¹ Alcuini sive Albini Epistolae, ed. Dümmler, E., MGH, Epist. 4 (Berlin, 1895), 43 (no. 16): ‘The wolves have ravaged the choice vine, the Lord's inheritance has been given to a people not His own. Where before were heard the praises of the Lord, one hears now the merriment of heathens and the holy jubilation is turned to weeping.’Google Scholar

² Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis, ed. Trillmich, W. (Darmstadt, 1978), p. 212 (I.39(41)): ‘nortmanni … Galliam invadentes miserabili cede christianos obtruncarunt, ipsumque regem Karolum bello petentes ludibrio nostros habuerunt.’Google Scholar

³ Florentii Wigorniensis monachi Chronicon ex chronicis, ed. Thorpe, B., 2 vols. (London, 1848–1999) I, 166Google Scholar: ‘… quibus ita facientibus, et rabie ferina debacchantibus, venit [Suanus] Oxenaford’. The same phrase is used by Symeon of Durham, Historia regum, §124, in Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, ed. Arnold, T., 2 vols., RS (London, 1882–1885) II, 144.Google Scholar

⁴ Willelmi Malmesbiriensis Monachi de gestis regum Anglorum II.180 (ed. Stubbs, W., 2 vols., RS (London, 1887–1889) I, 215): ‘barbarica levitate jussus est jugulari’.Google Scholar

⁵ The text is from London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. ii in Three Lives of English Saints, ed. Winterbottom, M. (Toronto, 1972), pp. 78–9.Google Scholar The translation is from Abbonis Floriacensis Passio Sancti Eadmundi, ch. 10, trans. Hervey, F., Corolla Sancti Eadmundi (London, 1907), pp. 33–5: ‘Then the holy King Eadmund was taken in his palace, as a member of Christ, his weapons thrown aside, and was pinioned and tightly bound with chains, and in his innocence was made to stand before the impious general, like Christ before the governor Pilate, and eager to follow in the footsteps of Him who was sacrificed as a victim for us. And so in chains he was mocked in many ways, and at length, after being savagely beaten, he was brought to a tree in the neighbourhood, tied to it, and for a long while tortured with terrible lashes. But his constancy was unbroken, while without ceasing he called on Christ with broken voice. This roused the fury of his enemies, who, as if practising at a target, pierced his whole body with arrow-spikes, augmenting the severity of his torment by frequent discharges of their weapons, and inflicting wound upon wound, while one javelin made room for another. And thus, all haggled over by the sharp points of their darts, and scarce able to draw breath, he actually bristled with them, like a prickly hedgehog or a thistle fretted with spines, resembling in his agony the illustrious martyr Sebastian. But when it was made apparent to the villainous Inguar that not even by these means could the king be made to yield to the agents of his cruelty, but that he continued to call upon the name of Christ, the Dane commanded the executioner to cut off his head forthwith.’Google Scholar

⁶ Ælfric of Eynsham, ‘Passio Sancti Eadmundi Regis et Martyris’, Ælfric's Lives of Saints, ed. Skeat, W. W., 2 vols., EETS os 76, 82, 94 and 114 (London, 1881–1900) II, 320–2, lines 98–122.Google Scholar

⁷ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s.a. 870 ( = 869) A: Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, ed. Plummer, C. and Earle, J., 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892–1899) I, 70Google Scholar: ‘Her rad se here ofer Mierce innan East Engle & wintersetl namon. æt Þeodforda, & þy wintre Eadmund cyning him wiþ feaht, & þa Deniscan sige namon, & þone cyning ofslogon, & þæt lond all geeodon.’* Cf. ASC 870 EF (= 869): Two Chronicles, ed. Plummer, and Earle, I, 70.Google Scholar *F adds: ‘þara heauod manna naman þaðane cing ofslogan wæran Ingware & Vbba’.

⁸ Asser, , De rebus gestis Ælfredi, §33, in Asser's Life of King Alfred, ed. Stevenson, W. H. (Oxford, 1904), p. 26: ‘Eodem anno Eadmund, Orientalium Anglorum rex, contra ipsum exercitum atrociter pugnavit. Sed, proh dolor! paganis nimium gloriantibus, ipso cum magna suorum parte ibidem occiso, inimici loco funeris dominati sunt, et totam illam regionem suo dominio subdiderunt.’Google Scholar

⁹ For recent discussion of the date of this battle, see Ridyard, S. J., The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, 1988), pp. 62–3, n. 214.Google Scholar

¹⁰ A convenient survey of earlier discussions of the reliability of Abbo's account is available in Ridyard, ibid. pp. 63–9.

