The Viking Age. Volume 1 (of 2) / The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nations

CHAPTER XVII. HORSES WAGGONS.

Favourite colours of horses—Splendour of the harness—Iron and bronze bits—Spurs—Bridles.

We have ample proof from the Sagas that the people of the North were great breeders of horses, and took pride in their adornment. We are told of the favourite colours of horses, and the finds bear witness to the gorgeousness of their harness and trappings.

“Stein was for a while with King KnÚt, and was conspicuous for his weapons and clothes, and was called Stein the Proud. Old and wise men have told how Stein was so haughty that he had his horse shod with gold, and the hoof above adorned. King Knut thought Stein vied with him in magnificence, and therefore Stein left him” (Fms. v. 181).

“King Adils liked good horses very much, he had the best horses at that time. One of his horses was called SlÖngvir (the flinging one), and another Hrafn (Raven); the latter he took from Ali when he was dead, and another horse also called Hrafn was bred by him; he sent it to King Godgest in HÁlogaland. Godgest rode on it and could not stop it and fell down, and was killed”^[179] (Ynglinga Saga, ch. 33).

The chief Thorstein Kuggason had to seek shelter during bad weather at the farm of BjÖrn HitdÆlakappi while going to help his foes. When Thorstein took leave:

“BjÖrn sent for the stud-horses which were near the hay-house, for fodder was given to them while the bad weather lasted. The stallion was a son of HvÍting (some famous stallion) and was white, but the mares were chestnut. Another son of HvÍting, also white, was in ThÓrarinsdal; but the mares (with him) were black. BjÖrn had the stud-horses led to Thorstein, and said he wished to give them to him. Thorstein said he would not take them; ‘for I am not yet worthy of gifts from thee, and if I reward thee not for this entertainment which I have now received from thee then I shall probably not reward thee for further benefits, but, if I reward the entertainment as well as thou deservest, then I will receive the horse, and see that thou gettest something in return’” (BjÖrn HitdÆlakappi’s Saga, p. 55).

An Icelander, Odd Úfeigsson, had traded with the Finns, which no man was allowed to do without the king’s leave. Thorstein, one of Harald HardrÁdi’s hirdmen, saved him from Harald, who wanted to slay him, and Odd escaped to Iceland. On one occasion, when HÁrek, Thorstein’s kinsman came to Iceland:

“Odd sent with him to Norway a good stud of horses as a gift to Thorstein, and said, as was true, that Thorstein had saved the lives of him and his crew. HÁrek came to Norway to his kinsman Thorstein, who was still with the king. He brought him the horses and said they were sent to him by Odd. Thorstein said: ‘This is very unfortunate for me as but for this the help that I gave Odd and his men would not have been known; now I cannot hide it, and it is somewhat difficult to escape.’ Thorstein showed the horses to the king, and said, ‘they were a gift sent by Odd.’ The king answered: ‘I was not worthy of gifts from Odd; he has sent them to thee and not to me’”^[180] (Fornmanna SÖgur, vi. 383–384).

The magnificence with which the harness used by these people was ornamented is shown by their horse-collars, several of which, made of wood and richly decorated, are now in the Museum of Northern Antiquities in Copenhagen. The fact that such collars have always been found in pairs shows that two horses were generally harnessed to the waggons used; the pair is always similar, and the ornamentation at the ends, often of bronze gilt, or silver, or gold, generally consists of animals’ heads such as are so commonly represented on fibulÆ. At the top of the collars is a hole, through which the rein passed, and the wood is decorated with representations of human heads of metal, the triskele, and birds, &c., riveted on.

Fig. 664.—Collar for driving of gilt bronze, grave mound, Jutland. ¼ real size.

Fig. 665.—2
9 real size.

Fig. 666.

Fig. 667.
Front view. ? real size.
Horse-collar found in sepulchral chamber at Sollested, Assens, FÝen. Among other interesting finds in this sepulchral chamber were the remains of a cinerary urn with burnt bones and fragments of iron; equipment for two horses, including remains of a magnificent saddle, horses’ bits ornamented with gold and silver; stirrups inlaid with silver and gold, &c., &c.

