The
foe is 'dolgr,' the person with whom one is at feud, a word not merely
of abuse, as is proved by the Ala-dolgr of Ynglinga-tal, 108; though in
the Christian poems one sees 'söko-dolgar' (Chr. W. 99), originally persons
suable, take the meaning of criminals. The origin of the word is obscure.
The compound 'dolg-viðir' occurs W. Pl. 285. Other words are 'and-scoti,'
adversary, Havam. 58, Doom. 44; and 'fiándr,' a word which in English
comes to mean Ghostly Enemy, as 'dolgr' sinks to Demon in Old Northern
books. 'Heipt-megir,' feud-man, is found in Havam. 57, and Suipd. 35;
the curious 'fifl-megir' in Vsp. 153 only. The Editor suggests that it
stands for 'frefel-megir,' cf. German 'vrevel' = felon.
There are also particular
words pointing out the enemy's special relation to the person on whom
the duty of blood-revenge lies. These are 'bani,' 'fonoj,'
and its compounds. The slayer of a man is named after the person he has
slain, 'Fáfnis bani,' 'Hunding's bani,' cf. Haddingja-scaðe (cf. 'Argeifonthj,'
'Ipponooj bellerofonthj,'
and 'regi-cida,' 'pari-cida'); thus there are 'bróðor-bani' and 'sonar-bani.'
The 'fodor-bani' does not appear in the poems, but doubtless existed;
the very word 'hefnendr,' which expresses the son who is bound to avenge
his father, is proof that the father's slaughter by an enemy was the most
deadly wrong of all. Thus the proverb 'the feud never falls while the
son is alive,' L. B. L. 48, is amply illustrated by such vows as that
alluded to in the Doom of Balder, 42-4, by the Icelandic Family Histories,
such as Færeyinga, and, finest instance of all, by the Vengeance of the
Sons of Ingemund the Old, now found inserted in the Landnáma-bóc.
The actual doer of the
deed is 'hand-bani'; the contriver of it 'ráð-bani,' Hym. 72; the man
who does the deed alone without help or counsel is 'ein-bani.'
bana
muntu mer brœðra bœta aldregi. Atlam. 258.
sins
um bródor slær hann hand-bana. Short Vsp. 46.
orms
einbani. Hym. 85.
See also 'bródor-bani,'
Lokas. 69; W. Pl. 309; Ch. W. 83-4; and O. G. L. 119; and note the whole
beautiful passage in Sonatorrec, ending with the words ---
Enn
ec ecci eiga þóttomc
sacar-afl
uið sonar-bana,
þui-at
al-þióð fyr augom uerðr
gamals
þegns gengi-leysi.
Mic
hefir Marr myclo ræntan,
grimmt
es fall frænda at telja. Sonat. 37-42. cor.
Indeed the whole poem (like the only one fit to be put beside it, Durayd's
Dirge over his brother Abdallah) is the best possible example of the aspect
in which the ancients looked on the subject.
As in Arabia, the sword
might be bought off or borne, and it was quite as honourable to accept
the offered were-gild or blood-wite as it was to exact revenge sword in
hand. The institution of the were-gild, the existence of a tariff at which
the injuries done to or slaughter of individuals of each rank of free-men
were duly appraised, was of course necessary to this way of ending a feud.
That such existed early in the North there seems evidence, but the exact
tariff is not known, for Grágás and the later authorities only reckon
in silver or wadmal, the currency of their day. The older tariff was probably
expressed in terms of beasts, cows, and slaves, somewhat as in Ireland.
The compensation was sometimes
a mere affair of setting off slain man against slain man, and paying the
excess when a man more was slain on one side than the other. See Icelandic
Sagas.
