but in G, Gestr (the name adopted by Grettir to conceal his identity)
is particularly named as being a party to the agreement. In both sagas anelement of deception is involved in the speaking of the truce. In Grettis
saga Grettir is in disguise and the farmers who have grievances against
him do not realise until afterwards who it is that they have made peacewith. In Heiðarvíga saga Barði and his men have joined the companyof their opponents, again in disguise and at night, as they journey on theroad. Snorri goði, who knows the situation, tricks Þorgils into speaking
the truce by flattering him that no one can speak the speech better
than he and pretending that he wants to hear it. Þorgils complies. Twointeresting differences in the H version are explained by this story. In all
the other versions there is naming of parties and clasping of hands but

Trygg›amál

9

in H, because the speaker did not know that his opponents were present
and thought he was speaking merely for display and not in earnest, henaturally left out the naming and the handclasp. In both sagas, when
the deception is revealed, the tricked parties are disconcerted but they
nevertheless regard the truce as binding and in both cases honour it.
In both cases the speaker of the truce is characterised as an especiallyskilled speaker—in Heiðarvíga saga in the exchange between Snorriand Þorgils and in Grettis saga when Hafr is said to be ‘orðamaðr mikill’
and to speak ‘með mikilli rǫksemð’—but neither speaker is an official or
specially trained. They are each of them just one of the company present
and they speak from memory. In Heiðarvíga saga Snorri’s remarks toÞorgils suggest that knowledge of the speech was common, althoughsome people were better at speaking it (i.e. remembering it) than others.
Evidently the saga writers regarded it as normal that people should havelearned things like this by heart and that someone able to speak the trucewell would be likely to be present at any chance gathering. We do knowthat other comparable texts were learned. Grágás contains a law thatevery male that was of age must learn the correct form of words andaccompanying actions for the rite of baptising a child. Failure to know
this, if due to negligence rather than disability, was punishable by lesser
outlawry. All this throws some light on the probable situation at Stages 6
and 7. In a society where feuds were common, and could be deadly, thetruce speech would have been learned by many people, and practised andpassed on so that it would be available when needed. Emphasis would
be placed on speaking it well, i.e. getting it right, so that it would havelegal force. That, in turn, suggests that the preservation of Tryggðamál
was fairly accurate and explains in part how the archaic ‘everywhere’
list survived its long transmission history.
In both Heiðarvíga saga and Grettis saga (especially in the latter)the use of the formula in a literary rather a legal context has probably
resulted in some of the features of oral tradition having been suppressedor altered, and some rhetorical devices ‘improved’ by the sagawriters.

10

Trygg›amál

A parallel in a Frisian Law Text
In a twelfth century Frisian law text there is an account of the transaction
between Charlemagne and some Frisian slaves who had helped him
during his siege of Rome (the Magnus legend). The Frisian leader,
Magnus, requested seven rights for his people, of which the first was
freedom for all Frisians for ever:thet alle Fresan were freiheran, thi berna and thi vneberna, alsa longe sa thi
wind fonta himele weide and thio wralde stode (Buma and Ebel 1972, p. 54).

Later in the same book is this variant version:

thet alle Fresan frei were, thi berna and thi vneberna, alsa longe sa thi wint
fonta wolcnum weide and thio wralde stonde (Buma and Ebel 1972, p. 56).

that all Frisians should be free, the born and the unborn, as long as the windblows (wails?) from the skies and the world stands.

And another section, concerning the fines/reparations to be paid in casesof damage to the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch) includes a list
with various similarities to the ‘everywhere’ list in Grágás:Thet tha lithe therefon ewert se, therney tha allewa wendan: thet hi sa wel
ne muge wesa a bethe ne a bedde, a wayne ne a wedzie, awey ne a wetre, askipe ne an yse, a huse ne a godishuse, bi sine wiwe wesa, by sine fiure alsa
sitta, ne a nenre ferd hine selua sa bi reppa, sa hi er machte (Buma and Ebel
1972, p. 78).
(Their German translation:) Falls die Glieder dadurch verschlechlert sind,(so büße man) danach die elf Begleiterscheinungen, (nämlich) daß jemandnicht mehr so gut sein kann weder im Bade noch im Bette, zu Wagen nochzu Pferde, auf dem Wege noch auf dem Wasser, auf dem Schiffe noch auf
dem Eise, im Hause noch in der Kirche; dass er (auch) weder seiner Frau so
bei wohnen, noch bei seinem Feuer so sitzen, noch sich auf einer Fahrt so
rühren kann, wie er es zuvor konnte.

Could this be an example of an old list form being used because it
was handy? This is an ‘everywhere’ rather than a forever list. But it
is possible that it is derived from a variant form of the Migration Ageordering list (Stage 1 above)

TENTATIVE CHRONOLOGY
Century Russia
England
Norway		 Iceland		 Frisia
14th							Grettis saga								 (c. 1325)
13th							Grágás S										 c. 1280
							Grágás K								 c. 1260
							Heiðavíga saga								 c. 1200
12th
Russian PrimaryGulaþing				
Frisian Law text
Chronicle			
Laws
Laws written							down c.1120
11th
10th							Conversion of							Iceland 999							Events in sagas		
Exeter Book			take place			Maxims I			
Laws taken to							Iceland c. 920
9thTreaties
made with					Settlement ofConstantinople		oral truce
Iceland begins 874
8th					formula					+ core list;				
					
oral ordering					lists in Norway
7th			Conversion of
6th			England			
begins 597
			Oral ordering lists
			in England
5th
4th				

Common Germanic ordering lists ?