¹¹ Whitelock, D., ‘Fact and Fiction in the Legend of St Edmund’, Proc. of the Suffolk Inst. of Archæol. 31 (1970), 217–33, at 219.Google Scholar

¹² See Delehaye, H., Les Passions des martyrs et les genres littéraires, 2nd ed., Subsidia hagiographica 13B (Brussels, 1966), 182–3: ‘La fiction du témoin bien informé’.Google Scholar

¹³ See ibid. p. 182; and Delehaye, H., ‘Les martyrs d'Égypte’, AB 40 (1922), 5–154 and 299–354, at 138.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Whitelock, , ‘Fact and Fiction’, pp. 221–2.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Geary, P., Furta Sacra (Princeton, NJ, 1978), p. 10.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Abbo draws the detail ultimately from pseudo- Ambrose, Passio S. Sebastiani, Acta Sanctorum, Ian. II (Paris, 1863), 642AGoogle Scholar: ‘ut quasi ericius ita esset hirsutus ictibus sagittarum’ (xxiii.85).

¹⁷ Leclercq, J., The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, trans. Misrahi, C., 2nd ed. (New York, 1977), p. 195.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Osbern of Canterbury, Vita S. Elphegi, Acta Sanctorum, Apr. II (Paris and Rome, 1865), 639AGoogle Scholar: ‘Who, I ask, after those who were first of all the leaders of God's flock, either lived more blamelessly than this man, or ended his life more meekly? Or whose merits were so alike as those of this our soldier and Stephen the Protomartyr?’ (vii.35). For Osbern's full account of the martyrdom, see ibid. 638E–639B (vii.34–5).

¹⁹ Cf. Thietmari Chronicon, ed. Holzmann, R., MGH, SS rer. Germ. ns 9 (Berlin, 1935), 42 (29)–43, 448–50 (cod. 1)Google Scholar; cf. ‘Chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg VII, 42–3’, English Historical Documents, c. 500–1042, ed. Whitelock, D., Eng. Hist. Documents 1, 2nd ed. (London, 1979), 349–50. (no. 27)Google Scholar: ‘I have learnt also from the account of the aforesaid man Sæweald of a miserable and memorable deed; that the perfidious force of the Northmen, led by Thorkel, took captive the noble prelate of the city of Canterbury, called Dunstan [sic, for Ælfheah] along with others, and ill-treated them with chains and hunger and indescribable torments after their abominable custom. Moved by human weakness, he promised them money and fixed a term for the obtaining of it, so that if he could not escape death by an acceptable ransom, he might meanwhile cleanse himself with frequent groans as a living sacrifice to be offered up to the Lord. Then, when all the appointed period was ended, the voracious Charybdis of thieving magpies summoned the servant of God, and quickly demanded of him with threats the payment of the promised tribute. And gentle as a lamb, he said: “I am ready at once for anything you now dare to do to me; but, by the love of Christ, that I may deserve to become an example to his servants, I am untroubled today. It is not my wish, but dire poverty, that makes me seem a liar to you. This my body, which in this exile I have loved immoderately, I offer to you, guilty as it is, and I know that it is in your power to do what you wish with it; but as a suppliant I commit my sinful soul to the Creator of all, for it does not concern you.“Do not, I beg you, do this. I will give to all of you with a willing heart gold and silver and all that I have here or can get by any means, except only my ship, on condition that you do not sin against the Lord's anointed.” The unbridled anger of his comrades, harder than iron or stone, was not softened by such gentle words, but it was appeased only by the shedding of innocent blood, which together they forthwith shed by the heads of oxen and showers of stones and a constant stream of blocks of wood. Among so many attacks of the raging folk, he received the heavenly joy, as the working of the following sign at once proved. For one of the leaders became crippled in his limbs, and realised that he had sinned against Christ's elect, as it is written: “Vengeance is mine”, saith the Lord, “and I will repay” [Rom. XII.19]. In this triumph of the martyr of Christ his wretched persecutors were vanquished, and they have lost God and also the money offered them by the leader, and finally, unless they repent and make amends, their souls; whilst he, with a stole made white hitherto by innocence of mind and body, and then dyed with red blood, has appeased the divine sight. Let us sinners acquire this intercessor by constant prayers, and believe that he has much power with the divine majesty.’

