Bjorn This Way

A reading of The Tale of Halldor Snorrason (II), followed by some information about the story.

Notes
This story is recorded in the Morkins kinna, a 13th century manuscript relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157.

King Harald himself was the joint ruler of Norway with his nephew King Magnus from 1046. Before this Harald had spent almost a decade in Constantinople (1035-1044), where he commanded the Varangian Guard.

Halldor was the son of Snorri the Priest, who you may remember from the episode on Ale-Hood.

With that in mind, it is interesting to note that throughout the tale Halldor is treated as a man of low birth, despite being a member of a powerful Icelandic family. This suggests that, at the time, Norwegians thought Icelanders were of low status.

We can learn a lot about King Harald from the story, specifically – his distrust of Halldor, his contradictory views on money, and whether accurate or merely perceived, his jealousy of Halldor’s strength of character.

Half an ounce of gold, the amount of debt owed to Halldor by the king, is noted by the translator as being the equivalent of the price of about 16 dairy cows.

Reference
Palsson, H. (trans.) (1971) Hrafnkel’s Saga and Other Icelandic Stories. Penguin Classics.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/

Following on from last episode’s reading of Ale-Hood, I’m reading the story of Thorstein the Staff-Struck. It carries over some characters and themes from Hrafnkel’s Saga and The Story of Ale-Hood. Stay tuned after the story for an analysis of themes from the story, as well as some information on some of the historical aspects and practices mentioned.

You may remember Bjarni of Hof from last episode’s saga, Ale-Hood. He is taunted in that story by Broddi, again about the combat in Bodvarsdale. Bjarni, in fact, plays a part in several sagas. Another saga, Vápnfirðinga saga, sheds more light on Bjarni and his relatives, as well as on Hof itself.

His presence in these other sagas is why he isn’t given a formal introduction in this saga, which would otherwise be standard. The expectation is that the reader would already be familiar with Bjarni of Hof, and so the author doesn’t take more time introducing him.

Horse fighting was a common practice in medieval Iceland, where it was known as hestavíg. It is still common in other parts of the world.

I don’t really want to go into a lot of detail about it, as I personally find it pretty repulsive. I understand that horses fight in the wild, although serious injury or death is typically avoided in nature as the more submissive horse is able to retreat. The organised aspect of the practice where a horse is beaten with a staff until it fights is barbaric. If the sport didn’t continue today in some parts of the world, I might be more willing to discuss it- but I don’t want to appear to support it in any way.

Hestavíg features in Njáls saga, Víga-Glúms saga, the Laxdœla saga and others.

This saga contains another great example of the Viking Age Icelandic legal system at work – although Bjarni brings a court action against Thorstein and wins, and Thorstein i s subsequently sentenced to outlawry for manslaughter, Bjarni did not enforce the sentence and so Thorstein continued on as if no sentence had been passed.

As I’ve mentioned in other sagas, it was the responsibility of the plaintiff to enforce any legal sentencing.

Singeing sheeps heads was (and is) the practice of removing wool from head of a sheep with fire, which is done before it is cleaned and cooked for eating.

A common theme of these sagas is, as you may have noticed, a turn to Christianity during the final years of the lives of the protagonists. Iceland had officially been Christian since the year 1000, and the sagas were written during the 13th and 14th Centuries. During this time many laws and practices were changed to be brought more in line with the Christian belief system.

I believe that the trend of inserting Christianity into the sagas was not only a way to promote Christianity and distance the authors from their pagan ancestors, but also to tell the majority of the sagas without making major concessions for Christianity.

Reference
Palsson, H. (trans.) (1971) Hrafnkel’s Saga and Other Icelandic Stories. Penguin Classics.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/

Following on from last episode’s reading of Hrafnkel’s Saga, I’m reading The Tale of Ale-Hood.

Stay tuned after the story as I do a bit of an analysis of the themes played on and different things mentioned in the story, as well as providing some information on the early Icelandic legal system.

Reference
Palsson, H. (trans.) (1971) Hrafnkel’s Saga and Other Icelandic Stories. Penguin Classics.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/

This episode’s a bit of a different format than usual. I’m working on a large series about the Viking Age, from the explosive raid on Lindisfarne to the crushing defeat at Stamford Bridge in 1066. The prep alone is a lot of work, and I don’t want to record it until I’m very good at recording things.

So, in the interest of learning to record things better, on this episode of the Bjorn This Way Podcast, I’m reading Hrafnkel’s Saga.

One of the shorter sagas, it tells of struggles between the upper and lower classes of 10th Century Iceland. It tells of a legal system where legal settlements are only enforced by the strength of those seeking justice, and the role that personal honour played in that society.

It’s the story of powerful men, and men that want to be powerful. It’s a story about how pride comes before the fall, and how sometimes things come after the fall, too.

For further reading, a very scholarly analysis of this saga is available through Saga Thing Podcast. Honestly, go check them out – they do great work.

Reference
Palsson, H. (trans.) (1971) Hrafnkel’s Saga and Other Icelandic Stories. Penguin Classics.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/

On this episode of the Bjorn This Way Podcast, we’ll talk about my research and build of a Viking Age tent.

A referenced version of this research, including images and a printable PDF, is available here.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/

On this episode of the Bjorn This Way Podcast, we’ll talk about winingas.

A referenced version of this research, including images, is available here.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/

On this episode of the Bjorn This Way Podcast, we’ll talk about my build of some Viking Age bellows.

A referenced version of this research, including images, is available here.

This is my first time reading out my documentation for an actual build, rather than straight research, so I’m interested to see how people feel about it.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/

On this episode of the Bjorn This Way Podcast, we’ll talk about fishing in Viking Age Hedeby.

A referenced version of this research, including images, is available here. There’s also a class handout PDF version, which is handy if you like printing things.

I hope you enjoy listening! It’s taking me a minute to get used to speaking into a microphone, but I’m learning something new every time I do.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/

An overview of men’s hair during the Viking Age.

A full transcription of this episode, with associated images, is available here.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/

An introduction to my new research podcast.

Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bjorn This Way is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/