Egill Skallagrímsson engaging in holmgang with Berg-Önundr, painting by Johannes Flintoe

Holmgang (or holmganga) was a duel practiced by Norsemen. Egill Skallagrímsson (910-c990 was a Viking Skald and the great Anti-hero of Icelandic literature. Johannes Flintoe (1786 Copenhagen – 27 January 1870, Copenhagen was a Danish - Norwegian painter known for his depiction of landscapes As practiced from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals with matched weapons in accordance with their combat Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who speak one of the North Germanic languages as their native language It was a recognized way to settle disputes.

Holmgang can be translated as "to go to (or walk on) a small island" or simply "island walk," perhaps a reference the duels taking place upon a small piece of hide or cloak placed on the ground. The name may also derive from the combatants dueling on a small island or islet, as they do in the saga of Egill Skallagrimsson. Egill Skallagrímsson (910-c990 was a Viking Skald and the great Anti-hero of Icelandic literature.

At least in theory, anyone offended could challenge the other party to holmgang 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.

Holmgangs 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. Níð ( Old Norse) ( Anglo-Saxon nith, Old High German (OHG nid(d, modern German form Neid An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the Law " by folk-etymology from the original 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.

The Holmgang in History

The Swedish Hednalagen, or Pagan law, a fragment from a 13th century document from Uppland, 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. Uppland ( is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. 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. Weregeld (alternative spellings wergild, wergeld, weregeld, etc If the one who has spoken dies, insults are the worst - the tongue will kill the head - his death will not be compensated. ^[1]

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. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional If one party did not appear at all, he was declared niðingr. How many times the challenged actually gave in beforehand, is unrecorded.

First holmgangs 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. Weregeld (alternative spellings wergild, wergeld, weregeld, etc Later rules turned holmgang into a more ritualistic direction.

Kormakssaga states that the holmgang was fought on an ox hide or cloak with sides that were three meters long. Kormáks saga is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It tells of the 10th century Icelandic poet Kormákr Ögmundarson, and Steingerðr the love of 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 holmgang but there are many references about the sacrifice the winner made after the victory. Animal Sacrifice is the Ritual killing of an Animal as part of a Religion. Combatants were permitted a specific number of shields (usually three) they could use - the opponent's strikes could break a shield. A shield is a protective device meant to intercept attacks The term often refers to a device that is held in the hand as opposed to Armour or a Bullet proof vest 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 holmgang, 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. Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland (

Professional duelists used holmgangs 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 holmgang in this way. The sagas (from Icelandic saga, plural sögur) are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history about early Viking voyages Berserkers (or Berserks) were Norse Warriors who wore coats of wolf or bear skin and who were commonly understood to have fought in an uncontrollable In large part due to such practices, holmgangs were outlawed in Iceland in 1006, as a result of the duel between Gunnlaugr Ormstunga and Hrafn Önundarson^[2], and in Norway in 1014. Gunnlaugr Ormstunga (ie "Serpent-Tongue" was an Icelandic poet, born ca

In popular culture

Anachronistic Holmgang between a time-travelling American soldier and a 10th Century Icelandic viking in Poul Anderson's "The Man Who Came Early". Poul William Anderson ( November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American Science fiction author who wrote during a Golden " The Man Who Came Early " is a Science fiction Short story by Danish - American author Poul Anderson.

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). Poul William Anderson ( November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American Science fiction author who wrote during a Golden Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) 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 holmgang on a lonely asteroid instead of a sea island, in order to settle their irreconcilable differences over a tangled issue involving crime, politics and a woman's love. Asteroids, sometimes called Minor planets or planetoids', are bodies—primarily of the inner Solar System —that are smaller than planets but

"Holmgang" is the name of a widely criticized Norwegian TV-debate program aired on the commercial Norwegian station TV 2. TV 2 is Norway 's largest commercial television station Over 30% of the time Norwegians spend watching TV is spent watching TV 2

In the 2001 novel Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey, the fictional Skaldic people observe the holmgang and other Norse and Teutonic traditions. Kushiel's Dart is Jacqueline Carey 's first novel and the first of the novels in her Kushiel's Legacy series Jacqueline Carey is the name of two authors For the author of The Crossley Baby, see Jacqueline Carey (II. The geography of Jacqueline Carey 's Kushiel's Legacy series are modeled on that of medieval Europe. One Skaldic character challenges Joscelin Verreuil to holmgang. In Jacqueline Carey 's Kushiel's Legacy series Joscelin Verreuil is a member of the Cassiline Brotherhood who is contracted to guard Anafiel Delaunay

See also

• Trial by combat
• Duel

Notes

1. ^ 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 ·
2. ^ See Radford (1989) at 642. Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of As practiced from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals with matched weapons in accordance with their combat Soga om Gunnlaug Ormstunge - Saga of Gunnlaugr Serpent-Tongue ISBN 82-521-1466-0

References

• Bø, Olav. "Hólmganga and Einvigi: Scandinavian Forms of the Duel. " Medieval Scandinavia 2 (1969) 132-148.
• Byock, Jesse. “Hólmganga,” entry in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia (ed. Philip Pulsiano, 1993) 289-290.
• Ciklamini, Marlene. "The Old Icelandic Duel. " Scandinavian Studies 35:3 (1963) 175-194.
• Falk, Oren. “Bystanders and Hearsayers First: Reassessing the Role of the Audience in Dueling. ” In A Great Effusion of Blood”: Interpreting Medieval Violence (ed. Mark D. Meyerson, Daniel Thiery, & Oren Falk, 2004) 98-130.
• Jones, Gwyn. "The Religious Elements of the Icelandic ‘Holmganga. ’" Mod. Language Rev. 27:3 (1932) 307-313.
• Jones, Gwyn. "Some Characteristics of the Icelandic ‘Holmganga. '" J. Eng. & Germanic Philology 32 (1933) 203-224.
• Radford, R. S. "Going to the Island: A Legal and Economic Analysis of the Medieval Icelandic Duel. " Southern California Law Rev. 62 (1989) 615-44.

External links

• Viking Answer Lady Webpage - Hólmgang and Einvigi: Scandinavian Forms of the Duel