Heimskringla - 07.07.1937, Qupperneq 3

WINNIPEG, 7. JÚLÍ 1937
HEIMSKRINGLA
3. SÍÐA
fall, the events of the spring
meet were reviewed and the Goði
informed the assembly of the
business acco'mplished at Alþing,
which was held usually late in
June, of each year.
Alþing was’ the lodestone,
around which the political and
social life of the ancient Iceland-
ers revolved. The chieftans and
their followers assembled there
from all parts of the island, for
a period lasting from two to six
weeks. Here the social life of the
people was at its height. Marri-
ages were arranged, the sagas
told and re-told, friendships and
political alliances made and un-
made. Diferences between
chieftans were aired and settled,
sometimes with violence and
bloodshed if the complainant or
defendant was dissatisfied with
the decision of Alþing. Thralls
were bought and sold. New laws
were passed, and news from the
outer world retailed by the Vik-
ings just returned from their
expeditions abroad.
Five courts of law were estab-
lished in the land. At first, four
courts for the four shires, and
later a fifth court at Althing
which we may term a supreme
court. The final court of ap-
peals was the Alþing.
The Goði elected the members
of the courts, but did not them-
selves sit on the bench. A jury
system to try cases was estab-
lished. The Þing-men at first
numbered 48 Goði, with a presi-
dent, called the Law-man, who
proclaimed the decisions and the
laws passed by the Alþing from
Lögberg, the Rock of Laws. —
Later the membership was
greatly enlarged. Three rows of
seats were formed in a circle,
each row containing 48 seats.
Each member of the inner circle
chose two men to sit, one be-
hind and one in front of him, in
the other two circles. In addi-
tion, the two bishops had seats
in the inner circle, and the Law-
man also if he were not already
a member of the circle.
When this body was in session,
it was called the Lögrétta which
may be said to correspond to the
Committee of the Whole in mod-
ern parliaments.
We see from the above that
Alþing was a legislative and
judicial body; but it had no
power to enforce the laws. The
strong hold which the system of
chieftanships had on the coun-
try—a clan system, we might
call it—prevented this, There
was also the fear always present
that if Alþing had the right to
enforce the law a strong man
might arise, who would usurp
power in imitation of Harald
Fair-Hair in Norway.
Since no law-enforcement body
existed, the chieftans or those
immediately affected by the rul-
ings of Alþing or the courú
were expected to abide volun-
tarily by the law. In other
words, Alþing could decide what
was the just thing to do in each
dispute between the citizens of
the state* but had no police or
military power to enforce its
decisions. Therefore the indi-
viduals affected had to rely on
their öwn power to carry out the
law. This led to disorder, since
frequently a man guilty of in-
jury to another, would not pay
the compensation the law order
ed him to pay his victim, of his
own free will. As a result, this
ideal of voluntary adherence to
the law often degenerated into a
private feud between the wrong-
doer and his victim, which soon
engaged the members of their
families, and violence and man-
. slaughter resulted. The penalty
for murder was outlawry, some-
times for life, often for a term
of years. The outlaw remained
in the country at his own risk,
for any man had lawful right to
slay him—if he had the courage
to attempt it.
I mentioned near the begin-Itween the bride’s parents and the
ning, that some settlers in Ice-
land were Christians, but they
were so few and so luke-warm,
that the Ása faith held sway
over the minds of the majority
of the people. Many of the
Christians fell away from their
new faith, or persisted in mixing
the old and the new faiths. At-
tempts were made early to
Christianize the Icelanders from
Norway (with political domina-
tion by Norway as the ultimate
goal) but met with little success,
as no army was sent to back up
the arguments of the missionar-
ies. The final triumph of Christ-
ianity in Iceland came by peace-
ful conversion through the in-
fluence of the conduct and char-
acter of the professing Christ-
ians in the land.
By the year 1000, Christianity
had become a live issue. The
pagan Goði realized that their
form of government was in
danger. But, Pagan and Christ-
ian alike, the Goði were deter-
mined to maintain the existing
political order on which their
power rested. A compromise
was effected. Alþing declared
Christianity the religion of the
land by law, in 1000 A.D., but
permitted the practice of the
Ása faith, if carried on in secret.
This is the first and only in-
stance in history when Christ-
ianity becomes the religion of a
nation in consultation with and
by the consent of, the opponents
of the Christian religion. It is
also the first time in history
that the principle of religious
toleration is recognised by law.
Because Christianity was adopt-
ed in Iceland in this manner,
religious persecution and wars
of religion were avoided. No
other people have been so for-
tunate in this regard as were
the ancient Icelanders.
Ladies and Gentlemen, time
does not permit me to discuss at
length the social order in the
Icelandic Commonwealth. But I
should like to remark briefly on
the status of women in the Vik-
ing Age.
