Gripla - 2022, Page 149

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the curative and enhancive, the physiological and the cognitive. While
Læknisfræði’s remedies are more often applied topically or ingested as a
concoction, we nonetheless also see treatments that rely on the idea of
haptic transmission, suggesting that this principle of porosity was opera-
tional in the medical tradition also.
While Grágás codes the use of stones as illicit, their sustained appear-
ance in saga literature indicates their continuing interest to narrators and
audiences: stones are useful for developing both plot and theme, allowing
narrators to explore ideas about health, agency and the entanglement be-
tween humans and their environment. In turn, the appearance of precious
stones in the archaeological record suggests the enduring significances
(ritual, medical, symbolic) of stones to bodies, both in pre-Christian and
Christian contexts.
The appearance of stones in saga literature is informed by multiple
traditions. On the one hand, we have what appears to be a vernacular lyf-
steinn tradition (employed particularly in Laxdœla saga and Kormáks saga).
This vernacular tradition involves a unique relationship between stone
and sword. The stone is kept on the hilt of the sword (either in a pouch or
embedded in the hilt)166 and is viewed as an essential, inalienable part of
the sword. The stone provides the only cure for a wound inflicted by its
sword, and this cure is administered by rubbing the stone on the wound.
This tradition extends in scope (possibly through influence from lapidary
lore) in Göngu-Hrólfs saga and Sigurðar saga þögla, with lyfsteinar presented
as drawing poison out of wounds, as well as healing any wounds, not
just those inflicted by the associated sword. On the other hand, we have
what we might call the steinasörvi tradition (seen in Heiðarvíga saga and
Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar). This involves a stone necklace that protects
the wearer from physical harm, given to the wearer by an old woman as-
sociated with witchcraft. And finally, we have a more flexible tradition,
which draws directly (and likely indirectly, via the continental romance
tradition) on a wide range of properties of stones seen in lapidary lore. In
Íslendingasögur, the focus is on stones with therapeutic functions, whereas
in fornaldarsögur and especially riddarasögur, stones exhibit diverse magical
properties that enhance bodily capabilities and that provide saga-authors
166 See Göngu-Hrólfs saga, 169, which mentions “leystir lífsteinar” (loose/detachable healing-
stones) kept on the sword hilt.
LAPIDARIES AND L Y F S T E I N A R