Gripla - 20.12.2004, Qupperneq 100

GRIPLA98
If a man stays with another man and dies there, then he (the house-
holder) shall keep his property for three winters. If no heir appears, he
is to have it if it is not more than three marks. But if it is more, then he
owns half and the king half.
This is an interesting piece of law viewed against Nornagests fláttr, in which
of course Nornagestr stays with the King and dies while enjoying royal
hospitality. He does not seem to have any heir. The only kin of his mentioned
in the fláttr is his father, who has predeceased him. As for property, we know
that he carries with him a fragment of what had been the gold saddle ring of
Sigur›r Fáfnisbani, a lock of hair from Grani’s tail, and one of the two molars
struck from Starka›’s jaw by Sigur›r when they met on the battlefield. The
King and the hosting householder are in this case the same person. The word
gesterf› does not appear in the fláttr, and inheritance and the disposition of
Nornagest’s worldly goods are never mentioned. But if we take Gulaflingslög
113 as representative of how the audience of Nornagests fláttr might have
understood, in most general terms, the inheritance relationship between guest
and host, then they would have drawn the conclusion that these material frag-
ments of the heathen past, Sigur›’s saddle ring included, would have passed to
King Óláfr Tryggvason by common custom. The notion of this particular king
coming into possession of such artifacts crystallizes the idea of access to the
heroic past in a concise image, an especially satisfying one if the means of
acquisition were thus sanctioned by law or custom.
Óláf’s potential inheritance deserves a closer look. The piece of gold Norna-
gestr carries is finer than Hnitu›r, the ring Úlfr inn rau›i brings back from his
travels, as the bet at the beginning of Nornagests fláttr establishes. Hnitu›r has
a not unworthy provenance, either.
fiann hring haf›i gefit Úlfi einn bóndi er Lo›mundr hét. En flenna
hring haf›i átt Hálfr konungr er Hálfsrekkar eru frá komnir ok vi›-
kenndir er fleir höf›u kúgat fé af Hálfdani konungi í Ylfing (Flb. I:
347).
That ring had been given to Úlfr by a certain farmer who was named
Lo›mundr, and King Hálfr, whom the Hálfsrekkar are descended from
and named after, had owned this ring when they exorted money from
King Hálfdan at Ylfingr.