²⁰ ASC 1011–12E, with variant readings from 1011–12 CDF: Two Chronicles, ed. Plummer, and Earle, I, 141–3.Google Scholar

²¹ Ibid. I, 142–3: ‘7 sloh hine þa an heora mid anre æxe yre on þet heafod. þet he mid þam dynte niðer asah. 7 his halige blod on ða eorðan feoll. 7 his þa haligan sawle to Godes rice asende. 7 þa biscopas Eadnoð 7 Ælfhun. 7 seo burhwaru underfengon þone haligan lichaman on mergen 7 feredon hine to Lundene mid ealre arwurðnisse. 7 hine bebyrigdon on SCS Paulus mynstre. 7 þær nu God swutelað þaes halgan martires mihta.’

²² It would be wrong to suggest that the Anglo-Saxon chroniclers regarded ‘alcohol-related’ violence on the part of the Danes as in any way exceptional, since parallel references to Nordic inebriation are not hard to find. One may compare, for example, Hugh Candidus's account of the prior Athelwold's daring theft of a precious relic, the arm of St Oswald, from the clutches of Danes given over to an evening of drunken carousal after their successful attack on Peterborough in alliance with Hereward the Wake in 1170 (see The Chronicle of Hugh Candidus, ed. Mellows, W. T. (Oxford, 1949), pp. 80–1)Google Scholar. Not surprisingly, Scandinavians are frequently accused of committing atrocities while under the influence. It is reported, for instance, that in 1070 all of the treasures plundered from Peterborough were lost in a church fire caused by the Danes' ‘negligence and drunkenness’ (see ASC 1070 E: Two Chronicles, ed. Plummer, and Earle, I, 207Google Scholar: purh heora gemelest & purh heora druncenhed; cf. Chronicle of Hugh Candidus, ed. Mellows, , p. 82Google Scholar: per negligentiam et ebrietatem illorum). The ‘C’and ‘D’ chroniclers regard it as simply typical that Harthacnut drank himself to death (see ASC 1042 CD: Two Chronicles, ed. Plummer, and Earle, I, 162–3)Google Scholar, an ignoble demise entirely in keeping with the same chroniclers' summation of Harthacnut's career: be ne gefremed ec naht cynelices þa hwile ðe he ricxode, ‘he did nothing kingly as long as he reigned’ (ASC 1040CD: ibid. pp. 160–2). William of Malmesbury, likewise, observes that all that the Danes ever taught the English was drunkenness (see Willelmi Malmesbiriensis De gestis regum II. 148, ed. Stubbs, I, 165Google Scholar: a Danis potationem discerent). The drunken Dane remains a stock image of the Scandinavian among English writers well into the Renaissance (see, for example, Seaton, E., Literary Relations of England and Scandinavia in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1935), p. 5).Google Scholar

²³ See Osbern, , Vita S. Elphegi vii. 37 (639D).Google Scholar

²⁴ See Thietmari Chronicon VII.36 (26), ed. Holzmann, R., p. 442Google Scholar: ‘Deum caeli et terrae diabolo mutavit’; ibid.: ‘Audivi … Anglos … a Sueino … immiti Danorum rege … ad id coactos ut immundis canibus impositum sibi censum quotannis solverent’; ibid. VII.42 (29) (p. 448): ‘Percepi … quod perfida Northmannorum manus civitatis egregium antistitem … cum caeteris … ineffabili poena more suo nefando constringerent.’

²⁵ See Willelmi Malmesbiriensis De gestis regum II.176, ed. Stubbs, I, 207Google Scholar: ‘Turkillus Danus, qui fuerat incentor ut lapidaretur archiepiscopus’; cf. ibid. II.181 (I, 219): ‘Turkillus … qui incentor necis beati Elfegi fuerat.’

²⁶ See ASC 1012 E (cf. ASC 1012 CDF): Two Chronicles, ed. Plummer, and Earle, I, 143Google Scholar: ‘Ða bugon to þam cyninge of þam here .xlv. scipa. & him beheton þet hi woldon þisne eard healdan. & he hi fedan scolde & scrydan.’ Cf. comments by Freeman, E. A., The History of the Norman Conquest of England, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1877) I, 355–6 and 666–70Google Scholar; and Stenton, F. M., Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1971), p. 384.Google Scholar

²⁷ Annals of Ireland: Three Fragments Copied from Ancient Sources by Dubhaltach Mac Firbisigh, ed. O'Donovan, J (Dublin, 1860), Fragm. III, pp. 186–7 (entry listed s.a. 871)Google Scholar. This parallel to the martyrdom of Edmund is noted by Smith, A., Scandinavian Kings in the British Isles: 850–880 (Oxford, 1977), p. 216.Google Scholar

²⁸ Heilagra manna drápa, 7–8, ed. Finnur, Jónsson, Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning, 4 vols. (Copenhagen, 1912–1915), A.II, 512–13Google Scholar. Save where noted, the English translations provided for cited Old Norse texts are mine, and are meant to be as literal as the norms of decent English will allow. Some attempt has been made to retain the characteristic variation of tense in the originals.

