The Norse Discovery of America by The Norse Discovery of America

Author:The Norse Discovery of America [Retail]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781465580665
Published: 2009-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

FRONT VIEW OF THE OLD ICELANDIC SKÁLI OR HALL depended much upon the number of persons he could entertain, and for this purpose a spacious hall was required. This formed a separate building, in the midst of which the cheerful wood fire blazed upwards to an aperture in the roof, unchecked by ceilings or partition walls:--

The drinking hall, a separate house, was built Of heart of fir; not twice three hundred men Could fill that hall, when gather'd there at Yule.

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The cheerful faggot on the straw-strewn floor Unceasing blazed, gladdening its stony hearth, While downwards through the dense smoke shot the stars, Those heavenly friends, upon the guests below.1

The adventurous stripling, on the other hand, sailed to Norway for the purpose of there engaging in a sea-roving expedition, or seeking advancement amongst his influential kinsmen; and thus many earned renown at the courts of the Norwegian kings, or entered into mercantile pursuits in order to obtain wealth, or experience and consideration. For the old Northern maxim of "a fool is the home-bred child," also held good in Iceland, and therefore do we find Bolle Bollesen saying to his father-in-law Snorre Gode, who wished to dissuade him from going abroad: "Little do I think he knows who knows no more than Iceland." Trading was often undertaken by young men solely as the means of acquiring knowledge, which being accomplished, the pursuit was given up.

After the lapse of a few centuries this passion for travelling was increased by a new cause which had more immediate influence upon the collection of historical materials.

The Skalds passed over to England, the Orkneys, and the Norwegian courts, seeking rewards and reputation. They neither required the aid of friends nor money for such expeditions, but boldly entering the drinking hall of the kings craved permission to sing a drapa in praise of the monarch, which was always granted, and the bard received handsome presents, such as weapons, clothes, gold rings, together with an honourable reception at the court, in return for his exertions.

The Icelandic Skalds, favoured by the independent position of their country, and a superior knowledge of the Scandinavian mythology, acquired a marked pre-eminence over their competitors in other parts of the North. The praises of a stranger bard, from a free country, were more flattering to a king or chieftain than the more servile adulation of his own laureate; and it was but reasonable, as well as politic, to reward him well who had come from so great a distance, and who, travelling from land to land, could sound the king's praise and tell of the royal bounty. The odes thus sung were all of an historical character; and it was therefore necessary for the Skald to be well acquainted with the deeds of the monarch and his ancestors. It was also required of him that he should be able to repeat the national ballads; and the extraordinary power of the Skalds in this particular is shown in the saga of the blind Skald Stuf,

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