Introduction

C. 24. Sigmund and Thore admitted to half each of one chieftaincy, while Thrond held apparently all the other.
D. 24. Sigmund holds all the islands on loan of Earl Hacon, Sigmund being his steward, and paying scot for one half.
E. 30. Sigmund holds all the islands on like terms from K. Olave Tryggwesson.
F. 34. Sigmund holds all the islands on like terms from the Earls Sweyn and Eric.
G. 39. Thrond o' Gate and Laf Ossursson hold all the islands.
H. 40. Thrond holds one third; Laf one third; Sigmund's sons, Stangrim, Brand and Here, one third.
I. 58. Laf holds all the islands on loan from K. Magnus Olavesson.
J. 58. Sigmund Lafsson holds as his father did.
K. 58. Einar and Scegge Hafgrimsson are reeves of the Færeys. c. 1200. (36)

For the jurisdiction and position of the King's reeve or steward in the Færeys, and the gathering and transmission of the royal scot, his principal duty, see 16, 25, 26, 31, 32, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. The Norwegian reeve takes a high position, 14. Reeves of Heathsmark, in the Uplands, 14, and of Orkdale, 26, are mentioned. The chief-moot of the islands, the "Streamey-Moot," at Thorshaven, held in the spring, is repeatedly mentioned, 5, 24, 25, 26, 30, 41, 45, 46, 47, 48. In Norway the Frosta-Moot, 26; an arrow-moot at Lygrö in Mœre, 43; and a husting or house-moot at the Hereys, in South Mœre, 44. The Danish king's jurisdiction at the great fair of Haleyre, with powers of embargo, 3, is noticed.
        At the moots private suits are carried on, besides legislation and other public business, as will have been seen. Of legislation, the sole example in the Saga is the one cleverly proposed by Thrond (possibly a real tradition), "that no man shall come armed to the moot of the Færeys,"and carried with the amendment of Laf Ossursson, "save that the king's men may come armed," 48.
        The Comitatus, as it obtained in Norway, and the formal enrollment of young men of good birth and proven valour as royal house-carles, 16, 17, 18, 34, is a feature of our Saga. Such persons are employed on their patron's errands, 18; the tie is binding on both patron and client, and the lord must avenge his sworn men. Liegemen take an oath of allegiance, 42. The rank of "guest" at the lord's court, an acknowledged position, is noticed, 16. Court life at Norway is illustrated, 16, 17, 18, 21, 32.
        As for Personal Law, we read of the sale of slaves, who have cropped heads, 29. Marriage ceremonials and marriage negotiations are noticed, 26, 39, 55; concubinage, 7; fosterage is referred to 7, 48, and is evidently an important institution, as in Ireland.
        The Law of Property is touched on. Inheritance of land, 2, 25, 39; inheritance of jurisdiction, 25; the right to weregild, see below; division of inheritance amongst heirs by lot, 2; loan of land and jurisdiction, 25, 34, 42; partnership, 2, 49; loan of money, 49, 51, 53; yearly rent or payment, 6.
        In Criminal Law there is mention of murder, a captial crime punished by hanging, 38, 41, 43; of manslaughter of sackless men, 25, 47, 50, 51, to be avenged by the rules of feud; of manslaughter of guilty men, 2; of theft, 2; of abduction, 15, 16; of assault, 5; where the old customary law is noticed: "It is outlawry to smite a sackless man."
        The Law of Procedure includes oaths, 30, 42, and hand-plight, 21, 30, 48; ordeal (the bearing of iron) in Norway, 43; arbitration by a third party (superior or equal), 25, 48; self-doom, 5, 25, 31, 48, 54; suits at moots, 5, 6; outlawry, 5, 16, 21, 44, 47, 54; inlawing, 26, 48; execution, 41; fines, 5; weregilds, 22, 25, 26, 35, 47, 48, 54; hand-selling of grith, 21, 54; blood revenge, 23.
        The OLD FAITH is often alluded to. Thus we hear of the "old way" of burial in barrows, 2, 7; of the magic powers exerted by the old gods through their votaries, 31, 37, 40; or through objects connected with them, 33, 38, 40. The temple of Earl Hacon's family goddess, Thorgerd Shine-bride, is described, 23; but we must not press this as authentic: the idol-house is far too much like a Christian church with its glass windows and the stockaded "temenos," the carvings run with gold and silver are more archaic possibly, and recall some older "monuments"; the image may or may not be traditional, but the ring certainly is. Hafgrim has a temple, and is a great sacrificer, 5.