BIBLIOGRAPHY
ÍF = Íslensk fornrit
1. Editions and Translations
Tryggðamál
Eddica Minora. 1903. Ed. Andreas Heusler and W. Ranisch. Dortmund.
‘The Oath of Truce (Tryggthamól)’. 1936. In Old Norse Poems: The
most important non Skaldic verse not included in the Poetic Edda.
Trans. Lee M. Hollander. New York.
GrágasGrágas: Islændernes Lovbog i Fristatens Tid. 1852. Ed. Vilhjálmur
Finsen. Copenhagen. [Konungsbók, Grágás I a–b]
Grágas efter det Arnamagnæanske Haandskrift Staðarhólsbók. 1879.
Ed. Vilhjálmur Finsen. Copenhagen. [Grágás II]
Grágas: Lagasafn Íslenska þjóðveldisins. 1992. Karlsson et al.
Laws of Early Iceland: Grágas I. 1980. Trans. Andrew Dennis, Peter
Foote and Richard Perkins. The University of Manitoba Icelandic
Studies 3. Winnipeg.
Laws of Early Iceland: Grágas II. 2000. Trans. Andrew Dennis, Peter
Foote and Richard Perkins. The University of Manitoba Icelandic
Studies 5. Winnipeg.
Heiðarvíga saga
Borgfirðinga Sǫgur. 1938. Ed. Sigurður Nordal and Guðni Jónsson. ÍF
III. Reykjavík.
The Story of the Ere-Dwellers (Eyrbyggja saga) with the Story of the
Heath-Slayings (Heiðarvíga saga). 1892. William Morris and Eiríkr
Magnússon. London.
Grettis saga
Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar. 1936. Ed. Guðni Jónsson. ÍF VII.
Reykjavík.
The Saga of Grettir. In Three Icelandic Outlaw Sagas. 2004. Trans.
Anthony Faulkes. London 2004.
Related texts
The Russian Primary Chronicle. 1953. Laurentian text, translated andedited by Samuel Hazzard Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor.
Medieval Academy of America, Cambridge, Mass.
Maxims I. 1976. Poems of Wisdom and Learning in Old English. Text
and translation by T. A. Shippey. Brewer, Cambridge. Pp. 64–75.

Trygg›amál

13

Maxims I. 1936. ‘The Exeter Book’. The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records 3.
Ed. by G. P. Krapp and E.V. K. Dobbie. London and New York.
Den eldre Gulatingslova. 1994. Ed, B. Eithun, M. Rindal and T. Ulset,
Oslo. See also Norges Gamle Love I 1846. Christiamia.
Frisian Law Texts
Buma, Wybren Jan and Wilhelm Ebel. 1972. Altfriesische Rechtsquellen.
Vol 5, Das Fivelgoer Recht, Göttingen. Cf. also vol. 1, Das Rüstringer
Recht. Also in Karl von Richthofen. 1840. Frisische Rechtsquellen,
1840.
14th- and15th-century Lower German versions can be found in Conrad
Borchling, Poesie und Humor im friesischen Recht, Aurich 1908,
Abhandlungen und Vorträge zur Geschichte Ostfrieslands, 10.
2. The Russ
Cross, S. H. 1946. ‘The Scandinavian Infiltration into Early Russia’.
Speculum 21, 505–14.
Davidson, Hilda Ellis. 1976. The Viking Road to Byzantium. London.
Jenkins, R. J. H. 1949. ‘The Supposed Russian Attack on Constantinople
in 907’. Speculum 24, 403–06.
Varangian Problems. 1968. Papers from the Symposium on ‘The Eastern
Connections of the Nordic Peoples in the Viking Period and Early
Middle Ages’. Ed. by K. R. Schmidt et al. 1970. Scando-Slavica(Supplement I). Copenhagen.
Vasiliev, A. A. 1951. ‘The Second Russian Attack on Constantinople’.
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 6.
Vasiliev, A. A. 1946. The Russian Attack on Constantinople in 860.
Cambridge, Mass.
3. Iceland: settlement and early historyAðalsteinsson, Jón Hnefill. 1978. Under the Cloak: The Acceptance ofChristianity in Iceland with Particular Reference to the Religious
Attitudes Prevailing at the Time. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis,
Studia Ethnologica Upsaliensa 4. Stockholm.
Íslendingabók. Landnámabók. 1968. Ed. Jakob Bnediktsson. ÍF I. Reykjavík.
Magnússon, Sigurður A. 1977. Northern Sphinx: Iceland and the Icelanders
from the Settlement to the Present. Montreal.
Njarðvík, Njörður P. 1978. Birth of a Nation: The Story of the Icelandic
Commonwealth. Trans. by John Porter. Iceland Review History
Series. Reykjavik.
Strömbäck, Dag. 1975. The Conversion of Iceland: A Survey. Trans. andannotated by Peter Foote. London.

14

Trygg›amál

Sveinsson, Einar Ól. 1953. The Age of the Sturlungs: Icelandic Civilization in
the Thirteenth Century. Trans. Jóhann S. Hannesson. Islandica 36. Ithaca.
Sveinsson, Einar Ól. 1937–38. ‘The Icelandic Family Sagas and the
Period in which their Authors Lived’. Acta Philologica Scandinavica
12. Pp. 71–90.
4. The legal background
Abel, Richard L. 1973. ‘A Comparative Theory of Dispute Institutions
in Society’. Law and Society Review 8, 216–347.
Berger, Alan. 1978–79. ‘Lawyers in the Old Icelandic Family Sagas:
Heroes, Villains, and Authors’. Saga-Book 20, 70–79.
Byock, Jesse L. 1984. ‘Dispute Resolution in the Sagas’. Gripla 6,
86–100.
Dennis, Andrew. 1973. ‘Grágas: An Examination of the Content andTechnique of the Old Icelandic Law Books, Focused on þingskapaþáttr
(the ‘Assembly Section’).’ PhD Thesis University of Cambridge.
Dennis et al. 1980. Laws of Early Iceland: Grágas I. Trans. Andrew
Dennis, Peter Foote and Richard Perkins. The University of Manitoba
Icelandic Studies 3. Winnipeg.
Foote, Peter G. 1977. ‘Oral and Literary Tradition in Early Scandinavian
Law: Aspects of a Problem’. In Oral Tradition—Literary Tradition:
A Symposium. Ed. Hans Bekker-Nielsen, Peter Foote, Andreas
Haarder and Hans Frede Nielsen. Odense. Pp. 47–55.
Lárusson, Ólafur. 1958 ‘On Grágas—the Oldest Icelandic Code of Law.
Proceedings of the Third Viking Congress, Reykjavik, 1956. Árbók
hins íslenzka fornleifafélags. Pp. 77–89.
Ullmann, Walter. 1966. The Individual and Society in the Middle Ages.
Baltimore.
Vogt, Walther Heinrich. 1937. ‘Fluch. Eid, Götter—altnordisches Recht’.
Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte.57, 1–57.
Vogt, Walther Heinrich. 1936. ‘Zwei Flüche der griðamál’ Arkiv för nordisk
filologi 52, 325–39
5. The oral/literary background
Andersson, Theodore M. 1964. The Problem of Icelandic Saga Origins:
A Historical Survey. Yale Germanic Studies 1. New Haven.
Byock, Jesse L. 1984–85. ‘Saga Form, Oral Prehistory, and the Icelandic
Social Context’. New Literary History 16, 153–173.
Clover, Carol. 1982. The Medieval Saga. Ithaca and London.
Einarsson, Stéfan. 1957. A History of Icelandic Literature. Baltimore.
Heusler, Andreas. 1929. Altgermanische Dichtung. Darmstadt.

