Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 Confession and Penance
- 2 Life's Journey towards Salvation: Salvation and the Biographical Pattern
- 3 Betrayal
- 4 Outlaws and Marginal Figures
- 5 Salvation, Damnation and the Visible World
- 6 The Hour of Death
- 7 Last Things and Judgement Day
- Bibliography
- Index
- Studies in Old Norse Literature
4 - Outlaws and Marginal Figures
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2018
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 Confession and Penance
- 2 Life's Journey towards Salvation: Salvation and the Biographical Pattern
- 3 Betrayal
- 4 Outlaws and Marginal Figures
- 5 Salvation, Damnation and the Visible World
- 6 The Hour of Death
- 7 Last Things and Judgement Day
- Bibliography
- Index
- Studies in Old Norse Literature
Summary
Gísla saga Súrssonar
The role of Christian elements in Gísla saga Súrssonar is elusive and so it resonates with the general ambiguity of this work. Our binary themes of salvation and damnation are rarely far from the surface of a drama that centres on preserving honour in a society of conflicting kinship and friendship. In Gísla saga our topic features in a unique way.
Gísla saga, which is usually dated to the first half of the thirteenth century, is set in the pagan period before the official adoption of Christianity in Iceland and Norway. The text's time frame therefore does not straddle the moment of conversion in either country, as, for instance, it does in Njáls saga, Laxdoela saga and Eyrbyggja saga. Unlike the other ‘classical sagas’, Gísla saga concludes before Iceland's conversion. Even Egils saga, which is set mainly in the early tenth century, extends beyond this seminal point, ending as it does with the reburial of Egill Skallagrímsson's remains in a Christian cemetery.
In Gísla saga Súrssonar Iceland and Norway are excluded from direct association with Christianity. In this world only Denmark offers a route to that religion. Christian matters are first mentioned after Gísli's emigration with his family from Norway to Iceland. The setting is Viborg (Vébjõrg) where Gísli Súrsson and his brother-in-law stay over the winter:
Þat var þá margra manna siðr at fagna vetri í þann tíma ok hafa þá veizlur ok vetrnáttablót, en Gísli lét af blótum, síðan hann var í Vébjõrgum í Danmõrku, en hann helt þó sem áðr veizlum ok allri stórmennsku.
[In those days, it was the general custom to celebrate the coming of winter by holding feasts and a sacrifice at Winter Nights. Gisli no longer sacrificed after he left Viborg, but he still held feasts and showed the same magnanimity as before.]
In Viborg Gísli and Vésteinn cement their alliance by splitting a coin in two parts. Gísli hands one half to Vésteinn with the instruction to return it should he ever find his life endangered.
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- Damnation and Salvation in Old Norse Literature , pp. 115 - 138Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2018