Gripla - 20.12.2014, Page 116

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his ancestors, are partly of giant kin. In fact, Hálogaland has a special
con nection with giants, since in Gautreks saga, starkaðr’s ancestors also
derive from this area. In Þorsteins saga and Gautreks saga, violence towards
women is glossed over, but it is nevertheless clear that many men acquire
wives through less than peaceful means.100 Both starkaðr’s grandfather
and namesake (who is explicitly said to be a giant) and his father Stórvirkr
abduct their wives, as does Þorsteinn’s grandfather.101 so too, Þorsteinn’s
brother Þórir acquires his wife through violence, conquering her father
in a duel. Moreover, the two brothers – on the run from their enemies
– behave more like glámr than traditional legendary heroes when they
ascend the roof of a house belonging to their father’s friend, and ride it
‘svá at braka tók í hverju tré’ [so that every timber began to creak], ter-
rifying the inhabitants, but, since the narrator, and thus the hegemonic
reader position, is aligned with Þorsteinn and his kin, none of this is prob-
lematised.102 In fact, the heroes of this manuscript are often so formidable
that the question whether they are trolls or men is frequently brought up,
and there is clearly a great deal of overlap between monstrous and human
behaviour, a fact that the authors and redactors are clearly uncomfortable
with and try to suppress.
By examining episodes of men, whether monstrous or human, attack-
ing women and their guardians or kingdoms with the goal of sex and mar-
riage, we can attempt to unpack further attitudes towards sexual behav-
iour. As Bagerius has shown, aristocratic men in the romances, versed in
the rules of chivalry, restrain their sexuality towards women of their own
social class and keep their desires in check.103 the rape and abduction of
women is generally regarded as behaviour in which evil, other men, whose
100 rowe, ‘Absent Mothers,’ 144.
101 So too are the ancestors of Egill Skalla-grímsson; Massimiliano Bampi points out the
genealogical patterns that tend to manifest themselves in the stories of both starkaðr and
Egill. He further suggests that Stórvirkr’s name signifies he is a giant; given Stórvirkr’s
ancestry as at least half giant, this seems reasonable. See ‘Between tradition and
Innovation. the story of starkaðr in Gautreks saga’, in The Fantastic in Old Norse-Icelandic
Literature. Sagas and the British Isles. Preprint Papers of the 13th International Saga Conference.
Durham and York, 6th–12th August, 2006, eds. John McKinnell et al. (Durham: Centre for
Medieval and renaissance Studies, 2006), 92–93.
102 Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, 220; glámr ascends the roof and rides it ‘suo ath brakar j hueriu
tre,’ f. 21r, Grettis saga, 119.
103 Bagerius, Mandom och mödom, ch. 7.