Snorri Sturluson as a historian of religions: The credibility of the descriptions of pre-Christian cultic leadership and rituals in Hákonar saga góða Abstract
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- Written sources supporting the cultic role of rulers in Eastern Scandinavia
Snorri Sturluson as a historian of religions
‘vike til side’). In my opinion his reasoning for this interpretation is convincing. It seems logical that Snorri based his information about Sigurðr and his generosity at sacrificial feasts on this stanza. Also other Viking Age skaldic poems may support Snorri’s information that Norwegian earls and kings cared for public cult in Trøndelag. According to Vellekla (990), which was quoted by Snorri,²⁶ also Earl Hákon Sigurðarson of Hlaðir main- tained similar cultic duties as his father. He thus restored the sanctuaries, which had been destroyed by the sons of King Eiríkr. It is stated that Hákon “allowed the men of Þórr to uphold the plundered hof-lands and shrines of the gods”.²⁷ By means of these actions and the cult, which was organized by Hákon, prosperity returned to the country.²⁸ A similar cultic role is also applied to King Hákon the Good in Hákonarmál, composed around 960. When the king died the skald praised him as follows: Then it was made known how well that king had protected sanctuaries (þyrmt véum) when all those who have domination and power [the gods] bade Hákon welcome. ²⁹ According to Snorri King Hákon was baptized in England. Towards the end of his life he must have returned to paganism as an apostate, or at least he was taking a more tolerant attitude towards the old religion in Norway. Therefore the skald could praise him in a traditional way, as a ruler who assumed his duties in the cultic sphere, as a protector of public cult and cultic sites. Also this poem was quoted by Snorri.³⁰ Snorri had thus also other sources, besides Kormákr’s stanza, when writing about the pagan cult in Trøndelag. Some of his sources consisted also of older prose tradi- tions.³¹ Ágrip (AD 1190), for instance, tells us that the Þrœndir in Mæri(n) required King Hákon the Good “to sacrifice as other kings used to do or we throw you out of the country, if you do not follow us in this thing”.³² The story about the horse- liver also occurs in this text, but in another version and in much more sparse terms.³³ Fagrskinna, written sometime between Ágrip and Heimskringla, also reproduces this tradition in short words. At the assembly in Mæri(n) 26 In Haralds saga Gráfeldar (Heimskringla (Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson 1941–51), 1, pp. 198–224). 27 Øll lét senn hinn svinni / sǫnn Einriða mǫnnum / herjum kunn um herjuð / hofs lǫnd ok vé banda (text and translation Turville-Petre 1976). Cf. Skjaldedigtning (Finnur Jónsson 1912–15), B 1, pp. 117–124. 28 […] nú grœr jǫrð sem áðan / aptr geirbrúar hapta / auðrýrir lætr áru / óhryggja vé byggja. 29 Skjaldedigtning (Finnur Jónsson 1912–15), B 1, p. 59. 30 Heimskringla (Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson 1941–51), 1, pp. 193–197. 31 See also Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson 1998, pp. 62 ff 32 […] báðu hann blóta sem aðra konunga í Nóregi, ‘ella rekum vér þik af ríki, nema þú gerir nekkvern hlut í samþykki eptir oss’ (Ágrip (Bjarni Einarsson 1985), p. 8). 33 […] at hann biti á hrosslifr, ok svá, at hann brá dúki umb ok beit eigi bera, en blótaði eigi ǫðruvís (Ágrip (Bjarni Einarsson 1985), p. 8). Brought to you by | Stockholms Universitet Authenticated | 10.248.254.158 Download Date | 9/18/14 2:50 PM
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Olof Sundqvist the people of Trøndelag gave him [King Hákon] two things to choose between. Either he should sacrifice as kings used to do before and in such a way maintain old law/custom for good crops and peace; or else they would throw him out of the country. […] Because of this threat and out of love for his friends the king yielded to their demands and sacrificed. ³⁴ The people thus expected that the king must take part in the religious feast and (according to Ágrip) eat the sacrificial meat (i.e. horse liver) in order to become a legitimate king. By means of these rituals he ratified ancient law and (according to Fagrskinna) governed good crops and peace for the people. It seems thus as if he was a necessary ritual link to the gods during these feasts, according to these texts. Written sources supporting the cultic role of rulers in Eastern Scandinavia Snorri’s ideas that the pagan rulers in Norway were expected to perform rituals and being involved in public cult were thus not taken from the thin air. He had several sources for these notions. These ideas are actually attested in other parts of Late Viking Age Scandinavia and in other types of sources. Scholion 140 of Adam of Bremen’s text, for instance, mentions thus: Nuper autem cum rex Sueonum christianissimus Anunder sacrificium gentis statutum nollet demonibus offerre, depulsus a regno dicitur a conspectu concilii gaudens abisse, quoniam dignus habebatur pro nomine Iesu contumeliam pati. ³⁵ According to the context, it seems as if these events took place at the public feast in Uppsala. This scholion indicates thus that the people who gathered in Uppsala during the 11
th century still expected that the ruler would perform the great sacrifices, on their behalf. It should be noticed that this scholion appears in the oldest manuscript of Adam’s text, namely A2, which usually is dated to about 1100.³⁶ It was thus made only 25 years after Adam wrote his text on contemporary conditions in Uppsala. Similar to Snorri’s account on the sacrifices in Trøndelag, aspects of Adam’s text, indicate that libation rituals were crucial during these feasts in the ‘Uppsala
prescribed sacrifice of the people, he is said, on being deposed, to have departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that he had been accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.’ This scholion was probably written by Adam himself, as it occurs in the oldest manuscript A2. 36 Hultgård 1997, pp. 9–15. Brought to you by | Stockholms Universitet Authenticated | 10.248.254.158 Download Date | 9/18/14 2:50 PM Yüklə 209,35 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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