But often there were more
complicated questions: --- Was such a slain man an outlaw or criminal
to be paid for or not? how far back was the reckoning to go? and so on;
and, as a matter of fact, these questions appear, judging by later analogy,
to have been usually submitted by both sides to arbiters or daysmen, 'iafnendr'
lit. eveners, men who set matters straight. (3)
Sometimes however one
party will not be satisfied with anything but self-doom --- to wit, that
the other party should absolutely give him the right of making his own
award in the matter. It was then said to be 'sialf-scapa' (the 'sialf-dœmi,'
of the Sagas), scapa being the word used (cf. leggja, to lay down) of
shaping or creating the judgment or doom, which was termed 'dœmi.' The
office is rather akin to that of a judge than a juryman; the facts are
plain, but the inference to be drawn is often hard to decide.
The word for a settlement,
by self-doom, or by others award is 'sætt,' which was imparted into O.E.
as 'saht,' and survives in N. Mid. Eng. to the fifteenth century. See
Atlamal, 252, and
sem
iafnendr unno es occr uilja sætta. Harb. 116.
sáttir
letosc meðan saman drucco. Ch. W. 87.
There is in the Thulor App. a curious phrase defining an old law-word,
'liónar heita þeir menn es ganga um sættir manna.' Cf. Dict. s.v. 395.
The word occurs in Ynglinga-tal 14, where one would read lióna bragi.
There are several words
used for the compensation, but the regular legal term seems to be 'bót,'
the O.E. bót and the 'boot' of our half-fossil phrase 'What boots it?'
--- a word discussed in Paper V above. Another word, giæld, 'gildi,' payment,
is applied to other kinds of payment besides the legal one; its compound
ið-giæld means repayment. A third word is 'laun,' 'hand-laun,' which survives
in the O.E. leán, our loan, in a different sense. In the Eddic poems it
seems simply a synonym for 'bót.'
Bœta
scal þer þat þá munda-baugi. Harb. 115.
þo
hefir M ......... mer um fingnar
bölua
bœtr. Sonat. 88-9.
oc
bœtir þer suá baugi B..... Lokas. 46.
þat
má ec bœta brátt. Havam. 80.
Huer
giöld fá gumna synir
ef
þeir liúgasc orðom á. W. Pl. 11, 12. cor.
Haf-þu
H ....... heim harms at giöldom
brúðr
baug-uarið oc burir þínir. Helg. I. 277-8.
þat
es orð mælt at engi geti
sonar
ið-giöld. Sonat. 78-9.
íll
ið-giöld lét-ec hána eptir hafa. Love Less. 27.
oc
launa suá lýðom lygi. W. Pl. 270.
huer
hann af hraun-bua hand-laun um fecc
es
hann bædi gallt börn sín fyrir. Hym. 147-8. cor.
The classic passages in
which an offer is made of Weregild or bót are (---cf. Beowulf, 1080)
mani
munec þic hugga, mætom ágætom,
silfri
snæ-huíto, sem þu sialf uilir. Atlam. 249-50.
tolf
hundrað gefec þer manna (mana?),
tolf
hundrað gefec þer mara,
tolf
hundrað gefec þer scalca þeirra es sciöld bera,
manni
gefec huerjom mart at þiggja
[annat
cedra] ..........
mey
gefec huerjom manni at þiggja,
meyjo
spenni-ec huerri men at halsi,
munec
um þic sitjanda silfri mæla,
enn
ganganda þik golli steypa,
suá
á uega alla uelti baugar,
þriðung
God-þióðar, þuí scaltu einn ráða. Hlod. 40-50.
The refusal of compensation
was an insult of a deadly kind (cf. the famous story of Haward's vengeance
in the Isfirdinga Saga).
Oln
né penning hafdir þú þess aldregi
uan-rettiss,
uesall. Lokas. 162-3.