²⁹ See Johan, Fritzner, Ordbog over Det gamle norske sprog, 3 vols. (Kristiania [Oslo], 1886–1896)Google Scholar, s.v. skotspánn, and cf. use of the phrase in question in, e.g., Vatnsdæla saga, ed. Einar, Ól Sveinsson, Íslenzk Fornrit 8 (Reykjavík, 1939), 64 (ch. 24)Google Scholar; Brennu-Njáls saga, ed. Einar, Ól Sveinsson, Íslenzk Fornrit 12 (Reykjavík, 1954), 364 (ch. 138).Google Scholar

³⁰ Oláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta II, ed. Ólafur, Halldórsson, Editiones Arnamagnæanæ; [Ser. A] 2 (Copenhagen, 1961), 225–6Google Scholar: ‘The next night passes and on the following day the king says that they should try their skill at shooting. Eindriði answers, “I think, sire, that you have boldly seized upon my indiscreet remarks about my skills. I do not need to compete, for I am even less adept in this sport than in the former.” “It would please me”, said the king, “if that were so, but you still have the choice of not trying, and declaring yourself beaten.” Eindriði answers, “That choice is still a long way off; but I think it won't turn out a great entertainment for anyone, if it is considered amusing to see what a great gulf there is between your skills and my awkward attempts.” Then they went to a wood which was a short distance from the homestead. The king took off his cloak and set up a target against a mound, and intended that they should shoot over a long range. Then a bow and arrow were fetched for him. He shot, and the arrow hit the outer part of the target and stood fast there. Then Eindriði shot, coming closer in on the target, but not in the centre. The king shot a second time … Then Eindriði shot, and this arrow struck the notch for the bowstring at the end of the arrow which the king had last shot; and both arrows stood fast. Then the king said, “You are a man much renowned for your skills, Eindriþi, but this has not been contested to the full. We shall take that handsome boy whom you said the other day you loved more than anyone, and set him up as a target, as I shall arrange.” So it was done. The king had a gaming piece taken and placed on the boy's head. “Now we must shoot the piece off the boy's head”, said the king, “but in such a way that the boy is not hurt.” “It is likely that you will be able to do that if you wish to,” said Eindriði, “but I shall wish to take vengeance if an injury is done to the boy.” Then the king had a long linen cloth bound around the boy's head, and he had two men hold the ends of the cloth, so that the boy could not move his head at all when he heard the whine of the arrow. Then the king went to the place where he was to stand. The king crossed himself and made the sign of the cross over the point of his arrow before he shot. Eindriði reddened deeply. The arrow flew under the gaming piece and knocked it off the boy's head. And it came so near to the skull that it bled a bit from the crown of his head. Then the king bade Eindriði to go up and shoot after him if he wished. But at the same time Eindriði's mother and sister went up to him and with much weeping begged him not to proceed. Eindriði said to the king, “I am not afraid that I shall do harm to the boy if I venture to shoot, nevertheless I shall not shoot at this time.” “Then it seems to me”, said the king, “that you have been beaten.” Eindriði answers, “Look at it anyway you please.”’

³¹ See Saxo Grammaticus: Danorum regum heroumque historia. Books X–XVI, ed. Christiansen, E., 3 vols., BAR International ser. 84 and 118 (Oxford, 1980–1981) I, 10–12.Google Scholar

³² See þiðriks saga of Bern, ed. Bertelsen, H., Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur 34 (Copenhagen, 1905–1911), 123–4.Google Scholar

³³ See Hemings þáttr Áslákssonar, ed. Jensen, G. Fellows, Editiones Arnamagnæanæ [Ser. B] 3 (Copenhagen, 1962), 16–17.Google Scholar

³⁴ See especially Schiern, F., ‘Et nordisk sagns vandringer’, (Dansk) Historisk Tidsskrift 1 (1840), 45–111Google Scholar; and Klockhoff, O., ‘De nordiska framställningarna af Tellsagan’ Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi 12 [ns 8] (1896), 171–200.Google Scholar

³⁵ See Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest I, 354n.