Trygg›amál

15

Jackson, Elizabeth. 1991. ‘Some Contexts and Characteristics of Old
Norse Ordering Lists’. Saga-Book 23, 112–40.
Jackson, Elizabeth. 1998. ‘ “Not Simply Lists”: An Eddic Perspective
on Short-Item Lists in Old English Poems’. Speculum 73, 338–71.
Jackson, Elizabeth. 2000 ‘From the Seat of the þyle? A Reading ofMaxims I, lines 138–140’. Journal of English and Germanic Philology
99 (2000), 170–87.
Nordal, Sigurður. 1957. The Historical Element in the Icelandic Family
Sagas. W. P. Ker Memorial Lecture 15. Glasgow.
Schier, Kurt. 1977. ‘Einige methodische Überlegungen zum Problem vonmündliche und literarischer tradition im Norden’. In Oral Tradition—
Literary Tradition: A Symposium. Ed. Hans Bekker-Nielsen, Peter
Foote, Andreas Haarder and Hans Frede Nielsen 47–55. Odense.
Vogt, Walther Heinrich. 1936. ‘Zwei Flüche der griðamál’. Arkiv för
nordisk filologi 52, 325–39. Review: ‘Altnorwegens Urfehdebann und
der Geleitschwur. Tryggðamál und Griðamál’ von Dr. phil. Walther
Heinrich Vogt. 1936’. By Ó. L., in Skírnir 111 (1937), 217–21.
Vogt, Walther Heinrich. 1938. ‘Zu Tryggðamál und Griðamál: ihre Formung
in Heiðarvíga saga und Grettla. Die Stellung des Redners.’ Beiträge zur
Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 62, 33–42.

16K
ch. 115

Trygg›amál
tryggðamál

Sakar váru á milli þeira n. n. ok n. n. en nú eru þær settar ok fé bœttar
		sem metendr mátu3 		
ok teljendr tǫlðu
		ok dómr dœmði		ok þiggjendr þágu6 ok þaðan báru með fé fullu ok fram komnum eyri þeim í hǫnd seldum er
hafa skyldi.
Þit skuluð vera menn sáttir ok samværir
9 		
at ǫlðri ok at áti		á þingi ok á þjoðstefnu		
at kirkna sókn ok í konungs húsi.
12 Ok hvarvetna þess er manna fundir verða, þá skuluð þit svá samsáttir sem
aldregi hœfisk þetta ykkar á meðal. Þit skuluð deila kníf ok kjǫtstykki, ok
alla hluti ykkar í milli sem frændr en eigi sem fjándr. Ef sakar gerask síðan
15 á milli þeira, annat en þat er vel er, þat skal fé bœta en eigi flein rjóða.
En sá ykkar er gengr á gørvar sáttir eða vegr á veittar tryggðir, þá skalhann svá víða vargrækr ok rekinn sem menn víðast varga* reka
18 		kristnir menn kirkjur sœkja
		heiðnir menn hof blóta		
eldr upp brennr, jǫrð grœr**21 		mǫgr móður kallar ok móðir mǫg fœðir
		
aldir elda kynda
		skip skríðr, skildir blíkja
24 		
sol skínn, snæ leggr		Fiðr skríðr,*** fura vex
		valr flýgr várlangan dag—27 		stendr honum byrr beinn undir báða vængi—		himinn hverfr, heimr er byggðr
		vindr þýtr, vǫtn til sævar falla,
30 		
karlar korni sá.
Hann skal firrask
		kirkjur ok kristna menn
33 		Guðs hús ok guma
		heim hvern nema helvíti.
Nú haldið þit báðir á bók einni, enda liggr nú fé á bók, er n. n. bœtir fyrir
36 sik ok sinn erfingja
6 selldum S2, sellde K (perhaps altered to sellt), sellt S1.

17 vargr rækr K

Trygg›amál

17

Peace guarantee speech
There were causes of dispute between them, n. n. and n. n., but now they
are settled and atoned with money		as valuers valued		and counters counted,
		and judges judged		and receivers received
and bore away, with the full amount of money and the coin produced,
given into the hand of the one who should have it.
	You two shall be men reconciled and at one with each other,		at ale and at eating		
at assembly and at public meeting		at church gathering and in king’s house.
And wheresoever there are meetings of men, you shall be as much in agreement with each other as if this had never arisen between you. You shall shareknife and meat-portion, and all things between you like kinsmen and not
like enemies. If causes of dispute arise later between them, other than what
is well, it shall be remedied with money and spear shall not be reddened.
But the one of you two who breaks settlements made, or strikes at truces
granted, he shall be as far cast out as a wolf and driven out as men mostwidely drive out wolves
		Christian men attend churches		heathen men worship in temples
		fire burns up, earth grows		son cries for mother and mother nurtures son,		
people kindle fires
		ship glides, shields gleam		
sun shines snow is driven		Lapp skis, fir grows
		
falcon flies a spring-long day		(there blows for him a fair breeze under both wings),
		sky turns, world is inhabited,		
wind whistles, waters fall to sea,		
men sow corn.
He shall shun		churches and Christian people,
		God’s house and men’s,		
every world but Hell.
Now both of you hold one book­—and money lies now on the book whichn. n. pays in settlement for himself and his heir