The use of ell and penny
in this latter citation instead of the chattels of the earlier ones proves
late date. (4)
The Moots were held at regular seasons, and the riding to the Moot is a notable part of a man's public duty. As to battle so men rode to moot, in their best clothes and fully armed, though the court-stead itself, being hallowed, was a place of peace, and any breach of peace there punished in the same way as if committed in any other sanctuary. How the Moot-field and the Law-hill or Law-rock were hallowed we have no evidence, but from allusions in old prose phrases one would imagine that the typical moot-field would be a plain accessible to the range of country whence those who flocked to it came, near some spot made sacred of old time by a temple or a grave, or both, with good water and grazing ground for the horses of the assembled multitude. There would be a rock, hill, or great tumulus on which the judges sat and did their law-work, in a circle of seats of turf or stone, inside an enclosure marked off by stakes and ropes. From the rock or hillock the Speaker of the Moot would address the congregation, put matters to the vote (a vote taken by acclamation no doubt), and recite the new laws which were to be considered by the assembly. Here too no doubt the kings were chosen and proclaimed. There are many moot-steads or thing-fields in the British Islands whence the situation and character of such places can be studied. The Eddic poems do not deal much with peaceful moots, the battle or moot of War, as they put it, is more common in consonance with their spirit. But there is a glimpse of the procession of the judges to form the court 'fara í dóma' ('dómar fara út' of the Sagas), and in the Story of Starcad the solemn court is seen sitting, each man on his seat, one delivering his opinion or sentence after another in order.
The word 'mál' (cf. L. L. mallus, O.E. maþelian) applies to any public business conducted in speech; the king's business is 'þiodans mál,' and it is a late use that confines the word to the law case or causa of the individual. 'Mál-uinr' and 'for-mælendr' are terms difficult to prove the exact meaning of, but they would seem to denote the patron or powerful neighbour or kinsman that takes up a man's case and conducts it for him as for a client, maintaining him, as the English lawyer would put it. Judging from Egil's poems and the Icelandic authorities, the good 'mál-uinr' was not only expected to uphold his client's cause with the tongue at court, but also back him sword in hand if necessary.
The whole picture, which may be recovered in parts from the Eddic Lays, is marvellously in agreement with that drawn by Tacitus in the Germania, and that given by Ari in his Historical works.
þueginn oc mettr ríði maðr þingi at
þótt hann sé uæddr til uel. G. W. 305-6.
hon sua gœrr at þú gair eigi
þings ne þióðans mála. Less. Lodd. 10.
mic héto ........
þrór þingom at. Grimm. App. 42-3.
Grani rann af þingi. O. G. L. 9.
senn uóro Æsir allir á þingi
oc Ásynior allar á máli,
oc um þat réðo rícir tíuar
huí uæri ......... Doom 1-4.
Of the Dooms--- the Court as distinct from the Moot---
þá gengo R ....... öll á rœc-stóla. Vsp. 20.
á þuí þingi es þióðir scolo
i fulla dóma fara. W. Pl. 240-1.
....... ne um sacar dœmir. Grip. 115. Cf. also Grimn. 55-56.
The 'mælendr' are in question ---
mál-uinr manna. Grott. 35.
maðr es á mót um cœmr, (5)
oc á for-mælendr fá. G. W. 115-6.
þá þat fiðr es at þingi cœmr
at hann á for-mælendr fá. G. W. 193-4.
...... Idja glys-mölom,
Þiaza þing-scilom. Biarkam. 18.
Notes:
3. 'Swiðri,' one of Woden's names, Jacob Grimm suggests to be such a law term, pacifier, 'pacator.' Note that purification is necessary to appease the gods after great crimes, even when atoned for legally, among Homer's Greeks. [Back]
4. There is a curious word with 'geld' in Béowulf --- 'gamban.' This is, I believe, one of the few words in O.N. (like gaman, as Prof. Kluge has neatly shown) which retains the affix g --- its second element, ombun, is met with in O.N., it means tribute, wages, and the like. It was paid by tally, called gamban-tein ---
gaf hann mér gamban-tein. Harb. 63.
The tallies of our Exchequer were thus the survival of a very early mode of receipt and audit of debt. [Back]
5. We suggest à mót um, for, með mörgom. [Back]
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