³⁶ Saxo, Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum II.vi.9, ed. Olrik, J. and Ræder, H., 2 vols. (Copenhagen, 1931–1957) I, 50–1Google Scholar; cf. Saxo Grammaticus: History of the Danes, ed. Fisher, P. and Davidson, H. R. Ellis, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1979) I, 54Google Scholar: ‘In the same period a man named Agner, son of Ingel, who was to marry Rolf's sister Ruta, provided an enormous feast for the wedding. During this celebration the champions fell into wild, reckless revelry and were pitching knobbly bones from all sides of the room at a certain Hialti when the man by his side, Biarki by name, received a violent blow on the head as the thrower missed his aim. Smarting under the pain and their mockery, he flung the bone back at the sender, twisting the front of the fellow's head towards the back and vice versa, so that he punished his crooked nature by giving him distorted features. This incident subdued their arrogant horse-play and forced the champions to quit the palace.’

³⁷ Hrólfs saga kraka, ed. Slay, D., Editiones Arnamagnæanæ [Ser. B] 1 (Copenhagen, 1960), 73–6Google Scholar: ‘“Why are you weeping, you poor old woman?,” asks Bǫðvarr. The old woman says, “My husband and I have one son called Hǫttr. One day he went to town to amuse himself, but the king's men taunted him, and he could not bear it. Then they took him and put him in a boneheap; and that is their custom during meals, that when any joint has been eaten, they throw it at him. Sometimes he suffers serious injury from this, if one hits him; and so I don't know whether he is alive or dead. But I would have this recompense for my hospitality, that you should throw smaller rather than bigger bones at him, if he isn't already dead of it.” Bǫðvarr answers, “I shall do as you ask; and it doesn't seem manly to pelt men with bones or torment children or mere nobodies …” Then Bǫðvarr went on his way to Lejre. He comes to the king's residence. Bǫðvarr immediately stables his horse beside the best of the king's horses and asks no one'.s permission; then he went into the hall. There were few people there. He takes a seat near the door. And when he has sat there for a while, he hears some sort of noise further out somewhere in the corner. Bǫðvarr looks that way and sees a man's hand come up out of a great pile of bones which lay there. The hand was very black. Bǫðvarr goes over and asks who was there in the pile of bones. Then someone answered, rather meekly, “I'm called Hǫttr, guv’ …” Then Bǫðvarr went to the place he had taken before, and led Hǫttr along behind him, and sits him down beside him. But Hǫttr is so frightened that every limb in his body is shaking … After that, evening draws on, and men pile into the hall. Hrólfr's champions see that Hǫttr had been placed up on a bench; and it seems to them that the man who has undertaken this has behaved pretty boldly. Hǫttr is down in the mouth when he sees his acquaintances, for he has experienced nothing but ill treatment from them. He is eager to stay alive and go back to his pile of bones, but Bǫðvarr holds on to him so that he can't run away … The king's retainers keep to their usual practice, and at first throw small bones across the floor at Bǫðvarr and Hǫttr. Bǫðvarr behaves as if he doesn't see this. Hǫttr is so afraid that he takes neither food nor drink; and he thinks that he is going to be hit all the time. “And now, guv’,” Hǫttr says to Bǫðvarr, “now a huge joint-bone is coming at us, and it seems meant to do us some harm.” Bǫðvarr told him to keep quiet. He holds up the hollow of his palm, and so catches hold of the joint-bone; it had the whole leg attached. Bǫðvarr sends the joint back, and aims at the man who threw it – and straight into his face with such force that it killed him.’

³⁸ Gaungu-Hrólfs saga, ch. 26, in Fornaldar sögur Norðrlanda, ed. Rafn, C. C., 3 vols. (Copenhagen 1829–1830) III, 310–11Google Scholar: ‘The earl sat at table drinking, and neither he nor anyone else in the hall recognized Hrólfr. But as soon as the earl's men saw Bjǫrn, they all said to him: “That thief Bjǫrn is getting very bold, coming face to face with the earl …” One man picked up a big oxbone and flings it at Bjǫrn; but Hrólfr caught it in flight, and sent it back at the one who threw it. The bone struck his chest and went through him, so that it stood fast in the timber wall behind.’

³⁹ Porsteins þáttr bæjarmagns, ch. 6, in Fornmanna sögur, ed. Sveinbjörn, Egilsson et al. , 12 vols. (Copenhagen, 1825–1837) III, 185–6Google Scholar: ‘When morning came they rose early and Goðmundr was taken to the king's hall … After that Goðmundr drank from the horn, and went to his seat. People were happy and in good spirits. Two men are mentioned who were with Earl Agði; one was called Jǫkull, and the other Frosti. They were envious. Jǫkull snatched up an oxbone and threw it at Goðmundr's men. Prorsteinn saw that and caught it in flight, and sent it back. It hit a man called Gustr in the nose. His nose broke and all his teeth were knocked out, and he collapsed senseless. King Geirrauðr was furious and demanded to know who was fighting with bones at his table.’