18

Trygg›amálK 		ch. 115 		
39 		

alinn ok óborinn
getinn ok ógetinn
nefndan ok ónefndan.
n. n. tekr tryggðir en n. n. veitir ævintryggðir, þær æ skulu haldask meðan
mold er ok menn lifa.
42 Nú eru þeir n. n. ok n. n. sáttir ok sammála hvar sem þeir hittask		á landi eða legi		skipi eða á skíði
í hafi eða á hests baki45 				árar miðla eða austskotu		þoptu eða þilju
48 ef þarfar gervask, jafnsáttr hvárr við annan sem faðir við son eða sonr viðfǫður í samfǫrum ǫllom.
Nú leggja þeir hendr sínar saman, n. n. ok n. n. Haldið vel tryggðir at
51 vilja Krists ok allra manna þeira er nú heyrðu tryggðamál. Hafi sá hylliGuðs er heldr tryggðir, en sá reiði er rýfr réttar tryggðir en hylli sá er heldr.
Hafið heilir sæzk! En vér sém váttar er við erum staddir.
* vargr here may well mean vargr í véum ‘outlaw’. Cf. S2: Hann skal svá víðavargr heita sem víðast er verǫld byggð, ok vera hvarvetna rækr ok rekinn um
allan heim ‘He shall be called a wolf as widely as the world is inhabited, and beeverywhere cast out and driven out over the whole earth’.
** jǫrð grœr: this phrase also appears Egill Skallagrímr’s poem on the death of
his brother Þórólfr (ÍF II 142, verse 17/5) and in Einarr Helgason Skálaglamm´spoem Vellekla about Jarl Hákon ríki (ÍF XXVI 242, verse 109/5).
*** The word Fiðr (Finnr) in Old Icelandic is usually taken to mean ‘Lapp’(Sami) rather then ‘Finn’. The earliest refence to Lapps (or Finns) is in Tacitus(Germania 46: Fenni). They are given the appellation ‘Scridefinnas’ in the Old
English poem Widsið (line 79), and similar names for them are also found inKing Alfred’s Orosius (13.26–27: Scridefennas), Adam of Bremen (col. 641 andscholion 132: Scritefingi), Jordanes (Getica III.21: Screrefennae), Procopius(Bellum Gothorum II, 15: Scrithiphinoi), Vienna manuscript on geography(Scridifeni), Paul the Deacon (Historia Langobardum I, 5: Scritobini).
The first element of the word is cognate with the Old Icelandic word skríða
which probably in this context refers to skiing. Vǫlundarkviða (introductory prose)characterises the sons of a king of the ‘Finnas’as hunting animals on skis (þeirskriðu ok veiddu dýr). Paul the Deacon explains the meaning of the name as ‘asaliendo iuxta linguam barbaram ethimologiam ducunt. Saltibus enim, utentes
arte quadam ligno incurvo ad arcus similitudinem, feras adsecuntur.’ Althoughsalio mans ‘jump’, the ‘curved wood’ can only mean skis. The inclusion of Fiðrskríðr in the list is to indicate he furthest reaches of human activity.
37 óalinn altered to óborinn K

40 þar K

Trygg›amál

19

		
born and unborn		conceived and unconceived
		
named and unnamed.
n. n. takes guarantees of peace and n. n. gives everlasting guarantees ofpeace, which shall hold for ever, while earth exists and men live.
Now are they, n. n. and n. n., reconciled and in agreement wherever theymeet,		on land or sea,		
ship or on ski,		at sea or on horseback,		
share oars or bailing bucket,
		rowing bench or deck-plank,
if need arises, just as much at peace each with other as father with son or
son with father in all their dealings together.
Now they place their hands together, n. n. and n. n. Hold well the peaceaccording to the will of Christ and of all those men who now have heard
the peace guarantee speech. May he who keeps the peace have God’s
grace, and he his wrath who breaks lawful guarantees of peace but his
grace who keeps them. May you have blessedly been reconciled! And let
us be witnesses who are present at it.

20G
ch. 72

Trygg›amál
HafrsgriÐ

‘<H>ér set ek grið,’ segir hann, ‘allra manna á millum—einkanliga þeimsama Gesti til nefndum, er hér sitr, ok at undirskilðum
ǫllum goðorðsmǫnnum
3
		ok gildum bœndum—
ok allrar alþýðu
vígra manna ok vápnfœrra
6
ok allir aðrir heraðsmenn* í Hegranessþingi
eða hvaðan sem hverir eru at komnir		
nefndra manna eða ónefndra;
9
handsǫlum** grið ok fullan frið kvámumanni hinum ókunna er Gestr
nefnisk til gamans, glímu ok gleði allrar, til hérvistar ok heimferðar, hvárt
12 er hann þarf at faraá legi eða landi<at fari> eða flutni<n>gi.
15 Skal hann hafa grið í ǫllum stǫðum nefndum ok <ó>nefndum svá lengi
sem hann þarf til heillar heimkvámu at hǫldnum tryggðum.
Set ek þessi grið <fyrir>
18 		oss ok vára frændr
		vini ok venzlamenn		svá konur sem karla
21 		þýjar ok þræla
		sveina ok sjálfráða menn.
Sé sá grið<níð>ingr er griðin rýfr eða tryggðum spillir, rækr ok rekinn frá guði24 ok góðum mǫnnum, ór him<in>ríki ok frá ǫllum helgum mǫnnum ok hvergihæfr manna í milli ok svá frá ǫllum út flæmðr sem víðast varga reka eða		kristnir menn kirkjur sœkja
27 		heiðnir menn hof blóta
		eldr brennr, jǫrð grœr		mælt barn móður kallar ok móðir mǫg fœðir
aldir elda kynda
30		skip skríðr <ok skildir blíkj<a>sól skínn, snjá leggr
33 		Finnr skríðr>, fura vex
valr flýgr várlangan dag—ok standi honum beinn byrr undir báða vængi—1 Space is left at the beginning of the line for a large initial capital 14 at fari
10 23 152 appears to have ‘gridnydingr’ 31–33 missing words supplied from152 and 10

Trygg›amál

21

Hafr’s TRUCE SPEECH‘Here I set up a truce,’ he says, ‘between all men (this same Gestr whosits here being named in particular, and including		
all goðorðsmen*		and worthy farmers)		and all fighting men of the general population		and those capable of bearing arms,[I] and all other people of the district of the Hegraness Assembly		or wherever everyone has come from		
named men or unnamed,
we grant truce and complete peace to the unknown arrival who calls himself
Gestr for games, wrestling and all entertainment for his stay here and his
return home, whether he needs to travel		by sea or land		by ship or other conveyance.
He shall have truce in all places named and unnamed for as long as heneeds until his safe homecoming with peace guarantees upheld.
I set up this truce for		
us and for our relatives
		
friends and associates		
the same for women as for men
		serving women and bonded labourers
		working men and independent people.
Let him be ‘truce-breaker’,** who violates the truce or disrupts guarantees
of peace, cast out and driven away from God and good people, from the
kingdom of heaven and from all holy men and nowhere fit to be among men
and so far expelled from all people as they most widely drive out wolves or		Christian men attend churches		heathen men worship in temples
		fire burns, earth grows		
talking child calls mother		and mother nurtures son		people kindle fires
		ship glides and shields gleam		
sun shines, snow is driven		Lapp skis, fir grows
		
falcon flies a spring-long day		(and there blows for him a fair breeze under both wings)

