The Hostages of the Northmen From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages Stefan Olsson The Hostages of the Northmen From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages Stefan Olsson Published by Stockholm University Press Stockholm University SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden www.stockholmuniversitypress.se Text © Stefan Olsson 2019 License CC-BY First published 2019 Cover designed by Karl Edqvist, Stockholm University Press Cover illustration: Gerhard Munthe, Norges Kongesagaer, Heimskringla I, 1914, p. 435. Cover license: CC BY 4.0 Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion (Online) ISSN: 2002-4606 ISBN (Paperback): 978-91-7635-107-9 ISBN (PDF): 978-91-7635-104-8 ISBN (EPUB): 978-91-7635-105-5 ISBN (Mobi): 978-91-7635-106-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bba This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. This license allows for copying any part of the work for personal and commercial use, providing author attribution is clearly stated. Suggested citation: Olsson, S. 2019. The Hostages of the Northmen: From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi. org/10.16993/bba. License: CC-BY. To read the free, open access version of this book online, visit https://doi.org/10.16993/bba or scan this QR code with your mobile device. Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion (SSCR) (ISSN 2002- 4606) is a peer-reviewed series initiated by Åke Hultkrantz in 1961. While its earlier emphasis lay in ethnographic-comparative approaches to religion, the series now covers a broader spec- trum of the history of religions, including the philological study of discrete traditions, large-scale comparisons between different traditions as well as theoretical and methodological concerns in the study of cross-cultural religious categories such as ritual and myth. SSCR strives to sustain and disseminate high-quality and inno- vative research in the form of monographs and edited volumes, preferably in English, but in exceptional cases also in the French, German-, and Scandinavian languages. SSCR was previously included in the series Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis (ISSN 0562-1070). A full list of publications can be found here: http://www.erg.su.se/publikationer/skriftserier/ stockholm-studies-in-comparative-religion-1.38944. Volumes still in stock can be obtained through the editors. Editorial Board All members of the Editorial board have positions at the Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies at Stockholm University. Chief editor: Susanne Olsson, Professor Egil Asprem, Associate Professor Emmanouela Grypeou, Senior Lecturer Philip Halldén, Senior Lecturer Peter Jackson Rova, Professor Marja-Liisa Keinänen, Associate Professor Ferdinando Sardella, Senior Lecturer Olof Sundqvist, Professor Titles in the series 36. Jackson, P. (ed.) 2016. Horizons of Shamanism. A Triangular Approach to the History and Anthropology of Ecstatcic Techniques. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bag 37. Rydving, H. & Olsson, S. 2016. Krig och fred i vendel- och vikingatida traditioner. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bah 38. Christoyannopoulos, A. & Adams M. S. (eds.) 2017. Essays in Anarchism & Religion: Volume I. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bak 39. Christoyannopoulos, A. & Adams M. S. (eds.) 2018. Essays in Anarchism & Religion: Volume II. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bas 40. Wikström af Edholm, K., Jackson Rova, P., Nordberg, A., Sundqvist, O., & Zachrisson, T. (eds.) 2019. Myth, Materiality, and lived Religion. In Merovingian and Viking Scandinavia. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi. org/10.16993/bay 41. Olsson, S. 2019. The Hostages of the Northmen: From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bba Peer Review Policies Stockholm University Press ensures that all book publications are peer-reviewed. Each book proposal submitted to the Press will be sent to a dedicated Editorial Board of experts in the subject area. The full manuscript will be reviewed by chapter or as a whole by two external and independent experts. A full description of Stockholm University Press’ peer-review policies can be found on the website: http://www.stockholmuni- versitypress.se/site/peer-review-policies/ Recognition for reviewers The Editorial Board of Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion applies single-blind review during proposal and manu- script assessment. We would like to thank all reviewers involved in this process. Special thanks to the reviewers who have been doing the peer review of the manuscript of this book, one anonymously, and: Thomas Lindkvist, Professor emeritus at the Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg He him aðas swor and gislas salde. He swore oaths to them and gave them hostages. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) Contents List of Figures xi Preface xiii Preface to the English Edition xv Part I: Introduction 1 Part II: The Æsir–Vanir War (or Peace) 55 Part III: Ritual Actions in Different Areas of Confrontation 81 Part IV: Legal Rights 125 Part V: Place Names 225 Part VI: Hostages in the Areas of Confrontation Between the Swedes and the Geats 251 Part VII: Summary and Conclusions 321 Abbreviations 331 References 333 Index 371 List of Figures I.1. A schematic description of conflicts and conflict solutions in the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages. 26 I.2. Causes of conflict reported in the Íslendingabók and the Landnámabók. 34 III.1. Map of the realms of Wessex and Guthrum. 85 III.2. The possible relation between an original, now-lost saga of St. Olaf and later versions. 107 IV.1. Picture stone from Lärbo (Gotland), Tängelgårda IV, which may depict a libation. 165 IV.2. Picture stone from the church of Smiss, Gotland, dated to to the eighth century. The motif could be a woman who performs a sacrificial act with a worm. 166 IV.3. Derivations and compositions with grið- in Skaldic and Eddic poetry. 186 IV.4. A manuscript of the introduction to the church section in the Smålandslagen, from the Skokloster Castle collection. 191 IV.5. B manuscript of the church section in the Smålandslagen in the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection in Copenhagen. 192 V.1. Map of Finland including the medieval cities of Viborg and Nöteborg. 230 V.2. Sources to the prescence of Scandinavians in the sȳslur. 232 V.3. Comparsion between different text sources regarding rituals. 242 VI.1. The legal districts (Sw. lagsagor) of the provincial laws. 257 VI.2. Lands of the Geats (blue) and the Swedes (yellow). 262 VI.3. The hypothetical path of the Eriksgatan according to Dick Harrison. 268 xii The Hostages of the Northmen VI.4. Provincial laws with or without stipulations about the elec- tion of the king and the Eriksgata. 269 VI.5. The distribution of the husabyar, and some of the Uppsala öd, in Sweden. 274 VI.6. The changing power conditions of the kingship, bishops, law- men, and country people, according to The Elder Westrogotic Law and the Country Law of Magnus Eriksson 280 VI.7. The Junebäck monument in Jönköping. 284 Preface This study addresses hostages in the Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia. During the work with the study, several researchers have reviewed, read through, and commented on my text or in other ways assisted me. Without their help, this study would have been much more complicated and might not have been made at all. I would therefore particularly like to thank my principal super- visor, Professor Håkan Rydving, who was at my side from day one of my research studies at the University of Bergen, and who throughout the work – always and tirelessly – gave relevant, strin- gent comments and generously shared with his vast knowledge. My assistant supervisor, Associate Professor Richard Natvig, has also supported me and contributed to the guidance with a sensi- tive ear. I would also like to thank, in particular, Professor Olof Sundqvist at Stockholm University, Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies, who introduced me to the field of Old Scandinavian religion. Sundqvist has served as additional assistant supervisor. Others who have been helpful to me are Professor Emeritus Thomas Lindkvist and Professor Emerita Lena Peterson, who read and commented on my man- uscript. Senior lecturer Torsten Blomkvist at Dalarna University has responded with overall comments. Docent Torun Zachrisson at Stockholm University has guided me through archaeological sites and helped me avoid some of its pitfalls. I am also in gratitude to the Department of Archeology, History, Culture and Religion at the University of Bergen, which granted me a scholarship and thus gave me the opportunity for postgrad- uate education and the opportunity to write the thesis. As a part of my postgraduate research, I organised and participated in two seminars, ‘War and Peace in the traditions of the Vendel Period and the Viking Age’ and ‘Religion, Law, and Justice’, which took place in spring 2013 and autumn 2014. The participants in these xiv The Hostages of the Northmen seminars have directly or indirectly contributed with comments on the texts I presented on these occasions. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Lennart and Birgitta Olsson, as well as my brother, Anders Leijon, and his wife, Cecilia; without their support and help, the dream of writing a thesis would never have been fulfilled. Bergen in February 2016 Stefan Olsson Preface to the English Edition This book is a revised version of my thesis, Gísl: givande och tagande av gisslan som rituell handling i fredsprocesser under vikingatid och tidig medeltid (‘Gísl: Giving and taking of hostages as a ritual act in peace processes during the Viking Age and early Middle Ages’).