The Viking Age (Vol. 1&2) - Paul B. Du Chaillu

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      Fig. 744.—Ornament of silver gilt, showing end of drinking horn. ½ real size.

      Fig. 745.—Silver gilt ornamentation for mouth of drinking horn. ½ real size. The horn itself, found in a mass of small fragments. Taplow, England.

      CHAPTER XIX.

       BURIALS.

       Table of Contents

      The two modes of burial—Burning of the dead on the pyre—The law of Odin—Ceremonies after death—Laws and superstitions connected with the dead—The journey to Hel—The burial of Sigurd and Brynhild—Burial on waggons—Burial of weapons with the dead—Burials in ships—The Gökstad ship’s sepulchral chamber—The Moklebust mound.

      The Eddas and Sagas abound with descriptions of funeral rites and burials, the accuracy of which is most fully vindicated by the finds.

      Two modes of burial were prevalent among the people, one that of burning the dead, the other of burying them unburned.189

      It was the belief of the people that the dead burned on the pyre would go to Valhalla with all the weapons and wealth burned with them, and that these would afterwards resume their original shapes. Horses, dogs, falcons, or other animals which the deceased had liked, were often added, and sometimes some of his thralls were killed and burned on the pyre with him.

      “Odin enacted the same laws in his land as had formerly prevailed with the Asar. Thus he ordered that all dead men should be burned, and on their pyre should be placed their property. He said thus: that with the same amount of wealth should they come to Valhalla as they had on the pyre; that they should also enjoy what they had themselves buried in the ground. But the ashes should be thrown into the sea or buried in the earth; that over great men mounds should be raised, as memorials; and over men who had some manfulness bautasteinar should be erected, and this custom was observed for a long time” (Ynglinga Saga, c. 8).

      “It was the custom of powerful men, whether kings or jarls, at that time to learn warfare and win wealth and fame; that property should not be counted with the inheritance, nor should sons get it after fathers, but it should be placed in the mound with themselves” (Vatnsdæla, 21).

      “The first age is called the age of burning; then all dead men were burned and bautastones raised after them. But after Frey had been mound-laid at Uppsalir many chiefs raised mounds as well as bautastones to the memory of their kinsmen. Afterwards King Dan the Proud had his own mound made, and bade that he and also his horse with the saddle on and much property should be carried to it when dead in king’s state and in war-dress. Many of his kinsmen did the same afterwards, and the mound-age began in Denmark. But the burning age lasted a long time after that with the Northmen and the Swedes” (Prologue of Heimskringla).

      “The first age was the one when all dead men were to be burnt. Then the mound-age began when all powerful men were laid in mounds and all common people buried in the ground” (St. Olaf’s Saga. Prologue).

      Fig. 746.—Largest pavement of pyre, 33 feet in diameter.—Broholm, Fyen, Denmark.

      As we read the Sagas we get a vivid and impressive idea of the grand and solemn pageant that must have taken place when the body of a great warrior was put on the funeral pile, and his companions in arms, relatives or former foes bid him happy speed to Valhalla, as the flames ascended high up towards the sky, or the ship sailed from the land in a lurid blaze, while the purifying fire was consuming the corpse. Then followed the ceremony of carefully gathering the charred bones, which were sacredly preserved in an urn or valuable vessel.190

      The first duty to the dead was to close the eyes and mouth and pinch together the nostrils, which ceremony was called nabjargir.

      Ninthly I advise thee

      To take care of corpses191

      Wherever on earth thou findest them;

      Whether they die from disease,

      Or are drowned,

      Or killed in battle,

      Let a bath be made192

      For those who are dead;

      Wash their hands and head,

      Comb and dry them

      Ere they are laid in the coffin,

      And bid them sleep happily.

      (Sigrdrifumál.)

      It appears to have been a case of outlawry not to cover a body with mould, and if a slayer maimed the body of his enemy when dead he was fined. The body seems to have been left on a cover until they could lay it in the mound.

      “No man shall have a dead man longer than five days in his house except in a necessity, such as if there is impassable ice or a snowstorm. Then it shall be taken to an outhouse and covered with timbers or straw, and removed as soon as the weather is good” (Eidsivathing law II. 41).

      If the deceased had during life been a wild and unruly man, fierce in temper, who it was feared might after death, as a ghost, cause trouble in the house where he had lived, some very peculiar ceremonies were observed. The person who was to perform the nabjargir did not approach the body from the front, but from behind, and closed the eyes, and not till then did any one else venture to approach to prepare it for funeral. Such a corpse was not carried out of the house through one of the usual entrances, but a hole was broken in the wall behind it, through which it was carried backward.

      “Snorri godi (temple priest), the great chief, had received a forest from Thorólf Bœgifot (lame-foot), who wanted to get it back.

      “Thorólf Bœgifot (after visiting his son to get his help in this matter) came home in the evening, and spoke to no one. He sat down in his high-seat, but did not eat that evening. He sat there when the people went to sleep, and in the morning when they rose Thorólf still sat there, and was dead. The housewife sent a man to his son Arnkel to tell him the death of Thorólf. Arnkel rode to Hvamm with some of his servants, and saw that his father sat dead in the high-seat. All the people were full of fear, for all thought there was something frightful in his death. Arnkel went into the hall and in along the seats to the back of Thorólf; he bid every man to beware of walking in front of him while the nabjargir had not been performed. Arnkel then took hold of the shoulders of Thorólf, and he had to use his strength ere he could lay him down. Then he wrapped a cloth around his head, and prepared his corpse for burial according to custom. Thereupon he had the wall broken behind him, and got him out there. Then oxen were yoked to a sledge, on which Thorólf was placed, and driven up to the valley of Thorsa; but he was not easily brought to the place where he should be. There they buried him carefully. After the death of Thorólf many thought it bad to be out of doors after the sun had set; and as the summer was about to close, they became aware that Thorólf did not rest quiet, for then men could never be at peace outside after sunset. In the spring, Arnkel took Thorólf’s body out on a ness, and there buried it anew. He had a fence made across the cape above the grave, so high that nothing but a flying bird could get over it. There Thorólf lay as long as Arnkel lived, but when he afterwards again became troublesome his body was burned, and the ashes thrown into the sea” (Eyrbyggja, c. 33).193

      The ceremony was sometimes considered as an incitement for the performer to avenge the dead.

      Höskuld, an illegitimate son of Njal and Hródný, was attacked by six men on his way home and slain. Hródný’s shepherd found the corpse and told her. They went during the night to Njal’s farm, Bergthórshvál.

      “Then they both walked to the house and knocked at the door. A húskarl opened the door. She … went to Njal’s

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