Holmgang
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Holmgång (or holmganga) was a duel practiced by Norsemen. It was a recognized way to settle disputes.
Holmgång can be translated as "to go to (or walk on) a small island" or simply "island walk" which may refer to the fact that the duels were fought on a small piece of hide or cloak placed on the ground. Originally the combatants might have retreated to a small island or islet to fight it out, as depicted in the saga of Egill Skallagrimsson, where the stipulation was that only one man might leave the island alive.
At least in theory, anyone offended could challenge the other party to holmgång regardless of their differences in social status. This could be a matter of honor, ownership or property, demand of restitution or debt, legal disagreement or intention to help a wife or relative or avenge a friend.
The Swedish Heathen law, a fragment from 13th century, Uppland in Sweden stipulates the conditions for a holmgang:
- If someone insults another man: "You are not the like of a man and not a man in your chest" - "I am a man like you" - then they shall meet where three roads cross. If he who has spoken arrives but not the one who has suffered the insult, the latter shall be considered to be what he was called - his oath will not count nor will he be reliable as a witness, whether it concerns man or woman. If the insulted man comes but not the man who insulted, the former shall cry níðingr three times and make a mark in the ground - as it is worse what he said but not dared stand up for. If the two meet in full armour - if the insulted is killed, his death will be compensated with a half wergild. If the one who has spoken dies, insults are the worst - the tongue will kill the head - his death will not be compensated.[1]
Holmgångs were fought 3-7 days after the challenge. Refusing the challenge would have meant that one was niðingr, and could have been sentenced to outlawry. In effect, if the other party was not willing or able to defend their claim, they had no honor. Sometimes a capable warrior could volunteer to fight in the place of a clearly outclassed friend.
Exact rules varied from place to place and changed over time, but before each challenge the duelists agreed to the rules they used. The duel was fought either on a pre-specified plot or on a traditional place which was regularly used for this purpose. The challenger recited the rules, traditional or those agreed upon, before the duel. Rules determined the allowed weapons, who was eligible to strike first, what constituted a defeat or forfeiture and what the winner received; in Norway, the winner could claim everything the loser owned. If one party did not appear at all, he was declared niðingr. How many times the challenged actually gave in beforehand, is unrecorded.
First holmgångs probably ended on the death or incapacitation of one combatant. Killing an opponent did not constitute a murder and therefore did not lead to outlawry or payment of weregeld. Later rules turned holmgång into a more ritualistic direction.
Kormakssaga states that the holmgång was fought on an ox hide or cloak with sides that were three meters long. It was staked on the ground with stakes used just for that purpose and placed in a specific manner now unknown. After that the area was marked by drawing three borders around the square hide, each about one foot from the previous one. Corners of the outermost border were marked with hazel staves. Combatants had to fight inside these borders. Stepping out of borders meant forfeiture, running away meant cowardice.
There is one reference in Kormakssaga about a sacrifice of a bull before the holmgång but there are many references about the sacrifice the winner made after the victory. Combatants were permitted a specific number of shields (usually three) they could use - the opponent's strikes could break a shield. The challenged would strike first and then the combatants would hit each other in turn. The combat would normally end on the first blood and the winner would receive three marks of silver.
This represents mainly the later Icelandic version of holmgång, which was intended to avoid unnecessary loss of life and excessive profiteering; unless the dispute was about a specific property, the most the winner could receive was the three marks of silver.
Professional duelists used holmgångs as a form of legalized robbery; they could claim rights to land, women, or property, and then prove their claims in the duel at the expense of the legitimate owner. Many sagas describe berserks who abused holmgång in this way. In large part due to such practices, holmgångs were outlawed in Iceland in 1006, as a result of the duel between Gunnlaugr ormstunga and Hrafn Önundarson[citation needed], and in Norway in 1014.[citation needed]
In 1957, Poul Anderson — a Danish American who frequently used Viking themes in his writings — published the science fiction story "Holmgang" (collected in the 1982 anthology "Cold Victory"). The story's two protagonists — feuding spacemen of the future who are of distant Scandinavian origin and one of whom (the bad guy) is historically conscious — decide to revive this Viking tradition, resorting to a deadly holmgång on a lonely asteroid instead of a sea island, in order to settle their unreconcilable differences over a tangled issue involving crime, politics and a woman's love.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Givr maþr oquæþins orð manni · þu ær æi mans maki oc eig maþr i brysti · Ek ær maþr sum þv · þeir skvlv møtaz a þriggia vægha motum · Cumbr þan orð havr giuit oc þan cumbr eig þer orð havr lutit · þa mvn han vara svm han heitir · ær eig eiðgangr oc eig vitnisbær huarti firi man ælla kvnv · Cumbr oc þan orð havr lutit oc eig þan orð havr giuit · þa opar han þry niþingx op oc markar han a iarþv · þa se han maþr þæss værri þet talaþi han eig halla þorþi · Nv møtaz þeir baþir mz fullum vapnvm · Faldr þan orð havr lutit · gildr mz haluum gialdum · Faldr þan orð havr giuit · Gløpr orða værstr · Tunga houuðbani · Liggi i vgildum acri ·
[edit] References
- Bø, Olav. "Hólmganga and Einvigi: Scandinavian Forms of the Duel." Medieval Scandinavia 2 (1969) 132-148.
- Ciklamini, Marlene. "The Old Icelandic Duel." Scandinavian Studies 35:3 (1963) 175-194.
