#Edward recalled all the nobility from the localities in the build up to the conflict at Norwich. was was an unwise decision

[cargopantsman]

Norse Read-A-Long

Week 1

So the prompt I'll roll with is

5.     Why do you think Hallstein Thorolfsson was so adamant about not accepting any land granted by his father?

though... I'm going to ramble about a bit.

I want to riff a little on Harald Finehair, aka Fairhair in some translations, because he shows up as a sort of Lex Luthor character in many of the Icelandic Sagas. While the sagas will typically deal with the trials and tribulations of people and communities within Iceland itself, Harald is a shorthand for the big, bad enemy that is Norway.

Of course, with all things Old Norse, there is debate as to whether Harald Finehair actually existed or was a literary amalgamation for the sake of a cohesive oral tradition. I'll continue on as though he were real, since as far as the sagas-as-stories go, he's as real as Lex Luthor is in the DC Universe.

So what does this have to do with Hallstein? The "historical" backdrop of the settlement of Iceland gives us a good framework to build profiles of the mindset of the characters presented to us in this prologue to Eyrbyggja Saga. Having an understanding of what was culturally, morally, and socially acceptable and commendable helps to put context to a [SPOILER] upcoming battle spurred on by Dritsker for instance (which, if translated with an eye to connotation, is better understood as "shit-reef" but I'll take a page from the Saga Thing guys and refer to it as Poop Rock as it comes up).

So what kind of people can engage in battle over something called Poop Rock?

Much of the drama in the sagas tends to be a commentary on the flaws of the rules, laws, and norms that structure Icelandic society. While the conflicts in Eyrbyggja saga are more subtle in how a small issue can erupt into brutal violence, other sagas will more visibly display how laws and social expectations can gridlock people into a vicious cycle of feuding.

The Old Norse world was driven primarily by honor and reputation, as illustrated in Hávamál stanzas 76-77

[76] Cows die, family die, you will die the same way. But a good reputation never dies for the one who earns it well.

[77] Cows die, family die, you will die the same way. I know only one thing that never dies; the reputation of the one who's died

(trans. Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda. 2015)

Self-sufficiency, responsibility, and keeping oaths were the core mores that could hold a community together while allowing individual freedoms. Holding court, or a thing, could be a bit of an ordeal, and while Icelanders loved litigation, problems were often solved on a one-on-one, or family-on-family, basis, sometimes with lethal resolutions. The law was typically an "after-the-fact" event, due to travel and seasonal constraints, and was usually a matter of damage control moreso than damage prevention. As such, much of the functioning of society was up to individuals, for the most part, behaving civilly.

This is why there's a certain attention to detail in the passage

On this platform lay a solid ring weighing twenty ounces, upon which people had to swear all their oaths. It was the business of the temple priest to wear this ring on his arm at every public meeting.

(trans. Pálsson and Edwards, Eyrbyggja Saga. 1972)

in the description of Thorolf's temple to Thor at Hofsvág. Oath rings pop up consistently enough in the mythology and the sagas that we can be pretty certain they were a Big Deal and that oaths were taken very seriously, and being sworn in public assemblies, whether at a temple or a thing or, eventually, the Althing, kept the oath-sworn accountable in society.

The wrench in the gears comes mostly from the cultural heritage of Iceland's initial settlers.

Norway, back in the 8th to 10th centuries, was a collection of scattered, independent kingdoms, or chieftainships, governed by very locally minded chieftains, jarls, goði, or other such self-determined titles. Harald, as the stories usually go, had his eye on a woman, Gyða Eiríksdóttir of Sweden, but she refused to marry him unless he had united all of Norway. He swore to this, and part of that being he wouldn't cut his hair until all of Norway was under his control, and so got the nickname hárfagri (fair, fine, or beautiful hair).

There are political arguments offered for this mission, aside from marrying the popular girl, in some sources. Since most of Northern Europe was being Christianized, and Christian kingdoms had this pesky tendency for organization, cooperation, and concerted military endeavors due their new-fangled literacy, a unified Norway stood a better chance of surviving incursions from the continent. (And if I recall correctly, even Sweden was semi-unified at this point.)

The problem is that many of the jarls, goðar, etc. were not keen on giving up their own independence and authority. There are stories that display a certain irony in many separate lordships allying in order to better fight off Harald's advances (which, really, just proves Harald's point), but highlights that the mentality of Norwegian nobility was that cooperation could be advantageous, but should be temporary. Debts are paid as needed and independence is maintained. Eventually, as Harald began to gather more supporters under his banner, his campaign snowballed until the hold-out nobility couldn't fend him off neither individually nor as small alliances, and many chose to flee with whatever assets they could carry than bend to the will of an overlord.

While the story of the settling of Iceland is that of a predominantly Norwegian diaspora we shouldn't imagine these settlers as poor, dispossessed pilgrims, but of a noble elite loading up ships with riches and family and staffing. These are people that are accustomed to power, authority, and self-determinism.

So Hallstein Thorolfsson, while being offered land from his father, struck out to stake his own claim for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they were in a new land that was mostly unsettled. Hallstein didn't have to be confined to what he could inherit from his father. There were no neighbors to constrain his borders, and by claiming his own stake, no one could say of him that he only succeeded because of what he was given. He carved out his own home, his own destiny, and could rightfully say he was a self-made man.

Secondly, much of what kept people, especially the nobility, in check was a sense of debt, both financial and abstract. It's not far-fetched to overlay a Godfather-like stereotype over the goðar ("Someday - and that day may never come - I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as gift on my daughter's wedding day."). The sense of not owing anyone anything for your success was a key part of the honor system that kept people accountable. The same logic that drives Hallstein to forge his own territory; to not piggyback on his father's power, to not owe his father anything for his own success, is that need to be neither beholdened nor indebted to an overlord king.