⁴⁰ Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss, ch. 13, ed. Guðbrandur, Vigfússon (Copenhagen, 1860), pp. 32–3Google Scholar: ‘Now Kolbjǫrn's men began drinking with little restraint, and soon became dead drunk; and they were not soft-spoken, so that the cave echoed with the noise. Kolbjǫrn went up to Þórðr and said: “What will you have us do for sport or amusement? … because you shall have the greatest say here about household affairs.” Gestr says, for he was quicker with answers: “Let your men amuse themselves with what is most to their liking, whichever you will, bonethrowing or wrestling matches.” Then Glámr took a big joint-bone and launches it off rather vigorously, and he aimed it at Þórðr's middle. Gestr sees this and said: “Let me handle this game, because I am likely to be better acquainted with it than you are.” And so he did; he caught the bone in mid-air and then sent it back. It found its mark and hit Glámr's eye with such velocity that the eyeball popped out onto his cheekbone. Gl´mr took this badly and howled like a wolf-hound. His foster brother Amr sees this injury and immediately takes the bone and sends it flying at Þorvaldr. Þórðr sees this, catches the bone and sends it back. The joint hits Amr's cheekbone so that his jaw shattered to bits. Now there was a great uproar in the cave. Skrámr from Þambardal snatched up an astonishingly huge mutton-leg and hurled it off with considerable force, and directed it at Gestr, because he was sitting directly opposite. Gestr caught it and did not leave Skrámr long to wait before he sends it back without mercy. The leg strikes Skrámr's thigh and arm with such force that both shattered.’

⁴¹ Snorri Sturluson, Edda: Gylfaginning, ed. Faulkes, A. (Oxford, 1982), p. 45 (ch. 49)Google Scholar; cf. Snorri Sturluson: Edda, trans. Faulkes, A. (London, 1987), p. 48Google Scholar. ‘it was decided to request immunity for Baldr from all kinds of danger, and Frigg received solemn promises so that Baldr should not be harmed by fire and water, iron and all kinds of metal, stones, the earth, trees, diseases, the animals, the birds, poison, snakes. And when this was done and confirmed, then it became an entertainment for Baldr and the Æsir that he should stand up at assemblies and all the others should either shoot at him or strike at him or throw stones at him.’

⁴² See Homeri Odyssea, ed. von der Muehll, P. (Stuttgart, 1962), XX.294–308Google Scholar; cf. XXII.285–91. See Powell's, F. York note in The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, ed. Elton, R. O. (London, 1894), p. lvii.Google Scholar

⁴³ Saxo Grammaticus, ed. Elton, , p. 68n.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ It might be noted, in this regard, that Christian Scandinavian writers are in the habit of portraying their Viking ancestors in much the same way. One might consider, for instance, remarks made about one unusually mild-mannered Viking by the author of Landnámabók (S 379, H 334), ed. Jakob, Benediktsson, Íslenzk, Fornrit 1 (Reykjavík, 1968), 379Google Scholar: ‘Ǫlvir barnakarl hét maðr ágætr í Nóregi; hann var víkingr mikill. Hann lét eigi henda bǫrn á spjóaoddum, sem Þá var víkingum títt, Þvi var hann barnakarl kallaðr.’ ( ‘There was an outstanding man in Norway by the name of Ǫlvir barnakarl. He was a great Viking. He never had children impaled on spear-points as was then the common practice of Vikings; and so he was called barnakarl.’) This explanation of Ǫlvir's nickname is particularly intriguing, since it is clearly a piece of folk etymology which draws on the widespread notion that Vikings were in the habit of tossing babes on spear-points. See descriptions of this particular atrocity in, for example, Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, ed. Thorpe, I, 164Google Scholar; Symeon of Durham, Historia regum, §123, ed. Arnold, II, 143Google Scholar; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, VI.6, ed. Arnold, T., RS (London, 1879), p. 178Google Scholar. It should be noted that Norsemen are not the only nation accused of such behaviour. The same barbarous custom is attributed to the Scots of Galloway in Aelred of Rievaulx's account of the Battle of Standard in 1138; see Relatio … Aelredi Abbatis Rievallensis De Standardo, in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, ed. Howlett, R., 4 vols., RS (London, 1884–1889) III, 187Google Scholar. In ch. 34 of the fourteenthcentury Vita S. Cainnici the same torture, practised by the Irish, is called gall-cherd, ‘foreign art’, presumably because this cruelty was thought to have been learned from Vikings. See Vitæ Sanctorum Hiberniæ, ed. Plummer, C., 2 vols. (Oxford, 1910) I, 164 and xxii, n. 4Google Scholar; cviii, n. 3; II, 386, s.v. gall-cherd. For a discussion of this commonplace representation of barbarism, see Halldór, Hermannsson, ‘Viðurnefnið “barnakarl”’, Árbók hins íslenzka fornleifafélags (1920), pp. 3–7Google Scholar; and Helgi, Guðmundsson, Um Kjalnesinga sögu, Studia Islandica 26 (Reykjavík, 1967), 99–101.Google Scholar It is generally accepted that Ǫlvir's nickname probably refers to the fact that he was ‘blessed with many children’ (see Lind, E. H., Norsk-Isländska personbinamn från medeltiden (Uppsala, 1920–1921), col. 15)Google Scholar. To the author of Landnámabók and his Christian audience, however, an explanation predicated on the assumption that Viking-age Norwegians made a practice of skewering children on spears seems perfectly plausible.

