Gripla - 20.12.2004, Page 109

Gripla - 20.12.2004, Page 109
THE PAST AS GUEST 107 resist the temptations of raiding, thieving, and bothering women, they may have begun to resemble the very óvinir whom they were meant to find and root out. The past in the present imagined as this manner of gestr is likely to seem all the more like a dangerous item out of place. It is worth having a look at the wider literature to see if the image of the konungs gestir we are met with in Konungs skuggsjá and Hir›skrá exists else- where. A more in-depth study of the topic could certainly be made, but a quick survey reveals a literary image of the gestir that does not seem to make up much for their negative portrayal in the laws. Some of the mentions of the gestir are neutral, included merely to increase the prestige of the king under whom they serve. Such is the case in Saga Óláfs kyrra, in which we are told that King Óláfr had sixty gestir in his retinue, whereas earlier kings had had only thirty.10 In Sturlunga saga, Ásbjörn Gu›mundsson receives nine men from fiór›r Sighvatsson to serve him as gestir, which is likely the same sort of detail to do with a chieftain’s status (Sturl. II:15). But among fairly neutral ref- erences to the gestir, gestamerki, gestalú›r, gestaskip in a number of konunga- sögur (for references see (Fritzner 1886 I:589)) there are a few episodes that present an image of the gestir not so dissimilar from that in the laws. In Magnúss saga berfœtts 18, Icelanders tangle with a gestahöf›ingi named Sóni. In Haralds saga gilla 7, King Magnús receives advice he does not like and that the advisor himself concedes is ‘illt rá›,’ namely to send gestir on a mission of assassination. In Njála 4, none other than Gunnhildr konungsmó›ir sends two ships with her then-favorite Hrútr. With them she sends ‘inn hraustasta mann,’ the gestahöf›ingi, a man with the less than confidence-inspiring name of Úlfr óflveginn. These examples on their own do not add up to much, but in Sverris saga 103 we see the konungs gestir behaving badly in Bergen. The heading in one manuscript is Frá óspektum í Björgvin, and indeed the gestir rumble drunkenly with húskarlar, inspiring Sverrir to a speech on the evils of drink in the next chapter. The gestir do not loom large in Old Norse literature, but the small figure they cut does not contradict, at least, the dubious character pre- sented in the legal texts. There is yet another way in the laws suggest that these gestir threaten to bring with them disorder, disruption, and boundary violation. Part of Hir›skrá 44 already cited above stresses that the King also bears responsibility for the tasks he sends his secret police in: 10 The detail appears in both Morkinskinna (1932:290) and Heimskringla I (ÍF XXVI: 207)
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