Trygg›amál

22

G 		himinn hverfr, heimr er byggðr
ch. 72 		ok vindr veitir vǫtn til sjóvar,39 Hann skal firrask

karlar korni sá.

kirkjur ok kristna mennheiðna hǫlða
hús ok hella
42
heim hvern nema helvíti.
Nú skulum vér vera sáttir ok sammála hverr við annan í huga góðum
45 hvárt sem vér finnumsk
á fjalli eða fjǫru
skipi eða skíði
jǫrðu eða jǫkli,48
í hafi eða á hests baki
svá sem vin sinn í vatni finni eða bróður sinn á braut finni, jafnsáttir hverr
51 við annan sem sonr við fǫður eða faðir við son í samfǫrum ǫllum.
Nú leggjum vér hendr saman ok allir vér ok hǫldum vel griðin ok ǫllorð tǫluð í tryggðum þessum, at vitni guðs ok góðra manna ok allra þeira
54 er orð mín heyra eða nǫkkurir eru nær staddir.’* This nominative phrase ought grammatically to be part of the subject, andshould be taken with the ‘ek’ in line 1.
** handselja (English ‘handsel’) meant literally to make an agreement
confirmed with a handshake, i.e. make a formal agreement. It is a symbolic
handing over and a ritual confirming the change of ownership or the sealingof an agreement (where something, here the truce, in other contexts the peace(shalom), is granted from each to each). If it is done before witnesses (see theend ot Hafr’s speech), it constitutes a legal deed. Thus the granting of truce (grið)or peace (friðr) may have been conceived as handing over a physical entity, likethe Jewish shalom.

38 karlar 152, þrælar 551

Trygg›amál23

		
sky turns, world is inhabited		and wind brings waters to sea
		[bond]men sow corn.
He shall shun		churches and Christian people		heathen men		houses and caves		
every world but Hell.
Now we shall be reconciled and in agreement one with another in goodtemper whether we meet		on fell or foreshore		
ship or snowshoe		earth or glacier		in ocean or on horseback
just as friend meets his friend in water or meets his brother on the road,just as much at peace each with the other as son with father or father withson in all their dealings.
Now let us place hands together, all of us, and uphold well the truce and all
the words spoken in this peace guarantee, at the witness of God and of goodmen, and of all those who hear my words or any people who are present.’*goðorðsmen: men who held the authority of goði in medieval Iceland, a priestchieftain in heathen times, but after the introduction of Christianity they held
purely secular authority. There were originally 36, later 39, of these chieftaincies
in Iceland. Together they formed the Law Council at the Alþingi, and they acted
as magistrates in their local areas.
** griðníðingr: gríð = truce + níðingr; níðingr is a term of abuse and possibly
the strongest condemnatory term in the law code. Cf. English nithing (archaic)‘a vile coward’; ‘an abject or despicable wretch’ (OED 1989). The word does notoccur in S1 or S2, or in K or H; though it does appear in Snorri goði’s comments
after the end of Þorgísl’s truce speech in Heiðarvíga saga and in Grágás II 405/5,
where it is one of the earliest recorded uses of the term.

24
H
ch. 33

Trygg›amálÞORGÍSLsgriÐ

Þat er upphaf griðamála várra at guð sé við oss alla sáttr. Vér skulum okvera menn sáttir vár í millum ok samværir
3 		
at ǫlðri ok at áti		á þingi ok á þjóðstefnu		
at kirkna sókn ok í konungs húsi
6 ok hvarvetna þar er manna fundir verða. Þá skulum vér svá sáttir sem aldrihafi fjándskapr vár í millum verit. Vér skulum deila kníf ok kjǫtstykki okalla hluti vár í milli sem frændr en eigi fjándr. Ef sakar gjǫrask heðan af
9 á milli vár þær skal fé bœta en eigi flein rjóða.
En sá vár er gengr á gervar sættir eða vegr á veittar tryggðir þá skal hannsvá víða vargrækr ok rekinn sem menn víðast varga reka
12 		
kristnir menn kirkjur sœkja
		heiðnir menn hof blóta
		
eldar upp brenna, jǫrð grœr15 		mǫgr móður kallar		skip skríðr, skildir blika
		
sólskin snæ lægir
18 		
Fiðr skríðr, fura vex
		valr flýgr várlangan dag—		standi honum beinn byrr undir báða vængi—21 		
himinn hverfr, heimr er byggðr
		vindr vex, veitir vatn til sjóvar
		
ok karlar korni sá.
24 Hann skal firrask
		kirkjur ok kristna menn		Guðs hús ok guma
27 		heim hvern nema helvíti.
Tekr hverr vár tryggðir við annan fyrir sik ok sinn erfingja		alinn ok óborinn
30 		getinn ok ógetinn		
nefndan ok ónefndan.
En hverr veitir í mót
33 		
tryggðir ok ævintryggðir
		mætar tryggðir ok megintryggðir
þær er æ skulu haldask meðan moldir ok menn lifa.
36 Nú eru vér sáttir ok sammála hvar sem vér finnumsk		á landi eða á legi		skipi eða á skíði
		í hafi eða hestbaki

Trygg›amál

25ÞORGÍSL’s TRUCE SPEECH
It is the beginning of our truce speech that may God be at peace with us all.
We shall also be men at peace among ourselves and at one with each otherat ale and at eating
at assembly and at public meetingat church gathering and in king’s houseand wheresoever there are meetings of men. We shall be as much at peace
as if there had never been emnity among us. We shall share knife and meat
portion and all things among us like friends and not enemies. If causes ofdispute in future arise among us they shall be remedied with money andspear shall not be reddened.
But the one of us who breaks settlements made or strikes at truces
granted, he shall be as far cast out as a wolf and driven out as men mostwidely drive out wolves
	Christian men attend churches
heathen men worship in temples
fires burn up, earth grows
son calls mothership glides, shields gleam
sunshine diminishes snow
	Lapp skis, fir grows
falcon flies a spring-long day(when there blows for him a fair breeze under both wings)
sky turns, world is inhabited
wind increases, brings waters to sea
and men sow corn.
He shall shunchurches and Christian people
	God’s house and men’s
every world but Hell.
Each of us accepts guarantees of peace from the other for himself and his heirborn and unborn
conceived and unconceived
named and unnamed.
And each grants in return
guarantees of peace and everlasting guarantees of peace
proper guarantees peace and powerful guarantees of peace
which shall hold for ever while earth and people live.
Now we are at peace and in agreement wherever we meeton land or at sea
ship or on snowshoe
in ocean or horseback

26
H 		
ch. 33 		

Trygg›amálárar at miðla ok ausskotuþoptu ok þilju
ef þarfar gjǫrask, jafnsáttir hverr við annan sem sonr við fǫður eða faðir
42 við son í samfǫrum ǫllum.
Hǫfum nú lófatak at tryggðamálum ok hǫldum vel tryggðir at vilja Krists
ok at vitni allra manna þeira er nú heyrðu tryggðamál. Hafi sá Guðs hylli
45 er heldr tryggðir en sá gremi Guðs er rýfr réttar tryggðir en hylli sá erheldr. Hǫfum heilir sæzk en Guð sé við alla sáttr.

