For the first meeting of our men’s short story night I chose to select three short Icelandic tales, or þáttr: The Tale of Thorstein Staff-Struck, The Tale of Thorstein Shiver, and The Tale of Audun of the West Fjords. Since I don’t have all the time in the world I will only discuss the longest story here, Thorstein Staff-Struck.
The Tale of Thorstein Staff-Struck
There are many aspects of this tale that can easily go unappreciated without further analysis of society during 13th century Iceland. For this reason I will break up my discussion of Thorstein Staff-Struck into a few different sections.
Summary
This short tale originated around the mid-13th century and chronicles the conflict between the houses of Thorarinn and Bjarni Brodd-Helgason at Hof, Iceland. Thorarinn is a poor, bad tempered, retired viking, but despite his poverty he is a bondi who breeds horses. His son, Thorstein, is regarded as a good, even-tempered man with the strength and determination to do the work of three. Thorstein becomes involved in a horse fight with Thord, a horse breeder for Brjani Brodd-Hegason. When Thord notices that his horse is losing he strikes Thorstein’s horse. In return, Thorstein strikes Thord’s horse, causing Thord to strike Thorstein. Thorstein dismisses the strike as an accident so as to avoid conflict. Two of Bjarni’s farmhands, Thorvall and Thorhall, create an insulating nickname for Thorstein, Staff-Struck.
Months later, Thorstein is accused by his father of being a ragr for running away from conflict and not demanding compensation. Because of this accusation by his father, Thorstein confronts and kills Thord. Thorstein then notifies a local woman that Thord has been gored by a bull and is dying. The woman then later informs Bjarni at dinner. Bjarni, as gothi, outaws Thorstein for killing Thord, but does not actively pursue him or remove him from the lands.
Later on, Thorvall and Thorhall insult Bjarni for not properly avenging his thingmen, causing him to command the two to find and kill Thorstein. Thorstein easily kills both of them and ties their corpses to their horses who trot home to Bjarni’s farm. Rannveig, Bjarni’s wife, convinces him that he should kill Thorstein, fearing that the unavenged death of the three thingmen by an outlaw would damage their honor. Against Rannveig’s wishes that he go with an assembly of men, he sets out alone to fight Thorstein.
Thorstein and Bjarni enter into a duel. During the fight Bjarni asks for multiple stoppages to get a drink of water, tie his shoe, sharpen his sword, etc. It soon becomes apparent to Bjarni that Thorstein has been holding back, at which point he offers to end the fight if he takes the place of the three men he killed. Thorstein accepts.
Bjarni then tells Thorarinn, that he has slain Thorstein, and offers to support him in his son’s absence. Thorarinn then delivers a diatribe against gothis who support the dependents of people that they kill, at which point he attempts to kill Bjarni. Bjarni easily defends against the attack and informs him that he and Thorstein had actually come to terms. Bjarni, Thorstein and Thorarinn then move to Hof and live successful lives.
Societal Relevance and Terms
Bondi –A bondi during this time was essentially the core of Norse society, formed by farmers and craftsmen, and constituted the widespread middle class. Bondis were free men and had rights entitling them to such things as the use of weapons and to join the Thing. In Iceland, a Bondi was subject to the authority of a gothi, so their rights as free men were subject by law to a minimum in properties. Thereafter a bondi was considered a follower of the gothi and his vote as a thingmen was influenced by the will of the gothi in the Althing.
Thing – In early Germanic society a thing was the governing assembly of freemen. The roots of the word thing, whether of norse or old-english origin, essentially mean “an assemblage, or a coming together of parts”. In the viking age things functioned as both parliaments and courts. Their purpose was to solve disputes and make political decisions; often their sites were also places of public religious activity.
In pre-Christian, clan oriented culture of Scandinavia, and later Iceland, members of clans were obliged to avenge their dead and mutilated relatives. This value on vengeance often created a cyclical pattern of violence, and as a result, feuding is often see as the most common form of conflict resolution used in Viking society. However, things often served as balancing structures used to reduce tribal feuds and and to help avoid social disorder. Things played an important role as forums for such topics as conflict resolution, marriage alliances, power display, honor, and inheritance settlements.
The thing’s negotiations were presided over by the lawspeaker, chieftain or king, but in reality were dominated by the most influential members of the community, typically being the heads of clans and wealthy families, but in theory the system of rule was one-person one-vote.
In particular, Iceland was divided into four administrative quarters with a fixed number of 39 gothis. Unique to Iceland was the organization of the Althing, which served as the legislative and judicial institution at the national level. Thingvellir was the site of the Althing, and was a place where people came together once a year to bring cases to court, render judgments, and discuss laws and politics. Besides the Althing, there were local assembly districts in each of the four quarters of Iceland. Each spring an assembly was held called the vorthing, brought together by three of the gothis who lived in each local assembly district.
Gothi – A gothi is a chieftain-priest in Old Norse. The title is most commonly associated with medieval Iceland where it was continued to be used as a secular political title after Christianization. During the pagan era, the gothi was a local chieftain who also served in the role of priest. After settlement in Iceland, a hofgothi was a temple priest. The hofgothi was typically a wealthy and respected man in his district as he had to maintain the communal hall, or hof, in which community religious observances and feasts were held. After the year 1000, when Christian conversion began to occur in Iceland, the term gothi had lost its sacred connotations and come simply to mean the local chieftain.
Staff-Struck – The nickname given to Thorstein is a play on the Nordic practice of shame-stroke. The act of creating an insulting nickname was a serious crime, carrying a penalty of lesser outlawry for three years. The passive acceptance of this nickname, combined with with Thorstein’s initial refusal to pursue legal action against Thord causes a cowardly stigma, acknowledged especially by his father.
Shame-Stroke – Shame-stroke is the act of cutting off or stabbing a man’s ass cheek; the injury was symbolically representative of the anal rape of a man. The injury was designed to not only be debilitating, but also sexually humiliating through the symbolic feminization of the victim by turning him into an ergi. It was considered symbolic of the loss of power in the Norse society, where power and status were very important, as well as an outward declaration of the physical and social power that the dominator wielded over the dominated. The feminization of the victim also typically came with an insulting cognomen indicating status degradation, and once the name stuck, ensured that the shame would not be forgotten.
Nith, Argr, Ragr, Ergi – All four of these are essentially terms indicating the loss of honor within Germanic society. More particularly, argr (roughly pronounced arr-yur), ragr (roughly pronounced raw-yur), and Ergi were very severe insults which demanded retribution if the accusations had been made without justification. These three words all indicated an individuals “unmanliness”, and declared them to be a “male bottom” in a homosexual relationship.
Interpretations and Themes
Cultural Aggression
The tale has often been seen as a critique of the aggressive nature of medieval Icelandic culture. Under the system at the time, an individual was expected to avenge all transgressions or be seen as dishonorable or cowardly. The ending fight between Bjarni and Thorstein can be interpreted as being a cultural display of manliness when both parties are in fact tired of the cycle of perpetual violence. Both men are forced to blows to put up a display of violence so they can be seen as assertive, despite neither of them wishing to do actual harm to the other. In this regard, it can be seen that Bjarni and Thorstein are caught between respect and indignation for heroic code that demands vengeance despite the absurdity of the situation.
Nicknames
Of obvious importance to this tale is that of the Nordic practice of nicknaming, which I will not further expand upon.
Gendered Insults
All of the negative terms used in this tale refer to a man being unmanly, or womanly. Even the claimed goring by a bull of Thord has been interpreted as a sexual metaphor for anal rape. In addition to all of the insults used, even the actions of women are seen as childish and unintelligent.