If we are to judge the civiliza-
tion of a people in their daily
life by the position women held
in regard to men, we must con-
clude, that in this respect, the
Norsemen could compare favor-
ably with most civilized nations
in the past. The Sagas, as well
as the laws of that time, show
that a maiden was highly re-
spected, and on becoming a wife,
she was held in esteem. Her
counsels had great weight. By
marrying, she became the com-
panion, not the inferior, of her
husband. In the old order of
Norse society, the wife held
property in her own right; what-
ever she inherited was her own.
Although restrictions were plac-
ed on her in regard to property
rights, they were not harsh.
prospective bridegroom. Childr-
en born to a couple where the
“mund” had not been paid, were
considered illegitimate.
In Grágás, the law-book dat-
ing from 1157, which contains
the earliest codified form of old
Icelandic law, it is stated that:
“All men are not inheritance-
born (legitimate), though they
are free-born. The man whose
mother is not bought with
“mund”, a mark, or still more
property, or if (she) is not wed-
ded or betrothed (that man) is
not inheritance-born. A woman
is bought with “mund” when a
mark consisting of aurar to the
value of twelve feet of vaðmál
(cloth) or if more property is
paid, or stipulated by hand-
shaking. A wedding is lawfully
made if the lawful man betroths
the woman, and six men at least
are pr^sent (as witnesses).”
If a man married a girl with-
out her parent’s consent, or if
they eloped, the man was out-
lawed. If a woman were be-
trothed and broke the engage-
ment, she was outlawed. A
widow could not marry without
the consent of her parents, but
neither could they force her to
marry against her will. A couple
could not marry unless they had
enough to support themselves in
comfort. But i fthey acquired
wealth after marriagé, then the
husband owned two-thirds and
the wife one-third. If the prop-
.erty were moveable, the husband
could not take it out of the
country without his wife’s con-
sent. The law provided for
those single women whose kins-
men refused to support them:
“If kinsmen will not take pro-
per care of women, and they
(the women) get their living
themselves, then they shall rule
over themselves as they like.”
One seldom speaks of marriage
without the spectre of divorce
rearing its ugly head, for the
two seem to go hand in hand, or
rather, they follow one another.
In old Norse law a wife could de-
clare for divorce by: (1) Declar-
ing her intention in front of a
bed. (2) Before the door leading
to the men’s quarters. (3) At
Alþing.
The grounds for divorce were
many, such as: (1) If the hus-
band or wife wore clothes in
imitation of the opposite sex.
(2) If the wife were unfaithful.
(3) If the husband ill-treated
his wife. (4) If the husband
tried to force his wife to leave
the country with him against
her will.
In case of separation without
guilt being proven on either side,
both retained their original prop-
erty. If the wife left her hus-
band without sufficient cause, or
if she had been guilty of con-
tinual infidelity, the injured hus-
band retained all her property.
good woman to talk pleasantly,
and get delight from her, prom-
ise her fair things. . . ”
But in discussing the status of
women in the Viking Age, the
subject is not fairly dealt wíth
unless we mention also the posi-
tion of the female thrall. Her
lot was a hard one, as it has al-
ways been in every slave-hold-
ing society. She had few if any
rghts, her mate could not pro-
tect her, and she was thus at
the mercy not only of her mas-
ter, but of her mistress as well.
The female slaves were divided
into two classes, those who were
kept to perform menial work,
and their more fortunate sisters
who were held as concubines.
Concubinage was prevalent in
the Viking Age. The concubines
were often highly honored by
their masters. Many of them
were of noble birth, who hatí
been captured in Viking raids,
or had been purchased from
slave-traders.
The sagas- reveal, that in
many instances, the relations
between a chieftan’s wife and
his concubine were often strain-
ed. The wife was frequently
hársh and unjust. We can sym-
pathise with her point of view.
Often, the wife must have been
keenly aware that her husband
had married her for her wealth
and family connections, where-
as he purchased his concubine,
bccEUs^ desired lier
I should point out here, that a Eftir Þórð Jónsson á Eyrarbakka
freed-man, that is, one whose \ ~ h rarnh-
former condition was that of a| ve^ ha^ me^ yissn> lesari
thrall, had the same rights over SÓður að eg þarf ekki að vera að
his daughter as a free-born man. UPP fyrir þér viðburði
rule for many weary centuries.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I now
bring my address to a close. I
have not been able to say very
much of interest or value con-
cerning my subject. I may have
fallen into the error of stressing
some things, to the detriment of
other matters more wo'rthy of
note. But I know you will over-
look the shortcomings of this
addrqss for as I said at the be-
ginning,»I am attempting only
to introduce the subject of Ice-
land’s ancient history. If I have
been able to add to your know-
ledge or if I have stimulated
your interest in Icelan<Jic
history, then I shall have ful-
filled the duty I pledged myself
to perform here on behalf of the
Icelandic National League.