Trygg›amál

27

to share oars and bailing bucket
rowing bench and deck-plank,
if need arises, just as much at peace each with other as son with father orfather with son in all our dealings together.
Now let us clasp hands at the peace guarantee speech and hold well thepeace according to the will of Christ and at witness of all those men who
now have heard the peace guarantee speech. May he who keeps the peace
have God’s grace and he God’s wrath who breaks lawful guarantees ofpeace but his grace who keeps them. Let us have blessedly been reconciled
and may God be at peace with all.

28

Trygg›amál
Analysis of K version

1. First statement of atonement and officials list
Sakar váru á milli þeirra N. N. ok N. N., en nú eru þær settar ok fé bœttar
			sem metendr mátu			
ok teljendr tǫlðu
			ok dómr dœmði			ok þiggjendr þáguok þaðan báru með fé fullu ok fram komnum eyri þeim í hǫnd seldum er
hafa skyldi.
2. First statement of reconciliation and first normal situations listÞit skuluð vera menn sáttir ok samværir
			at ǫlðri ok at áti						á þingi ok á þjoðstefnu 						at kirkna sókn ok í konungs húsi.
Ok hvarvetna þess, er manna fundir verða, þá skuluð þit svá samsáttir sem
aldregi hœfisk þetta ykkar á meðal. Þit skuluð deila kníf ok kjǫtstykki,
ok alla hluti ykkar í milli sem frændr en eigi sem fjándr.
3. Transition
Ef sakar gerask síðan á milli þeirra, annat en þat er vel er, þat skal fé bœtaen eigi flein rjóða.
4. Declaration of outlawry and everywhere list
En sá ykkar, er gengr á gørvar sáttir eða vegr á veittar tryggðir, þá skalhann svá víða vargrækr ok rekinn sem menn víðast varga reka			kristnir menn kirkjur sœkja 						heiðnir menn hof blóta 						
eldr upp brennr, jǫrð grœr			mǫgr móður kallar ok móðir mǫg fœðir 				
			aldir elda kynda 						
skip skríðr, skildir blíkja			
sól skínn, snæ leggr						Fiðr skríðr, fura vex						valr flýgr várlangan dag			stendr honum byrr beinn undir báða vængi—			himinn hverfr, heimr er byggðr 						vindr þýtr, vǫtn til sævar falla
			karlar korni sá. 		

Trygg›amál

29

Hann skal firrask 						
kirkjur ok kristna menn
			Guðs hús ok guma 						
heim hvern nema helvíti.
5. Second statement of atonement + heirs list
Nú haldið þit báðir á bók einni, enda liggr nú fé á bók, er n. n. bœtir fyrir		sik ok sínn erfingja 					alinn ok óborinn					getinn ok ógetinn		
nefndan ok ónefndan. 		
n. n. tekr tryggðir en n. n. veitir ævintryggðir, þær æ skulu haldask meðan
mold er ok menn lifa.
6. Second statement of reconciliation + second normal situations list
Nú eru þeir n. n. ok n. n. sáttir ok sammála hvar sem þeir hittask		á landi eða legi 					
skipi eða á skíði
		í hafi eða á hests baki 					árar miðla eða austskotu 					þoptu eða þilju
ef þarfar gervask, jafnsáttr hvárr við annan sem faðir við son eða sonr viðfǫður í samfǫrum ǫllom.
7. Handclasp
Nú leggja þeir hendr sínar saman, n. n. ok n. n.
8. Closing exhortation and call to witness
Haldið vel tryggðir at vilja Krists ok allra manna þeirra er nú heyrðu
tryggðamál. Hafi sá hylli Guðs er heldr tryggðir, en sá reiði er rýfr réttar
tryggðir en hylli sá er heldr. Hafið heilir sæzk! En vér sém váttar er við
erum staddir.

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Analysis of opening of G version

In Grettis saga there is no statement of atonement because no grievancehas yet happened and therefore no recompense made. Instead there is an
initial setting of truce between ‘all men’, which specifically includes Gestrand all goðorðsmen and worthy farmers, and then adds to the subject ‘I’,
the maker of the truce, all the (free) men of the Hegraness Assembly andall who have gathered there, wherever they have come from.
1 First statement of truce‘Hér set ek grið,’ segir hann, ‘allra manna á millum—einkanliga þessumsama Gesti til nefndum, er hér sitr, ok at undirskilðum
ǫllom goðorðsmonnum
ok gildum bœndum—
		ok allrar alþýðu
		
vígra manna ok vápnfœrra
ok allir aðrir heraðsmenn í Hegranessþingi
eða hvaðan sem hverir eru at komnir		
nefndra manna eða ónefndra.
List structure:
Introduction: ‘Hér set ek grið,’ segir hann, ‘allra manna á millum—einkanliga þessum sama Gesti til nefndum, er hér sitr, ok at undirskilðum
Items
1ǫllom goðorðsmǫnnum
opening pair linked by2
ok gildum bœndum
alliteration and ok3
ok allrar alþýðu
4–5 vígra manna ok vápnfœrra
6
ok allir aðrir heraðsmenn í Hegranessþingi
		eða hvaðan sem hverir eru at komnir
7–8 nefndra manna eða ónefndra.		
closing pair
2 Second statement of truce
Introduction: ‘Handsǫlum grið ok fullan frið kvámumanni hinum ókunnaer Gestr nefnisk
til gamans, glimu
ok gleði allrar;
til hérvistar ok heimferðar
hvárt er hann þarf at faraá legi eða landi
at fari eða flutningi.

