The Viking Age. Volume 2 (of 2): The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nationsDu Chaillu, Paul B. (Paul Belloni)
History
The Viking Age. Volume 2 (of 2): The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nations
After a battle at sea between King Ingi and Sigurd Slembidjákn, a
pretender to the crown of Norway, in which Ingi got the victory, Sigurd
jumped overboard and took off his coat-of-mail while swimming under his
shield. The king’s men nevertheless found him.
“Thjóstólf Alason went to him (Sigurd) where he sat and struck off his
head a silk cap ornamented with lace bands.”[217]
“Thorkel Sursson had on his head a hat from Gardariki, a grey fur cloak,
with a gold buckle on the shoulder, and a sword in his hand” (Gisli
Súrsson, p. 55).
Karl and Leif saw a man approaching, “who had in his hand a cudgel
(_refdi_), wore a broad-brimmed hat, and a green woollen cloak; he was
barefooted, but had linen breeches tied (with a band) round his legs”
(St. Olaf’s Saga, c. 153).
“The everyday dress of Án was a white fur-coat, so long that it touched
his heels; a grey short fur-coat over it reached down to the middle of
the calf of his leg; over it was a red kirtle, which reached below the
knee. Over this was a common trading cloth blouse (stakk), which reached
to the middle of his thigh. He had a hat on his head, and a chopping-axe
in his hand” (An Bogsveigi’s Saga, c. 5).
The wearing of moustaches by warriors seems to have been very common
from the earliest time; this is seen from the bracteates and antiquities
belonging to the earlier and later iron age. The custom, which continued
to the end of the Pagan era, and which is also well illustrated in the
Bayeux tapestry, was so common that it is but seldom mentioned in the
Sagas.
Laughed then Jormunrek,
Put his hand on his moustaches;
He did not want tumult,
Was drunk with wine;
Shook his brown hair,
Looked on his white shield;
Let the golden cup
Turn in his hand.
(Hamdismál, 20.)
After the burning of Njal, Skarphedin, his son, was found dead.
“He had been standing at the gable, and the greater part of his legs
were burnt up to his knees, but the rest of his body was not burnt; his
eyes were open and not swollen; he had bitten his moustache, and had
struck with the axe so fast into the gable that its blade went in as far
as its middle, and therefore it was not softened” (Njala, c. 132).
[Illustration:
Fig. 1155.—Man with moustache; reverse of silver coin with ship.
]
A peculiar story is related of Ögmund Eythjófsbani, a famous Viking,
full of witchcraft and devilry, who often fought against Örvarodd.
“When Ögmund left Odd he went into Austrveg (eastern lands) and married
the daughter of Geirröd the Jötun, and made all the kings in Austrveg
pay tax to him; every twelve months they were to send him their lower
and upper moustache. From these Ögmund had a fur cloak made” (Orvar
Odd’s Saga, c. 23).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The Viking Age. Volume 2 (of 2): The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nations — John Shaqi
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