Once again I thank the com-
mittee in charge of this Con-
which our Viking forefathers
forded me to speak here.
Long live the sons and daugh-
ters of old Norway! May their
children and their children’
children prosper for a thousand
generations on this continent,
which our Viking froefathers
called, “Wineland the Good”.
Þér sem notið—
TIMBUR
KAUPIÐ AF
THE
Empire Sash & Door
CO., LTD.
Birgötr: Henry Ave. Eaet
Sími 95 551—95 552
Skrlfstofa:
Henry og Argyle
VERÐ - GÆÐI - ÁNÆGJA
Á HÆSTA TINDI
DÍMONAR
Mannvirkið við Markarfljót
og lífið í bragganum
If she were seduced, he could de-
löngu liðinna alda héðan frá
mand compensation. The laws hessum fræga sögustað, þar sem
governing the marriage of a f°rfeÓur okkar háðu sín hjaðp-
free-born man’s daughter, ap- m£avig; eh ^ Vlh hefir þú lært
plied equally to the daughter of iac^ þekkja stafina á sögu Njáls,
a freed-man ieins °E eS; “°S Það sem ungur
But, ladies and gentlemen, i nemur> gamall temur/’eg meina
must bring my discourse rapid-jsam e 1 me hvi ha ,’ a J1
]y to a close. In a few words, I ho^vum hver annan r herðar
shall conclude with an account of n' ur’eins og heir ^er u’ en haci’
the last phase of the Icelandic að ^ ^rum það ekki stafar
^ ,,, ,. , , , . emvorðungu af þvi, að okkar lög
Commonwealth, which ended m , ,_ *
, T i j j j banna okkur slikt. En við nu-
1264, when Iceland passed underl,, * „ .
,, . tima menn, með alln okkar
the Norwegian crown. ,
mentun og siðmenningu, erum
'þeirra engir eftirbátar í allskon-
ar róstum, og yfirleitt eigum lít-
Marriage was not regarded as •, But, if the husband drove his
a religious ceremony until after wife away for being unfaithful,
the Christian faith became the
state religion of Iceland. Mar-
riage was first and foremost, the
means of joining families to-
gether—I cannot stress too
strongly the importance attach-
ed to family ties among the
Norsemen, particularily among
the Icelanders. A man without
strong family connections was
in a precarious situation. He
had no powerful kinsmen to aid
him in his dealings with other
men, and the fear of an aveng-
ing family was not present to
deter his enemies from slaying
There wer two main causes
leading to the downfall of the
Commonwealth. Soon after the
Norse chieftans settled in Ice-
land, the practice arose of sell-
ing the goðorðs, and in time they
were consolidated until they had
all passed into the hands of five
families, by 1200 A.D., civil war,
aggravated by quarrels with the
ið meira af drengskap en þeir.
Ljósast vitni þess er okkar
stjórnmálasaga, ekki sízt saga
seinni ára um þau efni. Nú er
ekki leyfilegt að brúka önnur
vopn á mótstöðumanninn en ör-
lítinn penna, sem blek drýpur úr,
um séu kunn vatnamál Rangæ-
inga. Vötnin í austurhluta
Rangárvaliasýslu hafa löngum
verið áhyggjuefni sýslubúa, en
fyrir einstakan dugnað þeirra
eru nú öll vötnin brúuð sem
kunnugt er. Illræmdustu vötnin
í héraðinu eru austustu vötnin,
eða “austurvötn”, sem stundum
hafa verið kölluð svo. — Þessi
vötn, komin innan úr jöklum, —
renna niður eftir Þórsmörk, en
kvíslast út, þegar kemur niður á
láglendið, þannig, að ein kvíslin
rennur út með Fljótshlíð til suð-
vesturs, það kallast Þverá. Ein
kvíslin rennur suður Landeyjar
og skilur austur og vestur Land-
eyjar — kallast Affall, rétt vest-
an við Dímon rennur kvísl eða
kvíslar, sem nefnast Álar. Aust-
ast er Markárfljót, og rennur
það meðfram Eyjafjöllum. —
Vegna sambands þessara vatna
við upptök þeirra liggur aðal-
vatnið í einu þeirra á víxl, og
hafa þessi illræmdu vötn háð
sinn darraðardanz um margar
aldir óáreitt. Þessi vötn hafa
valdið ógurlegri eyðingu og
skemdum á landinu umhverfis
sig og gera árlega. Þegar Mark-
árfljót var brúað árið 1933, var
hlaðinn garður frá Brúnni og út í
Dímon, því vitað vaf, að þýðing-
arlaust var, að brúa það nema
að innikróa vatnið og fá það til
að renna í einn farveg undir
brúna; án þeirra aðgerða gat
Markárfljót viðhaft svo hræði-
lega kaldhæðni, að skilja hina
270 m. löngu brú eftir á þurru
landi, en taka upp á því að fara
að renna við endann á henni. —
Þessi mikli garður var bygður
árin 1933 og 1934, og er 2000
metrar á lengd, og er mikið
mannvirki.