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31

This is a two part list, both parts linked to the introduction by til:
Introduction: ‘Handsǫlum grið ok fullan frið kvámumanni hinum ókunnaer Gestr nefnisk
Part One

1–2 til gamans, glimu
three items linked by 		3
ok gleði allrar
alliteration and			dependence on til;			closure signalled by			ok; variation in final			
item (addition of allrar)			
provides closure
Part Two
4–5 til hérvistar ok heimferðar items linked in pairs by
hvárt er hann þarf at faraalliteration
6–7 á legi eða landi
8–9 <at fari> eða flutni<n>gi.
In 1, the first statement of truce, the first line speaks of the truce being allra
manna á millum (between all men), and one expects the following list to
expand this phrase, but it doesn’t: they would have to be all genitive, butthey aren’t. einkanliga þeim sama Gest til nefndum seems to be an adverbial
phrase in the dative (‘especially this same Gestr being mentioned’), andǫllom goðorðsmǫnnum ok gildum bœndum are two items in the dative
dependent on at undirskildum (‘these being included’).
ok allrar alþýðu is a genitive phrase and can only be the second elementin the phrase in the opening lines allra manna á millum (between all men
and the whole community). vígra manna ok vápnfœrra are two genitives
dependent on allrar alþýðu (‘the whole community of fighting men andthose capable of bearing arms’). allir aðrir heraðsmenn í Hegranessþingi
is a nominative phrase, and must be part of the subject. eða hvaðan sem
hverir eru at komnir is parallel to á Hegranessþingi (‘all other men of the
district in Hegranessþingi or wherever each is come from’). nefndra mannaeða ónefndra are genitives dependent either on allir aðrir (all other menof the district, named persons and unnamed), or perhaps on hverir (‘every
one of persons named and unnamed’); or maybe rather we should takethese genitives as further expansions of allrar alþýðu.
The structure of the sentence is therefore Ek ok allir aðrir heraðsmenn
í Hegranessþingi set(jum) hér grið allra manna á millum ok allrar alþýðu
vígra manna ok vápnfœrra nefndra manna eða ónefndra. The remainingphrases are adverbial and not really part of any list.

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The lists (if they can be called that) in this passage are therefore:		 1.
ǫllom goðorðsmonnum			ok gildum bœndum
		 2.
vígra manna			
ok vápnfœrra
		 3.
nefndra manna			eða ónefndra
They are all separate, dependent on different headwords which are notthemselves parallel to each other.
Alternatively, we could regard these lines as containing a virtual listof the participants in the agreement, an ‘everyone list’, in which someitems are subjects of the sentence, some elements of adverbial prases(and so with various case-endings). Or else the variations of case could
be explained as due to the items in the list having been imported fromvarious lists which were structured in different ways, some as lists ofnominatives, some as lists of items dependent on various prepositions,some as parts of absolute constructions (like Latin ablative absolutes, but
in the dative). It is worth noting that various lists of names in manuscripts
of Skáldskaparmál in Snorra Edda begin with questions like, for example,‘Hvernig skal kenna Þórr? Svá at kalla hann son Óðins ok jarðar, faðir
Magna ok Móða ok Þrúðar’ (ch. 4). Thereafter the case endings vary,
both in the same manuscript and in different manuscripts. In such cases,
it is usual to blame the inconsistency on an inattentive scribe, but it could
equally well be the result of a compiler combining items from various lists
whose grammatical structures differed, and forgetting that he needed toregularise the case endings.
On a higher level, these two passages begin the list of the terms of theagreement, which comprises
1. who is making the agreement .
2. who it applies to
3. under what circumstances it applies
4.what are the sanctions for those who break the agreement.

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33

Analysis of K ‘everywhere’ list
Organising priciple: the activities which delineate the area to the furthest
limits to which the trucebreaker will be driven.
Introduction
En sá ykkar, er gengr á gørvar sáttir eða vegr á veittar tryggðir, þá skalhann svá víða vargrækr ok rekinn sem menn víðast varga reka
1
kristnir menn kirkjur sœkja		
1–2 paired by kristnir/heiðnir
						
relationship, parallel2heiðnir menn hof blóta		
activities and repetition of						
menn, which also						
opens a frame with two						
human subjects
3
eldr upp brennr			
3–4 paired by alliteration,						
two natural world4jǫrð grœr 				fire*/earth subjects
5mǫgr móður kallar			
5–6 paired by relationship						
between, and repetition
6
ok móðir mǫg fœðir 			of, mǫgr/móðir; two human						
subjects and objects
7
aldir elda kynda 			7 unpaired, one human subject						
(elda link to item 3?)
8
skip skríðr 				8–9 paired by alliteration, two
9skildir blíkja 				human artefact subjects
10
sól skínn				
10–11 paired by alliteration,11
snæ leggr				
two natural world						
sky/weather** subjects
12Fiðr skríðr				
12–13 paired by alliteration;						
one human subject, one
13fura vex				natural world/earth/living/plant						
subject
14
valr flýgr várlangan dag		
14 unpaired, one natural world/
stendr honum byrr beinn		
sky/living/animal/subject; theundir báða vængi			extension of item 14 shares in					
the weather theme (byrr beinn						
opens link to item 17?)15
himinn hverfr				
15–16 paired by alliteration,						
1 natural world/sky
16
heimr er byggðr 			
1 human world*** subject;						
change to passive voice						
gives close signal 			34

Trygg›amál

17
vindr þýtr																			18vǫtn til sævar falla											19karlar korni sá.				
																					

17–18 paired byalliteration, two natural
world sky/weather
subjects; return to active
voice begins closure
19 unpaired, humansubject; karlar closes
frame and completes
closure.

*eldr in item 3 could refer to natural wildfires/volcanoes as opposed tothe man-made fire of item 7.
** sól is a sky item, snæ is also, in origin, but leggr connects it to earth
i.e. land. Cf. items 17–18: vindr is a sky item and so is vǫtn in origin, but
til sævar falla connects it to earth, i.e. sea.
*** This item links the two worlds: heimr is still the natural world, but
now seen as the home of humans, i.e. a characteristic of the natural worldis that it is inhabited by humans. This change of focus contributes to theclose signal given by the change from active to passive voice. The returnto the former pattern of natural world/human world opposition in items
17–19 adds a purely human item (19), and together with the return to theactive voice contributes to closure.
A frame for this list is opened by the repeated menn (significantly placedin the second position in items 1 and 2) and closed by karlar (significantly
placed in the first position in the final item). It looks as if aldir (item 7)
should also participate in the frame as it does in List 1 below (item 5), buthere it is not (apparently) significantly placed.
Overall the ‘everywhere’ list goes far beyond a simple illustration of
the concept ‘as far as’. It encompasses the characteristic activities of thewhole of the human and natural worlds as experienced by the people ofthe time and place in which the text had its origins.
People (items 1 and 2), including women, children (items 5 and 6) andbondmen (? item 19), inhabit the world (item 16). They light fires and sow
corn (items 7 and 19), they use language and nurture children (items 5 and6), they practice religion (items 1 and 2), they make things (items 8 and 9),
they travel and explore (items 8 and 12), and they fight each other (item 9).
In the natural world fire flares up (item 3), the earth grows plants (item4) and forests flourish (item 13), the sky turns from day to night andseason to season (item 15), the sun shines (item 10) and the wind blows,
both gently (item 14, expansion) and strongly (item 17), water (rain andrivers) falls to the sea (item 18), snow lies on the ground (item 11), andwild creatures pursue their own lives (item 14).

