"To a faithful friend, straight are the roads and short."-Odin, from the Havamal (c. 1000) Friendship was the most important social bond in Iceland and Norway during the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages. Far more significantly than kinship ties, it defined relations between chieftains, and between chieftains and householders. In Viking Friendship, Jon Viar Sigursson explores the various ways in which friendship tied Icelandic and Norwegian societies together, its role in power struggles and ending conflicts, and how it shaped religious beliefs and practices both before and after the introduction of Christianity.Drawing on a wide range of Icelandic sagas and other sources, Sigursson details how loyalties between friends were established and maintained. The key elements of Viking friendship, he shows, were protection and generosity, which was most often expressed through gift giving and feasting. In a society without institutions that could guarantee support and security, these were crucial means of structuring mutual assistance. As a political force, friendship was essential in the decentralized Free State period in Iceland's history (from its settlement about 800 until it came under Norwegian control in the years 1262-1264) as local chieftains vied for power and peace. In Norway, where authority was more centralized, kings attempted to use friendship to secure the loyalty of their subjects. The strong reciprocal demands of Viking friendship also informed the relationship that individuals had both with the Old Norse gods and, after 1000, with Christianity's God and saints. Addressing such other aspects as the possibility of friendship between women and the relationship between friendship and kinship, Sigursson concludes by tracing the decline of friendship as the fundamental social bond in Iceland as a consequence of Norwegian rule.
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Extrait
VïKïNG FRïENDSHïP
VïKïNG FRïENDSHïP
T HE SOCI AL BOND I N I CE L AND AND NORWAY, C. 900–1300
J ó n Vi ð a r S i g u r ð s s o n
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Fîrst pubîshed 2017 by Corne Unîversîty Press
Orîgînay pubîshed în Norwegîan 2010 asDen vennîgevîkîngen: Om vennskapets makt; Norge og på ïsand c. 900–1300by Pax Forag.
Prînted în the Unîted States o Amerîca
îbrary o Congress Cataogîng-în-Pubîcatîon Data
Names: Jón Vîðar Sîgurðsson, 1958–author. | Transatîon o: Jón Vîðar Sîgurðsson, 1958–Vennîge vîkîngen. Tîte: Vîkîng rîendshîp : the socîa bond în ïceand and Norway, c. 900–1300 / Jón Vîðar Sîgurðsson. Other tîtes: Vennîge vîkîngen. Engîsh Descrîptîon: ïthaca : Corne Unîversîty Press, 2017. | ïncudes bîbîographîca reerences and îndex. ïdentîIers: CCN 2016039393 (prînt) | CCN 2016040227 (ebook) | ïSBN 9781501705779 (coth : ak. paper) | ïSBN 9781501708473 (epub/mobî) | ïSBN 9781501708480 (pd ) Subjects: CSH: Norway—Hîstory—1030–1397. | ïceand—Hîstory—To 1262. | Frîendshîp—Norway— Hîstory—To 1500. | Frîendshîp—ïceand— Hîstory—To 1500. | Norway—Reatîons—ïceand. | ïceand—Reatîons—Norway. CassîIcatîon: CC D460 .J6513 2017 (prînt) | CC D460 (ebook) | DDC 305.3409481/09021—dc23 C record avaîabe at https://ccn.oc.gov/2016039393
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Co n t e n t s
ïntroductîon 1. Frîendshîp: The Most ïmportant Socîa Bond în ïceand în the Free State Perîod 2. Frîendshîp between Chîetaîns: “To Hîs Frîend a Man Shoud Be a Frîend, and Repay Gîts wîth Gîts” 3. Kîngs and Theîr Frîends 4. Cerîcs and Frîendshîp 5. Frîends o the Gods 6. Kînsmen and Frîends: “et There Be a Fjord between Kînsmen, but a Bay between Frîends” 7. Frîendshîp oses ïts Power: Poîtîca Changes în the Second Ha o the Thîrteenth Century 8. Pragmatîc Frîendshîp
Notes135 Bîbîography161 ïndex179
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VïKïNG FRïENDSHïP
ïntroductîon
ïn May 2009, ï took part în a conerence în Engand.Thedayaterîtbegan,mydaughterphonedmeromhomeînde-spaîr. She tod me that she woud be takîng an exam în two days and that she shoud be prepared to dîscuss, among other thîngs, the împortance o ïcean-dîc kîn-based socîety (ættesamfunn) durîng the tîme o the Free State (the perîod rom the estabîshment o the Athîng în c. 930 untî the year 1262, 1263, or 1264, when ïceand came under the contro o the Norwegîan kîng). She was not despondent because she had to take an exam, but rather because or many years she had heard me speak about rîendshîp and chîetaîns în ïceand în the same perîod. She knew quîte we that ï objected to the very notîon o a kîn-based socîety mentîoned în her textbooks and by her teacher. ïnstead, ï spoke o a chîetaîn socîety, where the chîetaîns—and not kîn eaders—were the most poweru îndîvîduas. ïndeed, ï argued that kîn and kîn-based reatîons had very îtte meanîng, especîay when compared wîth the vîta roe rîends and rîendshîp payed. Thîs, o course, put my daughter în an împossîbe sîtu-atîon: Shoud she oow her ather or the currîcuum? Ater ï had overcome my surprîse at the questîon, ï proceeded to regae her on how “od îdeas dîe hard,” oowed by a sury commentary on the ack o knowedge o my work, and Inay an în-depth ecture on the meanîng o rîendshîp în the ïceandîc FreeState.ïtwasnotongaterthîsconversatîonthatïdecîdedtowrîtethîs1 book. ï shoud add that my daughter was eventuay (and mercîuy) reeased