A remarkable horse-collar was found at Sollested, Assens, FÝen, in a sepulchral chamber, 30 feet long, 9 feet broad, with its entrance facing the north-east; the representations of heads riveted to the collar are similar to numerous ones found in Southern Russia, of which many examples are to be seen in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

Fig. 668.—Fragments of harness with nails and other ornaments of iron covered with silver, sewn on leather. Real size. Denmark.

Fig. 669.—Iron bits.

Fig. 670.—Chains of iron, ¼ real size, with large rings at the end. Sollested.

Fig. 671.—End of waggon-pole. Real size. Sollested.

Fig. 672.

Fig. 673.
Parts of a bit of bronze gilt, ? real size, found in a round tumulus explored in 1852, containing the remains of a ship and a waggon, pieces of a wooden saddle riveted with gilt bronze ornaments, several stirrups, bones of several animals, &c. Vold Borre, Norway.

Fig. 674.—Iron spur found in a tumulus. ? real size. Norway.

Fig. 675.—Ornament to horse collar of bronze gilt. ½ real size.

Fig. 676.—Iron spur, found in a tumulus with a stone vase, a single-edged sword, an axe, two spear-heads, a shield-boss, a pair of stirrups, &c. ? real size. Norway.

Fig. 677.—Part of horse collar of bronze. ½ real size.

Fig. 678.—Bronze bridle, little less than ? real size, found in a tumulus. Norway.

Fig. 679.—Iron bit, 2
9 real size, found in a tumulus with a two-edged sword, two spear-heads, an axe, three knife-blades, fragments of a shield-boss, &c., all of iron. Norway.

Fig. 680.—Iron bit, 2
9 real size, found in a tumulus with a large axe, a spear-head, thirteen arrow-heads, six shield bosses, two knife-blades, clinch nails, &c. Norway.

Fig. 681.—Iron bit found in a tumulus. 2
9 real size. Norway.

Fig. 682.—Iron bit. 2
9 real size. Norway.

Fig. 683.—Iron bit, 2
9 real size, found in a tumulus, with burnt bones. Norway.

Fig. 684.—Iron bit for horses. ? real size. Ultuna.

Fig. 685.—About ¼ real size. Norway. In a mound.

Fig. 686.—Stirrup, ? real size, found in a mound upon the island of Bjorko.

Fig. 687.—Stirrup of iron inlaid with silver. ? real size. Viborg, Jutland. In a grave with other riding gear.

Fig. 688.—Iron stirrup. 2
9 real size. Norway.

Fig. 689.—Iron stirrup, found in the upper part of a large round mound, with two double-edged swords bent in two, three spear-heads, five horses’ bits, a pair of shears, pincers, two bronze fibulÆ, horses’ teeth, burnt bones, &c. 2
9 real size. Norway.

Fig. 690.—Iron stirrup. 2
9 real size. Norway.

Fig. 691.—Gold spur, ? real size; weight, 9 ozs. Smaalenenes, Norway; earlier iron age.

Fig. 692.

Full view.
Fig. 693.
Ornaments of above spurs, real size; weight, 1? ozs.; the point of iron missing; traces of the rust still seen. Smaalenenes, Norway.

Fig. 694.—Bridle and bit in bronze, SmÅland. Collection of Count G. Essen. ? real size.

Fig. 695.

Fig. 696.—Spur of iron, ? real size. Found in a large heap of stones of oblong shape, with a spear-head of iron, a double-edged sword, &c.

Fig. 697.—Spur of iron, real size, found in a paved circle, with burnt bones, two spear-points, &c. Norway.

Fig. 698.—Spur of bronze. Öland. Real size.

Fig. 699.—Spur of bronze, real size, found in mound, with another spur quite similar, a bronze kettle, a bent double-edged sword, a spear-head spoiled intentionally, &c. Norway.

Waggons are seldom mentioned in the Sagas, and no description of their appearance is given; but we learn that dead warriors were sometimes put in them and burned on the pyre, and the correctness of this statement is proved by the finds in various graves, among others in one at Broholm, FyÉn, where fragments of a waggon have been found together with burnt bones, a large kettle, several iron swords, shield bosses, gold jewels, &c., &c. But though remains of waggons have been found, it was not till the discovery in the bog of Deibjerg, RingkjÖbing in the North of Jutland, that we obtained a knowledge of their shape and of the splendour of their ornamentation.

Fig. 700.

Fig. 701.

Fig. 702.