Trygg›amál

35

The two lists which seem to be combined in the above ‘everywhere’ list
List 1 subsidiary organising principle: characteristic actions of humans/
human artefacts
Introduction
En sá ykkar er gengr á gørvar sáttir eða vegr á veittar tryggðir, þá skalhann svá víða vargrækr ok rekinn sem menn víðast varga reka
1
kristnir menn kirkjur sœkja		
1–2 paired by kristnir/heiðnir
						
relationship, parallel2heiðnir menn hof blóta		
activities and repetition of menn;						
the latter also opens a frame
3mǫgr móður kallar			
3–4 paired by relationship						
between, and repetition
4
ok móðir mǫg fœðir 			of, mǫgr/móðir
5aldir elda kynda 			
5 central item unpaired, aldir						
participates in frame
6
skip skríðr 				6–7 paired by alliteration and						
a change of subject
7
skildir blíkja 				to artefacts, which also gives						
close signal
8Fiðr skríðr				
8–9 paired by return to human						
subjects which also begins
9karlar korni sá.			
closure; karlar closes the						
frame and completes closure.
elda, the central word in the central item, opens link to List 2.
The change from human subjects to artefacts in items 6–7 corresponds tothe change from natural phenomena to living subjects in List 2, items 5–6
A frame for this list is formed by the closely related words menn, aldir andkarlar which are significantly placed (menn in position 2 of items 1 and 2,
aldir in position 1 of the central item, karlar in position 1 of the final item).
Number of stresses per item: 4 4 3 3 (3) 2 2 2 3 (parentheses mark the centralitem). This pattern divides the list into 2 parts separated by the unique central
item which participates in the frame. In the case of items 6–9 the change tothree stresses in item 9 constitutes a ‘change in the final item’ closing device.
List 2 subsidiary organising principle: characteristic actions of natural
phenomena
Introduction
En sá ykkar, er gengr á gørvar sáttir eða vegr á veittar tryggðir, þá skalhann svá víða vargr rækr ok rekinn sem menn víðast varga reka1		
eldr upp brennr		
1–2 paired by alliteration,2		jǫrð grœr			
2 earth subjects

36

Trygg›amál3		
sól skínn			
3–4 paired by alliteration,4		snæ leggr			
2 sky/weather subjects
5		
fura vex			
5–6 paired by transverse						
alliteration, two living
6		
valr flýgr várlangan dag
subjects: one plant/earth, one		stendr honum			
animal/sky; expansion of item		
byrr beinn			
6 shares sky/weather theme,
		undir báða vængi		
byrr beinn opens a link to item 9?
7		
himinn hverfr		
7–8 paired by alliteration, one						
sky and one earth subject,						
change to the passive voice8		
heimr er byggðr		
gives a close signal, byggðr
						referring to human activity						
creates a link to List 1
9		
vindr þýtr			
9–10 paired by alliteration, 2						
sky/weather subjects, vindr*
10		vǫtn til sævar falla 		a return to the active voice						
begins closure, a change of						
focus in item 10 from earth						
i.e. land to earth i.e. sea						
completes closure.
Closure is also indicated by the three-stress item 10 (the only one in thislist). There is no frame for this list.
*vindr is a sky item and so is vǫtn in origin, but til sævar falla connects
it to earth i.e. sea

Trygg›amál

37

Metrical analysis of ‘everywhere’ list
Part 1
1–2		
2 couplets of kviðuháttr
3–4		
1 couplet of kviðuháttr
5–6		
1 couplet of málaháttr
7		
málaháttr 			unlinked line makes						
variation in final item						
position
Part 2
8–13		
3 couplets of kviðuháttr
14		
2 couplets of kviðuháttr/fornyrðislag
15–16		1 couplet of kviðuháttr		
17–18 		1 couplet of kviðuháttr + málaháttr
19		
málaháttr			
unlinked line makes						
variation in final item						and closure
The metrical forms of these lines are irregular. There are no dróttkvætt
lines. The lines marked kviðuháttr /fornyrðislag are similar to fornyrðislag
when they have 4 or more syllables; kviðuháttr usually has 3 syllables(though 3 syllable lines also sometimes occur in fornyrðislag). 2 syllable
lines are not normal in any established verse form. What these lines have incommon is that they all have 2 stresses, whereas málaháttr lines generally
have 3 (or 2½ stresses and at least 5 syllables). The 3rd and 6th lines ofljóðaháttr have three stresses, 2 of which alliterate together but not withother adjacent lines, so lines 7 and 19 could be taken as ljóðaháttr.
The significant metrical variations here are the 3 stress lines with internal
alliteration only (lines 7 and 19). The change in item 14 is not metrical(though stendr honum byrr beinn is the only line with 3 unstressed syllables
before the first stress), but syntactical: it is the only item that stretches
over 2 couplets and comprises 2 complete sentences. It is also significant
that some items are comprised in a single line, some stretch across 2 lines,
one is even longer (item 14).

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Human and natural in the ‘everywhere’ list. The alliterating item pairs arenumbered on the left, with solitary item numbers indented.
Part 1
1–2		
human
3–4		
natural		variation in position 2 opens a link to Part 2
5–6		
human
7
human		an unpaired item in the				penultimate position gives a close signal
8–9		
human		return to the former pattern of				
paired items closes Part 1
Part 2
10–11		natural
12–13		1 human/1 natural variation in position 2 closes
					the link with Part 1
14natural			an unpaired item with an					extension marks the mid-point
15–16		natural			
17–18 		natural19
human			a return to human in an unpaired					
item provides closure
All three unpaired items have a function in the structure of this list, andthe changes from human world to natural world conform to techniques
well-established in work on other lists.