öllum var ljóst, að ekki nægði
að hlaða þennan garðkafla. —
Markárfljót gat alveg eins tekið
upp á því, að slá sér í félag við
Álana, og renna alt vestan Dím-
onar. Af þeim ástæðum var
byrjað á áframhaldandi garð-
hleðslu vestan Dímonar og út í
svonefndan Hallshólma.* Sú
... ,. , ,.,,en það syngur oft ílhlega í þessu
bishops, broke out, and lasted .... ,, ,..
„ , , ,lxtla vopna vorra tima, ekki siðui
for over a hundred years, until
the country was ceded, quarter
by quarter to Norway, between
1262—1264. In 1271i the Ice-
landic law was replaced by the
“Gamli Sáttmáli”, the Old Cov-
enant, and the last vestiges of
republicanism disappeared.
en í atgeiri Gunnars, en hér er
ekki staður eða rúm til að tala
Imeira um það. Rúmið krefst
Ifárra orða um hvert atriði.
Mannvirki við Markarfljót
Þá kem eg að aðalefni þessar-
ar greinar, og skal eg með örfá-
only once, she returned all her
property rights.
From the foregoing, it would
appear that women did not fare
badly in the Viking Age. Ap-
parently, they were considered
to be human beings, endowed
with the intelligence and ability
necessary to share the responsi-
bilities of partnership with men
in their struggle for existence.
On the other hand, the poetry
and Sagas indicate that the
Norsemen had a sophisticated,
tolerant view of women.
A worldly-wise attitude to-
him, if that served their purpose. | wards women may be gleaned
Marriage was essentially a
bargain. On that account it was
called (and is still called in Ice-
land) a brúðkaup, that is, the
purchase of the bride. In order
that a marriage might be con-
sidered lawful, the bride had to
be purchased by the payment of
“mund”, i. e., a form of dowry,
decided upon beforehand be-
from the following excerpts
from the Eddaic poem, Hávamál:
“No man should trust the
words of a maiden or the talk of
a woman; for their hearts were
shaped on a whirling wheel, and
fickleness laid in their breasts.”
. . . “Many a good maiden, if
thou searchest well, is untrue to
men” . . . “If thou wouldst get a
The other main cause leading um orðum lýsa því verki, sem
to the dissolution of the Com- hér er verið að vinna, þótt mörg-
monwealth, was the hostility of
the church. The Icelandic church
had two bishoprics, Hólar in the |
north half of the island, and j
Skálholt in the ‘southern half. — j
Both were under the j urisdic-1
tio.n of the Metropolitan see of|
Nidaros, Norway. The bishopsi
strove to increase their wealth!
and power at the expense of the J
Goði. Since the Goði were not
priests in the new religion, as
they had been in the old, their
power lessened. The Norwegian
king intrigued with the bishops!
and some of the more powerfull
Goði, to gain dominion over Ice-
land.
With intrigue from Norway,
treachery at home and the host-
ility of the church, it was inevit-
able 'that this first “noble ex-
periment” in democracy in West-
ern Europe should fail. Free-
dom fled the land to which those
proud Norsemen had sailed al-
most four hundred years earlier,
who preferred liberty to tyranny,
and their descendants were to
taste the bitter fruits of foreigu
* Hallshólmi er sagður bera
nafn af því, að þar hittust þau
systkin, Anna á Stóru Borg og
Vigfús bróðir hennar á Hlíðar-
enda með sveit manna hvort um
sig, og lyktaði þannig, að einn
maður féll, Hallur að nafni. —
Gunnarshólmi er sagður vera
næsti grashólminn, vestan við
Hallshólma.
Frh. á 7. bls.
Have the Business
POINT OF VIEW
?
Dominion Business College students have the advantagi
of individual guidance in the all-important factors of
business personality, conduct, and approach.
No matter how thoroughly you know the details of
office work, you must be able to sell your services,
and this is now just as much a part of Dominion
training as Shorthand, Typewriting-, Bookkeeping, or
any of the other courses in which Dominion leader-
ship has been recognized for over twenty-five years.
Business is better! Employment is increasing!
Prepare for it.
DOMINION
BUSINESS COLLEGE
On The Mall
and at Elmwood, SL James, SL John’s