Gripla - 01.01.1995, Page 127

„1236: ÓRÆKJA MEIDDR OK HEILL GQRR
125
This episode not only demonstrates how emasculation and blinding
could be used to divest an enemy of his power, it also explains why
these types of maiming were so successful as a means of neutralizing a
contender: an enemy deprived of his manhood would immediately lose
his supporters and pose no threat to the establishment, either in terms
of his own person or in terms of siring offspring that could contend for
future power. Furthermore, it seems that in such cases, the victim’s
former followers never inflicted vengeance on the offender, possibly
because they had no interest in supporting an emasculated leader.
What is even more important, however, is that, as in the Surtshellir in-
cident, the blinding and maiming do not appear to have taken place: to
dissuade Páll’s followers, Sveinn is told to report the alleged injuries to
them, whereas Páll, like Orækja, in reality will relinquish his power
and depart from his realm.25
Orkneyinga saga also contains an episode of blinding and maiming
with subsequent miraculous healing that closely mirrors the episode in
íslendinga saga. This instance concerns the bishop of Caithness, Jón,
who was captured by Earl Haraldr Maddaðarson in 1201:26
En þeira skipti fóru svá, at Haraldr jarl lét handtaka byskup ok
skera ór honum tunguna, en síðan lét hann stinga knífi í augun
ok blinda hann. Jón byskup kallaði á meyna, ina heilQgu TrQll-
hœnu, í meizlunum ok gekk síðan á brekku nQkkura, þegar þeir
létu hann lausan. Kona ein var á brekkunni, ok bað byskup hana
hjálpa sér. Hon sá, at blóð fell ór andliti hans, ok mælti: „Vertu
hljóðr, herra, því at gjarna vil ek hjálpa yðr.“ Byskup var fœrðr
til þess staðar, er hvflir in helga TrQllhœna. Þar fekk byskup
heilsubót bæði máls ok sýnar.
In the Caithness episode, however, the version of the miraculous
events as told in Orkneyinga saga differs somewhat from the version
recorded in contemporary sources. According to Fordun’s annals, the
Earl of Caithness commanded that the bishop should be blinded and
that his tongue should be torn out, but „it turned out otherwise, for
25
The author of Orkneyinga saga emphasizes that the episode related in the saga
represents Sveinn Asleifarson’s version of the incident: according to some informants,
Margrét had hired Sveinn to blind her brother, then hired another man to kill him (p.
170).
26
Orkneyinga saga. pp. 294-95.