⁴⁵ Walter Scott, Marmion ‘Introduction to Canto Sixth’, 6–15, in Scott: Poetical Works, ed. Robertson, J. Logie (London, 1904), p. 152Google Scholar. To the Scandinavian romantics, bone-throwing contests likewise came to epitomize the wanton violence of the Viking age. Compare, for example, the Norwegian writer A. O. Vinje's summary description of his impression of a typical banquet scene in ancient Norway: ‘Og so i gjestebod med ståk og kasting av kjøtbein i hovudet på kvarandre og slagsmål og knivstyngar og mannedråp.’ ( ‘And so to the feast, with din and everyone throwing meat-bones at one another's heads, and fights and stabbings and manslaughter.’) Vinje, A. O., Ferdaminne frå sumaren 1860, in A.O. Vinje: Skrifter i samling, ed. Midttún, O., 5 vols. (Oslo, 1942–1948) IV, 39Google Scholar; noted in Mjöberg, J., Drömmen om sagatiden, 2 vols. (Stockholm, 1967–1968) II, 134.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ See OED, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1989), s.v. husting 1.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ See The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, trans. Garmonsway, G. N. (London, 1954), p. 142: ‘Then they took the bishop, and led him to their tribunal, … and pelted him to death with bones and the heads of cattle.’Google Scholar

⁴⁸ See Sven, Aggesen, Lex Castrensis, ch. 5 (X recension), Scriptores Minores Historiæ Danicæ, ed. Gertz, M. C., 2 vols. (Copenhagen, 1917–1922) I, 72–4Google Scholar: ‘Further, if obstinate arrogance should, through three offences, mark anyone off as incapable of being corrected, and should he refuse to repent, they have decreed that he should be seated as far as possible away from everyone else, to be pelted with bones as anyone pleases.’

⁴⁹ See Fritzner, , Ordbog, s.v. tyrfa 2Google Scholar; Schlyter, C. J., Glossarium ad Corpus Iuris Sueo-Gotorum Antiqui, Corpus Iuris Sueo-Gotorum Antiqui 13 (Lund, 1877)Google Scholar, s.v. tyrfa; Söderwall, K. F., Ordbok öfver Svenska medeltids-språket (Lund, 1884–1918)Google Scholar, s.v. tyrfa. Cf., for example, Ældre Gulathings-Lov 233, in Norges Gamle Love, ed. Keyser, R. and Munch, P. A. et al. , 5 vols. (Kristiania, 1846–1895) I, 82Google Scholar; and Westmanna-Lagen II, ‘Manhæghis balkær’ 12, ed. Schlyter, C. J., Corpus luris Sueo-Gotorum Antiqui 5 (Lund, 1841), 147.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ On the etymology of OWN búsping> OE hūsting, see, for example, Fritzner, Ordbog, s.v. húsping; and Hofmann, D., Nordisch-Englische Lehnbeziehungen der Wikingerzeit, Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 14 (Copenhagen, 1955), 203–4.Google Scholar

⁵¹ See above, n. 41.

⁵² See Ström, F., On the Sacral Origin of the Germanic Death Penalties, Kungliga Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademiens Handlingar 52 (Stockholm, 1942), 102–15.Google Scholar

⁵³ Eriks Sjællandske Lov (text 1), ed. Skautrup, P., Danmarks gatnle landskabslove 5 (Copenhagen, 1936), 133 (ch. 44)Google Scholar: ‘Concerning blows with stone or bone: If a man throws either stone or bone, then he pays no more than three marks for it, unless disfigurement is caused by it.’

