Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1963, Page 100

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TÍMARIT ÞJÓÐRÆKNISFÉLAGS ÍSLENDINGA
mark.9 There cannot thus be any
doubt that the Icelanders in the
tenth century through their Nor-
wegian connections were aware of
the popularity of falconry in Ger-
many in the tenth century.
When they likewise became ac-
quainted with the English mania for
the sport is not known, but it can-
not have been later than the middle
of the tenth century when Egill
Skallagrímsson and several of his
fellow Vikings returned to Iceland
after the battle of Brunnanburh
where they had fought in the service
of King Athelstan.10 During that
stay in England they must have be-
come acquainted with the great en-
thusiasm of the English for hunting
with birds. Egill, who was an astute
business man as well as the greatest
of the Vikings could not have failed
to see what a valuable export the
large and powerful falcons of Ice-
land would be. Several allusions to
falconry occur in Egill’s poems, in-
cluding one in a stanza which he
composed in the hall at Athelstan’s
court after the battle of Brunnan-
burh. Here for the first time a
man’s arm is referred to as the tree
of the hawk.11
We can also say that the export
of falcons from Iceland must have
begun about this time. The earliest
collection of Icelandic laws forbids
the hunting of falcons on another
man’s property and this provision
probably dates from the first half
of the tenth century.12 Snorri Stur-
luson’s account of the attempt of
King Ólaf Haraldsson of Norway
(1015-1030) to get the Icelanders to
cede to him Grímsey, an island off
the north coast of Iceland, shows
that the export of hawks must have
been a common thing by this time.
Einar Eyjólfsson in opposing the ces-
sion to the king said that they might
still maintain the friendliest rela-
tions with the king and make him a
present of, among other things, fal-
cons.13
There is no record of the export
of falcons from Iceland and Green-
land to the Anglo-Saxon kings,
either directly from Iceland or in-
directly through Norway, but con-
sidering the zeal with which fal-
coners sought out the best birds
there can be little doubt that these
birds were early introduced into
England and formed a bond between
Iceland, Norway and the British
Isles. We also know that in the
reigns of Henry II, John and Henry
III, Icelandic falcons were very well
known in England and much sought
after.14 They were increasingly used
as diplomatic instruments by the
Norwegian kings.
Another and extremely valuable
export of the Icelandic colony of
Greenland was the polar bear. The
bears were captured alive by the
Icelandic inhabitants of Greenland
and exported to Europe where a
man could make his fortune by pre-
senting one to a king. The live polar
bear was, par excellence, the diplo-
matic instrument of the Scandina-
vian kings. We do not know if any
reached Anglo-Saxon England but
we do know that one was among
the most prized possessions of King
Henry III of England and was al-
lowed to fish daily in the Thames.15
It is very likely that the third