Færeyinga Saga
Introduction
The old history and life of the Færeys (34) have interested a series of authors since the Reformation, who have dealt pleasantly with their subject. First comes Lucas Jacobsen Debes (1623-1676), whose Færoæ et Færoa Reserata was printed at Copenhagen by Matthias Jrgensn at the author's own cost, and to be sold at Christian Geertsn's by Highbridge in 1673; an excellent book, with a brief account of the contents of the Færeyinga Saga included. This work was soon translated as "Færoæ et Færoa Reserata, that is, a Description of the Islands and Inhabitants of Fær, being seventeen islands subject to the King of Denmark, lying under 62 deg. 10 min. of north latitude. Wherein several Secrets of Nature are brought to light, and some Antiquities hitherto kept in Darkness discovered. Written in Danish by Lucas Jacobsen Debes, M.A., and provost of the Churches there. Englished by J[ohn] S[terpin], Doctor of Physick. Illustrated with maps. Printed by F. L. for William Ilcs, at the Flower-de-Luce in Little Britain, over against St. Bartholomew's Gate, 1676." Debes was born in Stubbekjöbing, Falster, was priest at Thorshaven in 1651, and became rector of the school. He was one of Olaus Wormius' correspondents. His work was drawn from first-hand observation.
A little later the industrious Icelandic scholar Thormod Torfessen (1676-1719) thought good to write on the Færeys. His book, "COMMENTATIO HISTORICA de rebus Guth FÆREYENSIUM SEN Faröensium THORMODI TORFÆI SACRÆ REGIÆ Majestatis Daniæ et Norvagiæ Rerum Norvegicarum Historiographi, HAVNIÆ, Impensis Authoris Typis, JUSTINI HÖG, Acad. Typogr., Anno MDCXCV.," was translated also, into German by Menzel (Copenhagen, 1757), and into Danish by P. Thorstensen (Copenhagen, 1770). Later this book was used by most writers who notice the island. It is, indeed, chiefly through Thormod's account of the Færeys that the substance of our Saga became known. But it must be confessed that the Commentatio is inferior to its predecessor Færoa Reserata, and its successor the Beskrivelse.
The third book of value is that of George Landt (1751-1804). (35) He was the son of the Dean in Vissenbjerg Sogn in Fyn, lost his father young, was brought up by his father's brother, a priest in Fyn, was at school in Svendborg, and studied at Copenhagen and Fredericksborg, working at botany the while, and when ordained went out to the Færoes as priest of Quivig, 1791; returning, he became priest of Allinge in Bornholm, 1799. His book, entitled Beskrivelse om Færøerne, appeared in Copenhagen in 1800. As it is not in the British Museum Library I have not been able to give bibliographic particulars, but it is an illustrated octavo, and its description is of less necessity, as an excellent translation soon after appeared in our tongue as "A Description of the Faroe Islands, containing an account of their situation, climate, and productions; together with the manners and customs of the inhabitants, their trade, &c., by the Rev. G. Landt, illustrated with a map and other engravings, translated from the Danish. London: printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, Paternoster Row, 1810. 8vo, pp. xiv. 426." An honest book, not excelled till our own day, founded on personal observation and the best local authorities, and a worthy successor to the good Debes. The best modern book is V. U. Hammershaimb's Færøsk Anthologi, (2 vols. 8vo, Copenhagen, 1891), which supplies a faithful account of the islands and their inhabitants, past and present; a well-chosen variety of prose and verse in the Færeyese dialect, together with a careful grammar and a valuable lexicon by Jacob Jakobsen. This is really a cyclopædia of Færoensia, and every one who cares about the islands will be grateful to the two scholars who have put it together. A fair and readable compilation on the history of the Færeys, by Niels Christopher Winther (Fröernes Oldtidshistorie, Copenhagen, 1875), will serve to colour the scientific outline of Hammershaimb.
The Færeyese ballads have not all been printed yet, though several collections have appeared, such as Færøiske Quæder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans Æt, edited by H. Ch. Lyngbye, (Randers, 1822, 8vo), and Færöiske Kvæder, edited by V. U. Hammershaimb for the Nordiske Literatur Samfund (Copenhagen, 1851-5, 2 vols. 8vo), as well as the selection printed in the Antiqvarisk Tidskroft of Copenhagen, 1849-51. MSS. containing the collections made by J. Ch. Svabo, the Sandoyarbók made by Hentze and J. Klementsen, the Fugloyarbók made by H. Hansen, the collections of N. Nolsö and others, are in the Royal Library, Copenhagen.
There are many topics in our Saga worth notice; for the reader's convenience they are here gathered together. In using them for historic or anthropologic purposes, due regard must be had to the analysis of the whole tale (pp. vii. xiii. above), and it should not be forgotten that it is a story of the time of Ethelred the Unready, told by a man of the days of Henry III., so that the aspect is mostly of later date, and Icelandic, while only the traditions on which the story is based, and certain exceptionally vivid and simple incidents, can belong to the Færey and to the earlier date. All references are to the chapter as before. The heads under which the lyric stand, are --- War, the Sea, Home Life, Trade, Dress and Personal Description, Political Life and Law, Beliefs, Saws.
