{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/onp/onp16.htm","path":"neu/onp/onp16.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/onp/onp16.htm","text":"PRIMITIVE law, based as it is on the profoundest ethical convictions and sentiments of the race, has many elements in common with poetry. Especially is this the case when the law seeks to instance, or motivate, or elaborate, sanctions or punishments. Thus we find embedded in the Icelandic laws, following a treatment of weregild or composition for manslaughter, etc., a formula of peace1 which both in form and spirit is essentially poetic. Indeed, when passion infuses itself\u2014as where a mighty curse is called down on the violator of these oaths\u2014heights of truly great poetry are reached: for the benefit of both witnesses and the interested parties, the abstract \u201ceverywhere\u201d in which outlawry will be visited on him is translated into concrete images which pass before the mind\u2019s eye in an artless series of vivid impressions from the life of man, the boundless earth, the sky and the sea.\nLike other, similar, snatches in the laws, the Tryggtham\u00f3l are most instructive to the student of Old Germanic poetry in showing a more primitive stage of alliterative verse than that seen in epic or lay. There is as yet no regularity of metrical line, though a few normal long-lines do occur;2 far less, any strophic structure. Still, alliteration has here its basic function of marking and reinforcing the natural stress, variation (parallelism) shows the instinctive fondness of the race for dwelling on favorite objects or conceptions; and the occasionally magnificent rhythm anticipates the effects of the more regular art practice to come. In other words, there are here, as in embryo, all the peculiar and stirring elements of Old Germanic poetry.\nIt is reasonable to suppose that these oaths are age-old and were brought over to Iceland from the common home in p. 81 Norway.3 Certainly the groundstock is heathen; the references to Christian belief and practices are but natural later accretions.\nThe version here translated is that of the so-called Konungab\u00f3k or \u201cKings\u2019 Book\u201d MS of the Gr\u00e1g\u00e1s,4 a twelfth-century compilation of Icelandic laws. A shorter version exists also in the so-called Statharh\u00f3lsb\u00f3k, or \u201cBook of Statharh\u00f3l Bishopric\u201d MS of the Gr\u00e1g\u00e1s. Besides, we have versions with important divergences in the seventy-second chapter of the Grettis saga and the thirty-third chapter of the Heitharv\u00edga saga.\nThere has been strife between N. N. and N. N.; but now peace has been made between them,\n \u2003\u2003and amends made\n \u2003\u2003as the domesmen deemed\n \u2003\u2003and the judges judged\n \u2003\u2003and the awarders weighed.\n \u2003\u2003Hath the offer been taken\n \u2003\u2003as even-handed,\n \u2003\u2003with full fees\n \u2003\u2003and forth-paid ounces,5\n \u2003\u2003to them handseled\n \u2003\u2003who were to have them.\n Ye shall henceforth be men\n \u2003\u2003at peace and pledged\n \u2003\u2003at ale and eating,\n \u2003\u2003at thing and at folk-meet,\n \u2003\u2003at kirk-going\n \u2003\u2003and in king\u2019s hall;\n and wherever men gather together, there shall ye be so agreed as though this matter had never come between you. Ye shall share\n \u2003\u2003both steel and steaks\n \u2003\u2003and all the things\n \u2003\u2003\n \n \n \n p. 82\n \n that are betwixt you,\n \u2003\u2003like friends7 and not like foes.\n And if, later, strife arise between you twain and things be not in good case, then shall it\n \u2003\u2003be settled by fees,\n \u2003\u2003but no swords reddened.\n But that one of you\n \u2003\u2003who is traitor to this truce\n \u2003\u2003and goes against word given,\n he shall be\n \u2003\u2003as ill outlaw\n \u2003\u2003hunted and hated,\n \u2003\u2003so far as men ever\n \u2003\u2003an outlaw hunt,\n \u2003\u2003as Christian folk\n \u2003\u2003visit churches,\n \u2003\u2003as Heathen folk\n \u2003\u2003have hallowed shrines,\n \u2003\u2003as fire doth flame\n \u2003\u2003and earth is green,\u2014\n \u2003\u2003as babe calleth mother,\n \u2003\u2003and mother suckles child,\n \u2003\u2003as folks kindle fire,\n \u2003\u2003ships sail the sea,\n \u2003\u2003and shields are borne,\n \u2003\u2003as the sun shineth,\n \u2003\u2003snow drifteth,\n \u2003\u2003Finn glideth,8\n \u2003\u2003fir-tree groweth,\n \u2003\u2003as falcon flie\u2019th\n \u2003\u2003on a fair summer-day9\n \u2003\u2003with a brisk-blowing breeze\n \u2003\u2003under both his wings,\n \u2003\u2003\n \n \n \n p. 83\n \n as the sky arches\n \u2003\u2003and earth is tilled,\n \u2003\u2003wind doth howl,\n \u2003\u2003waters flow seaward,\n \u2003\u2003and seed is sown.\n \u2003\u2003He shall shun\n \u2003\u2003churches and churched ones,\n \u2003\u2003God\u2019s house and men\u2019s homes\u2014\n \u2003\u2003every abode\n \u2003\u2003but hell only.\n Now hold ye both this book10 on which lies also the money which N. N. offers as redress for himself and his heir.\n \u2003\u2003born or unborn,\n \u2003\u2003begotten or unbegotten,\n \u2003\u2003named or unnamed.\n N. N. accepts this composition, and N. N. swears an everlasting peace. It is to hold\n \u2003\u2003the while earth lasteth,\n \u2003\u2003and live on it men.\n Now, then, are N. N. and N. N.\n \u2003\u2003agreed and at one,\n \u2003\u2003where\u2019er they may meet\u2014\n \u2003\u2003on shore or on water,\n \u2003\u2003on ship or on snow-shoe,\n \u2003\u2003on high sea or on horseback,\n \u2003\u2003to share in the rowing\n \u2003\u2003or in baling out,\n \u2003\u2003on bench or on deck,\n \u2003\u2003if need there be,\n \u2003\u2003at one with each other\n \u2003\u2003as is father with son\n \u2003\u2003or son with father,\n \u2003\u2003in all their dealings.\n Now N. N. and N. N. shall clasp hands: hold ye well this truce, to the liking of Christ and of all the men who have now heard this oath of peace.\n \u2003\u2003\n \n \n \n p. 84\n \n May he have God\u2019s grace\n \u2003\u2003who holds this truce,\n \u2003\u2003but his wrath, who rives\n \u2003\u2003rightful truce\u2014\n \u2003\u2003his grace, he who holds it!\n Be ye now happy and at peace!\n \u2003\u2003Witnesses be we\n \u2003\u2003who about you stand!\n1 It is there called Tryggtham\u00f3l or \u201cOaths of Peace.\u201d They are to be repeated, after the judge or umpire, by both parties to the suit.\n2 I have therefore printed the whole in half-lines.\n3 A few lines of the beginning, found in the fragmentary MS of the Older Gulathingsl\u00f3g or \u201cLaws of the Gula (legal) district\u201d of Norway prove it.\n4 Literally. \u201cGrey Goose\u201d\u2014from the MS covers of grey fur.\n5 I.e., of silver.\n6 In the original: \u201cknife and meat-piece.\u201c\n7 In the original: \u201clike kinsmen.\u201cthe closest bond between persons being that of the clan.\n8 Viz., on skis.\n9 Which, it will be remembered, in the Northland lasts most of the twenty-four hours.\n10 The Bible, of course.","title":"THE OATH OF TRUCE [TRYGGTHAM\u00d3L]","type":"page"}