        Witchcraft rules the weather, 31 (a point also noted in the ballad); it is by what looks like a magic operation that Thrond tracks Sigmund in the night, 37; the wizard has power to raise the shades of the departed, 40. The method of conducting this last operation is but imperfectly described (the spell being omitted, for instance), owing no doubt to the scruples of the Christian scribe. The four lattices are apparently to prevent the spirits getting at the protective fire and the wizard sitting by it, within them; the nine squares drawn outside are puzzling. Are they nine "houses" surrounding a ring the lattices and fire, or are they nine concentric squares, one within the other? The scene is as impressive as the visions in Macbeth. Perhaps it originally followed the finding of the ring, which seems the better dramatic sequence. There are some signs of abridgement and confusion here and there in the Saga, such as the loss of the Bearney episode (noticed above), and we cannot but believe it must originally have been in places more perfectly told. Malignant ghosts are believed to annoy the living, 48; boding dreams occur, a dead Christian man appears in a dream and prophesies, 53; Thrond dreams of a success he gets, 37; a doomed man acts against his wont when he is fey, 57.
        The New Faith and its introduction forms the chief glory of Sigmund in the Saga-man's eyes, and the baptism of the Færey-men, 31; and the consequent behaviour of the "enforced converts" lie at the heart of the story. The first Christian church is that of Skuvey, 35, 40, 57, the burial-place of its founder; but Kirkby, the seat of the bishop, in the Northern Isle, must have been founded pretty soon after the conversion. Christians must learn the Paternoster and Credo, 56; the common European lorica for safe sleep is known and used, 56. (37) That the Christian spirit of Sigmund should contrast with the wolfish obstinacy and revenge of old Thrond is deliberately intended by the Saga-maker. The stamp of the thirteenth-century Christian is on the speech of King Olave Tryggwesson; it might have been spoken by St. Louis himself, as far as its inspiration of fervid faith and earnest temper; but Sigmund's answer is the more humane.
        There are a fair number of IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS scattered up and down the best parts, the authentic sections of the story, elliptic allusions to the various notable acts and occupations of daily life: "coming to grips," 5; "the lowest lot," 6; "to use other men as one's targets," 7; "to have heart in one," 7; "to be another man's after-boat," 12; "lots of different persons being cast together," 11; to be "leaping high," 14; "aiming high," 55; to "have got hold of a stone too heavy for one," 15; to "win as easily into heaven" as into a difficult place, 24; "it is no good pulling and hauling" over a matter, 35; a man being "a hard one to take by the loins," 35; "as Fate will have it," 38; "there are two ways of looking at this man," 43; "there is little likeness between men here, a good king and bad men," 44; "if we had met you would not have been able to tell of the meeting," 44; "I do not see better bait," 55; "I need not put words into N.'s mouth," 55; "be not afraid where no fear is," 57. The saws made use of are: "Things go by turns," 31; "many things come about in a man's lifetime," 43; "age cows a man," 46; "a man's own hand is truest to him," 46; and they are appropriately brought in.


Notes:
36. Hafgrim Sigmundsson is not named as reeve himself; he may have died in his father's lifetime. [Back]
37. Mr. W. P. Ker sends me an illustration of the faith Thrond taught little Sigmund in the case of a small English girl, whose mother "saw her one day putting her dolls off to sleep --- there was a piece of rough wood (fire-wood) stuck up over the dolls' bed, and the mother asked what it was. 'That's the guardian angel.'" [Back]