⁵⁴ Valdemars Sjællandske Lov (later redaction), ed. Kroman, E., Danmarks gamle landskabslove 8 (Copenhagen, 1941), 301 (ch. 44)Google Scholar: ‘Whoever hits another with a stone: If anyone throws stone or bone at someone else and hits him with it, then let him pay three marks, provided that no disfigurement has been caused, or else let him deny it with an oath sworn by himself and eleven others.’

⁵⁵ Skånske Lov (text 1), ed. Brøndum-Nielsen, J. and Aakjær, S., Danmarks gamle landskabslove 1 (Copenhagen, 1933), 75 (ch. 98)Google Scholar: ‘For a blow with a stone or a bone or a fist, or for pulling someone's hair, or knocking someone down, three marks are to be paid, as good as one mark of silver, or an oath sworn together with eleven others.’

⁵⁶ Westgöta-Lagen, ed. Collin, H. S. and Schlyter, C. J., Corpus Iuris Sueo-Gotorum Antiqui I (Stockholm, 1827), II. Orbotæ mal, 2. 13, p. 119Google Scholar: ‘It is a scoundrel's deed to kill a man by pelting him with bones.’ For further remarks on bone-throwing in Old Scandinavian laws, see Kock, A., ‘Etymologiska anmärkningar om nordiska ord: fsv. benbæriæ, Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi 24 [ns 20] (1908), 179–98, at 179–81.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Nothing, however, is simple; and it should be noted that objections to Kock's interpretation of the verb benbæriæ have been raised by Elias Wessén, who doubts that bone-throwing could ever have been such a common offence as to be included in the laws as a standard example of niðingsverk. Wessén argues that the verb here ought to be interpreted ‘to strike someone so that their bones break,’ and compares this compound with the verb Þrælberia ‘to strike someone as one would a thrall.’ Wessén argues further, that other references to bonethrowing in the laws are simply part of a rhyming formula, stone/bone, used as a general means of describing assault with a stone ‘or any other sort of object’. See Åke, Holmbäck and Elias, Wessén, Svensha Landskapslagar tolkade och forklärade för nutidens svenskar (Uppsala, 1979), pp. 252–3Google Scholar. I am grateful to Britta Olrik Frederiksen for drawing my attention to Wessen's comments.

⁵⁸ In discussing the ancient Faroese customs which either never reached Iceland or have not survived there, Schrøter remarks that: ‘selv den frivole Danske Skik at kaste afpillede Beenog knokler paa hinanden er endnu ej gandske uddöed her i Øen. dog meere i Skiæmt og for at viise færdighed end til Skade’ (‘even the indelicate “Danish” custom of throwing pickedover bones and joints at one another has still not died out altogether here on the island, although [it is practised] more in jest and to demonstrate skill than for doing harm’). (Copenhagen, Det Arnamagncanske Institut, AM 972 4to, A 17, second letter, 6v; also referred to in Olrik, A. and Lee, Hollander, The Heroic Legends of Denmark (New York, 1919), p. 219n.Google Scholar)

Other cases of bone-throwing matches at feasts are reported by eyewitnesses in Denmark and Norway as late as the end of the nineteenth century; see Evald, Tang Kristensen, øen Anholt i sagn og sæd efter gamle folks mundtlige meddelelser (Copenhagen, 1891), p. 106Google Scholar; Daae, L., ‘Utrykte optegnelser om Thelemarken af H. J. Wille’, (Norsk) Historisk Tidsskrift 2nd ser. 3 (1882), 182Google Scholar. It might be noted that bone-throwing seems to have also remained popular in other parts of the North Atlantic. It is reported that during the festival known as the buulfest, celebrated in January on the Frisian island of Terschelling, it is not unusual for high-spirited revellers to throw picked-over duck-bones at one another (see Jaap, Kunst, Terschellinger Volksleven, 2nd ed. (The Hague, 1937), p. 21Google Scholar; noted in Jan, de Vries, Altgermaniscbe Religionsgeschichte, 3rd ed., 2 vols. (Berlin, 1970) I, 505n.)Google Scholar. For helpful advice about modern Scandinavian bone-throwing contests of various kinds, I am grateful to Iørn Piø of the Danish Folkemindesamling, to Britta Olrik Frederiksen and Kaj Larsen of Det Arnamagnæanske Institut, and to Christian Lisse of the Institut for Dansk Dialektforskning at the University of Copenhagen.

⁵⁹ This paper was first read at the nineteenth medieval workshop held at the University of British Columbia, 17–18 November 1989. My apologies to Nancy Partner for appropriating half of the title from her study of historical narrative: Serious Entertainments: the Writing of History in Twelfth-Century England (Chicago, 1977). I am grateful to Peter Foote of University College London for advice about various points in the paper.Google Scholar