Fig. 703.
Parts of perch of waggon with symbolic signs, Denmark.

Fig. 704.

Fig. 705.

Fig. 706.
Parts of sides of different waggon; with symbolic signs. Denmark. ¼ real size.

In this bog two waggons of a similar pattern, one of which in an almost complete state of preservation is represented here, were discovered. The spokes of the wheels had evidently been bent by heat, and the iron tires round them had apparently been bent by force; the pole, which was also richly ornamented with bronze, and the bottom and sides were well preserved, but the waggon of which a representation is given was more copiously ornamented with mystic signs than its companion. The following extracts from Sagas refer to the use of these waggons by the people. It is interesting to note that these waggons are almost identical in shape with the modern KÄrra, used in Sweden. (See ‘Land of the Midnight Sun,’ Vol. i., p. 51).

Gunnar said he was ready
To offer gold,
To redress claims,
And also HÖgni;
She (Grimhild)[181] asked
Who would go
To saddle the horse,
To horse the waggon,
To ride the steed,
To fly the hawk,
To shoot arrows
Of the yew-bow.[182]

Then on a horse
Was every warrior seen,
And into waggons
Welsh (foreign) wives were lifted.
We rode seven days
Over the cold land,
And other seven
We pressed the waves,
And the third seven
We stepped on dry land.

(GudrÚnar Kvida, ii. 18, 35.)

“King Sigurd of Hringariki had two children, a daughter Ragnhild, and a son Guthorm. Haki the Berserk slew him and took his son and daughter home with him. HÁlfdÁn the black sent one hundred men for them, who fetched them and burned the hall of Haki. They tented a very fine waggon, and put Ragnhild and Guthorm in it” (HÁlfdÁn the black’s Saga, ch. 5).

“One summer King Eirek had a feast made at Uppsalir. Then he had two waggons driven to the place where he sacrificed to the god called LÝtir. It was customary for the waggon to stand there during the night and for the god to come in the morning. Now LÝtir did not come as he usually did, and the king was told that he disliked to do so. The waggon stood for two nights and he did not come. Then the king began to offer much greater sacrifices than before, and the third morning they became aware that LÝtir had come. Then the waggon was so heavy that the horses fell dead from exhaustion before they could pull it to the hall. The waggon was then put on the middle of the floor of the hall, and the king walked to it with a horn, and welcomed LÝtir, and said, he wanted to drink to him and was very anxious that he should undertake the journey, and that he would give him large gifts as before” (FlateyjarbÓk, i. 579–580).

“When he was ready to ride away two white horses with black ears were led forward, they belonged to Thord Breidavad and had disappeared that summer at the Thing” (Heidarviga Saga, c. 20).

“The queen ‘Yrsa’ had twelve horses led forward, they were all brown except one which was white as snow, and on this one Hrolf was to ride. They were the best horses of King Adils and covered all over with armour” (Hrolf Kraki Saga, c. 44).

Fig. 707.—Scene with waggon; bas-relief; length, 5 feet 9 inches; height, 4 feet 6 inches. This remarkable stone had been a good deal cut in order to range with other stones forming the flooring of the church of Alskog, Gotland. It was preserved from entire destruction by Prof. P. A. Save. Unfortunately, from the softness of the sandstone and the tramping of feet, it has become very indistinct. What the scene was intended to represent it is difficult to say.

“There were four stud horses of Thorstein’s of red colour. They looked well but not fully broken. Thorstein offered to give him the horses, but Gunnlaug said he needed no horses as he was to leave Iceland. Thereupon they rode towards the stud horses, there was a gray stallion with four mares. It was the best stallion in Borgarfjord” (Gunnlaug Ormstunga, c. 5).

Fig. 708.—Runic stone, with waggon and horse.—Near Levede, in Gotland.^[183]

We find that the laws contained regulations in regard to the making of the roads, and the shutting of gates.

“The highroad shall be so broad that a man can sit on a saddled horse and put his spear-handle on the ground and put his thumb as high up as he can and the spear shall be one span longer. It shall be laid down across the road. It shall not be broader” (Gulath).

“If a man walks through the gate of a fence he who opens it shall be answerable as to shutting it. If cattle or horses go inside and spoil a field or meadow, then the opener of the gate shall pay back according to valuation all the damage made” (Gulath).

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