Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 151

PAGANISM AND LITERATURE
147
no Landdísasteinar, such as are to be found in Landnáma. Are we to
conclude that these latter are fingered formations? that is, do they
exist there merely for the sake of couleur locale? Besides, the com-
parison made by Kolsrud between place names which remind of the
name of a pagan god in Norway and similar place names in Iceland18
shows a big difference, and it must be added that Kolsrud has investi-
gated the whole of saga literature.
One might expect that pagan rites of death and burial would sur-
vive in XlIIth century Iceland, especially if we bear in mind the
minute descriptions given in Glúma, Gísla Saga Súrssonar or Egla,
and recall that these particular social institutions are amongst the
most conservative in their development. But in reality this is not the
case: there are no veita nábjargir, no hélskór in Sturlunga. One must
wonder, accordingly, whether the picturesque details just mentioned
have not been taken from Latin or European sources where magical
or strange practices concerning death are very frequent.
There is a field where discrepancies are still more surprising: it re-
gards the so called ancient laws or judicial practices, so abundantly
illustrated in íslendingasögur. And this discrepancy is not only appar-
ent in a comparison between samtíðarsögur and family sagas, it also
exists between the samtíðarsögur and Grágás. If we compare the three
thousand pages of the samtíðarsögur with the three hundred pages of
a group including Víga-Glúms Saga, Hrajnkels Saga Freysgoða and
Gísla Saga Súrssonar, we discover that the former do not say one
word of things which are clearly stated in the latter, such as hólm-
ganga (ÍF IX, p. 12 or VI, pp. 10-11), the accusation against a dead
man whose corpse is unburied (ÍF IX, pp. 32-33), the lýritr or goði’s
veto (ÍF IX, p. 84), the exact formulation of oaths (ÍF IX, p. 86), the
níðstöng (ÍF IX, p. 88 or VI, p. 10), the taking of land by fire (ÍF
IX, p. 89), the exact details about the way a féránsdómr has to be
held (ÍF XI, p. 118), the vápnatak (ibidem), the fóstbrœðralag (ÍF VI,
p. 125), the geirnaglar (ÍF VI, p. 22), the difference between launvíg
and morð (ÍF VI, p. 44), the rites conceming the shrouding of the
in Sturlunga and Heljardalsá, Hofsá, Hofsstaðir (twice), Hofsteigr, Hörgá, Hörg-
árdalr, Hörgárdalsheiðr, Hörgsholt, Hörgsland, Reynir, Reynines and seven dif-
ferent Hof in the Biskupa Sögur.
18 Noregs Kyrkjesoga I. Millomalderen, Oslo, 1958, pp. 49-50.