OF WAR, public and private, there is plenty of mention. Among weapons are the beautiful silver-mounted snag-horned axe of Sigmund, 24; the hand-axe, 47; the pole-axe, 38; the wood-axe, 12; and others, 5, 24, 26, 48, 50, 53; the halbert, 44; pike-staff, 46, 47; spear, 6, 7, 48, 57, used both for hurling and stabbing; the spear used for hunting, 12; the sword, 7, 18, 20, 24, 44, 48, 50, 51, 57; the knife, 50, 51; the bow, 12, 14, 18, 32; stones as missiles in sea-fights, 18, 19. Bright helmets are spoken of, 24; bright shields, 8, 18, 20, 36; some emblazoned with devices or bearings --- per pale or azure; gules; and gules a face proper; a target, 7; a mail-jack, 24. Combats are frequent, small and great, 7, 15, 20, 24, 35, 37, 54, 57. Mention is made of the orderly defensive rank or "shield wall," 19; of the wedge-headed column of attack (the famous god-devised and ancient "boar's head array," known to Indian Aryan and Northman alike), 19; of the battle-shout of victory, 19. Attacks on a stockaded earthwork, 22, 24, on a house by fire, 57, and by weapons, 37, are described. Swordsmanship is practised, and the feat of "weapon-shifting" repeatedly alluded to, 18, 20, 27. The banner-bearers, 19; and the watchman or sentinel, 37, occur. A lady takes a sword and fights like a man, 37.
The SEA is the Færeyman's highway, and everywhere it comes in as the background of our Saga. Vessels of different kinds are noticed, "long-ships" (men-of-war), 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23; and, biggest and finest of these, the dragon-ships, 18, 19; "round-ships" (merchantment), 3, 23, 43, 48, 50, 51, 54, 56; ships of fifty men, 23; of forty men, 17; of thirty men, 45; row-boats and sailing-boats, 6, 7, 21, 36, 37, 54, 55; a ship's afterboat, 54. Of tackle and gear, there are the painter, 36; sail, 36, 43; boat-fork or hook, 36; truck, 43; tar, 43; ship-tents or awnings, 31. Sea-fights with Swedes, outlaws, wickings of Iom, 4, 18, 20, 21. Stratagems of the sea are the carrying off or scuttling of boats to prevent pursuit, 36, 56; the upsetting of a big boat by the crew of a small one (a passage not, as it seems, quite clearly understood by the scribe), 36. Magic head-winds and storms occur, 36. The land is known to be nigh by the flight and screams of the sea-birds, 23. Signalling across the sea by beacon-fires is known, 36; sea roving is often mentioned, 4, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, both in the western and eastern seas.
The HOME LIFE of the day appears in many passages, especially those referring to the chief house or homestead of the estate, 5, 6, 7, 8, 41; the hall, 50, 51; the stoor or big-room, 56; the fire-room, 40; the sleeping-room or chamber, 11, 50, 56; doors, 57; glazed windows, high up in the walls of great and costly buildings (a manifest anachronism), 1; dais-benches, 46; an ark or hutch, 40; lattices, 40; floor-beds, 56; tables, 33. Outside the house is the wood-stack, and the house itself being of wood can easily be fired. Booths, 45, and tents are used as temporary dwellings at fairs, 2, and moots, 35, 46, 47; one tent is described as having a double skin, 46. Hospitality is ready; aliens and strangers are invited to stay at the houses of men of rank with their following; visitors are received with lavish supplies of meat and drink. Sheep, the staple of the Færeys (whence also the islands got their very name), are of course spoken of, and it is noted that the Færey-people (unlike the Icelanders) used to slaughter them for food all the year round, 54. They were often kept on the uninhabited islands as well as the others (as are the cattle in Scotland and Ireland now), 36. Cattle were also kept, 25, 26. The chase we only hear of it in Norway; while reindeer, 10, and bear, 12, are slain, and the sport of hunting deer on ice, 14, in the winter prevailed. Games are spoken of, 32, and the practice of swimming and other feats of skill.
TRADE is by no means unimportant. Traders regularly sail between the Færeys and Norway, 50, 52; one skipper is instanced who, having his home at Tunsberg in the Wick of Norway, habitually trafficked between Holmgard in the East Baltic and Thorshaven in the Atlantic, 8; the wool-trade between the Færeys and norway, 45, the slave-trade, 29, are spoken of. The great fair of Haleyre or Halore in Denmark, a mart for Western Scandinavia, and a fair in Sweden, to which Norwegian merchants go, are noticed, 27; an incident at Haleyre, the buying of the gold ring, is, indeed, necessary to the story of Thrond. The currency is (as in Iceland) based on the universal north-western silver penny, tested by weight, tals, and fire, 25, 26, 46; and upon the "hundred of Wadmal," 6 (for which see introduction to Sir G. Dasent, "Burnt Njal," where is a valuable note by Dr. Vigfússon on the Icelandic currency system in the classic period. The price of a cow is also (as in Ireland) a standard of value, 6. Money is lent out at a regular rate of interest, and persons are employed to gather in the interest of such loans for the lender, 50, 51, 53.
Notes:
34. There are about 12,000 inhabitants, and the surface on which they live is about twenty-four square Danish miles. [Back]
35. See Nyerup and Kraft, Ahuindeligt Litteratur-Lexicon, Copenhagen, 1820. [Back]
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