Gripla - 01.01.1984, Side 221

HVÖNNIN í ÓLAFS SÖGUM TRYGGVASONAR
217
SUMMARY
In this paper the author describes the use of the herb angelica (Angelica archange-
lica) in old Norwegian and Icelandic folklore and popular medicine. The Nor-
wegians and the Lapps used to chew the angelica root and this was perhaps orig-
inally done to clean the teeth; this was also known in Germany where angelica
root dipped in water or wine was used to clean the mouth and teeth. The root was
also put under the tongue of people during epidemics. Angelica was also eaten
with milk and whipped milk (Jlautir) both in Norway and Iceland. It was usually
cut where it grew wild on mountains. Young Norwegians went collecting it on
Saturdays preferably in June before the feast of St. John (the 23rd of June), came
back laden on Sundays and sold the herb in front of the church or at the market.
It is also known to have been cuitivated in gardens in Iceland and Norway in the
18th and 19th centuries; a Old Norse lawbook from as early as the late 13th cen-
tury mentions angelica gardens. It is not known whether the belief in angelica as
a medicine spread from the North to the South but some of the customs known
in Norway are also known in Germany, and a Danish herbal from the early 13th
century mentions angelica as a magical and medicinal plant. In Norway it has
also been known as a fertility symbol.
These customs help to explain an episode in the Sagas of King Oláfr Tryggva-
son by Oddr Snorrason and Snorri Sturluson, the former more of a hagiographi-
cal vita than a biography and originally written in Latin, the latter a part of
Snorri’s compilation, Heimskringla. Oddr tells that one Palm Sunday King Óláfr
met a man in the front of the church with a bundle of angelica. He gave the king
“this summer fruit” and King Óláfr cut a piece of it and gave it to his queen Þyri,
daughter of King Haraldr of Denmark. When she received it she suddenly remem-
bered the properties which her father gave her as tannfé (a present given to a
child when it got his first tooth) and she wanted Óláfr to reclaim these properties.
This episode reveals the old custom of chewing angelica or using it for cleaning
teeth. It is also possible that the hagiographer Oddr Snorrason used angelica as
a Christian symbol, a heaven-sent token referring to Óláfr’s death as a martyr in
the battle at Svoldr. In Snorri’s version of this story there is no specific day men-
tioned when King Óláfr got the angelica and it appears that he bought it at the
market on a Sunday which corresponds to the customs prevailing in Norway.
Snorri has Óláfr give one whole angelica to Þyri who does not accept it but
abuses the King for not obtaining her properties. The King became angry. This
episode is explained here by Snorri having known the angelica as a symbol of love
and fertility and he is showing a loveless marriage.